The voice outside the door fell silent.
The air in the room sank with it.
Lu Ming was still kneeling on the ground, his face as pale as paper.
The other Deacon covered his nose. Blood trickled between his fingers, and he didn't even dare breathe too loudly.
Xiao Wu stood on his shoulder and glanced back at Su Chen.
"That old geezer sure picked his moment."
Su Chen didn't answer right away.
His gaze swept across the hidden compartment.
It was empty.
The most crucial document had already been taken.
Han Su's timing was too perfect to be a coincidence. He'd been waiting.
Waiting for them to barge in.
Waiting for them to see these two.
Then he could pin the blame on them.
Outside the door, Han Su's voice rang out again.
"Your Highness the Holy Son, if anyone inside is hurt, this could be difficult to resolve."
Xiao Wu laughed.
"He sure knows how to put on an act."
"Even though they're his own men."
At her words, Lu Ming's Adam's apple bobbed violently.
Su Chen looked down at him.
"Do you want to live, or die for him?"
Lu Ming's lips trembled, and drops of sweat fell from his forehead.
He wanted to speak.
But the threat pressing in from outside was too heavy.
Han Su was blocking the way out right now.
If Lu Ming said even half a word wrong, he wouldn't make it out of the Suotuo Branch Hall alive tonight.
Su Chen watched him for two seconds, then suddenly smiled.
"Not talking?"
Lu Ming lowered his head even further.
"I... I don't know anything."
"Fine."
Su Chen raised a hand and hauled him straight off the ground.
Lu Ming was utterly dumbfounded, his feet dangling in the air like a chicken held by the neck.
Xiao Wu's eyes lit up.
"That's a pretty good pose."
"Carrying him out like that will look especially impressive."
Su Chen turned his head toward her.
"You carry the other one."
Xiao Wu immediately grinned.
"Sure."
She hooked her foot around the Deacon who was bleeding from the nose and kicked him over, then grabbed him by the collar and dragged him upright.
The Deacon sucked in sharp breaths from the pain, his legs gone weak.
"D-don't hit me anymore..."
"We've barely even started."
Xiao Wu held him like a sack, giving him a casual bounce.
"You're a lot lighter than Zhou Ling."
The Deacon's face turned green.
Su Chen carried Lu Ming toward the door. When he reached it, he stopped.
He didn't hurry to open it.
Instead, he glanced down at the scattered account books and wooden crates.
Then he lifted his foot and gave the overturned crate a light kick.
Bang.
The crate flipped over.
A layer of false bottom was exposed inside.
It hadn't been fastened shut. The kick had jolted it open a crack.
Xiao Wu spotted it at once.
"There's a hidden compartment?"
Su Chen gave a quiet hum.
"He packed in too much of a hurry. He didn't press it flat."
Freeing one hand, Xiao Wu flipped the false bottom open.
Inside weren't any account books.
There was a tiny Black Seal and two blank transfer orders, each already bearing half a stamp.
If Shen Zhi had been here, his face would have changed on the spot.
This wasn't about stealing accounts.
It was about forging external transfer orders.
Xiao Wu could tell something was fishy too.
"Well, this just got interesting."
"So Han Su wasn't only trying to steal the accounts."
Su Chen looked at the Black Seal, a trace of coldness finally entering his eyes.
"He's got quite an appetite."
Outside, Han Su sounded as if he were getting impatient.
"Your Highness the Holy Son."
"If you don't come out soon, I'll have my men go in."
"Go ahead."
Su Chen finally spoke.
"I was just wondering how you planned to put on this act."
The words had barely left his mouth.
He kicked.
The door flew open.
Bang! It slammed into the wall.
The people outside clearly hadn't expected it to open like that. The two guards at the front instinctively took half a step back.
Han Su stood in the middle, his gray-and-gold robe perfectly neat, the hint of a fake smile still on his face.
But the next moment, his smile faltered.
Because Su Chen was carrying Lu Ming.
Xiao Wu was carrying the other Deacon.
