Many people present felt that Lu Xingzhou’s provocation was too dangerous.

Although Huo Liancheng had only recently broken through to the initial stage of Chaopin, Chaopin was still Chaopin.

The gap between Chaopin and Yipin was far greater than that between Yipin and Erpin. It was a complete qualitative change, having crossed the great hurdle of Huiyang.

Even if Lu Xingzhou could defeat Yipin with Erpin, and with A’nuo’s cooperation, how could he fight Chaopin with Erpin?

To face Chaopin beyond one’s rank, one would need at least the strength of a Yipin peak master to withstand a few moves, much like Pei Qingyan against Xuan Nü. Apart from Feng Ziliu, only he could be considered a minor主力 (main force), with others only assisting through formations.

So, if Lu Xingzhou provoked Huo Liancheng and destroyed the altar formation, but couldn’t hold his own, wouldn’t he be instantly defeated?

But the next moment, two streaks of sword light shot from the left and right, one blocking Lu Xingzhou’s front and the other aiming for Huo Liancheng’s head.

Two Yipin peak masters, undeniably real.

Huo Liancheng urgently stopped to block the sword light, then turned sharply: “Chu Zhaohuai of Huanhua Jianpai, Qi Zijiu of Lingtian Ge! When did you two become Lu Xingzhou’s dogs!”

Chu Zhaohuai, the sect master of Huanhua Jianpai, sneered: “Old Grand Tutor, you’ve done too many evil deeds, it seems you’ve forgotten that my sect’s direct descendant, Chu Qingchen, was assassinated by a killer hired by your son… And let me also inform the Old Grand Tutor that Chu Qingchen is my biological son! Doctor Lu gave me an opportunity to avenge my son, and I am very grateful.”

Huo Liancheng fumed: “The killer was Ye Wufeng, under Yan Jun! You are also associating with Yan Jun!”

Chu Zhaohuai glanced at Yuan Muyu, who was fighting on the altar, and said lightly: “At the time of the incident, the Yanluo Dian expelled Ye Wufeng and provided an explanation. Old Grand Tutor, there’s no need to shift blame. Even if the killer was Ye Wufeng, the one who hired him was your son.”

Yuan Muyu: “…”

So there’s a benefit to this, huh?

Huo Liancheng angrily asked: “Then what about you, Qi Zijiu? Did your son also die?”

Qi Zijiu twitched his mouth: “Doctor Lu gave my son a new life, I suppose. For Doctor Lu’s act of revenge, Qi is duty-bound.”

What new life did Lu Xingzhou give your son? Does making him the most ridiculous new number one in history count?

Huo Liancheng was so angry he had nowhere to vent. Huanhua Jianpai and Lingtian Ge, two renowned Yipin powerhouses of Daqian, their sect masters were naturally at the peak of Yipin. Being surrounded like this was not a pleasant experience.

This seemed to be the first time Lu Xingzhou involved “outsiders” in his revenge, but that was no longer important, as it was no longer a personal vendetta, but a life-and-death struggle between two factions.

Sheng Qingfeng, who had been prevented from leaving earlier, sighed and drew his long saber: “I said I wanted to leave, but you wouldn’t let me. Now I have no choice, I’m really helping my son-in-law, okay?”

With three Yipin masters surrounding Huo Liancheng, Lu Xingzhou himself retreated to the outer perimeter. Huo Liancheng couldn’t break out for a while, roaring in anger: “Lu Xingzhou! What kind of man relies on outsiders! If you have guts, let’s fight to the death!”

“So childish at such an old age.” Lu Xingzhou said leisurely: “But I can understand, after all, you don’t have a family anymore… So, let me introduce you to my family members?”

As his words fell, several slender figures appeared beside him.

Battles were raging everywhere in the arena, but even in the midst of it, people couldn’t help but lose their composure a bit.

The newcomers were A’nuo, Shen Tang, Dugu Qingli, Pei Chuyun, Sheng Yuanyao, and surprisingly, Jiang Yuan.

The so-called “family members,” except for one child, were all women. Oh, and the child was also a girl.

