Chapter 336: Chapter 197: Abnormal Reaction (2)

Seeing the two shadows on the wall of the gatehouse room, and noting the distance between them, Cheng Zongyang guessed Lu Yan was inside with another person.

From the expressions of some people outside, it seemed something had happened to Lu Yan.

At this thought, Cheng Zongyang grew even more curious.

For the past few days, the Celestial Break Gang had been keeping an eye on the Lu Family. Every day, someone delivered a compiled intelligence report to his hands.

’During this time, Lu Yan hasn’t fought with anyone. What could have happened?’

Cheng Zongyang landed silently on the ground outside, leaned against the wall, and thought for a moment.

A moment later, he circled around the back courtyard to the front.

In the dead of night, he followed the shadows cast by the buildings, slipping into the front courtyard without a sound.

As he reached a corridor, he spotted a servant rushing from the back courtyard.

With swift movements, he clamped a hand over the man’s mouth and nose, dragging him into a corner.

He drew a gleaming dagger, pressed it to the servant’s neck, and said coldly, "Tell me what’s happening back there."

The servant’s face went white with terror. He shook his head frantically and stammered, "Don’t, don’t kill me! The Patriarch is talking with Mr... Mr. Lan. As for what about, I... I don’t know!"

Cheng Zongyang pressed, "Who is Mr. Lan?"

The servant rushed to say, "He’s the family’s Doctor."

Cheng Zongyang asked a few more questions, but seeing that he couldn’t get any more information from the servant, he snapped the man’s neck and stored the body in the Wilderness World to avoid discovery.

’A Doctor, Lu Yan, everyone looking anxious... Something definitely happened.’

Cheng Zongyang glanced around, then vanished on the spot.

After about a dozen breaths, he reappeared holding a fist-sized iron box and a purse.

’If I can’t do this silently, then I’ll just have to be direct.’

He immediately went to the roof overlooking the back courtyard, opened a small slit in the iron box, and set it down.

Instantly, intense radiation from the Geomagnetic Stone spread out, blanketing a hundred-meter radius in a flash.

At that same moment, everyone in the courtyard stumbled, grabbing onto anything for support as they lost their balance.

The servants and the woman, who lacked any Martial Arts Cultivation, swayed and collapsed to the ground, doubling over and beginning to dry-heave.

Among the crowd, only Lu Wufei’s cultivation was strong enough to resist slightly. Seeing the sudden, violent physical reactions, with everyone stumbling and retching, he knew at once that something was terribly wrong.

He fought against the dizzy spell clouding his mind and tried to stand, intending to go to the room. But the next moment, his body gave out, and he collapsed to the ground as well. A moment later, everyone saw a figure in black leap down from the roof.

Seeing this, he instantly realized they had been "poisoned."

"Fath-Father!" Seeing the black-clothed man walk towards the room, Lu Wufei couldn’t help but let out a desperate roar with all his strength.

However, Lu Wufei didn’t know that inside the room, Lan Feng and Lu Yan were also fighting a wave of dizziness as they sat in their chairs.

The dizziness was like what an ordinary person would feel after spinning in place dozens, even hundreds, of times. It was even accompanied by a rising sense of nausea.

The door was pushed open from the outside. They saw a man in black enter, and then the door was shut behind him.

"How dare you!!" Lu Yan was, after all, a Seventh Grade Martial Artist; his willpower and strength were naturally on a different level.

Forcibly suppressing the discomfort in his body and mind, he stood up and roared at Cheng Zongyang, "Who are you!!"

Seeing Lu Yan putting on a brave front, Cheng Zongyang chuckled, his voice low. "As expected of the Lu Family Patriarch. To think you can still stand."

As he spoke, he walked over to the slightly weaker Lan Feng, struck him on the head with a palm, and killed him instantly.

"You’re courting death!" Lu Yan roared. He marshaled all the qi, blood, and strength in his body and charged at Cheng Zongyang.

Yet, just as his fist, thrown with all his might, was about to reach Cheng Zongyang’s head, his body suddenly shuddered as if something had interfered. His strength instantly drained away. He clutched his heart, staggered backward, and spat out a mouthful of blood.

This scene made Cheng Zongyang, who was just about to block, frown.

This wasn’t the effect of the Geomagnetic Stone. The Geomagnetic Stone seemed powerful, but against a Martial Artist with strong and vigorous qi and blood, its effects would be offset. If it encountered a Martial Artist of the Sixth Grade or higher who possessed Inner Strength, the Geomagnetic Stone’s effect would be negligible.

