The opening scene reveals the story of Yao Lao, alarming the Soul Emperor.

Soul Crow's left hand was still suspended in mid-air, and the remaining fire-attribute battle qi at his fingertips was dissipating.

After the heatwave subsided, the temperature in the side room plummeted. The charred marks on the walls were still smoldering, and the hawk embedded in the load-bearing wall slid down and lay sprawled among a pile of rubble, alive but too weak to move.

The crow's pupils contracted.

In the middle section of the Dry Bone Mountain Range, there is a third large poisonous cave, ten feet below, a sealed cellar.

The location was so precise that even he himself hadn't memorized it in such detail when burying things.

That seventh-tier Heavenly Sea Black Gold Cauldron was intercepted three months ago. Only two trusted confidants handled it, one of whom he had already silenced afterward.

What about the other one?

The other is his own nephew, who would never betray him.

How was this information leaked?

Hunwu stared at the bloodless, pale face in front of him, his mind stretched to its limit.

There's only one road left.

Kill this man. Destroy the body and cover up the crime. Go back and tell the Heavenly Gang Hall that the collateral descendant named Hun Yu from the Northwest Branch Hall, who fled to escape punishment, has been killed on the spot.

All the credits listed in the battle report were fabricated by Wu Ying. How could a useless person without any fighting spirit possibly kill a Dou Zun?

This explanation is a bit crude, but it'll do the trick.

Soul Crow withdrew its left hand, which had been suspended in the air, and slowly clenched its five fingers.

His severed right arm hung limply at his side, devoid of feeling. He still had his left hand, enough to crush a patient with no cultivation level.

The killing intent re-condensed deep within his pupils.

Hunyu leaned back in his chair, watching Hunwu's changing expressions.

He coughed lightly twice, pulled out the blood-stained silk handkerchief from his sleeve, and covered his mouth.

A very faint laugh was mixed in with the cough.

Let me sort out the thoughts that are going through your mind right now.

Hunyu put down the handkerchief and tapped the table with her index finger.

"Zhao Tiezhen, a dark market merchant in the eastern corner of the Black Corner Region."

Tap a second time.

"The person in charge of the underground auction house behind Qianyaofang is One-Eyed Yan."

The third time.

"Your nephew Hunmao made seven trips to the Dry Bone Mountains in the past three months. Each time, the things he brought back were transferred through a four-star Douhuang-level mercenary named Gray Hawk. Gray Hawk lives in an abandoned mining town in the northwest corner of the Black Corner Region, where there are two dead hemlock trees planted in front of his door."

The tapping stopped.

Soul Crow's left hand remained frozen in a half-clenched position.

Zhao Tiezhen was the one who helped him dispose of the stolen goods. One-Eyed Yan was the one who helped him appraise them. Gray Hawk was a tool his nephew secretly used to transport goods.

Three lines, three stages, all precisely pinpointed to names and addresses.

This is not speculation. This is a complete chain of evidence.

"I know what you're thinking." Hun Yu picked up the cup of tea on the table, which had long since gone cold, and blew on the rim. "Kill me, go back and make up an excuse, and let this matter rot in the cellars of the Dry Bone Mountains."

He took a sip of tea and swallowed it.

"But have you ever thought about this question?"

Hunyu placed the teacup back on the table, the ceramic bottom tapping against the wooden board.

"Since I dared to say these things to your face, I'm not afraid of you silencing me."

Soul Crow's Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

"A complete copy of this intelligence is currently stored somewhere you can't find it." Hun Yu's speaking speed was exactly the same as before, neither fast nor slow. "I send a message over every three days to let them know I'm safe. If I don't receive it twice in a row, this document will appear untouched on the Nine Heavens Venerable's desk early on the third morning."

He paused.

"If you think you can outrun the Nine Heavens Venerable's kill order, you can try."

There was no sound of living people speaking in the side room.

The eagle lay stiffly on the pile of rubble, his breathing barely audible. His ears caught every word, and cold sweat soaked through his clothes.

In all the years he had dealt with Hunwu, no one had ever dared to speak to the special envoy of the Heavenly Gang Palace in such a tone.

No one else could force a six-star Dou Zong into a dilemma in this way.

Hunwu's knees were trembling.

He served as a special envoy for over a decade, humiliating countless branch hall masters and squeezing countless profits from them; he was always the one in control.

Today, the situation is completely reversed.

The opponent had no fighting spirit and was so weak that he could collapse at any moment, but he just sat in that broken chair and revealed all his secrets, one sentence at a time.

He didn't even have a chance to refute it.

Because all of those things are real.

