Aftermath

"I understand. So, we must remain inactive and not interfere in the war between Human Race and Demon Race until the Moth Emperor makes her move, then we can seize the opportunity to help sever the Divine Pillar."

Nether Lord nodded and said, "It's best to remain still now. I will also relay the message to the others. Also, has the body of that newcomer been recovered?"

"Hmm, his operation seems to have failed. He failed to assimilate his son and was instead killed by the borrowed demonic blade. The Mystic Weapon Envoy be furious, having lost an Earth Rank demonic weapon for nothing."

"Ha, anyway, the Mystic Weapon Envoy plenty of collections, one more won't make a difference."

Shentu Chuang laughed and echoed, "That's true. I've always believed that weapons should be used, even if it's for the enemy. The battlefield is where they demonstrate their value. Keeping them in a collection room is like a pearl gathering dust. It's most tragic when a general dies of old age on his sickbed."

Nether Lord said regretfully, "It's quite a pity that this newcomer died. He had potential, intelligence, and perseverance. If he could have controlled the madness in his personality, he could definitely have become a cadre of the organization in time. I heard about his plan: illusion array, demonic blade, hostages, and Secret Method —four layers of preparation. He was risking his life, and even I thought it was a sure thing. I didn't expect him to still fail. It's true that man proposes, God disposes. These days, it's not easy to find someone worth cultivating who is also willing to join an illegal organization."

"All the scheming and plotting will come to nothing in the end. If you ask me, we should just go to that kid's door and tell him, 'Let's have a fair fight, father and son. If he wins, the son will listen to the father; if he loses, the father will listen to the son.' As long as the other party isn't shameless, he'll definitely keep his word. After all, there's a blood relationship involved. Besides, it's not easy for others to interfere in this kind of father-son match, which can minimize the chances of something going wrong."

"What you said is one way, but it's for straightforward people. Intelligent and self-confident people wouldn't use it because it's too unsophisticated and doesn't showcase their talents... It's too late to say all this now. Once a person dies, no matter how outstanding their talents were in life, it all becomes a mirage. Fortunately, his body still has research value, so the organization's investment won't go down the drain."

Nether Lord finished his tea, put down the empty teacup, stood up, and said, "I'll take my leave now. I hope you enjoy your drink, Bold Evil."

"There's no fun in drinking by yourself. If you're really so kind, stay and drink with me."

Unfortunately, before he could finish speaking, the other person had vanished, and no one knew where he had left from.

"Tch, a seemingly respectful but actually arrogant fellow," Shentu Chuang snorted in dissatisfaction. He picked up the wine jar, only to find it empty, and then banged on the table, shouting, "Waiter, bring me a pot of bitter wormwood wine."

Unlike their previous complete disregard, the waiter reacted immediately, as if the two had returned to the same space.

"Guest, due to the alcohol restriction policy, you are not allowed to drink any more alcohol today. Also, please do not slam your hand on the table."

Qingyan received the mission. After two years of waiting, the result was finally in sight, making him feel like "the clouds have parted to reveal the sun, and the moon has finally appeared after the clouds have cleared." He was glad that he hadn't given up. The only regret was that the mission didn't require killing anyone; it only required him to blow up a building.

In this era without terrorist attacks, blowing up buildings is considered part of an assassin's job. Of course, in most cases, they blow up buildings to kill the people inside. Blowing up buildings is just a means, or an additional request from the employer, such as to destroy evidence or deter enemies. It is rare for an employer to specifically request the destruction of buildings.

But no matter how unorthodox it may seem, it's still a legitimate assassination mission. Assassinating a person is assassination, and assassinating a house is also assassination.

More importantly, the rewards for this mission are extremely generous. For some unscrupulous assassins, as long as the money is right, they will do anything. They would be willing to blow up a house or even a latrine.

The reason Qingyan was able to snatch this task from his competitors was entirely due to his blasting qualification certificate, a professional skills certificate recognized by the Mohist School's engineering department and valid for ten years.

Compared to other amateur enthusiasts who only knew how to increase the yield to enhance the explosive power, Qingyan, with its certification, was undoubtedly more competitive and successfully secured the commission.

It is said that a competitor secretly contacted the client and leaked Qingyan's past "achievements" to the other party, hoping to scare the client into changing the executor. However, the other party scoffed at this and mocked those who dared not entrust the project for this reason as superstitious and ignorant fools.

With this in mind, Qingyan was determined to complete this mission perfectly, leaving no room for criticism, thereby clearing his name and proving his innocence.

The claims of him being an "employer killer," a "deposit collector," or an "assassin with no combat record" are all baseless slander, fabrication, and defamation!

