Baili Yuanmo’s purple eyes turned slightly cold as he spoke in a deep voice, “Yunhai, you should be well aware of why the Baili family has kept you alive through every purge.”
“Boss, I know very well. The only reason I’m still breathing is because you’ve been pleading with the family head on my behalf. Rest assured, I will repay you with absolute loyalty,” Yunhai said solemnly.
Yunhai had been serving the Baili family ever since he entered their ranks as a teenager.
He knew countless of the family’s secrets. The Baili family would never let him leave, nor would they ever allow him to take a cultivation partner.
Even if he truly wanted to carry on his bloodline, his children would have to be just as absolutely loyal to the Baili family as he was.
Yunhai certainly didn’t want his future partner and children to be as constrained as he was.
“Yunhai, if the family head doesn’t want to spare someone, no amount of pleading from anyone will help. You saved yourself,” Baili Yuanmo said, staring in the direction Baili Wenyue had left. A flicker of some unreadable emotion passed through his eyes.
The Baili family was indeed not a good place. He hoped Baili Wenyue could truly escape.
In the cultivation world, the higher a cultivator’s level, the harder it was for them to have children.
Families with even a bit of heritage would require their descendants to complete the task of producing offspring before the age of twenty.
If any descendant refused this duty, the family would cut off all their resources until they relented.
As for the daughters of these families, they were kept for marriage alliances. They could only marry people who would benefit the family.
The children of great families had no love, not even any real kinship.
No matter what they did, they had to prioritize the family’s development above all else.
Those who envied the abundant resources of great families had no idea that freedom was far more precious.
“Yunhai, go and warn the Thousand-Faced Men active in the black market. Some of their recent actions have crossed the line.” After giving his orders, Baili Yuanmo’s figure vanished from where he stood.
“Yes.” Yunhai’s cold eyes grew heavy. He gazed at the spot where Baili Yuanmo had been, lost in thought for a moment, before beginning his task.
Fire Spirit Prefecture had recently received many talented young cultivators.
These newcomers, having just arrived in the prefectural capital, knew nothing about the black market’s rules. It would be all too easy for them to be permanently trapped there.
The Thousand-Faced Men would take advantage of this time to scout for people with merchant potential, using every trick in the book to trap them within the black market’s rules.
———
Just as Baili Yuanmo and Yunhai left, Tang Chonglou stepped out from the corner of Qiyun Street.
Tang Chonglou stared at the spot where the two had been, his dark eyes turning dangerous. His guess had been right—someone had indeed been watching them.
After confirming that the two in the building were gone, Tang Chonglou turned into a dark alley.
He stopped before an unremarkable wall.
Thump thump thump!—
Tang Chonglou knocked roughly ten times in a very specific rhythm: three long, three short, one short, two long, one short.
After finishing, he waited for about half a quarter of an hour. The same pattern of knocks came from within the wall.
Tang Chonglou then knocked five more times.
Click!—
A square section beneath Tang Chonglou’s feet sank downward, carrying him with it into the ground below.
After passing through a stretch of darkness, a faint glimmer of light appeared before his eyes.
This was clearly a street, but there were very few people on it.
A mix of light and shadow flickered in Tang Chonglou’s eyes. The Baili family probably never imagined that someone could operate a secret trading post right under their noses.
There were only about a dozen stall-keepers on the street, their stalls piled high with goods.
But when one got a clear look at what they were selling, it sent chills down the spine.
Just then, a figure in a black robe appeared before Tang Chonglou. “Welcome, honored guest, to Dark Street. What would you like to buy?”
“I want Demon Spirit Stones,” Tang Chonglou said, his dark eyes glinting coldly.
“Honored guest, do you realize what you’re saying?” The voice of the black-robed figure turned sinister, and the temperature around them dropped several degrees.
“Demon Spirit Thirteen, drop the act. I said I want Demon Spirit Stones,” Tang Chonglou said, directly exposing the black-robed figure’s identity.
The Baili family never would have guessed that the people behind those puppet masters were actually the Demon Race, would they?
Only the Demon Race could completely invade a cultivator’s spiritual consciousness while ensuring that the cultivator’s body never decayed.
The puppets created by puppet masters all had severe limitations.
A black sickle appeared in the black-robed figure’s hand. The blade was razor-sharp, giving off an intensely chilling aura.
The black-robed figure seemed taken aback and asked, “Who are you? How do you know my identity?”
Tang Chonglou’s expression remained calm as he pressed on, “The Demon Sovereign just died not long ago, and you’re already so eager to tear up the peace treaty with the human race. Whose idea was that?”
Demon Spirit Thirteen’s shock could no longer be described with words.
He could sense an extremely dangerous aura emanating from Tang Chonglou—an aura that, while not exactly like the Demon Sovereign’s, was virtually identical in essence.
But the Demon Sovereign had been utterly destroyed by the combined forces of the Ten Demon Emperors, his bones ground to dust and his soul extinguished. There was absolutely no way he could still be alive!
Just who was this person?
Demon Spirit Thirteen dared not make a rash move. He had a gut feeling that he was no match for Tang Chonglou.
“Who exactly are you?” Demon Spirit Thirteen gripped his sickle handle tightly, his heart constricting.
“Don’t you already have an answer in your heart?” Tang Chonglou’s features began to shift, and the aura around him also started to transform.
Tang Chonglou’s originally handsome face became carved to perfection—a high nose bridge, slanted brows sweeping toward his temples, and a teasing smile curling at the corner of his lips. It was dangerous and seductively wicked.
He looked as beautiful as a spirit being, captivating and impossible to look at directly.
A dark crimson robe materialized over his tall, slender frame. His figure was truly one that could not be a fraction taller or a hair shorter—it was flawless.
Thud!—
“Demon… Demon… Sovereign!” The black-robed figure’s voice trembled as he dropped to his knees, his eyes filled with sheer terror.
