Chapter 86: The Conspiracy Begins to Take Shape

There were so many yuan stones, and they had countless uses. They could serve as currency, or one could absorb the primordial essence within them for cultivation.

And so, the matter of Chen Bo forging a polearm was suppressed by the emperor. Aside from a very small number of people, everyone else believed that on that day, Chen Bo had only forged a rather ordinary weapon.

What Chen Bo did not know was that at this very moment, Guo Liu was standing behind a man, with a fawning, obsequious look on his face, his posture rigidly respectful.

The man was in his thirties, nearly the same age as Chen Bo's father. Yet his face appeared very youthful, and between his thick brows lay a faint trace of steadiness and world-weariness. If this man were to go out and charm women, he would surely return laden with success.

Of course, that was assuming one could ignore the shadow of malice that occasionally flickered in his eyes.

"Guo Liu, what exactly is going on here? Explain it to me clearly!" The man's voice was somewhat grim, and one could tell he was suppressing a great deal of anger.

Guo Liu inadvertently caught a glimpse of the man's gaze and felt as though a sharp blade had pierced both his eyes. Startled, he hastily averted his gaze. He dared not refuse to answer the man's question and immediately replied, "Uncle, everything I said just now is true. Chen Bo and Yu Shifei really do share an ambiguous relationship!"

"If you don't believe me, you can go and inquire. Yu Shifei and Chen Bo actually got to know each other a long time ago. Moreover, just a few days ago, Yu Shifei even led Chen Bo into her private artifact-forging chamber. A lone man and a lone woman in there—"

"Silence!!" Before Guo Liu could finish, the man bellowed fiercely, "Nonsense from a brat! How could Shifei ever take a liking to that kind of trash?! The two of them are nearly ten years apart in age! And what evidence do you have to prove that the two are involved?!"

That voice struck like a thunderbolt from the heavens, exploding in Guo Liu's ears. Cold sweat poured down his back. He knew his young uncle's temperament all too well—formidable in strength and utterly unpredictable in mood! Moreover, it was practically common knowledge that his uncle adored Yu Shifei of the Tianyang Academy. So he said, "Uncle, I am your own nephew! How could I possibly deceive you?"

The man stared coldly at Guo Liu. After a long pause, he let out a harsh snort, and a burst of force sent the fallen leaves on the ground flying more than ten meters away. He said in a frigid tone, "Chen Bo forging weapons? I'd like to see exactly how you managed to catch Shifei's eye!"

"Uncle, this nephew has delivered the message, so I'll be taking my leave now!" A flicker of excitement passed through Guo Liu's eyes as he cupped his hands and spoke.

"Mhm." The man nodded lightly, and Guo Liu immediately turned and departed. Once outside the courtyard, he realized that cold sweat had already drenched his back. But at the thought of what had just happened, he could not help curling his lips, and muttered complacently to himself, "They say he was one of the finest forging prodigies in Tianyang City back then, a man of romance a decade ago. But now, isn't he just being played for a fool by a junior like me?"

"Chen Bo, oh Chen Bo. You could defeat Chen Long, but can you defeat him? Hmph! You've offended me, Guo Liu, so brace yourself for endless vengeance! I hope the next time I see you, it's at your funeral. Hahaha!"

What he did not know, however, was that the man in the courtyard let a cold gleam flash across his face and sneered disdainfully, "Guo Liu? You think such petty tricks can work on me, Ma Yuan? Do you truly take me for a naive three-year-old?"

"As for this Chen Bo—whether or not you have any relationship with Shifei, you have already been placed on my Ma Yuan's kill list! The mere fact that you can forge a single weapon that brings enlightenment to others means you cannot be allowed to live! Tianyang City does not need another forging prodigy!"

Ma Yuan. The name sounded crude, even tacky. But his reputation in Tianyang City was exceedingly formidable.

Ten years ago, Ma Yuan had been a sixth-year student at Tianyang Academy, the most outstanding genius of the artifact-forging department—bar none! He had even managed to forge a half-yuan artifact using only Acquired-stage cultivation! He was merely one step away from a true yuan artifact!

At that time, it had shocked the entire Tianyang Academy, and even the whole of Tianyang City! He was a genius; there was no doubt about that.

Until one day, the dean of Tianyang Academy brought in a girl. She was only fourteen at the time, yet she defeated him in the very craft he took the most pride in—artifact forging.

Strangely enough, this man, who was usually petty and suspicious, felt not the slightest desire to kill that girl. Instead, he fell in love with her!

He was already twenty-six that year, more than a decade older than the girl. It was plainly a case of an old ox chewing tender grass.

But unfortunately, the girl's intelligence and emotional maturity were on par with a full-grown adult, and she absolutely looked down on Ma Yuan. In fact, the girl looked down on every man! This was not because she preferred women, but because she had grown up in a place surrounded by experts on every side, and she genuinely regarded no man as worthy.

She had seen plenty of excellent men. But out of a thousand suitors, nine hundred and ninety-nine pursued her with ulterior motives—for instance, hoping to latch onto her father's coattails. The remaining one was merely there to join in the fun.

Ma Yuan belonged to the former category. He was very talented, but he pursued her with a hidden agenda. His goal was to hitch himself to her father's coattails, which would save him decades—even a century—of struggle!

The girl was Yu Shifei, and her father was the dean of Tianyang Academy, Yu Chenling. No wonder Ma Yuan had pursued her so eagerly for a full ten years.

But Ma Yuan's character was truly lacking. In Tianyang City, any man who grew too close to the girl—even if they merely exchanged a few extra words—would be dealt with by Ma Yuan in secret, so long as the man lacked any significant background.

Over these ten years, no fewer than a hundred people had died at his hands because of this, or been crippled or maimed by him! In truth, he could have killed far more, but many of them came from backgrounds he simply could not afford to offend.

Chen Bo, however, was clearly not in that category. In Ma Yuan's eyes, Chen Bo was the weakest, most useless opponent he had ever encountered.

Far away at Tianyang Academy, Chen Bo was completely unaware of the approaching crisis. At this moment, he was seated amidst a pile of yuan stones, cultivating the Nine Yang True Scripture.

The Nine Yang True Scripture, after being modified by the system, practiced as smoothly as a fish in water. Especially with the aid of a large pile of high-grade yuan stones, the entire dormitory was saturated with dense primordial essence. With every breath, one could feel one's body growing stronger!

This made the hundreds of millions of netizens in the livestream burn with envy, jealousy, and hatred.

"I practice the Nine Yang True Scripture and eat herbal meals every day, but after all this time, my strength has only increased by less than twenty jin. So envious!"

"No helping it. This is something envy can't fix. If only the streamer could teleport yuan stones to Earth."

"Even if the streamer could teleport them, there'd be none left for you! After all, there are billions of people on Earth. Does the streamer have billions of yuan stones? Obviously not. The streamer has fewer than a thousand yuan stones right now. Even if all of them were teleported over, the country would get first dibs."

"The person above speaks the truth!"