443: Chapter 87 Meng Li: A Miscalculation!

Entering the airport, Meng Li's trio bought first-class tickets. Seeing there was still time, they waited in the lounge.

During the process, Chen Duo kept looking around, curiosity written clearly all over her face.

Meng Li knew it was her first time properly taking a plane, so he didn't mind. Instead, he followed her gaze and gave simple introductions at the right moments.

Beside them, Xia He watched thoughtfully.

Just then, a call came from not far away: "Brother Meng."

Meng Li looked toward the sound and found it was Feng Xingtong calling him, with Feng Sha Yan standing beside her.

"Xingtong, Sha Yan," he replied with a smile.

After the greetings, the Feng siblings walked over and sat on the seats opposite them.

Feng Xingtong said with a smile, "What a coincidence. Brother Meng, are you going to Xilingol?"

Feng Sha Yan looked at Xia He and Chen Duo, who were sitting on either side of Meng Li.

"Yeah," Meng Li responded softly. Noticing Feng Sha Yan's gaze, he pointed to Chen Duo and Xia He respectively and took the initiative to introduce them: "Chen Duo, Xia He."

Next, he pointed to Feng Xingtong and Feng Sha Yan, introducing them to Chen Duo and Xia He: "Feng Xingtong, Feng Sha Yan."

Feng Sha Yan showed a look of surprise: "The legendary Gu Body Saint Child, and one of the Four Madmen of Quanxing, the scraping bone blade?"

Chen Duo nodded and greeted them with a flat expression: "Hello."

Xia He didn't speak. Her peach-blossom eyes narrowed slightly, her gaze flickering between Feng Sha Yan and Meng Li. Through their eyes and expressions, she preliminarily determined that the two didn't have the kind of relationship she had expected. Then, following up on Feng Sha Yan's words, she asked, "Is there a problem?"

Feng Sha Yan crossed her arms and replied calmly, "No problem, just a bit surprised."

Logically, since Feng Zheng Hao was one of The Ten Elders, the Tianxia Society was to some extent a Righteous Path force and should be irreconcilable with the evil Quanxing. However, as one of the children Feng Zheng Hao valued most, Feng Sha Yan saw through the so-called talk of good and evil more clearly than most.

The distinction between good and evil was merely a product of struggle and could not represent character one hundred percent.

Those on the Righteous Path weren't necessarily all good people, and those in evil sects weren't necessarily all villains.

Therefore, even though she knew that Quanxing members were universally despised, whether she should take action upon meeting one depended on the situation.

Neither she nor the Tianxia Society had any grievances or conflicts with Xia He, and they were currently at the airport, so it was naturally impossible to fight.

After saying that, Feng Sha Yan looked at Meng Li and asked in confusion, "You're going to Xilingol to fight, so why bring them? To back you up?"

Meng Li shook his head and then explained, "Chen Duo is now my assistant. Her theoretical studies are almost complete, but she lacks clinical experience. I'm taking her there to find an opportunity for her to practice. Xia He is a special assistant, helping Chen Duo."

Hearing this answer, both Feng Sha Yan and Feng Xingtong were stunned.

Seeing this, Meng Li didn't explain further and instead asked, "Where are you two going?"

Feng Xingtong snapped out of it and replied, "We're also going to Xilingol. Dad said he wanted to show some support for you, Brother Meng. I didn't expect we'd meet here."

Meng Li was somewhat surprised.

Show support for him?

What was there to show support for in this matter?

In an instant, Meng Li realized that Feng Zheng Hao probably also had designs on the Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements. However, due to his status and their cooperative relationship, it wasn't easy to express it directly. He could only wait for an opportunity: for example, if Meng Li lost the fight or if some accident occurred, he could step in to lend a hand and thus slowly plot his move.

Meng Li didn't feel any particular way about this.

Everyone wants good things; that's normal.

It just depended on whose methods were superior in the end.

Thus, Meng Li smiled and exchanged a few pleasantries, letting the matter pass.

Not long after, it was time to board. Meng Li's trio and the Feng siblings went through security and boarded the plane together.

After boarding, the five of them were surprised to find that they were the only ones in the first-class cabin of this flight, so they simply sat together.

Soon, the plane took off.

Chen Duo looked at the clouds outside the window with great novelty, but after watching for a while, she lost interest due to the unchanging scenery. Instead, she took a handheld console from her pocket and started playing Pokémon.

After becoming completely familiar with the game console, she had a special fondness for this game for a simple reason: there were many choices, and almost every step required making a decision.

Xia He had no interest in games. She lay down to the side, covered with a blanket, and started watching a drama.

Feng Sha Yan put on an eye mask to take a nap.

After dismissing the flight attendant, Feng Xingtong started chatting with Meng Li.

