Chapter 90: Prey

"Do you know? You, Zhao Sheng, and others like you all share a common trait: arrogance! An all-consuming, eye-clouding arrogance! It is precisely this arrogance that leads you to destruction time and time again!" Yaoguang said as he watched Leng Tianfeng's head fly high into the air, fall to the ground, and roll a few times.

Yaoguang's words caused Leng Tianfeng's eyes to fill with disbelief. His mouth opened and closed; judging by lip-reading, he seemed to be saying, "Gene liberation module?"

He stared fixedly at Yaoguang, as if trying to etch Yaoguang's appearance into his heart forever. But eventually, his thoughts rapidly drifted away from him.

***

After beheading Leng Tianfeng with a single strike, Yaoguang quickly recovered from the states of Psychic Descent and Heavenly Fiend Disintegration.

Immediately, the swelling caused by the stagnant qi and blood, the pain from the temporary neural cutoff, and the agony of his shoulders being gripped and nearly torn off all came rushing back at once.

Yaoguang controlled his breathing, continuously re-mobilizing the essence, qi, and psyche that had been previously crushed, and trying to condense his Life Force Field once more. At the same time, he quickly consumed healing pills and medicine to replenish his depleted qi and blood. It took a full ten seconds or so before he was barely able to steady himself.

His gaze fell upon Leng Tianfeng, who remained wide-eyed even in death. He stepped forward and used the Soul-Capturing Bead to extract the remnant soul. However, compared to other humans or daemons, the remnant soul the Soul-Capturing Bead extracted from Leng Tianfeng was pitifully small, practically negligible.

When he sensed the information contained within this remnant soul, what appeared in his mind was a string of mad, angry laughter.

"Hahaha! Nothing more than prey whose only reason for existence is to entertain us! And of course, the process of entertainment should be as exciting as possible! You think you've destroyed me? You seem to be taking your role too seriously! Hahaha! I'll remember you! This is not the end!"

This information was less like Leng Tianfeng's memory and more like a recorded message. This result caught him somewhat by surprise.

"Is it not working?" He looked at the Soul-Capturing Bead in his hand. "Is the level of this treasure too low, or is Leng Tianfeng's understanding and application of the soul too exquisite?"

After reflecting for a moment, he associated this with Leng Tianfeng's other identity: the Blood-Weeping Fiend Lord. Perhaps both possibilities were true.

"After all, it was loot obtained from Zhao Sheng; it stands to reason that it wouldn't work against the high-ranking members among them." Yaoguang put away the Soul-Capturing Bead.

He sensed several people approaching quickly from not far away. Leading them was Zong Yan. Clearly, they had heard the commotion and rushed over to investigate.

When Zong Yan arrived first and saw the decapitated corpse on the ground, along with Yaoguang's visibly turbulent qi and blood, his face immediately filled with shock. "This..."

Given Yaoguang's strength, what kind of person could fight him to such an extent?

Zong Yan wondered.

"A psychic-will martial paragon?" Zong Yan asked.

Yaoguang shook his head. Leng Tianfeng's physical strength was not high; especially when not transformed, he was even slightly inferior to Yaoguang. But with his combat power, any psychic-will martial paragon who faced him would have been beaten to death with just a few exchanges.

"Yaoguang, your condition isn't good. I'll call the medical team over right away," Zong Yan said quickly.

Yaoguang did not refuse. He simply gave an instruction. "Find out who he was."

After saying that, he added, "He was from the Rebirth Society."

He did not mention that this was the Blood-Weeping Fiend Lord. The Blood-Weeping Fiend Lord was a top-tier existence in the Crimson Star Empire who intended to refine the Ten-Thousand-Fiend Blood Soul Banner. In terms of status, he was on par with the Crimson Star imperial family.

Telling Zong Yan and the others this news would serve no purpose other than causing panic. However, from his brief exchange with the Blood-Weeping Fiend Lord, he realized that things were somewhat different from what he had imagined.

The Lunar Fiend Empire? What's their relationship with the Artifact Sect? Furthermore, the Blood-Weeping Fiend Lord referred to himself as a "descender." He thought I was one as well. Adding to the fact that the methods we use do not seem to be the same path as the Artifact Sect... Could it be that the Lunar Fiend Empire and the Artifact Sect are not the same thing? But if they aren't, how can one explain the Rebirth Society being able to operate in the outside world under the guise of the Crimson Star Empire?

Yaoguang wondered.

While he was lost in thought, Lei Yun, Ai Li, and the others arrived in a hurry and took Yaoguang to the infirmary. As the private villa of the Liao family, this place possessed relatively complete medical facilities. Although these facilities were not as comprehensive as those in top-tier hospitals, they were sufficient for Yaoguang's current needs.

***

Yaoguang did not allow news of his injury to spread too much. In fact, knowing that the Su family would be unable to help even if they were informed, he did not allow Zong Yan or Lei Yun to notify them. Consequently, Su Chiming and Su Yaoyu were completely unaware of the incident.

