"In short, things are not like what you think."

After stopping Wang Lu through powerful means, using both hard and soft tactics to urge him to return back to Sacred Leaf residence, Zhan Ziye finally said those words after pondering for a long time.

However, upon listening to this, Wang Lu pondered and said with a frown, "Things are not like what I think?"

Sacred Leaf Shaman had already put on her clothes, yet she still had a somewhat crimson face. She strenuously said in a soft voice, "I know that it's easy to misunderstand that scene, but things are really not like what you think!"

A bit surprised, Wang Lu looked at Shaman. "Even you said so?"

With that, Wang Lu was lost in thought and then softly muttered, "I initially thought that you two were learning about each other's method, to accelerate the healing with healing technique, or that Senior Brother Ziye was reorganizing your method for you. But since both of you said that things are not like what I think… then it looks like A Ye had indeed worn the green hat."

"Wait a minute!" Zhan Ziye was stunned. "You thought that we're learning each other's method to accelerate the healing?"

Wang Lu sighed. "Is it really too deviant, deviating from common sense?"

"No, I just thought that, with your character, it is so unlikely for you to actually come up with such a normal and reasonable conjecture!" Zhan Ziye was filled with emotion. "According to my sect's analysis about you, your first reaction should be… along illicit affair thing."

When it came to the words illicit affair, Zhan Ziye was a bit awkward, and Shaman was also blushing with shame and turning her head around. Although just now, she indeed did not do anything detrimental to her husband, nevertheless, it was still too embarrassing.

Wang Lu said, "If Senior Brother Zhiye were to be replaced by another man, I would certainly think so. The problem is that, the men from Ten Thousand Arts Sect are always doomed to live a lonely life, a virgin till death. So, of course, you, as the lead disciple of Ten Thousand Arts Sect, certainly couldn't do such a thing, there's simply no need for me to guess."

Zhan Ziye revealed a complex look. "I really can't bring myself to be happy after hearing that."

Wang Lu said, "You're unhappy? Let me put it in another way: Congratulations for obtaining a brand new life experience in successfully sleeping with a beautiful young married woman. I will help you cover this up in front of A Ye. By the way, my Master also left me with all kinds of super drugs, if you want to liven things up…"

"... Forget it, I am doomed to live a lonely life."



"In short, why are you looking for me this time?"

After barely lifting the misunderstanding, Zhan Ziye had to ask Wang Lu's intention.

Although it was all just a misunderstanding, if Wang Lu just really came to play with him, then Zhan Ziye would get angry for real.

"Oh, you want to talk about serious matter? Okay then, the main thing is, I just want to warn you two injured people to be careful because Shengjing Sect team might regroup and come back again."

Zhan Ziye immediately turned serious. "Shengjing Sect team? What's going on?"

Wang Lu said, "Simply speaking, the circumstance forced them. They have to act to prove their worth. Their previous surprise attack was not under the incitement of Golden City, but instead, it was entirely on their own initiative. And this happened when the two sides were in a delicate stalemate. Because Golden City has its own strategic layout, it does not want anyone to complicate it. If Shengjing Sect team has a successful fight and managed to kill one or two spirit Masters then triumphantly returned with this achievement, even the Master of Golden City would have nothing to say. Unfortunately, their result is far from ideal. After paying a painful price, they also didn't bring any substantial result. Instead, they caused trouble to Golden City."

Zhan Ziye furrowed his brows, his analysis of the situation was somewhat slow. However, Shaman was already about to understand all of this. "Although A Ye and I suffered a heavy blow, Golden City is having an all-out war against Flaming Valley so they can't muster the strength to exploit this. Therefore, our serious injury is meaningless to Golden City. On the contrary, A Ye's revenge actually causes them an actual loss."

Wang Lu said, "Therefore, the Master of Golden City is furious toward Shengjing Sect people for their arbitrary initiative. And if Shengjing Sect people want to save the situation, they must prove their worth. Now, they only have three choices: follow the order of the Master of Golden City in going into the battlefield to directly battle against the barbarians of Flaming Valley, to intercept and kill A Ye, or to aim at you again. Amongst these three options, frontal fight against Flaming Valley is simply suicide. A Ye is like a ghost, so unless Qiong Hua herself makes a move, it is difficult to catch him. Only you two who are very relaxed in recuperating in the Eternal Tree are the best targets."

Shaman said, "Eternal Tree has always been successfully protected by the Sacred Leaves, it is not at all an open place like Harmony River, so you don't need to worry about our security."

"Okay, no need to worry about it then." Wang Lu shrugged his shoulder. "You two can continue with your business, I'll just take my leave."

With that, Wang Lu immediately flew away with his flying sword, leaving behind the two Master-follower who were still somewhat at a loss.

"Did he… deliberately come here just to remind us that?"

Zhan Ziye said, "According to the data, Wang Lu, this person, has always been unexpected. It's difficult to gauge him using common sense. But, the data also shows that, although he is unpredictable, he seldom does useless work. By rushing over here, he..."

Upon saying this, Zhan Ziye's complexion suddenly turned dark. Because he suddenly thought that, was it possible that Wang Lu had concluded that he and Shaman were in the process of rebuilding the foundation, thus had to be in a compromising position, and therefore specifically came here to collect evidence?

At the end of the day, in the five spirits power struggle, there was only one winner. Currently, Golden City had already been sucked into the mire, meaning that they already began to decline. Thus, naturally, the several forces in the alliance would move their focus away from Golden City, including himself. Wasn't the reason he spent his time to train Shaman just so that they would be able to compete against Wang Lu?

