Chapter 386 – 「Chaos」

If someone were here and saw Li Wu acting as if facing a great enemy, they would surely be astonished, wouldn’t they?

The second-in-command of the underground world’s largest mercenary organization, a Seven-Star Professional standing at the pinnacle of humanity, actually showing such vigilance and even reverence toward one person—it was truly shocking.

But if someone recognized the old man who made Li Wu so wary, they wouldn’t feel this way.

Because anyone who knew this old man would understand exactly what kind of person he was.

“You’ve got quite the nerve, Second Li.”

The old man’s gaze was like lightning, shooting toward Li Wu.

“To dare appear in Tianfeng City’s vicinity and stir up trouble—do you really think your ‘Sin’ organization has the qualifications to shake Tianfeng City?”

The old man’s tone was indifferent, yet it brought overwhelming pressure that made Li Wu’s body tense up even more.

However, Li Wu showed no sign of backing down, letting out cold laughs.

“This isn’t Tianfeng City. Can you old fossils from Tianfeng City really extend your reach into this wilderness danger zone?” Li Wu sneered. “I should be the one saying I’m surprised—that you’d actually leave Tianfeng City, which you’ve been guarding all this time.”

Li Wu was well aware of this old man’s status and importance in Tianfeng City.

This had led to the old man guarding Tianfeng City for decades, perhaps even longer.

During this time, unless absolutely necessary, this existence who could be called humanity’s guardian would never leave Tianfeng City.

This time, the old man had actually mobilized directly—Li Wu was indeed shocked.

To this, the old man smiled mysteriously.

“My Tianfeng City isn’t like your ‘Sin’ organization with only two Seven-Star Professionals, where no matter what action you take, you must leave one person to guard the base, with only one Seven-Star Professional able to act.” The old man said calmly. “Tianfeng City has strong experts like clouds and abundant talent. Even if I’m not there, there are plenty of Seven-Star Professionals to oversee the situation.”

“Moreover, this place isn’t far from Tianfeng City, and I’m quite concerned about the movements of Hell Beasts. Taking action once for this reason isn’t unreasonable.”

As he spoke, the old man glanced in Su Ming’s direction, then at Qing Qing’s direction, narrowing his eyes.

“Look at that—didn’t I encounter something good?”

Hearing the old man’s words, Li Wu’s expression changed, and he immediately stepped in front of Qing Qing.

“You want the Divine Artifact?” Li Wu mocked. “Someone like you would actually want a Divine Artifact?”

“You’re overthinking it.” The old man withdrew his gaze and shook his head. “Though Divine Artifacts are powerful, they’re far too dangerous. Even I cannot suppress a Divine Artifact’s erosion, so I keep my distance from them.”

That’s what he said, but just because the old man didn’t want it himself didn’t mean he was willing to watch others use a Divine Artifact’s power for evil.

“That’s Li Xiong’s daughter, isn’t it?” The old man looked at Qing Qing behind Li Wu and the Great Sin Blade beside her. “What a fine Big Brother Li, actually giving something like a Divine Artifact to his own daughter. Should I say he dotes on his daughter, or that he’s cold and ruthless?”

At least in the old man’s view, for Li Xiong to throw such a dangerous thing as a Divine Artifact to his own daughter clearly showed he didn’t care about her life or death.

“That’s none of your business.” Li Wu’s tone was cold and fierce. “Cut the chatter. What do you want to do? Lay down your terms.”

Though Li Wu’s tone was cold and full of ferocity, from these words one could see he was still very wary of the person before him.

Compared to Li Wu, the old man was much more composed.

“Personally, I’d very much like to keep both you and Li Xiong’s daughter here, along with that Divine Artifact.”

The old man actually said such words.

“You think you can do it?” Li Wu laughed in anger. “I admit you’re strong, and I’m no match for you alone, but if you want to snatch people and things from my hands—no way!”

Both being Seven-Star Professionals, though Li Wu wasn’t a match for the person before him, it wouldn’t be too easy for the opponent to take him down.

In such circumstances, Li Wu could still manage to escape with Qing Qing and Crow.

As the second-in-command of one of the underground world’s giant organizations, Li Wu wouldn’t lack life-saving items.

