She thought to herself.
She had followed the boss "through life and death," snatching people from the Holy Spirit Cult (meaning she had extorted the cult into paying up) and risking her life against Ferocious Beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest (going to the Lake of Life to steal things). Every time, she had put her life on the line.
But Ye Lingling could sit in the air-conditioned office, sipping coffee, and the boss would give her a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone. She even got to sleep with him.
In this world, those who know how to act cute get all the perks.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. But she didn't want anyone to see it, so she could only let it all out with her mouth.
"What nonsense are you spouting?!" Ye Lingling's face flushed red with anger. "The boss promised me that Soul Bone ages ago! It has nothing to do with last night!"
"Oh, really?"
Leng Yulai snorted, though the tips of her ears quietly turned red. "Then what about last night?"
"Last night is a separate matter!"
"So something really did happen last night."
Ye Lingling had been led into the trap and was at a loss for words.
Na Nali slapped her thigh and laughed. "All right, all right, Yulai, stop being so sour. You can't get three sentences out of that mouth of yours without mentioning the boss. If you really cared that much, why didn't you resist when he pinned you to the desk and spanked you back then?"
"Na Nali!" Leng Yulai exploded. "Say that again!"
"All right, all right, I won't."
Na Nali raised her hands in surrender and turned to Ye Lingling, her expression growing serious. "But Sister Lingling, Yulai and I really didn't come here today to dredge up old grievances."
"Then what is it?"
"Dark Hummingbird."
Na Nali's manner changed, and she spoke seriously.
"One of the Holy Spirit Cult's Four Heavenly Kings, a rank 98 Super Douluo. He went to the East Sea to assassinate the boss yesterday."
Ye Lingling nearly dropped her coffee. "How do you know?"
"I have my ways."
Na Nali shook her bell. "Those people at the underground fighting ring sell all kinds of information. Some Evil Soul Masters know that the Ghost Emperor sent Dark Hummingbird to the East Sea."
"The boss dealt with him all by himself and fed his corpse to the sharks. Good grief, a rank 98 Super Douluo, killed just like that."
Ye Lingling's expression changed. The boss had specifically told her not to tell anyone about this. Although she didn't know Qing Linyun's plans, she instinctively wanted to keep the information under wraps.
Na Nali could naturally see what Ye Lingling was thinking. She spoke casually.
"Don't worry, you can trust me to handle things. I've taken care of all the information that needed handling. I killed everyone who spread it and everyone who received it."
"The boss was hurt."
Ye Lingling's voice grew quiet. "I put medicine on him last night. There was a big hole in his shoulder blade."
The smile faded from Na Nali's face.
Leng Yulai also raised her head, and the dark purple flames in her purplish-red eyes flared sharply.
"Was it serious?"
Na Nali asked.
"It nearly reached the bone," Ye Lingling said. "He said he was injured by the aftershock of a Ninth Soul Skill after the Evil God Shield dissipated."
"Evil God Shield."
Na Nali murmured the words, then suddenly slapped the coffee table. "Well, isn't that just great. The Holy Spirit Cult dared send a rank 98 after the boss. We can't let this go."
"What are you going to do?" Ye Lingling asked.
"Take them down."
Na Nali stood and stretched, her bell jingling.
"Yulai and I are going to visit Holy Spirit Cult headquarters and ask the Ghost Emperor if he's tired of living. It's been a long time since we went back anyway."
"Just the two of you?"
"Just the two of us."
Leng Yulai answered coldly.
"One Quasi-God and one Demigod are enough to deal with one schemer."
"But the Holy Spirit Cult still has the Underworld Emperor and the Demon Empress."
"That coward the Underworld Emperor goes weak at the knees whenever he hears 'Eastsea City.' Who knows where he's hiding?"
Na Nali waved a hand. "As for the Demon Empress, the Holy Spirit Cult's Demon Empress is like a divine dragon whose head and tail are never seen. She's nowhere to be found. I'd like to see which blind fool dares stand in my way."
Ye Lingling wanted to say something else, but Na Nali was already pulling Leng Yulai toward the door.
"Sister Lingling, keep an eye on the company. When the boss gets back, tell him we've gone to settle the score for him."
Ye Lingling took two steps after them, then stopped.
The door closed.
Ye Lingling stood with her coffee in the empty reception room, motionless for a long time.
Two madwomen, she thought. That's Holy Spirit Cult headquarters.
But she also knew she couldn't stop them.
Far out at sea.
An isolated island shrouded in black mist: the Holy Spirit Cult's headquarters.
The Ghost Emperor had just received news of Dark Hummingbird's death and was flying into a rage.
"Useless trash! A rank 98 Super Douluo went to kill a brat who hasn't even grown all his hair, and he actually got himself killed in the East Sea! Was he there to kill someone, or to serve himself up on a platter?!"
Attendants knelt all over the hall, none daring to make a sound.
