Chapter 814

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

"Host, Elder Sima has entered the Secret Realm. It seems that evil demon, along with the mother body, are both inside."

The System diligently kept watch over these few families in Jin Jue City; now that it had caught hold of the Sima Clan's problem, it naturally had to inform the Host at the first possible moment.

"Oh, Elder Sima went in?" That wasn't strange either; right now, people inside and outside Jin Jue City were all in a state of panic, completely muddled by the parasites.

If she were Elder Sima, she would certainly, while contacting the Master's House on one hand, simultaneously push forward the original plan, striving to take down Jin Jue City at the fastest speed.

Just didn't know if that evil demon understood what Elder Sima was plotting?

That was naturally understood.

Even though it was called an evil demon, long before falling into demonhood, it was also human.

"Not properly watching over those people at the City Lord's Mansion outside, what are you doing coming in here?"

Elder Sima: ……

The way these words were spoken — he naturally had his purpose for coming in; could it be he was truly expected to act as a vanguard and fight to the death with the Xuan Yuan Clan and even the City Lord's Mansion? Ever since the Sima Clan suffered a loss, they understood the value of lying low; they did not act lightly, unless they had absolute certainty of victory.

"My Lord, to speak frankly, our surveillance methods at the City Lord's Mansion have already been detected by the other party; if we still advance the plan on schedule now, I fear it will affect My Lord's great undertaking," Elder Sima bowed his body and buried his head deeply, "My Lord, please act swiftly to resolve the Xuan Yuan Clan and the City Lord's Mansion; as long as those two families fall, Jin Jue City won't be able to stir up any more waves."

The words fell, but there was no answer.

Elder Sima had no choice but to bend his waist even lower, mainly because he couldn't fathom this evil demon's thoughts; for so many years of cooperation, it was basically the evil demon proposing ideas and him sending people to execute them, and although he had also done some maneuvering during the execution process, every time he faced alone this evil demon shrouded in a black robe with indistinguishable figure and appearance, Elder Sima still couldn't help but feel terrified.

Hiss

Could his own plan have been seen through by the other party?

Impossible, impossible; this evil demon wouldn't leave the Secret Realm, and the Venerable who walks on its behalf outside also couldn't attend to every detail personally; the vast majority of the arrangements had passed through his hands; if the other party truly could discover his small tricks, they would absolutely not have tolerated it until now.

Elder Sima didn't know whether he was convincing himself or comforting himself; by the time this Evil Demon Lord spoke, he was already somewhat dizzy and disoriented.

"All the matters you spoke of, I am already aware of; right now, only the last three locations remain unarranged; as long as you arrange manpower to smoothly place them in, this Seat can act immediately."

The Evil Demon Lord was evidently easy to talk to, completely unlike the previous yin-yang sarcasm; a beautiful ring was tossed into Elder Sima's bosom, "Take them and go out; this Seat awaits your good news."

Elder Sima: ……

"Yes."

Elder Sima turned around and left hurriedly with the ring; until only the evil demon remained in the Secret Realm, this person suddenly burst into loud laughter.

Hahahaha

Finally, he was finally going to break free!

Hundreds upon thousands of years of imprisonment; even an evil demon would wipe away a tear of heartache.

"Heh! So what if they're noble clans? So what if they're hegemons? Aren't they still being played in the palm of my hand?"

Not everyone is like Mu Rong, lacking a greedy heart; last time he nearly broke free but ultimately fell into that woman's hands; right now Mu Rong's bones have probably turned to ashes, and there's no one left who can jump out to stop him.

The middle-aged man returned; he was precisely the Venerable spoken of by Elder Sima, and also the puppet created by the evil demon, convenient for walking outside the Secret Realm.

Everyone else, including Elder Sima, thought the Venerable and the evil demon were two people; in reality, they were one body, sharing memories.

The middle-aged man took off his hooded black robe, revealing a stiff expression, like a soulless shell.

With a snap of the evil demon's fingers, the middle-aged man returned to a normal countenance; he bowed respectfully to the evil demon, reporting that Elder Sima had taken the ring, and although on the surface he had arranged manpower to handle it, behind the scenes he still had his own small moves, including but not limited to swapping the contents of the ring and deliberately making mistakes.

The evil demon sneered coldly, "Heh! Worthy of the Human Race; they're just more cunning than demons."

However, he had long anticipated this; those things given out were merely a smokescreen; the truly important arrangements were all carried out by the puppet; the Sima Clan fundamentally couldn't lay a hand on them.

And those arrangements swapped by the Sima Clan were, to the evil demon, originally dispensable; it was just that since he hadn't broken free yet, he wanted to stabilize the Sima Clan's people first; otherwise, with the evil demon's temper, he should have long since struck them dead — they actually dared to play tricks with him.

