Cultivation Online

”So let me get this straight... Sergeant Yuan is still alive, not because the Angry Shadows scammed us, but because they canceled our request... after they sent evidence of his death to us?” Colonel Gu felt a headaching approaching as he tried to figure out the situation.

If the Angry Shadows had really intended to scam them, they wouldn’t have refunded the three hundred million credits.

However, the most puzzling part was why the Angry Shadows had sent them evidence of Yuan’s death before canceling the request.

”They probably realized that their scam was too obvious, so they decided to cancel the request altogether to save their own reputation,” Major Gu revealed his assumption about the situation.

Colonel Gu closed his eyes and took several deep breaths before speaking, ”Forget it. It doesn’t matter anymore since they have canceled our request and refunded our money.”

”What do we do now? We don’t have enough time to hire another gang, either.”

”As I said earlier, I’ll personally take care of him. It’s a little risky, but I am going to kill him tonight,” said Colonel Gu.

”You’re going to do it tonight?! That’s more than a little risky! I doubt he’ll be going out again, so you’ll have to assassinate him inside his own residence!” Major Gu exclaimed in disbelief.

”That’s exactly what I intend to do. It’s such an outrageous and reckless move that no one would suspect us. Even if they do, they won’t have any evidence—I will make sure of it.”

”Do you need my help? Or are you going to do this alone?” Major Gu asked.

”I work better alone.”

”Alright.”

Time passed swiftly, and before they knew it, the sky had grown completely dark.

Two hours past midnight, Colonel Gu quietly slipped out of his residence in disguise, carrying a certain treasure with him.

Although it was late at night, several servants were still stationed outside. Yet not a single one noticed Colonel Gu or sensed his presence as he made his way toward Yuan’s residence, which was only a minute away.

’General Gu was truly a genius for lending me this treasure...’ Colonel Gu thought with a smile.

After reaching Yuan’s residence, he quietly checked the windows one by one to see if any had been left unlocked. Sure enough, he eventually found one, allowing him to slip inside with ease.

Upon entering Yuan’s living quarters, Colonel Gu tried to sense his presence. When he failed to detect anything, he began searching the rooms one by one.

Some time later—

”What the hell? He’s not home?” Colonel Gu was dumbfounded when he realized that Yuan wasn’t actually at home.

’This isn’t possible! We kept an eye on his residence throughout the entire day and never saw him leave!’

Colonel Gu checked the residence again, and sure enough, Yuan was nowhere to be seen.

”Where the hell is he?!”

Although he considered leaving, Colonel Gu was reluctant to let all his efforts go to waste, so he decided to linger for a while longer, hoping Yuan would return soon.

Meanwhile, Major Gu patiently waited for Colonel Gu’s return, sipping tea as he sat on a couch in the living room.

Suddenly, he sensed a presence nearby.

”Huh? You’re back already?” Major Gu called out as he turned toward the door.

But no one was there.

”Was I just imagining things?” he muttered before returning his attention to the book in his hands.

A few moments later, he sensed the presence again, but this time, it was directly behind him.

A chill ran down Major Gu’s spine as he whipped his head around so abruptly that some of the tea spilled from his cup.

Unsurprisingly, there was nobody behind him when he looked.

”Fuck... what is going on? Am I feeling paranoid because of Colonel Gu’s risky mission?” he sighed.

However, as time passed, Major Gu kept sensing the mysterious presence appear and disappear around him several times, almost as if a ghost was provoking him.

”Colonel, stop messing with me!” Major Gu eventually had enough and shouted angrily. ”The General didn’t give you that treasure so you could play around with it!”

He was convinced that Colonel Gu had returned and was messing with him, using the treasure General Gu had given him in case they needed to dirty their own hands.

”...”

After a moment of silence, a calm voice resounded.

”You caught me.”

”?!?!”

However, Major Gu immediately jumped at the sound of the voice, his heart jolting with alarm.

It wasn’t Colonel Gu’s voice, but it was a familiar one!

He immediately began looking around in a panic, but no matter how hard he searched, he couldn’t find the source of the voice.

”Show yourself, you bastard!” Major Gu cried out loud.

Suddenly, he sensed the presence again—this time, directly behind him.

