Chapter 178: Chapter 27: A Treacherous Banquet, the Blood and Bones of Billions

A knock on the door interrupted Lu Xuan’s thoughts. Just then, Wu Xiaoxu came out carrying two cups of freshly brewed hot tea.

Wu Datong frowned and muttered,

“I still get visitors here? Xiaoxu, go get the door.”

“You got it!” Wu Xiaoxu placed the two steaming cups of tea in front of Lu Xuan and Xiaoyan, then jogged over to pull open the door.

“You are…?” he asked, confused.

“Provincial Government, Liu Zhong. By order of the Great Mansion Master, I have come to pay a visit to Governor Wu.”

Wu Datong frowned. He remained seated in his chair and said calmly, without rising,

“Come in.”

Lu Xuan and Xiaoyan exchanged a look, both seeming lost in thought.

A moment later, Wu Xiaoxu led in a middle-aged man with an honest, simple-looking face. Liu Zhong’s gaze swept over the young man and woman sitting primly on the sofa. A flash of astonishment crossed his eyes, but he didn’t let it show.

He bowed to Wu Datong, who was leaning back leisurely in his chair, and said,

“Provincial Government secretary, Liu Zhong. Greetings, Lord Wu.”

“Mm.” Wu Datong didn’t invite him to sit, simply asking coolly, “What brings you here?”

Liu Zhong didn’t seem to mind. Wearing a very formulaic smile, he began speaking in a measured tone,

“By order of the Great Mansion Master, I am here to specially invite Lord Wu to a banquet this evening. The heads of all the Provincial Government departments will be in attendance, and the Grand Governor will be there as well.”

Lu Xuan listened quietly, his mind working. The Great Mansion Master of the Provincial Government was the highest administrative head of the province. Together with the Grand Governor, one was responsible for civil matters, the other for military matters.

In other words, one held political power, and the other commanded the army.

As Lu Xuan was pondering this, Wu Datong lifted his eyelids and asked nonchalantly,

“Oh? A banquet? Does a simple banquet require the great Steward Liu to extend a personal invitation? …Never mind. I’m not one for crowds. I won’t be going.”

“Lord Wu.” Liu Zhong bowed slightly, his posture full of respect. “The Great Mansion Master insisted that I ensure your attendance. This banquet is no ordinary one…”

“Can’t you see I have guests?” Wu Datong’s voice turned slightly cold. “I have to entertain them.”

Liu Zhong hesitated for a moment, then bowed again.

“But today’s banquet is truly important… Even the mayors of the province’s fourteen first-tier cities are required to attend… Perhaps Lord Wu could bring his two young guests along? It would be a good experience for them.”

Although he felt that Lu Xuan and Yan Jiangxue looked somewhat familiar, he had only glimpsed their photos a long time ago and couldn’t recall who they were.

Wu Datong now also realized something was unusual. A banquet that gathered so many people—and even an insignificant figure like himself was required to attend…

His expression shifted slightly as he asked,

“Is this banquet related to something specific?”

Liu Zhong smiled easily and said humbly,

“That, I’m not too clear on…”

As he spoke, as if afraid Wu Datong would still refuse, he added,

“However, it seems to be related to the Super Conglomerates.”

Lu Xuan paused, glancing at Xiaoyan, who also had a look of confusion. Wu Datong, however, nodded thoughtfully and said,

“Alright then. Please trouble Steward Liu to go back and inform the Great Mansion Master that I will definitely attend.”

Liu Zhong bowed slightly again. After stating the time and location, he faced Wu Datong, bent at the waist, and backed away step by step. Only when he reached the door did he turn around, push it open, and leave.

After he left, Wu Datong scoffed.

“He’s certainly good at keeping up appearances.”

Lu Xuan asked with some curiosity,

“Uncle Wu, that man just now was…?”

“The Mansion Master’s chief secretary.”

Lu Xuan understood. ’No wonder Uncle Wu called him ’Steward,’,’ he thought. After a moment’s consideration, he added,

“Uncle Wu, you’re only here in the Prefecture City in name. You don’t participate in any Federation affairs at all, yet the Mansion Master is so insistent that you attend the banquet… Something doesn’t feel right.”

