My disciples are all villains.

Lu Wu's ice seal and strong wind dissipated.

At this moment, Lan Xihe and her astrolabe finally arrived. The astrolabe increased in size, looking like the bright moon.

Lan Xihe's hair was now several feet long, and the miniature sun and moon symbol shone between brows again. Her eyes were shining with killing intent.

Unfortunately, Lu Wu had already left.

Lu Zhou's figure flashed toward the place Lu Wu was last seen. No one knew what was on his mind as he looked at the empty land and the pit-like paw prints on the ground.

The sun and moon symbol gradually disappeared from Lan Xihe's glabella just like her avatar as she put away the Sun, Moon, and Star Wheel. Following that, her appearance returned to normal as well.

Lan Xihe said with a soft sigh, "We all fell into Lu Wu's trap."

"Lu Wu is so smart?" A hint of anger could be seen on Lu Zhou's usually expressionless face.

"It's a beast emperor."

Lu Zhou realized his question was rather stupid. Lu Wu could even understand and speak human language, how could it not be smart?

At this moment, Ning Wanqing coughed before he spat out a mouthful of blood. Then, he pressed one hand against his chest as he rose to his feet. He bowed with great difficulty as he said, "Tower Master, Pavilion Master Lu, I'm sorry I failed to keep Duanmu Sheng safe…"

Lu Zhou did not say anything. He only looked in the direction where Lu Wu disappeared. He tried to use the Heavenly Writing's power of sight to locate Duanmu Sheng, but he could not see anything; he had exhausted his supreme mystic power.

After Lan Xihe landed, her eyes fell on the unconscious blue-clad female attendant. She waved her hand, and a white light shone on the female attendant.

Lu Zhou did not move. He had used up his supreme mystic power, and the Disguise Card's effect had also vanished.

Lan Xihe was only briefly taken aback by Lu Zhou's young appearance, but she did not think too much about it.

When the blue-clad female attendant woke up, she immediately kneeled to thank Lan Xihe.

At this moment, Ning Wanqing broke the silence and said with a troubled expression on his face, "The beast emperor is too powerful. There was nothing I could do at all to stop it…"

Lan Xihe turned to look at Lu Zhou who was frowning slightly and said, "Pavilion Master Lu, I was careless and couldn't defeat Lu Wu. I'm deeply sorry about Duanmu Sheng's death…"

Ning Wanqing hurriedly said, "Pavilion Master, please listen to me…"

"Speak."

Lan Xihe and Ning Wanqing could clearly feel Lu Zhou suppressing the flames of fury in his heart. This was especially true for Ning Wanqing who was blind. He was incredibly sensitive to people's emotions so he could acutely feel Lu Zhou's fury. He hastily said, "I don't think Duanmu Sheng will die…"

Ning Wanqing kept recalling the three words Lu Wu said before it left and its actions. He thought he might have misheard the words due to Lu Wu's stilted speech, but its actions did not seem like it was trying to hurt Duanmu Sheng. Even humans would make mistakes when learning a new language or a dialect, let alone a beast. Therefore, he thought he had misheard those three words.

"The beast emperor probably has other motives…" Ning Wanqing endured the pain and said, "Tower Master, Pavilion Master Lu, with Lu Wu's strength, why is there a need for it to work with the Black Emperor? The Black Emperor needed Lu Wu because he needed the fierce beasts to slaughter the people in the red lotus domain's four circuits to obtain their blood essence so he could perform the blood sacrifice. However, what reason did Lu Wu have to work with the Black Emperor? Lu Wu's not stupid and won't be easily fooled by the Black Emperor…"

There was no such thing as free lunch in this world. The fierce beasts wanted to eat humans, but what did the beast emperor want?

"Now that I think about it, something doesn't seem right. The Black Emperor's plan went too smoothly until Duanmu Sheng showed up. Moreover, if he was so desperate for the Li Lis to enter Jianbei Circuit, why did he only send an Eight Chart cultivator? Is it really just a coincidence or an oversight?" Ning Wanqing said. His tone darkened as he concluded, "I'm afraid the beast emperor, Lu Wu, is the biggest winner of this war…"

Lu Zhou's heart skipped a beat. He looked at Ning Wanqing and asked, "You're saying the entire thing is Lu Wu's plan?"

Ning Wanqing said, "It's very likely."

"What's its purpose?" Lu Zhou asked.

"The Great Void Seed," Ning Wanqing replied.

The sun and moon symbol flashed once on Lan Xihe's glabella as a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes.

