Chapter 112. Leaving Shennongjia, Three-Way Alliance, Destination: Hu City!

"Yes, Master!" The Golden-Winged Great Peng grew excited upon hearing that. It had spent most of its time in the wilderness, without any contact with the human world.

This was partly because it felt that it was still too weak, and the world of humans would certainly be dangerous for a mutated beast. Another part of the reason was the hostility between humans and mutated beasts.

The Golden-Winged Great Peng also didn't want to cause any trouble of its own volition.

However, things were different now. It had purified its bloodline, and it had further evolved. Combined with its master's strength, there was nothing for it to fear. It was eager to see what the world of humans looked like.

Lu Yuan smiled slightly and jumped onto the Golden-Winged Great Peng's back. The great peng spread its wings and shot into the sky. The bizarre-looking lake grew increasingly distant and smaller as it streaked across the skies.

Eventually, Lu Yuan left the boundaries of Shennongjia. He took out his phone, which had long exhausted its battery. Of course, a dead battery was trivial in his eyes. He activated the Jade Emperor's Divine Thunder Art, and fine arcs of electricity appeared in his palm.

Lu Yuan had been charging his phone this way for quite some time now. He had to control the lightning carefully, or the device would be completely ruined. Even so, he knew this would greatly shorten the battery's lifespan.

Of course, that did not really matter, as he could just replace it later. He needed phones, as it was one of the fastest ways to learn about the world's current affairs.

Soon, the phone came to life, and there was finally some signal reception.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Just as Lu Yuan was about to browse the Internet, the phone rang.

Ice Fairy was calling him. Lu Yuan's eyes flickered at the sight. They had exchanged contact information for quite some time now, but this was the first time she had actively called him.

To get a call the very instant he regained a signal reception almost certainly meant something important, and it probably involved that recent incident.

Lu Yuan pondered over it briefly before answering.

"Hello? Is this Mr. Lu? I finally got through to you!" A gentle yet somewhat anxious voice came through the phone. As he thought, Ice Fairy had been trying to contact him. She sighed in relief upon finally making contact with him.

"

Mmhm,

it's me. What's the matter?" Lu Yuan asked. Though he already had an inkling, he still needed to confirm.

"Do you remember those zealots you killed?" Ice Fairy asked. Then, she quickly told Lu Yuan about what had happened during the latter's seclusion, including how Skygod Technologies and the eleven Apostles were preparing to pass judgement on Asura just outside Hu City.

She also warned him that this was almost certainly a trap, with him as the true target. She also told Lu Yuan that the so-called day of judgement was only a few days away.

Ice Fairy finished with a final warning. "We've discovered that Longevity Genetics has been in close contact with Skygod Technologies. You could say that a three-way alliance was made against you. They're fully prepared to deal with you this time.

Ice Fairy naturally had no doubts about Lu Yuan's strength; she would only overestimate him. However, things were different now. The Vatican, Skygod Technologies, and Longevity Genetics were all involved.

Even the higher-ups of Polaris Biotech and the Aurora Academy found the situation to be deeply troublesome. After all, they couldn't afford to have a large-scale conflict at this time, as it would only make the situation more chaotic.

They had finally achieved some stability, and even if they could settle things, it would be hard to guarantee that there wouldn't be any

accidents

in the process.

Hence, Ice Fairy was trying to tell Lu Yuan that he ought to stay hidden, or wait for any further developments at the very least. She knew the higher-ups were cooking up something behind the scenes.

The actions of both Longevity Genetics and Skygod Technologies had infuriated the officials, and they had already decided to eliminate them. If they were to be left to their own devices, they would only become even more troublesome to handle later.

Of course, only Ice Fairy was aware of this, as it was classified information. The higher-ups had done everything they could to prevent any information leaks, and only a handful of people were aware of the truth. Since the matter had to be completely concealed, Ice Fairy did not inform Lu Yuan about it and simply warned him that it was a trap.

"Is that so?" Lu Yuan's eyes flashed with an incomprehensible light. "I understand. Thank you for letting me know."

