In the center of the villa sat an elderly man dressed in a Zhongshan suit. With fierce eyes and a hawk-like nose, he was staring intently at Ye Tianming.
A dozen rows of bodyguards in black stood beside him—at least forty or fifty in total.
Far from feeling crowded, the spacious villa lobby was filled with an overwhelming sense of pressure!
Ye Tianming was no ordinary person either. He instantly sensed murderous intent radiating from these men, and the old man in the middle exuded an especially oppressive aura!
A thought flashed through Ye Tianming's mind: everyone present had blood on their hands. A quick glance at the layout of the villa made his heart skip a beat—they were affiliated with an underground syndicate!
"Sir, please come in."
Shàngguān Qīngyuè walked in first. Without a moment's hesitation, Ye Tianming followed her inside.
He saw Shàngguān Qīngyuè walk up to the old man and whisper something, causing the old man's expression to shift slightly.
Ye Tianming stood there calmly, unceremoniously pulling out a cigarette, putting it between his lips, and lighting it.
The old man immediately frowned, casting a cold, knife-like glance at Ye Tianming. After a moment, he let out a hoarse laugh:
"Young man, if you can solve my problem, smoking here is fine. But if you can't, smoking in my villa is going to cost you."
Ye Tianming curled his lips, completely unconcerned. "You old man, you haven't even told me what the problem is, how am I supposed to solve it? Spit it out. Your Grandpa Ye is in a good mood today, I'll solve it for you."
As soon as those words left his mouth, dead silence filled the room. Boundless murderous intent erupted from the old man!
Old man? Grandpa Ye?
In all his years in Lónghǎi, absolutely no one had ever dared to be this disrespectful to him!
Shàngguān Qīngyuè's face turned pale. At that very moment, every single bodyguard locked their eyes on Ye Tianming with an icy glare, unleashing a tidal wave of murderous intent toward him!
Any ordinary person would have been frightened pale or even collapsed in a heap under such circumstances!
Yet Ye Tianming merely puffed on his cigarette calmly, as if he didn't feel a thing.
What a joke. They were just a bunch of thugs and bodyguards.
Back overseas, he had once faced more than seventy top international assassin factions, confronting a joint encirclement of nearly a thousand world-class elite killers.
In that battle, he had barely suffered a scratch while completely annihilating all seventy-odd factions.
Otherwise, his reputation overseas wouldn't have been so legendary.
Completely unfazed by the murderous intent, Ye Tianming took a few final puffs, threw the cigarette butt down, and ground it out with the tip of his shoe. Only then did he speak indifferently:
"Alright, spit it out. What on earth is going on? Your Grandpa Ye is very busy and doesn't have time to play games with you lot."
As his voice trailed off, Ye Tianming stretched lazily, and the entire wave of murderous intent was instantly beaten back!
Everyone in the villa turned pale with shock.
The old man in the Zhongshan suit also twitched at the corner of his mouth, a flicker of strange emotion crossing his eyes.
Beside him, Shàngguān Qīngyuè whispered something else into his ear, and the old man nodded slightly.
Suddenly, he gave a hoarse chuckle, turned to Ye Tianming with an apologetic look, and said:
"My young friend, I was a bit presumptuous just now, please forgive me. Since you are a busy man, I'll keep it short."
The old man coughed, cleared his throat, and continued with a grave expression: "To be honest with you, my granddaughter and I have been in several car accidents over the past few months and suffered inexplicable injuries. But that's not even the worst of it—every single night when I sleep, I have nightmares, I feel a tightness in my chest and shortness of breath, and what's more..."
Ye Tianming interrupted him: "And you keep dreaming of something unclean watching you from the window, and you even start hallucinating that someone is coming to claim your life right by your bed. You always wake up terrified in the middle of the night, and you can't even find peace during your afternoon naps, right?"
Pausing for a second, Ye Tianming added: "Not just at night—you probably always have nightmares during your afternoon naps too, and lately your physique has visibly weakened. Am I right, old man?"
A look of utter shock appeared on the old man's face, instantly replaced by overwhelming joy!
He actually stumbled toward Ye Tianming, grabbed his hand, and shook it with extreme excitement:
"My young friend, you hit the nail on the head! Exactly! Not a single word is wrong!"
