"Thump! Thump!"
Her heart pounded wildly in her chest, almost smashing through her ribs! A bone-chilling terror, as if countless venomous snakes had coiled around her neck, left Su Wanqing's hands and feet icy cold and her breathing frozen!
Her gaze, filled with fear from the depths of her soul, was nailed to the huge floor-to-ceiling window! The sunlight after the rain was bright, the courtyard lush with greenery, and dewdrops reflected rainbow-colored light from the leaves. The blooming ancient orchid gave off a faint, delicate fragrance. Everything was as peaceful and serene as a landscape painting.
Yet in her eyes, cleansed by Chaos Origin Qi and endowed with an astonishingly sharp spiritual perception, that tranquil scene was completely torn apart!
She could clearly "sense" several icy "gazes" lurking in the distant mountain forest shadows, where the sunlight divided the boundary with stark clarity! They were not gazes in the physical sense, but energy probes carrying powerful Mental Imprints and naked, greedy wills! Like invisible venomous thorns, they pierced through the distance of space, precisely and viciously... locking onto the warm Purple Clay Teapot in her hands!
Greed! Like hyenas that had caught the scent of blood! That greedy intent was so powerful and undisguised that it nearly condensed into tangible flames, scorching her mind!
What made her scalp explode and her soul tremble was—
One of the coldest greedy intentions, like a venomous serpent from the abyss, had firmly locked onto the Purple Clay Teapot while... extremely covertly splitting off a wisp! Like a slippery tentacle, it quietly reached into the living room, carrying a trace of confusion and even stronger desire, and coldly... swept over the half of a shriveled steamed bun lying quietly on the carpet in the corner?!
The instant that gaze touched the steamed bun, it seemed to produce an exceedingly faint ripple of confusion, as if confirming the existence of something incomprehensible yet instinctively desired. But immediately afterward, that greedy intent not only failed to weaken; instead, like a flame doused in oil, it instantly became even hotter and... crazier!
Su Wanqing felt as if she had been stripped naked and thrown into a frozen wasteland, then surrounded by countless malicious eyes! The immense fear made the hand holding the Purple Clay Teapot tremble violently. The scalding teapot burned her palm, but she did not notice at all! She wanted to scream and run, but her body seemed frozen, leaving her rigid and unable to move!
"Hm?"
On the sofa, Ling Ye's motion of slurping his tea paused slightly. He seemed not to have sensed the several greedy, icy gazes outside the window. Instead, he appeared to have noticed the strange trembling of the Purple Clay Teapot in Su Wanqing's hands. He tilted his head slightly, his calm, placid gaze sweeping over Su Wanqing's pale face and trembling hand before glancing at the teapot in her grasp.
"Hold the teapot... steady." Ling Ye's voice carried a hint of irritation at being disturbed. His tone was as flat as if he were reminding a server not to spill the soup. "The shaking is making me dizzy."
Su Wanqing: "..." She was about to cry! Dizzy?! There were monsters outside coveting your teapot and steamed bun, big shot!
The instant Ling Ye finished speaking!
"Whoosh—!"
An almost inaudible sound of something slicing through the air, carrying bone-chilling cold, shot suddenly from outside the window like a venomous snake flicking its tongue! Its target was neither Su Wanqing nor Ling Ye, but... the Purple Clay Teapot in her hands!
It was an almost transparent energy spike formed from highly condensed nether-cold energy! It was unbelievably fast and utterly silent, as if it had merged into the shadows of the sunlight! It ignored the thick bulletproof glass and pierced through it in an instant as if passing through air!
"Ah!" Su Wanqing had only enough time to let out a brief cry as she watched helplessly while the deadly nether-cold spike, like a soul-reaping ghost, stabbed straight toward the Purple Clay Teapot in her hands!
It was over! The teapot was going to shatter! She shut her eyes in despair!
Yet at the instant the nether-cold energy spike was about to touch the teapot's ice-crackle-patterned body—
"Vrrrrm!"
The Purple Clay Teapot, which had remained quiet in Su Wanqing's hands, seemed to be thoroughly enraged by this malicious attack! Its body shook violently! An indescribable Chaos aura, more domineering and furious than ever before, erupted from the teapot like the overwhelming rage of a prehistoric beast awakened after being bitten by an ant!
There was no dazzling burst of light! No energy storm!
There was only an invisible will, so heavy it seemed capable of crushing the heavens and the galaxies, carrying an absolute majesty that transcended the ages and permitted no desecration!
The vicious nether-cold energy spike could not withstand even one ten-thousandth of a second after this terrifying will descended. Like a crystal of ice thrown into the blazing sun, it vanished soundlessly without creating even the slightest ripple... completely erased, as if it had never existed!
Nor did that terrifying Chaos will stop! Like an invisible raging tide, it instantly surged back out along the trajectory from which the energy spike had come! Ignoring the distance of space and all defenses, it struck with pinpoint accuracy at a particular location in the mountain forest shadows outside the window!
"Gah—!"
A howl of pain and terror, suppressed to the utmost yet filled with unbearable agony, burst from the distant mountain forest shadows like a night owl strangled by the throat! It abruptly cut off!
Immediately afterward came the muffled thud of a body hitting the ground, followed by several terrified gasps that could not be suppressed!
Su Wanqing suddenly opened her eyes, just in time to see a blurred figure topple from a tree in the mountain forest shadows like a torn sack, making no further sound! The other greedy, icy prying gazes withdrew like startled rabbits, vanishing without a trace in barely concealed panic!