If at this time Wang Lu let this news pass on to A Ye, then… the consequences would really be difficult to predict. At least, the handbook compiled and given to him by his Sect's Elders before taking his journey did not record the measure to counter this.

While he was thinking, suddenly, Shaman from behind loudly exclaimed, "Oh heavens!"

"What's the matter?"

"Just now when Wang Lu came here, I didn't hear any report about it. At first, I thought he held the token, so no one stopped him, but just now…" Shaman said, and then felt that her throat somewhat dried up. "Just now when he left, I suddenly received the alarm from the nightingale sentinel, saying that a person without the token has just left the Eternal Tree, thus asking me on how to deal with it."

Zhan Ziye froze for a moment, but was then immediately startled. "You mean, without the token, he managed to sneak in all the way here?"

"... Yes," Shaman said in a sinking voice, "it was indeed an impressive lesson."

While speaking, her facial expression turned even gloomier. She initially thought that Eternal Tree was impregnable, but now it has been proven to be full of flaws. If Shengjing Sect came again to attack her… she was far from being completely secure.

The look on Zhan Ziye's face was also completely unsightly.

Wang Lu's amazing defense capability was already well-known. At present, amongst the cultivators who were on the same generation as him, except for Qiong Hua and a handful of other people, nobody had the confidence to be able to break his sword defense, even his own thunder body. However, he had never heard of him having any other specialties like in spell casting. Besides his defense, he was just a normal inner court disciple. However, now it seemed like he had amazing attainments in stealth.

Moreover, this was not even the key issue. As a cultivator that was excellent at defense, what was the point of him learning stealth? The two were completely not matched! Therefore, logically, this could only be explained with: Wang Lu's attainment in spell casting and his overall level were far above the initial assessment!

"Damn, how much stronger is that guy going to be…"

To face with the increasingly stronger Wang Lu alone, he was afraid that it was not enough, and in this world, the one that could help him...

Zhan Ziye turned to Shaman. His blazing eyes made the woman tremble.



"There's nothing to do here anymore… It's time for me to leave."

After leaving the Eternal Tree, Wang Lu greeted Lan who had been waiting for him under the tree and walked away side by side.

Lan somewhat strangely looked at Wang Lu. "You came all the way here just to return the token given by the Sacred Leaf?"

Wang Lu said, "In any case, it won't be useful anymore, so I might as well give it back… Moreover, there is a tracking spell in that token, so it makes me very uncomfortable to hold it."

"Oh." Upon listening to this explanation, the young woman nodded and no longer asked.

"I also wanted to use this opportunity to see what those two people have been doing in the meantime. Although in terms of strength, this Zhan Ziye is not the strongest, and his worldly knowledge is also barely passable, but among his peers, no one can be his match in terms of academic research ability. If Zhan Ziye could use his intellect towards the inheritance of Eternal Tree, then the master of wood spirit would obtain a boost, becoming an unprecedentedly powerful enemy."

Lan asked, "In that case, wouldn't it be very dangerous?"

Seeing that Wang Lu somewhat curiously looked at her, Lan said, "They are our enemies, if the enemies become strong, of course it's dangerous."

For this master of Grey Mountain, it was as if everything in this world could easily be divided. In A Ye's residence, she had received the full hospitality of the two husband and wife, but when she turned her face, an enemy was still an enemy.

However, this kind of temperament was really to Wang Lu's liking. For a professional like him, sentimentality was really troublesome.

"It is indeed very dangerous, so I deliberately came to take a look at them. And well, after seeing them, I had nothing to worry about. This Master-follower duo in some aspects are naive and cute, so there's no need for me to make my move. When the time comes, they would break down without a fight."

"Oh."

"Right now, the key issue is Flaming Valley. How long can this barbarian kingdom persist after Golden City allocates more than eighty percent of their energy to deal with them?"

While speaking, Wang Lu's complexion turned serious.

The real key to this five spirits power struggle was now in Flaming Valley. Were it not for Zhan Ziye's tactic of urging the tiger to swallow the wolf so that Flaming Valley rashly fought a war against Golden City, how could the other three forces be at ease?

However, no matter what, Flaming Valley was not as strong as Golden City, so the question now, how long could Flaming Valley persist in this all out war?



"Right now, presumably in everyone's calculation, we would end up losing."

On the barren scorched land north of Harmony River, there was a towering mountain. Although it was not as indomitable as the Eternal Tree, the mountain peak still reached into the cloud. On the mountain, there was a fire that hasn't been extinguished for thousands of years. Legend has it that in the past, this was the death place of an ancient god, and its anger would forever not be extinguished.

At the peak of the mountain, a huge red creature bathed in the lava. That creature was humanoid, but its joints have bony outgrowth and its fangs were visible outside, which showed how ferocious its appearance was. The boiling lava that could melt everything was actually treated like a warm water by it; he happily soaked in it.

"Golden City has already long been the dominant force in this world, and everyone has already been accustomed to it. Without even thinking, they immediately decide that they are invincible. No one dares to challenge its throne, and even sneers at other challengers. However, no one knows that the state of affairs has actually changed, nothing is eternal in this world."

While speaking, that huge man propped himself up with his hands, standing up in the middle of the lava, exposing his flaming red naked skin. The lava flowed down on his chest, showing his strong and indestructible body.

"Let the world see the true power of Flaming Valley. My follower, you will become the commander of the crack troops army. All of my crack troops and warriors are at your beck and call. Do not disappoint me."

"Yes!"

Next to that pool of lava, there was a young man with short black hair and a serious look who responded with a straight ramrod posture. On his left cheek, there was an x-shaped scar, which added a bit vicissitudes of life to the still youthful countenance. And the eyes that only a warrior could possess were flashing with lights that could palpitate the heart.