The two men drank and chatted, and the atmosphere gradually grew livelier.
"Speaking of which, Brother Luo Tian, you've been studying at Shrek Academy. Your cultivation must have improved a lot over the years, right?" Liang Wu glanced outside the door and, emboldened by the alcohol, deliberately raised his voice. "At the start of the year, you were still a level fifty-nine Soul King. By now, you must be a Soul Emperor at level sixty-three or higher, at the very least, right?"
"Come on, it's nothing that exaggerated. Even if I am an Inner Court disciple, do you think our cultivation rises as easily as eating and drinking?" Luo Tian looked somewhat frustrated. His face was bright red, and he was a little drunk.
"Even in the Shrek Inner Court, no matter how many resources there are, you still have to fight for them yourself. I was indeed level fifty-nine at the start of the year, but in the past half a year or so, I've only just managed to break through to level sixty-one." As Luo Tian spoke, he picked up his glass and took another big swig, a bitter smile appearing on his face.
Liang Wu listened, a meaningful smile appearing on his face.
He had gotten it out of him.
So he went along with it and poured Luo Tian another glass:
"Brother Luo Tian, you're being modest. With your talent and strength, breaking through to the Soul Emperor realm was only a matter of time. Besides, which genius of the Shrek Inner Court doesn't have boundless prospects? If you become a Titled Douluo someday, don't forget an old friend like me."
The more Luo Tian drank, the more he talked. The smile on his face grew brighter, and his eyes began to glaze over.
He was happy for a change, and he didn't want to use Soul Power to dispel the effects of the alcohol.
Seeing this, Liang Wu judged that the time was about right. He looked behind Luo Tian and saw Toji secretly signal that he had gotten the message and could begin. Liang Wu quietly pulled a piece of paper containing powder from his sleeve.
This was the poison Toji had given him beforehand. He had already crushed and ground it into powder, and had been waiting for this moment.
While Luo Tian wasn't paying attention, Liang Wu moved swiftly. After prying the cap off the bottle, he pretended to wipe his nose with the paper, but under the cover of his Spiritual Power fluctuations, he sprinkled all the powder into the wine without anyone noticing.
"What's going on?" Luo Tian, sitting across from him, felt a little dizzy and raised a hand to support his forehead. "Why did you suddenly unleash such intense spiritual fluctuations?"
At that moment, Liang Wu's heart was practically in his throat. Fortunately, years of struggling through life had taught him to handle it calmly:
"Ah, Brother Luo Tian, you might not know what kind of situation I've been in lately..."
Full of intense emotion, Liang Wu kept pouring out his troubles, telling Luo Tian how hard his life had been over the years and how he hadn't even found a wife. His words struck a chord with Luo Tian.
Although Luo Tian was a disciple of the Shrek Inner Court, his strength ranked among the lowest of its disciples.
"Life isn't easy for any of us."
"Ah, Brother Luo Tian, today's a happy day. I shouldn't have opened my big mouth and brought this up. Let's not talk about it." Liang Wu smiled and picked up a bottle, pouring wine into Luo Tian's glass. "Come on, have another drink!"
Luo Tian was somewhat muddled from drinking. He took the glass and still drained it without hesitation, smacking his lips. "Liang Wu, this wine of yours really hits hard afterward, but it's definitely good stuff."
Liang Wu said:
"That's right. This is a fine wine from my collection. Have some more, Brother Luo Tian."
Luo Tian nodded and drank a few more glasses. His face grew redder and redder, and his eyes became increasingly unfocused.
He shook his head, seemingly unable to sit steady.
What's going on?
Although he had been drinking for almost the entire night, surely his tolerance wasn't that poor?
The more Luo Tian drank, the more he felt something was wrong. His skin in particular had begun to itch faintly. At first, it was only a slight prickling itch, and he unconsciously scratched it.
But that scratch made his heart tighten.
His fingertips met a sticky, slippery sensation.
He looked down, and his pupils instantly contracted. He had actually scratched an entire chunk of flesh off his arm. Blood flowed slowly from the wound, staining his sleeve red.
Luo Tian snapped his head up, the drunkenness vanishing from his eyes in an instant, replaced by deep wariness.
His gaze fixed on Liang Wu across from him, who was still joking and drinking with him:
"Liang Wu, this wine of yours..."
Liang Wu still held his glass, a faint smile on his face:
"Brother Luo Tian, what's wrong? Had too much to drink? How did you even scratch your own flesh off?"
Luo Tian's face darkened instantly. He had realized something was wrong.
There's poison in the wine!
"Liang Wu, how dare you play me?!"
He sprang to his feet, possessed by his Martial Soul, the Flame Lion King. The Soul Power within him erupted, and he immediately forced the poison out of his body.
A faint layer of Soul Power light appeared over his skin. The wine was swiftly expelled through his pores and dripped onto the floor with a sizzling sound. Clearly, a deadly poison had been mixed into it.
Yet the moment he stood up, an incomparably sharp killing intent suddenly came at him from behind.
Luo Tian's instincts were exceptionally keen. Years of fighting on the edge of life and death had given him an almost instinctive sense for danger.
He felt as if the back of his head had been pierced by the tip of an icy needle. The hairs all over his body stood on end, and he spun around to see a black figure dart out of the shadows, a greatsword already chopping toward his head at a speed that was difficult to follow.
The very first move was a killing blow.
Luo Tian's eyes widened, and his body instinctively dodged to one side.
He reacted extremely quickly, jerking his head aside. The greatsword's edge swept past, almost grazing his ear, then hacked viciously into his left shoulder. The blade sank deep into his flesh, and blood spurted out.
Luo Tian let out a muffled groan of pain. His body trembled slightly from the agony as he staggered back several steps.
His left shoulder had nearly been cleaved open by the strike. Bone and flesh lay exposed, and blood ran down his arm, staining his Shrek school uniform red.
Luo Tian was, however, a talented disciple of the Shrek Inner Court, with an abundance of experience in life-and-death combat.
Enduring the searing pain, he clenched his right fist. Soul Power gathered in an instant, his First Soul Ring rose, and he punched at the attacker's chest with the power of raging flames.
But his opponent reacted much faster. As soon as the punch came, he had already pulled back his greatsword and rapidly retreated, causing Luo Tian's fist to miss.
So fast, and I couldn't sense his presence at all. Just who is this man?!
Luo Tian was shocked.
That thought had only just risen in his mind when he noticed moonlight, he knew not from where, falling on his face inside the room and bringing a slight burning sensation.
He looked up and saw a crescent moon hanging high where the room's ceiling should have been, giving off a faint silver glow.
Suddenly, the crescent moon rapidly expanded in his field of vision, as if drawn by some invisible force, and hurtled toward his body.
Luo Tian had just tried to move, but his injured left shoulder held him back. Even the speed at which he released his Soul Skill had slowed, and he could only watch as the crescent moon enveloped his entire body.
"Boom!"
With a dull crash, the crescent moon struck Luo Tian, embedding his entire body deep in the floor. He spat out an arrow of blood.