Chapter 56

Strolling around the Taoist temple, I found not a single familiar face among the pilgrims. Master seemed not to have returned yet, and the young Taoist acolytes had drifted off somewhere unknown.

"You blockhead..." Nan Liu-mo could feel the hands resting on her suddenly tighten their grip, almost causing her a pang of pain. Though her eyes remained closed, she spoke with a mixture of exhaustion and helplessness.

"Why don't you become the very first sacrifice for My ascension as the King of the Deep?" With that, the Octopus King opened its massive maw, seemingly intent on devouring Guyu.

"I've been here for a while," Dongzi said, sitting down opposite Wang Peng while placing his cell phone, pack of cigarettes, and lighter onto the table.

Just as Jiuhuang was about to speak, the anxious voice of a maid sounded from the outer room, followed by the rustling of getting out of bed, and soon after, the flickering light of a candle illuminated the space.

Han Shuier uttered the final three words with heavy emphasis, as if she wished to fully convey her resolute determination to Jing Moxuan.

"Do not belittle yourself!" Even while admitting defeat, Guyu refused to let the mysterious man casually disparage them.

At that moment, Basi led his force of one hundred thousand soldiers close to the scene. Gazing at the long procession of carriages laden with grain and provisions not far away, Basi's eyes lit up, and a trace of greed flickered across his face.

Li Nan's words carried a veiled hint. Though the bald man was not particularly sharp-witted, he caught the meaning immediately, gave a prompt acknowledgment, and stepped out.

Feeling too excited right now to focus on cultivation, and wishing to calm his racing thoughts, he strolled down to the lakeside. He stretched a piece of cloth between two trees—simple enough—and set up a shelter so Master wouldn't find it unsightly. Then, he returned to cultivation.

Currently at the second layer of Foundation Establishment, cultivation progressed quite slowly. He just had to persevere; fortunately, he had the spirit pool to support him, which he considered quite fortunate in itself.

The reason Director Huang's attitude had undergone such a drastic turnaround was that, after a moment of reflection, he had decided that no matter what, he was going to pursue Reba and win her over. Yet, no matter how obsequiously Director Huang smiled, Reba completely ignored him, even letting out a light, disdainful snort.

Having confirmed their destination, the leader Quinn gave a single-handed wave, and the band of assassins instantly vanished into the darkness.

If the Cixi Mausoleum truly existed in Gantian Town, the most auspicious burial site would undoubtedly be Panlong Mountain. Although Fenghuang Mountain was not bad either, it was ultimately not a dragon vein. How could Cixi neglect the primary and secondary veins and build her tomb on Fenghuang Mountain?

Casually tossing the matter onto the peach-eyed man, she felt a wave of relief, as she had no clue where even to begin herself.

He had originally counted on this "Demon Worm" to provide some feedback or benefits once it matured, but looking at the situation now, merely keeping his arm intact had become a distant luxury.

Good grief, these two had probably forgotten about the unsightly obstruction on the ground. The ever-dutiful Baiguo called over the guards to drag it further away and bury it.

Facing a hail of bullets, even a Tier 3 assassin could expect no favors. After all, it wasn't just Catherine; the firearms wielded by the guards of the Redwood Chamber of Commerce were all high-grade, high-potency weapons. A single concentrated volley could inflict devastating losses on a Tier 3 transcendent.

He was already in his seventies, and he knew he would have to take command of the Xue family army should they fall in battle. Suppressing the overwhelming grief in his heart, he penned his memorial to the throne.

Deep within the woods, they finally came to a halt. Qingming grabbed Zhang Lan by the shoulders, completely unconcerned about whether he might ruin her clothes, and pressed her back against a tree trunk. Without a word, he simply stared straight into her eyes. Once again, much as she had at the hospital, Zhang Lan found herself fixing her gaze on his lips—lips so sharply and cleanly chiseled.

Zhu Mo inwardly cursed the board member from the Wu family. What kind of senior was this? Making a junior flaunt their true qi to kill within the august boardroom of the clan—was that not an open provocation against the ancestors of the family? Had he grown tired of living?

Yet it vanished just as suddenly. Su Yan stood up, shook his head, and shifted his body, only to discover his hands were tightly bound behind his back. Looking ahead, the scene before him made him start with a jolt. He was standing right in the middle of two rows of figures in white robes, their formation stretching out into an endless distance.

"Right here!" Suddenly, Shadow-Sky appeared in mid-air, wisps of dark Qi curling around his body.

Observing the bustling scene, Xiao Tu seated himself behind an artificial rockery, choosing an angle that was close enough to the ghost marriage ritual yet offered a panoramic view of the entire proceedings, and began to keep watch.

"So your point is that if we go, we'll just be a bunch of boring, disgusting flies?" I asked with amused irony.

Therefore, at this moment, they were in a state of heightened excitement; how could anything possibly go wrong?

Hearing her mommy's voice from behind, Dingding broke into a wide smile and turned, about to throw herself into her mommy's arms, only to feel her collar tighten as someone hoisted her up into the air.

"No worries, that was the Heaven-Opening Saber Technique. My power is too low; not fainting outright is already a miracle," Ouyang Pengcheng shrugged and smiled. Others had no clue what had transpired, but he knew very well that his current strength only allowed him to barely execute the initial stances of the Heaven-Opening Saber Technique for attacks.

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month was the Lantern Festival, and Xiao Yao received a call from Xiao Ming. The finishing touches on Yiyuan had been fully completed, so Xiao Yao went over to inspect the site in person. Additionally, the Yiyuan Property Management Company, which he had asked Milan to set up, was officially registered and established today. The initial batch of eighteen recruited employees had all reported for duty.

"Take the initiative to attack? You're asking a hundred-odd of us to go head-to-head with eight hundred of them—isn't that practically marching to our deaths? If we're going to do that, we might as well just slit our own throats," Wang Nanbei blurted out, followed by one of the officers shouting angrily in extreme dissatisfaction.

Those previous instances of surrender had all been just like today—she had been led blindly, coaxed by Lianbi into the bedding. Afterwards, filled with a blissful, soul-less adoration, she would go east without a second thought, striking the dog without scolding the chicken, completely intoxicated as if she had inhaled a breath of sweet incense.

Time ticked away second by second. The airport public address system had already called Wang Nanbei's name several times, and there were only five minutes left before ticket-checking and boarding would cease. Yet there was still no movement from him. Perhaps he really was going to take this flight to Chengdu.