Chapter 42: The Fear That Follows

Si Yao opened the door and closed it again, leaving the man shut outside. She returned to her room to pack her things, hired an unregistered car, and went straight back to Qingcheng to see her grandmother, confessing all the problems with the company that she could no longer cover up.

Grandmother said, “A Jue is truly outrageous.”

Si Yao did not respond.

Her grandmother patted her hand gently to comfort her, “Don’t worry, I…”

Kong Xuan knew that his grandmaster, the Taoist Elder, also possessed a gourd, which was borne from the innate spiritual root gourd vine. The gourd had a purple skin and golden patterns, and the Elder usually used it to store pills. Yet Kong Xuan was aware that the gourd had other marvelous uses.

As Ning Hao finished speaking, Qiao Yufei appeared from within the door, and without a word, took Ning Hao’s hand and headed straight out.

Seeing me return, Liu Zhiyang, mischievously holding half a durian, came over with a sour face, trying to coax me into tasting it. I immediately shook my head and refused. How could I not know his intentions? He had only bought it because he heard my second sister liked durian.

Not only was I swindled out of fifty million, but I lost face, and even my own reputation had been bruised by the other party; now, not only did I fail to gain anything, I ended up worse off.

Murong Xuan was referring, of course, to Hua Mantian’s place. She not only had a pill furnace, but everything found in a medical clinic or a pharmacy could be found there. Her favorite pastime was locking herself in her room to study these things.

Stepping on these cards, we advanced slowly upward. Sister Xun’er walked at the end, responsible for collecting all the cards anew.

Li Shigao couldn’t get in at all. He had thought to imitate the Sword Mound and make a paper figure to play with, but it was impossible. The paper craft technique required him to be within ten yards of the target to succeed.

So Kong Xuan passed through the archway and climbed step by step along the jade stairs. The immortal scenery on both sides of the jade steps was exquisite, but Kong Xuan didn’t glance at it even once, focusing solely on ascending. After three thousand steps, he finally reached the front of the alabaster palace.

The word “beast” from Chi Chongrui was deliberately emphasized, a double entendre—he wasn’t merely referring to the demon beasts, but also the corpse tribe who coveted the treasures of the Heaven and Earth Palace.

Yet the sensation would vanish immediately when I looked elsewhere. Puzzled, my urge to clearly see Liu Xiaohui’s face only grew stronger.

At dusk, as the sky darkened, the military train finally arrived at Andong, the largest border city separated from Korea by only a river.

Afterwards, Moon Shadow Maple and Hatsune found nothing else of interest at the old residence. So Moon Shadow Maple took a diary and a box of videotapes and left with Hatsune.

Though I had felt some sympathy, seeing An Zi in that state brought on a wave of nausea for reasons I couldn’t explain—the young man I once knew was gone forever.

Moreover, Toyota’s actions would inevitably trigger industry-wide changes. Other car manufacturers couldn’t simply sit idly by as Toyota lowered prices; in the short term, they would certainly take action. If the entire industry lowered prices across the board, Dongchen’s next phase of development would become extremely difficult.

Inside the secret chamber were only the Dragon family patriarch, Elder Long Lanxing, Long Ge, Fire Dance, and Long Xingyun and Long Yiyi.

Others might not know, but Commander Li was well aware. Traveling into Korea by train? Hmph, there was a real chance American planes would destroy them halfway, and the losses would far outweigh any gains.

“Heh, even if we don’t fully enter, we can still reach the peak, right?” Liu Yihua said, continuing his efforts.

This way, I could live my days in peace, no matter what earth-shaking events happened outside, none of it would concern me.

After driving away the observer sent by his superiors, was Li Yong acting foolishly? Certainly not. Although he hadn’t formally reported to his superiors, Commander Li had confidence—his confidence came from the support of Commander Wang Zhen and Marshal Peng.