"My Lord, right now you are already able to leave the Secret Realm; why still stay here?"

Thanks to the influence of those parasites, the evil demon had already been able to leave the Secret Realm at will even before the parasites were openly exposed; it's just that the evil demon didn't leave, but instead continued maintaining the shortcoming of being unable to leave the Secret Realm, letting the Sima Clan's people think the evil demon was still under their control.

"Leave to do what? The Sima Clan's people are greedy; this Seat will just rightly use their psychology to deal with these hypocritical cultivators of Jin Jue City."

The evil demon deeply understood the essence of the survivalist way; having suffered a loss once, he absolutely would not fall for the same trick a second time; the Sima Clan wanted to use him to deal with the Xuan Yuan Clan and the City Lord's Mansion, so he would turn around and use the Sima Clan as cannon fodder.

Hehehe

Left or right, their cooperation all harbored ill intentions; neither side should think to gain any advantage.

"My Lord, then right now we just let the Sima Clan go arrange those arrays?"

"Mm, let them go; once arranged, we'll leave the Secret Realm."

Speaking here, the evil demon suddenly revealed a gloomy smile, waved his hand to have the middle-aged man prepare, "The Sima Clan's clansmen are all top-grade materials; remember to let the parasites feast their fill before leaving."

After all, wanting to encounter such high-quality food again, he could only wait until after he took down Jin Jue City; anyway, they were things that had followed him for such a long time; the evil demon expressed that he wasn't the kind of demon who didn't care about his subordinates' lives; the Sima Clan was the interest paid to it.

Completely unaware that his own home had been stolen and conveniently sold off, Elder Sima was earnestly instructing his clansmen to act carefully; right now, danger lurked everywhere outside, and the slightest carelessness would lead to a sneak attack by those elusive parasites.

Even though this bad thing originated from the Sima Family's cooperation partner, Elder Sima was still extremely cautious.

But fortunately the cooperation wouldn't last much longer, and the parasites' weakness was obvious; Elder Sima steadied his state of mind, "In any encounter, you must absolutely not show fear; if captured, immediately destroy this evidence.

Our Sima Clan is not some nobody; the Xuan Yuan Clan and the City Lord's Mansion dare not do anything to us.

Just wait until our grand undertaking succeeds; you will also be able to advance a step further along with it."

Because they had a prominent surname serving as an Immunity Token, Elder Sima would act without any scruples.

Despising these noble clans' useless Family Rules in his heart, yet calmly enjoying the benefits brought by the rules, Elder Sima was truly worthy of his noble clan origin; his own bottom line could also flexibly shift, making one unable to help but admire.

"Tsk tsk tsk, plotting so loudly; the Sima Clan has really gotten carried away."

The System looked down on the Sima Clan's conduct; this was like walking around naked — other people would find it hard not to notice.

"Noble clans, always high and mighty and double-standard," Shen Yao tapped her own unfinished teacup, adding that some things the other party had already said quite clearly, "The noble clans tacitly accept it; it's just that the Sima Clan wants the other noble clans to still abide by the rules before they flip the table."

What is this called? Wanting it both ways; anyway, it's just that I act according to the rules, you don't follow the rules but you also have to follow the rules, I am just the most special one.

System:...

Has the Sima Clan been acting as a local despot in Chen Zhou for too long, forgetting that this is not Chen Zhou but Central State, and even forgetting that the great clans here are genuine local despots on their own turf, none yielding to anyone when it comes to a fight?

'Mm, maybe, but more likely the Sima Clan has confidence.'

Though cooperating with demons is dangerous, the demons' methods are direct and effective.

Look at these parasites' track record; if the Sima Clan can truly make the demons work for them, let alone a small Jin Jue City, even the entire Central State and Jiuzhou Continent would have a place for them.'

The place Shen Yao referred to was not something as well-known as being the overlord of Chen Zhou, but rather the Sima Clan's power expanding across the Jiuzhou Continent, standing on equal footing with those hidden families and great sects.

The interior of the Jiuzhou Continent is deep and complex, hiding many unknown secrets.

The Sima Clan may have lived too well and become inflated; demons, demons—able to be called by that name, how could they be easily manipulated by humans?

'Forget it, let's not talk about the Sima Clan; let's go check their layout.'

Sigh

Running into this kind of thing is troublesome, and in the end Shen Yao still has to take action.

Before going out, Shen Yao visited Lu Yan in the study; this man was very idle at the moment, using the spirit resources Shen Yao traded back to cultivate a Flame Lion.

