The flames were a pale blue, looking strangely beautiful.
The bonfire, nearly three meters high, produced no smoke at all as it burned.
Four wooden stakes were driven into the ground around the fire, marking the cardinal directions—north, south, east, and west.
The bases of the stakes were stained with blood; there was no telling how many people had died upon them.
“What is it?”
Qi Xiangyang, sitting behind the bonfire, slowly opened his eyes. Having not seen him for some time, he looked even more aged than before.
“Father, Old Second is dead. Old Third went to investigate the cause of death and was nearly killed by Wang Dong!”
Qi Xiangyang frowned upon hearing this, but his expression soon smoothed out.
“He is merely a Sequence 6; there is no need to concern yourself with him.”
“Once I break through, he will die in the line of duty. He truly is a great Bureau Chief, isn't he?”
Qi Hai, however, clearly had no intention of letting things go so easily.
“Father, first our family's stone lions were destroyed, then a mysterious influx of cockroaches and rats appeared.”
“Following that, Old Fourth and Old Second died one after another. Even the dullest person should realize by now that this is a conspiracy targeting our Qi family!”
Qi Xiangyang looked at him slowly, his voice cold.
“Then what do you propose we do?”
“Let's play for high stakes!”
Qi Hai clenched his fists tightly.
“The impact of that fake divinity from before was enormous. In that case, why don't we sacrifice something to bring out some true divinity?”
“If we can kill off those wild dogs who come sniffing around, we should at least be able to obtain one or two strands of divinity, right?”
Hearing the word 'sacrifice,' Qi Jiang's heart began to hammer like a drum.
“B-Brother, what are you saying?”
“Sacrificing to obtain divinity... isn't that something only evil cults do?”
Qi Hai slowly turned his head to look at him.
“Old Third, you've worn that mask for so long, can you really not take it off?”
Qi Jiang's eyes grew increasingly terrified, but the corners of his mouth stretched wider and wider until he finally burst into laughter.
“Oh, Brother, you really are something! Hahaha!”
“I quite like my current state. You've woken me up, and now it's going to take me a long time to adapt and act the part again!”
Qi Hai turned back to Qi Xiangyang.
“Dad, you're getting older. Relying solely on the materials we've prepared, the probability of a successful breakthrough is only fifty percent.”
“But if we have two strands of divinity with similar attributes, that probability will increase by more than just a little bit!”
Qi Xiangyang stood up. It was only then that Qi Hai realized his father had been sitting on several corpses.
“In this city, there are three people I know of who are at Sequence 6.”
“Wang Dong—he will definitely come when I attempt my breakthrough. If he discovers the situation in our basement, he will certainly move against me.”
“Liang Guan, the cobbler. He, like me, has been stuck at Sequence 6 for a long time. All he lacks is a trace of divinity. In terms of pure combat power, he is no weaker than I am, perhaps even stronger.”
“And finally, there is one more. Although I haven't heard any news of him for many years, a man like that wouldn't die easily.”
“The Ghost Messenger, Xia Zhiqiu!”
“How do you plan to deal with these three?”
Qi Hai frowned as he began to contemplate, speaking as he thought.
“Wang Dong is easy to handle. Although he is powerful, he is bound by the rules. As long as we act according to the rules or contact his superiors, it won't be difficult to make him stand by and watch.”
“Liang Guan is nothing more than a hypocrite—the kind of person who wants to be a saint while indulging in vice. When the time comes, we can find some commoners and reporters to watch. We'll use the cause of righteousness to pin him down; moral kidnapping will make him no longer a concern.”
“The most troublesome one is Xia Zhiqiu!”
“A Ghost Messenger is difficult to deal with to begin with, and what's worse is that the old man doesn't have much of a lifespan left. There's a high probability he'll risk everything in a final gamble.”
“If he decides to throw caution to the wind and allow himself to lose control and mutate, I'm afraid no one in all of Wang City will be able to stop him.”
“However, people like him fear one thing above all else.”
He paused slightly, as if waiting for Qi Xiangyang to prompt him.
But Qi Xiangyang acted as if he hadn't heard anything, continuing to dismember the corpses on the ground. Finally, Qi Jiang couldn't stand it and spoke up.
“What is it?”
“Hope!”
“As long as you give him a glimmer of hope, he won't be willing to die. And if he's unwilling to die, he won't fight with his life on the line.”
Qi Hai couldn't help but sound a bit self-satisfied as he said this.
Qi Xiangyang let out a cold laugh.
“If the Sequence 6s don't come, who will we sacrifice? Those at Sequence 7 or Sequence 8? Or just ordinary people?”
“Only sacrificing a powerhouse who exceeds Sequence 6 will grant feedback from the gods. This is an eternal truth!”
Qi Hai was not discouraged. He replied frankly, “Please enlighten me, Father!”
As Qi Xiangyang spoke, he had already finished processing the corpses. Only a pool of flesh and blood remained; he had thrown all the bones into the bonfire.
The flesh and blood slowly seeped into the ground, vanishing without a trace.
“It's simple: use their own strength against them!”
“Wang Dong is restricted by the rules, and Liang Guan is a hypocrite. These are points we can exploit!”
“As long as we get the two of them to fight each other, the remaining Ghost Messenger won't be a problem.”
“After all, this is the Qi family's headquarters. Not only do we have the support of our formations, but we also have the protection of the gods!”
When Qi Xiangyang mentioned the gods, his expression turned one of pure devotion.
Qi Hai narrowed his eyes, his mind already spinning with schemes to sow discord between them. But just then, Qi Jiang suddenly spoke from the side.
“But what if more than just those three show up?”
...
Leisurely Bookstore.
“Who’s back? Oh, it’s Canned Food~”
Lin Zhen was once again using a high-pitched voice to play make-believe with the cat. Canned Food seemed to enjoy it too, and the person and cat were having a great time.
Yin Yang sat behind the counter reading a book, showing no sign that he had just killed six people.
“Xiao Yang, at the rate you're reading, you must be almost finished with the books I gave you.”
“Mm.”
Yin Yang gently flipped a page, most of his attention focused on the knowledge within the book.
Lin Zhen walked over and took a look.
“Oh? Transcendent Botany? Are you interested in this kind of stuff?”
“Mm.”
Yin Yang nodded.
“Plants are actually very interesting—more interesting than animals, even.”
“Their world has no intrigue or hidden agendas, only the most basic form of plundering!”
“The ones that grow faster and taller get more sunlight and more rain!”
“If you want to become stronger, you have to plunder the nutrients of other plants!”
Lin Zhen looked surprised by Yin Yang's words.
“Huh? Is that how plants are?”
Yin Yang smiled and closed the book.
“It’s just a metaphor. A metaphor.”
Ding-ling~
The shop door was pushed open from the outside. Lin Zhen was somewhat surprised, considering it was still raining heavily.
Who would be so addicted to reading that they'd come to a bookstore in rain like this?
“I’m sorry, the rain is too heavy outside. May we come in to take shelter?”
“Of course, of course. Come in quickly; it’s warm inside.”
Lin Zhen warmly invited the people in, but Yin Yang felt a sudden jolt throughout his body.
He had heard this voice before.
It was Black Feather from Jiuqing Mountain!
Rate on N.U.
