Serpentine Crystal

As they were speaking, the group was stopped in front of them.

It wasn't a real attempt to stop them; the owner of the Sea-Hued Grand Feast himself strode out, his clothes not yet fully straightened, his face beaming with smiles.

The imposing presence of Su Ming and his group was truly eye-catching.

The guards' uniforms were made of a special material, and their movements were highly disciplined. The Sea-Hued Grand Feast could operate on such a scale in Cloud Joy City meant that information was readily available; the restaurant staff had already ascertained the identities of the visitors as they approached.

"President Su, please come in!"

The shop owner bowed deeply, a fawning smile playing on his lips.

Su Ming raised his hand, stopping his polite formalities.

"I'm not here as a guest."

"One of my friends has been detained by you."

Upon hearing this, the shop owner's legs went weak, and he almost knelt down.

He was a prominent figure in Cloud Joy City, but when facing truly top-tier powers, he didn't even qualify to be considered on the table.

"I would never dare!" the shopkeeper hurriedly said, his voice trembling slightly.

While forcing a smile, he turned his head and winked behind him, ordering someone to immediately investigate what had happened.

Su Ming glanced at him, confirming that the other party was not pretending to be stupid.

He extended his senses into the building and quickly detected Qiluo's presence. She was in good condition and uninjured.

So Su Ming didn't react immediately. He stepped into the hall and sat down on the sofa in the center.

The guards lined up silently behind him.

A sense of oppressive silence enveloped the hall like an iron curtain.

****

Cloud Joy City has a mild climate; normally, you only need to wear a slightly thicker coat.

But the fireplace inside the Sea-Hued Grand Feast was burning very brightly, and the air was filled with the aroma of wine, perfume, and a warm, cozy atmosphere, which made people feel somewhat stuffy.

Su Ming looked around and saw the thin fabric of the "service personnel" on their clothes, and then he understood why.

A moment later, a tall figure walked into the hall from the inside. The woman's dress was perfectly tailored, and delicate wind elements swirled around her.

The shop owner glanced up briefly, then everything went black, and his heart sank completely.

This isn't just any ordinary guest, it's a unicorn!

The shop owner almost instinctively turned to Su Ming, his voice trembling:

"Could you be a representative from the Silver Moon Forest summit, my friend?"

"[You didn't reveal your identity?]" Su Ming sent a message.

[Mom said, you can't use your status to bully people outside!] Qiluo replied confidently.

"If you're so capable, don't ask me for help," Su Ming said helplessly.

[It's all Hansite and Younier's fault for leaving me here all alone.] Qiluo complained.

Dozens more people dressed in neat military uniforms quickly rushed into the hall.

They stopped at the same time and bowed in greeting.

"First Squad, First Regiment, Star Sand Guard, reporting for duty!" The shopkeeper's face turned ashen, and his hands and feet went cold.

"President Su, there's no need for this!"

He turned around abruptly and glared angrily at the service staff and supervisors who had helped to surround Qiluo.

A group of people knelt down in unison, their foreheads touching the ground, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.

Given the current situation, anyone with a modicum of common sense would understand that today's events are far more serious than simply encountering a formidable foe.

The initial guard team was already formidable; now another team has been brought in. It seems things might get complicated...

"Have the entire second squad come over here too. Seal off the entrances and exits and take control of the entire building," Su Ming calmly ordered.

"Yes!" the guards replied in unison.

The members of the Star Sand Guard quickly joined up with the team members who arrived later, and dispersed to begin taking control of the entire Sea-Hued Grand Feast, floor by floor.

In the blink of an eye, the Sea-Hued Grand Feast) transformed from a dimly lit, decadent entertainment venue into a sealed-off area taken over by the military.

"President Su..." The shop owner trembled, "There must be a huge misunderstanding here!"

Cloud Joy City has its own city defense force. However, the Star Sand Guard entered the city and controlled the area as if it were empty, and not a single person came to interfere.

A terrible thought popped into the shop owner's mind:

Could it be that something has happened to Prince Leimeng Keli, the city lord?

****

Su Ming then turned to the shop owner, his eyes slightly cold, "Then why don't you tell me, what's the misunderstanding?"

The shop owner immediately glared at the supervisor behind him, who was already terrified and slammed his forehead on the ground with a dull thud.

"Please forgive me, sir! It was all my fault for being so blind!" he cried in panic. "It was indeed this young lady who didn't pay her bill, so we followed the store's procedure to hold her accountable..."

Su Ming didn't want to waste time on nonsense.

He had just glanced at Ruixiuli beside him when the shop owner suddenly erupted in anger.

