Chapter 572: Old Friends

"Think carefully about what just happened."

Tian Fangfei's voice had barely faded when Long Quezhou responded.

Long Quezhou answered her immediately. "There's no need, Domain Lord Tian."

"Go back and tell the person backing you that Domain Lord Wang and I have no intention of agreeing."

"Exactly." Wang Yu's tone was icy. "Please leave."

"Heh." Tian Fangfei sneered. She turned on her heel and strode toward the door. "Fools. You'll understand once that lord arrives in person."

Yan Jing waited by the door, his expression calm.

Creak.

The door opened.

Tian Fangfei locked eyes with Yan Jing.

Almost subconsciously, her body gave a violent shudder.

"It's been a while, Domain Lord Tian."

Yan Jing smiled faintly.

Tian Fangfei shivered again. With a sharp blast, she launched herself backward, putting dozens of meters between them.

Weird energy surged around her. She stared at Yan Jing, every muscle taut, instantly shifting into a combat stance.

Yan Jing maintained his smile. "You've improved quite a bit since you left, Domain Lord Tian."

"If there's a chance, we should definitely spar."

Hearing Yan Jing's words did nothing to relax Tian Fangfei's guard. Cold sweat prickled down her back. She was terrified he would attack right then and there.

Although she was confident her strength had completely transformed, this was still Yan Jing's territory.

And she had already tasted his ruthlessness firsthand.

But Yan Jing wasn't even looking at her anymore. He turned to face Wang Yu and Long Quezhou, who were hurrying over.

"Domain Lord Wang, Domain Lord Long, it's been a while," Yan Jing greeted them with a smile.

"Domain Lord Yan."

Wang Yu wiped the sweat from her forehead. "You're out."

She was genuinely nervous, worried that Yan Jing might misunderstand Tian Fangfei's visit.

But Yan Jing merely smiled. "Did Domain Lord Tian come looking for the two of you for something specific?"

"She..." Wang Yu didn't know how to explain. Seeing this, Long Quezhou seamlessly took over. "Domain Lord Tian wanted us to gather information on you and your daily movements. According to her, the person backing her wants to know."

"Furthermore... they also want information on secretary-general Shen."

Upon hearing Long Quezhou's words, a lingering doubt in Yan Jing's mind finally seemed to find its answer.

He looked across at Tian Fangfei and chuckled. "So, the person behind Domain Lord Tian is an old friend from our Yueyin."

Tian Fangfei's expression instantly changed.

"I don't know what you're talking about..."

She looked guarded. If Yan Jing attacked now, it would be a three-on-one fight.

"Please tell the person behind you that he is welcome to visit whenever he likes. I will gladly keep him company," Yan Jing said, his smile unwavering.

Hearing this, Tian Fangfei laughed, as if she had finally caught Yan Jing in a vulnerability. "Lord Yin doesn't have time to deal with trivial matters like you."

"You should consider yourself lucky that you even caught Lord Yin's attention because of certain matters."

Unfazed by the provocation, Yan Jing asked mildly, "What is his position? A candidate? Or a Divine Envoy?"

Tian Fangfei sneered. "Don't try to fish for information from me."

"I'll only tell you this: Lord Yin is already ranked among the top one hundred most likely to reach the Summit during this Day of Godhood."

"He could crush you with a single finger."

"Is that so?" Yan Jing nodded, still smiling. "Domain Lord Wang, Domain Lord Long, see our guest out."

He had no interest in attacking Tian Fangfei. He needed to keep her alive to deliver the message.

Wang Yu and Long Quezhou exchanged a glance, a little uncertain of Yan Jing's intentions.

In their eyes, Yan Jing was already at the Ninth Tier. Since conflict was inevitable, taking down Tian Fangfei might give them the initiative.

But when they looked back at Yan Jing, he had already strolled into the conference hall to drink tea.

In the end, Tian Fangfei departed.

After Wang Yu and Long Quezhou watched her fly out of Yueyin's airspace, they returned to the conference room to find Yan Jing sitting at the table, leisurely sipping his tea.

"Domain Lord Yan, concerning this matter... I'm afraid they come with ill intent,"

Wang Yu finally warned him.

Long Quezhou nodded. "The enemy is at least at the Ninth Tier."

"The Deity Ascension Roll Tian Fangfei mentioned for the Day of Godhood is jointly issued by the Six Great Councils. Its purpose is to track the most talented individuals across the entire Surface World."

"What are the Six Great Councils?" Yan Jing blinked.

Long Quezhou offered a bitter smile. "There are exactly six people at the absolute peak of the Surface World's pyramid. The organizations beneath them are the Six Great Councils."

