The Lord of Void and Real
Chapter 1522

Chapter 1522: Chapter 1518: Eventful Autumn Chapter 1522: Chapter 1518: Eventful Autumn “Why do you ask? Don't even think about targeting my furnace,” Shen Luo immediately became wary and spoke.

“How could I… I just feel like this furnace and I have some sort of destiny, you see…” Elder Manbo said sheepishly.

Before he could finish his sentence, the Free and Easy Mirror in Shen Luo's sleeve shimmered, and the Netherworld Furnace was taken back.

“Sigh… Brother Shen, this really hurts our relationship. I didn't say much, just thinking maybe I could borrow this furnace in the future to refine higher-grade armors,” Elder Manbo saw his reaction and could only sigh.

“Let's talk about it in the future then,” Shen Luo firmly replied, smiling.

“Sigh, too cautious, it hurts the feelings…” Elder Manbo said helplessly, waving his hand.

Seeing this, the others also laughed and didn't speak, for they could finally breathe a sigh of relief after reversing the situation and winning the second match when everyone thought they were sure to lose. There would be no need for a third match otherwise.

“These guys, led by Che Qingtian, obviously came prepared, and Hou Shan's behavior just now was clearly not just an accident. Tomorrow's competition will not be easy to win,” Elder Fu spoke up.

“No matter, I will personally take part in tomorrow's competition. With some caution, I believe we will not lose,” the Nameless Elder declared.

“From the previous two competitions, these guys don't seem to play by the rules; we must stay on guard,” Shen Luo couldn't help but express his concern.

“Yes, I need to meditate and refine my armor tonight to be prepared just in case,” the Nameless Elder nodded and said.

“Do you need me to guard you, in case they resort to despicable tactics?” Elder Fu asked.

“No need. We are within Tianji City, and they are being monitored. I doubt they would dare to act recklessly. If they were really going to ignore the rules, they wouldn't have agreed to decide the winner through the Three Trials of Tianji in the first place,” the Nameless Elder wasn't too worried about this.

Everyone felt reassured by these words and had confidence in the Nameless Elder's strength, so no further comments were made.

“Right, we've had a long day today, especially you, Elder Manbo, you've used a lot of your mana. You need to properly recuperate,” the Nameless Elder specially mentioned Elder Manbo.

“Understood,” Elder Manbo nodded.

Then everyone went their separate ways.

After leaving the Lianyan Workshop, Master Yan suddenly remembered something and asked Shen Luo:

“Brother Shen, these past few days I haven't seen Miss Nie. Isn't she always with you?”

“Cai Zhu had a sense of breakthrough in her cultivation a few days ago. On the day I left seclusion, she went into closed-door cultivation. We still don't know when she will come out,” Shen Luo answered with a smile.

“That's good! If there is anything, just let me know,” Master Yan nodded.

“Sure, I must take my leave now,” Shen Luo bowed to Master Yan and turned to leave.

In the evening, a swath of red clouds ignited the sky, looking from inside Tianji City as if the City Wall was ablaze with blood-red flames, magnificently beautiful, attracting many disciples to stop and stare.

Concerning the conflict with the uninvited guests over the past couple of days, the disciples only knew that it indeed occurred but were unaware of the specifics. After initial attention, interest gradually waned.

At first, many disciples sneaked to the lake to watch from a distance Che Qingtian and his crew in the Mechanism City, but no one ever saw them come out for activities. Apart from the Tianji City disciples left to monitor, no one else visited that area.

When the moon reached the treetops, two figures appeared near the lake.

The monitoring disciple was about to step forward to stop them but realized it was Shen Luo and Nie Caizhu. Knowing they were permitted to move freely within Tianji City, the disciple remained unseen.

When Shen Luo returned to his residence in the afternoon, he discovered Nie Caizhu had also come out of her seclusion.

Fire Spirit Child had already examined Nie Caizhu before, providing her with a special breakthrough secret technique. She thus began her closed-doors cultivation; unfortunately, the technique had no effect, and Nie Caizhu's cultivation level hadn't advanced at all.

“I didn't expect so much to happen in just these few days,” said Nie Caizhu with some emotion after hearing from Shen Luo about Che Qingtian and the others.

“Tianji City has truly been eventful lately. Tomorrow is the last competition, and for some reason, I feel somewhat uneasy,” Shen Luo said with a slight furrow of his brows.

“As far as I know, the Nameless Elder should be the strongest among the elders. I think there's no need to worry too much. Plus, even if they win, there's still the City Lord to contend with afterwards; I imagine they won't be able to make much of a splash,” Nie Caizhu said.

“Mm, you have a point there,” Shen Luo nodded.

The two of them walked side by side, suddenly falling into silence.

After a few steps, they stopped simultaneously, exchanged glances, and then both laughed.

“What are you laughing at?” Shen Luo curiously asked.

“And what are you laughing at?” Nie Caizhu countered.

“I was just remembering the first time we met,” Shen Luo replied.

“Back then, we were both scared witless by the bandits, and you pretended to be a passerby and tricked me, making me worried all along the way,” Nie Caizhu recalled and couldn't help but say.

Hearing this, Shen Luo laughed even harder and asked, “So what are you laughing at?”

“I was just remembering how, when the Prefect of Leizhou's retainer and my third uncle came to Shen Mansion forcing me to return for marriage, you confronted them,” Nie Caizhu giggled.

“Haha, speaking of that, it seems that was the time I genuinely protected you. Afterwards, it turned out that you often had to come support me several times. I'm really quite ashamed,” Shen Luo said, scratching his head.

“Not at all, if possible, I'd still hope that you could always stand in front of me, protecting me,” Nie Caizhu showed a rare tender side as her voice became softer.

“I will,” Shen Luo gently took her hand and held it tightly.

Their shadows drew closer, stretching longer under the moonlight.

As they nearly reached the lake, Shen Luo spotted the bright lights on Mechanism City from afar and stopped.

“Che Qingtian and his people are there; we better not go that way,” Shen Luo said.

“Alright,” Nie Caizhu nodded.

Just as they were about to turn back, Shen Luo suddenly furrowed his brows and looked toward the ground.

The forest floor was covered with fallen leaves, and the soil was somewhat loose and moist, appearing unremarkable.

“What's wrong?” Nie Caizhu asked softly.

“There is someone using an underground escape,” Shen Luo furrowed his brows and said.

Hearing this, Nie Caizhu hurriedly released her Divine Sense to scan the area, and indeed also noticed distinct Mana fluctuations.

“It seems they are targeting the Nameless Elder. I will go and see what's happening; you go inform Elder Fu,” Shen Luo said, his brows still furrowed.

Before Nie Caizhu could even reply, Shen Luo had already taken out an Escape Earth Talisman and applied it to himself.

Then, his body shrank into the ground, chasing after that Qi.