Bang! A punch landed.

The foreman's head sank, a crisp cracking sound echoing through the hall. His body swayed, then collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

The surrounding staff trembled in fear, some even unable to maintain their knees.

"President Su, please calm down!"

The shop owner knelt down again, lowering his body to the lowest point, his posture extremely humble.

"This person is audacious in his deception and acts recklessly; I have personally punished him!"

"All those involved shall be severely punished and executed!"

He lowered his head even further.

"We are willing to make full compensation for any offense caused, even at the cost of going bankrupt, just to appease this young lady's anger!"

The shop owner just sent a message to the city lord's mansion, but there has been no response.

At this point, he no longer cared about dignity or property; he only wanted to save his life.

Su Ming, however, did not care.

Actually, I still really want to know the truth.

His gaze swept over the remaining kneeling people. The faces of the waiters whose gaze fell upon him instantly turned pale.

One of them couldn't hold on any longer and crawled out on his knees, his voice trembling:

"It's all the foreman's greed that's causing trouble; this young lady doesn't owe any money!"

Fearing that he might lose his life if he delayed speaking even a single word, he stammered out the account of what had just happened.

Hansite and Younier clearly had no intention of accompanying Qiluo to paint here.

The former had resigned himself to giving up his "leisure" trip and decided to go with Younier to enjoy the night view of Cloud Joy City.

To be honest, as a tourist city, Cloud Joy City has many outstanding features besides its brothels.

Before leaving, Hansite settled the bill and, moreover, generously left behind ten gold coins.

"Then I only drank one tub of soda."

Qiluo said angrily.

"As soon as I finished drinking it, they said I had just drunk their Cloud Joy Special Fruit Wine, priced by the gram, for eight thousand gold coins!"

"No, no, no!" the waiter kowtowed hastily. "It's just a regular drink! It's all this supervisor's fault!" Su Ming raised an eyebrow. "Do you often try to extort money like this?"

The shop owner wanted to speak.

Su Ming raised his hand and cast a Silence, instantly silencing the shopkeeper.

The waiter was even more frightened and honestly admitted:

"Normally... I wouldn't need this much..."

Su Ming understood. They usually overcharged customers, but never this outrageous.

The figure of eight thousand gold coins clearly wasn't about the money itself.

Explain why.

The waiter dared not hide anything any longer and told the whole story.

It turns out that a regular customer had taken a liking to Qiluo and wanted to "try it out." He offered a high price to ask Sea-Hued Grand Feast to "act as a go-between," which led to this drama of owing money and detaining people.

"Is this kind of business frequent?" Su Ming asked, narrowing his eyes.

The waiter quickly shook his head. "Customers usually don't take a liking to another customer; it only happens a few times a year."

Su Ming nodded, his curiosity satisfied, and got up to pull Qiluo outside.

The shopkeeper panicked. He broke free of the Silence and almost fell to the ground, his voice pleading:

"President Su, please have mercy and forgive me!"

Su Ming did not stop; he summoned a captain from the Star Sand Guard.

"Investigate everyone here, conduct thorough body searches, and arrest and interrogate all those found guilty."

He thought for a moment and added:

"Especially that client who just took a liking to Miss Qiluo, give him a good 'welcome'!"

"Yes!" The captain bowed and accepted the order.

The shop owner gritted his teeth and mustered the courage to speak:

"President Su, there is also a Saint Rank expert under Prince Leimeng Keli, the Lord of Cloud Joy City!"

Su Ming glanced at his phone at the real-time battle report from Xialike Like's side; a message had just popped up. "It's gone now." His tone was flat.

The shop owner's pupils suddenly contracted.

Qiluo was pulled away by Su Ming, and a smug expression returned to her face.

"Actually, that customer was alright."

She raised her chin.

Some people are simply captivated by the charm of auspicious beasts!

Su Ming paused, these words clearly stirring up some awkward memories of his first meeting with Qiluo.

He glanced at Qiluo sideways.

[Hey Qiluo, you didn't use some kind of charm spell again, did you?]

"No way!" Qiluo immediately retorted.

[If I had used it, they would have pounced on me screaming already.]

Her tone was arrogant. [Do you really think everyone's mental strength is as strong as yours, capable of bathing in my "Moon Goddess's Seduction"?]

****

A resolute glint suddenly flashed in the eyes of the owner of the Sea-Hued Grand Feast.

The next moment, he reached into the control device in his pocket and abruptly activated the magic circle embedded in the wall.

Buzz--

Blinding glare burst forth simultaneously from the cracks in the walls, dome, and floor.

