Volume One: Days in the Shantytown - Assassination (Part Two)

Pei Sefei stared in surprise. "You really gave him two billion?" Luo Qian nodded, and he did not look as though he was joking. She gazed at him in shock, stammering, "You... you..." Even the richest man in the world would not spend three hundred million dollars on a woman just to vent his anger, would he?

Luo Qian spread his hands. "You're one of mine. If he dares mess with my people, he must be tired of living." His voice rang with pride. As an Immortal, he was fully entitled to say it. But Pei Sefei had clearly misunderstood him. She had missed the difference between "one of mine" and "my woman."

Tears glistened in the young woman's eyes, as though her heart were brimming with emotion. "Luo Qian!" Unable to hold back any longer, Pei Sefei threw herself into his arms. She closed her eyes and shut out the noisy crowds and bustling city, giving herself over to this hard-won love—or so she believed.

To Pei Sefei, Luo Qian's actions had proved that he had no ulterior motive. How could someone who could casually produce three hundred million dollars be after something from her?

Luo Qian was mortified. I'm an Immortal, but I haven't cultivated the Immortal Skin Art. My skin is still thin!

The gazes around them were more piercing than camera flashes: envious, jealous, reproachful, mocking... They flickered over him from every side. People surged like the tide, and so did their stares. Luo Qian could barely bear it.

"Ahem. I know you feel guilty, but you don't have to show it like this." Luo Qian stood there looking foolish, though a suspicion was beginning to stir in his mind. No way. Has this girl fallen for me? He knew he could never become involved with a young woman from the lower realm. That would be dangerous!

"Grandpa!" Pei Sefei suddenly spotted someone standing behind Luo Qian. It was her grandfather. She hurriedly let go of Luo Qian and stood properly to one side. "Uncle Xiao Liu, you're here too." Xiao Liu stood behind the old man. He spread his hands, pointed to her grandfather, then to himself, and waved them. He meant that this had nothing to do with him.

Her grandfather chuckled. "Sefei, is this Luo Qian?" The old man's eyes swept over him like a scanner. Luo Qian felt distinctly uncomfortable. Why is the atmosphere so strange?

Her grandfather seemed quite pleased with Luo Qian and kept nodding. "Good. Don't stand around here. Let's go home and talk."

Go home? Luo Qian reeled. Surely not...

A black Audi pulled up beside them. The driver sprang out and opened the door for the old man. Pei Sefei tugged Luo Qian along by the arm, and he numbly prepared for what looked to be his first meeting with a future father-in-law.

With a light crack, the car window beside her grandfather shattered. Xiao Liu's expression changed. He pulled a small pistol from inside his jacket, placed himself in front of the old man, and scanned the surroundings. The driver was no slouch either. He swiftly shielded most of the possible angles of fire with his body and ushered the old man into the car. The car looked unremarkable, but it was bulletproof. The shot had shattered its window without penetrating it.

Pei Sefei went deathly pale. Luo Qian's ears twitched: he had already sensed a bullet whistling toward her. The assassin, having failed to kill her grandfather, had apparently switched targets. Luo Qian's hand moved, then stopped. He could have caught the bullet, but how would he explain that afterward to Pei Sefei and her grandfather—let alone Xiao Liu, who looked rather like someone from a secret government department?

Luo Qian abandoned the idea of catching it. He stepped across Pei Sefei's path and spread his arms in front of her. "Ah!" Pei Sefei screamed. She clearly saw the bullet strike Luo Qian in the chest, its tremendous impact blasting the fabric over it to shreds!

A large-caliber sniper round could kill through sheer impact without even hitting a vital spot. But against his resilient Immortal body, a blow of this magnitude was like a mosquito bite. It could not even pierce his skin. The badly deformed slug slid down his chest. Luo Qian caught it without betraying a thing, pushed Pei Sefei into the car, and shouted, "Go!"

He shut the door, and the car roared away, drawing a chorus of curses from startled passersby. Luo Qian had already pinpointed the assassin's position. Rolling the slug in his hand, he strolled toward it. He had locked onto the assassin's presence and knew the man was hastily leaving his firing position. His panicked footsteps pounded down the fire stairs; Luo Qian could almost hear his breathing, just as hurried as his steps.

The assassin had a car waiting downstairs. He tossed his rifle case onto the back seat, hurriedly started the engine, and pressed the accelerator. Vroom...

The car did not move an inch!

The assassin froze. What was going on? He was a cautious man. All assassins were cautious, but he took it further than most. Before every job, he planned his escape route to ensure he could get away safely. Assassins dealt in death, so they knew better than anyone how to stay clear of it. Before every operation, he checked his vehicle three times to make sure nothing would go wrong en route.

