Chapter 274 - 272: I Promise to Give Him a Surprise

Lin Yuebai carefully accepted the three Gu Insects, her expression like she’d just been handed three live grenades.

Yang Shen was confident she would succeed. As long as Lin Yuebai didn’t just stand there crying, her system-designated ability was sure to produce results.

Yang Shen gave her a small goal:

To find an efficient way to identify Gu Insects, especially those hidden inside a person’s body.

In the past, they had to rely on Long Jiu to frisk people. As for the ones inside, the only way was to kill the host and rummage around—a method that was far too troublesome.

Countering the Gu Insects, on the other hand, was the least of the Yang Family’s worries.

With the Bee Control Technique—Witchcraft’s natural predator—any Gu Insects that came their way were just serving themselves up on a platter.

It wasn’t that Cyan Blue lacked information on Witchcraft. Yang Shen even suspected that Yanhua possessed a complete technical path for it, but simply didn’t deign to use it, keeping it merely as a strategic reserve.

A Martial Artist’s body has a certain "sanctity"; implanting insects or losing limbs would severely hinder one’s progress on the path of Martial Arts.

’Jiangti might have some of the technology. I could try looking for it through the Yang’s Disciples at the School of Life Sciences or the Medical School...’

Lin Yuebai thought of something. "Oh, Patriarch, can I use the Sun Worms for my experiments?"

Yang Shen thought for a moment, then nodded. "You can, just don’t kill them on purpose. We have a lot of them now, and we got them from the Rebel Species in the first place."

If he was attached to any of them, it would only be the original six he’d raised. Now, they had become the founding ancestors of the swarm.

But with the Sun Worm population now at eight or nine hundred, he, Yang Shen, wasn’t so sentimental as to treat every single one like his own child.

Lin Yuebai then asked, "I noticed a new medicinal plant in the backyard. Every time I pass it, the Sun Worms are circling it. Can I use that?"

’Her powers of observation are quite sharp,’ Yang Shen thought.

That was the Spirit Plant from inside the "steel pipe," the one he had brought back from the Dongying Remnant Island.

Yang Shen didn’t know its name, only that the feedback from his Spirit Plant Inheritance indicated it could awaken the bloodline power of Spirit Insects.

It had now grown into a small, slow-growing sapling, tucked away inconspicuously in a corner of the Spirit Field.

Because it hadn’t matured, Yang Shen’s order to the Sun Worms was "No eating." But that didn’t stop the critters from circling it, probably just trying to get a whiff.

He didn’t realize, however, that it wasn’t a matter of Lin Yuebai’s sharp observation. Rather, whenever the Sun Worms pestered her, running toward that plant was the only way to get them to leave her alone.

With Yang Shen’s approval, Lin Yuebai now had a rough plan.

Her first step wouldn’t be to study the insects directly. Instead, she would look for publicly available information on Witchcraft, review it, and establish a research direction.

There might even be people in the world of traditional medicine who knew a thing or two; she could try to exchange some knowledge with them.

————

「Meanwhile, in a villa somewhere in Jianghuai.」

The place looked recently renovated, filled with lavish furniture. The faint smell of formaldehyde hung in the air, the marble floors were spotless, and the spiral staircase was exquisitely carved.

A middle-aged man with graying yet meticulously groomed hair and a trimmed, elegant beard sat on the sofa, holding a glass of liquor.

The liquid in the glass was a clear amber, but a curled-up insect resting at the bottom made for a disgusting sight.

"Are you telling me that of Wu Ze’s eight people, four went missing and four escaped?"

The subordinate reporting to him bowed his head. "By the time we arrived, the police were already on the scene, so we couldn’t learn the details. However, the ones who escaped said they were attacked by two female Martial Artists. One of them was incredibly strong, suspected to be at the Innate realm."

The middle-aged man exhaled slowly. "The old guard here in Jianghuai is just too weak... they can’t even handle a single Innate expert."

This was a bit of a flex. In truth, even among the Rebel Species, an Innate realm master was considered a rare expert.

Even the Main Altar didn’t have many.

Ultimately, as a global organization, the Rebel Species within Yanhua were almost exclusively from the "Si Realm Sect."

Their unique Witchcraft allowed them to cause all sorts of trouble from the shadows, but when it came to raw power, the physique of the Si Realm People was simply too poor.