Ice Fairy had called him to warn him, and he needed to thank her for it. Ice Fairy said nothing more and simply warned him again that the matter was more troublesome and complex than it seemed.

She advised him to be patient and stay hidden.

However, Lu Yuan simply replied, "I don't like it when others pay the price in my stead."

After exchanging a few more words, he hung up the phone.

Skygod Technologies, the Vatican, and even Longevity Genetics were all coming for him. But so what? Lu Yuan did not care. Since they insisted on provoking him and had even made use of a bait, there was no need for him to be polite to them.

Ice Fairy's words also told Lu Yuan many things. Apparently, Asura had chosen not to reveal the truth for the sake of protecting him. As a result, he was tortured, abandoned, and was now being used as bait.

As he had stated over the phone with Ice Fairy, Lu Yuan didn't wish others to pay the price for his affairs.

"Let's go to Hu City," Lu Yuan said, looking calm and composed. "It's time to deal with them."

He disliked causing trouble, but they insisted on provoking him, so he would deal with them all at once.

"Yes, Master." The Golden-Winged Great Peng rushed toward Hu City.

***

"Rourou, how did it go? What did Mr. Lu say?" Ji Yuzhen asked. She was seated next to Ice Fairy on the airplane.

"Mr. Lu will most likely go to Hu City," Ice Fairy said after a moment of thought. She called Lu Yuan to prevent that, but it seemed that her call had the opposite effect.

There was no helping it. The incident was all over the Internet, so he would have found out eventually by himself.

"Young people truly are courageous," Ji Yuzhen sighed. Then, she added, "Since we can't stop him, let nature take its course. All right, Rourou, you should get ready as well. We're almost there, too."

"The higher-ups have decided that, regardless of what's going to happen, we must completely suppress both Skygod Technologies and Longevity Genetics," Ji Yuzhen said. "And they think

very

highly of Lu Yuan. If he goes to Hu City and a conflict arises, the higher-ups have ordered us to protect him with all our strength."

Ji Yuzhen's eyes glimmered with a sharp light as she added, "After days of planning, everything is finally ready. And neither Longevity Genetics nor Skygod Technologies noticed anything. Everything is going smoothly."

"What about Shen City?" Ice Fairy asked, her voice tinged with worry. "The mutated sea beasts have been somewhat restless recently."

She had good reason to be concerned. Polaris Biotech had relocated its headquarters to Shen City to keep Longevity Genetics and those mutated sea beasts in check.

The mutated sea beasts were far more numerous and powerful compared to the mutated beasts in Qinling.

If a problem arose, it would be catastrophic.

But due to the incident with Skygod Technologies, they had to temporarily leave Shen City. Ice Fairy was worried that handling those mutated sea beasts would become more difficult, as they were away from the city.

"As long as we don't provoke them, they won't threaten Shen City for now," Ji Yuzhen said. "Once we've suppressed Longevity Genetics, things will become smooth sailing."

Ice Fairy was smart and immediately realized what she meant. She nodded, saying nothing more. Ji Yuzhen was right. Once Polaris Biotech no longer had any contender, protecting Shen City would become much easier.

As the scheduled day set by Skygod Technologies drew closer, online discussions grew increasingly heated. The debate about whether Lu Yuan would come became more intense than ever.

"Only a few days left. Will Lu Yuan actually appear?"

"No idea. Haven't heard anything about him since he appeared at Shu."

"Well, he's a lone wolf. He's strong, but I don't think he can handle a three-way alliance against him."

"Are we just going to watch them attack our own people because some foreigners ended up dying after courting their own deaths?"

"Well, what can you even do? How about you knock on their door and convince them otherwise? Wait, can you even afford to offend Skygod Technologies?"

"Let's go to Hu City and see what happens. Perhaps something unexpected will happen."

Due to the online discussion, the netizens also became aware that Longevity Genetics was involved, but it all made sense. After all, Lu Yuan had killed the Southern Sovereign, which meant both sides had an irreconcilable vendetta against each other.

They just hadn't expected them to work with Skygod Technologies and those so-called Apostles. Despite being from the same country, they had decided to attack their fellow countryman with the help of some foreigners.

The people were infuriated but could do nothing.