If worst came to worst, risking his life, Li Wu could fight to the death and take the old man down with him.

“Don’t think I’m really afraid of you!”

Li Wu pulled out a box.

It was a box about twenty centimeters in diameter, completely covered in eerie black, emanating a dangerous aura.

Holding this box, Li Wu stared at the old man with a fierce expression.

The old man’s eyes flickered slightly.

“So you’re carrying a Pandora with you?” The old man said calmly. “No wonder you didn’t flee immediately after seeing me.”

——”Pandora.”

This was the name of a woman made from clay by the gods in mythological legend.

She was the first woman on earth, blessed by the gods and receiving many gifts from divine beings.

But among these gifts was a magic box that could plunge the entire world into Hundun in an instant.

People called this magic box Pandora’s magic box or Pandora’s Box, considered in mythological legend to be a gift that brings misfortune.

If the Demon Emperor Sword was synonymous with power, and the Great Sin Blade synonymous with death, then Pandora’s Box was synonymous with disaster, symbolizing misfortune and calamity.

The black box Li Wu held was named after the same holder of that legendary magic box.

Because it was recognized by everyone in this world as currently possessing the most astonishing destructive power among all alchemical tools.

Its essence was an alchemical bomb. Once the box was opened, the power hidden inside would surge out, destroying everything around it.

The energy it released was no less than that of a volcanic eruption. Even Seven-Star Professionals, if close enough, would be blown to pieces. Even using all their means to resist would result in at least severe injuries and near death.

Its power already had some characteristics of Forbidden Arts. Even if it couldn’t match true offensive Forbidden Arts, it could rival or even surpass the strongest Advanced Spirit Arts ranked at the bottom of the high-level sequence.

For the people of this world, this alchemical bomb called “Pandora” might be the true nuclear weapon.

If not for its expensive cost and extremely complex manufacturing process making it difficult to produce, humans might have wanted to mass-produce these nuclear weapons to conduct large-scale bombing against Phantom Demons and counterattack toward Spirit Demon Abyss.

Given this, Pandora was extremely rare and precious. Even Tianfeng City’s treasury contained only two.

Unexpectedly, Li Wu also had one in his hands.

“Even you would be severely injured if not killed by a direct hit from Pandora, right?” Li Wu spoke with the tone of a desperate man. “How about it? Want to try?”

Hearing this, the old man fell silent.

“Hmph.”

Li Wu immediately snorted coldly, secretly breathing a sigh of relief.

He knew the old man wasn’t afraid of death, but had too many reasons why he couldn’t die, so he didn’t dare fight desperately with him.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t be so easy to intimidate him.

This was a truly legendary figure, someone even his big brother feared, a terrifying existence that made countless Underground Professionals tremble.

It was precisely because he guarded Tianfeng City that so many small-time criminals in the underground world were deterred and didn’t dare step foot in Tianfeng City.

Otherwise, given the ferocity and malice of Underground Professionals, they would have probably caused countless incidents in Tianfeng City already.

Therefore, from the moment he appeared, Li Wu knew he couldn’t do anything more.

Taking the opportunity to leave was already a choice he had to make.

Li Wu looked toward Su Ming’s direction with extreme reluctance, staring at the Demon Emperor Sword in Su Ming’s hands, then finally suppressed his unwillingness and impulse, turned around, picked up Qing Qing and Crow, and prepared to leave.

At this moment, the old man’s voice rang out again.

“What exactly is your ‘Sin’ organization trying to do?”

The old man’s voice was still as calm yet powerful as before.

“Targeting the Seal of that ‘King,’ attempting to release him—does your ‘Sin’ organization want to destroy the entire world?”

This statement made Li Wu stop in his tracks.

After a moment, Li Wu turned around.

“We of ‘Sin’ pursue only Hundun.”

Li Wu said expressionlessly.

“People say this world isn’t simply black and white, but at least on the surface, only you sanctimonious Professionals can live under the sunlight, while we Underground Professionals can only struggle for survival in the underground world.”

“We’re not satisfied, we’re not content.”

“Why can’t openly ‘evil’ survive under the sunlight?”

“Why can meaningless ‘good’ naturally suppress us?”

