Being Disliked

Qiu Mo chuckled suddenly, his well-defined fingers brushing over a wine stain. "Little Wolf King, don't rush. Tonight's play has only just begun."

"My father has already reached a preliminary alliance with Tianyu Academy."

"When the New Year Martial Arts Tournament begins, it will be the day we achieve great things, and I..."

He tapped his fingertips on the table, producing a crisp sound. "I will be the new ruler of Great Yan."

The attic fell silent.

Di Kun stared at the person before him and suddenly burst into laughter. "Well done, Little Yan King! Disguising yourself as a dandy and mingling in the imperial city, you even fooled the Peerless Princess!"

Lu Chen, on the eaves, felt his Blood Essence surge.

The phantom of the Furnace trembled in his sea of consciousness, almost revealing his presence.

He suppressed his killing intent and continued to listen intently.

"During the tournament, someone will assassinate King Yan, and Tianyu Academy will use the opportunity to control all of Yanjing!"

The Little Yan King dipped his finger in wine and drew the terrain of Yanjing on the table. "My Yan Bei will cede a territory in exchange for your Wolf Court's assistance..."

Before he could finish speaking, a commotion suddenly erupted downstairs.

Lu Chen inwardly cursed his bad luck. He saw a squad of City Patrol Guards approaching the Drunken Immortal Residence with torches.

He made a swift decision and vanished into the alleyways like an afterimage.

He didn't go far. After Di Kun and his men disappeared into the night, Lu Chen secretly followed them.

Finally, at a dilapidated old house, they were received by a Black Robed Figure.

A sharp glint flashed in Lu Chen's eyes.

This was getting more and more interesting.

He flipped his hand, producing a Blood Thunder Seed, infused it with Protective Aura, and hurled it fiercely.

The Blood Thunder Seed shattered the window and shot inside.

"Not good..."

As the voice faded, BOOM!

A terrifying lightning storm swept out for over a hundred meters.

The old house was completely obliterated.

Two figures were flung out from within, sent flying far away.

The guards outside met the same fate.

Enduring wave after wave of lightning, they were all reduced to charred stumps.

Though not dead, they were completely incapacitated.

Lu Chen, his face covered, appeared and collected them all into the Devouring Furnace, temporarily detaining them.

He took them all down in one fell swoop.

Before the City Guard arrived, Lu Chen vanished into the night.

After looting their storage bags, he was overjoyed.

The Little Wolf King not only had documents colluding with King Yanbei, but also secret documents with Tianyu Academy.

Crucially, they had abandoned King Yanbei and were planning to move against King Yanbei's army of a hundred thousand Blood Puppets.

Lu Chen's eyes darted around as he infiltrated the Qiu Family.

Qiu Mo was preparing to rest when he suddenly became alert. He turned and saw Lu Chen entering.

"Who are you?" Seeing the masked figure, Qiu Mo was greatly alarmed.

Lu Chen said nothing, directly tossing the documents from the Little Wolf King and Tianyu Academy to him.

Qiu Mo's face changed drastically.

"Leave quickly, lest you be erased!"

With a slight movement of his hand, the documents vanished.

When he looked up again, Lu Chen was also gone.

Qiu Mo did not dare to hesitate. He immediately called his personal guards, explained the situation, and fled Yanjing under the cover of night.

The Wolf Court was planning a surprise attack when the two forces joined, and to invade Yan Bei.

Furthermore, he had been exposed and couldn't stay.

What puzzled him, however, was who was the messenger?

Why would they help him?

It couldn't be someone from the royal family, nor from the academy, nor from Great Liang. Could it be from Great Qi?

But that didn't make sense either!

He had no contact with Great Qi!

And they didn't border them, so there was no reason for the other side to help King Yanbei.

Could it be people from Heavenly Dao Academy?

But no matter who it was, the documents absolutely couldn't be fake.

His heart couldn't help but grow more anxious, flashing across the sky like lightning, heading straight for Yanbei.

After sending the Little Yan King away, Lu Chen arrived at Peerless Palace.

He didn't alert anyone and directly entered the Peerless Princess's chambers.

As a result, he was almost beaten to death by two little maids.

Damn it, they were actually Nascent Soul level grandmasters.

Seeing the Peerless Princess, Lu Chen felt a wave of regret.

He hadn't seen her true face.

"You can't let people announce your arrival!" the Peerless Princess said speechlessly.

