Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1026: Chapter 70: There Is No Path to Immortality in This World (32)

The Penglai Conference is a major event held once every decade between the Taoist and demon worlds.

Whenever this time comes, there is never a shortage of guests from both realms, each a standout from their place of origin or sect.

Elites gather, and more than half of China’s transcendents are here… descriptions like this are not an exaggeration.

Compared to it, the New Year’s Eve held annually seems somewhat ordinary… However, being one of the most important days of the year, this Dao Monster Gala, organized by the Management Bureau, has been quite lively.

Of course, the Management Bureau hosting such an event also aims to ease the tense relations between Taoists and demons recently—after all, there exists a treaty signed by that great person from the founding of the New Kingdom with both realms.

The treaty possesses a divine binding force, and breaking it lightly might have serious consequences—though even at this grand gathering of China’s transcendents, only a few know the real inside story.

Within the banquet, the Management Bureau is arranging extravagant performances for guests across the realms—naturally, ordinary human performances hold no appeal to these transcendents, so every part is performed by those of the ‘Non-Human’ concept.

The gala was probably planned long ago, otherwise, it couldn’t have been executed so thoroughly in such a short time.

Nevertheless, the atmosphere at the scene remains rather subdued.

At this moment, within the room, several key members of the Management Bureau are wearing troubled expressions, including Captain Ling Feng, responsible for the defense of Wolong Mountain Villa—the attendees are actually all captains from the Management Bureau.

“He really isn’t coming… Dragon Consultant.” Ling Feng shook his head with a wry smile.

Even though they had mentally prepared for this early on, the fact that the highest-ranking consultant of the Bureau shows no regard indeed is a little disheartening for the captains present.

Of course, an invitation was extended to Long Xiruo to attend… But whatever the Bureau’s intentions might be, they must have been discerned early on, so the Godly Land True Dragon not attending was not outside everyone’s expectations.

Ling Feng irritably lit a cigarette—the gathering of captains here isn’t for Dou Di Zhu or Zha Jin Hua; rather, there’s another urgent matter.

This was the suspected non-human level destruction incident that occurred in a small town at the foot of Mount Tai over two hours ago.

According to the intelligence sent back by the Bureau’s duty personnel, the fight didn’t last long, and the casualty numbers are low… But there were three fatalities, and they were a family of three.

Even though the annual toll from Taoists going berserk or monsters causing chaos significantly exceeds these numbers for the Bureau, such a tragic case is already very severe for the people—and it happened on an important festive night.

The emergency plan has already been activated, with higher-ups issuing a strict order to suppress the impact.

However, due to the national-scale gala live broadcast at the capital tonight and the New Year address tomorrow, some Bureau members have been temporarily reassigned to ensure the safety of the country’s prominent figures, slightly stretching the Bureau’s personnel capacity at Mount Tai for now.

“Anyway, let’s cover it up with a car accident excuse. Let the local propaganda department issue orders to the media? Get those idle civil monkeys on the state payroll to cancel their vacations!” said a female captain assertively.

“There’s no need to discuss such matters here; the key is to ascertain the origins of the combatants involved in this incident.” Another captain remarked, “I’m responsible for Kunpeng Mountain Villa; there are no demon clans registered visiting tonight.”

Ling Feng frowned and said, “There’s nothing particularly suspicious at Wolong Mountain Villa either.”

“So it’s some individuals not on the visitor registry?”

“Hmm… Unknown origin, unclear motive. But one thing’s certain; at least one party possesses rationality.” Ling Feng pondered, “Reports indicated that during the incidents, dense fog suddenly appeared, causing many to fall into a coma… Hmm, the fog’s appearance has been temporarily explained away as a chemical mishap, but many residents have rushed to hospitals overnight… The town’s traffic is a mess right now. Ugh, so many troublesome matters!”

Nearing the end, Captain Ling Feng, with a cigarette in his mouth, scratched his head before eventually collapsing onto the sofa.

“Using fog as cover indicates that one side is at least aware of the treaty and dares not openly expose themselves to the people, showing some Temperance… or perhaps they’re the type that doesn’t indiscriminately slaughter the innocent.” The female captain said while frowning, “Hmm… the possibility of rational negotiation?”

“Could it be related to the recent mysterious disappearances of members from both Daoist and demon realms?” suddenly, the captain with glasses spoke.

Captain Ling Feng turned, “Come to think of it, how many missing cases have been filed?”

This four-eyed captain adjusted his glasses and replied, “A total of 187 from the Daoist Association, and as for Kunpeng Mountain Villa, 217 monsters are reported missing.”

“That many?” Captain Ling Feng sprang up in surprise, exclaiming, “Hasn’t this just been happening recently?”

The four-eyed captain nodded solemnly, “Yes, it was only discovered recently… but the real onset might have been two months ago.”

“Two months ago… when the first batch of guests arrived?” The female captain exclaimed in amazement, “Why the delayed discovery?”

The captain with glasses continued, “On one hand, these Taoists or monsters are quite unruly and hard to manage. On the other, Taoists or monsters frequently go into seclusion while cultivating, often disappearing for months, which is common… Only after the Mo Mo incident, did both parties consciously tally numbers and discovered a significant decrease… Additionally, perhaps many are due to private clashes over the Imperial Edict dispute, where both sides secretly slaughter each other. It’s difficult for us to distinguish which are truly missing, and which died due to internal struggles without found bodies.”

“Wasn’t a White Tiger Clan member’s body found yesterday?” Captain Ling Feng addressed the Kunpeng Mountain Villa captain responsively.

“Yes, the identity has been verified; it was a follower of Huang Baifu… You know what kind of person this Young Master Bai Hu is; if we can’t offer an explanation, he might go to the capital and demolish our headquarters!” The Kunpeng Mountain Villa captain sighed, but added, “However, I feel the culprit might not be directly linked to the disappearance cases.”

