There was a widely circulated saying among the empires of the great powers.
Controlling Yanjing meant controlling Xinghan's brain; controlling Puhai meant grasping Xinghan's purse strings.
Thus, in the Puhai concession,
there was no shortage of foreign adventurers and merchants.
In the eyes of the foreigners, a powerful mage like an evil Merlin had suddenly appeared in the Far East. After selling his soul to Satan in exchange for terrifying power, he had not only caused the purse strings they had kept firmly clutched to slip out of control; like that evil monk of the Ice Fortress, once such an evil and mysterious being began wielding power, he would turn his sights on women!
Using bedchamber sorcery obtained through sacrificing souls, he had made every woman devoted to him!
It had to be sorcery!
How could there possibly be a mage in this world who, through his era-transcending speech, wise and far-reaching vision, handsome features, domineering word-is-law attitude, and perfect physique that made females' legs go weak, could make other men's wives and daughters devoted to him? It had to be evil magic!
It was said that the wife of the president of the India Shipping Company, Philia, a dignified and beautiful woman who was also an extremely ascetic Catholic, had gone for an interview with that evil Lan Yi.
When she returned home, her enraged husband, the president, had demanded to know what exactly had happened between her and that evil mage.
Unexpectedly, he had received only Mrs. Philia's scorn.
"You've merely been married to me for over a decade. Don't put on the airs of my man and pretend to care about me or interrogate me!"
If that wasn't sorcery, what was?
As for the other noblewomen and young ladies, as well as their maids and female bodyguards, things were more or less the same. There was no need to mention the chaos and domestic unrest. The foreign men who suspected that the green hats on their heads had entered an uncertain state of superposition began secretly forming alliances and plotting. They wanted Lan Yi dead—not only because they might have been cuckolded, but more importantly, because the purse strings they had clutched had slipped out of their control!
Cutting off a man's path to wealth was like killing his parents.
The hatred of having one's wife stolen could not coexist beneath the same sky.
With these two hatreds piled together, even the East Islanders who had been bloodily suppressed by the Ghost Heavenly General Geng Liangchen had to slice their fingers and swear that they would surely wash away this extraordinary humiliation.
In the basement of a certain mansion in the British concession.
The dim basement held a group of foreigners who had come to Xinghan expecting to live as its Supreme Emperors, only to find themselves rapidly and wholesale fitted with green hats. Whether East Islanders or Westerners, all of them wore foul expressions after being cuckolded. A fire smoldered inside them, wanting to burst out but unable to, as though they were on the verge of suffering internal injuries from holding it in.
At that moment, they were engaged in heated discussion.
"He should still be human. He needs to eat, breathe, drink water, and sleep and rest. Since that's the case, poison will definitely work. As long as a person ingests the cyanide of our Great East Island Empire, death is certain."
This was the East Island cuckold's suggestion, delivered through clenched teeth.
Having infiltrated Xinghan the most deeply, they had obtained the greatest amount of information about Lan Yi.
Lan Yi was still human. He had not completed all his bodily modifications and did indeed need food and rest. If they seized the opportunity properly, they truly had a chance of injuring Lan Yi.
By comparison, the Western cuckolds' suggestion was simple and direct.
"The monsters created by that evil mage still fear heavy machine guns and cannons, let alone naval guns. If we have his exact coordinates, then as soon as the southbound Punishment Fleet approaches Puhai, we can contact them and have them bombard him directly!"
The East Island soldiers' crushing defeat had still transmitted some useful information.
Besides, naval guns really were fearsome.
With one shot, even if the current Fierce Heavenly General Zhao Jian stood still and took it head-on, the terrifying release of energy would blast him into minced meat on the spot. As for Lan Yi, if he were caught off guard and sleeping too deeply, while Cang Hua hurriedly organized a defense, she would still be unable to escape being given a lavish burial by naval artillery.
"That's right! We can also bury explosive packs—a whole houseful of explosives! Along the mage's inevitable path!"
"We can contact Kent and Albert too. They have magic staffs!"
"Send those idiots from India to act as human bombs!"
The atmosphere grew increasingly heated.
It was as if Lan Yi, the man who had wholesale distributed green hats to them, had already been battered and left sprawled on the ground, barely clinging to life, by the various assassination plots in their mouths. Meanwhile, they, the victors, were baring their teeth in vicious grins as they ground Lan Yi's bones to dust, taking his corpse to reclaim the dignity and virility they had lost!
They would prove to their wives, daughters, secretaries, lovers, and maids that they were stronger than that evil mage, that they were the heroes who would save those women from his wicked spells!
"We can also have those women whose minds have been bewitched make a move! When a man is in bed with a woman, that's when his guard is at its lowest!"
An East Island merchant was brimming with enthusiasm.
The moment he said this, the previously heated atmosphere turned cold.
More than half the foreigners present instantly developed extremely ugly expressions. That damned East Island dwarf really knew how to bring up what should not be brought up. Their beloved wives or daughters going to interview Lan Yi was already humiliating enough. What was even more humiliating was that they had no way to make those women attack Lan Yi.
If they did this,
with the way those women had been bewitched by evil magic, they would turn around and sell their plans to Lan Yi the very next second!
The East Island merchant was somewhat puzzled by the strange behavior of these white-skinned men.
In East Island culture, having a strong man sleep with one's wife was an honor, and there was nothing wrong with stabbing that strong man in the back either. These white-skinned men were so coy and fussy—at a glance, they were clearly not people capable of accomplishing great things!
"They're simply not cut out for great things. They're a rabble of misfits."
At that moment, in the basement next door to this mansion,
a man who had been listening with his eyes closed, through pipes secretly dug through underground, could not help sighing.
They had been monitoring this area for three days already.
This group of foreigners attempting to harm Immortal Master Lan Yi still had no idea that the Immortal Master did not take any of their schemes seriously. Their supposedly secret movements had long since been ruthlessly betrayed by the women wholly immersed in the blue dream.
The cuckolds had overestimated the bonds of affection between themselves and their families.
They had also underestimated the methods of the martial artists' faction.
"Liu Baiyuan, if we still don't have a firm answer and get this matter handled properly, then when Immortal Master heads north the day after tomorrow to punish the Manchu, you and I will lose our chance to serve at his side."
Beside him, Guo Decheng wore a handsome little mustache and urged him on with a cigarette between his lips.
It was said that the Punishment Fleet would arrive in Puhai tomorrow.
The city was rather chaotic at present.
Otherwise, this group of rats would never have dared to secretly form alliances and plot together.
Liu Baiyuan and Guo Decheng.
They were the two most outstanding among the latest batch of martial artists pursuing immortal destiny and yearning for Bestowing Martial Arts. The two of them were also rare martial artists whom Lan Yi had personally trained with meticulous care in Innate Qi.
Archer Liu Baiyuan possessed the ability to draw his bow and shoot by sound. His ability to locate targets by sound and capture vibrations was unmatched. Guo Decheng was the head of an assassination organization raised by a high-ranking official suffering from a foot ailment. He possessed superb marksmanship and the ability to disguise himself and infiltrate targets.
The two were currently under the command of the Ghost Heavenly General Geng Liangchen.
Their sole duty was spying on the foreigners.
"Shh, they finally have a plan. They're preparing to assassinate Immortal Master tomorrow and the day after! Quick, bring paper and brush. You write it down, then have that foreign woman providing the intelligence proofread and translate it later!"