Cultivation Online

After leaving the room, the man made his way to a secret room somewhere in the Happy Pub that was used exclusively by the Angry Shadows. Once there, he contacted the other members, revealing the situation to them.

”What?! Second Shadow was killed by Sergeant Yuan?! Are you certain about that, Sixth Shadow?!”

The man who had spoken with Yuan, known as Sixth Shadow in Angry Shadows, responded, ”I’m almost certain. That bastard has Second Shadow’s sword—a treasure he wouldn’t part with even if his life depended on it.”

”So, what does he want?”

”I don’t know, but he wants to meet all of us,” said Sixth Shadow.

”How ridiculous.”

”Why the hell should we listen to such a demand?”

”Because he has my wife and threatened to kill her!”

”...”

After a moment of silence, one of the other members finally spoke. ”Sixth Shadow, I’m sorry, but I’m not going to expose myself to someone so dangerous, even if your wife’s life is on the line, and I expect everyone to do the same if I were in your shoes.”

”Fifth Shadow is right. You should already know that the Angry Shadows come before everything—even family.”

”This is exactly why I refuse to start a family... It’s too risky and an unnecessary weakness.”

”You’ll be fine, Sixth Shadow. There are plenty of women out there. If you need help finding someone, I can have over a hundred women lined up for you by the end of the day!”

”As for this Sergeant Yuan... Let’s just avoid him for now. I doubt he’ll go out of his way to hunt all of us.”

”We’ll also refund the clients their money... the second payment, at least.”

One by one, the other members of Angry Shadows disconnected the call, refusing to risk exposing themselves.

”...”

Sixth Shadow sat silently in the dimly lit room. Although he was devastated that the others had refused to comply with Yuan’s demands to save his wife, it wasn’t as though he hadn’t expected this outcome.

In fact, he had already suspected things would turn out this way, which was why he hadn’t even bothered trying to persuade them to change their minds. Moreover, if he had been in their shoes, he would have made the same decision.

Most importantly...

”There’s no guarantee that he’d spare my wife...”

He looked at the time. ℴ

”Twenty-two minutes left, huh?”

After lingering for a few more minutes, Sixth Shadow stood up and left through a secret exit, disappearing not just from the room but from the Happy Pub entirely.

Time passed swiftly, and before long, the one-hour deadline came to an end. Yet, the Angry Shadows were nowhere to be seen, and even the woman’s husband had failed to return.

”Looks like your husband has abandoned you,” Yuan remarked, breaking the hour-long silence.

”...”

He turned to look at the woman when she offered no response, only to see that she didn’t appear surprised at all, as if she’d anticipated this outcome.

”So you knew this would happen, huh?” he muttered.

”I knew this day would come the moment I agreed to marry him,” she calmly replied.

”The Angry Shadows are the most infamous and secretive gang in the Union. There’s no way they’d risk exposing themselves for a mere woman like me.”

She turned to stare Yuan in the eyes and asked, ”What are you going to do now? Spare me? Or kill me as you’d said?”

Yuan did not immediately respond.

He stood from his seat and walked to stand in front of her.

”Unfortunately, I rarely go back on my own words, especially when dealing with criminals,” he said coldly. ”Had you not tried to kill me, I would’ve probably spared you.”

The woman let out a weak sigh, abandoning the last shred of hope she had left.

”Go ahead,” she said as she closed her eyes.

Without a word, Yuan used Void Manipulation and tossed the woman into the void, ending her life in an instant.

”A pity,” he mumbled.

At the end of the day, the woman was associated with criminals and had even tried to kill him, so Yuan felt no guilt over taking her life. Moreover, if he had spared her after making his threat, the Angry Shadows would no longer take him seriously, as his words would have lost all weight in their eyes.

”What now?”

Instead of leaving, Yuan lingered in the room for a little longer to ponder his next steps. He had wanted to acquire more evidence on the Gu Family before returning, but that was no longer possible.

”At the very least, I still have this...”

Yuan retrieved the device Second Shadow had left behind, which proved that the Angry Shadows had indeed been hired to kill him. However, it did not directly implicate the Gu Family, as there was nothing on the device that could identify them as the ones who had issued the request.

”No... wait a second... As long as the Angry Shadows hasn’t told them that I survived, I might be able to use this to lure them out...”

Upon realizing this, Yuan immediately left the Happy Pub and made his way back to the Central District.

To evade detection by the Gu Family, Yuan bought new clothes and a mask that completely changed his disguise before returning.

Once he returned to the Central District, Yuan went straight to the Supreme General’s living quarters and knocked on the door.

The Supreme General answered the door a few moments later and stared at Yuan with a suspicious gaze.

”It’s me, Sergeant Yuan,” Yuan said.

”I can tell who you are even with that getup. Did you just get back from wandering around the city? What do you want from me?”

”Can I come inside?”

”No.” The Supreme General immediately refused.

”I was nearly assassinated while I was outside the city,” Yuan swiftly revealed without hesitation.

”...”

The Supreme General raised an eyebrow at his words. After a brief moment of silence, he stepped aside and said, ”Come in.”