Of course, just in case, he asked the intermediary to give the employer some minor suggestions, such as hiring more guards and bodyguards, avoiding dangerous places, and remembering to test the food for poison before eating each day.

This was absolutely not because he cared about those baseless slanders; it was purely out of concern for his client. After all, the world is a dangerous place, and people's hearts are unpredictable. It's always good to be cautious, and there's no need to be tense for too long. He just needs to keep a close eye on things while the client is on a mission...

Anyway, all those rumors are false!

Before the operation, Qingyan didn't rush to plant explosives. He first stole the design drawings of the target building and surveyed the surrounding terrain and geology. He estimated the explosives using the volume balance method, making full use of the terrain, rationally placing the explosives, and accurately determining the amount of explosives. He used hundreds of drawings to finally complete the blasting design, setting up a perfect detonation network to ensure that while destroying half of the building, the people inside would not be injured—mainly avoiding ordinary people, as martial arts masters could easily escape using their light-footed skills if they sensed danger.

As a professional assassin, since his employer did not require him to kill, Qingyan tried his best to avoid harming innocent people. After all, these people could all bring him missions—every living person could become his employer or his assassination target. Therefore, he had to learn to be frugal and look at problems with a forward-looking perspective.

Although assassins' job is to kill, they also hope that the world's population will increase; otherwise, if the population becomes scarce, it will mean that they will lose their jobs.

Qingyan took out his pocket watch, glanced at it, and checked the time. "It's about to detonate; I should leave."

One advantage of mastering timed detonation techniques is that people don't have to stay on-site, avoiding being caught on the spot by experts. For example, Qingyan wasn't even in the target building at the moment; he was in the broadcasting studio of the broadcasting building, where all the staff had already been knocked unconscious.

"Luckily, I used to do part-time midnight broadcasting, otherwise I wouldn't know how to operate the machine."

Qingyan took out a cassette tape, put it into the playback device, and set the time to ensure that the broadcast would start precisely 30 minutes later, 15 minutes after the explosion, to announce the news to the whole city.

The broadcast was simple: it announced, in the name of the Remote Heaven Society, that they were responsible for the explosion.

This was an additional request from the employer, Qingyan naturally had to fulfill it perfectly. He had heard of the Remote Heaven Society and knew it was a powerful organization that dared to provoke the Mohist School, but he didn't care. What kind of assassin would be afraid of death?

If you dare to kill, you must be prepared to be killed.

As a professional assassin, Qingyan had long been aware of this, but unfortunately, he had no opportunity to use his skills. Now, he was finally able to put them to good use, which made him quite gratified.

After carefully cleaning up the traces left at the scene, Qingyan quietly left the broadcasting building. He carried a mop in one hand and a bucket in the other, disguising himself as a cleaner, and no one gave him a second glance.

Soon after, the roar of an explosion and the sound of a building collapsing came from afar, and white dust could be seen rising into the sky.

"My legendary assassin's journey has finally begun."

Having accomplished his task, he left without a trace, concealing his merit and fame. Qingyan did not turn around to look at the explosion; he simply adjusted his hat and disappeared into the crowd.

Chapter 678 Follow-up Reactions

The International Building was attacked by the Remote Heaven Society, forcing the international conference to be suspended. Fortunately, only half of the building collapsed, and the collapsed area happened to be free of ordinary people, so there were no casualties.

In response to the Remote Heaven Society's blatant provocation, governments around the world immediately issued strong public condemnations and changed the Remote Heaven Society's definition from a mysterious illegal organization to an anti-human Evil Dao organization. They not only significantly increased the bounty but also established an international police force specifically targeting the Remote Heaven Society.

Although the Remote Heaven Society previously on the blacklist, only the Su State and the Nation of Valor were truly committed to arresting them. Other countries generally adopted an attitude of indifference, since they did not have Divine Pillar within their own territory and had no conflict with the Miaotian Remote Heaven Society, which aimed to destroy the Eternal Barrier. Even for their own interests, there was no need to provoke such a mysterious organization with many Spirit Transformation experts. Despite issuing arrest warrants, they did not take it too seriously and treated them as ordinary criminals.

But now, with such a major international case occurring at such a sensitive time, it's no less than a slap in the face to world leaders. Even though the Remote Heaven Society infiltrated high-level officials in various countries, it can no longer remain silent and must stand up and make a statement.

Remote Heaven Society instantly transformed from a mysterious organization followed by only a few into the enemy of all mankind.

Of course, the representatives from various countries were not intimidated by the Remote Heaven Society's demonstration. They all expressed that they would never yield to Outer Dao forces and changed the venue the next day to continue the joint meeting.

"It couldn't be Remote Heaven Society did it, unless they all had their prefrontal lobes removed."