It was a pitch-black room, so dark it seemed to lie deep underground. No light could be seen. A row of candles had been lit, dispelling some of the darkness, but the room remained gloomy and oppressive.
The place was utterly silent. There wasn't the slightest sound—not even the sound of breathing. The air was stagnant, and not a breeze stirred. It was dead still.
The room was spacious, spanning dozens of yards. It had no windows or decorations, only a long table in the middle.
Several people were already seated at the table.
He Heng was one of them. Sitting somewhere near the middle, he smiled as he surveyed the room.
Beside him sat the man from the mist, still shrouded in layers of fog. His face was impossible to make out; only a vague silhouette could be seen.
He Heng took a closer look at the fog surrounding him and smiled. "Jade Rakshasa, I've always wondered how you conjure up all that mist. Is it some kind of special martial art? It's certainly good for frightening people. No wonder so many are afraid of you. Why not teach me?"
"This is my unique secret technique." The man in the mist snorted, flatly refusing He Heng's unreasonable request.
"Well, that takes the fun out of it." He Heng shrugged.
At that moment, a black-clad youth with dark eyes and hair let out a cold laugh. "Master Jade, your trick might be impressive against most people, but it won't do much against someone like me."
Jade Rakshasa, still shrouded in layers of mist, looked coldly at the young man in black. He was exceptionally handsome, with a gentle, refined air—the sort of elegant young master who could make any girl throw herself into the flames for him. Yet his eyes were utterly lifeless, pitch-black.
From beneath the mist, Jade Rakshasa's voice came out hoarse. "Against someone like Bat Young Master, who has no eyes, my tricks really are useless..."
Though Jade Rakshasa spoke calmly, his words were a provocation. Telling a blind man that he had no eyes was hardly a compliment.
The room fell silent in an instant. Everyone watched the young man, whose expression remained unchanged, waiting to see how he would react.
But they were all disappointed. Yuan Suiyun remained calm and unruffled, sitting quietly where he was, as if Jade Rakshasa's words meant nothing to him. His composure plunged the room into complete silence. No one spoke, and the atmosphere grew eerily tense.
After a moment, a graceful man broke the silence. He cupped his fists toward Yuan Suiyun and the others. "We are all renowned figures of the jianghu. Why quarrel like ordinary people over such petty matters?"
The speaker had an exceptionally graceful figure, but his face was hidden behind an ugly, fearsome mask. He was Young Master Yu.
"Haha, well said. We're here today to discuss a great undertaking together—to swallow the world whole. Why let a petty matter spoil our harmony?" Jade Rakshasa suddenly laughed and saluted Yuan Suiyun with cupped fists.
Just then, another person entered the room. Dressed in white with a sword at his side, he had a handsome, lean face and beastlike eyes. He looked coldly at those present, gave a scornful smile, and sat down without a word.
Everyone frowned when they saw him. One burly man immediately barked, "Gong Jiu, where's your master? Why did you come in his place?"
"He had something to attend to, so I came for him." Gong Jiu glanced coldly at the man and answered in a frigid tone.
Under that stare, the burly man shuddered as if a Primordial Fierce Beast had fixed its gaze on him. Cold sweat broke out across his body, and he immediately fell silent.
Only He Heng and a few others pursed their lips without comment.
A little while later, the room was still silent. The air was oppressive and heavy, and the darkness seemed endless. Yet no one present said a word, even though they had been waiting for a long time. Who among those gathered here wasn't a ruler in their own domain, a great figure who could summon wind and rain? People like them had no shortage of patience.
Another moment passed, and a figure suddenly appeared in the room. His cold gaze swept over everyone present before he took the seat at the head of the table.
He was of average build and stood seven feet tall. A blue robe covered him from head to toe, embroidered with several lifelike Azure Dragons, their claws bared as they twisted through the fabric. A strange mask concealed his face. Only his deep-set eyes were visible, as if they could see through all things in the world. He seemed like a deity seated high in a temple, someone to be worshipped from afar, but never approached.
Standing there, he seemed like a towering mountain, suppressing Heaven and Earth, with an aura that looked down on the firmament and crushed all things beneath it.
It was impossible to tell from his build whether he was a man or a woman, young or old. No one could gauge his strength, either. He was a complete mystery.
He was the leader of the Azure Dragon Society, a godlike figure who remained unchanged through the jianghu's shifting tides and the world's upheavals, watching the world with cold detachment: Boss Azure Dragon.
"Welcome to the Azure Dragon Society, everyone. You have come to take part in a great undertaking that will shape the next thousand years."
Boss Azure Dragon sat at the head of the table, his deep-set eyes sweeping over everyone below. His tone was at once cold and fervent.
