Chapter 421: The Missing Kings and the Master's Education
The tall, alluring Black Widow, Scarlett-Smith, walked gracefully forward. With blonde hair, blue eyes, and captivating red lips, she had the indolent air of a lazy Persian cat. She was bringing her two subordinates, Mitsui Hideichi and Qi Guanjing, to the Martial God Hall headquarters to report on their duties.
Scarlett's gaze subtly swept over her colleagues, who were all bowing their heads and holding their breath, their faces etched with a tension so thick it felt like a physical weight in the air. Even now, a tremor of disbelief and morbid curiosity ran through her veins. A few days ago, she had sent the message to her Master, Shen Anyu—a message that felt like a death sentence. Sea Dragon King Zhang Hailong, the fearsome Hall Master of the Yanxia Branch and a veteran Heavenly Human expert, was personally heading to the Demon Capital to apprehend Heavenly Queen Zhong Lingyin.
At that moment, a chilling despair had gripped Scarlett. She had felt the crushing weight of Zhang Hailong's reputation. A veteran of countless battles, a man whose power was a legend within the Martial God Hall. Against such a behemoth, how could her new Master possibly survive? And her own fate was inextricably linked to his. She still remembered the 'methods' he'd used to brand her soul, making her his completely. His fall meant her death. It was as simple and as terrifying as that.
The news that followed only plunged her deeper into hopelessness. The Left and Right Protectors of the Martial God Hall, two more powerhouses at the Heavenly Human realm, had also departed for the Demon Capital. Three Heavenly Humans. The number echoed in her mind like a funeral dirge. 'Three of them… How can Master contend with that? He's powerful, yes, but this is an impossible odds.' The only path to survival she could see for him was to abandon Zhong Lingyin to her fate, a move she wasn't sure he was capable of making.
But then, an unnerving silence descended. The next few days passed in a state of suspended animation. The world kept turning, but for Scarlett, time had frozen. No news of a cataclysmic battle. No announcement of Zhong Lingyin's capture. No triumphant return of the Martial God Hall's elites. Her Master didn't contact her, leaving her adrift in an ocean of uncertainty, not knowing if he was dead or alive. It was a unique form of torture.
It wasn't until the pre-dawn hours today, at precisely 4:30 AM, that an emergency summons from the headquarters shattered the quiet. The message was brief, its contents world-shaking: Sea Dragon King Zhang Hailong and the Left and Right Protectors had all vanished in the Demon Capital. Their life signs were gone. Their whereabouts were a complete mystery.
'Could it… could it really be Master's doing?' Scarlett speculated, her heart hammering against her ribs. The idea seemed ludicrous. 'He is impossibly strong, I know that better than anyone. But to make three Heavenly Human experts simply disappear? Without a trace? How is that even possible?'
Outwardly, she maintained her carefully constructed facade. Her hips swayed with practiced grace as she entered the high-level conference room, her expression a mask of languid charm. She found an empty seat in the back, crossing her long legs with an elegance that belied the storm raging within her. As a Peak Grandmaster and an A+ level enforcer, she held a respectable position among the mid-to-high-level executives, granting her a seat at this pivotal meeting.
The room was a cauldron of barely suppressed panic. The air, thick with the smell of anxiety and stale coffee, crackled with furious, hushed arguments.
"Impossible! How could Lord Sea Dragon King and the two Protectors just disappear?" an A+ level enforcer slammed his fist on the polished mahogany table, his voice cracking with a mix of rage and fear. "We're talking about three Heavenly Human experts! Three! Not even the full force of Yanxia's government could take them down without a massive, bloody war! And they went in secret! Only a handful of us even knew the Protectors were going!"
Scarlett's enchanting eyes flickered towards the speaker. She recognized him as one of Zhang Hailong's personal disciples, a man whose future was now hanging by a thread. With his master gone, his status and power would plummet.
A grim-faced executive, the head of their intelligence division, shook his head, his face pale. "It wasn't the Yanxia Special Department. That's an impossibility."
He paused, letting his words sink in. "Think about their methods. They are direct, almost arrogant. If they had managed to kill three of our Heavenly Humans, they would be shouting it from the rooftops. It would be a global proclamation of their strength, just like when their Female War God, An Zhiyue, publicly executed the Leader of the War God Alliance. They have absolutely no reason to hide such a monumental victory. In fact, it would serve as a powerful deterrent to all their enemies."
A murmur of begrudging agreement spread through the room. No one could deny the logic. Yanxia's official forces valued prestige and deterrence. A silent assassination of this magnitude wasn't their style.
"But if it wasn't them, then who?" the first man demanded, his voice trembling. "Who in this world has the power to eliminate three Heavenly Humans? Lord Sea Dragon King, especially… his body was refined to the peak of his realm! His martial arts were sublime! Who could possibly kill him?"
