"Rotten move—"
"A rotten move!"
As Wei Tu and Young Mistress Cai spoke, Golden Cloud Demon Venerable, far away in Heavenly Abyss Sacred City, received a secret message delivered by the Second Boss of the Thirteen Bandits of the Startling Abyss through a communication artifact.
The secret message was brief.
It contained only one sentence.
—Cai Qing had been rescued.
The message did not mention the name or identity of the person who had rescued Cai Qing, but... that was unimportant. Decades ago, when the Thirteen Bandits of the Startling Abyss had repeatedly failed to honor their promise to kill Cai Qing, Golden Cloud Demon Venerable had known that his plan had already gone bankrupt.
Today's secret message merely put a full stop to that failed plan.
Yet those words thoroughly ignited Golden Cloud Demon Venerable's fury.
Originally—
It had been a flawless plan.
Yet merely because he had entrusted it to the wrong people, he, the "mastermind behind the scenes," had become a "clown" in every practical sense.
—As long as Cai Qing lived, the scene of Wei Tu and Chief Dipper Demon Venerable turning against each other would not even have a chance to be staged.
Not only did Wei Tu remain a threat.
He had also completely and utterly offended the Chief Dipper Trading Company to the death.
"This cannot entirely be blamed on the Second Boss. That First Boss's control over the Thirteen Bandits of the Startling Abyss is simply too pervasive..."
"Without his obstruction, our plan would have succeeded long ago."
Nightfish Demon Venerable emerged from the shadows. His face was equally ashen, clearly having received the secret message sent by the Second Boss as well.
"Did you find out..."
"Whom that First Boss sold Young Mistress Cai to?" Golden Cloud Demon Venerable exhaled a