The old man was both shocked and awestruck. To be able to calculate such a thing—this was truly a divine being!
It wasn't as if he hadn't consulted various masters before, but none of them could ever make heads or tails of it. Today, he was genuinely shaken to his core!
Looking at the old man, Ye Tianming smiled brightly. "Your problem isn't small, but it's not huge either. I can fix it, but do you know how much the fee is?"
"I know, fifty million! Don't worry, as long as my young friend can solve my problem, I will present fifty million to you with my own hands!"
Only then did Ye Tianming let out a chuckle. "Very well. Seeing as you're being sincere, old man, I'll take care of it for you right now."
With that, Ye Tianming pointed a finger at the black dragon-head armchair the old man had been sitting in earlier, and said solemnly:
"Now, burn that thing to ashes! Bury a portion of the ashes beneath the Dragon Saliva tree in your courtyard, and mix the rest with boiling water and drink it!"
"What?!"
The old man instantly frowned. "My young friend, are you pulling my leg? This dragon chair belonged to a prince from the Tang Dynasty! I pulled strings everywhere and spent close to 100 million to buy it back! I cherish it dearly and hire people to restore it every month. How... how can I burn it?"
Ye Tianming remained nonchalant. "The root of the problem is in that chair. Listen to me and burn it immediately."
The old man fell silent for a moment, then shook his head. "This chair cannot be burned! It must not be burned!"
He shot Ye Tianming a suspicious glance, then suddenly said coldly:
"My young friend, are you toying with me?"
Shàngguān Qīngyuè bit her lip and said to Ye Tianming, "Sir, my grandfather really went to great lengths to buy this chair. It's priceless and extremely precious; it cannot be burned. Besides, how can you be so certain the problem lies with the chair?"
Ye Tianming glanced at her and gave a cold smile. "If you don't believe me, why did you invite me here in the first place? Believe it or not, do whatever you want with it—burn it or don't. But let me warn you: if you don't burn this chair, you're going to suffer at least five more accidents within the next three days!"
With that, Ye Tianming flicked his sleeve and turned to walk out of the villa. Shàngguān Qīngyuè instinctively moved to chase after him, but the old man behind her let out a cold snort:
"Qīngyuè, let that brat go! I can see he's nothing more than a fraud! Trying to fool me—bah! I'd like to see what kind of accide—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the massive chandelier hanging right above the old man's head swayed slightly, and the next second, it came crashing down without warning!
Shàngguān Qīngyuè reacted instantly. Her pupils constricted and she shrieked:
"Grandfather! Watch out!"
Before the words had even faded from her lips, she lunged toward the old man, but she was still a fraction of a second too late. The chandelier smashed heavily onto the old man's legs!
With a sharp *crack*, the sound of bones shattering echoed through the room.
The old man let out a blood-curdling, agonizing scream: "My legs!"
An agonizing shriek rang out through the villa!
Terrified with a pale face, Shàngguān Qīngyuè hurried to shout, "What are you all standing around for?! Save him!"
A group of bodyguards scrambled in a panic to shove the heavy chandelier aside. Shàngguān Qīngyuè saw that Shàngguān Xióng's legs were bloody, mangled, and torn open as he shrieked in agony:
"Qīngyuè, quick... quickly... quickly invite that gentleman back!"
Shàngguān Qīngyuè froze. "Grandfather, but your legs..."
"I'm fine! Invite him back immediately, go!"
Stamping her foot in anxiety and daring not to delay, Shàngguān Qīngyuè sprinted out toward the courtyard.
With a cigarette dangling from his lips, Ye Tianming was strolling unhurriedly down the path when his ears twitched slightly, catching the sound of hurried footsteps rushing up behind him.
"Sir, please wait!"
Acting as if he hadn't heard a thing, Ye Tianming kept walking on his own accord. Shàngguān Qīngyuè bit her lip and sprinted ahead to block his path.
"Sir, I am truly sorry about just now, I..."
Ye Tianming frowned. "Step aside."
A bitter expression crossed Shàngguān Qīngyuè's face. "Sir, we didn't mean to offend you earlier, please don't hold it against us. Look, we'll add another twenty million to the consultation fee."
Ye Tianming curled his lip. "I don't care about your money. Move, I have things to do."
