Chapter 655: The Death of Manager Pei Hao

Boom!

The black dragon, wrapped in surging netherwater, roared forth and, directly under Manager Pei Hao's utterly shocked and furious gaze, slammed viciously into the golden bell surrounding him.

Dong!

The bell's chime rang out, and one could see golden light ripples spreading rapidly across the surface of the golden bell.

Manager Pei Hao's eyes blazed with fury. With a sharp shout, he poured out every last drop of his resonance power without reservation, trying to stabilize the golden bell. He knew this attack was Li Luo and Jiang Qing's final resistance—as long as he could endure it, the two of them would be at his mercy!

But two Marquis-grade arts were hardly so easy to withstand.

After all, the current Manager Pei Hao was no true Marquis Realm cultivator—he had only been forcibly elevated to a "False Marquis Realm" through external power!

So, no matter how he exerted all his strength to resist, the ripples on the golden bell grew ever more rapid. Suddenly, a faint crack rang out, and a fissure appeared on the surface of the golden bell.

Manager Pei Hao's pupils contracted sharply, and his heart sank.

After the first crack appeared, more and more fissures began to emerge one after another across the golden bell, spreading rapidly. In just a dozen or so breaths, the once-sturdy golden bell was covered in scars.

Boom!

In the end, the golden bell's defense reached its limit. A violent explosion rang out, and countless gazes within the House Luolan Mansion headquarters watched in shock as the golden bell burst apart, transforming into a sky full of golden light specks.

The instant the golden bell shattered, the sacred fire phoenix and the black dragon wrapped in netherwater locked onto Manager Pei Hao's body with uncanny sentience. Then, in the split second he tried to retreat violently, they pounced on him one after the other and struck his body head-on.

For that instant, it was as if fireworks had bloomed in midair.

Manager Pei Hao's body was swept up by two terrifying forces, and his form began to rapidly dissolve. Yet his eyes did not show despair—instead, they fixed on Li Luo and Jiang Qing with a cold, sinister gaze.

"I truly didn't expect the two of you to be capable of reaching this extent," he said in a chilling voice.

Li Luo, covered in fresh blood, broke into a brilliant smile, waved at Manager Pei Hao, and said, "Brother, farewell forever. Don't worry, I'll lead House Luolan Mansion back to glory. When that day comes, I'll burn paper offerings and let you know."

"Li Luo, don't get cocky. Don't think this is over."

Manager Pei Hao's voice was gloomy, but after he finished speaking, the light in his eyes rapidly faded, replaced by a lightless, ashen darkness.

His ashen gaze glanced at his own body with some difficulty, then looked back at Li Luo and Jiang Qing. An extremely complex emotion surfaced in his eyes, but in the end he said nothing—merely letting out a faint sigh, allowing his body to be dissolved into nothingness by the two forces.

Li Luo and Jiang Qing watched this scene calmly. They couldn't be bothered to figure out what Manager Pei Hao's final look meant, nor did it matter whether he felt regret. All the chaos had already been wrought, and no amount of remorse could change anything. For House Luolan Mansion, Manager Pei Hao was the chief culprit behind this great upheaval.

Dying now was, at the very least, clean.

Puchi.

Li Luo covered his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood. His expression immediately withered, his face turning a terrifying shade of pale.

A waft of faint fragrance came, and Jiang Qing appeared beside Li Luo. She hurriedly reached out to support him, channeling light resonance power into his body. Her breathtakingly beautiful face shifted slightly, because in her perception, Li Luo's internal injuries were extremely severe.

Clearly, Li Luo had paid an enormous price for that final strike.

"You're far too reckless," Jiang Qing said with a hint of reproach.

"Wasn't all my hard cultivation over this past year precisely so that today I could share the burden with you?"

Li Luo smiled, then said with some pride, "So? Sister Jiang Qing, how was my performance today?"

Jiang Qing extended her slender, fair-as-jade hand and gently wiped the blood from Li Luo's cheek. A smile rose in her clear golden eyes, and she nodded lightly, her voice softer than ever before: "You performed even more perfectly than I imagined. Li Luo, I'm proud of you."

Li Luo broke into a brilliant smile, but immediately tugged at his wounds and winced, sucking in several sharp breaths of cold air.

