To be honest, Yuan Tianxiu was a little disappointed by his master’s arrival—he hadn’t completed the task his master had given him, and in the end, he’d still needed help to subdue the others.
But his master didn’t scold him. Instead, he offered encouragement, just as he always had since Yuan Tianxiu was young.
In his heart, his master meant more than anything else in the world.
“Master, let me go draw their blood.” Yuan Tianxiu glanced at the other eight.
“No need. You just rest well. Leave everything else to me. After all, you’ll be losing blood yourself soon enough.”
Yuan Tianxiu felt a wave of emotion. “Yes, Master.”
The forbidden techniques and divine skills had drained him enormously. Though the secret realm was still channeling spiritual power into him, his mental energy couldn’t be restored so easily.
He sat off to the side and began meditating, while the Mastermind swept his expressionless gaze across the other eight, finally stopping on Su Mo. “Strange. How is it that you carry the aura of two deities?”
Then he turned to Ye Qingyi. “And you as well. Both of you carry the presence of both the Mother Goddess and the Serpent God.”
His voice carried clearly to everyone in the space.
Bearing the crushing pressure, Su Mo forced the words out with difficulty. “Senior Mastermind, what do you mean by that? It’s only a few drops of blood—it’s not like we’re unwilling. We were just messing around with the Junior Master a moment ago. Since he wasn’t actually hurt, could you please ease up on us?”
The Mastermind smiled. “That’s not impossible. But you’ll need to give me a reasonable excuse.”
Su Mo gritted his teeth. “I’ve figured out the real purpose behind you opening this temple’s secret realm.”
“That’s hardly an excuse. Any clever person could see that.”
“Not necessarily. What I’ve figured out—other clever people might not necessarily see it.”
That piqued the Mastermind’s interest. “Go on. If what you say holds water, I might consider cutting you some slack. Otherwise, you’ll be the first one I take apart.”
Su Mo shot a glance at Yuan Tianxiu, who wasn’t far away, and let out a derisive snort. “You’re using him.”
“What nonsense are you spouting?” Yuan Tianxiu shot to his feet, eyes blazing with fury.
The Mastermind chuckled and gestured for Yuan Tianxiu to sit back down. “Let him talk. Let’s see what kind of clever theories he can spin.”
Yuan Tianxiu sat back down with a cold face, his glare at Su Mo sharp enough to kill—the one thing he couldn’t stand was anyone slandering his master.
Su Mo had seen it all and wasn’t about to be rattled by a single roar. He continued:
“If I’m guessing right, you’ve been grooming him since he was young. You share a deep bond—at least, he feels that way about you. But your real goal all along has been today. As for what exactly you’re after, I have a theory. Mind if I say it?”
“Go ahead. No one here’s going to leak anything.”
At those words, all eight of them—Su Mo included—tensed up.
Because only dead people couldn’t leak secrets.
Yuan Tianxiu, meanwhile, was slowly snapping out of his anger: Wait… Master’s words… does that mean he’s going to kill them?
Hadn’t he said he only needed their blood dripped into the Nine-Palace Grid?
Yuan Tianxiu’s breathing grew heavier.
Su Mo forced down his unease and, with the mindset of stalling as long as possible, pressed on: “First off, this so-called Nine-Palace Grid doesn’t just need our blood—it needs our lives. And also—”
He shot another look at Yuan Tianxiu. “—his too.”
Before Yuan Tianxiu could fire back with curses, the Mastermind waved a hand and pressed him back down from across the room. His gaze toward Su Mo turned rather intrigued. “Continue.”
“Your main targets are the God-Selected. You plan to use some method to turn the divine bloodlines within us into your own power—and right at the core of this secret realm, there just happens to be something that can suppress those bloodlines.
If I’m not mistaken, you’re nearing the end of your lifespan. You want to extend your life this way, and there’s a very good chance you’re planning to use body-snatching as well.”
He glanced at Yuan Tianxiu again. Yuan Tianxiu’s face was red, his neck bulging with veins. “Why are you looking at me again?! Master would never possess me…”
But when he saw his master’s expression, his confidence wavered. Still, as long as his master denied it, he was willing to believe.
I’m his only direct disciple. He’s raised me like his own child. I’m supposed to help him run the temple in the future…
“What made you think I was going to body-snatch?”
“At first it was just a guess. Now it looks like I was right.”
The Mastermind suddenly let out a cold snort. “Young one, sometimes being too clever isn’t a good thing.”
Just a casual snort from an S-rank powerhouse carried a wave of pressure that crushed down on Su Mo, making it hard to breathe. He struggled and pressed on: “Senior must be using some ancient body-snatching formation. It’s not guaranteed to succeed. But I happen to have a secret technique that guarantees a hundred percent success. If you’re willing to spare us, I’ll hand it over.”
“You’re in no position to bargain with me.” The Mastermind’s face darkened, and Ye Qingyi’s neck was suddenly “sucked” toward him, his hand clamping down hard. “I’ll give you ten seconds. If you don’t hand it over, I’ll kill her. Ten, nine…”
The man wasn’t joking. Ye Qingyi was already starting to roll her eyes back, completely helpless.
Su Mo’s eyes nearly turned blood-red against his will. He swallowed his fury, forcing the words out through gritted teeth, each syllable hammered out like a roar: “I’ll give you one second to let her go—or forget about it. One!”
When people learn there’s a better way than their original plan, most of the time they’ll develop a desire for that new method—especially someone like the Mastermind.
Staring into Su Mo’s eyes, the Mastermind actually felt a strange twinge of unease—and that shook him to his core!
“Fine. I agree.” In the end, the Mastermind chose to back down and tossed Ye Qingyi back to Su Mo.
Seeing Ye Qingyi coughing painfully, Su Mo’s brow furrowed so deeply he wished he could chop that old bastard to pieces right then and there. But the gap in power was just too vast—it would be like smashing an egg against a rock.
All he could do for now was endure.
“Hurry up and hand it over,” the Mastermind said impatiently.
But Su Mo chose to push further. “You have to let them go first.”
With a dull thud, Su Mo was slammed to the ground by a palm strike from across the room. The floor caved in, and his body was embedded right into it.
“Are you testing my patience?”
“Cough, cough, cough… And what if I am? Just tell me—yes or no.” At this moment, Su Mo was like a madman, utterly reckless.
Sakurai Mei’s eyes glistened with tears. Suddenly, she felt that whatever identity he had no longer mattered. As long as they all survived this, they’d still be good sisters.
Ye Qingyi’s head was spinning from lack of oxygen. Through the haze, she could vaguely see Su Mo getting hurt, but she was completely powerless to help. The frustration turned her face pale.
The Mastermind suddenly let out a laugh of disbelief. “You little girl, you’re truly something else. If what you said is real, then what’s the harm in letting them go?”
With a grand sweep of his hand, he released all the pressure on everyone. Sakurai Mei and Weil rushed to Su Mo’s side immediately, while Ye Qingyi struggled over as well.
Su Mo gave a bitter laugh. “Then please, Senior, send them out first.”
“You need to show me this secret technique you’re talking about first.”
“Fair enough.”
Su Mo’s eyes turned violet, and a massive, ancient eye manifested behind him. “Senior, have you ever heard of the Heavenly Demon Clan? This is their secret art—the Heavenly Demon Eye. At the third level, it allows soul transference.”
The Mastermind’s eyes went wide with shock. “The Heavenly Demon Clan… so that legendary race really does exist…”