The fighting spirit in Hunwu's left hand dissipated little by little. The dark red light at his fingertips went out. He looked as if his spine had been removed, and his shoulders slumped.

His knees slammed into the bluestone ground.

Two cracks extended outwards from where the knees touched the ground.

A resounding thud.

The skull struck the stone slab with a crisp, muffled sound.

Two resounding thuds.

A corner of the stone slab was broken.

Three kowtows.

Blood flowed from the cut on his forehead, down his nose, and into his mouth.

"Mr. Hunyu... I was blind and offended you! I beg you to show mercy!"

The arrogance in his voice vanished completely, leaving only the desperate pleading of a drowning person grasping at a straw.

Hunyu did not respond immediately.

He folded the handkerchief and tucked it back into his sleeve, then stood up, supporting himself on the armrest of the chair. His movements were slow, as his weakness had not fully recovered, but the sound of each step on the gravel and charred wood was clear and even.

He walked up to the Soul Crow.

The tip of the white feather fan reached out and lifted the chin of the soul-covered crow, which was stained with blood and mud.

The Soul Crow was forced to raise its head.

He saw a pair of golden pupils.

There was no anger, no smugness, not even contempt in it.

It was spotless, like a tool that could be used.

"I don't need useless people," Hunyu said.

The tip of the fan was raised slightly, forcing the Soul Crow to tilt its head back even higher.

"The clan chief's decree commands me to go to Zhongzhou, and I will go. But I am in poor health, unable to ride a horse, and unable to endure the long journey."

He put away his fan and turned to walk towards the door.

"From today until we enter the Soul Realm, you will be my personal driver. Feeding the beasts, driving the carriage, and arranging food and lodging along the way are all your responsibility."

Their steps did not stop.

"Once I've done these things, I'll forget about the Bone Mountain Range. If I haven't done them well—"

He stopped beside the shattered door frame and glanced at the old man kneeling on the ground.

"You decide for yourself."

Hunwu knelt on the spot, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.

A dignified special envoy of the Heavenly Gang Hall and a six-star Dou Zong was assigned to be a stable boy by a crooked man from a collateral branch.

If this gets out, his reputation won't just be shattered, it will be completely ruined.

But he had no choice.

"...I obey."

When the three words were squeezed out from between his teeth, Hunwu felt as if all his molars were about to be crushed.

The eagle crawled up from the pile of rubble, its mental state a strange mix of extreme excitement and extreme fear. It looked at the kneeling Soul Crow, then at Soul Feather walking out the door.

A six-star Dou Zong.

I knelt down.

He kowtowed three times.

He was assigned the job of a groom.

He didn't move a single finger the entire time.

The hawk wiped the blood from its beak and scrambled out the door in pursuit.

"teacher!"

Hunyu had reached the end of the corridor. The setting sun shone through the cracks in the west window, casting a long shadow over him.

"Prepare three Wind Chasing Inkhorn Beasts, with a grade no lower than fifth rank."

He didn't even turn his head.

"We'll depart at 3 AM tomorrow."

The eagle stood still, watching the white figure against the light disappear around the corner of the corridor.

He glanced back at the mess in the side room. The walls were charred, the stone slabs were broken, and a six-star Dou Zong knelt amidst the ruins, blood still dripping from his forehead.

The hawk swallowed hard and strode toward the animal pen.

Only Hunwu remained in the side room.

He remained kneeling without getting up, the light, airy words still echoing in his ears.

Full-time rickshaw driver.

Three hundred years of cultivation, a six-star Dou Zong cultivation level, and a special envoy token from the Tian Gang Palace.

All of this was trampled underfoot by a patient with no fighting spirit, with just a few words.

Hunwu slowly raised his head, his gaze passing through the shattered door frame to the empty corner at the end of the corridor.

His lips were moving, but no sound came out.

From the distant animal pen came the deep neighing of a black-horned beast, which was being led out of its enclosure by a hawk.

Tomorrow at the hour of Yin (3-5 AM).

Zhongzhou.

Soul world.

The Soul Emperor was waiting to meet this person.

This person had just made the special envoy of the Heavenly Gang Palace kneel on the ground and act as his groom.

Hunwu suddenly shivered.

He realized a question he had overlooked—who exactly was the person whom the Soul Emperor had personally ordered him to meet?

Why should a collateral descendant, with no fighting spirit and no background, receive a decree from the clan chief?

The sun has set.

The lights in the branch halls lit up one by one.

A very soft cough came from the end of the corridor, mixed with the bitter smell of tea, and drifted in the evening breeze.