Both men looked as miserable as dead dogs.
And in Xiao Wu's other hand, she held the Black Seal.
Han Su's eyes narrowed slightly.
It was only for a moment.
But Su Chen saw it clearly.
As expected.
He recognized it.
The scene went quiet for a breath.
Han Su spoke first.
"Your Highness the Holy Son, you trespassed into the branch hall's restricted internal affairs area and took the chief accountant and a branch hall Deacon hostage. Don't you owe us an explanation?"
Xiao Wu almost laughed out loud.
"You're pretty practiced at turning the tables on people."
Han Su ignored her and kept his eyes fixed on Su Chen.
"No matter what you think of the Suotuo Branch Hall, outsiders have no right to barge into the Secret Treasury Rear Warehouse."
"Outsiders?"
Su Chen tossed Lu Ming forward.
Thud!
Lu Ming's knees hit the ground, and he cried out in pain.
Su Chen calmly straightened his sleeve.
"Someone carrying the Pope Token Deputy Plate, whom you invited into the Banquet Hall—is that an outsider?"
"Then the way the Suotuo Branch Hall treats its guests is certainly unusual."
Several guards by the side exchanged uneasy glances.
Han Su's expression didn't change.
"Even so, you trespassed—"
"Save it."
Xiao Wu tossed the Deacon she was holding forward too.
"You rushed over this fast because you were waiting to pin the blame on us, weren't you?"
"Too bad you couldn't. Instead, we caught two little rats."
Han Su's eyes turned cold.
"Little girl, watch what you say. You need evidence."
"Evidence?"
Xiao Wu raised the Black Seal.
"Take a look. What's this?"
Han Su's pupils tightened slightly, but he quickly suppressed his reaction.
"It's a seal. What does that prove?"
"It proves the Suotuo Branch Hall knows how to have fun."
Su Chen took the Black Seal and rolled it between his fingers.
"Forging transfer orders, tampering with accounts, meddling with the External Transfer Registry."
"Vice Hall Master Han."
"Are you emptying out the branch hall, or paving the way for someone?"
As soon as the words fell.
The atmosphere in the corridor went taut.
The faces of the Deacons behind Han Su all changed.
Even the two guards unconsciously tightened their grips on their swords.
Han Su stared at Su Chen, the disguise in his eyes finally beginning to crack.
"Your Highness the Holy Son, you can't make wild accusations."
"Wild accusations?"
Su Chen stepped forward and pinned Lu Ming's back beneath his foot.
Lu Ming groaned, his whole face nearly pressed against the floor.
"Then let him speak."
Han Su's gaze instantly fell on Lu Ming.
It was no longer a warning.
It was a death sentence.
Lu Ming trembled all over, his teeth chattering.
Xiao Wu grew impatient. She crouched down, grabbed a fistful of his hair, and lifted his head.
"What are you looking at?"
"Look at me."
"If you don't talk today, you're dead either way."
"If you do, you might still have a chance to live."
Lu Ming's eyes were almost brimming with tears.
"I... I..."
He had just begun to speak.
A very light footstep suddenly sounded from the other end of the corridor.
Unhurried.
Not a mess.
The moon-white dress brushed the floor, and the silver keys at her waist chimed softly against one another.
Xu Tinglan had arrived.
She hadn't come alone.
Two female Deacons in dark-patterned robes from the Internal Affairs Department followed behind her.
As she approached, she didn't even glance at Han Su. She first handed Su Chen a thin ledger.
"The things you'd have missed if you'd arrived half a step later are with me."
Han Su's expression finally changed.
"Xu Tinglan!"
"What are you shouting for?"
Xu Tinglan turned to look at him, her voice still soft.
"Afraid I'll expose the accounts of the funds you diverted from the branch hall over the past three months, the transit seals you forged, and the passes you issued to clear the way for the Black Market?"
Han Su's hand clenched abruptly beneath his sleeve.
"You're asking for death."
At those words, every guard in the corridor felt their scalp tighten.
Xiao Wu couldn't help laughing.
