As one of the high-quality humans, Su Cha was still paying attention to Su Yeling’s movements.
“There’s a rumor, though unconfirmed, that after I left, Su Yeling continued the auction process and sold my demon bead for a sky-high price of three billion.”
Based on what he knew about Su Yeling’s style, the man wouldn’t have stayed there just to make some money and subject himself to public gossip.
Su Cha had read through plenty of rumors, but none of them specifically mentioned who the buyer was. However, since it was sold at such a high price, it proved that Su Yeling wasn’t trying to use the price to curry favor.
Su Cha closed his eyes briefly. “What exactly is he trying to do?”
Ji Tianjin said, “Focus on recovering first. Let’s watch and wait.”
Su Cha nodded while still pondering. Su Yeling was a man who valued efficiency. No matter what his goal was, it would probably become clear soon.
After thinking for a while, Su Cha summoned his spirit form. The lotus magnolia spirit stood there motionless, pretending to be dull-witted.
Su Cha said, “I’ll need to trouble you again.”
The lotus magnolia weakly shook its leaves, and for the first time, without immediate danger, it took the initiative to speak: “We can’t choose where we’re born, but growing up always has a price.”
Su Cha’s face was expressionless. “You sure you want to talk philosophy with me?”
The lotus magnolia went silent.
It wasn’t sure. After all, all the skills it possessed came from its original host. In the end, the spirit gave up pretending to be profound.
Su Cha said, “The Xia family’s main residence is in the Nanjiang District. Try to find the soulmate bell.”
Unless absolutely necessary, they couldn’t risk using the spatial fold device again. When the lotus magnolia dispersed into tiny white flowers, its presence was almost nonexistent, and its natural aura of calm could easily lower people’s guard—perfect for this kind of mission.
Unlike other spirit forms, as long as Su Cha was alive, his spirit form could exist forever.
Seeing that there was no chance to slack off, the lotus magnolia climbed out the window and left.
Ji Tianjin knew this was Su Cha preparing for the eventual assassination of Su Yeling. If they could successfully steal the soulmate bell from Xia Yu, they would be able to track Su Yeling’s location in real time.
Su Cha lightly rubbed his fingertips. “Each soulmate bell contains a golden cicada. The cicada is a living creature—it can’t be stored in a space ring.”
Xia Yu, wanting to prevent their relationship from being exposed too soon, probably wouldn’t carry it on her person all the time. It was likely stored somewhere. If they could take it without anyone noticing, they would have a lot of room to maneuver.
“Su Yeling is powerful, but he has plenty of enemies. If the timing, location, and people all line up, we can consider setting up an ambush.”
The lotus magnolia would likely take a while, and Ji Tianjin checked the time—it was already 3 a.m. “We’ll discuss his matters tomorrow. For now, get some sleep. I’ll keep watch.”
The next day, the entire city was under lockdown. Patrols were set up practically every few steps, with sentries every five. Demon hunters were patrolling, traffic was being controlled—Tang City was practically in a state of martial law.
The Xia family was deploying people to review surveillance footage from all public areas, fully aware that Su Cha might have used special methods to disguise himself, but things like body shape and walking habits weren’t so easy to change. The Xia family invested significant manpower to go through surveillance footage, cross-referencing each exit with hotel records.
Su Cha was eating breakfast when he saw the news report, and his hand holding the bread paused: “Su Yeling actually managed to convince Tang City’s administrators to help him lock down the city.”
But he wasn’t overly worried. On their escape, Ji Tianjin had used his spirit power to shatter several critical surveillance cameras. After the extensive search last night, the Nanjiang District’s monitoring hadn’t been checked yet.
No matter how powerful the Xia family was, with Tang City’s population in the tens of millions, they wouldn’t be able to finish searching anytime soon.
Ji Tianjin was also a bit surprised.
At most, the Xia family would help look for Su Cha’s whereabouts, but they wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of negotiating a city lockdown. The martial law was most likely arranged solely by Su Yeling.
Before they could talk more about it, the spirit form returned. It was so lazy it clung to the window, unwilling to climb back in. Su Cha had to personally pull it inside.
The Xia family’s defenses were tight, with all sorts of formations mainly targeting demons and humans, but the miniature lotus magnolia wasn’t noticed at all.
