But in reality, the Lord of the Dominating Star Manor did not have much time left to spare.
If this continued, he feared that Yue Xian would truly succeed in refining the Dominating Star Spirit Herb. If that happened, he would have lost everything — his wife, his army, and all his gains.
So in order to achieve double the results with half the effort, he retrieved the detailed records left behind by his ancestors regarding that formation.
But according to those ancestral records, the Lord of the Dominating Star Manor learned that to control the power of the formation core beneath that mountain range, it was not enough to merely have a young generation cultivator of tremendous strength. He also needed to harness the bloodline power of several other young cultivators. Only then could he achieve the desired effect.
This led him to realize that even
He still needed to borrow the bloodline power of other young cultivators.
But as the saying goes, even a fierce tiger will not eat its cub. Even he was unwilling to have the younger generation of the Dominating Star Manor make such a sacrifice.
And so, after much deliberation, the Lord of the Dominating Star Manor devised this scheme.
First, he accused Yue Xian of stealing the Dominating Star Manor's supreme cultivation treasure — the Dominating Star Spirit Herb.
Then he issued Hero Invitations, recruiting the most talented young cultivators in this world to come and capture Yue Xian.
In truth, his real goal was to lure those young cultivators here.
From the very beginning, his intention had been to use the formation to absorb their bloodline power, allowing Hun Lei to gain control of the formation core and thereby completely refine Yue Xian.
In order to absorb bloodline power of sufficient quality, the Dominating Star Manor had even set up what they called a trial.
On the surface, it was claimed that only young cultivators of sufficient strength would be permitted to enter the Cultivation Forbidden Ground to apprehend the thief.
In reality, the purpose was to filter out young cultivators of exceptional talent and then absorb their bloodline power.
Originally, the Dominating Star Manor had planned to lure these young cultivators into the Cultivation Forbidden Ground, directly extract their bloodline power, and then kill them — thus eliminating all witnesses.
After killing them, they would simply frame Yue Xian for the crime.
But who could have predicted that a wild card would appear out of nowhere.
That wild card was none other than Sheng Guang Jin An.
Sheng Guang Jin An had taken a keen interest in this so-called thief. No matter how the Lord of the Dominating Star Manor tried to dissuade him, he insisted on entering the Cultivation Forbidden Ground to see for himself what manner of person this thief was.
After all, Sheng Guang Jin An hailed from the Sacred Light Clan.
The Lord of the Dominating Star Manor did not dare to offend him, let alone allow him to die here.
If the Sacred Light Clan were to investigate and discover the truth, his entire Dominating Star Manor would not escape retribution.
That was why he had gone to such elaborate lengths, having Hun Yong and Hun Lei cooperate in putting on this charade.
And so far, the only ones who knew of this conspiracy were the Lord of the Dominating Star Manor, a handful of top-tier powerhouses within the Dominating Star Manor, and Hun Yong and Hun Lei.
Not even the other disciples of the Soul Locking Sect knew the truth behind any of this.
And so at this moment, those young cultivators lying outside the immortal cave — with the exception of Hun Yong, whose bloodline power had not been absorbed — were all having their bloodline power drained. The disciples of the Soul Locking Sect were no exception.
Speaking of which, Hun Yong and Hun Lei were truly ruthless characters.
In order to gain benefits, they had deceived even their own senior and junior brothers without a shred of hesitation.
They did not hesitate to drain their bloodline power to unlock the power of the formation core.
Of course, the deal that Hun Lei and Hun Yong had struck with the Lord of the Dominating Star Manor was this: they would use everyone's bloodline power to activate the formation core.
Working together with the Lord of the Dominating Star Manor from the inside, they would combine forces to refine Yue Xian.
As long as everything went smoothly, they would receive the rewards that the Lord of the Dominating Star Manor had promised them.
As for certain details — how the Lord of the Dominating Star Manor had come to know Yue Xian, and so on — the Lord had not elaborated, and they had not asked.
"What a piece of work, this Lord of the Dominating Star Manor — daring to deceive my people."
Having learned the full story,
This man had to die!!!
"Brother, I've told you everything I know."
"Your two wives were deceived by the Lord of the Dominating Star Manor."
"Every grievance has its source, every debt its debtor. If you want revenge, go after the Lord of the Dominating Star Manor. I was only following orders. Before all this, I had no idea they were your wives."
"If I had known those two ladies had any connection to you, I would never have dared to lay a finger on them."
"Besides, I haven't actually done anything to harm them yet, have I? So please, spare me. I'm begging you, spare me."
"I can help you. I can help you deal with the Lord of the Dominating Star Manor. I know about many of his dirty dealings — I can make him a pariah."
After recounting the whole affair, Hun Lei once again pleaded for mercy before Chu Feng.
But looking at the groveling Hun Lei, Chu Feng merely let out a cold laugh. Then he turned his gaze toward the bronze cauldron imbued with refining power and said, "Open it."
"Bro… brother, open it? Why?"
Hun Lei did not comply, for he sensed an ominous aura.
"Ughhhh—"
But the moment those words left his lips, he let out a miserable scream.
It was because Chu Feng had struck him once more.
"Don't kill me! Don't kill me! I'll open it! I'll open it!"
At this point, Hun Lei no longer dared to hesitate. He hurriedly opened the bronze cauldron.
The moment the cauldron was opened, a seething torrent of flame surged outward.
And within the cauldron, flames roiled like a wild beast.
Hun Lei's plan had been to, once he fully controlled the formation core's power, channel the refining force within this cauldron through the formation core and merge it into the formation array — using that refining power to completely refine Yue Xian.
"Hun Lei, what you said isn't without merit. You were acting under orders."
"But Chu Feng of mine has one small flaw — no one is allowed to touch the ones I love."