"Isn't it to avoid alerting outsiders?" Lu Chen stared at the veil on the Peerless Princess's face, wishing he could rip it off.

"Speak, what is it? I just lay down, I've been so busy these days!"

Lu Chen spread the two documents on the tabletop.

The Peerless Princess looked at them one after another and said lightly, "That's it?"

"Ah... Ah?" Lu Chen was stunned and stammered, "What do you mean, 'that's it'?"

"Alright, you can leave now. Prepare well for tomorrow's tournament, I need to rest!"

"No... No, such a big matter... Damn it!"

Being dragged out by the two little maids, Lu Chen was about to collapse.

He thought he would get some reward, or at least see Yun Niang?

Instead, he was disliked.

The other party probably already knew.

Returning to Tianyan Academy, he told the Old Ancestor about it, only to be kicked out of the great hall by the Old Ancestor.

He was given the parting words, "Stop worrying about things that don't concern you."

Lu Chen was numb.

They were all so capable, how did Great Yan become like this today?

They didn't have much ability, but they acted like peacocks.

Little did he know, this was to prevent him from getting involved too early.

As he lay down, messages were transmitted from Peerless Palace to the front lines through special means.

At the same time, the royal family used the sudden outbreak of blood lightning to detain personnel from the Wolf Court.

Unfortunately, the Little Wolf King and his guardian were nowhere to be found.

The person in charge sent by Tianyu Academy to meet the Little Wolf King did not return. Someone detonated the Blood Thunder Seed, and everyone was stunned, not knowing what had happened.

Why would the Little Wolf King use the Blood Thunder Seed?

They all secretly became vigilant.

They had to guard not only against the Great Yan royal family but also against the people from the Wolf Court, and they temporarily halted all actions.

Things had changed, and they had to be cautious.

Otherwise, they would be doomed.

The next day, the city was empty.

At the martial arts arena, thirty-six stages stood tall, interwoven with array patterns like a net, each rune emitting a flowing light.

Outside the arena, crowds of cultivators were packed densely, with banners of various colors fluttering in the wind.

On the high platform, King Yan wore a purple robe and a golden crown, with three divine bird phantoms circling behind him, his pressure as deep as an abyss.

"Four Nations New Year Martial Arts Tournament, begin!"

As the ceremonial official announced loudly, thousands of spirit birds soared from the formation's eye, their wings scattering golden powder, forming the four characters "Martial Prosperity."

Disciples from forces such as Tianyu Academy, the Great Liang Zhu Clan, and the Great Qi Lü Clan entered the arena one after another, but the Wolf Court's seats were empty.

"The Wolf Court colluded with foreign enemies and intended to sow chaos in Great Yan!" King Yan suddenly raised his hand, and a scroll of documents floated in the air, its writing a glaring crimson:

"The evidence is here, the people of the Wolf Court are to be expelled from Great Yan!"

With an order, warships took to the sky. The Wolf Court members arrested last night were taken away from Yanjing.

At the Tianyu Academy's seats, the Purple Robe Elder's face turned ashen.

The Heavenly Dao Academy envoy, dressed in ink-black robes, tapped his fingertips on the table: "We previously heard that Tianyu Academy had a tendency to become independent. Are you that impatient?"

The Purple Robe Elder quickly stood up: "It was the villains acting in secret, please, esteemed envoy, investigate thoroughly!"

The envoy smiled faintly, "Hand over 100,000 low-grade spirit stones to the Great Yan royal family, and this matter will be dropped!"

King Yan and the elder bowed in unison.

They both knew exactly what was going on.

If not for the Heavenly Dao Academy's meddling, the situation between the two sides would not have escalated to this point.

The Heavenly Dao Academy was the true culprit.

This was their usual balancing act.

Letting the subordinate powers fight amongst themselves, thus guaranteeing their absolute dominance.

The Purple Robe Elder gritted his teeth and threw out a storage ring. A spiritual light shot up into the sky, causing a stir among the crowd.

King Yan took the storage bag and slowly sat back down, his expression calm and unruffled.

Lu Chen watched the scene with his arms crossed, sighing inwardly.

Such a major issue was being dismissed so lightly. It seemed the waters here were unusually deep.

The Heavenly Dao Academy was indulging them!

Suddenly, he felt a chill run through him.

He turned sharply and saw someone staring at him with icy eyes.