"Of course, unlike the outer fringes, the Central Region of the Surface World doesn't operate on the belief that more people is better. Those top-tier organizations are generally like the Zodiac—limited in number."

"And as for the Six Great Councils, despite having 'Great' in their name, each organization only has a thousand or two members."

"But they represent the absolute strongest echelon," Wang Yu added. "Anyone recognized on their ranking list is a monster when it comes to potential."

"Is everyone on this list from the Central Region?" Yan Jing took another sip of tea.

"Well..." Wang Yu and Long Quezhou didn't know how to answer.

Aside from the man sitting in front of them, could anyone from the peripheral regions possibly make the list? They couldn't even imagine it.

Yan Jing nodded, understanding their silence.

"It's fine. Counter soldiers with generals, water with earth."

Seeing that Yan Jing truly didn't seem to care, Wang Yu asked, "You mentioned earlier that the person backing her is an old friend from Yueyin... Do you know him?"

"Didn't Liu Xiaoyue and Mu Yi team up back then to intentionally let a genius escape?" Yan Jing smiled.

Wang Yu immediately looked at Long Quezhou, catching the mirrored surprise in his eyes.

"How long has it been? That person had just reached the Seventh Rank back then... How is it possible?"

Before she could finish her sentence, Wang Yu clamped her mouth shut.

She had almost forgotten there was an even faster monster sitting right in front of her.

With the Day of Godhood approaching, times had truly changed. They could no longer use their old perspectives to understand what a 'genius' was.

"No wonder..." Wang Yu finally connected the dots.

No wonder the other side wanted to ask about Shen Youran's current situation. It really was an old acquaintance.

"So we just wait?" Long Quezhou furrowed his brow.

He wasn't someone used to waiting passively.

Yan Jing laughed. "If you want to take action, you can step up and resolve it yourselves."

The two looked embarrassed.

Although their strength had improved significantly after Rabbit's pointers last time, going two against nine—especially when the enemy was backed by a top one hundred ranker on the Deity Ascension Roll—was a tall order.

They both knew they were far from ready for that.

But Yan Jing didn't look like he was joking. "I'm being serious. If the two of you are willing, you can handle it yourselves."

"..."

Wang Yu looked at Long Quezhou, and Long Quezhou looked back at Wang Yu.

For a moment, both of them were at a loss.

Tian Fangfei's figure continuously blinked through the air. Every few times she used the ability, she glanced back to check if anyone was tailing her.

She simply didn't believe the other side would be kind enough to let someone trying to poach their people leave so easily.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have blasted off all her limbs last time.

It wasn't until the sky darkened and she stepped deep into the Steel Plains that she finally breathed a sigh of relief. She began walking in a direction from her memory.

Before long, she arrived in front of a deserted village.

The village didn't look overly dilapidated. The metal-built houses hadn't rusted like most abandoned structures on the Steel Plains. In fact, many of the doors were still shiny and polished, making it look as though people had lived there not too long ago.

But now, the majority of it was undeniably empty. As Tian Fangfei walked into the village, she quickly picked up the scent of blood.

She waved her hand in front of her nose, fanning away some of the metallic tang, and then stepped into the room they had all agreed upon.

Knock, knock, knock!

She rapped on the door.

The faint sounds that had been coming from inside instantly vanished.

It wasn't until several seconds later that a voice drifted out.

"Who is it?"

"Me."

Tian Fangfei spoke coldly.

"No one is following you, right?"

The voice asked again.

"No. Hurry up and open the door," Tian Fangfei snapped impatiently.

Creak— The door opened, and a head poked out.

It was the domain lord of Wanli, Ma Jiangyao.

She was wearing her usual black tight outfit, her figure tall and slender, but she seemed to have lost a significant amount of weight. Her face looked haggard, as if she hadn't slept in days, and her cheeks were deeply sunken.

"Did they come?" She looked at Tian Fangfei, expectation in her eyes.

"No." A vicious look flashed across Tian Fangfei's face. "I don't know what that guy gave those two, but it's made those idiots dead set on following him. Plus... I was almost caught!"

"You were almost caught?!"

A man's voice rang out from a corner in the pitch-black room.

Hearing this, fury surfaced on Tian Fangfei's face. "Damn it! Are you deaf?!"

She flipped on the light. A man—or more accurately, a puddle of rotten flesh that still retained some slight masculine features—lay sprawled on the floor.

Seeing Tian Fangfei turn on the light, he frantically covered his face and shrieked, "Turn off the light! Hurry up and turn it off! Hurry!"

But Tian Fangfei ignored him.

This was Nan Dong, the domain lord of Dark Ghost, whose Zodiac sign was the pig.

His current appearance did look somewhat like a pig, but that hadn't been the case half a month ago.

