Chapter 647: Zhu Zhu Qinghuo's Methods

Jiang Jiang Qinge's strike was as swift as a flash of lightning.

By the time the crowd came to their senses, Xu Xu Tianling had already been repelled, and Mo Chen had even had an arm severed, instantly shocking everyone present.

Gaze after gaze of astonishment turned toward Jiang Jiang Qinge, who was now radiating boundless light. She held a heavy golden sword in her hand, her flawless, fair face cold and stern, and her golden eyes swirling with a mysterious, profound light. Behind her, terrifying energy gathered, and in the blink of an eye, three Tian Zhu had already appeared!

Her strength was rising at a terrifying pace.

Moreover, this surge wasn't temporary—she was truly breaking through!

At this moment, Jiang Jiang Qinge was like a volcano compressed to its absolute limit, finally erupting, revealing her majestic might.

Both Xu Xu Tianling and Mo Chen revealed looks of fear, because Jiang Jiang Qinge was far too strange right now. Clearly she was only breaking through within Tian Zhu Jing, yet the resonance force surging within her far surpassed that level.

This was absolutely enough to rival any Da Tian Xiang Jing!

"Xu Xu Tianling, you dare break the rules of the Mansion Sacrifice?! Are you trying to rebel?!" Yuan Qing came to his senses at this moment, and upon seeing Li Luo was unharmed, he immediately roared at Xu Xu Tianling.

"Pavilion Master Lei Zhang!"

Hearing Yuan Qing's shout, Lei Zhang sprang up as well. With a wave of his hand, everyone in the House Luolan Mansion headquarters rose to their feet. Countless weapons glinting with cold light, coursing with resonance force, were pointed at Manager Pei Hao's side.

Everyone's eyes were filled with fury, after all Xu Xu Tianling and Mo Chen's earlier strikes had been utterly despicable—completely treating the rules of the Mansion Sacrifice as nothing.

If the other side wouldn't even abide by these rules, then there was no point in continuing this Mansion Sacrifice!

The atmosphere in the arena instantly became taut, ready to snap at any moment.

Li Luo stared indifferently at Xu Xu Tianling, Mo Chen, and the others, and said flatly: "Originally, I kept stepping back again and again because I didn't want my House Luolan Mansion to reach the point of turning its blades on itself, but it seems I was being naive."

Xu Xu Tianling sneered upon hearing this: "No need to make it sound so pleasant. You're only worried that the two factions of House Luolan Mansion going to war would damage House Luolan Mansion's strength, and then affect that strange formation protecting the headquarters."

"Seems you know quite a bit." Li Luo narrowed his eyes slightly.

Xu Xu Tianling let out a cold laugh: "Young Mansion Master, did you think today's grand show would end just like this?"

"No, on the contrary, this is only just the beginning!"

Li Luo's gaze was cold. He hadn't truly believed that defeating Manager Pei Hao today would mean the end of this matter, because Manager Pei Hao was merely a pawn placed out in the open. To be honest, if it weren't for fear of the hidden hand behind him, a single Manager Pei Hao wouldn't have been any threat at all.

Those hidden hands coveting House Luolan Mansion supported Manager Pei Hao only because he possessed a nominal claim to compete for the position of House Luolan Mansion Master. After all, once he became the Mansion Master, he could influence that protective strange formation of House Luolan Mansion, and when the time came, he only needed to weaken it, and then those marquis-level powerhouses outside could enter.

That was their ultimate goal.

But now that Manager Pei Hao had already failed, what did the other side plan to do next?

His gaze shifted to Jiang Jiang Qinge. Their eyes met briefly, and both saw the wariness in the other's.

"Impressive. These two little ones left behind by Li Taixuan and Dantai Lan are truly beyond expectation." On a pavilion outside the House Luolan Mansion headquarters, Zhu Zhu Qinghuo stared into the headquarters, then couldn't help but praise aloud.

Compared to these two, his own son—who was actually considered passable—was truly mediocre to the core.

When it came to descendants, Zhu Zhu Qinghuo was actually somewhat envious of Li Taixuan.

"As expected, relying on Manager Pei Hao is useless."

"Shen Shen Jinxiao, this move of yours is useless too."

Zhu Zhu Qinghuo smiled faintly, then shook his head: "Since that's the case, then it's time to follow my plan."

