Chapter 195: Zodiac’s Trouble

— Meanwhile —

In a dilapidated courtyard, hidden behind an illusion array in the middle of nowhere,

Mr. Zodiac stood before a large water basin, staring at its reflection in stunned silence. The basin displayed the situation unfolding far away, the place where the three pirate flying arks had ambushed the Thousand Treasure Pavilion’s flying ark.

In contrast, the seductress, a voluptuous woman, smirked triumphantly, openly mocking the man before her. She did not bother hiding her contempt anymore.

Since she knew that Dream Butterfly was absolutely safe and under the protection of Young Master Wei, she had nothing to worry about. Even if she were to die in the next moment at the hands of this so called Mr. Zodiac, she would not fear at all.

On the contrary, she even hoped that this bastard would kill her. If that happened, Dream Butterfly, who had already married into the hidden ancient clan, would become the perfect justification for Young Master Wei to take action against the other hidden ancient forces.

But in truth, she knew what would really happen if that came to pass. The hidden ancient forces would push Mr. Zodiac out as a scapegoat and cut all ties with him.

After all, the Zodiac Society was nothing more than a tool, a tool used by the hidden ancient forces to manipulate the world as they wished.

Mr. Zodiac was still stunned. Within his mind, there were only questions, questions that, despite all his brilliance and schemes, he could not answer.

And all of them were simple questions.

Who was Wei Chen? Where was he from? Why was he here? And how had all of this happened?

All of these were simple questions, yet none had answers.

And all of this was due to his lack of information.

Mr. Zodiac was not some overconfident fool who acted without solid intelligence.

But the complete absence of information on Wei Chen…

It frightened him.

This meant that either Wei Chen, no, the power behind Wei Chen, was strong enough to erase all traces from the long river of history, or they were a newly emerged faction powerful enough to challenge the old order.

Of course, he knew the second possibility was almost impossible, judging by his knowledge and the vast network of information at his disposal.

This could only mean one thing.

The hidden ancient force behind Wei Chen was powerful enough to rival the Underworld Palace, the number one hidden ancient force in the lower realm.

No, saying the lower realm was not entirely accurate.

The Underworld Palace had its roots in the Immortal Realm, and what existed in the lower realm was merely a branch.

But the question remained the same. Who was the force behind Wei Chen? How powerful were they? Did they have weaknesses? Could they be negotiated with? Did they have any interest or stake in this lower realm?

These were the questions he needed the answers for.

Mr. Zodiac glanced at the Rabbit and gritted his teeth. This woman…. the matron of the Immortal Dream Garden that stood before him, her smug and triumphant expression is deeply irritating.

He knew that this seductress was goading him, perhaps even provoking him to kill her.

And he truly wanted to kill her, he really did.

But his better judgment told him that if he did so, there would be no turning back.

“My lord, did your plan backfire?” the matron asked, her voice gentle, but the mockery and provocation in her eyes becoming more apparent.

Mr. Zodiac did not reply. He only glared at her.

Now he had a problem. The matron was someone he could not simply kill. Doing so would earn the ire of Dream Butterfly, the one who had just married into that mysterious hidden ancient force.

And he knew that a newly wed concubine had a powerful way of persuading her lord to act according to her wishes, especially if those wishes aligned with the intentions of the force behind Wei Chen.

And taking resources from an unlucky hidden ancient force, or even the Zodiac Society itself, would absolutely align with the mindset of that clan leader.

He could not afford to give them an excuse to attack him.

But he could not simply let this woman walk free either. She knew too much.

“You do not need to provoke me to kill you, Rabbit. I know what you are thinking. From now on, you will be confined to one of the Zodiac Society’s estates. We will provide substantial food, lodging, and all necessary conveniences. As long as you do not cause trouble, you will remain safe,” Mr. Zodiac said.

This was the part he hated the most. He even had to take care of this woman and ensure she did not suffer. He could only place her under house arrest.

And during this time, he needed to come up with a way to resolve this situation.

Fortunately, everyone involved in this operation had already formed a soul contract with the Zodiac Society to prevent any information from being revealed. If they attempted to do so, they would die immediately. Even soul searching techniques would be rendered useless, as all of them had a failsafe.

If there was any sign of a soul searching technique entering their bodies, their memories would be wiped, and their brains would immediately melt within their skulls, preventing any trace of information from being extracted.

With this, he could buy himself some time to think and find a way to fix this… oversight.

— Meanwhile —

In the middle of nowhere, aboard the Thousand Treasure Pavilion flying ark, Wei Chen’s men were gathering the captured invaders who called themselves pirates.

“Seriously, do you think I was born yesterday?” Wei Chen massaged his forehead as he interrogated one of the leaders of the group that attacked the flying ark.

This man was also at the Void Refining Realm, but even so, he could not use a domain.

After all, a domain was the culmination of a cultivator’s Dao, manifested at the Void Refining Realm. Without sufficient understanding of the Dao they walked, it was impossible to unleash a domain.

These people only had their cultivation. They were high quality goons who relied on brute force, hoping that if they applied enough strength, their problems would disappear.

The man smiled wryly. Among the captains of the three flying arks, he was the weakest.

Who would have thought that the fake Underworld Palace young master would turn out to be the real deal? No… the fact that he was a fake young master was still true, because he knew that the Underworld Palace had no one named Wei Chen.

“Heh… you win. But do not think this is the end. The fact that you are pretending to be a young master of the Underworld Palace has already reached them. The Underworld Lord will not spare you!” the man threatened with forced bravado.

Hearing this, Wei Chen put on a mock expression of fear. “Oooh, is that so? How scary~ Is there anything else? Do you know when they will come knocking? So I can prepare a red carpet for them,” he said sarcastically.

“Heh! You wretch! Enjoy your moment of triumph. It will be your last!” the man shouted again, trying his best to act tough, as if it would lessen his sense of weakness.

“For the last time, will you tell me who you are?” Wei Chen asked. He could kill, yes, and he did not regret it, especially when it was in defense. But that did not mean he enjoyed it.

“Ptui!” The man tried to spit at Wei Chen’s face, but a flip flop suddenly appeared in Wei Chen’s hand and caught the spit.

“Eww…” Wei Chen feigned disgust and wiped the sole of the shoe across the man’s face, smearing it with dust, grime, and his own spit.

“You!” The man tried to continue, but…

The scene before him spun as his vision blurred and dropped. The last thing he saw was his own headless body, and Wei Chen’s Underworld Bone Claw cleanly severing his head.

His vision darkened.

Then… a cold sensation touched his being. He felt his body lighten before landing on a cold floor.

He slowly opened his eyes.

He found himself sitting on a cold floor in front of a desk. Behind the desk sat a gorgeous woman wearing strange clothes that somehow suited her. Part of her long hair covered her right eye.

It was Youqi.

He glanced around and saw two of his comrades sitting obediently on the floor. That included the barbaric man, and the strongest among them, Black Tiger, the one who had been killed first by Wei Chen.

“You three are already here? Good,” Youqi said as she continued typing on her keyboard.

She ignored them for a full minute, continuing her work before picking up a phone and dialing a number.

“Yes, Second Sister. Please come to my office. I have found a clue about those people using our name in the mortal world,” Youqi said into the phone.

After that, she hung up and completely ignored the three men.

The last leader’s anger rose. He had never met anyone who ignored him like this.

“You! Woman! You dare to ignore me!?” He stood up and walked toward Youqi with a menacing stride.

His companions, however, reacted differently. Their faces paled, as if they could sense that trouble was about to unfold.

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