Shàngguān Qīngyuè bit her lower lip. Seeing that Ye Tianming remained unmoved, she stomped her foot as if she had cast aside all hesitation.
The next second, she suddenly lunged forward, grabbed Ye Tianming's hand, and pressed it directly against her ample chest.
"Is this okay, Sir?" Shàngguān Qīngyuè flushed bright red.
The warm, soft, and full sensation hit his palm, causing Ye Tianming to pause in surprise. This was truly the first time he had ever encountered someone asking for a favor quite like this!
Shàngguān Qīngyuè bit her lip, enduring her overwhelming embarrassment as she pleaded:
"Sir, as long as you save my grandfather, I am willing to do anything..."
Ye Tianming smacked his lips and gave the soft mound a fierce squeeze.
"Quite sincere."
Shàngguān Qīngyuè's body tingled with a jolt. "Then, Sir, you..."
"Let's go, what are you standing there for?"
Before Shàngguān Qīngyuè could react, Ye Tianming had already turned around and headed back. Blushing furiously, she quickly followed in his footsteps.
Returning to the villa in just a few strides, Ye Tianming immediately saw Shàngguān Xióng lying there with his legs covered in blood.
"You know, old man, how much better off would you have been if you'd just listened to me earlier?"
Seeing that it was Ye Tianming, Shàngguān Xióng squeezed a strained smile onto his weathered face:
"Sir, I was presumptuous earlier. I beg you to save me."
Ye Tianming shrugged. "I'll save you one more time, for your granddaughter's sake."
As his words fell, a handful of silver needles appeared in Ye Tianming's hand and instantly flashed downward, piercing into Shàngguān Xióng's legs.
Shàngguān Xióng shuddered all over. The next second, he actually felt a surge of warmth flowing through his injured areas!
The bleeding stopped instantly. With a face full of wonder, Shàngguān Xióng realized... his legs had stopped hurting completely!
He looked at Ye Tianming in utter shock, while Ye Tianming's expression remained completely serene.
"Just rest for a few days, and avoid strenuous exercise."
Unparalleled shock and joy washed over Shàngguān Xióng's face. The way he looked at Ye Tianming had completely changed!
"Sir, you are a miracle worker!"
Ye Tianming glanced at him. "Hurry up and burn that broken dragon chair of yours first, or you'll be running into plenty more accidents."
Hearing this, Shàngguān Xióng nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, yes, as you say, Sir! Men! Burn that chair to ashes right now!"
Just then, Shàngguān Qīngyuè walked into the courtyard. Seeing that Shàngguān Xióng's face showed no trace of pain, she blinked in astonishment:
"Grandfather, does your leg not hurt anymore?"
Shàngguān Xióng chuckled, "Qīngyuè, thanks to this gentleman here, your grandfather's leg is fine now. We don't need to go to the hospital."
"What?!"
With a face full of shock, Shàngguān Qīngyuè stared at Ye Tianming with her mouth agape, her eyes filled with awe and disbelief.
Ye Tianming waved a hand. "Alright, go burn the chair."
Without a second thought, Shàngguān Xióng waved his hand and ordered:
"Men! Pour gasoline all over that chair and turn it to ashes for me!"
A group of bodyguards carried the black dragon chair out to the center of the courtyard, doused it in gasoline, and set it ablaze!
Flames shot into the sky as billows of black smoke curled upward.
Standing nearby with a solemn expression, Shàngguān Qīngyuè bit her lip and asked, "Sir, what... what was actually wrong with that chair?"
With a cigarette dangling from his lips, Ye Tianming said leisurely, "This dragon chair was steeped in extremely heavy resentment; a lot of people probably died on it, enough to influence the surrounding environment and warp people's minds. Coupled with the gloomy, eerie environment of your courtyard, it naturally bred malevolent energy and brought disaster upon you."
The look in Shàngguān Qīngyuè's eyes shifted continuously as she looked at Ye Tianming. She had thought he was just a charlatan, but she never expected him to possess such genuine abilities!
Once the chair had been reduced to black ashes, the men followed Ye Tianming's instructions: burying a portion of the ashes beneath the Dragon Saliva tree and grinding the rest into a powder to be mixed with water for Shàngguān Xióng and Shàngguān Qīngyuè to drink.