This was especially true for Su Yaoyu. While Su Chiming was already at the palace, overwhelmed with work, Su Yaoyu remained in Tiannan. The only difference was that while a month ago she had merely been the general manager of the Xingyu International Hotel, now she had become the number two figure of the Buzhou Group.

In fact, since the chairman, Su Chiming, had shifted all his focus to the capital, the power she exercised was practically equivalent to that of the Buzhou Group's chairman.

Su Yaoyu, who was processing a document in her office, called out, "Sister Lin Xia, come over and help me look at this."

"What's wrong?" Lin Xia walked over.

Although Su Chiming had gone to the capital to oversee the overall situation, Lin Xia had stayed behind to assist Su Yaoyu with the various affairs of the Buzhou Group. Had it not been for Lin Xia's assistance, it would have been impossible for Su Yaoyu to manage the group so efficiently with her own abilities, especially considering that the Buzhou Group's scale had expanded several times over compared to a few months ago.

"Look at this document; it's a contract we signed with the supplier, the Liu family. This clause here... The deadline for payment is one year?" She glanced at Lin Xia. "Is this a mistake? I specifically checked with the secretariat, and they said there was no problem. But this means our payments can be delayed for up to a year. Forget a year, even one month would already be quite exaggerated."

She added, "Furthermore, there are all sorts of requirements listed earlier. We could easily find some issues and delay these payments even further. If we wanted to, we could drag it out for three to five years. What kind of businessman would sign such an agreement? How is this different from giving us a massive gift for free?"

Lin Xia looked it over. Knowing the truth, she smiled. "Since the secretariat said the contract is fine, you can go ahead and sign it."

"Are there no other traps in the contract?"

"I've seen you poring over it for more than an hour. If there really were a trap, you would have found it by now, right?" Lin Xia said with a smile. "Besides, as of today, no one dares to trip up our Buzhou Group in a contract anymore. If there were a problem with this agreement, we could simply declare it illegal and refuse to follow it."

"Is that... really okay?"

"Of course. Go ahead and sign it with confidence." Lin Xia nodded with a smile.

Su Yaoyu found it hard to believe. "Then... I'll...sign it?"

Lin Xia continued to nod.

Out of her trust in Lin Xia, and since the legal department and other major sectors had all confirmed there were no unfavorable terms for the Buzhou Group, Su Yaoyu gritted her teeth and signed her name in all the necessary places.

Immediately, Lin Xia said encouragingly, "Miss, you're truly a business genius. In such a short time, you've signed several major deals beneficial to the group's development. If this trend continues, by the end-of-year summary, the Buzhou Group's profits will at least double. With this kind of achievement, there won't be any resistance when you take over as chairman."

"Me, the chairman?" Su Yaoyu waved her hands dismissively. "I am still far from being a qualified leader for a large group."

"Everyone would feel the same; it's a step-by-step process. No one is ever fully prepared before they take charge of a large corporation," Lin Xia said with a smile.

"The recent situation... feels very strange," Su Yaoyu said. "It's not that there's a problem with the group's operations, but rather, everything is too smooth. It's so smooth that it feels like every department, family, and partner is giving us a green light, actively delivering all sorts of benefits to our doorstep."

She seemed to think of something and looked at Lin Xia again. "What exactly is happening? Also, the chairman and Second Uncle have been away from the group for so long; what exactly are they doing?"

Lin Xia hesitated for a moment. Although Su Chiming had already entered the palace and barely managed to control the situation in the capital and the three surrounding cities, he was actually still in a state of bewilderment. The Su family had ascended too quickly, leaving his heart floating in the air without a solid place to land.

Not knowing where they would go under Yaoguang's leadership in the future, he did not dare to reveal too much of the inside story to the younger generation of the Su family. Aside from the core members of the family, such as Su Chixin, Su Huaigu, Su Huaiyue, Lin Xia, and Leng Jun, the others, like Su Yaoyu, only knew that they had gone to the capital for important matters, supposedly to expand the capital's market and lay a nationwide foundation. As for the specifics, they knew nothing.

Now that Su Yaoyu had asked, Lin Xia wondered if she should broaden the scope of the information slightly. At the very least, Su Yaoyu, who was destined to be entrusted with heavy responsibilities in the future, should be qualified to know.

After contemplating for a moment, she decided to reveal a bit of the situation. "You should know the news about His Excellency Liao Shanhe, the king of Dayu, being unwell and delegating royal power to the supreme council, right?"

"Mhmm." Su Yaoyu nodded. "That news has been out for quite a while. The members of the supreme council should be officially announced when the National Expansion Meeting convenes in a month or so."

"Although it is still over a month until the official announcement, the list for the supreme council is actually already out. This council consists of a speaker and nine councilors," Lin Xia said.

"We got the list?" Su Yaoyu was somewhat surprised.

Have the Su family's connections become this strong? How could we obtain such a list more than a month in advance?

Lin Xia nodded. "The nine councilors are core members from the nine major aristocratic families in the country, including the Lyu family, the Jiang family, and the Li, Xu, and Yue families. As for the highest-ranking position, the speaker..."

She involuntarily lowered her voice. "That'll be Young Master Yaoguang."