The female captain questioned, “What makes you say that?”

Glasses-wearing captain interjected, “Simple; all the missing persons, we can never find, not even bodies and vanish like they disappeared from human society. But this time, a body was directly left at the scene.”

“Did they not have time to ‘dispose’ of it?” Ling Feng frowned again.

The glasses captain replied, “With so many disappearances, there’s never been a case of an incomplete cover-up. If there’s some conspiracy behind the disappearance cases, then leaving a corpse seems utterly stupid, doesn’t it?”

Suddenly came the sound of knocking.

A young man entered with a tray, serving several cups of water to the captains.

Lin Feng casually picked up a cup and sipped, then asked, “What’s the situation outside?”

The young man, head lowered, responded, “It’s not good; both sides start to blame each other due to the recent Imperial Edict incident and disappearances. But since big figures from both associations are present, the situation barely remains under control… For now, it’s still at the stage of cold ridicule.”

“Got it.” Captain Ling Feng waved his hand, “Go on and keep watching; report immediately if anything happens.”

“Understood.” The young man nodded and then turned to leave.

As the young man turned to leave, Captain Ling Feng suddenly spat out the mouthful of water he had drunk from the cup.

At the same time, the female captain and the captain in charge of Kunpeng Mountain Villa suddenly moved.

Their speed was incredibly fast!

The female captain conjured a short sword about the length of an arm, and like a magic trick, she swiftly placed it against the young man’s neck from behind.

Meanwhile, the captain responsible for Kunpeng Mountain Villa moved to the young man’s other side, lifting a black, peculiar pistol to his head.

Both of them spoke in unison, “Don’t move.”

These captains, in fact, were not ordinary people—after all, ordinary people, even well-trained elite soldiers, could hardly become captains of the management bureau. This is because the bureau’s subordinates are sent from various sects and demons.

Therefore, there’s a reciprocal operation— the country sends personnel needing training to the various sects and even demons.

The captains are elites trained back from different places.

At this moment, the young man, intimidated by the two captains, did not show any fear; he merely stopped.

Captain Ling Feng stood up, coldly saying, “Who are you really? What is your purpose in infiltrating here? You better confess, or else…”

“I’m rather curious how you discovered me,” the young man slowly turned around, seemingly unfazed by the short sword and gun on him.

A very ordinary face, that of commonality… the young man smiled slightly, “Did I reveal a flaw somewhere?”

“It’s very simple, because I asked for a Coke,” Ling Feng said suddenly. “And they asked for something else to drink… we said to bring back some drinks, not water. If you were the real person, you should know what we needed.”

“It was because of such a reason…” The young man was momentarily stunned, then sighed in resignation, “Actually, if possible, I didn’t want to use force.”

“You’d have to be able to fight first!” The female captain chuckled coldly, pressing the short sword on the young man’s neck with a slight force.

The short sword was extremely sharp, cutting into the young man’s skin with just such a pressing.

Yet the young man didn’t move; he simply kept his head lowered, slowly exhaling a breath.

“Answer the question, don’t waste time,” Captain Ling Feng took a step forward.

However, in that instant, Captain Ling Feng’s face changed dramatically!

For in front of him, the young man’s body suddenly split open… From the gaping body, flesh and blood expanded, like a mixture of sodium hypochlorite solution and concentrated hydrogen peroxide solution, madly ejecting and pouring onto him!

“What is this thing!” Captain Ling Feng exclaimed, struggling and wildly waving his fists!

Meanwhile, the two captains controlling the young man were also attacking in fear— and Captain Siyan, who was seated, painfully clutched his neck… as if something was choking him!

“Monster, get away!!”

“Don’t come closer… damn!! Someone help!”

“Support! Support!! It’s the reborn Blood Demon!!”

That was… the strongest, most terrifying, and dangerous enemy these captains had ever faced…

But in fact, the room was extremely bizarre at this moment… because the young man hadn’t moved at all, yet the four captains were acting abnormal.

In the end, all four captains collapsed one by one, fainting on the ground.

The young man glanced around, whispering softly, “In the end, just a product of rapid training, the state of mind is indeed the greatest weakness.”

Afterwards, the young man directly walked to the table where the captains were discussing, picking up the files on the table to read.

At the same time, wisps of smoke dissipated from the young man’s body… dissipating, she had returned to her original form.

In white clothing with a cold, clear face.

Like a fairy from Guanghan.

It was Qin Chuyu.

“So many have disappeared, what on earth is behind this…” She seemed to be in deep thought, murmuring to herself, “Five hundred years… this time being awake, is my effort still in vain… Master.”

…

Despite the ‘actors’ on stage putting in a lot of effort, and the performances being far superior to those at the gala in the capital, the audience’s minds were clearly not here.

Lai Caisheng, as the third leader of the Daoist Association, despite being young, had gained everyone’s trust since he assumed his position, erasing the influence of Clothed Daoist Qingxia Zi at that time. He was indeed a genius in the Taoism-cultivated field.

However, at this moment, he remained silent, merely watching as personnel from both sides clashed in a verbal battle at the banquet.

Yet, if nothing were done, this war of words might escalate into a physical fight… Monsters wouldn’t adhere to the principle of tranquility and inaction.

“What are the president and master uncle tinkering with at this time…”

Lai Caisheng collected his fingers under the table, slowly calculating.

After a while, Miss Gong quickly came to Lai Caisheng’s side and whispered in his ear, “Gongsun Shiyu has returned… it seems something has happened.”

Lai Caisheng nodded and, without showing any emotion, stood up with a smile, “Excuse me, everyone, I need to handle a small matter and will be away for a moment. I’ll be back shortly.”