After drinking it, the two of them felt an inexplicable wave of vitality and refreshment wash over them, and Shàngguān Xióng's previously ashen complexion even took on a healthy ruddy glow.
Looking at Ye Tianming—his slightly furrowed brow, his untamed gaze, the mischievous smirk playing at the corner of his lips...
A hint of unfamiliar emotion crept into her gaze. Remembering the ambiguous scene from earlier, she couldn't help blushing slightly, her heart beating faster like a frightened fawn.
Biting her lip, she said, "Sir, please wait a moment, I'll go get something."
After whispering a few words to Shàngguān Xióng, Shàngguān Qīngyuè headed up to the second floor of the villa.
Before long, she walked back down holding a few items, handed them to Ye Tianming, and smiled warmly:
"Sir, just a token of our appreciation. Please accept it."
When Ye Tianming looked at what Shàngguān Qīngyuè was holding, he couldn't help raising an eyebrow in pleasant surprise!
Aside from a check, Shàngguān Qīngyuè was holding a small rosewood box.
The exquisite box contained two stalks of ginseng that were entirely blood-red!
"Blood Ginseng?"
Even Ye Tianming couldn't help feeling a stir of astonishment at that moment. Blood Ginseng was exceptionally rare and precious; calling it priceless was no exaggeration.
Shàngguān Qīngyuè smiled and said, "Sir, this is indeed Blood Ginseng, truly priceless."
Standing beside her, Shàngguān Xióng chuckled heartily:
"Sir, this is just a small token of my gratitude."
Ye Tianming rubbed his hands together, clearly tempted. "Old man, these two stalks of Blood Ginseng are worth a fortune. Are you really willing to give them to me?"
Shàngguān Xióng burst out laughing: "What are you saying, Sir? You saved both my life and my granddaughter's. Forget two stalks of Blood Ginseng—if you asked me to hand my granddaughter over to you, I'd do it."
As soon as those words left his mouth, a flush of crimson instantly bloomed across Shàngguān Qīngyuè's pretty face, and she shot Shàngguān Xióng an annoyed glare.
"Grandfather, what are you talking about?!"
Ye Tianming rubbed his nose, knowing it was just a joke, and coughed.
"Never mind that, I'll accept the Blood Ginseng. As for the money, just wire it to the account number I'll give you. If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave."
Shàngguān Xióng hurriedly said, "Sir, we still don't know your esteemed name."
"Ye Tianming."
Right at that moment, a gust of chilly wind suddenly swept past, and Ye Tianming instantly frowned.
Beside him, both Shàngguān Xióng and Shàngguān Qīngyuè's expressions shifted drastically as a dangerous aura abruptly blanketed the surroundings!
A flash of cold light suddenly glinted in the dark night, gleaming with the eerie, bone-chilling reflection of moonlight as it lunged straight toward Shàngguān Xióng!
"Watch out!"
With a sharp gasp, Shàngguān Qīngyuè instantly tackled Shàngguān Xióng to the ground!
With a soft *squelch*, a jet of blood spurted from the throat of a bodyguard standing behind them, and before he even realized what had happened, he dropped dead on the spot!
"Danger! Protect the grandfather!"
Shàngguān Qīngyuè was the first to spot the threat. A group of bodyguards instantly swarmed around them, casting wary gazes all around!
Following the direction of their eyes, Ye Tianming saw a figure quietly materialize atop the villa wall, moving like a phantom in the dead of night.
The figure was dressed entirely in black and wore a ferocious, green-faced, fanged oni mask that looked terrifyingly gruesome in the dark night!
Shàngguān Xióng's pupils constricted. Staring at the figure, he blurted out in sheer terror:
"You are... Yacha?!"
Beneath the mask, the assassin's eyes were as cold and lifeless as the abyss of hell.
With a trace of tremor in her voice, Shàngguān Qīngyuè asked, "Grandfather, who is this Yacha?"
Shàngguān Xióng's weathered face turned ashen, his hoarse voice laced with terror: "Qīngyuè, if you get even a sliver of a chance later, run. Just keep running forward and never look back! Your grandfather might not make it through tonight."
"What?!"
The world spun violently before Shàngguān Qīngyuè's eyes. Her grandfather had traveled far and wide for decades, weathering every kind of storm imaginable.
