The stability we have now—do you think it just fell from the sky?"
Cai Qidong screwed the lid on his thermos and gazed into the distance.
"Struggle always brings death, always calls for sacrifice. Why can’t these people die?
Just because they’re considered elite reserves?
Anyone who cos here, whether by personal choice or on assignnt from the organization—
they’re all dood to face this kind of sudden event.
This ti, soone’s even got their back. There won’t be any events this safe in the future."
Cai Qidong’s tone carried a trace of coldness as he looked at Wen Yan.
"Including , there’s no one who’s truly indispensable.
If I dare step in, I’ve accepted that soone might stab in the back—and that I might die.
Before tackling external threats, you have to stabilize internally. But things are changing too fast right now.
I have to finish this quickly, or it’ll turn into a colossal, irreparable threat down the line.
Even if the price is my own life, so be it."
Wen Yan fell silent. He could hear it—things might be even worse than he’d imagined.
He also believed Cai Qidong was speaking from the heart.
This guy might be a bastard, black-hearted to the core, but Wen Yan trusted that, for this, Cai Qidong was far more resolute than anyone else.
If what was required was for him to sacrifice himself, Cai Heizi wouldn’t even bat an eye—let alone hesitate.
Cai Qidong patted Wen Yan on the shoulder, his voice tinged with sothing hard to decipher.
"Take care of yourself. You’re far more important than . I can die, but you can’t. This is also a test—make it out alive."
Wen Yan hesitated and said,
"Actually, I could walk out right now."
"Hmm?" Cai Qidong was briefly stunned. "You can get out?"
"I feel like I could. But if I leave so quickly, I’m sure soone’ll shoot in the back. I’m not too worried about that, just think, Minister, you must have other ideas."
Cai Qidong looked at Wen Yan in silence, clearly caught off guard. Several seconds passed before he said,
"Wait a bit longer. Don’t take any risks. If you take the wrong path at that crossing, you’ll just disappear. I need to see how those people act first."
...
A few kiloters outside the Domain, a broken-down cargo truck was parked by the roadside. In the passenger seat, a man took out his phone, zooming in again and again, watching the distant intersection, looking a little grim.
On his phone’s screen, it looked as if he were seeing things through the heat wavering over flas—the image was vibrating ever so slightly.
"Son of a bitch, Cai Heizi. How many people has he pissed off!?"
The driver next to him didn’t look any happier.
"Who knows? He even managed to piss off the actual dogs in the Scorching Sun Departnt.
Don’t look at like that—literal dogs, I an dogs, okay? Do you get it?
People who want a piece of him—from inside the Scorching Sun Departnt to all sorts of Different Races, all kinds of people—they’re everywhere in Divine Land.
How should I know who he’s managed to cross this ti, and who’s waiting to take him down?"
"So what do we do?"
"What else? Soone wants Cai Heizi dead, so of course we show up and put our foot in the ring."
"You an we go in? Are you nuts? Qin Kun is in there."
"Who said we’re going in? The two of us together couldn’t handle one hand from Qin Kun."
"Hold up—soone’s coming."
Through the phone’s cara, they saw a regular private car turn into that hidden roadway ordinary people couldn’t even see.
"Did you catch the license plate?"
"Yeah. Wu A9542B. Quick, check it."
"Got it—a civilian vehicle, nothing suspicious, probably a fake plate. Definitely not from Scorching Sun Departnt. Whoever it is, they’re here for trouble."
"Should we do anything?"
"Hold on. Cai Heizi’s pissed off way too many people. Anyone who got the ssage might show up this ti."
...
Inside the Domain, the competitors in the final stage of the martial contest had already started fighting.
Soone found what was obviously not sothing native to the Domain, but a badge with clear Scorching Sun Departnt markings—imdiately soone else tried to snatch it.
The two Martial Artists went at it in the forest, dull thuds pounding through the trees, the blows coming faster and faster.
Monts later, a young man—eighteen, maybe nineteen—lay on the ground in frustration, watching as the other took the badge from his hand.
But before the victor could walk more than a few ters, a Yellow Talisman drifted down from the sky like a falling leaf.
The guy looked up at the Yellow Talisman. In that instant, it burst into flas with no spark, and a bolt of lightning as thick as a thumb appeared from thin air, striking him straight down.
He froze, toppled to the ground, and after a full minute, Huang Zhiji walked over from a distance.
Three Yellow Talismans hovered around Huang Zhiji.
"If I were you, I’d let go, and wouldn’t even think about trying to ambush when I get close.
Just toss it over, nice and slow."
The one knocked down sat up with effort, his face set. He didn’t speak, but didn’t hesitate either, and threw the badge to Huang Zhiji.
Huang Zhiji never ca within ten ters—no chance to strike back.
Huang Zhiji turned the badge over in his hands a couple of tis, thinking this probably was one of the objectives.
Cai Qidong really knows how to tornt people—looking for sothing but refusing to even tell everyone what the target is, making us search blind.
When Huang Zhiji had the badge and left, the young man who’d just been hit by lightning—twenty-sothing—looked at the other who was eighteen or nineteen, and gave a helpless smile.
"Us Martial Artists—unless you’re seriously strong, you’re always at a disadvantage when you’re up against these Taoists with inheritance."
User Comments
0 comments from readers