As for those who opposed it, they were not few—mostly members of the Sima imperial clan and various maternal relatives and powerful ministers. Although a situation had already emerged where everyone cultivated the Dao, the Sima imperial clan was still nominally the ruling house, and these people enjoyed too many privileges; naturally they had no wish to see the rise of yet another “Lord of the Dao.”

Nie Qianyun hadn’t noticed a moment ago, but now that Xing Lie had mentioned it, she saw it too—there was a lump on Xing Lie’s forehead, laced with dark, bloodshot veins.

Situ Langlang could certainly withstand a blow like this, but it meant his hidden identity could no longer be maintained.

“Baomian? My parents can actually make a bit of baomian too—more variety would be good for business.” Tang Yue thought that baomian was even easier to make than dumplings, and tasted good besides; if they added one more item, surely more people would come to their place for breakfast.

Jin Yan was lost in scattered thoughts when Lian Qingyang’s question caught her off guard. She froze for a moment, then nodded belatedly, only realizing what had been asked after the fact.

“So—so what do you think actually happened?” She spent a good while organizing her words before finally getting the question out.

At the same time, the detention center immediately reported the incident up to the county bureau—that is, to Xia Honglang.

The abandoned factory grounds crouched in the night like some massive, gaping-mouthed beast, ready to devour anything that dared trespass into its territory.

That killing intent wove itself into a net that spanned the heavens, tightly shielding Xia Bing while also keeping watch, with hostile intent, over everyone else.

“Retreat at once behind the camp gate—these demons cannot be fought head-on.” Li Xuanzhen spoke again, then pointed a finger at the open ground outside the gate. At once a wooden stake some ten zhang tall appeared outside the gate, and he tossed the treasured mirror in his hand, hanging it upon the stake.

Xiao Yu’s meaning was clear—he and Black Mang were certainly going to Jiuyou Ridge. If Bruce was afraid to die, he needn’t come along.

The cleaned cat’s-eye stone was soaked in white liquor for a while to sterilize it, then pried open and forced into the dwarf’s mouth.

“It’s fine.” Shui Qing had no idea why she was being praised like this. “Could that building really be right across from us?” Random guessing—could that really be right too?

Zhang Wutao wasn’t having an easy time either—he too had plenty of wounds on his body. Fortunately, both of them had so far only suffered scratches, not bites, or things would have gotten troublesome.

Bing Xiao smiled faintly, and without realizing it, her hands had already come to rest on Jiang Jili’s arm beside her.

“All right! I’ll help you handle the paperwork, and once it’s done, I’ll invite over the bosses in charge of widening the rural roads to have a meal with you!” Li Jianjun glanced toward the distant riverbank and answered with great enthusiasm.

As for Qiao Hanyan, the first thing she did upon seeing her wasn’t to rush into explanations—she grabbed the cold tea on the table and started gulping it down, only calming after drinking her fill.

Earlier, Chen Xiaoyao had spoken evasively, clearly knowing something about the inside story. If Chen Xiaoyao wasn’t saying anything, the matter was probably rather complicated. Now that Murong Jun had personally called, and with such urgency in his tone—did that mean things had become clear?

The moment those words left his mouth, Xie Haifeng was stunned for a moment. What did I just say? Why would I say something like that? It wasn’t as if he were possessed by a ghost—was such loyalty even a thing?

Dawn broke, and the warmth of the first rays gradually blended with the fading coolness of night. Though the golden light of daybreak had not yet touched the cave itself, the mountain ridges on either side of the cave had already been tinged with a rich, golden-orange hue.

“Let’s take it one step at a time. By the way, didn’t you say you could find some simple work in this city? Take me to see.” Yang Chi glanced at Wu Hehan and said this.

Seeing that these two were actually old acquaintances, and that the fat man was in fact the old lizard’s older brother, Geng Long felt that fate really did play cruel tricks—he never expected that, through some twist of circumstance, he’d end up bringing back a group of relatives.

Duowa had already sent people to look into the background of that fifth person standing behind Yang Chi. It was clear this fifth person was no good either—Duowa even felt a bit of regret that the two hadn’t fought it out on the spot; given the fifth person’s strength, beating the celebrity Ha half to death would probably have been easy work.

“People change like this, but that temper of his hasn’t changed one bit.” Qing Ya placed Ye Hua into the bathtub and began running the hot water.

Charging out of the building together with Liefu and the mechanical spirit soldier, Yang Chi’s eyes turned cold in midair as he watched Liefu, who was just about to push away the mechanical spirit soldier about to crash down on him—and then the Pipi grass behind him struck down mercilessly.

“If I don’t come get you now, Mother’s going to be furious at you to death! Come home with me!” Murong Shiyu said, and immediately moved to pull Murong Shijing away.

“Old Dog Li, is this really all the strength you’ve got?” Fan Xun wiped away the rain blocking his view, the corner of his mouth curling up coldly, even as blood kept flowing from his body along with the rain.

“Let’s go in now and finish off that boss.” Yun Yaoxin gripped her wand tightly and was about to step forward, but Bing Lingkong stopped her. Bing Lingkong shook his head, gesturing for Yun Yaoxin to look toward the position ahead and to the right.

The old lizard watched from the side, knowing it was his turn to act. He signaled his subordinates to stand guard near Geng Long, then charged forward alone—within just a few moves, all the guards had been knocked flat.

A passerby happened to walk by and was startled by that person’s laughter. Upon seeing Zhang Xing’s corpse beside him, the passerby grew frightened, hands trembling as he pulled out his phone to call the police.

Just past 8 a.m., Li Ang walked into the office, went straight to the section chief, pulled up the holographic screen, and handed the report directly to his superior.

Yu Siming smiled and nodded, then leaned in and whispered something in her ear. The moment he finished speaking, Yun Suyu felt her heart pounding like a drum, and stared at him wide-eyed.

“Move!” Xiao Zhantian roared, and countless dazzling beams of light burst forth, filling the whole world with a stern, terrifying killing intent.

“Yu Siming! I’ll kill you!” Those were the only words left in Jun Yixuan’s mouth, his furious eyes bloodshot, his face twisted with a ferocity that stripped away every last trace of his crown-prince’s bearing.