“Mm,” Xiaoyan, who was sitting with her back straight, spoke up. Her words were concise and to the point, “And it involves the Super Conglomerates. That’s very strange. How could a single province be connected to the conglomerates? The two aren’t on equal footing.”

Xiaoyan was telling the truth. Although a province was vast, and the powers of the Provincial Governor and Grand Governor were indeed immense—equivalent to the provincial governors of ancient times, with complete autonomy over most internal affairs—

…but, when faced with a Super Conglomerate…

…they were nothing special.

Yan Jiangxue might not be talkative around strangers, but she was the Eldest Princess of Longque Technology. Having been exposed to such matters for so long, she quickly perceived the strangeness of the situation.

Why would a provincial government banquet involve matters related to a Super Conglomerate?

Unless a Super Conglomerate was involved from the start.

She frowned and voiced her suspicions. In the living room, aside from Wu Xiaoxu who listened in a daze, only half-understanding, both Lu Xuan and Wu Datong fell into deep thought.

After a long moment, Wu Datong looked up, his expression solemn.

“It is indeed just as… as Xiaoyan said. This matter is very strange. Alright, I’ll go and see what it’s all about. Xiaoxu, you take good care of Xiaoxuan and his guest tonight…”

Before he could finish, Lu Xuan waved his hand and refused,

“No need. Didn’t that Steward Liu just say we could also go and get some experience? I wasn’t planning on it, but since there might be something strange going on, I’m actually quite interested in checking it out.”

Wu Datong hesitated for a moment.

“If everything were normal, that would be one thing. But from the looks of it now, it’s highly likely related to some Super Conglomerate. What if…”

“It’s fine, Uncle Wu.” As he spoke, Lu Xuan winked at Wu Datong.

Wu Datong was taken aback for a second. Then he remembered that Lu Xuan could transform into a mighty Grand Grade being and was immediately relieved, nodding in agreement.

In truth, although Lu Xuan couldn’t use the Keeper of the Records’ command token in the Current World, with Qing Ping secretly accompanying him, he really had nothing to worry about.

A single True Immortal, even a Ninth Grade True Immortal who had just entered the Heaven-Facing Palace level, was more than enough to effortlessly suppress the entire Langya Province.

The so-called Provincial Governor and Grand Governor were, at best, only Earth Immortals.

…

After having lunch at Wu Datong’s house, since they planned to go to the banquet together that evening, the two didn’t take their leave and simply stayed at the villa to rest.

Xiaoyan took a nap on the bed in the guest room, while Lu Xuan spoke privately with Wu Datong about the matter of the Life Tower and the Evil Cult.

“Uncle Wu, about the Qianlong City incident seven years ago, we can be sure the Evil Cult was behind what happened before the great curtain fell. But what about after? Who was the Evil Cult performing the great sacrifice for? Was it really connected to the Life Tower Master?”

Wu Datong was lost in his memories for a long moment before he said softly,

“I don’t have any direct evidence, but there’s an over eighty percent chance it was related to the Tower Master. I was still a Great Physician in the Life Tower back then. To be honest with you, the people from the Evil Cult…”

He hesitated for a moment, then admitted frankly,

“I was the one who escorted the Evil Cult members to Qianlong City. But I didn’t know they were Cultists at the time. I was just following the Tower Master’s orders to see them off. It was only after the incident in Qianlong City that I realized the truth. After that, I cut all ties and left the Life Tower.”

Lu Xuan’s brow furrowed tightly. He thought for a long time before speaking directly, not hiding anything,

“That day in East Sea City, a Grand Grade being was performing a great sacrifice. When I fought him, he told me himself that the purpose of the sacrifice was to use the life essence of tens of millions of people to complete himself. Is the Life Tower Master also heavily injured?”

After a pause, he continued,

“Of course, that dying Grand Grade being also told me that some Immortals do it to break through the Grand Grade Level. They use repeated great sacrifices as a ritual, with the blood and bones of living beings as offerings, in a vain attempt to break through to the next realm…”

“It must be the latter.”

A look of understanding first appeared on Wu Datong’s face—’So it really was Xiaoxuan fighting in outer space that day, wielding that terrifying sword light,’—then his expression turned solemn.

“What I mean is, if the great sacrifice in Qianlong City was truly for the Life Tower Master, then it could only be for the latter reason.”