"That's it."
"He's getting nervous."
"He's really nervous."
Su Chen opened the ledger and scanned two pages. His gaze grew cold and heavy.
The accounts were meticulous.
Names, sums, seals, and transfers.
Even the traces of every alteration Lu Ming had made after handling them.
This wasn't suspicion.
It was irrefutable proof.
Su Chen closed the ledger and looked up at Han Su.
"Anything you'd like to say?"
Han Su stared at the ledger. The flesh on his face twitched slightly.
Then, incredibly, he smiled.
A sinister smile.
And a cold one.
"Your Highness the Holy Son, do you really think getting your hands on a ledger means you can do anything to me?"
"This is Suotuo City."
"Not Spirit City."
"Tonight, in this corridor, I decide what people saw and what they didn't."
Xiao Wu's eyes lit up.
"Oh?"
"Finally dropped the act?"
Han Su ignored her.
He slowly raised his hand.
The guards behind him all stepped forward together.
The corridor was narrow to begin with. Now their blades were almost pressing into the light.
The two female Deacons behind Xu Tinglan went pale.
But Xu Tinglan didn't retreat.
She simply unclasped the silver keys at her waist and held them out to Su Chen.
"Secret Vault Master Key."
"If you really turn against them tonight, you'll need it."
Su Chen took the keys. His fingertip brushed the cold silver edge, and he smiled.
"Good."
Xiao Wu rolled up her sleeves and moved closer to Su Chen.
"Want to fight?"
"Then I'll pick one to throw first."
Han Su stared at them, his voice turning completely cold.
"Take them down."
The moment those words fell, the two guards at the front charged.
Su Chen moved.
He didn't summon his Martial Soul.
He didn't reveal a Soul Ring.
He simply stepped forward.
Bam.
The corridor floor shuddered with him.
The guard leading the charge felt as if he'd slammed into a wall. Before he could even raise his blade, the force sent him flying backward, knocking over two men behind him.
Xiao Wu was even more direct.
She'd been holding back for long enough.
Her figure flashed, and she was already inside the reach of the guard on the right.
A lowered shoulder, a twist of the waist, a leg sweep.
The movements were so fast they seemed rehearsed in advance.
The man had just raised his blade when his vision flipped.
With a crash, she hurled him from one end of the corridor to the other. His back slammed into the wall, and his face turned deathly pale.
"Next!"
Xiao Wu's eyes shone. The more she fought, the more fired up she got.
At that moment, she really did have the makings of the number-one female partner at the side of a male lead from a power fantasy.
Fierce—and still running her mouth.
Han Su's face darkened completely.
He hadn't expected Su Chen to dare attack right inside the branch hall.
Even less had he expected Xiao Wu, who'd just finished a fight, to still be this formidable.
Su Chen had already stepped forward, closing in.
The corridor wasn't long.
But as he walked toward Han Su, he pressed the air from everyone's lungs.
"Han Su."
"You were right about one thing."
"This is Suotuo City."
"So tonight, I'll settle this matter right here in Suotuo City, in full view of everyone."
Han Su finally moved.
His sleeve snapped, and Soul Power burst out. The hem of his gray-gold robe billowed with it.
"You're asking for death!"
As he moved, his soul pressure spread at once.
At least five Rings.
Xiao Wu's expression changed.
She couldn't withstand a frontal assault of that level just yet.
But before she could step in front of him, Su Chen had already raised a hand and drawn her behind him.
The movement wasn't forceful.
But it was steady.
Xiao Wu's back bumped against his arm, and her heart gave a hard thump.
"You—"
"Stay behind me."
Su Chen's voice was quiet.
Xiao Wu bit her lip, but in the end, she didn't try to prove herself.
Han Su had already attacked.
He flipped his right palm and struck straight toward Su Chen's chest.
His palm wind was icy. He clearly wasn't holding back.
Su Chen looked at that hand and said only two words.
"You're unworthy."
The next instant—
A flash of golden light.
The Judgment Holy Sword left its sheath.
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