Ye Tinglan really wanted to ask Dugu Qingli what she was doing here, and Jiang Duxu also really wanted to ask Jiang Yuan what she was doing here.

In fact, both knew the arrangements; these were the people prepared to deal with Huo Liancheng. Shen Tang’s secret entry into the capital was even facilitated by Ye Tinglan. But when Lu Xingzhou called them “family members,” why did it sound so… off?

Another person who couldn’t keep his composure was Gu Zhanting: “Your leg is healed?”

He didn’t mention a name, but everyone knew who he was talking about.

Shen Tang didn’t turn her head, her sword pointed at Huo Liancheng, and she calmly replied: “It healed a long time ago. Does Your Majesty intend to punish me for deceiving the emperor?”

“You!”

“Parents in this world would only worry about their daughter’s injuries; if they knew she was cured, they would be ecstatic. And your first reaction is deception, that she shouldn’t have healed, that if you had known she was healed, you would have killed her long ago… truly ridiculous. I previously cursed someone for being as cold-hearted as you, but looking at it now, she’s much better than you. At least she knows Xingzhou’s leg is healed, she wouldn’t have such a ridiculous reaction as yours.”

Yuan Muyu: “…”

The arena fell silent.

Shen Tang said lightly: “I’ve been pretending for a year, and I’m tired. I, Shen Tang, must participate in my husband’s family vendetta, regardless of whether it exposes me. If you want to punish me for deceiving the emperor, we can discuss it later.”

People felt Shen Tang’s full-blown aura and only then realized that Shen Tang was in the intermediate stage of Erpin, and only a step away from the advanced stage.

Such talent, no wonder Gu Zhanting was wary.

But Lu Xingzhou had several other people as extraordinary as Shen Tang by his side.

Jiang Yuan… advanced stage of Erpin. As a visitor from the upper realm, she had her own peculiarities; perhaps her Erpin cultivation was even suppressed. Let’s not discuss that for now.

Dugu Qingli, intermediate stage of Erpin.

A’nuo, initial stage of Erpin.

Pei Chuyun, initial stage of Erpin.

Sheng Yuanyao, peak of Sanpin, just on the verge of breaking through to Erpin.

One could faintly hear Sheng Yuanyao murmuring: “That rotten A’lü forcefully took it, making my husband and I miss two dual cultivations, otherwise I would also be Erpin.”

Sheng Qingfeng: “…”

When did breaking through to Erpin become as easy as popping beans? Do you know how many years it took your father to reach Erpin?

But this wasn’t just about Sheng Yuanyao; everyone was abnormal.

Had this world gone mad?

This family was more incredible than a super sect; even a super sect like Tianyao Shengdi couldn’t cultivate so many young Erpin masters.

Only Ye Tinglan and Zhao En, who had studied qi脉 (meridian) theory, could see that this was Lu Xingzhou’s own qi脉 convergence, with the most spiritually gifted women in the world gathered around him, including Ye Tinglan herself as part of it.

If one were to also include Long Qinghuang, who was pregnant… then Lu Xingzhou’s power could be said to be truly terrifying.

Currently, three Yipin masters surrounded Huo Liancheng as the main combat force, while a group of Erpin masters harassed and besieged him from the outer perimeter. Huo Liancheng, a newly broken-through Chaopin, really had no way to deal with this group of people. He roared in anger, looking like a mad tiger, his white hair disheveled and flying.

He was arguably the most aggrieved Chaopin in history. After breaking through, he hadn’t even fought a proper battle. His first battle was being besieged like this. The funny thing was that this was supposed to be their organization’s home turf, and now no one knew whose home turf it was.

“I feel there’s something wrong with Old Grand Tutor’s Chaopin…” Lu Xingzhou said leisurely while haphazardly spitting out flames and water columns, “Did you come out early before your Chaopin fully solidified? Didn’t digest it well? Learn from Xuan Nü; we almost died by her hand even with a Chaopin master holding her off. Look at you, we don’t even have a Chaopin master…”

The two Yipin peak sect masters also felt it; Huo Liancheng’s condition was off, and he didn’t have the suppressive power of a Chaopin as everyone imagined.