Jiang Qing then circulated her light resonance power to help him recover from his injuries. She could tell that Li Luo was truly at his absolute limit—he couldn't afford to use even a trace more resonance power from here on, or he might suffer lasting aftereffects.

"That Manager Pei Hao is finally dead," Li Luo said.

"Manager Pei Hao was never a real threat. Whether it was you or me, killing him wouldn't have been hard," Jiang Qing said, her eyes flickering slightly. "But the Manager Pei Hao just now may not have been the original Manager Pei Hao."

Li Luo nodded lightly and said, "Based on Manager Pei Hao's own abilities alone, no secret art could possibly have elevated his strength to the False Marquis Realm. So it's very likely that some Marquis Realm powerhouse took over his body."

"Who do you think it was?" Jiang Qing asked.

Li Luo frowned in thought, then said, "There are quite a few Marquis Realm powerhouses within the Great Xia who covet our House Luolan Mansion, so it's hard to pin down a target right away. But based on my intuition, I think one person is quite suspicious."

His gaze met Jiang Qing's, and in unison they spoke a single name.

"Shen Shen Jinxiao."

Li Luo laughed and said, "Looks like Sister Jiang Qing and I really are of one mind."

"But although my intuition makes me suspect Shen Shen Jinxiao, how could he be the one behind Manager Pei Hao? That's truly strange... The two of them seem to have no reason to be connected."

Jiang Qing shook her head and said, "Indeed. Compared to him, the Regent, Du Ze Yan, Zhu Zhu Qinghuo and the others are all more suspicious. But this is just our guess—perhaps it's just our imagination?"

Li Luo shrugged and said, "But regardless of whether it's a guess, once the Mansion Sacrifice ends, I still need to report him to the Academy. We should at least let the Academy investigate him."

Jiang Qing agreed with this—after all, they both harbored considerable dislike for that Shen Shen Jinxiao. Having this pretext to cause him some trouble was a satisfying matter.

"As for the Mansion Sacrifice, we've basically given it our all. From here on, perhaps we'll have to look to Uncle Biao's side."

Li Luo took a deep breath. He and Jiang Qing had managed to stabilize the problems coming from within House Luolan Mansion, but this wasn't truly the end, because the external enemies still remained.

In a certain dim, secret chamber.

Puchi!

Shen Shen Jinxiao spat a mouthful of fresh blood from his mouth. His expression was terrifyingly dark. At this moment, on the altar before him, the incomplete heart began to weather away, rapidly turning into nothingness and vanishing completely.

With Manager Pei Hao's death, he had lost the medium through which he could intervene.

"I actually... actually lost?!"

Shen Shen Jinxiao's five fingers clenched tightly, his gaze faintly turning savage. This outcome truly stung his heart—he, a dignified Marquis Realm powerhouse, after so many years of preparation, had actually had his scheme disrupted by Li Luo and Jiang Qing.

The thought of years of planning coming to nothing filled Shen Shen Jinxiao's heart with violent rage.

But he was, after all, a man of unfathomable depth. After taking two deep breaths, he managed to suppress his emotions.

"I truly underestimated those two."

Shen Shen Jinxiao's gaze was sinister as he said coldly, "But I won't give up."

As his voice fell, his expression suddenly shifted. With a sweep of his sleeve, the altar before him vanished, and his figure also disappeared from the secret chamber. When he reappeared, he was already at the first-floor main door, because the door had just been knocked on.

Shen Shen Jinxiao opened the door expressionlessly and saw two Purple-Glory mentors from the Academy standing outside.

"What is it?" Shen Shen Jinxiao asked flatly.

The two Purple-Glory mentors scrutinized him for a few moments, then smiled and said, "Mentor Shen Shen Jinxiao, have you been here the whole time without going out?"

Shen Shen Jinxiao frowned and said, "What do you mean? Whether I've gone out or not — don't you already know?"

The two Purple Radiance mentors smiled and nodded, saying, "Nothing else, we just came to ask. Also, the Vice Dean said that if you have nothing else to attend to, please come by for a chat."

Hearing this, Shen Shen Jinxiao nodded quite readily and said, "Fine."

Seeing him agree so readily, the two Purple Radiance mentors visibly relaxed as well, smiling and nodding.