As he spoke, a look of terror appeared on his face.

“Great sacrifices happen from time to time, but usually only once every two or three years. After all, all the major powers keep a very close watch. The Immortals who perform them always do so in secret. But those two years were different. In a two-year span, from what I know, more than thirty cities were…”

Lu Xuan’s hand trembled. ’More than thirty cities!’

Even if they were just second or third-tier cities like Qianlong City or East Sea City, each one had a population of ten to twenty million people.

More than thirty cities meant several billion people.

Several billion!

The recorded population of the Ancestor Star was only in the high hundreds of billions. However, considering the uncounted population made up about a third of the total, the planet’s population was at most a little over a trillion. Spread across the sixty provinces of the East and West Continents, each province averaged only twenty to thirty billion people.

And yet, six or seven years ago, several billion people were slaughtered—nearly half a province’s worth!

Lu Xuan’s heart clenched. Wu Datong took a deep breath, his expression grave, and continued,

“And it was after those two years of frequent great sacrifices that the Tower Master… is suspected to have broken through the Great Grade Realm and become an Immortal, without performing any kind of world ritual.”

Lu Xuan nodded heavily, his fists clenching unconsciously.

“So there’s a ninety percent chance that the great sacrifices were carried out by the Life Tower Master, but it can’t be confirmed completely… Uncle Wu, right now, how many Immortals does the Human Race have?”

“I don’t know.” Wu Datong shook his head. “But it’s definitely no more than you can count on one hand. Three to five at most, I’d say. And none of them ever set foot in the mortal world.”

After a pause, he continued,

“It seems to be related to the limits of Heaven and Earth. The Great Heaven and Earth has not yet fully recovered, so it simply cannot withstand the power of the Immortal Level…”

“I understand.”

Lu Xuan nodded, lost in thought.

A thread of connection was faintly forming in his mind: the Evil Cult, Sakata Heavy Industries, the Life Tower…

But the thread seemed to be missing a crucial link; it wasn’t coherent.

Lu Xuan thought of the Death Tower, and of the warning from Yang Jian and the others in Gouxian Town: “Beware the Life and Death Towers, and beware the Upper Palace and Earth Palace!”

On a sudden impulse, he asked Wu Datong if he had ever heard the terms “Upper Palace” and “Earth Palace,” but received a negative answer, which only confused Lu Xuan further.

Upper Palace, Earth Palace… They sounded like opposites, just like the Life and Death Towers.

’There’s far more hidden beneath the surface of this world than I imagined…’

Thinking again of the numerous Demon Race clans outside the Solar System, beyond the Starry Great Wall, Lu Xuan’s sense of urgency grew even stronger.

’Get stronger… I need to get as strong as possible, as quickly as possible.’

And the one thing he lacked most right now was time!

Suddenly, Lu Xuan recalled what Uncle Wu had said before about “A Dream of a Thousand Years.” A plan began to form in his mind, but he didn’t voice it.

It wasn’t the right time yet.

After their conversation ended, he sat alone on the sofa, silently meditating and cultivating.

The Yin and Yang within the Acupoints of his left hand remained stable. Once he had stockpiled enough Bodhi Fruit Skin, he would probably need to try circulating the Mediation of Creation within them again.

’Given the current situation, getting stronger steadily is just too slow. I have to take a risk, try to find another way…’

And aside from pioneering a world in his Acupoints to grow his Primordial Body, Human Dao Fortune and the Thoughts of All Living Beings were also paths to rapidly increase his strength.

The former would allow him to command the mountains and rivers of the Human Race, and as for the latter, that massive surge of the Thoughts of All Living Beings had allowed Lu Xuan to instantly construct the Third-Layer Supreme Jade Steps…

A thousand thoughts raced through Lu Xuan’s mind, and he quickly formulated a complete plan. Sanqing Temple had to make an appearance before the public. The pioneering of his Acupoints required quiet accumulation.

And Human Dao Fortune could only be accumulated in the dream world, but each dream session was too short.

In the end, it all came back to the same problem: Ancient Times in the dream.

Time slowly passed, and soon, dusk arrived.

“Xiaoxuan, Xiaoyan!” Wu Datong called out. “It’s about time to go.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep