Prey

"Do you know? You, Zhao Sheng, and the rest of your kind all share a common trait—arrogance! An all-consuming, blind arrogance! And it is precisely that arrogance that leads you to destruction time and time again." Yaoguang spoke evenly. He watched Leng Tianfeng's head fly high into the air, crash to the ground, and roll to a stop. Yaoguang's parting words filled Leng Tianfeng's eyes with disbelief. His lips parted and closed. Reading his lips, what he seemed to mouth faintly was... "Gene Liberation Module?" He glared fixedly at Yaoguang... As if trying to engrave the youth's appearance into his memory. Yet in the end, conscious thought rapidly slipped away from him. ... On the other side, having decapitated Leng Tianfeng with a single sword stroke, Yaoguang quickly deactivated Divine Descent and Heavenly Demon Disintegration. Instantly, the swelling from stagnant qi and blood, the agony from his abruptly suspended nerves, and the excruciating pain in both arms—which had been caught in a grip that nearly ripped them off—came crashing over him all at once. Yaoguang controlled his breathing, constantly regrouping the essence, qi, and spirit that had previously been battered apart in an attempt to recondense his Life Force Field. At the same time, he swiftly consumed pills to treat his wounds and replenish his depleted qi and blood. It took more than a dozen seconds before he barely gathered his senses. His gaze fell upon Leng Tianfeng, whose eyes remained wide open even in death. Stepping forward, Yaoguang drew out the man's remnant soul using the Soul-Capturing Orb. However, compared to other humans or demons, the remnant soul the orb drew from Leng Tianfeng was pitifully sparse—negligible, even. When he probed the information embedded within the remnant soul, what echoed in his mind was a burst of mad laughter laced with fury. "Hahaha! A bunch of prey! Your only purpose is to amuse us, and the process of providing amusement should naturally be as thrilling as possible! You call this destruction? You take yourself far too seriously! Hahaha! I remember you now. But..." "This is not the end!" Rather than memories, this trace of information was more like a message left behind. The outcome caught Yaoguang somewhat off guard. "It failed?" He looked down at the Soul-Capturing Orb in his hand. "Is the grade of this artifact too low, or was Leng Tianfeng's mastery over the soul simply too refined?" After a moment's thought, he recalled Leng Tianfeng's other identity—the Blood Weeping Demon Lord. Perhaps... Both were true. "It was only spoils taken from Zhao Sheng, after all. It is only natural that it cannot handle their higher-ups." Yaoguang stowed the Soul-Capturing Orb away. Only then did he sense several people hurrying toward him from not far away. At their head was Zong Yan. Evidently, they had heard the commotion and rushed over to investigate. When Zong Yan arrived and saw the decapitated corpse on the ground, along with Yaoguang's visibly disordered qi and blood, shock washed over his face. "This..." With Yaoguang's strength, who could possibly push him to fight to such an extent? "A Spirit Intent Martial Saint?" Zong Yan asked. Yaoguang shook his head. Leng Tianfeng's physical body had not been exceptionally robust; before transforming, it was actually weaker than Yaoguang's own. Yet his combat prowess... Any Spirit Intent Martial Saint facing him would have been beaten to death within a few exchanges. "Yaoguang, you're not in good shape. I'll call the medical team over right away," Zong Yan said urgently. Yaoguang did not refuse. He merely gave an instruction: "Look into who he is." Then he added, "A member of the Rebirth Society." He did not mention that this was the Blood Weeping Demon Lord. The Blood Weeping Demon Lord was a paramount figure on Chixing who sought to refine the Ten Thousand Demons Blood Soul Banner. In terms of status, he stood on equal footing with the imperial royalty of Chixing. Sharing that revelation with Zong Yan and the others would accomplish nothing except cause sheer panic. Still... From his brief conversation with the Blood Weeping Demon Lord, he realized things were somewhat different from what he had imagined. The Moon Demon Empire? What was their relationship to the Artifact Sect? Furthermore, the Blood Weeping Demon Lord had referred to Yaoguang and himself as descenders, and their methods did not seem to follow the same path as the Artifact Sect... Could the Moon Demon Empire and the Artifact Sect be entirely separate entities? Yet if they were not the same, how could the Rebirth Society operate openly in the outside world under the pretext of Chixing? As he pondered, Lei Yun, Aili, and the others arrived in a rush and escorted him to the medical clinic. As the private retreat of the Liao family, the villa possessed relatively complete medical facilities. While they fell short of a top-tier hospital, they were more than sufficient when reserved solely for Yaoguang. ... Yaoguang did not make his injuries widely known. In fact, knowing that the Su family would be helpless even if they knew, he instructed Zong Yan and Lei Yun not to notify them. As a result, Su Chiming and Su Yaoyu were completely unaware that the incident had even occurred. Su Yaoyu in particular. Unlike Su Chiming, who had already reached the royal palace and was swamped with urgent matters, Su Yaoyu remained in Tiannan Province. The only difference was that a month ago, she was merely the general manager of the Xingyu International Hotel within the Xingyu International Center. Now, however... She had become the undisputed second-in-command of Buzhou Group. With Chairman Su Chiming turning his full