To be precise, she was disclosing intelligence to Meng Li.

"Brother Meng, after you put the word out, quite a few people have been stirred into action, especially those from Quanxing."

"Oh?" Meng Li let out a soft sound of curiosity and followed up, "Specifically, which people?"

Feng Xingtong replied, "I'm not exactly sure about the specifics."

"However, on Quanxing's side, I heard that the Three Corpses and Six Thieves have all mobilized. In addition, the Tang Clan and the Wuhou School also seem to have some movement, but the situation is currently unclear."

The Three Corpses and Six Thieves of Quanxing, the Tang Clan, and the Wuhou School.

That's not many people at all!

Meng Li muttered to himself, then after a careful calculation, he realized he had thought about it wrong.

Under the intentional control of the authorities, the number of Inhumans wasn't large to begin with. Currently, there were fewer than fifteen thousand on record.

The largest proportion of these were from those famous Schools and great sects because they had long histories and continuous legacies.

For example, the Celestial Masters Residence, Quanzhen, Wudang, and the four great families: Lü, Wang, Gao, and Lu.

These forces basically all had orthodox legacies.

Some of them disdained coveting the Eight Peculiar Skills.

Like the Celestial Masters Residence.

Are the Eight Peculiar Skills very powerful?

Wang Ye, who knows the Wind-After Odd Gates, used Luanjin Dun until he was exhausted, yet he only managed to freeze Zhang Zhiwei for an instant. Lu Jin, who mastered the Heavenly Scroll, used Talismans for a wild bombardment, yet he couldn't even break Zhang Zhiwei's Golden Light Mantra.

Others had different pursuits.

For instance, Quanzhen focused on cultivating their mind and nature. Aside from tempering their life-force, they didn't mess with all those miscellaneous things.

Or take the Lu Family; their Family Legacy passed down a strict Family style, and they didn't force techniques, leaving them to fate.

Still others already had peculiar skills, which ended up becoming a burden instead.

For example, Wudang: several experts of the older generation got trapped in their own Inner Landscapes because of the Wind-After Odd Gates and couldn't come out, commonly known as "going crazy."

Or the Lü Family: ever since they obtained the Minghun Technique—the Blue Hand of the Shuangquan Hand—under Lü Ci's control, they couldn't even marry freely to ensure the ability didn't leak out.

After this wave of filtering, not many people were left.

Among these few people, some had already been eliminated due to the butterfly effect.

For example, Wang Ai and Lü Ci had already met their end because they coveted Meng Li's Medicinal Pill formula.

Because the Wang and Lü families lost their pillars, they had no time to worry about anything else until now.

Also, Gong Qing and Lü Liang.

Meng Li's previous pointers to Zhang Lingyu had resulted in the two of them being caught red-handed by Zhang Zhiwei when they tried to attack Tian Jinzhong, and they died on the spot.

Then there were the Four Madmen.

Shen Chong, the Root of Disaster, and Gao Ning, the Thunder Smoke Cannon, had their lives and souls extinguished.

Dou Mei, the Gut-Piercing Poison, had become Meng Li's hidden pawn, and Xia He, the scraping bone blade, was currently being kept by his side for training.

Furthermore, Artifact Refining requires talent.

Without the talent for Artifact Refining, one couldn't learn the Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements even if they obtained it.

Therefore, those who were interested in it were generally Artifact Refiners or forces that had Artifact Refiners.

And Artifact Refiners were rare to begin with.

Among the more famous ones, Yuan Tao was dead, and Han Dan, like Dou Mei, had become a hidden pawn.

Of the remaining ones, the Tianxia Society had one, and the Tang Clan had one.

The situation of the other Schools was currently unknown.

Since it was unknown, it meant these existences were used to hiding their strength and certainly wouldn't reveal it easily.

The previous Luotian Grand Ritual was said to be for the Heavenly Scroll, but the people from those famous Schools were mostly there to show support for Zhang Zhiwei or had other purposes.

For example, Feng Sha Yan, Feng Xingtong, Wang Ye, Lu Linglong, and so on.

But even so, looking at the situation where "after the five-person melee, it was the top thirty-two," the total number of participants was only one hundred and sixty.

And that was the effect of Zhang Zhiwei's title as The Pinnacle and the Leader of Zhengyi, combined with the Heavenly Scroll.

Meng Li wasn't unknown in the Inhuman circle currently, but his fame obviously couldn't compare to Zhang Zhiwei's.

After these layers of filtering and comparison, he felt that being able to attract the Three Corpses, the Six Thieves, and the Tang Clan was already a pleasant surprise.

Thinking of this, Meng Li silently thought it was a miscalculation, but he didn't care too much.

After all, he had set this up to reduce trouble.

Having fewer people coveting the Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements was exactly what he wanted.

...