Chapter Ninety-Three: The Shadow Guard Eighteen Formation Reaches Completion for the First Time

“Young Master Wu, these are the three botanical spirits you bid on.” A captivating woman approached with graceful steps.

“Mm. Here are three million Thunder Stones, along with my token. Take them to the Wu Family Trading Company for exchange.”

The woman nodded.

After the handover with Heavenly Dragon House, Wu Hao kept the Life-Substitution Fruit and handed the other two to Tu Lu.

“Brother Tu, as we agreed before, I’ll keep this Life-Substitution Fruit.”

“Brother Wu, there’s no need for such courtesy.” Tu Lu said hurriedly.

Though most of the ten million Thunder Stones’ value lay in the Life-Substitution Fruit, without Wu Hao he would never have obtained the Tribulation-Substituting Flower, so his gratitude was genuine.

Wu Hao laughed heartily.

After that, many more rare treasures appeared, but Tu Lu’s thoughts were no longer on the auction.

Perhaps because the three botanical spirits had cost too much, Wu Hao hardly bid again after that.

Another day passed.

At last, the auction ended. Aside from the final headlining treasure, the three botanical spirits fetched the highest price of the entire event.

No one had expected that.

As for the final headlining treasure, it too was an unimaginably precious item. Wu Hao even made one bid, but he was easily outmatched.

He hesitated for a long while before finally giving up.

“What a pity about that Three-Transformation Immortal Embryo. I really can’t afford it.” He sighed.

“Many thanks to Brother Wu this time. I am deeply grateful!”

“No need for thanks. If there’s anything else you need help with, just say the word. I won’t dare claim I can do everything, but a few small favors are still within my means.”

Wu Hao laughed, and was about to leave when something suddenly occurred to him. He stopped, took out a communication slip, and handed it over.

“By the way, this is my communication slip. If you run into trouble in the future, contact me directly. Don’t bother with that bastard Zhang Cheng!”

Tu Lu was momentarily stunned. After taking the slip, he gave a bitter smile and nodded.

After Wu Hao left, Tu Lu spent quite some time before finally managing to send the Tribulation-Substituting Flower and Tribulation-Substituting Herb back to his true body without anyone noticing.

...

“At last, they’re mine!”

In the prefectural residence’s side manor, Tu Lu drew in a deep breath, took out the Tribulation-Substituting Flower, and once again entered seclusion.

Before half a day had passed, he had refined a Tribulation-Substituting Flower incarnation.

The instant that incarnation took shape, all of his incarnations seemed to jolt as if struck by lightning, each one simultaneously feeling a sense of completion.

In some unfathomable way, his Shadow Guard Eighteen Formation had already reached its limit!

There was a sense that this was the end, that it could no longer advance.

Within the inner seas of the dantian in both his true body and all his incarnations, the grain-like mana crystals trembled violently. Each seemed ready to form a tiny world, yet at the final moment an invisible obstacle abruptly halted them, leaving them stuck on the threshold just short of the Purple Mansion Realm.

“It won’t be wrong. As long as the eighteen incarnations merge into one and I break the laws by force, I will surely step into the Purple Mansion Realm!”

Tu Lu clenched his fists. The power that had already reached its limit seemed to surge once more.

“But first, I still need to deal with the soul pact.”

He sighed.

Now that the moment had come, he found himself hesitating instead.

The Blood-Jade Soul Pact was infamous; even a Divine Transformation Venerable could not解除 it. He had only managed to exploit a loophole, but could it truly be undone?

Perhaps by tomorrow morning, he would become the second Feng Ru...

“Forget it. It’s useless to think like this. I can’t just let Purple Camel achieve the Sacred Body. I’ll gamble everything!”

With a sharp grit of his teeth, he took out a formation disc.

This was something he had borrowed from Zhang Cheng. It could suppress the reaction of the crimson scroll in Purple Camel’s hands while the soul pact was being broken. The idea had also been inspired by Feng Ru; otherwise, he would never have dared to act now and alert his prey.

...

At the same time, a servant was reporting the auction’s events to Purple Camel.

“That’s all.”

“Understood. You may go.”

“Yes!”

The servant’s figure gradually faded away.

Within the small room, another figure slowly appeared. He wore a blue-green rain cloak, and his face was somewhat aged.

“You should be careful of that fellow Tu.”

But Purple Camel shook his head.

“Bound by the Blood-Jade Soul Pact, if he were utterly unconcerned, then I would have reason to worry. This reaction is, in fact, normal. It’s just that...”

He hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.