In the villa’s main hall, a massive crystal chandelier illuminated every corner as if it were broad daylight.
On the main leather sofa sat a middle-aged man with the typical look of a wealthy merchant, a cigar held between his fingers, wreathed in smoke.
He had a portly figure, thinning hair, and wore gold-rimmed glasses. His fair complexion had a rosy tint, the very picture of a pampered member of the upper class.
But when the merchant opened his mouth, he revealed a set of poorly maintained, yellow-and-black stained teeth.
A black mole by his lip quivered slightly as he spoke.
This was none other than the villa’s owner, Fu Jinmin.
On a side sofa sat another, completely different person.
This man wore a slightly worn black Daoist robe. His face was gaunt, with high cheekbones and a sinister gaze that made one feel extremely uncomfortable.
Standing behind him were four disciples in tight-fitting attire. Their temples bulged slightly, and their sharp, menacing expressions made it clear they were not to be trifled with.
Fu Jinmin exhaled a smoke ring, his face plastered with a fawning yet vicious smile. "Master Beifeng, as long as I hear news tomorrow morning that the entire Ren Family is dead, I will immediately present you with five thousand Oceans. Not one less!"
The black-robed Daoist known as Master Beifeng let out a hoarse, grating laugh upon hearing this. "Hahaha... Chairman Fu, you can rest assured."
"I have just activated a curse, using the residual Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi in that old ghost’s corpse as a conduit to connect to his closest blood relatives."
"Right now, the Ren residence must be filled with vengeful spirits claiming lives and the wails of ghosts. By my calculations, they... should all be dead by now."
As they spoke, their gazes simultaneously turned toward the center of the hall.
A simple wooden bed had been placed there, and on it lay a body dressed in tattered silks and satins.
Despite the passage of over a decade, the corpse had still not fully decomposed. The contours of its face were faintly recognizable, though its skin had taken on a bizarre, ashen-gray hue. It was the stolen remains of Elder Ren!
"Good! Good! Good!" Fu Jinmin said three times in a row, a look of cruel satisfaction on his face.
"That good-for-nothing Ren Facai! If it weren’t for that old bastard from the Lu Family backing him and finding him a bunch of skilled bodyguards, I would have hired top assassins from the black market long ago to send his entire family to meet King Yan!"
The more he spoke, the more agitated he became, nearly spraying spittle. "That bastard! Ever since he started that damned ’Spark Daily,’ he’s been like a rabid dog."
"He does nothing else but fixate on our Fu Family all day long! I can’t even count how many times his rag of a newspaper has smeared my older brother’s name!"
Fu Jinmin’s heart was burning with rage.
Ever since Ren Facai founded "Spark Daily" with Lu Yun’s support, the newspaper had become something of a "special watchdog" for the Fu Family.
Whenever the Fu Family or any of its affiliates showed the slightest sign of trouble—be it leads on suspected involvement in human trafficking, rumors of overly close ties with the Wa Country consulate, or even traces of arms and opium smuggling—
"Spark Daily" would swiftly follow up, exposing it all to the public with sharp writing and solid evidence.
If not for his older brother, Fu Jinqian, being a confidant of the Wa Country’s Consul Yamamoto Ichirō, the public outrage stirred by these reports would have likely given the Yun Port City Security Bureau an excuse to drag the entire Fu Family out and execute them several times over.
However, the thought that the entire Ren Family would be wiped out after tonight finally dissipated some of the malice in Fu Jinmin’s heart.
He could already envision "Spark Daily" leaderless and collapsing in short order.
Meanwhile, the Fu Family’s "Da Guanxi Daily" could seize the opportunity to rise and completely control the mouthpiece of Yun Port City.
By then, he could use the newspaper to extensively "clear" the Fu Family’s name, wash away their various stains, and even portray them as a "model" of enduring humiliation to promote "Sino-foreign friendship," completely whitewashing the Fu Family’s relationship with those "important figures" from the Wa Country.
’As long as we get through tonight... it will all be over,’ Fu Jinmin thought with a cold smile.
"By the way, Master Beifeng, with such Divine Techniques at your disposal, why not consider... pledging your services to the lords of the Great Wa Country?"
"With your abilities, you would surely be highly valued by the Wa nobles! By then, glory, fortune, immense power, stunning beauties... wouldn’t you have as many as you desire?"
"It would be hundreds, even thousands of times better than earning this paltry five thousand Oceans from me!"
Upon hearing this, a flicker of greed and interest flashed in Master Beifeng’s sinister eyes.