Inside the living room, the Purple Clay Teapot's hum and that terrifying Chaos will instantly receded, returning everything to calm. It was as if the scene of the attack being annihilated and its attacker being slain from afar had merely been an illusion.
Su Wanqing held the Purple Clay Teapot, her heart still racing and her back drenched in cold sweat. She looked down at the unharmed teapot, then at the mountain forest outside, which had returned to its former tranquility as if nothing had happened. A chill shot from the soles of her feet straight to the crown of her head!
This teapot... could not only bring the dead back to life... it could also... counterattack automatically?! Kill people from across the air?!
She felt that what she was holding was no longer a teapot, but a... temperamental ancestor!
Ling Ye, meanwhile, seemed completely unaware of everything that had happened outside. He set down his empty mug, finally turning his gaze to Su Wanqing's pale face. His brows furrowed slightly, and his expression held a trace of distaste.
"Water." He pointed at the Purple Clay Teapot. "Fill it."
Su Wanqing jolted as if she had received an imperial edict. She hurriedly picked up the kettle that was still warm beside her, her hand trembling like Parkinson's. Carefully, little by little, she poured water into the Purple Clay Teapot, her movements reverent as if she were performing some sacred ritual.
Ling Ye watched her trembling, fearful appearance, then glanced at the half of the shriveled steamed bun in the corner that had been "coveted." It seemed to strike him as somewhat... unsightly? Barefoot, he walked over with soft slapping steps and casually used his toes... to kick the half of the steamed bun deeper into the corner, making it vanish completely into the angle of shadow between the pillar and sofa.
The movement was as natural as kicking aside a Small Stone blocking the way.
"Obstructive," he muttered.
Su Wanqing: "..." Looking at the half of the steamed bun—the divine artifact that had been "disdained" and kicked into the shadows of the corner—she felt that the fragments of her worldview, which she had only just pieced together, had once again been ground into even finer powder.
Meanwhile, in the silent mountain forest shadows far from the villa—
A figure dressed in a black skintight suit that seemed to blend into the shadows, his face covered by a pale Ghost Mask, clung to the back of a thick tree trunk like a gecko. His heart pounded so hard it nearly leaped from his throat! Beneath the mask, his face was as pale as paper, and cold sweat streamed down his temples like rivulets, soaking through his underclothes.
Just now! He had witnessed the fate of his companion Shadow Thorn with his own eyes!
Shadow Thorn was the organization's finest expert at concealment and energy sniping! His Nether Soul Cold Cone could freeze and pierce three centimeters of alloy armor in an instant! It was also silent when activated and carried a soul-freezing effect. It had never missed!
Yet... at the instant that cold cone was about to strike its target!
He had not even seen what happened!
He had only sensed an indescribable, terrifying will, seemingly originating from the source of the universe, descend in an instant! Then... Shadow Thorn had been like an insect crushed to death by an invisible giant hand. He toppled straight from the tree without even managing to complete his scream! His life force had instantly gone out!
Even more terrifyingly, that barely perceptible energy fluctuation produced when Shadow Thorn launched his attack seemed to have become the precise coordinates for the opponent's counterattack! That will... had followed the attack's trajectory and rebounded back! Its precision was utterly despairing!
"G-Ghost Mask, sir..." Another black-clad man dressed the same way, though with a slightly weaker aura, spoke with uncontrollable trembling. His voice entered Ghost Mask's ear through an encrypted communicator. "Shadow Thorn... is dead! The energy response... vanished instantly! The target... the target's counterattack... we... we simply can't understand it!"
Terror and lingering fear filled the eyes beneath Ghost Mask's mask! He, too, had just sent out a wisp of intent to investigate the inconspicuous "thing" in the corner. At this moment, he felt coldness seep into the depths of his soul! That thing... was absolutely more terrifying than the teapot! It carried an aura of origin that seemed capable of suppressing the heavens and remaining eternal throughout the ages!
"Shut up!" Ghost Mask forcibly suppressed the roiling blood and fear in his chest, his voice hoarse and low. "Mission change! Abandon all contact! Highest-level concealment! Withdraw immediately!"
"Then... that teapot... and the thing in the corner..." His subordinate was still somewhat unwilling to give up.
"Idiot!" Ghost Mask growled, his voice edged with fear. "If you want to die, don't drag me down with you! Do you think those are things we can covet?! Didn't you see how Shadow Thorn died?! Withdraw immediately! Report the situation here... no! Raise the threat level of the target 'Calamity'... to 'World-Ending Level'! Report to the Nether Lord at once! Hurry!"
With the order given, several dark figures fled like startled specters, silently merging into the deeper forest shadows. They retreated in panic, not daring to look back even once at the seemingly tranquil mountainside villa.
Back in the villa's living room—
Ling Ye watched as Su Wanqing finally finished filling the teapot with trembling hands and returned to the sofa. He picked up the Purple Clay Teapot, poured himself another cup of amber tea, and lifted it.
Just as he was about to drink, his movement paused slightly. His gaze seemed to sweep inadvertently over some empty corner of the living room, then as if piercing through space, fell upon a more distant place—the depths of an unremarkable old building on the other side of the city.
For the first time, a trace of... an exceedingly faint interest appeared in his eyes, like someone watching ants move house.
"Heh." A soft, nearly inaudible chuckle escaped his lips, carrying an unreadable meaning. "The mortals of this generation... certainly have some nerve."
Before you continue