Forced into kindness, Su Cha took the initiative to change the subject: “The Danhe Realm covers a large area. We should head over early.”
Naturally, no detailed maps were sold outside. Su Cha sketched a rough map from memory and discussed the route with Ji Tianjin.
As night approached, the sky over Dahe Province grew more beautiful. The hazy weather was just right—stars looked as if veiled in gauze.
A beautiful night to carry a sniper rifle on your back—following the plan they’d made in the afternoon, Ji Tianjin and Su Cha moved along a remote path.
Once they entered the mountains, not a soul was in sight. No matter how powerful the Flower Demon Clan was, they couldn’t have scouts stationed everywhere.
Su Cha walked ahead of Ji Tianjin and whispered, “Step where I step. Try to land in the same spot as me.”
The soft soil clearly showed their footprints. Ji Tianjin followed his instructions and stepped exactly where Su Cha had stepped.
After walking for a while, Su Cha shook his head and commented, “Times are changing, but these formations are still more or less the same.”
Ji Tianjin replied, “No matter how they change, the fundamentals remain. It just means you’ve fully mastered this skill.”
His tone was casual, no different from everyday conversation, but this matter-of-fact way of speaking made the compliment hit harder. Su Cha hadn’t noticed it before, but now that he thought about it, Ji Tianjin had always been making excuses for him—his ability to flatter was just as impressive as people from Fog Star.
“There’s an invisible barrier ahead,” Ji Tianjin said, always focused on the mission. His spiritual sense had been blocked when it reached that point.
Su Cha stopped. “A high-level ward.”
Ji Tianjin didn’t rush to use the space-folding device. Instead, he carefully memorized the surrounding terrain. If the device malfunctioned, they’d need to rely on themselves to get out.
Su Cha changed direction, leading him toward the base of a cliff where there were some scorched stumps—clearly hit by lightning. He walked to one of them, lifted a camouflaged panel, and smiled. “Still here.”
Ji Tianjin looked down. “This tunnel was man-made?”
He was just asking, but seriously—who would dig a tunnel into a perfect square? Each edge looked the exact same length at a glance.
Su Cha masked his embarrassment with a smile… Friend, you nailed it.
Back then, his injuries had been too severe. The system worried that putting him into a storage space might crush him to death, so it opted for the most primitive rescue method—digging.
Su Cha didn’t answer, but Ji Tianjin already had a good idea.
Creating a tunnel unnoticed on demon territory was no small feat. Coupled with Shen Ningze’s constant insistence before his death that Su Cha had someone by his side capable of intercepting missiles, Ji Tianjin could basically confirm that Su Cha had some non-human ally assisting him.
Su Cha described the tunnel’s path. “This leads directly to the clan’s forbidden area, very close to the dungeon. If something unexpected happens, we’ll use this route.”
Ji Tianjin nodded, then activated the space-folding device. The two of them vanished on the spot.
Relying on memory, Su Cha led the way. There were three lines of defense along the path to the treasure vault, each guarded by an elder responsible for the safekeeping of the treasures.
The final elder was the most powerful. Sensing something amiss, he got up warily, his arms turning into vines that extended in all directions. After confirming there were no humans or other demons nearby, he resumed his meditation.
The dense array of formations couldn’t stop intruders from other dimensions. Once they reached the vault, Ji Tianjin didn’t linger—he moved on to the next step of the plan.
“Do you remember where the important people live?”
Su Cha pointed in a direction.
There was no need to remember—those with status in the clan always lived in the best feng shui spots, where sun and moon energy gathered.
Ji Tianjin was about to head over immediately.
But Su Cha suddenly grabbed him and said seriously, “Be careful.”
“Relax. I know what I’m doing.”
It was a dark, windy night—perfect for killing.
As if moving through an uninhabited land, Ji Tianjin weaved through the night. As he neared the area Su Cha had indicated, he began confirming his target. He passed by an elder’s residence—the elder was meditating by the window—but Ji Tianjin ignored him and continued onward, alert and scanning both sides.
Finally, he arrived at the most luxurious building, surrounded by tight patrols. He had a strong hunch that his target was inside.
Inside the building.
Su Yeling stood alone in an enclosed room. The floor was littered with fragments of a broken altar—he’d tried many ways, but couldn’t repair it.
Overhead, light shone down, casting sharp, gloomy shadows.
The only source of comfort came from the voice on the phone.
“Brother Ling, I’ll try again to contact a restoration specialist for you.”
The woman was usually cold, so whenever she spoke gently, it soothed some of the hostility in Su Yeling’s heart.
She continued, “I have a Gu Master friend. He’ll come by in a few days.”
“A Gu Master?” Su Yeling’s tone dipped. He didn’t like that field much. “What for?”
“The last soul-summoning failed. What if Su Cha was secretly interfering? So much time has passed—he’s probably gathered a lot of tricks. If he manages to cause chaos at the auction and retake the demon orb, all our setup would be for nothing. We need a backup plan.”
Su Yeling immediately understood. “You mean to plant a Gu inside the demon bead?”
“Yes. That way, it will affect the host. Even if he gets his hands on it, it’ll become a ticking time bomb.”
Su Yeling chuckled. “Ah Yu, you always think more thoroughly than I do.”
They stopped talking business. Su Yeling smiled faintly. “Hope your friend is a woman, or I might get jealous.”
The voice on the other end laughed. “If you don’t want to be jealous, let humans and demons depend on each other sooner.”
Su Yeling pushed the door open to get some air in the courtyard. “I’m 90% confident about this election…”
Before he could finish, his expression darkened. He reached into the air—his demonic power clashing directly with an incoming bullet. Due to the pressure on his spirit field, he was a split second too slow. The bullet narrowly grazed his abdomen.