Although it was windy and rainy outside, it did not affect their daily life.

'The token we brought back from the Sima Clan last time, I once heard a related description from my mother's words,' Lu Yan said uncertainly, because when Mu Rong died Lu Yan was too young, and Mu Rong had not left letters or other obviously noticeable things, but passed it down by word of mouth, forcing Lu Yan to keep it in his heart.

But even if a child has a good memory, after so many years of growth, it is impossible to completely repeat what Mu Rong said.

'I remember, mother said, this is a calamity, all she can do is temporarily delay it.'

Lu Yan raised his hand and rubbed his forehead, scenes related to Mu Rong flashing back in his mind one by one.

Mu Rong, facing death, had completely lost human form, emaciated like a skeleton without flesh and blood; Lu Yan still remembered being completely terrified at the time, and when going out, a servant forcibly carried him away.

'... Do not come to Jin Jue City, do not stay in Central State.'

These were the last two words Mu Rong shouted, and also the words Lu Yan could remember after being frightened awake in his sleep; as for why Lu Yan, a cultivator, dreamed? Lu Yan shook his head, indicating he did not know.

Shen Yao raised her hand to support her chin, 'Perhaps Jin Jue City really hides something.'

It seems there is still an opportunity to probe Lu Yan's memory; it is not that Lu Yan does not remember well, it is possible he was tampered with by special means.

Before probing Lu Yan's memory, Shen Yao still went out alone.

Although Lu Yan repeatedly emphasized that outside was not safe, the Sima Clan and Xuan Yuan Clan were very likely to clash, and the City Lord's Mansion, after Shen Yao's reminder, was watching covetously; the three powers above were all existences not to be underestimated.

Shen Yao peacefully enjoyed Lu Yan's concern, but she would not refrain from acting because of Lu Yan's worry; after all, life was her own, if she did not do it today, when it broke out tomorrow, Shen Yao would have to pay more.

'System, where are the people of the Sima Clan?'

The System went out for a stroll, came back and told Shen Yao that these people were at the East Gate, South Gate, and West Gate of Jin Jue City respectively.

'Oh, then let's go to the East Gate first.'

Speaking, Shen Yao directly flashed and disappeared from the original place; when she appeared again, she was already at the East Gate of the city.

This place was originally guarded by people from the City Lord's Mansion; with the outbreak of the parasite incident, the people of Jin Jue City all locked themselves at home and did not go out, so there were not many people on the East City side; at present the East Gate was tightly closed, with only a few big rats patrolling.

Shen Yao quickly found the people of the Sima Clan; they were carrying big rats and placing something.

'Tsk, the Sima Clan is not upright; what the demon gave was clearly top-grade Fire Po, but what the Sima Clan took out was second-rate Fire Crystal.'

The System's complaint was not over; because after the Sima Clan finished setting up and left directly, the big rats sneakily gathered around, and also took the Fire Crystals away, replacing them with inferior Fire Spirit Jade.

System:...

Thinking it ends here? nonono, then a middle-aged man came over, replacing the worst Fire Spirit Jade with Fire Po.

A closed-loop balance, right?

'Host, are you not taking action?'

They had already been standing here for several hours; there was no need to wait any longer.

Shen Yao took action, but she did not replace anything inside; she not only did not replace, but also actively added things inside.

'Pure fire attribute is prone to accidents; look at me, help add a piece of Water Po; not only can it reduce the danger, but it can also provide different attribute bonuses.'

Since water and fire have been incompatible since ancient times, doing this can easily blow up the entire array.

'Blowing it up can't be blamed on us; she originally meant well.'

System:...

Fine

The Host's shady operations are truly many; whether it is the upcoming South City or West City, Shen Yao threw a piece of mutually restraining attribute inside.

Finally Shen Yao came to North City; this place was not within the Sima Clan's layout range, and there were no traces of residual arrays around.

'Not having it now does not mean not having it in the future; we bury the things in advance,' Shen Yao said, and also placed a piece of Earth Po properly.

Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth? Then where is the most important Metal?

'Of course at the City Lord's Mansion; that is the center of Jin Jue City; would you entrust important matters to an untrustworthy collaborator?'

System:...

Shen Yao sneakily made another trip to the City Lord's Mansion; in front of the big rats, she buried the things properly.

After everything was handled and she returned to her residence, the System suddenly reminded Shen Yao that someone had gone to North City.

'Wow, Host, you guessed right again!'

Shen Yao calmly indicated these were all basic operations; the System should not make a fuss.

'Keep watching the Sima Clan; by the way, remind the big rats at the City Lord's Mansion that the demon might come knocking; let it arrange its clansmen to hide as soon as possible.'

System:... Huh?