Following Zhou Yan's order to sweep the area, lights instantly flared up within the woods.
Over a dozen figures immediately bolted toward the bottom of the mountain—an outcome even Zhou Yan hadn't expected.
“Capture them if you can. If not, kill them!”
“Understood!”
Upon receiving Zhou Yan's command, the patrol team raised their pistols and opened fire.
This was the difference between a major family and a minor one.
Minor families feared taking lives because those lives could become leverage against them.
But for these major families, a few lives were of little consequence—unless those lives belonged to someone important!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullets tore through the night sky, and more than half of the dark figures were killed on the spot.
However, a portion of them managed to scramble down the mountain and vanish into the darkness.
“Immediately pull the surrounding surveillance footage. Send someone to notify the Security Bureau and have them cooperate in the manhunt.”
“Understood!”
“Check for survivors. Bring the living ones back!”
“Understood!”
The calm voices of the patrol team crackled over the walkie-talkie. Ten minutes later, three men in black were brought to the interrogation room and strapped to stainless steel beds.
Zhou Yan walked up to the three of them.
“What business brings you to the Lyu family estate so late at night?”
One of the men sneered in response.
“What? Did we even step foot into your courtyard?”
“The laws of Great Wei strictly forbid private firearms! Your Lyu family is hoarding weapons, I—”
“Aaaagh!”
Before he could finish, Zhou Yan drove a dagger through his cheek. The blade entered through his left cheek and exited through the right, creating a particularly gruesome sight.
Zhou Yan’s voice was grim. “Instead of worrying about whether my Lyu family has broken the law, you’d better worry about whether you’ll make it out of here alive!”
Seeing Zhou Yan’s ruthless methods, the other two felt a chill in their hearts. One of them spoke up decisively.
“If I tell the truth, can I trade it for my life?”
Zhou Yan turned to look at the man. He seemed relatively calm, and a spiritual aura radiated from him; he was clearly a transcendent.
“Whether you can trade it for your life depends on if your information is worth it.”
“It concerns countless Demigods coming for your Lyu family. Is that worth enough?”
“Hmm?”
Zhou Yan’s interest was indeed piqued. Seeing this, the other man scrambled to speak as well.
“I know too! I can tell you!”
Zhou Yan let out a mocking laugh.
“Now you want to talk? Fine. We’ll see which of you has the more valuable information. The one with the better intel lives.”
“The one with the lesser intel dies!”
Hearing this, the first man hurried to speak.
“Our boss received news from 【Zhongyan】 saying that the Nuo opera masked man is at your Lyu family estate. There’s photographic evidence. That’s why they sent us to investigate.”
“The Nuo opera masked man? What does that mean?”
“There’s a photo in my chest pocket! Someone put out a bounty—whoever kills him gets a sealed object!”
At the mention of a sealed object, Zhou Yan’s expression grew even more solemn.
He jerked his chin toward the man. A guard behind him stepped forward, fished a photo out of the man’s pocket, and respectfully handed it to Zhou Yan.
Zhou Yan glanced at it. He had no memory of the mask in the photo.
“What did this person do? What’s his strength? Why is there a bounty for a sealed object on his head?”
While both sealed objects and transcendent items possessed miraculous powers, there was a fundamental difference between the two.
Transcendent items were consumables; once their spirituality was exhausted, they became useless. Even powerful transcendent items only possessed certain instincts rather than intelligence, and they could be manufactured using modern methods. Furthermore, compared to sealed objects, their side effects were practically non-existent.
Sealed objects were different.
They could not be manufactured with current methods. The spiritual energy they consumed could be replenished through various means, and they possessed a degree of spiritual intelligence. It was said that some extremely powerful sealed objects could even communicate with humans.
Transcendent items had a price and a market; one could even have them custom-made if the price was high enough.
Sealed objects were another matter entirely. They were priceless and had no open market; almost no one would ever sell one. Such things were almost exclusively held by transcendents of the Demigod rank or higher, because any transcendent below that rank who used a sealed object ran an extremely high risk of losing control.
And it wasn't just the transcendent who would lose control—the sealed object itself could as well.
Once a sealed object lost control, it would result in a major catastrophe.
“We don’t know. We only know the bounty is incredibly high.”
“The bounty has been around for a long time. They say it originally leaked from within the Shadow Lotus Church.”
“But that masked man is very mysterious. No news of him surfaced until today.”
Zhou Yan nodded, then looked at the man who had spoken first.
“Do you have anything to add?”
“I do.”
“Speak!”
“The people from the Idealist Society already know, and they’re on their way.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I’m the one who sold them the news.”
Zhou Yan was so angry he laughed. “And you think you can still live after that?”
“That depends on whether you keep your word.”
...
“The Lyu family? That’s a major family.”
“Is a single sealed object really worth risking our lives?”
A scrawny bald man squatted on a rock by the river, chewing on a blade of grass with a look of disdain.
“You talk as if your life is worth much,” a voluptuous woman giggled as she washed her feet in the river.
The scrawny bald man didn't get angry. Instead, he rubbed his forehead.
“Are you people brainless? People like us are already hunted by so many even without a sealed object. If they find out we have one, won't they come for us in teams?”
“Pah!”
An elder in black robes spat on the ground before speaking.
“Do you think people won't come looking for trouble just because we don't have a sealed object? With one, we could at least give them a fight!”
“Exactly. At worst, we lose control along with the sealed object and see how they like that~”
The voluptuous woman agreed with the elder’s words, leaving the scrawny bald man scratching his scalp.
“If you want to go to your deaths, go ahead!”
“Putting the Lyu family aside, could someone worth a sealed object be simple? At the very least, wouldn't they be a Demigod?”
The woman glanced at him. “What’s the matter? Is the Ghoul actually afraid? Don't you want to taste what a Demigod is like?”
At those words, the scrawny bald man’s throat twitched. He was clearly tempted.
The black-robed elder also smiled. “And those people from the Lyu family have been living in luxury since they were children. Don't you want to have a taste of them?”
“Hehehe~”
This time, the scrawny bald man burst into laughter and did a somersault off the rock.
“That is the Lyu family, after all. I doubt the three of us can take them down alone, right?”
The elder smiled faintly. “Do you think we’re the only three eyeing that sealed object?”
...
Huangshan City Security Bureau.
The Bureau Chief frowned at the document in his hand.
“They want our Security Bureau to help with arrests and provide protection?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“They say they’ve received word that cults might launch an attack on the Lyu family.”
The Bureau Chief took a deep breath and murmured softly to himself.
“I’m almost retired... I’m almost retired...”
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