Chapter 619
He hurriedly kowtowed
"Yes, sir! I will obey!"
The guards, feeling as if they had been granted a pardon, immediately kowtowed and scrambled out of the room.
After the guards left, a suffocating silence fell over the room once more. Chi Cangmei remained silent, sitting quietly, her fingers unconsciously tapping the armrests of her chair, a deep gloom shrouding her beautiful face. Her deputies below were on pins and needles, barely daring to breathe.
After a long while, someone finally couldn't help but mutter something under their breath.
"This...this is a major setback..."
"defeat?"
Chi Cangmei suddenly raised his eyes, his icy gaze shooting like a sharp arrow at the person who had spoken. The person immediately turned pale with fright and shrank back.
"It's too early to talk about setbacks!"
Chi Cangmei's voice was resolute and carried an undeniable force.
"But I reiterate once again, this operation must succeed; failure is not an option! If Jiang Xuan is allowed to enter the Forbidden City alive, all our previous investments and losses will become an indelible disgrace! Our clan will never forgive our incompetence!"
After she finished speaking, she suddenly stood up, didn't look at the crowd again, and left the hall, leaving behind a group of deputies who looked at each other blankly and stood there dumbfounded.
……
Meanwhile, in a secluded, dark castle somewhere within the Forbidden City, seemingly isolated from the world.
Chi Cangfeng, dressed in fine clothes but looking somewhat disheveled, stood outside a tightly closed door. On his fair neck was a clear, blood-red finger mark, as if someone had just choked him with terrifying force not long ago.
His face was filled with shock, anger, humiliation, and a hint of lingering fear as he growled at the door that seemed to separate life and death.
"Xia Zhi! Are you insane?! You actually want to kill me?! Why?!"
The door was tightly shut, and no light or footsteps could be heard from inside. After a long while, a cold, detached voice, yet imbued with extreme killing intent, drifted out from behind the door, like a chilling wind from the depths of hell.
“It’s not just you. I want to kill your sister, Chi Zangmei, even more.”
Chi Zangfeng was stunned upon hearing this, his anger replaced by utter astonishment, and he asked incredulously.
"My sister? Why? What did she do to offend you? Xia Zhi, explain yourself!"
However, a deathly silence fell behind the door once again, and no matter how Chi Zangfeng questioned or roared, he received no response.
Chi Cangfeng's face turned ashen with rage, his chest heaving violently. He stared at the door for a long time, and finally could only grit his teeth, filled with immense resentment and a strange chill, and said bitterly.
"Fine! You won't tell, huh? I'll find out for myself! I refuse to believe that there's anything in the Forbidden City that my Chi family can't find out!"
After saying that, filled with anger and doubt, he turned and walked away quickly, his figure disappearing at the end of the dark corridor of the castle.
……
In another little-known corner of the Forbidden City, in a simply furnished, even somewhat empty room.
An elderly man with a kind face and eyes as deep as the starry sea sat upright on a futon.
He held a sword-shaped pendant, only three inches long, entirely black, and with an antique design. He was carefully wiping it again and again with a piece of soft silk, his movements as gentle as if he were caressing his lover's face.
Just then, a deep voice, seemingly resounding directly from the depths of his soul, drifted over.
"...Aren't you worried?"
The old man paused slightly in his wiping motion, a knowing and peaceful smile appearing on his face. He didn't look up, but simply asked a question in a low voice as if he were talking to thin air.
"Worried? Worried about that little guy named Jiang Xuan?"
He paused, then continued wiping the pendant, his tone carrying a detached indifference that suggested he had seen through the ways of the world.
"What is meant to be will be. What is destined to happen will happen."
The deep voice remained silent for a moment before resounding again, carrying a hint of barely perceptible solemnity.
"This time, that girl from the Chi family went too far. She's already... disregarded the rules."
The old man smiled gently, held the sword-shaped pendant, which had been polished to an even darker and deeper color, in his palm, and slowly stood up.
"Since some people are starting to break the rules, it's time for this old man to get out and move around."
His gaze seemed to pierce through the wall, looking in a certain direction.
"I'll go sit on the observatory first and ask those old guys how they should bear the consequences if someone breaks the agreement first."
"Furthermore," the old man paused, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes.
"I'll take this opportunity to go out and inquire about things when that little guy might step into the Forbidden City."