"Hmph, Boss Azure Dragon, stop putting on airs. I'm no greenhorn who's just set out in the jianghu. Your tricks won't fool me." Everyone present was a peerless warlord, a figure who ruled over a domain. Though they feared Boss Azure Dragon's mystery, someone still dared to challenge him. "Boss Azure Dragon, what is this great undertaking of yours? Get to the point. My gang has important business to attend to."
Boss Azure Dragon glanced sidelong at the speaker and smiled. His laugh rang out through the pitch-black room, loud and resonant, as though it held some mysterious power.
The man who had just spoken immediately screamed. Blood seeped from his eyes, nostrils, ears, and mouth all at once. He collapsed with a look of terror, his eyes still wide open and fixed on Boss Azure Dragon.
"This..."
Jade Rakshasa and the others tensed, staring in shock at the dead man. He had been a top underworld expert from Liaodong, a figure who had dominated his region. His Nine Rakshasa Chain Death Severing Saber had reached the pinnacle of mastery, yet he had fallen here without even getting the chance to draw his blade.
Everyone who had come here was among the world's foremost experts. And yet not one of them had seen how the man had died. Boss Azure Dragon's martial arts were as mysterious as his identity.
Even He Heng was deeply wary of Boss Azure Dragon. He might have been one of the few people present who understood how Boss Azure Dragon had killed the man. And because he understood, he was all the more wary.
They said that ignorance was bliss. The more a person knew, the more they feared.
Boss Azure Dragon had just killed the man with a form of sonic martial arts. He had infused his true qi into his voice and killed through laughter, without leaving a trace. In an instant, it had invaded the man's head and reduced his brain to mush. How could anyone survive that?
Killing with sound was nothing unusual. The world was full of arts like that, such as Shaolin's Lion's Roar and the Daoist Sect's Tiger and Leopard Thunder Sound. Every major school had passed down techniques of this kind, and everyone present knew at least one.
But none of them could do what Boss Azure Dragon had just done: laugh twice, leave everyone else completely unharmed, and shatter a man's brain. The victim had been no ordinary person, but a notorious Underworld Boss and one of the world's top experts.
Generally speaking, sound-based martial arts had a huge range and were impossible to control, striking friend and foe alike. Yet Boss Azure Dragon had controlled the sound waves and crushed a single person in an instant. That degree of control was unfathomable.
The martial path had three realms: technique, art, and Dao. The realm of technique was divided into nine grades, and the mark of the Third Grade was entering the subtlest level of control. It meant reaching the peak of mastery over one's own body.
But although fine control was easy to achieve, and mastering one's flesh, blood, and true qi was not difficult, controlling even the sounds one produced as perfectly as Boss Azure Dragon had was almost beyond belief.
At once, whether or not they understood how Boss Azure Dragon had killed the man, everyone fell silent. No one even went to collect the body. They sat quietly, eyes lowered, turning their gaze inward.
Boss Azure Dragon seemed quite pleased with everyone's reaction. His show of killing one to warn the others had worked. No one would interrupt him now.
So Boss Azure Dragon continued, "I invited you here today to discuss a great undertaking, and to accomplish our greatest goal."
"Our shared goal?" someone asked in puzzlement.
Boss Azure Dragon looked at him and smiled. "To pacify the world, unify the Jianghu, sweep across the land, and bring all under Heaven into one."
His words seemed to carry a kind of magic, making everyone's blood surge. Yet all those present jolted at once, because Boss Azure Dragon's ambition was simply too grand.
Boss Azure Dragon's words revealed that he intended to sweep away everything—not only to unify the Jianghu, but to seize the entire realm.
"Boss Azure Dragon, are you asking us to rebel?" someone asked indignantly. Though Boss Azure Dragon had just demonstrated his fearsome power, no one believed him. What he proposed was simply impossible.
In a low-martial world like this, no matter how far one's martial arts reached, they could never stand against armies numbering in the tens of thousands. Even if Boss Azure Dragon were stronger than anyone else, he could at most match a thousand or ten thousand soldiers. Against tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even a million, he would inevitably meet his end.
Unless one reached the Dao Embryo Realm and entered the realm of the Transcendent Saint, no one in this world could stand against the power of a dynasty.
So when Boss Azure Dragon spoke of rebellion, no one thought he had a chance. Even the peerless warlords gathered here had no ambition greater than unifying the Jianghu.
"Boss Azure Dragon, you must be joking. That's not the sort of joke you can make lightly." Aside from a handful of people, everyone else was indignant and utterly disbelieving.
Boss Azure Dragon seemed to have anticipated this reaction. He merely watched them coldly without a word. Only after everyone had finished arguing did he speak again.
Before you continue