180: Let's discuss the terms.

"Huff... huff..."

On the wind-swept wilderness, two figures were locked in a high-speed chase of life and death.

Looking at Murong Che behind him—who seemed as if he had taken some kind of drug, his body burning with essence blood, his eyes blood-red, and vowing to tear him to pieces—Li Xiu wanted to slap himself twice while sprinting.

"My big mouth!"

Li Xiu felt immense regret in his heart, his intestines practically turning green with remorse.

He had originally intended to use some gossip from his past life's intelligence to disgust his opponent and throw Murong Che off his game, thereby buying himself a chance to escape.

Who would have thought... Murong Che's mental fortitude was so poor!

He had gone straight from being embarrassed and angry to a state of undying hatred!

This was clearly just adding a "Berserk" and "Taunt" buff to his opponent!

"Truly, trying to steal a chicken only to lose the rice!"

However, what Li Xiu did not know was that Murong Che's logic for killing him at this moment was actually extremely complex and realistic.

Regarding Li Xiu's previous curse-like words, "Your father is about to be finished," Murong Che actually hadn't taken them too seriously.

After all, his father, Murong Cheng, was a Heaven-Reaching Realm Expert, almost invincible in this Lower Realm; how could he just be "finished" like that?

His chase of Li Xiu just now was mostly to maintain his Face as the Young Lord, as well as the reputation of his Family.

His original plan was just to catch the person, torture him a bit to establish his authority, and then let it go.

After all, anyone who could find out so much intelligence about the Murong Family must have a powerful force behind them.

Although Murong Che was arrogant, he was not stupid; there was no need to completely offend someone of unknown origin over such a minor verbal spat.

But the moment the three words "Concubine Liu" popped out of Li Xiu's mouth, the nature of the situation changed completely.

This was not just a scandal; it was a death warrant, a path to self-destruction!

That was his father's most beloved concubine, the apple of his eye!

If this scandal were to spread, given his father's ruthless nature and inability to tolerate any sand in his eyes, he would undoubtedly clean house without hesitation and beat his own son to death!

To save his own life and maintain his position as the Young Lord, this Li Xiu, who knew the truth, had to die!

Only a dead man's mouth could be truly tight!

As for Li Xiu's previous curse about his father dying, Murong Che had long since cast it to the back of his mind.

After all, although he didn't want that old geezer to die right now—he still needed his father's protection to act like a tyrant in Cangyuan City—if he were to die, coupled with the conflict between the City Lord's Mansion and the Chu Family, the Chu Family would definitely take action.

And since he had previously ambushed the eldest Young Miss of the Chu Family, the Chu Family would certainly not let him off.

But this guy's claim that his father was about to be finished had no basis, so Murong Che just assumed he was being insulted.

Moreover, Murong Che himself actually quite enjoyed the thrill of sneaking around with Concubine Liu right under Murong Cheng's nose...

But this thought was only a fleeting one.

After all, compared to the consequences of letting that old guy know about this, he could weigh which was more important.

Subsequently, it was as if he had been injected with a stimulant, and his determination to kill and silence his opponent became even firmer and more frenzied!

"Die for this Young Lord!"

Seeing Murong Che burning his essence blood again, a terrifying icy palm print approached, sealing off all his retreat paths.

Li Xiu knew that with his current Realm, he definitely couldn't outrun this crazed Indestructible Realm Expert.

"Damn it! This is a huge loss!"

Li Xiu gritted his teeth, his heart aching.

"Hum—"

With a flip of his wrist, he painfully sacrificed a golden heart-protecting mirror from his Storage Ring, which radiated an ancient aura and was carved with intricate inscriptions.

At the same time, he pulled out several defensive Talismans he had swiped from the Family treasury.

These were his life-saving trump cards brought down from the Upper Realm!

Using one meant one less! This wasn't a fight; this was burning money!

"Boom—!!!"

Murong Che's full-force, terrifying palm print slammed heavily against the golden light shield outside Li Xiu's body.

A loud noise erupted, stirring up a sky full of wind, snow, and gravel.

However, that seemingly thin layer of golden light shield only shook slightly, sending out ripples.

It was... completely unscathed!

After all, this was a life-saving item given to the Young Lord by the top forces of the Upper Realm. Although Li Xiu's spiritual energy was currently low and he couldn't unleash its full power, it was definitely not something an Early Stage Undying Realm Cultivator from the Lower Realm could easily break.

The scene instantly fell into an extremely awkward stalemate.

Li Xiu was like a turtle hiding in its shell.

Having used all his strength to activate the Magic Treasure, he had no extra energy to counterattack.

He let Murong Che scream in rage, bombarding him continuously with all sorts of killing moves as if they were free, attempting to exhaust his spiritual energy.

Meanwhile, Li Xiu watched as the light on the heart-protecting mirror dimmed bit by bit, his heart bleeding.

He knew very clearly that he was currently in a passive defense.

If this kept up, the moment his spiritual energy was exhausted, it would be his death date.

He had to break the situation!

Li Xiu's brain worked at high speed, searching for a way to survive. Through the golden light shield, he shouted loudly at the madman outside:

"Murong Che! Stop! You can't kill me, and I can't get away. If we keep going like this, it won't benefit either of us! We are in the wilderness; if we attract high-level Yao Beasts, we'll both die!"

However, Murong Che was blinded by rage at this moment and turned a deaf ear to this, continuing to attack frantically as if he didn't know fatigue.

Seeing that the other party was impervious to reason, Li Xiu took a deep breath and decided to go all in.

He threw out his final bargaining chip:

"I know what you're afraid of!"

Li Xiu roared:

"Aren't you afraid that your affair with Concubine Liu will be exposed?! I can swear a Heavenly Dao oath!"

"I, Li Xiu, swear to the Heavens: if I reveal a single word of today's events to a third person, let me be struck by lightning, my Dao Heart shattered, my body and Dao destroyed, and may I never be reincarnated!"

Hearing the words "Heavenly Dao oath," Murong Che, who was attacking frantically, finally slowed his movements, and the red light in his eyes faded slightly.

For a Cultivator, such an oath was directly imprinted on the Divine Soul.

It had extremely strong binding power, and almost no one dared to violate it.

Seeing that his opponent was finally wavering, Li Xiu felt a surge of joy, but he knew this wasn't enough.

He struck while the iron was hot, throwing out a second, more tempting bait that struck directly at Murong Che's inner desires.

Li Xiu looked at Murong Che through the shield, his expression becoming incomparably solemn and mysterious:

"Moreover, what I said before about your father being finished wasn't a curse, but an established fact. In exchange, I can also tell you what the true crisis your father is about to Face is."

Li Xiu lowered his voice, like a devil whispering:

"This doesn't just concern whether your Murong Family can survive in this chaotic world. It even... concerns whether you can take over the City Lord's Mansion in the future, and whether you can... completely and openly possess Concubine Liu."

Li Xiu hooked the corner of his mouth into a confident arc:

"How about it? Young Lord Murong, this profitable deal... are you going to do it or not?"