Upon informing the three men, Babbit handed the letter to them. Dorrah


    exchanged nces with Conrad before beginning to read. He then passed it on to Grote, who did the same before passing the letter to Conrad.


    All three men were in shock after reading the letter. "How could this be?" Dorrah eximed. "Why is Edmund begging us for help all of a sudden? Didn''t he just double his cultivation recently?"


    Babbit said, "I think Edmund might have suffered some bacsh while cultivating, which affected his foundation. So, his powers didn''t improve, and it even ended up decreasing significantly. He now fears nothing more than the four of us ganging up on him."


    "Well, why don''t we take advantage of the situation at hand to do exactly that?"


    Babbit nced at Dorrah. "Have you forgotten the City Lord rules? If a rebellion is to arise in a major town, the other City Lords will personallye to weed out the traitors and take them down. Even if we managed to kill Edmund while he''s in a vulnerable state, the other eight City Lords will surely hear about this. If they join forces ande after us, we won''t be able to endure their wrath."


    Grote said, "You''re right, Mister Babbit. But if we miss this opportunity, it''s going to be hard for another one toe by."


    "I don''t think that''s the case for sure," said Conrad. "Mister Babbit said just now that even if we win, the eight City Lords might attack us. Edmund hates us to no end but wrote a letter to us begging for mercy. That''s already humiliating enough for him."


    "I''ve observed Edmund all these years, and I know he cares deeply about his pride. He absolutely despises us, and having to beg us for mercy will only add to that hatred. If this goes on, it''s bound to grow into something ugly in the next thousand years. Edmund will be sure to get the army to take us down then. As long as we y by the rules until that happens, Edmund will look like the bad guy trying toe after us for nothing. We''ll have an excuse to retaliate and kill him then, without the other City Lordsing after us!" Grotemented.


    Dorrah and Conrad nodded at those words, and Dorrah said, "Yes, Edmund''s hatred toward us has been deeply ingrained in his heart. It''s going to be hard for him to improve his cultivation from here on out, and I''m sure having to write that letter was infuriating for him."


    "On top of that," Babbit said with a deep breath, "Edmund''s got the protection of an upper-dimension elite. He''s got one supporting him in the background, but I heard that cultivators with this protection have to maintain a pure mind and heart. With such strong hatred in him, he''s bound to be abandoned by that upper- dimension elite within the next thousand years. Once he loses that protection, it''ll be even easier for us to kill him."


    After discussing briefly, everyone ended up agreeing with Babbit''s assumption. They would hold off until Edmund''s hatred was deeply rooted in his chest to form evil thoughts, and then go in for the kill.


    The three family heads left, and Edmund turned to Felix. "How was that?"


    Felix nodded. "Dying the attack for a thousand years with just one letter was genius. However, that battle is still inevitable and will eventuallye."


    "Ha! Forget a thousand years, the other three families will go down within the next decade! When that happens, I''ll have control over all of Buck Town!"


    "Ten years?" Felix was stunned. "I don''t think that''s possible in such a short time, Master."