Meanwhile.
The back courtyard of Yuchun Courtyard.
Compared to the brightly lit front courtyard, the back courtyard was rather quiet.
Madam stood respectfully before a woman wearing a long red dress embroidered with phoenixes.
"Madam, Qin Lan wasn't able to enter Su Mansion. She was instead settled outside, and Su Chen hasn't gone to see her these past two days."
Madam spoke.
"How interesting. I'll find some time to meet Su Chen."
A smile appeared on the woman's face.
Her smile was captivating and alluring.
"Madam, today Ling Tianhe of Golden Wind Fine Rain Tower eliminated eight stewards who opposed him. He now has complete control of Golden Wind Fine Rain Tower, and Su Chen has become nothing more than a puppet."
"Meeting with him won't do us much good, will it? I suspect Ling Tianhe may move against Su Chen next."
Madam spoke in a low voice.
"Ling Tianhe won't make a move. Su Chen is Su Mengbai's son. Ling Tianhe won't touch him before the people from Zitan Palace arrive."
"Recently, the Lei Family has been buying up Void Nether Stones in large quantities. How is that investigation going?"
The woman in the long dress asked.
"This matter may be connected to Third Young Master Qin of the Qin Family, Qin Hao, but we haven't found out what he's planning. I was thinking of contacting Ling Tianhe to see if I could buy some information from him."
Madam replied.
Golden Wind Fine Rain Tower was Qingcheng City's intelligence agency.
They ought to know why the Lei Family was buying up Void Nether Stones in such large quantities.
"Void Nether Stone is one of the basic materials used to forge demonic weapons. It's precious, but there's no need to buy it up in such quantities. There must be something else going on."
"You can go to Golden Wind Fine Rain Tower and ask them to investigate."
The woman in red nodded.
Then she continued, "Has there been any more news about the Fifth-grade Lotus Platform on the black market?"
"Reporting to you, Madam, no news has come out since the last announcement. It's quite strange."
Madam spoke in a low voice.
"This matter is suspicious. Did they spread the news just to turn people's attention toward Golden Wind Fine Rain Tower?"
"They told us Su Chen might know where the Fifth-grade Lotus Platform is. But if Su Chen really knew, they wouldn't have spread the news."
The woman in red furrowed her brow slightly, unable to figure out what was behind it.
"Go on ahead. I'll find a time to meet Su Chen in person. Perhaps I can ask him to help me meet with someone from Zitan Palace."
The woman in red waved her away.
Lei Hall.
Late at night, only a few faint lights glimmered. Several Lei Hall guards were patrolling.
Lei Ao sat cross-legged on his bed, cultivating.
His upper body was bare, his sturdy muscles gleaming with streaks of lightning-shaped markings.
Lei Ao cultivated the Lei Family's Lei Python Force, an innate inner technique with the lightning attribute.
Lightning-based inner techniques had powerful offensive capabilities and could also temper the body. In Qingcheng Prefecture, this was considered one of the top innate inner techniques.
It was divided into five levels.
Lei Ao had only reached the third level. Because of his poor aptitude, he had been unable to advance to the fourth level for many years.
That was why his strength had remained at the Innate Mid Stage.
He had sided with Qin Hao in the hope of getting resources from him to help cultivate the Lei Python Force to the fourth level and advance to the Innate Late Stage.
A moment later, Lei Ao opened his eyes.
Suddenly.
His gaze shifted. He saw a figure beside the window. The figure seemed to sense Lei Ao's presence and hurriedly turned to flee.
Lei Ao's expression changed, and he rushed out of the courtyard.
He saw the figure fleeing at full speed. Its aura was weak, without a trace of Innate Inner Qi.
But it moved nimbly and was fast.
Lei Ao didn't hesitate either. He followed, vaulted over the wall, and left Lei Hall.
The figure seemed to sense someone chasing behind and hurriedly darted into a nearby alley.
Lei Ao followed it into the alley.
At that moment, someone stood in the alley, as if waiting for someone to arrive.
Lei Ao entered the alley and saw the person standing there. His pupils suddenly contracted. Sensing trouble, he turned to leave.
But at the other end of the alley,
a man stood holding a saber in his arms.
Just standing there, the man made Lei Ao feel as though a mountain were pressing down on his heart.
Even his heartbeat slowed.
Tap! Tap!
Footsteps sounded behind him. His gaze instinctively turned that way.
When he saw who was approaching, his eyes filled with shock.
"You're Su Chen. What are you doing here?"
His voice faltered.
But thankfully, the pressure from the man holding the saber had vanished.
"What am I doing here? I'm here to kill you, of course!"
As Su Chen spoke,
he pushed off the ground and shot toward Lei Ao, Fine Rain Blade appearing in his hand as he slashed in an instant.
The saber fell like fine rain, turning into a streak of white light.
Lei Ao, caught off guard, instinctively raised his hand. Lightning appeared in his palm.
Lightning patterns flickered within it. He thrust his palm toward Fine Rain Blade, trying to block the saber in Su Chen's hand.
Shhk!
But when the saber touched the lightning force around his palm, it cut straight through and slashed toward his hand.
Lei Ao's expression changed drastically, and he immediately pulled his hand back.
But he was still a step too slow. His palm was cut clean through.
"Ah!"
Lei Ao let out a scream.
He stared at Su Chen in horror. The saber in Su Chen's hand had actually cut through his Qi Gang.
He knew that saber. It was Su Mengbai's Fine Rain Blade, a fine weapon.
But it shouldn't have been able to sever his lightning force without the use of inner Qi.
"I didn't expect to take one of your hands without even using my inner Qi!"
Su Chen smiled at the sight.
Fine Rain Blade was sharper than he had imagined.
Lei Ao had struck in a panic, so the force he'd generated hadn't been especially strong. But this still proved how sharp Fine Rain Blade was.
"I'd originally planned to have you die beneath the Fine Rain Dusk Saber Technique, but I don't want anyone to know I killed you just yet."
"So I'll have to kill you another way first, then use Fine Rain Blade to cut off your head."
Su Chen spoke coldly.
He put away Fine Rain Blade and raised his left hand. A freezing aura gathered in his palm.
In an instant, the temperature throughout the alley plummeted.
Lei Ao couldn't help shivering.
But the chill also steadied his mind. The man holding the saber behind him was terrifying, but Su Chen didn't feel nearly as dangerous.
His only chance of escape was to get past Su Chen.
His remaining hand clenched into a fist. Lightning surged, and two streams of lightning power burst from his fist. Without hesitation, he swung it at Su Chen.
His fist came whistling in. The lightning tore through the air with it, producing a shrill, piercing sound.
"Lei Python Force? You haven't even cultivated it into a python. Pathetic!"
Su Chen's gaze turned icy. His Ice Qilin Arm drew back sharply, then he punched, meeting Lei Ao's fist head-on.
Bang!
Their fists collided. The icy force in Su Chen's arm shattered the lightning, then surged straight into Lei Ao's arm. Crack, crack—his arm was soon frozen beneath a layer of ice.
"Shatter!"
Lei Ao was horrified. Inner strength and blood surged wildly through him as he tried to break the ice covering his arm.
But at that moment, a flash of silver streaked past.
Shhk!
His head rolled to the ground like a ball.
There was no blood at the severed neck; a layer of ice had sealed it shut.
Su Chen shoved Lei Ao's corpse over, walked up to the wide-eyed head, picked it up, and put it in his Space Ring.
He still had someone else to kill.
After killing that person, he would hang both heads at the entrance to Lei Hall.
He wanted to see how the Lei Family would react when they saw the two heads.
Before you continue