Everything has pros and cons. It had successfully found something in Xia Yu’s secret compartment that looked like what Su Cha had described. The downside was that when the lotus magnolia scattered into tiny flowers, its energy became extremely weak. Around the soulmate bell, there wasn’t just a security system but also a nearly invisible ring of white wiggle worms. The lotus magnolia instinctively felt they were dangerous and didn’t dare try taking the bell.
“Wiggle worms?” Su Cha was silent for a moment, then suddenly chuckled softly. “So that’s how it is.”
He looked at Ji Tianjin. “It’s Gu.”
In the interstellar era, this stuff only appeared in ancient texts, but even people who didn’t know the details could feel it was something ominous just from the word alone.
“Xia Yu actually knows a Gu Master.” Before Su Cha could furrow his brow, Ji Tianjin reached out and pressed between his brows to stop him from frowning.
Su Cha laughed and continued, “This might be the real reason Su Yeling insisted on auctioning the demon bead in the end.”
He almost wanted to applaud this strategy. Even now, Gu Masters were almost extinct. Fortunately, the demon bead was now useless to him, otherwise he might have suffered some backlash.
Ji Tianjin said, “Looks like we’ve got more trouble.”
The sudden lockdown might have been arranged because Su Yeling had gained control over some powerful official.
Just a wall apart, the internet café and the outside world felt like two completely different realms.
Televisions, newspapers, non-stop mobile notifications—Su Yeling could find traces of Su Cha’s “fall from grace” in every corner of this city.
The only comforting thing was that the identity of the buyer yesterday didn’t disappoint him. That person’s power was second only to the mayor in this city.
“External threats can wait,” an elder said sternly, standing across from Su Yeling. “Right now, everyone’s saying Su Cha was wronged. There’s bound to be a lot of discussion within the clan.”
“Then make them shut up.”
Su Yeling knew that explanations wouldn’t matter much. It was better to use real, tangible benefits to balance everything out.
“Su Cha betrayed the clan and is still trying to slander me. That’s a serious crime. No matter whether they’re from the main family or a branch family, anyone who finds Su Cha’s whereabouts will receive a Blood Spirit Ganoderma and a thousand-year ginseng; anyone who has fought him will be promoted one rank—branch family members can use this to directly enter the main family; and if someone manages to kill him…”
Su Yeling’s eyes turned cold. “That person will become the next clan leader.”
The elder was momentarily shocked but quickly agreed this was the most effective method.
No matter what the truth was back then, people would only care about what they could gain right now. This completely pushed Su Cha to the opposite side of the Flower Demon Clan.
Su Yeling sneered, “I’ll contact the idiot controlled by the Gu worm and get them to open a green channel to let more of our people into the city.”
He knew Su Cha too well. The night Su Cha infiltrated the Flower Demon Clan, he could’ve gone after more clansmen, but he deliberately targeted Su Yeling instead. This showed he didn’t want to involve others.
Now with the citywide manhunt, Su Cha would easily run into members of the Flower Demon Clan. Even if not now, eventually they would become enemies. When Su Cha is forced to repeatedly harm his former kin with his own hands, his resolve will inevitably start to waver—possibly even collapse.
From another perspective, when someone starts ruthlessly killing their former kin without hesitation, the world will naturally stop seeing them as a victim and start treating them as a dangerous monster.
The elder quickly sent the message back to the Flower Demon Clan, causing an immediate uproar.
The most excited were the branch family members. This might be their only chance to join the main family.
“I heard even the clan leader suffered losses at Su Cha’s hands. If we go, wouldn’t we just be throwing our lives away?”
“Didn’t they say we could just engage him? I think we can try our luck. Right now, he’s mainly targeting the clan leader. Maybe he won’t go for the kill.”
“The survival rate for those who enter the main clan’s assessment each year is less than one in ten. This is actually a bit easier.”
“Exactly. We don’t necessarily have to fight. As long as we can find Su Cha’s whereabouts, the opportunity will present itself.”
The flower demons from the branch families were desperate to enter the main bloodline, while the main bloodline sought to elevate their own status. That very afternoon, many people couldn’t wait to set out, all the while thinking hard about how to ensure they could retreat safely.
