Chapter 217: The Gift Bag Is Poisonous

On the open ground, as time passed, Tang Yun's refinement on his side was, as expected, gradually drawing to a close.

After all, with his strength as a seasoned Fourth Rank Refiner, refining a Third Rank Spirit Water Marvelous Light was not a particularly difficult task.

After another incense stick's worth of time, from within Tang Yun's refinement chamber came crisp sounds of striking metal. Gaze after gaze shot over, and then they saw Tang Yun holding a crystal bottle, a smile on his face.

Inside the crystal bottle was a pale red liquid—precisely the "Hongni Spirit Water" he had successfully refined.

A few sighs of admiration sounded from all around. Just as they had expected, Tang Yun had refined the "Hongni Spirit Water" in the fastest time.

Their gazes shifted to the refinement chamber opposite. At this moment, Li Luo—Expression Turns Solemn—was still continuously fusing material after material. Clearly, his refinement process had yet to be completed.

In terms of speed, Tang Yun had clearly seized an absolute advantage.

If this examination were a contest of refinement speed, Li Luo would likely have suffered a crushing defeat.

But even so, worry had already begun to surface in the eyes of the headquarters' Refiners, because they truly could not fathom how Li Luo, a Third Rank Refiner who had only just advanced, was supposed to compete against Tang Yun, a Fourth Rank Refiner.

Was this third examination really going to be lost?

After that, the headquarters would have to unconditionally provide secret-method source water to the Xiling Prefecture branch. This was practically aiding the enemy.

Some gazes turned toward where Jiang Jiang Qinge was. What they saw was that this girl, whose prestige within Luo Lan Mansion now even surpassed Li Luo's, wore an utterly serene expression on her breathtakingly beautiful face. Her golden eyes seemed to shimmer like dawn light, and without anyone realizing it, the agitation in their hearts gradually subsided.

The clamor in the field quietly faded, and everyone looked toward Li Luo's refinement chamber, waiting for his refinement to end.

And this wait lasted a full hour.

During this period, Li Luo's refinement also experienced several mishaps, which led to the loss of some materials. Fortunately, however, the overall refinement was not affected—only the refinement time was drawn out a little.

In the end, when red liquid began to appear in Li Luo's crystal tube, a continuous chorus of relieved exhales rang out across the field.

Li Luo's refinement had ended—narrowly, but safely.

Inside the refinement chamber, Li Luo also wiped the sweat from his forehead. He had originally thought this refinement would fail, and had even prepared to start over. Fortunately, those mishaps had not affected the refinement.

Gripping the crystal bottle in his hand, he walked out of the refinement chamber.

He and Tang Yun both walked to the center between the two refinement chambers, and everyone held their breath and watched in silence.

"The Young Mansion Master's refinement talent is truly astonishing," Tang Yun said, looking at Li Luo with sincere admiration in his words. Although Li Luo's speed in refining the Third Rank Spirit Water Marvelous Light was relatively slow, no matter what, he had ultimately succeeded.

And one must remember, Li Luo had only just advanced to Third Rank Refiner. Generally speaking, his success rate in refining a Third Rank Spirit Water Marvelous Light would not be very high. Yet although Li Luo had encountered some danger earlier, he had still steadied the situation and successfully refined the "Hongni Spirit Water."

Such skill was enough to reveal his talent.

Li Luo smiled, said nothing more, and instead beckoned. An attendant brought over two refinement-testing needles.

"President Tang Yun, let's begin this final step. Also, would you like to inspect it?" Li Luo said with a smile, gesturing.

Tang Yun was silent for a moment, took one of the refinement-testing needles, but did not inspect it. Instead, he sighed: "The Young Mansion Master's magnanimity is as vast as the sea. Why would I need to play the petty villain?"

Then, with a solemn expression, he inserted the refinement-testing needle into the "Hongni Spirit Water" in his hand.

Numerous tense gazes shot over.

Then everyone saw that on Tang Yun's refinement-testing needle, the marking representing refinement power had climbed to a certain value.

"Fifty-seven percent."

At this refinement power, all the Refiners nodded slightly. Because the "Hongni Spirit Water" formula was only a Two-Star formula, the extreme limit of its refinement power barely reached around sixty percent. For Tang Yun to achieve fifty-seven percent refinement power, while not top-tier, was absolutely an above-average result.

Especially for a Third Rank Refiner like Li Luo, who had only just advanced.

One must remember, the vast majority of Third Rank Refiners, when they first begin refining, would find it very difficult for their finished products to exceed a refinement power of around fifty-two percent.

Li Luo glanced at the refinement power on Tang Yun's side, then said nothing more. Under the many gazes, he too inserted the refinement-testing needle.

A few breaths later, he looked at the marking on the refinement-testing needle and suddenly smiled.

"Mine is... fifty-eight percent?"

"Looks like my luck isn't bad—just a little higher than President Tang Yun's..."

He raised the refinement-testing needle in his hand. The gazes present could all clearly see the marking on it, and then the atmosphere grew somewhat stagnant at this moment.

Every face in the crowd was written full of disbelief.

The "Hongni Spirit Water" refined by Li Luo actually had a refinement power slightly higher than Tang Yun's?!

How was that possible!

Whoosh!

Whispers erupted at this moment. Everyone wore an expression of shock. Fortunately, however, Li Luo's impression on everyone over this period had been one of a mild temperament, sincere in his dealings, and a Refiner of great talent. So although this result was extremely shocking, for the moment no one gave rise to suspicions of the sort about whether Li Luo had tampered with something somewhere.