He then forced an ugly smile onto his gaunt face and said hoarsely, "Hehehe... Chairman Fu, are you serious? If I could truly meet those Wa nobles and win their favor... I would naturally be eternally grateful."
"Then I shall trouble Chairman Fu to make the introductions!"
Before they could celebrate for long, the corpse of Elder Ren on the wooden bed in the center of the hall suddenly underwent a strange transformation!
The ashen-gray body twitched violently! Immediately after, a blurry, grayish-black phantom exuding a dense, chilling aura materialized, floating in mid-air.
The phantom vaguely resembled Elder Ren in life, but its face was twisted, its eyes hollow and cold as it "stared" fixedly in Fu Jinmin and Master Beifeng’s direction.
"Hm?"
Master Beifeng immediately sensed something was wrong. His expression changed drastically. "This is bad! The Ren Family... they’ve hired an expert! He’s broken my life-draining curse!"
Alarmed and enraged at this thought, Master Beifeng strode quickly to the wooden bed. His four menacing disciples immediately closed in, forming a protective circle.
Master Beifeng barked a sharp order at his disciples: "Quick, bring me the vital blood of the young boy and girl I prepared!"
"Hmph. No matter what kind of motley crew of spirits and monsters the Ren Family has hired, if they dare to ruin my work and interfere in Chairman Fu’s important business..."
"...I’ll make sure they don’t leave here alive, their souls scattered to the winds!"
However, the instant the words left his lips...
...at the threshold where the darkness of the night met the light of the hall, five figures suddenly appeared, standing silently.
Because Fu Jinmin had dismissed all the bodyguards and servants from the villa for tonight’s "secret plot" and dark ritual, there was no one left guarding even the main gate.
Fu Jinmin and Master Beifeng had already sensed them, and they turned to look in unison, stunned.
The three in the lead were none other than Lu Yun, a solemn-faced Lin Fengjiu, and Ren Facai, whose eyes blazed with fire as he stared daggers at Fu Jinmin!
Behind them followed the pale-faced Wen Sheng and Qiucai.
Upon seeing this, the color drained from Fu Jinmin’s face in an instant. The cigar in his hand fell with a soft thud onto the expensive carpet.
Master Beifeng’s pupils contracted, his gaze locking onto Lin Fengjiu.
From this seemingly plain, cloth-robed Daoist, he sensed a wave of pure and righteous Spiritual Power!
"Fu Jinmin! It really was you, you old bastard! You dared to touch my daughter! Go to hell!!!"
Ren Facai’s eyes were bloodshot with rage. He roared and, without a moment’s hesitation, drew a gleaming Browning pistol from his waist, aimed the dark muzzle directly at the panic-stricken Fu Jinmin on the sofa, and pulled the trigger!
Just then, the heavy velvet curtains behind Fu Jinmin shook violently!
Six ghostly black figures flashed out at a speed incomprehensible to the average person!
They were clad head to toe in pitch-black infiltration suits, revealing only their cold, merciless eyes.
Two of them moved like lightning, instantly raising a thick metal shield that glinted coldly, blocking the path in front of Fu Jinmin!
CLANG!!!
Amid the ear-piercing screech of metal on metal, the bullet slammed into the shield, sending a shower of dazzling sparks before it ricocheted away, embedding itself deep into the nearby wall!
It wasn’t over!
Almost at the same instant the bullet was blocked, another black-clad Ninja flicked his wrist.
A streak of black light shot out silently!
It was a diamond-shaped piece of iron, about half the size of a palm, with sharp edges, spinning at high speed.
It flew straight for Ren Facai’s face, the projectile’s speed defying all logic!
Even Lin Fengjiu, standing to the side, felt his pupils shrink. ’So fast!’ he thought in astonishment.
Ren Facai only saw a flash of black light before his mind went blank. He didn’t even have time to think of dodging!
In the nick of time! Two fingers appeared out of nowhere and gently pinched together less than an inch from Ren Facai’s face.
The lethal, high-speed, diamond-shaped iron weapon was caught firmly between them, its rotation instantly halted.
The one who had acted was, of course, Lu Yun. He lowered his gaze to the sharp, uniquely shaped black projectile between his fingers, a cold glint appearing in his eyes.
"Ninja..."
Back when he was assassinating people from the Wa Country, Lu Yun had not only seen these things but had also personally broken quite a few of them.
Across the room, the black-clad Ninja who had thrown the weapon stared with wide eyes from under his mask, clearly stunned by Lu Yun’s effortless move.
He subconsciously exclaimed in stiff, broken Chinese, "There’s another expert!!!!"

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