Ning Wanqing continued to say, "I came to the Jianbei Circuit's Northern Sword Canyon on Si Wuya's request to protect Duanmu Sheng. I heard about the Star Gathering Formation. The formation is an ancient formation, and a runic passage that leads to the Unknown Land had appeared in the formation. The beast emperor must have sensed the Great Void Seed in Duanmu Sheng through the formation. It likely wants the Great Void Seed to improve its strength…"

Lu Zhou shook his head and said, "It doesn't make sense. If it knew the Great Void Seed was in Duanmu Sheng, it could've directly gone to the Star Gathering Formation. Why would it work with the Black Emperor, come up with so many plans, and go through so much trouble, causing so many humans and fierce beasts to die?"

"This..." Ning Wanqing could not refute Lu Zhou's words. Indeed, this was a huge flaw in his theory. After a moment, he said, "Perhaps, I was overthinking…"

As soon as Ning Wanqing's voice fell, his ears twitched. Then, he said, "Someone's coming…"

Lu Zhou and Lan Xihe turned to look in the direction of the Northern Sword Canyon that looked like a sea of skeletons. Above the canyon, dozens of black lotus cultivators were rushing over.

When the black lotus cultivators came to a halt in the sky, a confident and loud voice rang in the air.

"Pavilion Master Lu, Tower Master Lan, long time no see."

Ning Wanqing stepped forward. "Tower Master Xia Zhengrong of the Black Tower Council?"

Xia Zhengrong, who was still wearing his armor, swept his gaze across the ground that was riddled with holes, human corpses, fierce beast carcasses, and severed limbs before he said, "It seems like I missed a good show. Anyway, I hope I'm not too late…"

Lan Xihe said indifferently, "You're too late. The Black Emperor is dead, and the fierce beasts have retreated…"

Xia Zheng Rong said, "Very good! Thank you for helping me get rid of such a huge problem…"

Upon hearing these words, Lu Zhou and Lan Xihe exchanged a look.

Now that Mu Ertie, the Black Emperor, had died, Great Yuan's royal court would not be able to survive. Fan Ruozhi, the Leader of the Dark and Light Alliance had also died. This meant Xia Zhengrong and the Black Tower Council was the only major player left in the black lotus domain.

Lu Zhou furrowed his brows and asked, "Why did you come?"

Xia Zhengrong said, "With such a huge thing happening, how can I sit back and do nothing? I want to try my luck and see if I can obtain some good life hearts."

Lu Zhou said, "I've warned Lu Si. I told him to tell the Black Tower Council to stay put. Don't tell me you have no regard for my words?"

Xia Zhengrong shook his head. "I naturally daren't oppose Pavilion Master Lu. I'll be honest; we came from Jiannan Circuit after getting rid of many fierce beasts there. At that time, the people were dying tragically. I know I'm going against Pavilion Master Lu's wish, but I can't just watch those people die, right?"

"Jiannan Circuit?" Lu Zhou raised an eyebrow.

Xia Zhengrong nodded and said, "That's right. If Pavilion Master Lu doesn't believe me, you can verify it when you go to Jiannan Circuit. The fierce beasts there were dealt with by the Black Tower Council."

Since Lu Zhou had exhausted his supreme mystic power, he could not observe the situation in Jiannan Circuit through Yu Shangrong. This meant he had no way to verify if Xia Zhengrong was telling the truth or not for now.

When Xia Zhengrong saw Lu Zhou and Lan Xihe remaining silent, he said, "I heard that Jiangbei Circuit is the hardest hit area so I'll bring my men there to have a look. See you again…"

The elders of the Black Tower Council and the blackguards cupped their fists at Lu Zhou and Lan Xihe.

"Hold on," Lu Zhou said in a dark voice.

"Pavilion Master Lu, what's the matter?" In fact, Xia Zhengrong had been brooding over the collective demotion of the Black Tower Council. However, he did not have the ability to make an enemy out of the Evil Sky Pavilion. This was a world where the strong preyed on the weak. Even if he felt the auras of the two people in front of him were rather weak, he did not dare to act recklessly. He had always been cautious when acting.

"The crisis in Jiangbei Circuit has been resolved as well…" Lu Zhou said.

Xia Zhengrong seemed surprised by these words. Then, he said, "Pavilion Master Lu is really capable. I really admire you. In that case, we'll return first…"

Upon hearing this, Lan Xihe transmitted her voice to Lu Zhou, "Pavilion Master Lu, why don't you let them leave. This man is very ambitious. It's best not to corner him…"

As the saying went, 'Even a rabbit would bite when it's cornered'.

At this moment, a deep voice rang from the distant sky.

"You can't leave."

Everyone turned around and saw several black-clad cultivators rushing over.