“Brother Ling, what happened?”
“I’ll explain later.” He hung up the call.
Su Cha had once told Ji Tianjin that Su Yeling was trash—but very powerful.
That assessment was extremely accurate.
This was a silenced high-tech sniper rifle from the interstellar age, but it still couldn’t avoid detection by Su Yeling. The flare from the spell had already alerted others—elders were racing to the scene.
By the time they arrived where Su Yeling pointed, there was only a faint smell of gunpowder.
Ji Tianjin had already switched to another sniping point. Through the scope, he focused, aimed, and fired again with precision.
This time, the elder arrived nearly instantly—but still found nothing.
“Have we encountered a ghost?” he muttered, scanning the surroundings cautiously.
“Probably someone using an advanced invisibility artifact.” Su Yeling remained calm. Without overwhelming power, the enemy wouldn’t dare barge in recklessly.
Meanwhile, more and more people gathered.
“Don’t worry about me. Guard all positions,” Su Yeling ordered. “This weapon may be strong, but it can’t kill me. A scratch is the worst it can do.”
Expressionless, he stopped the bleeding from the graze on his abdomen. “Activate the mountain-guarding formation. Search every inch of this place. I want that intruder found—no matter what.”
After the words fell, Ji Tianjin pulled the trigger again. Unlike the first two shots, this time he fully unleashed his spirit power, firing several consecutive rounds toward a single direction.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
All the bullets shot between Su Yeling’s legs. His expression finally changed—flesh wounds weren’t scary, but some places couldn’t afford even the slightest graze.
Ji Tianjin packed up his heavy sniper rifle and smoothly switched to a compact silver handgun. Using the space-folding device for flawless movement, he fired each shot with increasing ruthlessness. His target remained clear—every bullet concentrated on Su Yeling’s lower body.
With the gunfire echoing, Su Yeling had long lost his initial calm. He barked, “What are you standing around for?!”
The surrounding clansmen kept their heads down, pretending not to understand, frantically searching for any trace of the intruder. Protecting the clan leader was their duty, sure—but this? Who could handle this?
A person could die, but they couldn’t be crippled.
Su Yeling growled, teeth clenched: “Get over here, all of you.”
No one dared openly defy the clan leader. Nervously, they formed a shield in front of him.
The bullets came sweeping from below—ruthless and indiscriminate.
“What the f—!”
The rain of bullets was so intense that someone nearly did a full splits trying to dodge. Unable to hold back, he swore aloud in front of Su Yeling.
Just who the hell was this b*stard, launching such a shameless sneak attack?!
Suddenly, a white tiger appeared in mid-air.
“Catch it!” an elder shouted, flying up first. The others followed, rushing skyward even faster than Su Yeling—none of them wanted to block the bullets aimed at the crotch.
Ji Tianjin seized the opening, calmly adjusted his aim, and fired a few more rounds.
The air cracked with turbulence and blasts. Missed bullets struck pillars in the distance, punching clean through and even igniting one into a gaping hole.
This scene made several people’s scalps tingle. None of the weapons they remembered could cause that kind of effect.
A faintly mocking smile curved Ji Tianjin’s lips. Finally, he swapped to a shotgun, one that maximized damage output. Raising it, he aimed at Su Yeling.
He fired two shots at once—one was a blast of spirit force that threw Su Yeling off balance, while the real bullet remained aimed at the same vital spot.
That first shot of the night had been a test. Once Ji Tianjin confirmed a gun couldn’t kill Su Yeling, he immediately shifted tactics. If he couldn’t kill him, he’d at least injure him. Aiming at the heart was pointless—but another spot was definitely worth it.
Bullets don’t give room for mercy. Su Yeling couldn’t spare time for hand seals and directly clashed with strong demon power to divert the shot.
But Ji Tianjin was fully prepared. With 3S-level spirit strength, no weaker than demon power, he went all-in without holding back. Even Su Yeling began to struggle.
This high-tech and demon-force clash, amplified by pure spirit power, ended with Ji Tianjin gaining the upper hand. Just as his face paled slightly from the strain, effort met reward—the bullet finally hit its target.
“Ugh—!”
A low beast-like groan escaped Su Yeling’s throat.
Unfortunately, the bullet’s trajectory had slightly shifted. It struck near the inner thigh, not the exact target, and Su Yeling used his protective demon energy to barely prevent further internal trauma.
But the extreme heat had still scorched a sensitive area. Blood gushed from his thigh, the scene downright horrifying.
With his goal achieved, Ji Tianjin swiftly stowed his gun, recalled his spirit form, and used the space-folding device to vanish.
“Clan leader!”
A crowd rushed up. An elder quickly pulled out a bottle of pills.
Su Yeling was extremely cautious—even now, he inspected the medicine for tampering before swallowing it.
The elder wasn’t offended—he was impressed instead.
A clan leader must never lose his reason.
“C-Clan leader…” All the top fighters had arrived and gasped when they saw the scene.
It wasn’t a fatal wound, and the blood loss wasn’t massive—but there was blood everywhere below the waist. It was terrifying to look at.
To preserve Su Yeling’s reputation, the elder waved others away to continue the search. The wound was hard to look at, but a hidden relief settled in his heart. Su Yeling’s push for human-demon coexistence wasn’t just about power—there may be other motives.
That motive, the elder didn’t want to examine too closely. Just as Su Cha would later understand—deep down, everyone knew who had truly doomed the clan back then. They just didn’t want to admit it.
For years, the elder had worried that Su Yeling let his emotions rule him. But now that he might have been crippled, perhaps those feelings were gone for good. If Su Yeling could now dedicate himself fully to the clan leader’s duties, the Flower Demon Clan might finally thrive.
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