He even commanded underground forces and was a formidable martial artist himself—yet right now, he felt this utterly hopeless?
Staring unblinkingly at Yacha, Shàngguān Xióng's facial muscles twitched in terror and dread as he stammered in a low voice:
"Rumor has it that there is a top-tier assassin in China who wears a green-faced, fanged mask. Years ago, he slaughtered more than twenty figures on the Chinese Assassin Rankings in one fell swoop. Because of his cruel nature and ruthless methods, he would wipe out all nine familial exterminations of anyone who crossed him—even minor disputes resulted in the elderly and the young being shown no mercy. Once, simply because someone got into a verbal argument with him, he cut open the bellies of the man's children. His methods were sickeningly cruel! Many Chinese organizations once joined forces in an attempt to hunt down and kill this Yacha, but every single one of the dozens of experts they dispatched ended up decapitated..."
Shàngguān Qīngyuè's heart plunged straight to the abyss. Looking at the masked figure, her face drained of all color.
She knew how strong Shàngguān Xióng was—he was immensely powerful, but he was no match for the figures on the Chinese Assassin Rankings!
Yet this Yacha had single-handedly slaughtered dozens of them. Just the thought of it made her blood run cold!
In the courtyard, a group of men stared fixedly at Yacha perched atop the wall. The entire courtyard was frighteningly dead silent.
Just then, the green-faced, fanged mask shifted slightly. Shifting his gaze down to Shàngguān Xióng and Shàngguān Qīngyuè, Yacha let out a hoarse, spine-chilling voice:
"Shàngguān Xióng?"
Shàngguān Xióng shuddered violently, his body trembling uncontrollably, yet he gritted his teeth and forced himself to speak:
"It is I! Might I ask if you are Lord Yacha? I, Shàngguān Xióng, have no grievances with you. Why have you come here?"
Beneath the ferocious mask, a pair of eerie eyes gleamed with a cold, venomous glint like a viper:
"You indeed have no grievances with me, but someone hired me to execute you and your granddaughter. Since you know who I am, will you commit suicide, or shall I do the honors?"
Shàngguān Xióng's pupils contracted: "Who is it?"
"You don't need to know."
With a ghostly flutter of movement, Yacha dropped straight down into the courtyard. Clutching a blood-stained blade in his hand, he radiated a cruel, toxic aura.
Knowing that begging for mercy was useless, the veins on Shàngguān Xióng's forehead bulged as he let out a low roar:
"I'll fight you to the death!"
Waving his hand, Shàngguān Xióng bellowed to his subordinates:
"Get him! A reward of one million for anyone who wounds him, and ten million for anyone who kills him!"
The dozens of elite special-forces bodyguards, hardened by years of surviving life-or-death battlefields, suddenly surged toward Yacha like blood-pumped fanatics!
At that moment, all fear and terror were cast to the winds. As long as there was money to be made, nothing else mattered!
Opposite them, the eyes behind Yacha's oni mask actually flickered with an eerie green glow, terrifying and otherworldly.
A spine-chilling coldness gripped everyone's hearts. Before they could even react, Yacha moved!
He instantly transformed into a ghostly blur, tearing through the night air with a terrifying screech. The blood-stained blade in his hand emitted a sickening, metallic stench, carving a bizarre red arc through the vision of everyone present!
In the blink of an eye, he plunged right into the crowd. No one could track Yacha's movements.
All they could see was that death-mask of the underworld flashing through the dark night, blades rising and falling!
With every pause he made, a mist of blood bloomed in the air!
The devil mask was instantly dyed crimson, looking unimaginably gruesome. Several bodyguards froze mid-stride as their heads were sent flying high into the air.
Their eyes were still wide open, even though their heads had already parted ways with their bodies.
The cuts between their necks and heads were mirror-smooth, as if sliced clean through by an industrial saw, while fountains of blood erupted from their chests!
The headless corpses collapsed, and the severed heads rolled a few times across the ground.
A chorus of heart-wrenching, terrified screams erupted. Some bodyguards tried to run, but how could they possibly outpace Yacha?
As Yacha's figure wove through them, those bodyguards were shredded like paper dolls, sliced to pieces at his whim.