Chapter 185: The Black-Robed Marquis

The bright moon is like a clear mirror, hanging high in the night sky.

Under the moonlight, the Great Xia City is extremely prosperous and brightly lit; the lights of ten thousand homes are like stars across the sky, and the roar of the bustling crowd rises to the clouds.

The headquarters of the Luolan Mansion is heavily guarded, with patrols weaving back and forth.

Yet at this moment, amidst that tight security, a figure walks through the Luolan Mansion headquarters as if on a stroll. This person is entirely shrouded in a black robe and clearly does not look like someone of upright standing, yet as they walk so wantonly, the passing Luolan Mansion guards seem unable to see them at all; even when they occasionally patrol right past the figure's front, they show not the slightest hint of astonishment.

This is clearly not because the guards are blind, but because this mysterious black-robed person is using a special and powerful method to shield themselves from the perception of outsiders.

Such a method is truly extraordinary.

The black-robed figure looks at the vast Luolan Mansion, seemingly smiles faintly, and mutters to themselves: "Without Li Taixuan and Tantai Lan, is the Luolan Mansion truly of no use anymore?"

They shake their head and continue heading toward the depths of the Luolan Mansion.

The kitchen area of the Luolan Mansion headquarters.

Niu Biaobiao, having just finished preparing the late-night meal, wipes his palms clean and walks out of the kitchen, the bright moon above shining down on his head and reflecting a luster.

He looks up at the mirror-like moon and sighs with a touch of melancholy.

"Li Taixuan, Tantai Lan, you two bastards... leaving me here alone to watch the kids, do you really take me for a nanny or a babysitter?"

"Meeting you two back then, I was truly damn unlucky."

Niu Biaobiao rubs his smooth, bald head, then his gaze seems to glance toward a certain direction in the Luolan Mansion, and he shakes his head helplessly: "I have to watch the kids, I have to watch the house, I'm not a damn dog."

Niu Biaobiao's hand slides down to the gleaming butcher's knife at his waist, then he steps out of the kitchen and into the shadows.

A corridor somewhere in the Luolan Mansion.

The mysterious black shadow strolls along as if no one else is around, when suddenly their footsteps stop. Their gaze under the black robe fixes on the front, and they say: "In this Luolan Mansion, there really is another one hidden..."

"I say, you lot of scumbags, you've come back and forth to probe during the Mid-Month Festival many times over the years; have you finally started coming in openly this time?" Niu Biaobiao walks out from the darkness, looking at the black-robed figure with a grin.

"For a dignified Marquis-realm expert to be willing to work as a cook in this Luolan Mansion for so many years, I don't know if I should say Li Taixuan and Tantai Lan's methods are too superb, or that you are willingly acting as a slave?" the black-robed figure says slowly; their voice seems to come from all directions, ethereal and hard to track.

"Scumbag, sneaking around, not even daring to show your tracks, just like a rat stealing swill in the kitchen," says Niu Biaobiao.

Under the black robe, a cold, sharp gaze is cast out: "You have holed up in the Luolan Mansion headquarters for many years, never stepping out once. Even when the Luolan Mansion fell into such chaos, you didn't come forward to intimidate anyone. I am quite curious, why is that?"

Niu Biaobiao laughs: "The Luolan Mansion was originally just something for those two little ones to practice with; what does success or failure matter?"

"And I also want to know, what are you trying to do by keeping your eyes on the Luolan Mansion? Who exactly is the power behind you? You haven't been watching the Luolan Mansion for just a moment or two." Niu Biaobiao's eyes also turn somewhat cold at this moment.

The black-robed figure smiles faintly and says: "Why play dumb? The secret left behind by Li Taixuan and Tantai Lan—who doesn't want to know it?"

"Why must you hold your ground for a Luolan Mansion with no potential? Regardless of what agreement you have with Li Taixuan and the others, your protection over these years is enough to pay it off. If you can join us, your future gains will surely exceed what you have now."

"Join you? Sure, which faction in this Great Xia are you from?" Niu Biaobiao asks.

The black-robed figure is somewhat stunned and laughs: "If you are willing to disclose the secret left by Li Taixuan and Tantai Lan, I will naturally lead you to join."

Niu Biaobiao sighs: "Since that's the case, I can only say... go to hell."

The black-robed figure says nothing more, but the energy in the surrounding heaven and earth begins to churn violently at this moment, and the indifferent gaze under the black robe falls upon Niu Biaobiao.

The next instant, the energy of heaven and earth behind them seems to transform into black fire that covers the sky and earth.

A palm reaches out from the black sleeve, and as they lift their fingertip, the black fire across the sky howls downward, finally forming a wisp of deep black flame at their fingertip.

The tiny flame makes one feel a sense of destruction.

"Let me see just how much skill the watchdog left behind by Li Taixuan and Tantai Lan really has," the black-robed figure sneers, flicking the black flame out, shooting it directly at Niu Biaobiao in front.

Niu Biaobiao looks at the black flame, which seems to shoot over at a leisurely speed but is impossible to dodge, yet his expression remains unchanged; instead, he reaches out to rub his smooth, bald head, his eyes looking a bit melancholy.

"Since when..."

"Does a Fourth-Rank Marquis dare to bark at me like this?"

Clang!

A crisp sound seems to ring out, and a flash of cold light appears. The moment that cold light emerges, an indescribable, ferocious aura suddenly erupts, as if an Asura from hell had suddenly climbed into the human world.

Niu Biaobiao's figure appears behind the black-robed figure; he seems to have moved nothing, not even drawing the butcher's knife at his waist.

And at the original spot, there is still a "Niu Biaobiao" figure, and it is only when the night wind blows that the figure gradually dissipates.

It was merely an afterimage.

Behind Niu Biaobiao, the black flame that had been drifting toward him hangs suspended in mid-air, then trembles and splits in two, gradually drifting away.

On the black-robed figure's body, a faint line of light appears, which is also splitting them in two.

"What a ferocious blade light..."

With their body split, the black-robed figure's voice becomes low: "Truly interesting. A cook who never sees blood has cultivated such a ferocious blade Qi. Such a fierce blade has not appeared in Great Xia for hundreds of years... Li Taixuan, Tantai Lan, you really are not simple, to be able to tame a fierce person like you."

"But the more this is so, the more curious we are about the secret they left behind. Niu Biaobiao, you cannot protect it."

"I can feel that the strange array left by Li Taixuan and Tantai Lan has been gradually weakening over these years, and you—perhaps it is not that you are unwilling to leave the Luolan Mansion headquarters, but that you cannot..."

"You are nothing more than a dog they locked up here."

Their body, split in two, begins to burn, finally turning into ashes and dissipating into thin air.

The surrounding heaven and earth energy quickly returns to calm, and at the same time, the sound of patrol footsteps comes from afar, as if the barrier isolating this place had been removed.

Niu Biaobiao looks indifferently at the place where the black-robed figure dissipated; the opponent was quite slippery, as it was not their true body that came, but merely an energy clone.

However, the Luolan Mansion headquarters was set with a strange array by Li Taixuan and Tantai Lan; without their permission, even a Marquis-realm expert would not dare to step inside. But now, that black-robed Marquis was able to send an energy clone in, which shows that the strange array of the Luolan Mansion headquarters is indeed weakening.

"What a headache..."

Niu Biaobiao shakes his head helplessly and looks up at the bright, clear moon in the sky.

"It seems I should have a talk with those two little ones."

(Today I posted a picture of Bai Mengmeng on WeChat; the quality is quite high, everyone can go take a look.)