Shangguan Wei'er was only afraid of attracting people from the Illustrious Virtue Hall; if that happened, the situation would only become even more unfavorable for them.
However, she actually wanted to promote this Soul Engineer Competition, because in her hand, she still held an ace card prepared to deal with evil soul masters.
After thinking for a moment, she suddenly leaned slightly forward.
"The reputation of Illustrious Virtue Hall is naturally something this humble one trusts."
"But the underground affairs of Ming Capital are not only handled by our two families. Why not invite President An from the Alto Chamber of Commerce to join us as well? Wouldn't it be better if the three families participated together?"
The Dark Lightning Douluo's gaze flickered. He glanced at Lin Xiao beside him, and suddenly an idea formed in his mind.
"Still, Alliance Leader Shangguan thinks more thoroughly. This matter should indeed be handled this way."
"Very well. It's getting late today. I will immediately send word to Illustrious Virtue Hall. Later, I will trouble Alliance Leader Shangguan to contact President An. How about we meet again at this same time tomorrow?"
As the Dark Lightning Douluo spoke, he glanced once more at the way Shangguan Wei'er looked at Lin Xiao.
"Alliance Leader Shangguan can rest assured. The matters here are being handled by Old Eight and me. No one else will interfere."
"Then that would be good. This humble one shall not disturb you any longer."
Saying this, Shangguan Wei'er stood up and left. The Dark Lightning Douluo and Lin Xiao escorted her all the way to the door before turning back the same way they came.
As they walked, Lin Xiao tilted his head and glanced at the Dark Lightning Douluo beside him.
"Third Brother, why are you looking at me like that?"
"I never expected Shangguan Wei'er to think so highly of you."
Lin Xiao shook his head.
"Third Brother, you know what kind of person Shangguan Wei'er is. Back then, I only contacted the Peerless Alliance on the teacher's instructions."
"Haha, of course I know." The Dark Lightning Douluo stepped forward and patted Lin Xiao on the shoulder. "You're underestimating your Third Brother too much."
"She is someone who wholeheartedly wants to swallow our Holy Cult's industries. How could she possibly compare to the brotherhood between us? Those simple attempts at sowing discord, how could I fall for them so easily?"
The Dark Lightning Douluo withdrew his hand, and his expression became serious.
"That Shangguan Wei'er is very well-informed. She has probably already guessed the connection between Illustrious Virtue Hall and us."
"Then what does Third Brother plan to do?"
"What else can we do?" The Dark Lightning Douluo sneered. "Schemes are nothing but the struggling tricks of those who lack strength."
"I was actually worried about how to drag the Alto Chamber of Commerce into this mess. Since Shangguan Wei'er is afraid of us joining forces with Illustrious Virtue Hall and took the initiative to bring up the Alto Chamber of Commerce, then we might as well take the opportunity to swallow them all together."
"What if Shangguan Wei'er is just afraid she can't win alone, and is deliberately pulling someone else down with her as a shield?"
"When the time comes, it won't be up to them anymore. No matter what cards they hold in their hands, how could they possibly compare to the power that can overturn the entire gambling table?"
While listening to the Dark Lightning Douluo planning the Soul Engineer Competition, Lin Xiao turned his head and asked another question.
"Third Brother, when you invite people from Illustrious Virtue Hall, do you already have a suitable candidate in mind?"
"I do happen to have one." The Dark Lightning Douluo smiled, almost without needing to think. "You should be familiar with this person too. It's the Starry Sky Douluo, Ye Yulin. Back then, to obtain a certain material, he owed us a huge favor."
When Lin Xiao heard this, he suddenly remembered that he had actually been present for that incident. At that time, he had just entered Illustrious Virtue Hall and was following behind Ye Yulin to learn. They had come here to purchase a rare metal.
"What? Did you think I was going to ask you to go invite people from Illustrious Virtue Hall?" The Dark Lightning Douluo noticed Lin Xiao's expression. "Relax. When doing things for the Holy Cult, naturally, we use the Holy Cult's favors."
"It's the same principle as gold soul coins, public is public, private is private. You mustn't mix them up."
Lin Xiao laughed dumbly and shook his head.
"Third Brother, if you entered the imperial court, you might actually become a high-ranking official."
"High officials are boring." The Dark Lightning Douluo took out a gold soul coin from somewhere and rubbed it between his fingers. "It's about time. Do you want to come downstairs with me to watch the excitement?"
Lin Xiao shook his head.
"I'll leave the arena matters to Third Brother. I still need to check on those few disciples. The Elite Competition is just around the corner."
"Alright then, I'll head down first."
The Dark Lightning Douluo did not linger and quickly went downstairs. Lin Xiao watched his departing figure, frowned slightly, then turned and walked in another direction.
"We've been preparing for more than two years. The competition is finally coming."
A low, muffled voice sounded, without much rise or fall in tone.
"Mm."
Then came another muffled voice, responding with only a simple syllable.
"I wonder what the goal of the cult really is."
"It's just a group of kids who have never seen blood. Are you scared?"
"Not scared. But I also never underestimate my opponents. If we fail, we will probably end up like the other disciples."
After the words fell, the room fell completely silent.
It was a long while before another voice spoke.
"So what? We've already survived for two years. At the very least, these two years we haven't had to live in constant fear, nor have we had to hide and run everywhere."
The few people who spoke seemed to recall something, and for a moment, no one spoke again.
Lin Xiao stood at the doorway, quietly listening to the voices of conversation coming from the dark room.
These were all disciples of the Holy Spirit Cult that Lin Xiao had personally selected from various places. Perhaps their talent wasn't the best, but they all shared similar experiences.
Although he was in charge of the Holy Spirit Cult's participation in the Elite Competition, during these two years, they had actually trained mostly on their own. Only in the past half year had he interacted more frequently with these few people.
He pushed open the door. The room instantly became quiet; even the breathing of the several people seemed to become lighter.
"Why didn't you open the curtains?"
Lin Xiao walked to the window and pulled open the curtains, allowing the sunlight outside to flood into the room. Everyone inside instinctively huddled deeper into their cloaks, covering their faces more tightly, apparently uncomfortable with the sudden brightness.
"From now on, all the matches will be fought under the watchful eyes of the public. If you cannot adapt to this, then there's even less need to talk about competing."
"And also—" Lin Xiao glanced at everyone, "remember what I told you before. As for the results, that's my responsibility."
"Get ready. This might be your last joint practice before the Elite Competition."
Hearing this, the few people looked at each other, then quickly looked away again. Having grown up accustomed to killing those around them, even after all this time, they still seemed unable to adapt to meeting each other's gazes.
Only Tang Ya seemed somewhat out of place compared to the other Holy Spirit Cult disciples. She hugged her knees, sitting by the window and gazing outside in a slight daze, lost in thought.
At the same time, outside Ming Capital, disciples from academies and sects from all corners of the four great empires were also heading toward Ming Capital.
Perhaps to prove whether sects or academies were superior, perhaps for fame, perhaps for rewards, or perhaps for other purposes.
But no one knew what would truly happen at this Elite Competition.
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