Back then, he was merely tall and burly, absolutely nothing like this soft, mushy mass of flesh.

Ma Jiangyao looked at Tian Fangfei. "Turn it off. He's too loud."

Click!

As the light snapped off, the entire room plunged back into darkness, and the man's terrified wails ceased.

Tian Fangfei said coldly, "But my trip wasn't a complete waste. At the very least... I got news about that man."

"They told you?"

"No, I saw him," Tian Fangfei replied flatly. "He suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I thought he was going to attack me, but in the end, he didn't."

"Why didn't you attack?!" In the corner, Nan Dong's voice rang out again. "If you had captured him, wouldn't our mission be over? Why? Why didn't you make a move—sob..."

Overcome with emotion, the man actually started to cry.

"Shut up! You're so damn loud!" Tian Fangfei roared. "Do you think I didn't want to?! It was their territory! How was I supposed to win?! Fuck, if it weren't for our bad luck..."

"We really should have listened to him back then." A trace of desolate regret flashed across Ma Jiangyao's face.

Wang Yu and Long Quezhou had passed on a message back then, warning that the Crystal Stone was like an unknown seed, and swallowing it didn't guarantee what kind of flower would bloom.

But they had all been so captivated by finding one's own path at the time that they ignored the advice entirely.

It was only after ingesting the seeds that reality set in. Of the nine of them, some skyrocketed to power in a single leap, others remained completely average, while the three of them contracted bizarre ailments. Now they had been reduced to the very bottom of the organization, fit only for doing grunt work for the other six.

And if they failed to do it well, they were beaten and cursed at.

To think that dignified domain lords had been reduced to such a state—Ma Jiangyao felt overwhelmed with humiliation and indignation just thinking about it.

"Let's send the message back."

Before Ma Jiangyao could finish her sentence, she suddenly felt a surge of energy rise from her lower abdomen. Her expression changed drastically.

"I can't. It's happening again."

With that said, she bolted right out the door, sprinting madly into the distance until her figure vanished from sight.

Inside the room, the man's voice sounded once more. "Why? Why are we the unlucky ones? Boo-hoo..."

"So loud! Shut up!"

Tian Fangfei wanted nothing more than to beat the man to a pulp.

The people backing them had made it clear: as long as they completed this mission, they would be given seeds to remedy their condition. But the other six not only refused to help, they just sat securely on the sidelines, waiting to reap the benefits.

"I really should have attacked back there..."

She muttered under her breath.

If she hadn't died, she would most likely have drawn their target out. And if she had died... that would have been fine, too.

She walked over to the corner and unconsciously reached out, beginning to dig and scratch at the wall.

She didn't use any weird energy, nor did she use any physical augmentation.

Who knew how long she dug, but relying purely on her bare fingers, she forcefully gouged a pit into the solid steel wall.

It wasn't until the upper halves of her fingers were completely mangled, exposing the raw flesh beneath, that she stopped.

Finally snapping back to reality, she hastily channeled her weird energy to regenerate the destroyed tissue.

A flash of fury crossed her eyes.

"Stop howling!" She glanced out the door. For whatever reason, Ma Jiangyao hadn't returned yet, so she could only speak up. "We'll go have a showdown with those guys and deliver the message. As for whether they're willing to make a move, that's their problem."

Hearing this, the man actually stopped crying. "What... what if they beat us again?"

"Then we fight back! The worst that happens is we die! Without us, let's see who's left to do their dirty work!" Tian Fangfei spat viciously.

"Okay."

The man wiped his eyes.

He reached out and smashed a massive hole straight through the hard wall. Then, he grabbed Tian Fangfei and began making his way into the distance.

His speed was far faster than his massive physique suggested. Every step he took covered thousands of meters.

Whenever his foot slammed into the ground, the very earth seemed to quake.

Not long after the two of them left, Wang Yu and Long Quezhou emerged from a secluded corner nearby.

"Are we following them?" Long Quezhou, who had a figure slung over his shoulder, looked at Wang Yu.

"Of course!" Wang Yu clenched her fists, feeling the power coursing through her body as she suppressed her inner excitement. "If we act like cowards when we have this kind of power, wouldn't drinking that blood have been for nothing?"

"Didn't Domain Lord Yan tell us to draw out the people backing them?"

"They're at least at the Ninth Tier..." Long Quezhou frowned.

But a moment later, he changed his tune. "Never mind. Let's go."

Although he was naturally cautious and had never fought a Ninth Tier before.

But after feeling the power inside his own body, he felt that a Ninth Tier wouldn't be any stronger than this.

It couldn't be helped.

It wasn't arrogance or complacency.

He simply felt that his current self... was just far too strong.