In the end, many suggested going to Hu City together to witness the event.

Amidst all this, some also found it strange that the Wuzhou Group had remained completely silent, as they had some debt to settle with Lu Yuan as well. The Winged Celestial God was silent as well, but only a few paid attention to them.

Liu Changyuan sat at the head of the table in a conference room within the Skygod Tower in Hu City. First Apostle Wade sat to his left, while ten others sat next to Wade—six men and four women, all with looks that made it obvious that they had come from the West.

More importantly, they all had the same cross-staff.

Except for Jennifer, all eleven Apostles had arrived.

In the seats to Liu Changyuan's right were five elderly men with sharp eyes and formidable auras. They were all Awakened Realm experts, and their white-robed leader seemed to possess an unfathomable level of strength.

They were the family elders of the Wang Family and were the true core of Longevity Genetics.

"Good. Since everyone is here, let's proceed with our final meeting," Liu Changyuan said, looking at the people around him. "When that day comes, everyone must make a move."

"We have only one target—Lu Yuan," said the Great Elder of the Wang Family. His voice was cold as he added, "If he shows up, we absolutely will not give him a chance to survive. He killed someone from our Wang Family, and we will never forgive him for it."

The rest of the elders nodded. The Wang Family had chosen to work with them precisely because their target was Lu Yuan, and the formidable Apostles from the Vatican would join them as well.

They believed that there was no way Lu Yuan could escape against their combined forces. Of course, if the plan ended up failing for some reason, they wouldn't really suffer any loss.

Wade spoke next, and his words remained succinct. Lu Yuan had blasphemed God, and he ought to be judged for it. If the trap failed, the eleven Apostles would hunt him down and kill him.

Unbeknownst to the others, Wade had another goal in mind. He wanted to use this incident to display the Vatican's strength to the entire world.

"Good," Liu Changyuan said, "My Skygod Technologies will deploy seven Awakened Realm experts. Combined with all of you, we'll have over twenty experts. This is a group strong enough to hunt beast kings like taking candy from a baby. Now, Lu Yuan just has to appear, and he will certainly die."

Ice Fairy's deduction was spot on. They had set a trap and were waiting for Lu Yuan to jump in. Whether it was successful or not, they would suffer no loss and could even benefit from it.

The three-way alliance between the three major forces was not a force to be trifled with. Wade and the Wang Family elders had no objections. After all, they all shared one target—Lu Yuan.

"All right," Liu Changyuan smiled and said, "let us toast to our success."

With a common goal, there would be no disagreements later. He had champagne brought in for everyone, believing this plan could not possibly fail.

After all, Lu Yuan was just one person. He was strong, sure, but could he really kill everyone present just by himself? No way! He was about to fight over twenty Awakened Realm experts! There was no way he could survive the ordeal unless that so-called King of Humanity were to intervene.

The Wang Family elders and the eleven Apostles all smiled, raising their glasses for a toast before downing their champagne. Now, all they needed to do was wait for that fateful day.

As time went on, more and more people gathered in Hu City, eager to witness the climax of the event. Would Lu Yuan actually appear? And if he showed up, how would he face Skygod Technologies and the Vatican?

Everyone waited for the scheduled day.

***

It had been several days since Lu Yuan left Shennongjia, but Shennong's altar already had two new visitors. The visitors were an elderly man and a young woman.

The young woman was clad in ancient-style clothes, and she had an extraordinary bearing as well as exquisite beauty that made her appear like an immortal.

As for the elderly man, he was clad in dark red robes, and just like the young woman, his get-up was completely unlike that of someone from the modern era.

The young woman standing before Shennong's altar was the same young woman who sought out Chen Song, hoping to obtain

that

cauldron. The two of them stood outside the ruins of the altar, gazing at everything before them.

The young woman extended her slender, snow-white right hand and placed it on the edge of the altar. There was supposed to be a formation here, but for some reason, her movement elicited no reaction at all.

She closed her eyes and decided to

feel

her surroundings. After a while, she withdrew her hand and frowned in disappointment. "Our ancestor's blood essence has already been taken away. We're too late again."