There weren’t many demons from Su Cha’s era still alive, so quite a few people brought treasures to seek advice.
“I remember he’s relatively kind-hearted. Maybe we can try to use that.”
The ones seeking advice fell into contemplation, and in an instant, many ideas began to form in their minds.
…
Staying in an internet café all the time would look too suspicious. Before nightfall, Su Cha and Ji Tianjin had to move to a new location.
The lotus magnolia went out first to scout a safe route and guided them to an open area.
Su Cha looked around but didn’t see any inns or places to stay until the lotus magnolia’s leaf pointed at the ground.
Su Cha’s mouth twitched. “The sewer?”
Friend, are you serious?
The lotus magnolia lowered its head.
This was already the best the spirit form could find after searching hard. With lockdowns everywhere, finding a relatively safe sewer was not easy.
Taking a deep breath, Su Cha had no choice but to compromise and enter the city’s underground passages.
Ji Tianjin couldn’t think of a better place either. “Hold on a little. It won’t take more than three days.”
The city was locked down just to catch a single demon—most citizens were probably already fed up. The lockdown wouldn’t last long.
Su Cha nodded and sighed, “Let’s just hope no further complications arise.”
Hiding during the day and moving at night, Su Cha soon realized he had still underestimated Su Yeling’s shamelessness. According to the latest official announcements online, the lockdown was about to be lifted, but every checkpoint would remain heavily guarded.
Except for the demon-restricted Nanjing District, almost every exit point in Tang City now had flower demons stationed nearby.
The public began to question why so many demons had entered the city. The officials gave a reasonable explanation: the demons entering this time were young, their demon power was average, and they were within controllable limits. The flower demons weren’t stupid either. Whenever they were caught on camera, they deliberately acted reluctant, as if they were being forced. This way, even if they encountered Su Cha, they could justify themselves, saying they were acting under the clan leader’s deadly orders.
Su Cha didn’t miss a single interview clip in the media. After watching, his expression turned chillingly cold: “Su Yeling is forcing me to personally slaughter my own clansmen.”
Ji Tianjin remained expressionless. “Then kill them.”
In his view, these demons were probably just pretending to be timid. Even if Su Cha didn’t want to do it, he wanted to personally clean them out.
The underground signal wasn’t great. Staring at the faces of the young demons in the footage, Su Cha lowered his head and looked at his own hands. After a long moment, he let out a bitter, self-deprecating laugh: “How much more of my clansmen’s blood will these hands be stained with in the end?”
For the next several hours, he remained in silence. Ji Tianjin didn’t disturb him, only occasionally patting his back in comfort.
His injuries hadn’t fully healed to begin with, and the underground conditions weren’t great. In the middle of the night, Su Cha developed a low fever. When Ji Tianjin tried to go out and buy medicine, Su Cha stopped him: “No need.”
He knew his own body well—he just needed a bit of rest.
After sleeping fitfully for a few hours, when Su Cha opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on Ji Tianjin’s lap. Next to him was a mechanical glove that had been taken apart into several pieces.
Ji Tianjin was finishing reassembling it, restoring the glove to its original shape.
Su Cha was momentarily stunned, then quickly sat up. “What are you doing?”
“I replaced a few damaged parts in the spatial folding device. It should still work a few more times.”
Su Cha: “Why didn’t you just dismantle mine…”
Ji Tianjin explained, “I’ve modified my mechanical glove before. Some of its parts can be used as substitutes for the folding device.”
Su Cha wasn’t particularly attached to his mechanical glove, but for most people in the interstellar age, a mechanical glove was like a sword to a swordsman.
“It’ll just limit my attack power a bit. I can fix it later.” Ji Tianjin calmly put it back on. “Don’t dwell on this.”
Su Cha understood that Ji Tianjin did this to get out of the city as soon as possible and to avoid more clashes with the flower demon clan.
“You actually didn’t have to…”
He didn’t finish the sentence. Just as Ji Tianjin said, there was no point in dwelling on it. Su Cha quickly changed the subject: “Let’s leave the city now. There’s somewhere I want to go.”
Ji Tianjin helped him up. Su Cha was drenched in cold sweat and still had a fever. It was only after breathing in some fresh air outside that he felt a bit better.