The Power Lu Yan had just unleashed had clearly offset the Geomagnetic Stone’s influence somewhat. Yet, just as his fist drew near, it was as if some internal affliction interrupted the attack, causing his qi and blood to surge violently in reverse.

’Such a strange reaction... Is there something wrong with his heart?’

Cheng Zongyang looked at Lu Yan lying on the ground, groaning and clutching his heart, feeling a little puzzled.

’He Shujun wants Lu Yan’s corpse, but there’s clearly something wrong with Lu Yan’s body. Could this be his doing?’

Cheng Zongyang walked to Lu Yan’s side. Seeing the man try to force himself to sit up again, Cheng Zongyang took out a bottle of Wilderness Bean Water and forced it into his mouth, making him drink.

In less than ten breaths, Lu Yan fell into a deep sleep. Seeing this, Cheng Zongyang stored Lu Yan in the Wilderness World, along with the Doctor’s corpse.

Instead of going through the door, he smashed a hole in the roof, retrieved the Geomagnetic Stone, and departed swiftly, creating the illusion of a kidnapping.

He was very curious about what He Shujun had done to Lu Yan.

This wasn’t a suspicion, but a conviction. He was certain of it.

After Cheng Zongyang retrieved the Geomagnetic Stone, the people in the courtyard gradually recovered.

But Mrs. Chang of the Lu Family and the servants had already fainted.

Lu Wufei, ignoring everything else, staggered into the room.

The dim room was empty, leaving only the large, gaping hole in the roof. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"Father!!" Lu Wufei roared, then immediately went back outside and began to gather his men.

「North East Street, inside an abandoned house.」

Cheng Zongyang ducked inside and then entered the Wilderness World.

However, what Cheng Zongyang didn’t know was that the moment Lu Yan was taken into the Wilderness World...

...At the He Family estate, He Shujun, who was arranging his men, felt a movement from the Jade Box on his chest.

Feeling the Mother Insect’s agitation within the Jade Box, He Shujun’s expression changed. He told his steward to continue with the arrangements while he rushed back to his study.

When he opened the box and saw the Mother Insect frantically scurrying about inside, looking extremely agitated, his face became hideous.

Without hesitation, he immediately drew blood to calm the Mother Insect.

Seeing the Mother Insect gradually calm down, his face darkening even further, he immediately closed the Jade Box and hurriedly took out a yellowed, damaged booklet from a hidden compartment in his bookshelf.

He quickly flipped through the booklet, stopping in the middle, and found a description that matched the situation on a tattered page.

When he finished reading, the veins on his forehead throbbed, and his eyes looked like they would split open from rage.

—*Sub-Insect dies, Mother Insect goes berserk!*

"What in the world is going on!!"

The gentlemanly facade He Shujun had maintained completely vanished, as if he had transformed into a ravenous Fierce Beast.

"Why did it die out of nowhere! Who did this!!"

This last pair of Heart-devouring Gu Insects was his final hope to Promote, and now the sub-insect had died for no reason!

The Heart-eating Insect’s host could die without affecting the insect, so why did it die?

"Cheng Zongyang? Or the Lu Family!?"

He Shujun’s eyes were webbed with blood, and he looked like he had gone completely mad.

This was his only hope of advancing to the Sixth Grade!

Inside the room, He Shujun began smashing things like a man who had lost all reason.

In the front courtyard, everyone could hear the roars coming from the back. It was shockingly abrupt in the quiet night.

After a while, He Shujun emerged, his face as dark as a thundercloud. He spat out two words: "Move out!"

「Marketplace Cottage.」

Luo Dingran had already moved the two corpses outside. The still-living Lu Yan was temporarily placed on the cottage’s wooden bed, waiting for Cheng Zongyang to deal with him.

Seeing Cheng Zongyang appear, Luo Dingran greeted him with clasped hands, "Sir."

Cheng Zongyang nodded slightly, placed the iron box containing the Geomagnetic Stone on the counter, then looked at Luo Dingran. "Go get Zhang Jinquan."

"Yes, sir!" Luo Dingran immediately turned to leave. As it happened, Zhang Jinquan was in a nearby rice paddy, tending to the cuttings.

Inside the cottage, Cheng Zongyang looked at Lu Yan, his gaze fixed on the man’s chest.

’He kept clutching his chest. I can confirm it—there’s something wrong with his heart.’

Just as Cheng Zongyang reached out to examine him, Zhang Jinquan’s voice carried from the distance, growing louder as his footsteps rapidly approached.

"Sir!"

Cheng Zongyang looked towards the door and saw Zhang Jinquan arrive at the entrance.