"Ahem!" Blazing Dragon cleared his throat loudly, apparently embarrassed by his sudden outburst. "Pardon me for probing you with my perception, but I had to make sure you are not someone sent by the town lord or the noble families. Even so, I never expected White Dragon to be you of all people.."

"Now you do," Lu Tianzi replied nonchalantly.

Initially, Lu Tianzi had been just as shocked as Blazing Dragon. But the other party's sudden outburst had given Lu Tianzi more than enough time to calm himself down.

Because of that, he was able to maintain a look of complete composure in the eyes of the other party.

"Now I do indeed," Blazing Dragon nodded. "Since we already know each other's identity, shall we do away with the unnecessary accessories?"

Without waiting for Lu Tianzi to answer, Blazing Dragon raised his hands to take off his own mask.

The mask came off to reveal an authoritative face, his hair greying around the temples.

This face was just as Lu Tianzi remembered, the one noble widely known for his generosity and kindness – Master Dongran!

Lu Tianzi smirked.

One really shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

He never would have expected that the kind Master Dongran would actually also be Blazing Dragon, the leader of the Blazing Wings!

Did the members of the Blazing Wings know about this as well?

Perhaps.

That might be the reason why the townsmen did not show much animosity towards the Dongran Family.

But most probably, members of both the Blazing Wings and the Dongran Family had been kept in the dark, and were simply fooled by Master Dongran's perfect acting on both ends.

Lu Tianzi did not know which was the case, but that was not important.

As martial artists at the Essence Building and Essence Condensation realm, the other members of Blazing Wings had never been a threat to him.

As for the Dongran Family, there was Madam Dongran who was at the Fourth Cycle Origin Core. But even someone at that level was not enough to threaten Lu Tianzi's life.

Following Master Dongran's actions, Lu Tianzi similarly took off his mask, storing it away in his spatial ring.

"Greetings again, Brother Tianzi," Master Dongran clasped his fists towards Lu Tianzi. "To think that the emissary from the Radiant Raven Sect has already contacted me and has been staying at my Dongran Residence for a while now, I am embarrassed to not have recognised you until now!"

Lu Tianzi's smirk grew wider.

It seemed that Master Dongran had indeed mistaken him for the emissary from the Radiant Raven Sect.

That made things a lot easier then!

"Don't worry about it," Lu Tianzi waved it off nonchalantly. "Now then, what is the reason for this meeting today?"

Lu Tianzi understood that the emissary from the Radiant Raven Sect was supposed to be the one initiating the plan. In that case, For Blazing Dragon to initiate this meeting, there must have been a particular reason.

"Well, there are two main reasons for this," Master Dongran let out an awkward smile. "First and foremost is of course to meet Brother Tianzi in person. I regret to say this, but is it possible for me to see the proof of your status?"

The proof of my status?

Lu Tianzi immediately thought back to Zuomin Ta's belongings.

There were two items that could possibly be it – the raven bracelets and the jade slip with instructions for the emissary.

Which was it?

No, it did not matter which one it was.

Lu Tianzi flicked his sleeves before slowly crossing his arms. With the sleeves slightly pulled back, the raven bracelets on his wrists were now fully in Master Dongran's view.

Lu Tianzi snickered before speaking in an impatient tone. "Really?"

"Hahaha!" Master Dongran burst into laughter. "Those are indeed the Radiant Raven Bracelets that all core disciples of the Radiant Raven Sect carry! Please pardon me, but I needed to be sure before I can put my mind at ease."

So the raven bracelets had such a meaning to it!

"I understand," Lu Tianzi nodded. "What about the second reason?"

"It is good that Brother Tianzi understands," Master Dongran smiled. "As for the second reason.. the time that we have been waiting for is finally here!"

"Oh?" Lu Tianzi revealed a look of surprise. "Elaborate."

"According to the men, a huge group of martial artists has descended from Wondertrap Mountain and are currently heading towards Bog Town," Master Dongran said. "The gathering on Wondertrap Mountain must have ended. As we have expected, this first wave of martial artists comprised only of those below the Origin Core realm, and will be reaching Bog Town by tomorrow night."

Lu Tianzi was genuinely surprised this time.

Martial artists? Gathering? Wondertrap Mountain?

Wasn't that just referring to the poison masters attending the Healers' Meet on Wondertrap Mountain?

How did they come into the picture as well?

"Is that so?" Lu Tianzi grinned. "Let us go through the plan once more, I want to see if there's anything we missed out."

"Naturally," Master Dongran walked over to the map at the other end of room, where markers were placed all over. "The eye of the ritual will be located here at this mansion.."

At this point, Master Dongran was utterly convinced that Lu Tianzi was the emissary from the Radiant Raven Sect, so he hid nothing about the plan.

After all, an elder from the Radiant Raven Sect was the one who came up with the plan years ago, so the emissary should already know it as well!

Even so, since the emissary wanted to listen to it once more, it should be to confirm that their information aligned. This was an important step to make sure that everyone was on the same page.

The end game of their plan was to perform a large scale sacrificial ritual, taking in the lives of the countless people within Bog Town and its vicinity.

In order to power the large scale ritual, they need to draw up the boundaries of the ritual with a large scale formation.

