Leaving the bank headquarters building, Zhang Yuanqing pretended to take a stroll. He arrived at the Manhattan riverfront and found a secluded corner of a park free of surveillance cameras, then drew the Yata no Kagami and summoned his doppelgänger.
Tucking the Yata no Kagami inside his jacket, Zhang Yuanqing slipped his hands into his pockets. "Take out Julian for me tonight."
Taking the breastplate mirror, the doppelgänger also thrust his hands into his pockets. "No problem!"
Using his free time today, he had made some preliminary inquiries into Julian's reputation and background. According to the group chat dispatches from Yuan Ting, the gossip virtuoso, the offenses Julian had committed with women alone were enough to earn him a firing squad ten times over.
For a scion from a corporate conglomerate with a character like that, one could practically kill him with eyes closed without ever worrying about wronging an innocent soul.
The doppelgänger dissolved into a streak of starlight and vanished in the secluded corner. Zhang Yuanqing continued his stroll, only returning to the bank building half an hour later. Under the "gaze" of camera after camera, he rode the elevator back to his room.
***
Manhattan villa district.
Having entered Night Roaming, Zhang Yuanqing quietly approached Chief Executive Officer Sean's residence.
It was a grand villa with its own private garden, boasting spacious front and rear courtyards. The front courtyard featured a fountain and meticulously manicured greenery, covering over four hundred square meters on its own. With both courtyards and two three-story buildings combined, the total area exceeded a thousand square meters.
In a place where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold like Manhattan, there were no more than five luxury villas of this caliber.
In the front courtyard, six security guards in black suits stood ramrod straight at their posts like well-trained soldiers.
Guards were on duty in the backyard as well, and these were merely the sentries out in the open. The hidden "eyes" in the dark could not be pinpointed by simple observation.
"There's something strange about the wind..."
Zhang Yuanqing sensed the air currents around the villa and vaguely detected an anomaly in their flow.
He picked up a fallen leaf and gently blew it toward the courtyard. The withered yellow leaf tumbled through the air toward the front yard, only to be stopped by an invisible barrier.
It was a wall condensed from airflow.
*Sure enough, there's a barrier around the villa. Its grade is unknown, but forcing my way through would definitely get me spotted, turning an assassination into an open assault...*
Such a predicament would stump most Spirit Realm walkers. But in Zhang Yuanqing's eyes, as long as Sean was absent, this villa was as accessible to him as his own backyard.
—Night Roamers and Illusionists were the two slipperiest classes of all.
Zhang Yuanqing activated his Dream Traverse skill. Bizarre, fantastical dreams surfaced before his eyes.
Soon, he locked onto one of them. The owner of the dream was a brownish-blond young man. In the dream, he was no mere bodyguard watching Sean Meade's gates, but an elite recruited by the Meade clan at great expense.
A peak Saint with prospects of becoming a Dominator.
He had been invited to stay in Sean Meade's residence, where he could sleep with any pretty maid he fancied. Sean appreciated him immensely, often scolding his own scions with the line: "If any of you had even a tenth of Kane's excellence, I'd wake up laughing in my dreams!"
*A textbook power-fantasy protagonist. You're the one.* Zhang Yuanqing leapt into the dream.
Inside the dream, the bodyguard named Kane sat in a magnificent dining room enjoying dinner—he was probably hungry.
Beside the brown hardwood dining table were stunning beauties with exquisite features and supermodel figures, and even the maids standing in attendance were tall, delicate, top-quality women.
Zhang Yuanqing assumed the form of Sean Meade and appeared in the dining room. Picking up a knife and fork naturally, he said, "How is the security around the villa?"
Kane's gaze was dull, and he replied instinctively, "Outside the villa, there is a wind wall alchemy personally set up by Enforcer Sean. It is a Dominator-grade defensive array. Physical objects cannot pass through the wind wall, and any spirit body that passes through will be detected by the alchemical matrix.
"Inside the villa, there are three Saints and nine Extraordinaries. The Saints' classes are Thunder Mage, Wind Mage, and Void. Among the Extraordinaries, two belong to the Desire class; they manage the maids and attend to Enforcer Sean's daily life and needs..."
Kane faithfully reported all the information he knew to Enforcer Sean.
*Good thing I didn't send out my spirit body recklessly. While there wouldn't have been danger, I definitely would have been spotted immediately.* Zhang Yuanqing asked further, "Which room is Julian in?"
"The main building, the easternmost room on the second floor."
Having gathered the details, Zhang Yuanqing wove the dream to keep Kane thoroughly engrossed in his pleasant reverie, while he himself leapt out of the dream.
On the spacious bed, Kane lay in deep slumber clad in black pajamas, completely oblivious to the extra person in his room.
Zhang Yuanqing pulled out a chair beside the desk, sat down, and cast Astral Travel. His spirit body departed his physical form and drifted toward the easternmost room of the main building.
Passing swiftly through the walls, he arrived at Julian Meade's bedroom a dozen seconds later.
What met his eyes first was a lavishly decorated bedroom. On a king-sized bed measuring two meters across, two bodies were passionately entwined, a bronze, well-muscled physique pressing down upon a snow-white female body.
The crystal chandelier on the ceiling shone brightly, casting gleams on the sweat glistening over their skin.
