「Elsewhere.」
After receiving Qin Fan's orders, Lai Zhuge imdiately put down the two Zen Sticks and took out his array formation tools.
Even as the torrential rain poured down, not a single drop touched the Compass, Talismans, or Array Leading Sword in his hands. He quickly ran out beyond the main gate. Seeing the flashing police lights in the distance, he dared not hesitate.
He lowered his head, concentrating fully on the spinning needle of his Compass. His body moved in tandem with the pointer's rotations. Each ti he stopped, he flung a Talisman from his hand. Strangely, the tossed talismans did not fall to the ground. Instead, they hovered where he had stood, defying gravity, not even slightly dampened by the downpour.
He continued to move with the Compass needle, casting out talismans one by one to form a rugged, winding path. After tossing out more than thirty of them, Lai Zhuge finally stopped.
He swiftly pocketed the Compass and glanced down at the approaching police convoy on the mountain ring road. Then, his eyes suddenly sharpened as he flung out his retractable Array Formation Magic Sword.
CLANG!
Beneath the curtain of rain, the sword's light was dazzling. He held the sword upright before him with both hands. With his eyes shut tight, Lai Zhuge began to rapidly chant a spell. With each segnt of the spell he recited, he stomped his right foot on the ground. And with each stomp, one of the talismans hovering in mid-air would tremble slightly.
After several dozen seconds, his chanting ceased, and all thirty-odd talismans began to tremble faintly. Lai Zhuge's face was flushed red. *Perhaps only he knew if it was from stomping his feet over thirty tis.*
As all the talismans trembled in unison, Lai Zhuge's eyes snapped open, revealing a sharpness and clarity that did not belong to a man in his sixties. Staring intently at the winding path of talismans, he suddenly shouted, "Three thousand lonely souls, be my guide! Spirits of the four directions, lend passage! Mist and Ghost Wall, array, rise!"
As his shout faded, he chopped the Magic Sword he held before him toward the winding path of talismans.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
With this strike against the empty air, the thirty-plus hovering talismans suddenly burst into flas. They burned with an eerie blue light, indistinguishable from will-o'-the-wisps. The flas were completely unaffected by the pouring rain, and in just a few breaths, the talismans were reduced to scattered ashes.
At the sa ti, a chilling wind rose as the talismans burned away, and an unnerving, eerie coldness materialized out of thin air.
Feeling those familiar auras, Lai Zhuge let out a heavy sigh of relief. He imdiately dropped to one knee, cupped his fists toward the path where he had laid the talismans, and called out, "Thank you all for gracing with your aid! I, Lai, am most grateful!"
With that, he stood up, turned, and strode back into the villa without a second glance.
「In the luxurious villa hall.」
Qin Fan watched Yan Long standing steadfastly in front of Li Juncheng and shook his head expressionlessly. "Out of consideration for your loyalty to your master, you may leave. I will not kill you."
Without a word, Yan Long simply shook his head at Qin Fan, his gaze resolute.
"I've seen plenty who cling to life, but never one so eager for death," Qin Fan said, his patience wearing thin. "You know your strength is aningless before —you are nothing but an ant."
"I anticipated this the mont you gave the twenty-four-hour deadline," Yan Long stated, his face an emotionless mask, each word spoken with chilling clarity. "If I intended to leave, I would have fled to the ends of the earth by now. Mr. Li saved my life. As his guardian, it is my duty to die with him—and die *before* him!"
"Blind loyalty!" Qin Fan shouted.
As soon as the words left his mouth, he darted forward. Yan Long's eyes widened in reflex, but before he could react, Qin Fan's fingers curled into a claw around his throat and twisted.
CRACK!
Yan Long's pupils constricted before they even had ti to dilate. At that mont, a smile he hadn't shown in eight years graced his lips.
His eyes slowly closed as his head tilted and slumped to the side. Between survival and loyalty, he had chosen the latter with his final smile. He was fully aware that it was blind loyalty, the most worthless kind of death, but he had no regrets. He had repaid his debt to Li Juncheng by buying him a few more minutes of life. Just as he had said, he would die before his master.
"Don't kill ! Don't kill ! Money! I'll give you money! One hundred billion—no, one hundred and twenty billion! My entire fortune! I'll give it all to you! Just don't kill !"
The mont Yan Long fell, Li Juncheng collapsed to his knees with a thud. He was so terrified he wet himself, his eyes filled with unspeakable fear.
"I never give second chances. Not now, not ever," Qin Fan sneered, shaking his head. "Gambling King, your fate was sealed the mont you decided to renege on your debt again. Over a month ago, I gave you a chance to live. Now, I'm taking your life back. As for the money… I don't want it."
He pulled out the Hemp Vine Whip and cracked it against the floor. With a sharp snap, the expensive marble ground fractured, the cracks spreading out in a three-ter radius.
At this terrifying sight, another puddle spread from where Li Juncheng sat slumped on the floor.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
Just as Li Juncheng was about to fall into complete despair, Lai Zhuge's appearance was like a ray of hope.
He scread, "Lai Shenxiang, save ! Save ! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!"
"Master Qin already gave you a chance," Lai Zhuge said calmly, shaking his head as he looked down at the man on the floor. "The difference between Heaven and Hell was but a single thought, yet you chose the latter. Don't beg . It's useless."
"I'll give you money! All my money! I'll give away my entire fortune, just spare ! Lai Shenxiang, please beg Master Qin for , spare !" Drained of all strength, Li Juncheng crawled toward Lai Zhuge's feet, babbling in utter terror.
He could feel the cold breath of death. He didn't want to die. He was terrified—so utterly frightened that he forgot he was the Gambling King, a man who possessed a fortune of over one hundred billion.
"Noisy!" Qin Fan grunted in annoyance, having lost all interest in toying with him.
He swung the Hemp Vine Whip, and it imdiately coiled around Li Juncheng's neck. With a sharp tug, Li Juncheng, who was still crawling, was jerked up by his head.
"It's ti for this to end. Farewell."
Qin Fan spoke indifferently. Just as the hand controlling the Hemp Vine Whip was about to exert its final, fatal force, a sharp crack suddenly rang out.
A high-speed, spinning bullet shot toward his forehead.
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