Volume 2, Chapter 98 – True Body（2）

At the same time, in the southern military camp, Xu Zhe was hiding in the command building’s air-defense safe room. He opened his eyes and looked at the jar in front of him.

It was just an ordinary clay jar, squat and chubby, with an upside-down bowl covering the mouth.

Take it outside and show it to someone, and they’d think it was for pickling vegetables.

But its “extra packaging” was anything but ordinary. The entire jar was plastered with yellow talismans, covered in bizarre characters no one could recognize, clearly meant to seal something inside. Just looking at it gave off an ancient, oppressive emotional pressure.

“Why is the ‘Soul-Suppressing Jar’…” Xu Zhe frowned as he watched wisps of black qi seep in from outside the safe room, slipping straight through the gap under the bowl and into the jar. His face was full of confusion.

I clearly had that Huang bastard tamper with the pills and held back a portion of the Marrow-Washing Pills from detonating. So why is there a second wave of soul power being supplied?

At first, Xu Zhe only felt puzzled. But as more and more black qi poured in, denser and denser, he could no longer sit still. He stood up outright, hesitating over whether he should leave first.

Too much soul power replenishment was not a good thing.

Mm.

For him, Xu Zhe, it was definitely not a good thing.

He opened the safe room door and said to the guard outside, “Go call Dr. Huang here. I want to see him.”

After a while, “Dr. Huang” came over, wearing a white lab coat and a stethoscope, walking with that strange eight-character gait of his. He glanced casually at Xu Zhe. “What do you need me for?”

“I had you split the Marrow-Washing Pills into two batches and suppress the detonation of one batch. Did you really do that flawlessly?” Xu Zhe asked.

“Lord Xu.” Dr. Huang’s brows wrinkled deeply. “You can doubt my character… you can even doubt my orientation. But you cannot doubt my professional competence.”

“So you’re saying it was flawless?”

“Of course! Would I have any reason to lie to you?” Dr. Huang shouted. “You personally checked the results! Weren’t you very satisfied at the time?”

“Then I misjudged you, Dr. Huang.” Xu Zhe narrowed his eyes. “Sorry to bother you. You can go back and rest.”

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After Dr. Huang left, Xu Zhe frowned and sank into thought.

Huang Tianming wouldn’t dare lie to me… He’d never have the guts to sabotage something like this. Which meant the “delayed detonation” pills were fine, and that those contaminated carriers must have been killed by someone else.

But for that many to surge in, in such a short time—what kind of kill efficiency was that?

And how did that person identify the carriers still in their incubation phase? They looked no different from ordinary people. You can’t exactly just drop a bomb and blow up all the normal people with them, can you?

The more he thought about it, the stranger it felt. Xu Zhe took out his phone and made several calls. When he put it down again, the crease between his brows was even deeper.

“The Chilong Army and the Inspectorate are already in my hands. Anyone who wouldn’t listen has basically been locked up.” He murmured to himself, “If it wasn’t one of them misfiring and dropping a bomb, then what else could it be?”

Tiny little Chilong Circuit.

And there’s still a master?

He immediately dialed Zhisheng’s number, wanting to ask those three whether the bait had successfully hooked Bai Xiang.

But the call wouldn’t go through.

All three of them—no matter which one he tried—none of their phones connected.

Unwilling to give up, he tried contacting Uncle Chen as well. The result was exactly the same.

Don’t tell me that mysterious expert killed them all?

The muscles in Xu Zhe’s face twitched.

The mysterious expert around Bai Xiang—that was Xiang Xian’s biggest confidence in letting her come back safely… Just what level was that person’s cultivation, to be able to kill Zhou Jing’an, Tong Bing, and six Core realm cultivators in one go?

“At least Fourth Turn, someone who’s already weathered four rounds of Core Tribulation!”

No… With someone like that, Xiang Xian didn’t put them on the front line in Qiyun Circuit to oppose the Prince’s Manor, and instead left them behind just to protect Bai Xiang?

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He couldn’t understand what Xiang Xian was thinking, but he did know he had to adjust his plans in light of this.

Barring any surprises, the other side had already connected the dots and realized everything was his doing. They had probably already gone to the Roads Directorate residence and found it empty, and were most likely heading this way now. He had to hurry and prepare his response.

Perfect.

He looked at the Soul-Suppressing Jar in front of him.