Using the spatial folding device, the two of them successfully escaped the city. On the way, when they passed a few young flower demons searching in teams, Su Cha’s fingers twitched, and a flash of coldness passed through his eyes.
The place Su Cha wanted to go bordered the flower demon clan’s Danhe Realm. His voice was hoarse, his throat painfully dry, but Ji Tianjin didn’t ask why he wanted to go there. He just mapped out the route and brought Su Cha along.
Riding on the white tiger, the spirit form ran swiftly. They switched to a car in a small city along the way and finally reached Dahe Province safely by the evening of the next day.
As usual, they took a remote path. Su Cha led Ji Tianjin to an unknown mountain area. Because it bordered the Danhe Realm, the flower demon clan had even set up a restricted zone here. Normally, no one dared to approach.
Su Cha stopped at the edge. “We’re here.”
Ji Tianjin first touched his forehead to confirm the fever had subsided, then asked, “Where is this?”
Su Cha didn’t answer directly. Instead, he softly said, “Debts have their owners. I originally didn’t want to get too entangled with the flower demon clan anymore, but they keep pressing me step by step.”
Under the moonlight, he slightly tilted his head, feeling the night breeze, as if he had finally made up his mind. But what he said was: “Even so, I still can’t just stand by and watch the flower demon clan be destroyed.”
Ji Tianjin’s arm moved, intending to habitually pat Su Cha’s head, but midway he hesitated and instead gently held Su Cha’s hand, as if trying to pass his warmth to him.
Though it was cruel, Ji Tianjin still slowly pointed out the key truth: “The flower demon clan’s roots are already rotten. If you don’t kill them, they’ll kill you.”
“I know. I just… need a little more time.”
Ji Tianjin said firmly, “It’s not easy to accept reality, but I’ll be by your side.”
Su Cha shook his head, indicating that this wasn’t about accepting reality.
His gaze stretched far away, his voice carried by the night wind, sometimes near, sometimes distant: “Don’t you think this mountain is a bit special?”
He had been focused on Su Cha earlier, but upon hearing this, Ji Tianjin carefully sensed his surroundings and realized that standing here did indeed make him feel unusually refreshed and clear-headed.
“Starting from this mountain, there are seventy-two connected mountain ranges, rich in spiritual energy, gathering the essence of heaven, earth, sun, and moon.”
Ji Tianjin’s spirit energy was always in a wide-reaching state. Confirming that no one lived nearby and there were no structures, he curiously asked, “Since this is a feng shui treasure land, why didn’t the flower demon clan choose to settle here?”
Su Cha smiled, “Because the plants growing here are on the verge of gaining intelligence at any moment.”
Ji Tianjin was briefly stunned.
Su Cha explained, “There’s an ancient formation inside. Anyone without pure flower demon blood will be instantly torn apart if they enter. Without the spatial folding device, you and I wouldn’t be able to get out in one piece.”
Ji Tianjin: “So you came here because…”
“I want to try using my spirit power to stimulate these plants. It’s like imprinting on newborns—one day when they gain consciousness and take human form, they’ll listen to me.” Su Cha spoke calmly, “After I finish here, if time allows, I’ll risk going back to the flower demon clan. Most young flower demons who’ve just gained spiritual awareness aren’t welcomed and prefer to stay in their original forms to cultivate. I’ll subtly influence them as well.”
The previous generations are beyond saving. When it’s time to act, he will. He can only try to save the minds of the younger generation to prevent the clan from total ruin.
Ever since his deep awakening, Su Cha’s ability to stimulate plant growth had rarely been used, to the point where Ji Tianjin had almost forgotten he had this skill.
The nearby white tiger’s eyes widened in awe. Its big head rubbed against Su Cha—controlling an entire generation in one swoop and then triggering an internal rebellion later—how cool is that?
The clouds veiled the moonlight. Su Cha suddenly covered his chest and murmured, “All I ever wanted was to just be a kid, but now I have to be the father and big brother of the entire next generation of the flower demon clan. My heart hurts so much.”
Ji Tianjin: “…”
“Why are they pushing me like this? Why?”
Ji Tianjin: “…”