attention to the royal capital, the authority she wielded was essentially equivalent to that of the chairman itself. At this moment... Su Yaoyu, who was reviewing a document in her office, called out, "Sister Lin Xia, come take a look at this for me." "What is it?" Lin Xia walked over. Though Su Chiming had gone to the royal capital to oversee the broader situation, Lin Xia had stayed behind to assist Su Yaoyu in managing the group's affairs. Without Lin Xia's assistance, Su Yaoyu's capability alone could never have kept Buzhou Group running so smoothly—especially after the group's scale had swelled several times over compared to a few months prior. "Look at this document. It's a contract with our supplier, the Liu family. This clause here... the deadline for payment is... one year?" She looked up at Lin Xia. "Could there be a typo? I specifically asked the secretariat to verify it, but they insisted there was no issue. But... this means we can defer payment for up to a year. Never mind a year, even deferring for a month would be extravagant." She added, "Moreover, with all these various requirements stated earlier in the contract, we could easily find a minor fault to stall the payment further. If we wanted to, we could drag it out for three to five years... What kind of merchant signs an agreement like this? How is this any different from handing us a massive gift?" Lin Xia glanced over it and, privy to the underlying circumstances, smiled. "Since the secretariat said the contract is fine, you may go ahead and sign it." "There are no hidden traps in it?" "I've watched you pore over it for more than an hour. If there were a trap, wouldn't you have found it already?" Lin Xia said with a faint smile, "Besides, as things stand today, no one dares to play tricks on Buzhou Group in a contract. Even if there were an issue, we could simply declare it unlawful and refuse to comply." "Is that... truly possible?" "Of course. Feel free to sign with complete peace of mind." Lin Xia nodded, smiling. Su Yaoyu found it hard to believe. "Then... I'm really signing?" Lin Xia nodded again. Trusting Lin Xia, and knowing that the legal team and other relevant departments had confirmed there were no unfavorable clauses for Buzhou Group, Su Yaoyu gritted her teeth and signed her name in the required fields. Lin Xia immediately offered encouraging praise: "You truly are a business prodigy, Young Miss. In such a short time, you've signed several major deals that greatly benefit the group. If this momentum continues, Buzhou Group's profits will at least double by the year-end review. With such achievements, there will certainly be no resistance when you succeed to the position of chairman." "Me, chairman?" Su Yaoyu waved her hands in a hurry. "I'm nowhere near ready to steer such a massive conglomerate." "Everyone goes through that. It's a step-by-step journey. No one takes charge of a large corporation fully prepared," Lin Xia said with a chuckle. "Things lately... feel very strange," Su Yaoyu said. She added, "Not that the group's operations are running into trouble, but rather... everything is going far too smoothly. It feels as though every department, every family, and every partner is giving us the green light, practically handing profits to our doorstep..." Something clicked in her thoughts, and she turned back to look at Lin Xia. "What on earth happened? And why have the Chairman, Second Uncle, and the others been away from the group for so long? What are they really doing?" Lin Xia hesitated. Although Su Chiming had already moved into the royal palace and barely managed to secure control over the capital and three surrounding cities, he was still in a state of dazed disbelief. The Su family had leapt upward too rapidly, leaving his feet floating in midair without truly finding solid ground. Not knowing where Yaoguang's leadership would ultimately take them, he did not dare disclose too much to the younger generation of the family. Aside from the core circle—such as Su Chixin, Su Huaigu, Su Huaiyue, Lin Xia, and Leng Jun—the others, like Su Yaoyu, only knew that the elders had gone to the royal capital on important business, supposedly to expand into the capital's market and lay the groundwork for nationwide expansion. As for the specifics, they were kept completely in the dark. Now that Su Yaoyu asked directly... Lin Xia wondered whether she ought to widen the circle of information slightly. At the very least, Su Yaoyu, who was destined to shoulder heavy responsibilities in the future, deserved to know. After a moment's consideration, she decided to let a bit of information slip. "You've likely heard the news that King Liao Shanhe of Dayu has fallen ill and delegated royal authority to the Supreme Council, haven't you?" "Yes." Su Yaoyu nodded. "That news has been circulating for quite a while. The members of the Supreme Council are expected to be officially announced when the expanded national convention convenes in a little over a month, right?" "Although the formal announcement is still more than a month away, the roster for the Supreme Council is already finalized. The council will consist of one Speaker and nine councilors," Lin Xia said. "We already have the roster?" Su Yaoyu was astonished. Had the Su family's connections grown so powerful that they could obtain such a roster more than a month in advance? Lin Xia nodded. "The nine councilors are core figures from the country's prominent aristocratic families—the Lü family, the Jiang family, the Li family, the Xu family, the Yue family, and the rest. And the Speaker, holding the highest authority..." She unconsciously lowered her voice. "...is Young Master Yaoguang."