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When everyone heard this, their faces twitched violently. The three Dou Zun experts from Qingyun Manor were also speechless for quite a while.
Merciful? He actually dared to say that? Five hundred thousand Spirit Coins? Each of them would be fortunate to have over a hundred thousand, and even that would have taken years to accumulate. Yet this fellow had asked for five hundred thousand the moment he opened his mouth. What did he take Spirit Coins for?
The three exchanged glances, brows tightly furrowed as their thoughts raced, but in the end, they still had no solution.
After hesitating for a long while, the Six-star Dou Zun could only force himself to muster his courage and address the mysterious senior:
"Senior, the three of us truly lack the means to produce that many Spirit Coins. Even combined, we have only three hundred and seventy thousand. We hope Senior can give us a little time. We will hurry back to Qingyun Manor at once to fetch the Spirit Coins and deliver them to Senior as soon as possible."
"Hmph! You think I would believe you? Would you come back after leaving? Hmph!"
The voice rang out, full of anger. The three immediately felt a chill spread through their bodies, and they could not help trembling violently.
They had just been about to answer when the voice came again.
"Enough. Hmph! The sight of you irritates me. Get lost! If you dare come to the Liu Clan and cause trouble again, hmph! There will be no next time!"
The three hastily kowtowed and thanked him for his mercy. They quickly turned to leave, but the mysterious voice rang out once more.
"Wait. Leave the Spirit Coins."
The three no longer dared to be slow. After leaving the Spirit Coins behind, they immediately departed the Liu residence at breakneck speed, left Qingyang City, and headed for Qingyun Manor as though fleeing for their lives.
Back in the Liu Clan's council hall, Liu Huabai and Liu Xincheng dismissed the clansmen. Everyone knew what the two intended to do, so they cooperated and quickly withdrew from the hall, scattering in all directions.
The two turned around, only for their gazes to sharpen. There was no trace of the white cat anywhere in the hall.
The hall stood empty and silent, with no other person in sight. Only the cushion, still retaining a trace of warmth, lay quietly on the floor.
Liu Huabai shook his head lightly and stepped forward to pick up the cushion, but his gaze suddenly sharpened slightly.
Several strands of white fur had been left on the cushion. At first, Liu Huabai had paid them little attention, but just as he was about to pick up the cushion, he seemed to notice something.
Those seemingly shed strands of white fur, whether by accident or design, had formed a sentence. Its meaning brought a delighted smile to Liu Huabai's face.
The sentence read:
Not bad. Your Liu Clan is worthy of his help. I have high hopes for you!
The Liu Clan's troubles had come to an end for the time being, but another matter was only just beginning.
This was a mountain range, its peaks rising and falling like primeval behemoths crouching on the ground. Roars echoed through the wilderness among the towering mountains.
Mist filled the mountains. Strangely, it was red.
Where the mist was thickest, puddles had been left on the ground, but their color was just as chilling.
For those puddles were red as well.
A cold wind howled, stirring ripples across the puddles. The ripples spread out, forming shapes like ordinary smiling faces. Combined with the vivid red, they looked utterly sinister.
"Whoosh!"
In the forest, the dense mist was forcibly torn apart, leaving a space empty of mist before closing again shortly afterward.
A figure had flashed past just now, in less than a thousandth of an instant, and was long gone.
Several hours later, deep in the mountains, at the end of the thick blood-colored mist, there was a small valley.
A figure wreathed in black mist and wearing a hideous mask slowly appeared.
Beneath the mask, a pair of sinister old eyes surveyed the valley. He lowered his head to look at the black mist around him, which was not particularly dense, and a hint of venom appeared in his eyes.
After a long while, the figure wreathed in black mist moved and raced into the valley, leaving a venomous oath behind him:
"Xiao Yan! The next time I find you and complete the mission, I will tear you to pieces to repay you for grievously injuring me!"
This man was none other than Old Ghost Yan Mo, who had escaped while Xiao Yan was distracted!
Before long, Old Ghost Yan Mo arrived in front of a hall that was pitch-black from top to bottom.
An energy barrier stood a hundred zhang from the hall, protecting the entire structure on all sides. It was possible to see through it from the inside out.
From outside, there was no way to tell this place apart from the surrounding mountains.
Looking at the pitch-black doors, Old Ghost Yan Mo smiled. His hands shifted rapidly, casting a series of profound seals.
A faint light flickered over the surface of the black doors. In just a moment, they opened from the center with a creak.
A dark passage appeared before Old Ghost Yan Mo.
The passage was utterly dark, as though even the space within it was black and viscous. A single glance was enough to make fear well up from the depths of one's soul.
It seemed less like a passage leading into the depths of the hall than the road to the netherworld, a path to hell that made one's soul quiver and tremble.
Old Ghost Yan Mo opened his sinister old eyes wide and took a deep breath, then looked at the black passage again.
Even though he had walked through it countless times, whenever he saw the dark passage, an overwhelming sense of death would rise from the bottom of his heart.
If his memories had not reminded him of all the previous times he had passed through safely, he would probably have turned and fled long ago.
He steadied himself, took another deep breath, and slowly exhaled. His throat bobbed as he swallowed.
He slowly took a heavy step forward and headed into the black passage.
Once he had entered the hall, the doors slowly creaked shut again.
The place became a gloomy forest, no different from anywhere else.
Heavy footsteps rang out, and a figure gradually emerged from the mouth of a black passage. It was none other than Old Ghost Yan Mo.
"Clatter..."
With a clamor of metal, pitch-black chains engraved with mysterious runes instantly sealed the passage's exit.
Several black-clad figures whose faces could not be seen appeared at the passage entrance. Each held a chain, ready at any moment to deal with the unexpected.
The figure emerged from the passage. When the others saw him, they flashed away, vanishing from the spot along with the chains.
Old Ghost Yan Mo paid no attention to the people who had disappeared, evidently already well acquainted with all this.
Old Ghost Yan Mo let out a breath and turned to look at the black passage, a hint of fear in his eyes.
Without a word, he lifted his feet lightly and headed into the hall.
Meanwhile, in a mountainous wilderness far from this place,
An old man dressed in green, his hair and beard both white, gazed at several green mountains in the distance with a relaxed smile. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and he sighed:
"I, Yuan Qing, have finally returned!"