He stared at the House Luolan Mansion headquarters. In his eyes were things ordinary people couldn't see—a massive strange formation, countless mysterious rays of light interwoven, layer upon layer, protecting the House Luolan Mansion headquarters airtight, a powerful oppressive aura emanating from within.

Even he felt a hint of heart-palpitations toward that strange formation.

"Li Taixuan, you truly are a heaven-chosen talent. A person like you shouldn't have appeared in a place like Daxia... and you really shouldn't have revealed that kind of treasure. After all, you have to know—desperate mountains and wicked waters breed unruly folk."

"Your strange formation borrows the momentum of House Luolan Mansion to take shape, and can suppress marquis-level powerhouses. This formation is indeed incomparably wondrous, but over these years I've been studying this strange formation constantly, and I've also gained some insight into the principles behind its existence."

"So, it's not truly flawless."

"Formed by borrowing momentum, naturally it will also wane because of it."

"House Luolan Mansion has ninety-eight strongholds and branches across Daxia. They seem to follow no pattern, but in truth each has its own subtlety. The nodes of your strange formation are hidden among these strongholds and branches, and over these years I've personally visited every single one of your strongholds and branches, and I've gained something."

Zhu Zhu Qinghuo smiled slightly, raised his palm, and a crystal ball slowly rose from his hand.

Within the crystal ball, numerous scenes played. In those scenes, buildings and pavilions were ablaze, and the faint figures of men and horses could be seen fighting within. On those buildings and pavilions, banners bearing the character "Luo" were also set alight, burning.

These were the House Luolan Mansion branches and strongholds he had once scouted out. Though there might be some misjudgments among them, it didn't matter—better to kill by mistake than to let one go.

"Now, let's see if the preparations I've made over these years actually work." Staring at the scenes within the crystal ball for a moment, Zhu Zhu Qinghuo raised his head, looked toward the towering strange formation of the House Luolan Mansion headquarters, and murmured to himself.

Inside the headquarters.

Li Luo and Jiang Jiang Qinge waited on guard for a while, but didn't notice anything unusual, so the former pondered slightly and said indifferently: "Xu Xu Tianling and Mo Chen broke the rules of the Mansion Sacrifice—this is a grave offense. According to House Luolan Mansion's rules, I now have the authority to expel the two of them from the Mansion. From this moment on, they are no longer retainers of our House Luolan Mansion."

This statement caused some commotion. The status of a retainer within House Luolan Mansion was quite high—second only to the two Mansion Masters in the past, and even other Pavilion Masters had to treat them with courtesy.

Under normal circumstances, Li Luo would have needed a series of procedures to kick them out of House Luolan Mansion, but the two of them breaking the rules of the Mansion Sacrifice earlier had crossed House Luolan Mansion's bottom line, so this gave Li Luo sufficient reason.

The three Pavilion Masters who had originally sided with Manager Pei Hao now had somewhat stiff expressions, because the current situation had clearly fallen under the control of Li Luo and Jiang Jiang Qinge. They didn't know exactly what support Manager Pei Hao and Xu Xu Tianling had behind them, but just looking at things now, it seemed they were the ones about to suffer.

So for a moment, their hearts were all in turmoil, unsure of what to do.

Xu Xu Tianling and Mo Chen, however, were expressionless, clearly not caring about Li Luo's move.

"You two—will you surrender, or resist with everything you have?" Li Luo stared coldly at Xu Xu Tianling and the other, and said slowly.

Xu Xu Tianling's gaze was shadowed, but inwardly he was groaning, because the oppressive pressure from Jiang Jiang Qinge over there was growing stronger and stronger. Judging by the look of things, if they really fought, he probably wouldn't be a match for her.

But why was there still no movement from the person behind them?

Li Luo, however, had no intention of dragging things out with Xu Xu Tianling any longer. With a wave of his hand, he was about to give the order to capture and kill.

And at that very moment, Li Luo's raised hand suddenly paused, and both his and Jiang Jiang Qinge's expressions shifted slightly.

As if sensing something, they suddenly looked up, and then they saw that above House Luolan Mansion, violent and vast energy fluctuations had suddenly appeared. In the originally invisible sky above, a towering strange formation was slowly emerging.

Li Luo and Jiang Jiang Qinge's pupils contracted.

How was the protective strange formation activated?!

Moreover, what made both their hearts sink was that they clearly felt the power on that protective strange formation was, at this moment, beginning to weaken layer by layer.

This is...

Someone is sabotaging the strange formation?!