As for the Cyan Blue Star People, once they reached the Innate realm, while not necessarily peerless, they were at least well-off.

Perhaps some could be swayed, but the Si Realm Sect itself didn’t trust Cyan Blue Star People... most of their relationships were purely utilitarian.

In contrast, the Rebel Species in other places, like Europe, operated under a looser structure and even cooperated with some high-level officials, giving them more power to call upon.

"Can you find out what those two were after?"

"I made some inquiries. Wu Ze’s wife’s ex-boyfriend posted a job and hired a Nightwalker. It seems to have been just an accident."

"Can we trace who took the job?"

The subordinate sounded helpless. "Not yet... The job was apparently subcontracted seven or eight times. It started as a 200,000-yuan offer and was passed down until it was only worth a few tens of thousands. It’s incredibly difficult to trace."

"We can’t confirm if it’s related to this job for now, but the four who went missing are most likely dead."

"Then how did the other four get away?"

"Their opponent didn’t go for the kill, just knocked them out. They came back on their own after they woke up."

CRASH!!

The middle-aged man smashed the glass directly over his subordinate’s head. The thick crystal shattered, scattering across the floor, a clear display of his impressive Martial Cultivation.

"Idiot! Didn’t it occur to you that they let them go so they could be followed back to our base?!"

The subordinate didn’t flinch. Liquor mixed with blood trickled from his forehead. The insect from the bottom of the glass had fallen to the floor; it was still alive, wriggling on the carpet...

"That is a possibility, which is why I have already arranged for a relocation. That base will be abandoned."

But the middle-aged man shook his head.

"We just took over the Jianghuai Sub-temple. We’re strangers in a strange land; establishing a base was already difficult. If we let this little thing throw us into chaos, we’re more likely to make an even bigger mistake."

’It’s just a shame about Wu Ze’s group,’ he mused. ’If things hadn’t gone wrong, that renovated factory would have been worth tens of millions.’

’Of course, Wu Ze thought all that property would be his. But he was just a pawn being controlled.’

’Did he really think the Rebel Species were a charity organization?’

’For a subversive group like theirs, money and supplies were always the top priority.’

’Jianghuai... a place where every inch is worth its weight in gold. Gold flows in every dark corner.’

’That’s why the Main Altar was paying such close attention.’

The thing was, the Jianghuai Sub-temple had been built almost single-handedly by Jiang Xingjian. He had put down roots here for decades, and out of deference to the opinions of the other Sub-Altar Masters, the Main Altar had always found it difficult to interfere.

The middle-aged man crooked his finger. Another glass flew over from a distant table. He filled it to the brim and took another sip.

"That old fool Jiang Xingjian died too abruptly. We didn’t even get word of who killed him."

"He always followed the principle of ’divide and conceal, hide instead of defend.’ He never stuck his neck out, and he himself lived like an ordinary man. But in the end, it meant he had far too little power to mobilize."

"We are different... we aren’t so pathetic."

As a veteran of the Rebel Species, many people had held Jiang Xingjian in high regard.

At least, they had, before his successive failures.

They considered his model a great success—to be able to lie low for so long in Jianghuai, a city of crouching tigers and hidden dragons, while still stirring up significant trouble.

You could say Jiang Xingjian was the most low-profile and clandestine conspirator in the Rebel Species.

But not everyone was Jiang Xingjian.

Not everyone could spend decades living like an old farmer by the roadside, forgoing almost all worldly pleasures.

Fewer still could sit on a mountain of resources and, for the sake of the "great cause," refrain from practicing Martial Arts, from Gu Planting, or even from nourishing their own bodies.

The middle-aged man stretched, and a series of cracks like popping beans echoed from his joints. "Whether it’s a lone-wolf Nightwalker or some grander scheme, are we supposed to just sit here and wait for them to come knocking at our door?"

With that, he walked toward the back of the room and slid open a hidden panel in the wall.

It revealed... five figures.

Five young men with hollow eyes and blank expressions.

A full five Late-stage Innate masters, completely under his command!

This! This was the source of his confidence in coming to Jianghuai!

A cold, savage sneer spread across the middle-aged man’s face.

"No matter who it is, if they think they can ruin our plans without paying a price..."

"...I guarantee I’ll give them a nasty surprise!"

————