Chapter 514: Chapter 514: I was forced into a corner, that’s why I resorted to this last-ditch strategy!

Zang Peng knew this fire was definitely related to Ning Xuan, though he had no idea what the man was up to.

"That won’t do!"

"Just give up!"

"But rest assured, we will make sure you compete on time."

This time, Zang Peng received a response, but he couldn’t feel happy about it at all.

It was bad enough that Ning Xuan had entered the Holy Realm, but to think he could also get such powerful cultivators to serve him!

Zang Peng felt an unprecedented pressure. He uncharacteristically softened his stance, "Everyone, I promise not to ruin his plans. I can swear it on my Divine Soul!"

They ignored him, their attention fixed on the ever-growing fire.

"Young Master, have we gotten ourselves into trouble?"

In the Zhang Family residence, a burly man looked at the half-red sky and asked Zhang Yi.

Zhang Yi didn’t reply. He had withdrawn into himself.

If he had known they were going to play for such high stakes, he would never have cooperated.

The burly man muttered, unconcerned, "Strange, aren’t they Law Enforcement Officers? Why would they set a fire?"

Zhang Yi was stunned, then exclaimed, "Fuck! We’re screwed!"

He slapped himself hard across the face and vanished at top speed.

Shortly after, he and the corpulent Zhang Zhaoshen were both slumped on the ground, staring blankly at each other.

After a moment, Zhang Yi suggested listlessly, "Dad, should we run for it?"

"Run, my ass! Our family’s enterprise is huge; if we actually run, we’ll be found out in no time! We have to pretend like nothing happened... No, that won’t work. We have to spread some wealth around!" Zhang Zhaoshen furrowed his brows, trying to think of a solution.

Zhang Yi’s eyes lit up. "Dad, why don’t we let them rob the Zhang Family’s treasure basin?" 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"No way! That’s... Damn it, it seems like this is the only way!" Zhang Zhaoshen wore an expression of pure agony.

Despite his immense wealth, he was notoriously stingy. As for why he had spent a fortune to hire the Divine Blade Ding Heyan... forget it. That wasn’t important right now.

"This is all your fault. You deal with it!" Zhang Zhaoshen was mentally exhausted.

Damn it! I’m so exhausted. Just let it all be destroyed!

What else could Zhang Yi do but brace himself and agree?

"Okay!"

「Meanwhile」

Ning Xuan and his group smoothly arrived at the underground Secret Vault of the Four Seas Bank. The sight of endless Divine Crystals was so entrancing that the four of them couldn’t take their eyes off the hoard.

"What are you all standing around for? Get moving," Ning Xuan urged.

At his prompt, the dazed quartet frantically began to collect as many Divine Crystals as they could. Ning Xuan, however, ignored the Divine Crystals completely and walked deeper into the vault. An unseen force seemed to be calling to him. To be precise, it was calling to the Evil-Slaying Fish he carried.

Divine Crystals are common, but rare treasures are not. Ning Xuan understood what was more important.

Watching Ning Xuan walk forward as if in a daze, the fat man’s eyes flashed with a peculiar light. He sent a telepathic message to the young man, "Big Brother, what are our chances if we make our move now?!"

The young man snapped, "Fatso, have you gone insane! He..." As he spoke, he glanced toward Ning Xuan and was also tempted.

He’s not on guard against us at all! If the four of us attack together... The bold feast while the timid starve! Let’s risk it!

The next moment—

BOOM! BANG! SWISH!

All four of them attacked Ning Xuan at once, but their assaults hit nothing but air.

Ning Xuan hadn’t intentionally baited them, but his Six Senses were incredibly sharp. He had discerned the anomaly in the four of them the instant it arose. In an instant, the hunted became the hunter.

THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!

With four swift sounds, four corpses were left on the ground, their eyes wide open in death.

Ning Xuan still ignored the Divine Crystals, instead activating the Chaos Ancestral Dragon Scripture as he continued forward. This was a sealed space reinforced with an Array. Ning Xuan pushed the Cultivation Technique to the absolute limit the Array could withstand.

As a result, the Divine Crystals began to diminish at a visible rate. All of it transformed into ferocious energy and was devoured by Ning Xuan.

However, Ning Xuan suddenly sensed another power. It was faint, yet incredibly formidable, for it was actually siphoning off the pure energy from the Divine Crystals. When the fully alert Ning Xuan identified the source of this power, he was stunned. It was a golden carp.

The carp was no bigger than his palm, but as its gills pulsed, it snatched the energy that should have been his, like stealing food from a dragon’s mouth.

This thing is definitely a treasure! Right... it seems the Evil-Slaying Fish was agitated because of it, too!

Ning Xuan stared at it, assessing its combat strength.

The creature flicked its tail and promptly vanished without a trace.

Not having the time to search for it, Ning Xuan swept his great sleeve, gathering as many of the undevoured Divine Crystals as possible before bursting out of the vault. He had just left when, in the next instant, the Secret Vault was flooded with boundless killing intent.

「Outside」

Ning Xuan appeared in the crowd. Leng Yi saw him immediately. Their eyes met, and everything was understood without a word.

"Where is the Realm Lord? With such a major incident, why hasn’t the Realm Lord shown up?" a voice suddenly cut through the noise.

Leng Yi immediately sent a telepathic message, "The other nine experts from the True Servant Society have arrived. They’re the ones who extinguished the fire."

Ning Xuan’s heart tensed.

It’s so chaotic here. Surely no one will notice a small fry like me, right?

He was tempted to probe with his senses, but he restrained himself. The one who had burst into the Secret Vault was undoubtedly the Dali Realm Lord, whose strength was unfathomable. The other nine from the True Servant Society, even if not his equal, couldn’t be that far behind. The more one stood out right now, the more attention one would attract.

At this moment, the only thing Ning Xuan felt fortunate about was that he had left no survivors, neither in the Secret Vault nor before. Even the two who fled should have been eliminated by now, a fact he deduced from Zang Peng’s absence. The ones who had abducted Zang Peng would have definitely killed them for him, just as they had agreed beforehand.

Speak of the devil, Ning Xuan immediately spotted Zang Peng.

Then, a figure appeared in front of the approaching Zang Peng. He wasn’t tall, but his aura was heart-stopping. Even Zang Peng involuntarily took two steps back.

"Kid, where have you been?" the little old man demanded of Zang Peng, his tone so sinister it could instantly freeze a person stiff.

"Ah, Ning Xuan had me buy him some roast chicken. He loves chicken more than anything. Isn’t that right, Brother Ning?" Zang Peng brandished the object in his hand as he spoke.

Immediately, the little old man whipped his head around, his lightning-like gaze locking onto Ning Xuan.

Ning Xuan appeared startled and took a step back, but he still quickly nodded.

Inside, he was cursing Zang Peng relentlessly.

That son of a bitch has some nerve! He’s threatening me! Still... trying to scheme against me won’t be that easy.

Ning Xuan immediately said, "I’m sorry, I never intended to befriend him. He kept pestering me, so I felt I had no choice but to resort to this."