To accomplish that, Master Dongran had deployed countless Sky Crystals all over Bog Town and its vicinity. Since these Sky Crystals contained traces of energy within, they would act as the perfect formation nodes, and had all been set in place under the pretence of helping out the townsmen.

In order to activate the sacrificial ritual, they needed a portion of the sacrifices to offer up their own blood.

To accomplish that, Master Dongran had personally acted as a stark contrast to the other nobles, patiently using the nobles' arrogant ways to rile up the townsmen over the years. After the sudden deterioration of the situation in recent weeks, the members of Blazing Wing had grown to a massive number, many of them acting more like fanatics than anything else. When the time comes, all that was needed was to tell them that it was to perform a safe ritual for the sake of Bog Town, and they would willingly offer up a drop of their blood.

In order to boost the number of sacrifices, Master Dongran had been secretly spreading poisons in the town over the years, disguising these incidents as plagues and using them as an excuse to help dispose of the toxic bodies.

Only that the owners of these bodies had not died yet.

Due to the contagious condition, their closed ones were unable to go near to confirm their death, allowing Master Dongran to bring them away without issue. They were then kept barely alive with inferior pills, jailed beneath the mansion for years, all in preparation for this day. With them included, the number of sacrifices reached an enormous number!

And with this number of prisoners and members of the Blazing Wings acting as the activation point, Master Dongran would be able to extend this sacrificial ritual to even those who were oblivious, reaping them of their lives as long as they were within range.

Even Origin Core realm martial artists would not be able to escape its effect!

The greater the strength and numbers of people affected, the more effective this sacrificial ritual would be.

Finally, all this power robbed from their sacrifices would be channelled towards two people – Master Dongran and the emissary from the Radiant Raven Sect, Lu Tianzi!

This would surely provide the impetus required for them to break through to the next Origin Cycle!

Lu Tianzi kept a poker face as he listened intently.

But at the same time, he could not help but feel shivers running down his spine.

What a plan!

As if targeting the people of Bog Town was not enough, they even wanted to coincide this with the Healers' Meet, bringing the poison masters into the picture as well?

How daring!

It had to be known that just Elder Xiquan alone was already at the Sixth Cycle Origin Core realm, not to mention the Overlord realm Wuye Mingxuan!

If they took just a single wrong step, even the Fourth Cycle Origin Core realm Master Dongran would not be able to handle the consequences!

Fortunately, things turned out just as they had planned, and the first wave of poison masters that descended Wondertrap Mountain only comprised of martial artists below the Origin Core realm.

It was likely that the more powerful characters were still enjoying the banquet that Elder Ximo mentioned, and these were people who had not been allowed to join in.

Since that was the case, as long as Master Dongran departed immediately after carrying out the plan, even the powerhouses on Wondertrap Mountain would find it difficult to pin-point the one who was responsible!

"Is the plan the same as what you have heard?" Master Dongran asked.

"Yes, it is. But I have one more question. What about the madam?" Lu Tianzi responded with a question of his own.

"The madam?" Master Dongran revealed a look of surprise. "Do you mean my wife?"

"That's right," Lu Tianzi nodded. "Are you intending to leave her out of this?"

"We martial artists spend our lives pursuing the pinnacle of strength. What are familial relations worth when it comes to obtaining greater power?" Master Dongran shrugged.

"It seems that everything's good then," Lu Tianzi smiled. "Since the group from Wondertrap Mountain will be arriving tomorrow, I suppose tomorrow will be the day we act?"

"Tomorrow will be the day," Master Dongran confirmed.

***

That night, Lu Tianzi stepped into Nanlan Qianxue's room before quickly setting up a concealing formation.

Nanlan Qianxue did not question him, watching silently until he was done.

"What's the matter?" Nanlan Qianxue asked in confusion.

With a flick of his wrist, the Moon Culler appeared in Lu Tianzi's hand. "Come at me with all you've got. Don't hold anything back."

Nanlan Qianxue furrowed her brows.

Yet despite her confusion, she did not hesitate to bring out the Frost Jade Sword, causing the surrounding temperature to go down a notch.

Without further questions, Nanlan Qianxue did just as Lu Tianzi had requested, driving the liquid Slaughter Essence within her inner world and piercing forward with all her might.

Lu Tianzi dodged it rather easily, but the second strike came swiftly, followed by the third, fourth, and so on..

This went on for a while, with Nanlan Qianxue constantly attacking while Lu Tianzi dodged repeatedly.

From time to time, Lu Tianzi would use the Moon Culler to block the Frost Jade Sword, resulting in a dim green light appearing at the point of contact.

That was an effect of the Shifting Blossoms Sword Art.

With every contact, Lu Tianzi could feel a bit of his energy leaving his body to enter Nanlan Qianxue's inner world, replenishing her stamina bit by bit.

Sword light continuously flashed in the small constraint of the room, yet nothing was broken due to the duo's excellent control.

After a while, Lu Tianzi finally stopped Nanlan Qianxue. "All right, that's good enough."

Nanlan Qianxue immediately halted her attacks and kept away the Frost Jade Sword, before silently looking at Lu Tianzi. She did not ask any questions, knowing fully well that Lu Tianzi would be explaining himself next.

However, she certainly did not expect what was to come.

Lu Tianzi looked at her and spoke with a playful grin on his face. "Qianxue, do you feel like doing something crazy?"