Major Gu whipped his head around, but just as he caught a glimpse of someone’s face, the figure reached out and clamped a hand over his neck.

”S-Sergeant Yuan?! What are you—” Major Gu muttered in disbelief as he stared at Yuan’s handsome face.

However, Yuan didn’t say anything and directly activated Void Manipulation, entering the void with Major Gu in tow.

”?!?!?” Major Gu’s eyes widened with shock and disbelief at Yuan using Void Manipulation.

”Void Control?! That’s impossible!”

Just like Gaia’s Heaven, the Union was protected by a formation that suppressed everyone’s cultivation, naturally making it impossible to use techniques such as Void Control within its boundaries.

Yet, for some reason, Yuan was able to bypass that restriction.

”Don’t tell me you can also—”

Yuan suddenly tightened his grip, nearly crushing Major Gu’s windpipe.

”Do you think you’ll get away with this?!” Major Gu forced out with great difficulty.

Despite the dire situation he was in, he did not truly believe Yuan would dare to kill him.

”Go ahead and kill me if you dare! Gaia’s System will brand you as a traitor for killing a fellow soldier!” Major Gu was so confident that he even dared to provoke Yuan.

A cold grin appeared on Yuan’s face as he replied, ”I already asked Ironwoman about how the system works. According to her, it doesn’t directly know what you do. Instead, it senses your killing intent. If you direct that killing intent toward another soldier and the system loses its connection to that soldier shortly afterward, it concludes that you were the one who killed them, or were somehow related.”

”Of course, it can also sense when you make physical contact with someone also with Gaia’s System. But if that’s how the system works, then the solution is simple. I just need to kill you without touching you or directing any killing intent toward you.”

Major Gu’s eyes widened at Yuan’s words.

Although Yuan made it sound simple, killing someone without leaking even the slightest trace of killing intent was practically impossible. It went against human nature, and even the most experienced killers would struggle to completely suppress their killing intent when targeting someone.

That said, such logic only applied to the people of this world. With Yuan’s vast experience and the countless lives he had taken, suppressing his killing intent completely was well within his capabilities.

”E-Even if that’s true, do you really dare to risk it?! What if Ironwoman was wrong?” Major Gu asked nervously.

After seeing the resolve in Yuan’s eyes, his earlier confidence had already begun to crumble.

”If Ironwoman was wrong and I end up being branded a traitor... well, I’ll deal with it when the time comes,” Yuan replied nonchalantly, as though he couldn’t care less about the consequences.

”You can’t be serious!”

However, the cold resolve in Yuan’s eyes told Major Gu otherwise. He was completely serious.

”Wait! I’ll tell General Gu to stop targeting you!” Major Gu suddenly blurted out, desperation filling his eyes.

Yuan narrowed his eyes and sneered coldly. ”We’re already far beyond that point. I gave you plenty of warnings and more than enough chances to back off, but alas, you just couldn’t help yourselves.”

Yuan released his grip on Major Gu and said, ”I won’t kill you immediately, so enjoy what little time you have left in the void. Use it to reflect on all the crimes you’ve committed throughout your life.”

”W-Wait! No! Come back! We can talk about this!” Major Gu screamed like a pig being led to the slaughterhouse as he watched Yuan leave the void, abandoning him alone in the endless abyss.

However, Yuan completely ignored his pleas and left the void without looking back.

Once he returned to the room, Yuan waited until Colonel Gu left his residence before making his own way back.

Although he could have dealt with Colonel Gu as well, having both of them disappear in a single night would have been far too suspicious. Moreover, Yuan wanted to instill fear in the Gu Family by slowly crushing them one by one.

When Colonel Gu returned to his residence, he shouted in frustration, ”Fuck! That bastard wasn’t home! Where the hell did he disappear to?!”

He expected Major Gu to respond, but no answer came.

”Gu Ming?” he called out.

”Did he fall asleep?”

Colonel Gu headed to Major Gu’s bedroom, only to find it empty. He searched the entire residence, calling his name repeatedly, but to no avail.’

”Where the hell did he go while knowing that I was out on such an important mission?!”

It was as though Major Gu had vanished without a trace.

With no choice but to wait for his return, Colonel Gu sat on the couch in the living room for the rest of the night, completely unaware that Major Gu was trapped within the void in that very same room.