Evil Mage Cultivation: The Immortal Enslavement Path-Chapter 83: Smoke Screen Alliance

"I’m going into secluded cultivation. I’m entrusting you to take care of everything until I’m finished."

Three years ago, at only fifteen, his father Feng Zhu left him with the entire sect’s responsibility on his back. He never spoke to him again after that.

Feng Zhou had to do it all. Meetings, parties, appointments, schedules. His cultivation stalled while he ran around like a mule doing mundane tasks, fulfilling his duty as acting sect master.

It was a thankless job. Worse, it was a profitable thankless job, so many eyes watched the position.

He learned quickly why others were so quick to extend their helping hands. And why his father and grandfather before him decided to have no elder council at all. Councils corrupted the clan. Power spread among many meant weaker leadership, easier to sway. Absolute power meant total control.

And it also meant total loneliness.

Since he was no longer a disciple, nobody dared talk to him. With no time to spare, friends became a thing of the past.

His solution was to bring women to his side. Start a harem.

At first it brought pleasure, but as time passed the pleasure went stale.

He only did it for cultivation now.

Devoid of glory, life, friendship, even love, he looked at the people in town with envy. Why did they get to have a story? Why did they get to experience life while he carried all this duty? 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

That was why he fell in love with Luo Lan. He thought she was a kindred spirit, also shackled by fate like him.

Only to have that taken away. A stroke of god-given luck, a miracle disciple who broke her curse. Now he was left alone with nowhere to go. His rage just fumed and fumed as time passed.

With the tension of mysterious deaths in his territory and no clue why they happened or how to stop them, he wanted to end it all with a bang. Go all out war. Just to prove a point.

Until now. When Han Suwen brought good news and more importantly, hope.

"I know you’re bored of these women already. What you want isn’t love. It’s a life that doesn’t feel like slowly drowning in silk sheets and paperwork."

Han Suwen could see right through him.

No man who truly loved having a harem treated his women the way Feng Zhou did. A real harem could only be built by a man with a heart bigger than anyone else’s. Feng Zhou didn’t have that kind of heart. This was all just a facade, a fantasy to keep himself feeling in control.

The illusion of being a king.

Feng Zhou swirled the wine in his cup without drinking.

"Because I felt the same too." Han Suwen’s voice rose. "I lived my life behind my brother’s shadow. Only when I avenged my wife did I feel alive. I decided I didn’t want to be a bystander anymore."

"That’s why we should form an alliance. I’m going to take over my clan. You can have the Luo position."

Feng Zhou stared at him for a long moment, then barked a laugh that sounded more like a cough.

"Ha! Hahaha! Oh, excellent. A two-man conquest of the century. You and me against... what, Luo Chen’s sword? Luo Lan, who apparently attracts heaven-defying luck like flies to shit?"

He raised his cup in mock toast. "To glorious suicide. May our corpses look majestic when they string us up on the Luo clan gates."

Han Suwen didn’t flinch. "But you considered it, didn’t you."

Feng Zhou’s laugh died into a low rasp. He set the cup down harder than intended; wine sloshed over the rim like blood from a fresh cut.

Feng Zhou’s eyes narrowed. He could deny it.

But the words stuck somewhere behind his teeth.

He’d considered it.

Of course he fucking had.

Instead of sitting on his rural mountain, he would walk down streets with people greeting him left and right. Many clans would send their daughters, and he would reject them all.

Maybe find a random girl on the street who cooked good food and marry her.

"What’s your plan?" Feng Zhou asked.

"I have intel. In the next yearly tournament, a royal prince is coming to look over Luo Lan." Han Suwen spoke.

"I’ve heard the rumor. But the imperial palace? I’m not that stupid." He might have ambition to take down the Luo, but the imperial family was too much to even think about.

"See? Even you’re afraid of them. Now think about what happens if Luo Lan appears to not agree with them. If she destroys the marriage one way or another. What do you think the prince who traveled all this way is going to do?"

"How are you going to convince her? And it’s not like the prince can’t just force his way onto her."

Just that simple implication made Feng Zhou’s heart race.

An idea he never dared think about began to surface.

"Are you going to kill her?"

"Maybe. But as you know, I already killed her fiance recently." Han Suwen was already in a position where Luo Lan would hunt him to the ends of the world. He’d killed her last light, her final shot at freedom.

"All I need is to lure her away. With time, we win."

Feng Zhuo listened and started to think.

The plan was simple? Yes. But it was very effective.

"Then what do you need my help for? You could just leave." Feng Zhuo asked.

"And you’d take the seat for free? Ha! That would be too good, wouldn’t it?"

The mood lightened. Feng Zhuo nodded and smiled. "True, true. But I could also kill you and spread the rumor that you ran away. You know, make Luo Lan chase a dead goo-- the eyes!"

"Yes, now you see the big picture. You can’t kill me because then you can’t lie. And you’ll lose the only one who can make a difference." Han Suwen grinned.

Now that Feng Zhuo finally caught on to how important his offer was, he couldn’t refuse anymore.

"My part of the deal is simple. Help me kill my brother, and I’ll run away."