It waking up early was originally a disadvantage to me—but now it’s become my refuge instead.

Black qi was still flooding in from outside, and everyone else, no matter who they were—whether it was Dr. Huang walking out of the building or the other garrison soldiers—treated the black qi as if it wasn’t there, like they literally couldn’t see it.

All of it rushed headlong into the Soul-Suppressing Jar, until the jar began shaking from being packed so full.

Finally, one of the yellow talismans at the jar’s mouth split open. The repressed “qi” inside immediately popped the little bowl up a crack, gathering in midair into a hazy black silhouette.

No face, no features, no organs. Its black smoke drifted and shifted constantly, barely maintaining a human shape.

The shadow seemed a bit unused to this state. Once it took shape, it looked down at its hands and feet, then turned toward Xu Zhe and asked, “Why is this so much later than planned?”

“Someone exposed the hidden danger of the Marrow-Washing Pills ahead of schedule.” Facing it, Xu Zhe could only bow respectfully. “Perhaps fewer people took the pills than expected, so the soul power accumulated too slowly.”

“I see.” The shadow nodded. “Late is late. It’s only Chilong Circuit—it hardly matters.”

His tone hardened. “Where’s Bai Xiang?”

“Counting you, there are seven Core realm cultivators. Don’t tell me you still had trouble capturing one little girl?”

“Your Highness the Prince!” Xu Zhe’s tone grew even more deferential; if you listened closely, there was even a hint of a sob in it. “You don’t understand… Xiang Xian sent a top expert to act as her protector!”

“Oh?”

“At least four rounds of Core Tribulation! There was simply no way we could handle them…”

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“Useless.” The shadow’s voice turned impatient. “‘Second Day’… at worst, a ‘Third Day’ role. If you’d just gone in together, there’s no way you couldn’t deal with them. It had to be arrogance—you got separated and picked off.”

“Your Highness sees clearly!” Xu Zhe immediately seized the opening to shift blame. “Now, aside from myself, everyone else has probably fallen. We can only rely on you to take charge!”

He bowed his head low, which looked humble, but in reality his expression was rigid with strain.

Speaking with this man was crushingly stressful.

He could not show the slightest crack.

“Xu Zhe.”

“Your subordinate is here!”

“Raise your head.”

Xu Zhe’s body shuddered. Bit by bit, he lifted his face, eyes meeting the shadow head-on.

It was such a simple request, but after looking for a short while, sweat the size of beans began to bead on his forehead. His whole body started to twitch and spasm like he was having a seizure, as if suffering invisible damage. Blood seeped from his eyes, ears, mouth, and arms.

“That’s enough.” The shadow flicked his hand. “…Your spirit-soul really does need strengthening.”

“Thank you for your concern, Your Highness!”

“You want me to clean up for you. Is your body ready?”

“It’s already prepared! I guarantee Your Highness will be satisfied!”

“I’d intended the first possession of this split soul to be used on her. I am not the least bit satisfied…”

Time and space seemed to shift. A pair of blood-red eyes suddenly snapped open in the shadow’s face. With a blink, they turned back to normal black, and as the view pulled back—he clearly swapped into a human face.

A chiseled, knife-hewn visage.

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Sword-straight brows and starry eyes.

A head of black hair combed back and pinned up with a hairpin.

Only the white at his temples and the weariness in his gaze proved he was no longer a young man.

This was Qiyun Circuit.

Everyone thought he was currently vacationing at a mountain villa by the Jingshui River, but in truth he had already slipped into Qiyun Circuit in secret long ago, for the sake of his great enterprise.

“Your Highness~”

Beside him sat a woman in a red dress, fox-like charm in her eyes and a soft, delicate bearing.

“Are you troubled again? Do you need to tell Hongji about it?”

“There’s a small problem in Chilong Circuit.” The man sighed. “But it doesn’t affect the plan.”

“Is that so~” The woman leaned her whole body against his chest.

“Your Highness truly has no regrets?”

“I am not the Son of Heaven. This world was never mine to rule.” The man smiled. “If something doesn’t belong to me, what is there to regret in giving it up?”

“According to intel from another split soul, Li Sheng and that group didn’t return to Jingshui—they turned right back around.”

“Have your Demon-Immortal Dao make preparations.”

“The true curtain is about to rise.”