Reasonable, Right?

Eunuch Huang's gaze darkened, and he lightly clapped his hands.

The next moment, several martial eunuchs vaulted over the tiles and dropped into the hall, kneeling before him.

"Search the area within a hundred zhang of Purple Pavilion Manor at once. Seize anyone whose movements are suspicious!"

The eunuchs accepted the order and were about to move when a soft click of the tongue suddenly sounded.

Su Qingyang had finally had enough. His gaze swept across the hall as he said softly,

"While you're so focused on searching outside, have none of you heard of darkness beneath the lamp?"

Eunuch Huang raised a hand to halt the eunuchs, looking puzzled. "What does the young master mean? This old servant has failed to grasp the deeper meaning."

Su Qingyang gave the crazed young eunuch a faint glance and said evenly,

"Don't you find it too much of a coincidence? You had just dragged this man out for questioning, and neither early nor late, the Demon Seed erupted at this exact moment, sending him into a frenzy to commit murder."

"So!"

Lan Kaishan and Zhu Xiu instantly became alert. Their eyes swiftly swept over everyone in the hall. "The demon may not be hiding outside the manor. He may be mixed in among us!"

Everyone in the hall tensed, looking around from side to side as they guarded against the figures nearby.

"With killing intent this heavy, can't you see it yet?"

Su Qingyang's gaze shifted toward a young man opposite him, and his mildly surprised voice slowly rang out.

Everyone's eyes fell upon the young man in scholarly robes.

(O_o)??

"Me?" The scholarly-robed youth looked utterly incredulous, raising a finger to point at himself.

"Not you." Su Qingyang shook his head slightly and pointed behind the scholarly-robed youth, several feet away.

"Him."

In an instant, everyone turned to look in the direction of Su Qingyang's finger.

There, only a few feet behind the scholarly-robed youth, stood a spear-bearing guard clad in black armor.

He stood in the shadow cast by the drapes, his head lowered so that no one could make out his true features.

Lan Kaishan's eyes narrowed. Only now did he catch the faint, intermittent vicious aura on the armored guard, and he turned to glance at Su Qingyang in silent shock.

He was a Peak Acquired Realm martial artist, yet this young man, whose inner force could not even be discerned, had discovered the danger before him.

This man was absolutely not as simple as he appeared on the surface.

But this was not the time to investigate such matters. He merely filed it away in his mind.

"You! Step forward and answer!"

Lan Kaishan's voice rumbled like thunder as he stared at the armored guard with blade-sharp eyes. His entire bearing changed, exuding a suffocating chill.

The young men around him also retreated one after another, their faces wary as they kept their guard up against him.

The armored guard standing in the drapes' shadow did not move.

The air fell silent for several beats, and the entire hall became so quiet that a needle dropping could be heard.

Lan Kaishan's gaze gradually turned dangerous. An icy aura radiated from his entire body as he prepared to stride forward and seize the man.

The armored guard finally let out a faint sigh.

For a moment, that long sigh echoed through the hall. At the same time, the armored guard slowly raised his head at last, revealing a handsome yet corpse-pale face.

"How did you discover me?"

Yan Shengheng's voice was utterly flat as he looked at Su Qingyang, a seemingly helpless smile curling at the corner of his lips.

Eunuch Huang's aged face revealed nothing, but he silently moved to shield Su Qingyang behind him.

"If you want to be an assassin, hide your killing intent properly."

Su Qingyang tilted his head and smiled faintly. "I grew up alone and helpless, so it's reasonable that I'm a little more sensitive to killing intent, right?"

Reasonable?

Even Lan Kaishan froze, disbelief filling his eyes. Even now, he had not sensed any killing intent from Yan Shengheng.

Yet he had been exposed because an ordinary person was sensitive to killing intent!

Though Eunuch Huang was equally shocked, a trace of heartache flickered imperceptibly in his old eyes.

Su Qingyang's expression remained unchanged, looking utterly sincere.

Of course, it was a lie!

As a Blood Refining Grandmaster, he could distinguish every person's vital aura. The moment he entered this hall, he had noticed this man. He had simply been too obvious.

It was like a great gray wolf abruptly mixed into a pack of rabbits.

"So I was exposed for such a reason? That is truly... inconceivable!!"

Yan Shengheng said helplessly.

The next moment, a terrifying aura erupted from his body. In an instant, he was like a ferocious beast released from its cage, his entire body overflowing with incomparably dreadful baleful aura.

"But since things have come to this, I suppose I'll have to trouble myself to send you all to hell!"

He looked at Su Qingyang with a savage grin and strode directly toward him. The entire hall trembled faintly with his footsteps, as if it could collapse at any moment.

"Bold!"

Zhu Xiu and several highly skilled eunuchs turned cold-eyed and attacked like thunder without hesitation.

Zhu Xiu seemed to have activated some secret art. A bluish-black hue spread across his skin, his veins bulging and writhing like roaming dragons, while the muscles in his legs abruptly tightened.

He shot toward Yan Shengheng like a cannonball.

The sound of wind and thunder exploded as a fierce gale swept through, connecting the inner hall to the outside!

The moment they attacked, they used their full strength, even joining forces to besiege him. The aura Yan Shengheng had revealed made them feel threatened.

Yet in the face of their combined assault, Yan Shengheng remained unmoved. From beginning to end, he simply stood where he was, with no intention of fleeing.

A mocking expression appeared on that corpse-pale face.

Boom!

Extremely frigid inner force erupted from Yan Shengheng's body. Like a thousand-year-old zombie, he thrust out his right hand, forming a pitch-black claw imprint.

Bang!

The entire hall seemed to shake.

Yan Shengheng vanished from where he stood, leaving behind only a deep trench. When he reappeared, his claw imprint had already struck out, meeting everyone head-on.

A powerful shockwave exploded as inner forces collided, shattering a wide swath of doors and windows around them.

Several muffled grunts rang out at once. Zhu Xiu and the senior eunuchs immediately vomited blood and were sent flying, deep claw marks appearing on every one of their chests, seemingly piercing into their lungs and entrails.

"Is that all you've got? Too weak!"

Yan Shengheng tore through the smoke and dust and strode forward. His demonic eyes looked down on Su Qingyang, their contempt utterly undisguised.

He raised the long spear in his hand.

He casually weighed it once, then gave Su Qingyang a sinister smile before hurling it with a thunderous force.

"In your next life, don't be so fond of sticking your nose in!"

The long spear became a dragon. Its snow-bright spearhead tore through the air, turning into a dazzling streak of cold light as it shot like lightning toward Su Qingyang's heart.

Su Qingyang remained calm as he watched the incoming spear. He did not dodge, merely narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Presumptuous!"

Lan Kaishan moved. He strode forward, nearly crossing the distance as though shrinking the earth, and struck out with his palm. Terrifying cold surged forth and directly shattered the long spear.