The night was tranquil, the sky ablaze with stars. As Lin Qi indulged in the feast before him, he heard a familiar voice—one etched deeply into his memories. Back when Lin Qi had struggled bitterly in the Black Abyss Divine Prison, that voice had rung in his ears countless times.
After returning to the surface world, he had once tried to find him. But such an insignificant little man had vanished from the Western Continent like a drop of filthy water dissolving into the sea. No matter how great the power in Lin Qi's hands, he could not control every person on the continent.
So Lin Qi had never found him.
Yet today, in Green Vine Province of the Harlan Empire, at the Silver Tulip Hotel in Silver Snow Peak City, Lin Qi suddenly heard that voice.
With a touch of sentiment for the unfathomable workings of fate, Lin Qi smiled and set down his wineglass. He took out a cigar and clamped it between his lips. With a scratch, he struck a match and lit it. Lin Qi drew deeply on the rich smoke, let it circle through his lungs, then silently exhaled it. Two long streams of smoke shot several meters away.
The restaurant was dimly lit, and Lin Qi sat in a secluded window-side booth, so no one noticed this extraordinary sight.
Slightly balding, a great deal fatter than he had been back then, and glowing red-faced, Mr. Grong strode in with light steps. He looked far healthier than he had over a decade ago, and his clothes had risen a full grade above his former attire. The belt around his waist alone, made of magical crocodile hide, was worth ten times more than everything he had once worn from head to toe.
As for the silver