Logically, Chaopin’s sword aura, in the absence of a Chaopin here, could not be blocked by a single Yipin master. To block it, two or even a group of people would need to act simultaneously. Everyone was cooperating for the first time, so where was such tacit understanding? It would be easy to be picked off one by one, or at least to break through the formation and escape.

If it were Ye Tinglan, a single moonlight strike would be enough to blast everyone away.

But Huo Liancheng was not like that.

Although his strength was immense and his sword aura heavy, blocking it alone was extremely difficult, but only difficult, not requiring everyone to block it together.

If one person couldn’t bear the force and retreated to dissipate it, with others rushing in to attack, it was enough to dismantle Huo Liancheng’s offensive.

This was simply not the performance of a Chaopin master; there had to be a problem.

“Breaking through by forcibly consuming pills, that’s what it is, you have no understanding of Huiyang at all.” Lu Xingzhou said leisurely: “Bright Hall’s Radiance, a Thousand Li of Huiyang, that’s cultivation of the divine soul. But the Huo family practices martial arts, which corresponds to the Xisui period of ancient cultivation. Cultivating xing and ming are two different paths. Don’t you understand, or don’t you read the royal classics? His Majesty is quite good to you; he didn’t even tell you this.”

Huo Liancheng was stunned, then suddenly turned his head to look in Gu Zhanting’s direction.

Gu Zhanting did not look at him, seemingly fully engaged in battle with Ye Tinglan and having no spare energy to respond. Huo Liancheng’s heart still chilled by half.

So that’s how it is, so that’s how it is.

How could the Emperor truly cultivate a Chaopin family to threaten himself?

The reason why the pill furnace was discovered but not confiscated, allowed to remain in the Huo family, was not out of trust, but because he didn’t want other old eccentrics of the royal family to discover and share it.

So selfish.

A dog is always just a dog; the Emperor never saw you as a human.

How ridiculous, this whole life…

Ye Tinglan was also saying to Gu Zhanting: “You are truly ridiculous.”

Gu Zhanting calmly replied: “The victor is king, the loser is bandit; saying these things is meaningless. Do you think that because the ceremony was destroyed and my breakthrough failed, your rebellion has succeeded?”

There was more than just Gu Shaoli among the royal family’s reclusive old eccentrics. When “rebellion” occurred, they would not sit idly by.

Once they emerged from seclusion, this “rebellion” would end in a landslide.

“But Gu Zhanting, do you dare let them know of your current state? If you dared, there wouldn’t be only Prince Dingxi, a royal elder, present.” Ye Tinglan said lightly: “The imperial bloodline isn’t just your branch. They also have their own bloodlines, and there are no fewer people within the royal family waiting for you to make a mistake than elsewhere.”

Gu Zhanting said coldly: “Do you think I’m talking about that?”

Ye Tinglan narrowed her eyes.

“I have prepared for so many years… although I don’t know how the array nodes across the world were destroyed by you, there’s far more than one backup plan.” The look in Gu Zhanting’s eyes grew increasingly frenzied: “If you don’t let me break through in a stable way, then don’t blame me for being radical.”

Ye Tinglan was stunned, her expression suddenly changing: “You’re crazy, even plundering the Daqian’s qi脈?”

“Daqian is me, and I am Daqian; the two are one, so what is plundering?” Gu Zhanting’s expression became even more savage: “As for being crazy… yes, I’ve been suppressed by you my whole life, I’ve long been crazy. I thought after breaking through I could still have you peacefully, but you were uncooperative, running off with that pretty boy so early… So-called normal methods are just a joke!”

As his words fell, an indescribable qi脈 force subtly entered his body. Gu Zhanting’s dragon robe tore apart, revealing dragon scales covering every inch of his face, neck, and arms.

Demonic energy and qi rioted, and strong winds howled throughout the entire altar area.

At this moment, Pei Qingyan and Prince Qi Gu Yiheng, along with a large group of high-ranking officials, ministers, princes, and generals, rushed into the arena.

Gu Zhanting’s mutated appearance was completely revealed to everyone present.