Night fell over the Qingmu Settlement. The typical nocturnal background of barking dogs had vanished into an eerie, dead silence.
Inside the guest pavilion, Xu Nan was hunched over his accounts, calculating the P&L (Profit and Loss) of this venture, when a sharp pang of dread spiked in his chest.
"Dammit," he hissed. "Extracting that malignant energy during the day must have alerted the primary shareholder underground."
The moment his warning left his lips, torches erupted like a wildfire across the bluestone plaza. Hundreds of villagers—men, women, and the elderly—surrounded the pavilion in a tight, suffocating ring.
Under the dancing flames, the friendly neighbors from earlier were gone. Their eyes were bloodshot, black veins bulging across their foreheads. They moved with the jerky, unnatural stiffness of puppets, slowly raising their rusted machetes.
"Kill... kill the foreigners..."
Driven by the Linked Mother-Child Gu, the villagers surged into the pavilion. Yan Zheng leveled his heavy sword, and Su Wan summoned a Resurgent Fire seal, but neither dared to strike. These weren't enemies; they were innocent collateral being forced into a conflict they didn't choose.
Then, a roar like a lioness ripped through the air.
"Get back! Don't you touch my man!"
A’Jiao, the eight-foot-tall "Female Vajra," stood at the threshold. Her eyes were beginning to glow with that same cursed red light, but she ground her teeth, using her raw, terrifying willpower to fight the commands of the Mother Gu screaming in her mind.
She spread her massive arms like a wall of meat, shielding Xu Nan.
Thwack! Thwack!
Two machetes hacked into A’Jiao’s back and shoulders. Blood drenched her shirt instantly. She shook from the pain, tears streaming down her face, but she didn't yield an inch. She held her ground, protecting the slightly chubby youth behind her.
"Fatty! Run!" A’Jiao sobbed. "The bugs in my head... they're eating me... I can’t hold them back much longer!"
Looking at the warm blood pooling around his boots, Xu Nan’s round face—the one that always wore a mask of fawning greed—went completely still.
Two black-robed Foundation Establishment Enforcers descended like ghosts from the dark.
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"Central Continent spies, surrender your assets!" one hissed. "Resist, and every mortal in this village dies with you tonight."
Su Wan’s knuckles went white. Yan Zheng’s sword hummed with Qi, ready to trigger a suicide protocol to take these bastards down with them.
"Nobody move!"
Xu Nan let out a hoarse, authoritative roar. He looked at the mangled, bleeding A’Jiao, took a deep breath, and threw his talismans to the floor. He raised his hands high. "Grandfathers! We declare bankruptcy! We surrender! Just don't hurt the civilians!"
...
Wait, go back.
Rewind to the night before they left for Miaojiang. In a dark corner outside Nanxi Pavilion.
A large hand had seized Xu Nan by the collar and dragged him into the shadows.
"I am Xie Changyuan. You know the name."
The eldest son of the Xie Family—the wealthiest, most arrogant brat in the Central Continent—had cornered Xu Nan like a debt collector.
"Ah, the Young Master Xie! To what do I owe the honor?" Xu Nan had chirped, even as he was being lifted off his feet.
"You know why I'm here. I’ve checked the books; you’re the only one in this crew with a brain." Xie Changyuan slapped a heavy bag of three hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones against Xu Nan’s chest, followed by a pale, bone-carved bird. "This is a Communication Bone Bird. It bypasses any array or firewall. Miaojiang is a death trap. You keep a sharp eye on Wan-er! If she encounters a terminal risk, you crush this bird. I don't care if it bankrupts my entire family—I will come for her!"
Xu Nan had weighed the bag, his round eyes crinkling into delighted slits. Su Wan was already his primary debtor with a three-thousand-stone deficit; he was going to protect his investment anyway. To have Xie Changyuan pay him a premium for a "dual-hedged insurance policy" was a trade too good to pass up.
"Young Master Xie is a man of vision! Rest assured, as long as Fatty Xu is drawing breath, I won't let a single hair on Senior Sister Su's head depreciate!"
...
Back to the present. Cold Spirit-Locking Chains were clamped around their necks. The merged crew was led away, marched toward the dark heart of the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
...
Simultaneously, tens of thousands of miles away.
Inside the sprawling Xie Estate, Xie Changyuan was pacing the hall like a caged beast.
Suddenly, a crisp crack echoed.
The receiver Mother Bird in his palm shattered into dust. A microscopic wisp of Resurgent Fire drifted from the remains.
Xie Changyuan’s pupils vanished. The blood in his veins surged to his head in a violent flood.
"Wan-er!"
The pampered playboy, who usually only knew how to wave a fan and spend money, let out a roar like a wounded predator. "Shadow guards! Assemble! Now!"
Four Foundation Establishment shadows flickered into the room instantly.
"Young Master, what is the target?"
"To the Great Sumeru Teleportation Array! Immediately!" Xie Changyuan bellowed, already sprinting for the door.
The lead guard went pale, spreading his arms to block him. "Young Master, wait! That array is a strategic asset controlled by the Sect and the Elders. A single jump costs a fortune in Premium-grade stones. We need a three-day audit and Board approval! To activate it without authorization is a death sentence!"
"To hell with the Board! To hell with the audit!"
Xie Changyuan seized the guard’s collar, his eyes bloodshot and crazed. "By the time those old fossils finish their paperwork, Wan-er will be cold! Anyone who blocks my trade today dies! If I blow a hole in the family's balance sheet, I'll pay for it with my life! ACTIVATE THE ARRAY!"
Tonight, for one woman, the most notorious spoiled brat of the Central Continent had gone completely, dangerously insane.
