Can a Scholar Be Called a Villain

Chapter 54: Surrounding duke Sheng’s residence

Just a day ago, the second-generation youths of the capital were still enthusiastically running around, creating noise and confusion throughout the city.

But today, they had all suddenly vanished into thin air.

It was as if they had an agreement to create chaos for a day before disappearing.

It was confusingly quiet.

It was terrifyingly quiet.

In the evening, the sun descended over the horizon, as if blood had splashed over the entire city.

At this moment, the passersby were cleared out of the roads outside of duke Sheng’s residence, with the nearby stalls and shops all closed for the day. Even residential houses were closed, their windows tightly shut.

There were only so many influential clans in the capital that could achieve something like this.

This was unsettling for the people in duke Sheng’s manor.

Then, sounds of footsteps came from outside, terrifying them.

A few guards quickly closed the entrance gates, running to the chamberlain to report nervously, “Great chamberlain! Something terrible is happening! The residence seems to have been surrounded!”

Chamberlain Wan waved his arm, spreading his Origin realm divine senses as his complexion turned pale slightly. He could sense no less than a hundred men outside that was on par with his strength.

Whether or not these people had any malicious intent, he had to report to his master, duke Sheng, first.

Trembling in cold sweat, he hastily ran towards duke Sheng’s study.

He passed by the courtyard, the pavilion, and then the garden before finally arriving at the study. Knocking on the study door anxiously, he reported, “Master! Something terrible is happening! We have been surrounded!”

A few streets away, a few human silhouettes could be seen standing a distance away as they stared at duke Sheng’s manor with a glint in their eyes. They were in the midst of a discussion.

“Sister Liu’er, what do you think? Are your subordinates sure of this place?” Wang Ren Mei turned to Murong Liu, who was standing at her side in a beautiful dress.

Murong Liu’s head was lowered, making it hard for her eyes to be seen, but the cold aura that enveloped her figure was impossible to overlook.

“It’s here! I am very certain, and if you don’t believe me, you can test it yourself with the Dragon Seeker Ring. I am speaking nothing but the truth.” Murong Liu responded.

The two women were performing an act with straight faces.

Xue Xun Xiang was the first to report his findings today regarding the fact that the Dragon God Crystal’s aura was detected by the Dragon Seeker Ring in duke Sheng’s residence.

And the two then colluded together to frame duke Sheng’s residence by bringing a person they had prepared.

But it didn’t seem as if they needed to bring them out, and after confirming the information that was presented to her, Wang Ren Mei had instructed the people of the four great clans that she had prepared in advance to clear the two streets around the residence.

Their actions were to prepare for the oncoming battle, prevent any ambushes from the Blood Spirits’ members hidden in this manor, and act as a malicious fishing boat that would catch duke Sheng.

And no matter the outcome, they had something to gain.

The four great clans had even prepared a few people disguised as the Blood Spirits’ members that would burst out of duke Sheng’s residence, giving them the lawful right to charge in.

And as of right now, they were just waiting for the signal.

There were quite a number of experts sent by the four great clans discreetly.

The Wang clan had dispatched their great ancestor, along with eight Manifestation realm experts;

The great ancestor of the Xue clan moved as well, with seven of their Manifestation realm experts;

Because of Liu Xing Mang’s death, the Liu clan in the south sent out their great ancestor and eight Manifestation realm experts;

Lastly, while the West Frontier’s Du clan didn’t send their ancestor, they had dispatched eight Manifestation realm experts.

As such, with only one Sky Reaching realm expert in duke Sheng’s residence, duke Sheng himself, and less than 20 Manifestation realm experts, they were no match for the four great clans.

As for the reason why they had used so much of their forces to deal with duke Sheng, it wasn’t simply because there were traces of the Blood Spirits hidden in his manor.

It was also due to the fact that duke Sheng had suppressed the four great clans as the leader of the imperial faction by using the authority he had in the government and military.

And adding that his son, Sheng Yi, had revealed his talent, the four great clans became anxious.

The previous duke had nothing but authority, with such a weak successor, his family was bound to amount to nothing.

But now, duke Sheng was on the brink of forming the fifth great clan in the country, all he needed to do was to secretly accumulate a few years of wealth.