Tang Yun was similarly somewhat lost. He stared at the refinement-testing needle in Li Luo's hand, was silent for a few seconds, and finally a wry smile surfaced on his face: "Young Mansion Master, your refinement talent is simply too terrifying."

The materials on both sides were completely identical—they had already conducted many checks on this point earlier—and the refinements on both sides were also carried out under the watchful eyes of everyone. So he truly could not think of any way Li Luo could have cheated.

And if it wasn't cheating, then it could only be real.

Tang Yun could only believe that Li Luo's refinement talent had reached a quite terrifying degree. He had heard of the existence of such geniuses—they were born with an extremely keen perception, able to grasp the subtle changes in materials during each fusion, which would give them a tremendous advantage when refining Spirit Water Marvelous Light.

With no other explanation available, Tang Yun could only conclude that Li Luo was precisely this kind of rare genius.

Looking at Tang Yun's bitter smile, Li Luo also felt a little embarrassed. In truth, under normal refinement circumstances, the odds were he would not match Tang Yun. After all, he had only just advanced to Third Rank, and was still not skilled in refining Third Rank Spirit Water Marvelous Light. Once he had steeped himself in this rank for longer, surpassing Tang Yun at that point would not be a problem.

As for being able to surpass him now, it was entirely due to the secret-method source water condensed from his own special Water-Light Phase.

But strictly speaking, this couldn't really be called cheating, because this secret-method source water was condensed from Li Luo's own phase power—it was a talent unique to him.

Of course, at present Li Luo did not intend to offer any explanation on this point.

Amid the many exclamations, Li Luo's gaze also turned toward those Refiners from the branch. At this moment, the latter and the others wore somewhat blank expressions, because Tang Yun had also lost this examination. That meant they had failed all three examinations.

According to the prior agreement, they would also leave the headquarters and return to Xiling Prefecture. At the same time, the headquarters would no longer supply them with secret-method source water.

Their time at the headquarters had come to an end.

At the thought of this, a surge of panic rose in their hearts. After becoming accustomed to better conditions and prospects, who would still want to return to that branch in Xiling Prefecture with no prospects?

There, one could only muddle along and wait to die. But here at the headquarters, they could leverage the headquarters to go further in their cultivation of refinement arts.

They did not want to leave.

But—they had been sent here by the Manager Pei Hao Sect!

Before leaving Xiling Prefecture, it had been Manager Pei Hao's instigation that had made them feel a sense of unwillingness, which was why they had come to the headquarters to make trouble.

At that time, Manager Pei Hao had even sent them off with a farewell drink, saying he would definitely seek justice for them.

Under such circumstances, could the headquarters still take them in?

And just as the branch refinement masters wore complicated, panicked expressions, Li Luo stepped forward. He stared at the crowd, a gentle smile on his face, and said, "If any of you wish to stay at the Southwind Manor headquarters, then on behalf of the entire House Luolan Mansion, I welcome you."

"You need not concern yourselves with anything that happened before. Even if you carried out some tasks under Manager Pei Hao's orders, I can promise you that the past will not be held against you. You should have had the chance to discuss this with the refinement masters here at headquarters during this period."

Looking at the gentle smile on Li Luo's face, Tang Yun and Lu Lu Xiaofeng both sighed inwardly. After all these days of brewing, this young mansion lord had finally revealed his ambition.

He had made it clear he intended to swallow up these branch refinement masters whole.

But could they stop him?

The two glanced at the expectant, anxious looks in the branch refinement masters' eyes and laughed bitterly. This young mansion lord's methods were truly fearsome. They had clearly come to cause trouble, yet in the end, he had stolen their hearts instead?

Such methods truly befitted the child of two mansion lords.

However, although the others might choose to stay, Tang Yun and Lu Lu Xiaofeng had no such intention. After all, Manager Pei Hao had shown them some kindness and patronage.

So at this moment, both of them stepped forward.

"Young Mansion Lord, your heart is as vast as the sea—we have felt that these past days. If these brothers from the branches can find a better future here at headquarters, please let them stay." The two cupped their fists and spoke.

Li Luo looked at them, catching the note of farewell in their words, and sighed, "You don't wish to stay?"

Tang Yun and Lu Lu Xiaofeng laughed bitterly, shook their heads slightly, and, not wanting to say more, prepared to take their leave.

Clang!

And just then, from somewhere in the distance, there seemed to ring out a peculiar bell toll. Its sound waves rippled, echoing across the sky above the Southwind Manor headquarters.

The instant the bell tolled, Tang Yun and Lu Lu Xiaofeng suddenly felt moisture at the corners of their eyes. Puzzled, they wiped at them, then were horrified to see their hands covered in fresh blood.

Li Luo's pupils also contracted sharply at that moment, for he was standing opposite them and clearly saw that from the corners of their eyes, their nostrils, and their ears, black blood was now flowing out...

Bleeding from the seven orifices.

In that brief instant, Li Luo's mind raced. With an expressionless face, he turned his head and looked toward the branch refinement masters—and sure enough, he found that black blood was flowing from all seven orifices of every single one of them.

It was the height of midsummer, the sunlight falling on his body, yet it made Li Luo feel wave after wave of cold.

Chaos and cries of panic erupted all around, and his gaze grew exceedingly dark and cold.

So this was Manager Pei Hao's contingency.

He had sent them a poisoned gift package.