The car could not be broken. He stepped on the accelerator again. The engine gave a muffled roar. He could even feel the tires scraping against the road, yet the car still would not budge.

Cold sweat covered the assassin's forehead. He pressed the accelerator again and again, sweat dripping onto the steering wheel until it was damp.

Then he caught sight of something uncanny in the rearview mirror. His limbs went limp, and he stopped pressing the accelerator altogether: Luo Qian had one hand on the back of his car and was waving at him with the other!

Wasn't that man dead? The assassin was certain his bullet had struck a vital spot. Even if the kid had nine lives like a cat, he should have been on his way to the hospital. How could he be standing behind the car, alive and kicking—and with such monstrous strength? A phrase flashed through the assassin's mind: a ghost leading me in circles!

The assassin had killed more people than he could count, but fear drained all the strength from his body. He slumped in his seat, unable to move.

Luo Qian cast the Immobility Spell to hold the car in place, then walked slowly up to the driver's side. He tore open his shirt, revealing crimson blood, mangled organs, torn muscle... Handful by handful, he pulled his entrails out, making a strange "heh, heh" sound as he did. A chill wind whirled around the car. The assassin's eyes widened. A few clicks came from his throat; then his eyes bulged, his body stiffened, and he went still.

Luo Qian paused. He did not need to check the man's pulse to know he was dead. "Seriously? One little Illusion Spell scared you to death?!" The blood on Luo Qian's hands vanished, as did the mangled organs. His clothes were intact too, apart from the hole the bullet had made in his chest.

He shook his head and said with "deep regret," "If I'd known you were so timid, I wouldn't have played that joke on you..." He opened the car door. A long, narrow silver case lay on the back seat. Luo Qian took it out and opened it to find a disassembled sniper rifle.

Luo Qian left with the case. Consider it my fee for all the effort I put into performing that Illusion Spell. You won't need it anymore anyway, old friend.

This trip had kept him in the Lower Realm for seven days, the longest stretch in his smuggling career.

The Immortal Realm's mountains were naturally no ordinary peaks. The bustling districts of Ningyao Mountain were full of shops, but they counted only as its outskirts. The places where immortal energy gathered and divine wonders took shape lay deep within its main range. There, graceful ridges rose amid astonishing sights found only in the Immortal Realm. Cultivation in such a place took half the effort for twice the result, carrying one forward a thousand miles a day!

Such places would never be sold to merchants of the Immortal Realm. Those with the means to buy them invariably had considerable connections.

The gates of Distant Hall stood on Cloud-Rising Peak, Ningyao Mountain's highest summit. The peak rose thousands of fathoms, its crest piercing the clouds into another realm of its own. Around it floated five inverted-peak islands, arranged in a five-pointed star. In time with the sun and moon, they slowly revolved around the main peak.

This Five-Star Shield was one of Ningyao Mountain's great wonders.

On Ningyao Mountain's western slope stood a strange pair of adjoining peaks. One rose upright; the other jutted horizontally into empty air. Nature's uncanny craftsmanship had shaped the upright peak into a bell, while the smaller peak projecting through the mountainside mist resembled a striker. Every day, this peculiar "twin-peaked bell" rang exactly eighty-one times. Its distant, lingering sound was enough to leave anyone entranced.

This was Ningyao Mountain's other great wonder, Twin Peaks Striking the Bell, as famed as the Five-Star Shield around the main summit. Inside the "bell striker" was a stone cavern. It had once been a place for disciples of Distant Hall to cultivate in seclusion, but Du Zhongping had lent it to the Zuo Household as a temporary refuge.

After this calamity, the Zuo Household's numbers had fallen sharply. Including Zuo Lingchuan, the entire Lineage now numbered little more than two hundred, scattered sparsely across the peak. Conditions here could not compare with Zuo Family Manor, but they were far better than wandering the Immortal Realm.

While settling his people, Zuo Lingchuan also brought out the savings the Lineage had amassed over centuries and searched everywhere for a new home. Living under another's roof was no long-term solution. Every matter concerning the Lineage rested on his shoulders. The Zuo Household's Third Uncle, who had once kept clear of worldly affairs, was now so busy his heels nearly struck the back of his head.

Today, however, Zuo Lingchuan was leisurely strolling atop the "bell striker" with a visitor. Many strangers had come to the valley. They appeared to be standing about at random, but they had the area around the bell striker guarded tight.

Zheng Daoguang was no longer the man he had once been. Seeing Zheng Daoguang arrive to negotiate on behalf of the entire Imperial Constabulary, Zuo Lingchuan could already tell that Lord Zheng had risen through the ranks at a single bound.