By then, the four great clans of Yan might truly become the five great clans.

The four clans didn’t wish for yet another enemy to compete over resources and land.

As such, they had plenty of reasons for attacking the duke, and conveniently, this was even under the lead of the sixth princess.

By the time the Murong clan had realised what had happened, they wouldn’t have any authority to rebuke them.

At the back, Tang Can and Lu Hai Miao had arrived, with Murong Xing nowhere to be found. Glancing at the dimly shining Dragon Seeker Rings on their fingers, then at each other, they nodded.

Lu Hai Miao still couldn’t believe that duke Sheng had a part to play in all of this.

She wondered if duke Sheng would make a move if they were to barge into his residence in search of the Blood Spirits’ members.

Regardlessly, this would be nothing but humiliating for duke Sheng.

Tang Can’s gaze turned dark as he thought of his father that had died miserably in the valley.

His ten fingers turned pale from his grip as he took out poison-coated hidden weapons and poison capsules from his bag of holding, ready to attack at a moment’s notice.

“Hey! Tang Can! Don’t you think something’s strange?” At this moment, Lu Hai Miao moved closer to Tang Can, whispering in his ear.

With his brows furrowed in perplexion, Tang Can asked with a low voice, “Why?”

“I feel like there are a bit too many people here surrounding the manor, also, why didn’t we speak to the duke first?”

Tang Can stared at Lu Hai Miao as he responded with a cold laugh, “There are a lot of people here because of the four great clans’ animosity towards duke Sheng, and with the sixth princess and the seventh prince in the lead, they won’t have to risk their reputation. It’s no surprise that they’re pulling out all the stops.

As for duke Sheng, do you think an expert of the Sky Reaching realm would sit down and kindly explain to us why he would scheme for the deaths of a hundred thousand people?”

“Then why aren’t we just directly attacking them?”

“Because we need a cause to annihilate duke Sheng’s manor! I want them to pay with their blood!” Tang Can growled in a low voice, hysteria creeping out from his tone.

Lu Hai Miao paused for a moment before slowly raising Tang Can’s hand, “I don’t wish for you to lose yourself in hatred.”

“They’re holding hands, they’re holding hands! That motherfucker Tang Can dares to hold my goddess’ hand?”

On the loft of a seven-story building not too far away, there was a group of people who had chosen to use this apt location to observe the impending battle.

Su Xiao Xiao held a pair of binoculars to his eyes as he stared at Tang Can and Lu Hai Miao, gritting his teeth as he spoke.

Li Ming, who was leaning against the railing, laughed, “Hahaha, go and surround duke Sheng’s residence if you dare, what kind of a man hides behind lamenting?”

Su Xiao Xiao turned around and kicked his feet towards Li Ming.

Zhou Miao was smoking as he asked, perplexed, “Why would it be duke Sheng? I can’t see why he would need to do so? Why would he collude with the Blood Spirits?”

Ma Jian Chou and Murong Lin were lying on rocking chairs at the side, and Ma Jian Chou responded with a confident expression, “You don’t get it, do you? Hah! Think of Sheng Yi! Do you get it now? And here I was, wondering why his cultivation speed had gotten so fast, it was because of the Blood Spirits!

Hah, refining pills with human blood would definitely increase your cultivation speed in the short term, but it wouldn’t work in the long run. This was why Sheng Yi dared to fight over treasures with the South Village King in the remnant.”

Look at the profound act he was putting on.

If it weren’t for the fact that Murong Lin had created the Blood Spirits himself, he might’ve believed his words.

He glanced at Ma Jian Chou with a strange gaze, thinking to himself: Ma Jian Chou ah, Ma Jian Chou, the real culprit is right next to you.

And he couldn’t help but chuckle.

The eyes of the plump Ma Jian Chou widened as he asked, “Old Lin, what are you laughing for?”

Murong Lin slowly supported himself up as he looked at the group of people standing on the faraway street, “I am looking forward to witnessing the meeting of two protagonists.”

They couldn’t understand what he was saying.

“Protagonist? What’s a protagonist?”

Murong Lin waved his arm and dismissed their questions, “Nothing important. Look! Something is happening in duke Sheng’s residence!”

Translator’s note

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