The Mastermind (Part 1)

A remote mountain god temple, The temple doors had half-collapsed, thick with cobwebs. A headless idol lay crooked in a corner, while the incense table had long since rotted beyond recognition.

Within the dim temple, only a few bleak strands of moonlight leaking through the broken roof illuminated the trembling figure on the ground.

Ji Yunlai knelt on the icy floor, both hands holding a storage pouch high above his head. His whole body shook like a fallen leaf in the wind.

Before him stood a figure in a voluminous black robe and a savage bronze ghost mask, hands clasped behind his back. An icy, sinister aura radiated from him, and he bore himself with lofty arrogance.

"Not bad." The bronze-masked man's voice was hoarse and grating, like two rough stones scraping together. "Handing over the supplies from the He Family's secret treasury counts as a great merit."

At those words, Ji Yunlai lowered his head even further, pressing his forehead hard against the ground. His voice quavered with tears and utter terror as he kowtowed repeatedly. "This lowly one dares not ask for merit. I only beg that Your Excellency show mercy and spare my life—take back that Soul-Devouring Gu! This lowly one is willing to serve Your Excellency as an ox or a horse for all eternity!"

The masked envoy did not answer. He merely let out a spine-chilling, cackling laugh before casually taking the storage pouch Ji Yunlai had offered.

Hm?

The masked envoy paused, then said darkly, "This isn't right, is it?"

"The He Family has plundered heavily along the Silver Sand River these past years, and they even swallowed up the Xu Clan of Long Sun Mountain."

"How can there be only fifteen hundred mid-grade spirit stones and some twenty magical artifacts?"

The moment his words fell, an invisible pressure burst forth, crushing Ji Yunlai until he could scarcely breathe.

"Speak!"

"Did you embezzle the rest?"

"Where did you hide the remaining supplies?!"

The masked envoy stepped forward, his bronze mask appearing especially horrifying beneath the moonlight.

Ji Yunlai's body gave a violent shudder, but he merely bowed and kowtowed again, repeating over and over, "I beg Your Excellency to spare my life."

"I beg Your Excellency to spare my life."

"Good! Good! Good!"

The man in the bronze ghost mask said "good" three times in a row. With each word, the aura around him surged another degree.

"You ungrateful wretch who refuses wine only to drink punishment!"

"You dare play tricks with this envoy? You're courting death!"

Before his words had faded, he abruptly swept a hand.

Whoosh!

A streak of green light shot from his sleeve, transforming into a green rope studded with barbs. Nimble as a serpent, it instantly bound Ji Yunlai tight.

"Soul-Devouring Gu, arise!"

The masked envoy formed a hand seal, a savage grin issuing from his lips.

Aah!

Ji Yunlai immediately let out a shrill, miserable scream, as though his soul were being forcibly peeled from his flesh.

His eyes rolled white, blood streamed from his seven orifices, and he collapsed to the ground, rolling back and forth. He tried to break free of the green rope, but its barbs pierced deeper into his body, making his misery all the worse.

With every fraction the rope tightened, another fraction of his spiritual power and life force was drained away, while the agony bored deep into his bones.

"You dared to hide supplies? You truly are courting death!" The masked envoy looked down at him from above and sneered. "Speak! Where did the rest of the supplies go?"

"If you don't tell me, I'll make you unable to live, unable to die—"

Before the masked envoy could finish, his divine sense suddenly detected something.

"Who's there?!"

With a sharp shout, he turned toward the outside of the temple.

The next instant, A water-blue streak flashed past the temple entrance like lightning.

"Go!"

A voice accompanied by a tremor of spiritual power came rolling in, pressing from all directions like surging tides and instantly filling the entire ruined mountain god temple.

The voice carried immense pressure, making the masked envoy's entire body stiffen, as though he had sunk into a swamp.

The Ghost-Masked Envoy's expression changed drastically in an instant. He said in disbelief:

"A Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivator?

How is that possible?!"

Before he could finish speaking, a streak of azure light shot into the hall. It was an azure canopy umbrella.

The umbrella hovered above the Ghost-Masked Envoy's head, its canopy slowly turning as it cast down thin streams of water, enveloping him like a cage.

Alarm bells instantly rang in the Ghost-Masked Envoy's heart. He instinctively tried to shift his position and evade the water streams, but under the pressure of a Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivator, his movements had become much slower.

More crucially, countless tiny droplets silently shot from the falling streams and clung to his protective spiritual radiance, deepening his sensation of being trapped in a swamp.

"What the hell is this?!"

The Ghost-Masked Envoy was horrified. He immediately bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of essence blood.

In an instant, his divine sense surged, freeing him at once from the powerful pressure.

His body flickered repeatedly as he tried to escape the canopy umbrella above and the countless droplets clinging to his protective spiritual radiance. Yet those droplets were like maggots clinging to bone—impossible to shake off—and they only grew more numerous.

"Begone!"

The Ghost-Masked Envoy roared and brought out an earth-yellow banner.

The banner instantly enveloped him, casting down dense earth-yellow spiritual radiance that protected him tightly and sealed off the countless droplets.

"Thank goodness..."

Seeing that the Yellow Spirit Banner was effective and could protect him, the Ghost-Masked Envoy let out a long breath before preparing to flee.

After all, he was only a Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivator. No matter how arrogant he was, he would not dare confront a Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivator head-on.

Yet before he could escape the Mountain God Temple, countless droplets crawled across the banner's surface, even seeping through the gaps in the earth-yellow spiritual radiance.

"Break!"

A cold shout came from the temple entrance.

Before the voice faded, the canopy umbrella overhead suddenly stilled, and the streams of water pouring down from it vanished in an instant.

Immediately after, the countless droplets attached to the banner and the earth-yellow spiritual radiance seemed to be drawn by some invisible force. In an instant, they fused together into an enormous bubble of water, trapping the Ghost-Masked Envoy along with the banner he had brought out.

"What kind of technique is this?"

Warnings blared wildly in the Ghost-Masked Envoy's heart. He had never seen such an eerie water-manipulation art, and hurriedly threw out a precious second-tier high-grade defensive talisman.

The talisman became a streak of golden light, attempting to reinforce the earth-yellow spiritual radiance.

However, at that very moment, a sudden change occurred!

The enormous water bubble abruptly collapsed inward, then exploded with a thunderous burst...

There was no ear-splitting boom—only an ultimate power that crushed everything as it erupted.

The seemingly sturdy earth-yellow spiritual radiance collapsed instantly like paper, while the banner was sent flying by that overwhelming force, its spiritual glow immediately dimming.

Pfft!

After breaking through the banner and talisman's dual defenses in succession, the remaining power became a powerful shockwave and slammed directly into the Ghost-Masked Envoy.

He had no time to react at all. His body flew backward like a kite with a snapped string, crashing heavily into the base of the headless statue.

Pfft!

The Ghost-Masked Envoy opened his mouth and spat out a large mouthful of blood, his eyes filled with terror as he muttered:

"Th-this power is actually comparable to a talisman treasure!"

The Ghost-Masked Envoy felt as if his internal organs had been displaced, while the metallic sweetness in his throat kept surging up. Before he could react, the azure canopy umbrella once more cast down thread after thread of water streams above his head.

This time, the streams contained more than mere water vapor. They carried a kind of "force" that made his soul tremble.

The water streams became a net, instantly trapping every limb and bone in his body, leaving him unable to move.

Immediately after, countless crystalline droplets gathered toward him once more.

The Ghost-Masked Envoy was utterly terrified and cried out repeatedly:

"Please spare my life, Senior!

I am a steward of the Celestial Sea Commerce Association. You cannot kill me, Senior!"