The Ghost Emperor had smashed several cups and was about to curse some more when the air throughout the entire hall suddenly grew heavy.
His expression changed.
Two presences bore straight down on the island from beyond its shores. One was dark and profound, accompanied by the clear ring of a bell; the other was scorching and violent, wrapped in dark purple flames.
"Old Ghost Emperor!" Na Nali's voice carried in from far away, tinged with laughter. "Your grandaunt has come for a visit! Aren't you coming out to welcome your guests?!"
The Ghost Emperor's face turned green.
Of course he knew who had come. Two of the Four Heavenly Kings who had once served under him had originally been only rank 98 Super Douluos. Who would have thought that, after following that mysterious boss, they would become rank 99 Limit Douluos, one a Quasi-God and the other a Demigod?
On Shrek's side, they held the top two seats among the Heaven-Supporting Pillar's Twelve Knights.
One was a rank 99 Quasi-God wielding the Demigod Artifact Dark Bell; the other was a rank 99 Demigod with the Ultimate Dark Phoenix Martial Soul.
"Why are they here?!"
The Ghost Emperor gritted his teeth. "Just over that trifling business with Dark Hummingbird?"
No one answered him.
The next moment, the hall's roof was torn off from above.
Leng Yulai hovered in midair, the dark purple flames in her purplish-red eyes nearly blazing out of them. Behind her, the phantom of a pitch-black phoenix slowly spread its wings.
"Ghost Emperor."
Her voice was cold and hard. "The person you sent to the East Sea nearly killed my boss. How do you intend to settle this debt?"
The Ghost Emperor took a deep breath and forced a smile.
"Ladies, we can talk this over. Dark Hummingbird's situation took me by surprise too."
"Surprise?"
Na Nali landed in front of him, her bare feet on the broken tiles, and gave her bell a shake. "You used a rank 98 Super Douluo's life to test the boss's strength. What's so surprising about it? Ghost Emperor, do you think I can't see through you?"
The Ghost Emperor was speechless.
"All right, stop pretending."
Na Nali put away her smile.
"Yulai and I came here today for two things. First, to tell you that if the Holy Spirit Cult dares lay another finger on my boss, it won't be just the two of us who come next time. Second, to collect a little interest for the boss."
"Interest?"
"We'll borrow your life for a while."
Na Nali raised her hand and gently shook the Dark Bell on her wrist.
Clang.
The clear ring struck the Ghost Emperor's mind as if something had smashed into it, and his vision blurred.
By the time he came to his senses, Leng Yulai was already in front of him. Dark purple flames formed a sharp claw and raked toward his chest.
The Ghost Emperor was scared out of his wits. He shot backward and barely dodged, but part of his sleeve was still burned away.
"Have you two gone mad?! This is Holy Spirit Cult headquarters!"
"We know."
Leng Yulai's voice was icy. "Otherwise, we wouldn't have come."
The two women flanked the Ghost Emperor, one on either side.
Na Nali's bell rang now far away, now close by, leaving the Ghost Emperor's mind in turmoil.
Leng Yulai's dark purple flames covered the sky and earth, burning so fiercely that he had no chance to strike back.
Though the Ghost Emperor was a rank 99 Limit Douluo at the Quasi-God level, even he couldn't take on a Quasi-God and a Demigod head-on at the same time.
He also understood that the two women hadn't truly come to take his life.
After all, if they really had come to kill him, it wouldn't be this simple. They would have activated their Battle Armor right away.
Clearly, the two of them wanted to negotiate. They were merely increasing their own bargaining chips.
The Ghost Emperor was also unwilling to reveal too many of his trump cards. After all, how could this petty skirmish compare with his grand plan to become a god?
One had to remember that the Ghost Emperor was known as Ghost King Douluo, and his Martial Soul was also the Ghost King.
He was a Four-Word Battle Armor Master at the Quasi-God level, and his Soul Rings were terrifying too: four black, four red, and one orange-gold.
His Martial Soul was a genuine evil spirit type, capable of controlling the undead, ghosts, and death Qi. Undead attacks were his greatest specialty.
During the Abyssal War in the original work, he even commanded an army of the undead in battle.
He also forced Yalisha, who had already become a Limit Douluo, to use her life and bloodline to kill him by self-detonating. That showed just how formidable the Ghost Emperor was.
As for Na Nali and Leng Yulai, who had come from the Holy Spirit Cult, they naturally knew how powerful the Ghost Emperor was. Though he appeared to be scurrying about in disarray, it was merely a tacit understanding between both sides.
After all, the Ghost Emperor also had genuine Divine Origin Realm spiritual power. Moreover, he had reached it who knew how much earlier than Nali.
"Damn it, Na Nali, your spiritual power has actually reached the Divine Origin Realm!"
The Ghost Emperor cursed, but Nali merely snorted coldly and increased the output of her spiritual power again.
Even if we're putting on an act, we still have to make you suffer a little first.