The storms raging inside and outside the city should be clearer now.
The deep voice seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as it gave the instructions.
"If you have the chance... go and see Xia Zhi for me."
She... seems to have recently learned many things she shouldn't have known, which is why she tried to kill Chi Zangfeng.
Moreover, her affairs are probably also related to Jiang Xuan.
The old man nodded slightly and solemnly put the black sword-shaped pendant into his pocket.
"I've written it down."
After saying that, he took a step forward, and his figure disappeared silently into the empty room as if it had merged into the air.
……
Outside Huanglong City, on the banks of the great river that has swallowed countless lives, stood the man in the straw hat—Du Xingchuan—his expression as somber as the leaden sky.
Seven days have passed since he received Chi Cangmei's order to "continue the operation"!
These seven days were pure torture for him and his cultivators. Apart from the occasional floating corpse, bloated and gnawed by fish and shrimp, the river remained completely still.
Jiang Xuan, the target who was like a nightmare, seemed to have truly perished at the bottom of the river, or perhaps vanished into thin air.
But based on his experience and intuition, Du Xingchuan was almost certain that the target had not left the river! The area upstream and downstream was surrounded like an iron barrel, and there were warships and Wind Shadow Hawks monitoring the area from all directions. Unless the target could fly or disappear into the ground, there was absolutely no way he could slip away under their noses!
The only explanation is that he is still hiding somewhere at the bottom of the river!
However, despite knowing this, they were helpless. Seven consecutive days of intensive control measures had consumed an alarming amount of supplies, and their inventory was running low.
Even more terrifying was that the morale of the cultivators under his command had been completely worn down by the long, fruitless wait and the shadow of their comrades dying one after another. Anxiety, unease and fear were spreading throughout the camp.
Du Xingchuan stood on the riverbank, gazing at the seemingly calm but actually treacherous turbid water, his brow furrowed, his heart filled with worry.
He knew that if this continued, they would collapse on their own before their target even had to intervene.
But what else could he do but wait? A sense of powerlessness and uncertainty about the future, like icy river water, gradually seeped into his heart.
The seven days were agonizing and frustrating for Du Xingchuan. He deployed almost all the forces he could muster along the river, like casting a net to catch a sparrow, but could only passively wait and watch morale and supplies slip away.
During those seven days, in the hidden cave deep at the bottom of the river, Jiang Xuan underwent a transformative period of secluded cultivation.
His previous injuries were extremely severe, especially the shockwave from the explosion of the Ziying warship, which nearly damaged his internal organs and meridians. Had he not recently advanced to the Earthly Fiend Realm, greatly increasing his vitality and recovery ability, he probably would not have survived.
At this moment, he sat cross-legged, and the originally invisible spiritual power around him had completely transformed into a solid, heavy, and warm-lustered sky-blue power—the power of the Earthly Gang! This power flowed slowly through his body like jade marrow, nourishing his damaged body.
Strangely, around this dark riverbed cave, there were many fish swimming around, not afraid of him at all, but instead occasionally touching his body affectionately.
Jiang Xuan could clearly sense that these aquatic creatures were attracted by the faint yet abundant vitality emanating from the "Heavenly Water Sacred Pearl" deep within his sea of consciousness.
To his even greater surprise, he sensed that the Heavenly Water Sacred Pearl in his sea of consciousness seemed to be showing signs of awakening due to its location in this vast body of water! It was slowly absorbing the "water-based power" permeating the entire river in a unique and profound way.
The pure and gentle water energy that was drawn into Jiang Xuan's body was not completely absorbed by the Holy Pearl when it flowed through his body. Instead, it was like the finest spiritual medicine, nourishing and cleansing every inch of his damaged muscles, meridians, and even bones!
Under the combined effect of abundant moisture and the power of the earth, the severe injuries in his body that would have kept an ordinary Earth Realm cultivator bedridden for months were being repaired at an astonishing speed!
Broken bones were reconnected, ruptured internal organs were healed, and charred flesh was peeled off and regenerated... After seven days, when he opened his eyes again, his eyes shone brightly. Not only were his serious injuries completely healed, but his physique also seemed to be stronger than before he was injured. His blood and qi were abundant, and his earth energy was thick and surging!
However, just as he was fully recovered and his condition returned to its peak, the faint signs of awakening in the Heavenly Water Sacred Pearl in his sea of consciousness seemed to have faded and returned to silence, as it had absorbed enough.