“This status quo—I’m unwilling to watch it, my big brother is unwilling to watch it, everyone in our ‘Sin’ organization is unwilling to watch it.”

“So we need a revolution, a revolution that will reset the world.”

Li Wu’s tone became extremely dangerous.

“The world was originally all Hundun. It was because of you that white was divided, that black was divided.”

“Since you can’t tolerate us, then we’ll open up territory ourselves and turn the world into something that allows us to act as we please.”

“Believe me, that day won’t be far off.”

Leaving these words, Li Wu glanced in one direction, then flashed away.

The old man watched Li Wu’s departure, cold light and Killing Intent appearing in his eyes.

But in the end, the old man still didn’t make a move.

It wasn’t until Li Wu completely disappeared from the old man’s sight that he withdrew his gaze and sighed deeply.

“In the end, I still couldn’t make up my mind. The older I get, the more concerns I have. I’m living less and less like myself.”

The old man mocked himself.

After a while, the old man turned around and looked at Su Ming.

“——”

Hai’er, who had been silently listening to their conversation, immediately tensed up and looked at the old man with full vigilance.

Obviously, Hai’er was very worried that the old man would attack Su Ming.

She didn’t have Pandora, didn’t have Seven-Star Professional strength, and was inferior to Li Wu in all aspects—she couldn’t intimidate the old man.

If the old man really attacked Su Ming, Hai’er estimated she’d have to fight desperately.

Fortunately, she had just received some unexpected gifts.

Considering that gift, Hai’er felt she at least had some capital to resist the old man.

“Oh?”

The old man seemed to notice Hai’er for the first time, showing a surprised expression for the first time.

“What a beautiful girl, even more outstanding than That Qin Family Girl. How surprising.” The old man suddenly frowned and stared directly at Hai’er. “No, that’s not right. You’re not human.”

As soon as these words came out, the alarm bells in Hai’er’s heart rang completely, and shock appeared in her eyes.

You must know, since taking the Purple Snow Essence, she had broken through some life limitations. Once in human form, she was no different from ordinary humans, with almost no distinction.

Without exaggeration, the current Hai’er could even do intimate things if she wanted.

Even, if nothing unexpected happened, Hai’er could have children with humans—that was feasible.

Under such circumstances, for the old man to see through Hai’er’s true nature at a glance was truly shocking and frightening for her.

But the old man was actually more surprised.

Because he could only tell that the woman before him wasn’t human, but couldn’t determine what she actually was.

Being able to see that Hai’er wasn’t human was because she had just taken the Purple Snow Essence not long ago and hadn’t mastered human form purely enough, causing her aura to be somewhat chaotic and unlike pure humans, which allowed the old man to see through her.

But the old man could only see through the truth that Hai’er wasn’t human—he didn’t know what kind of existence she actually was.

A Phantom Demon?

But why would a Phantom Demon be protecting a human youngster?

And that human youngster, though looking young, had an aura no less than top Professionals, and wielded a Divine Artifact—his background was clearly significant.

“It seems this place becoming like this is also inseparable from this youngster.”

The old man thought for a moment and finally decided to observe first before making any decisions.

“Bring that youngster and follow me. Let’s get out of here first.”

The old man spoke to Hai’er.

“Don’t worry, for now, I won’t do anything to you.”

At least, he needed to gather some intelligence on these two before making judgments.

“Follow me.”

With that, the old man turned around first and left, seemingly not worried at all that Hai’er wouldn’t follow.

Hai’er stood in place, looking at the old man’s back, struggling and hesitating for a moment before finally picking up Su Ming.

She wasn’t human and didn’t know what to do at this time.

Su Ming had lost consciousness again and couldn’t make decisions.

But the other party was from Tianfeng City—he probably wouldn’t directly attack her little master, right?

She’d wait for her little master to wake up and make other plans then.

She believed that as long as her master woke up, no matter how difficult the situation, he could resolve it.

Hai’er had this confidence.

So Hai’er picked up Su Ming and followed the old man.

“Clang…”

The Demon Emperor Sword in Su Ming’s hand finally transformed into faint light, merged back into Su Ming’s right hand, and disappeared.

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(End of Chapter)