Garter straps, a black maid uniform, a white apron, and lace lingerie lay strewn across the floor, weaving an atmosphere of licentious debauchery alongside the wanton moans echoing in the bedroom.
The voluptuous, fair-skinned woman cried out ecstatically, "Young Master Julian, Young Master Julian..."
The woman possessed delicate features and an hourglass figure, her eyes brimming with lust, hazy and seductive.
She radiated a tantalizing charm that unconsciously drew a man in, compelling him to possess and thrust again and again, eager to vent all his energy upon her.
*This must be one of the Desire-class women in the villa. Tsk, tsk, Sean Meade sure knows how to indulge, keeping two personal reserves at home—using them himself and letting his son have a turn too...* Watching the live adult film, Zhang Yuanqing subtly stirred Julian's emotions, fueling the eruption of his carnal lust.
Julian galloped with abandon, feeling in remarkably fine form tonight, as if he possessed boundless stamina as he pounded toward earthly paradise time after time.
Though lust was his second nature, he took great care of his health, normally keeping intimate pleasures moderate. When his bed partner was of the Desire class, he would indulge a bit more, but never to excessive excess—after all, Wind Mages had limited stamina and lacked formidable physiques.
Tonight, however, he had an inexplicable urge like "Young Master Meade picking up the tab for the whole house," yearning to blow through his entire fortune in one go.
The woman beneath him savored the pleasure, a flicker of surprise crossing her alluring eyes. She was a member of the Goddess of Beauty Association, sent by President Donna to attend to Sean Meade, and had shared bed pleasures with Julian before.
In her impression, Julian's endurance and bedroom prowess were merely mediocre. After all, as a veteran woman of the Desire class, what kind of man had she not experienced?
Among the Orderly classes, the physically dominant Sirens could go all night without resting until dawn.
In comparison, Wind Mages really didn't measure up.
Yet tonight, Young Master Julian's sheer ferocity filled her with delight, and even a touch of awe.
After an untold duration, amidst repeated releases and climaxes, Julian finally felt his reserves running dry, his physical strength thoroughly drained. Yet the lust burning within him seemed boundless, with not even a refractory period in sight.
And so he gritted his teeth and held on for another forty minutes. Finally, with a guttural groan, he collapsed exhausted onto the woman and sank into a deep slumber.
By the window, Zhang Yuanqing, who had patiently watched the flesh-and-blood battle, finally ceased manipulating desire and began weaving Julian's dream.
The reason he had first stoked his lust and immersed him helplessly in carnal indulgence was that overindulgence severely depleted mental power.
Weakened mental power meant diminished willpower.
In a daze, Julian returned once again to the previous night, back to the party that had made him the disgrace of Heaven's Punishment.
Right at the start of the party, the man named Jumang walked straight toward him and drew a cold, gleaming iron sword.
"W-what do you want?"
Terrified by instinct, Julian lost all thought of resistance and turned to flee in a panic.
Barely two steps out, a sharp pain struck his chest. Looking down, a keen sword tip burst forth from his breast, blood staining the blade and his shirt.
"H-help..."
Julian's lips trembled, squeezing out those faint words with great effort before he collapsed heavily to the ground, moving no more.
The woman parted her cherry lips, her ample bosom heaving as she panted heavily.
It took her a full ten minutes to recover from the intense ecstasy, her breathing gradually evening out. After enduring prolonged basic attacks, the rift torn open by the enemy slowly sealed shut and grew snug and seamless once more.
This was an exclusive talent of the Desire class.
Some cars, even with hundreds of thousands of miles on the odometer, remained as pristine as brand new, earning endless praise from second-hand buyers.
Some tree-lined paths, even when bustling with heavy traffic morning and dusk, remained narrow and cramped, making every drive a tight squeeze.
Having caught her breath, the woman gave Julian a gentle nudge, cooing coquettishly, "Young Master Julian, you're crushing me..."
Julian showed no reaction, lying motionless like a dead pig, his entire body stiff.
Startled, the woman immediately sensed something was wrong. Shedding her demure manner, she pushed Julian aside with force, rolled over to sit up, and checked his pulse and heartbeat.
The next second, her face lost all color, turning deathly pale.
***
The next morning.
The members of the Five Elements Alliance finished breakfast and rode the elevator to the 104th floor.
The moment they reached the office area, a female receptionist with brownish-blond hair in a business suit waved at Yuan Ting, her voice hushed and urgent: "Yuan, over here! Come here!"
Yuan Ting understood instantly. Leaving his companions behind, he scurried over briskly. "I can't wait to hear what you have to share."
Yuan Ting was now on extremely familiar terms with the company's female employees, especially the clerical staff. Girls, young ladies, and mature women alike viewed him as one of their own, happily trading gossip and passing news back and forth with him.
The receptionist whispered, "Julian Meade is dead. Just last night, killed at home. I heard he was assassinated."
Yuan Ting was stunned. "Julian was assassinated? I swear on my reputation, it definitely wasn't us! If my companions had dared to plot something like that, I would have told you guys already!"
The receptionist shrugged. "I don't think it was you guys either. There's no reason for you to assassinate a defeated opponent."
As they spoke, a member of the Enforcement Department walked out from the office area, looked toward the Five Elements Alliance members, and said in a grave voice, "Enforcer Sean wants to see you. Follow me."
Chapter 685