Jiang Xuan knew it was time to leave.
He quietly left the cave that had sheltered him for seven days, like a silent fish swimming upstream for more than ten miles along the bottom of the riverbed, against the swift undercurrent.
He chose a steep riverbank with dense forest, carefully extended his thoughts above the water, and after confirming that there were only a few guards nearby, he silently floated to the surface like a ghost.
The river here is located in a treacherous canyon area, with rugged peaks on both sides that are difficult for even monkeys to climb. The faint howls of mountain monkeys and the strange cries of unknown ferocious birds can be heard from the mountains, intertwining with the roar of the rushing river below, making this place seem even more desolate and dangerous.
On the riverbank, only a dozen or so black-clad cultivators remained on guard. Unlike their high alert seven days ago, these cultivators now looked listless and dispirited, chatting idly in small groups. Clearly, the long wait had worn down their vigilance.
"Damn it, it's been seven days and we haven't seen a single ghost. That kid must have died at the bottom of the river and fed to the fish by now!"
"Exactly! The higher-ups still make us stay here every day, living on air and dirt. It's really bad luck!"
A cultivator who looked like a minor leader spat and pointed at the rushing river at his feet.
"Do you know what? I heard from the old folks that there used to be some terrifying whirlpool at the bottom of this Silver Frost River that could swallow boats and devour people. It's really eerie!"
A person next to him sneered.
"Come on, Lao Zhang, are you making up stories to scare people again? No matter how eerie this river is, can it be more eerie than Jiang Xuan? I think he's a turtle, he can hold his breath!"
Old Zhang, feeling embarrassed by the refusal, patted his chest and said...
"Why would I lie to you? I swear..."
The moment he uttered the word "swear"!
"call out--!"
A short crossbow bolt, like a deadly ghost, shot out from the water not far away without warning, so fast that it left only a blurry trail of water in its wake!
"puff!"
A burst of blood erupted from Old Zhang's throat, his words stuck in his throat forever. His eyes widened in utter shock and bewilderment, his body swayed, and he fell straight backward.
"Enemy attack!!"
The other cultivators were so terrified by this sudden attack that they were thrown into chaos!
However, before they could fully react, a figure as swift as black lightning burst forth from the water! Amidst the splashing water, Jiang Xuan, wielding the Flowing Light Battle Blade, his eyes as cold as ancient ice, crashed directly into the crowd!
The blade flashed wildly through the crowd like the Grim Reaper's scythe!
"Pfft!"
"Crack!"
"what--!"
Screams and the sound of sharp blades cutting through flesh and bone instantly replaced the previous idle chatter! These cultivators, who were already lax, were simply unable to mount an effective resistance in the face of Jiang Xuan's long-prepared surprise attack.
The moment they raised their weapons, their throats or hearts were pierced by the cold blades!
Like chopping melons and cutting vegetables, in just a few breaths, the dozen or so cultivators on the riverbank had all turned into corpses lying on the ground, their blood gushing out and staining the sand and stones on the bank red.
Jiang Xuan didn't even glance at the corpses. Without pausing, he charged like a cheetah towards the steepest, almost vertical, precipitous peak on one side! His toes lightly touched the slippery rock face a few times, and his figure soared dozens of feet into the air like a great bird!
At the same time, the shape of the flowing light battle blade in his hand suddenly changed. With a flash of eerie light, it transformed into the Boundless Spirit Bow, which seemed to be forged from countless skulls and bones and exuded endless desolation and death.
His movements were fluid and graceful. His left hand held the bow, while his right index and middle fingers hooked onto the blood-red bowstring! In an instant, his mind entered a state of absolute calm, a state of "no-thought," and his gaze, like the most precise ruler, instantly locked onto a seemingly ordinary shadow on a certain part of the mountain peak!
Just as he was about to release the bowstring—
"Croak—!"
A sharp, piercing scream rang out, and a dark shadow shot into the sky from the shadows on the mountaintop like an arrow! It was a ferocious bird responsible for monitoring this area, its appearance somewhat similar to the Wind Shadow Hawk, but its eyes were even more ferocious!
It seemed to sense a deadly crisis and wanted to escape to deliver the message!
However, it was too late!
"Buzz!" (End of Chapter)