Lightning-shaped Magic Power patterns spread rapidly, like countless blue and white snakes crisscrossing and writhing in the hall. The air suddenly became thick, and the five senses were numbed by the chaotic Magic Power.

brush.

The flow of time around him suddenly slowed down in Su Ming's eyes.

Silent Vision!

In the "Silent Vision," because thoughts are briefly accelerated, all external actions appear slow.

The flying debris hung suspended in mid-air, lightning slowly crawled across the wall, and the shopkeeper's distorted expression seemed to be stretched into frames of a slowly unfolding painting. Su Ming's vision quickly swept across the entire building.

The interior of the Sea-Hued Grand Feast is filled with all sorts of magical arrays, including offensive ones, as well as illusionary, soundproofing, trapping, teleportation interference, and perception shielding arrays...

Layer upon layer of Magic Power patterns are being awakened, like compound eyes opening from a deep sleep.

All the control threads were held in the shopkeeper's hand, on a golden rune plaque.

That's the core of the magic array; the shop owner is a magic array master.

Beside Su Ming, Ruixiuli reacted quickly.

A hundred bone fragments flew from his hand, splitting in mid-air and transforming into fine white circles that intercepted all the incoming attack spells.

[What are you going to do with this?] Qiluo's consciousness forcefully squeezed into Su Ming's "Silent Vision".

[To break the illusion, find the assassin.]

Su Ming answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

[If you were frequently targeted for assassination, you would also develop this habit.]

As he spoke, he subconsciously glanced at Qiluo, then stopped talking. Beside him stood a naked, mature woman.

Her snow-white skin was so bright in the lightning that it hurt the eyes. Her long green hair was draped down, just enough to cover some of her vital parts, but it was a very insincere way of covering them up.

Even though Su Ming was no longer a novice, he still had an urge to cover his nose.

"Aren't you wearing solid clothes?" he questioned.

"I'm too hot, I took it off." Qiluo replied with perfect ease.

She tilted her head and thought for a moment, then suddenly became interested.

[Hmm, I just learned something from them!]

Qiluo raised her hand to brush aside her green hair, bent slightly, and swayed her body gently, tossing a wink at Su Ming as she moved.

Su Ming silently covered his face, suspecting that he would be hunted down by both Zijin and Ghostly Flower at the same time.

But now is not the time to dwell on these things.

Su Ming flicked his wrist, and the long whip slid out of his palm.

The whip tip traced a long, thin arc amidst the lightning, like a black serpent, bypassing magical barriers and striking the golden rune plaque in the shopkeeper's hand with a snap. Crack!

The rune card shattered, causing the Magic Power threads connecting the entire building to break, and the glowing magic arrays dimmed again.

At the same instant, the whip's tail nimbly lashed back, tearing through the shopkeeper's shirt and pulling something out of his inner pocket.

Before the shop owner could even react, the item was already in Su Ming's hands.

It was a strange, serpentine-shaped alchemical artifact, resembling a piece of mottled crystal with fine engravings along its edges and a faint grayish-gold glow flowing within.

Within the "Silent Vision," the energy threads extending from this object were even denser than those of the rune card that controlled the entire building!

This is definitely not an ordinary prop.

Upon seeing this, the shop owner's expression shifted from astonishment to horror.

He didn't even bother to escape, lunging at Su Ming with his entire body surging with demonic Magic Power. Blood vessels bulged on his neck and forehead, and magic array patterns under his skin lit up one by one, as if he wanted to perish together with Su Ming.

The snake-shaped crystal in Su Ming's hand also lit up. It was being controlled and was about to self-destruct.

However, the next moment, Su Ming's personal guards launched their attack.

Sharp Magic Power rained down, tearing the shopkeeper's body, which was lunging into the air, into a cloud of blood mist in an instant. The self-destruction process within the serpentine crystal then ceased, and Su Ming breathed a sigh of relief.

The soul dissipated from the shop owner's mangled body.

A necromancer was about to step forward to collect it when a distorted mark suddenly lit up on the surface of the soul, and the soul then exploded and dissipated.

Su Ming shook his head, "It's the World Serpent Mark!"

They were all surprised to learn that the person in question was a member of the Plundering Clock.

Su Ming remained unchanged. Upon discovering the snake-shaped crystal, he had already guessed the other party's identity.

Fortunately, I got my hands on this crystal!

Su Ming's expression turned completely cold.

"Send two more squads of the Star Sand Guard over here."

He looked up and around.

"Investigate this place thoroughly!"

"Yes!" everyone responded in unison.