This was the question that hung over them all, a suffocating shroud of confusion and terror. The foundation of their understanding of the world was crumbling. Unless the Yanxia government had secretly mobilized tens of thousands of soldiers and a legion of experts to set a massive trap, the three Heavenly Humans should have been able to escape, even if defeated. An operation of that scale would be impossible to hide; the entire Demon Capital would have become a warzone.
They frantically searched their minds for alternatives. Outside of the official government, which major power in Yanxia could possibly possess such might? The great families? The ancient martial arts sects? Not a single one came to mind. Even the Gu Family, hailed as the number one martial arts clan in all of Yanxia, likely lacked the ability to silently annihilate a force of this magnitude.
"Could it have been poison?" someone suggested weakly. "Or some other kind of underhanded trick?"
Zhang Hailong's disciple scoffed, a bitter, disbelieving sneer twisting his lips. "Heh. Lord Sea Dragon King's body was practically immune to all poisons below the divine level, and he was one of the most cautious men alive. What kind of poison could possibly bring him down without a fight?"
The discussion ground to a halt, the executives lost in a maze of impossible scenarios. Then, a pair of sharp eyes landed on Scarlett, and a deep voice cut through the tension.
"Black Widow. Before Lord Sea Dragon King traveled to the Demon Capital, he inspected your Sakura Country branch. Did you find any clues? Anything at all?"
In an instant, every head in the room swiveled, dozens of pairs of eyes locking onto her. The collective weight of their desperation was immense.
Scarlett feigned a moment of thoughtful recollection, tapping a perfectly manicured nail against her chin. "Lord Sea Dragon King did inspect the corpse of Sword Demon Miyamoto Ichiro," she said, her voice smooth as silk. "He concluded that the one who killed him was an expert traveling with Pei Changli's junior sister, Zhong Lingyin."
She paused for dramatic effect. "According to Lord Sea Dragon King's personal judgment, the assailant was a Heavenly Human-level psychic ability user."
She couldn't hide this information; too many people were aware of the Sea Dragon King's initial findings.
A wave of shock rippled through the room. A Heavenly Human-level psychic? The concept was almost alien. They had never encountered, or even heard of, a psychic with that level of terrifying power.
Could this unknown psychic be the monster who had single-handedly erased three of their pillars?
Sensing their astonishment, a sliver of genuine pleasure, dark and thrilling, curled in Scarlett's heart. She let her words hang in the air for a moment longer before adding, in a leisurely tone, "Perhaps it's a newly advanced Heavenly Human. Based on hotel surveillance and other intel we gathered, the man beside Zhong Lingyin is very young. He appears to be in his early twenties. But there is a strange, distorted energy field around him that warps all recordings. We couldn't get a clear image of his face or figure."
"A newly advanced Heavenly Human? In his twenties? And he achieved… this?"
The conference room erupted once more, the initial shock giving way to sheer, unadulterated disbelief.
Only one man remained composed. Corliss, the Hall Master of the Western Branch, was presiding over the meeting. Besides the supreme Hall Master himself, Corliss was the only other Heavenly Human expert left in the entire headquarters. He slammed his palm on the table. Thwack! The sound echoed like a gunshot, silencing the chaos.
"This matter must be investigated thoroughly," Corliss declared, his voice a blade of cold steel. "We must discover if the Sea Dragon King and the Protectors are alive or dead. If they are trapped, we will rescue them."
His gaze swept across the room, commanding and absolute. "However, there is no need to panic. My Martial God Hall still stands strong!"
A proud, almost fanatic smile spread across his face. "The Hall Master is on the verge of a breakthrough to the Land Immortal realm! When that day comes, whether it's this Pei Changli, this Zhong Lingyin, or this mysterious psychic… they will all be nothing more than insects to be crushed beneath his feet!"
The announcement was like a jolt of lightning. The despair in the room was instantly replaced by a wave of manic joy and relief.
Scarlett's expression remained a perfect, unreadable mask. But as soon as she stepped out of the Martial God Hall headquarters, her composure crumbled. She found a private corner and immediately reported everything to her Master.
Of course, Shen Anyu had already witnessed the entire meeting. Through the nanometer-sized monitoring robot on Scarlett's body, he had seen and heard every word, observing their panic and flawed logic with the detached amusement of a god watching ants scurry.
"Master, the Hall Master of the Martial God Hall is about to break through to the Land Immortal realm! What should we do?" Scarlett's voice, transmitted through her earpiece, was laced with genuine anxiety.
"No need to worry."
Shen Anyu's calm, confident voice washed over her, an instant balm to her frayed nerves. The simple words extinguished her fear completely. At that moment, all doubt vanished. She knew, with absolute certainty, that the disappearance of the three Heavenly Humans was her Master's handiwork. He was a being of unfathomable power.
'Master is… too powerful!'
A memory, vivid and searing, flashed through her mind: his 'education' in the steamy heat of the hot springs, his overwhelming presence, the way her body had betrayed her, submitting to his will completely. A deep, aching heat pooled in her lower abdomen.
Scarlett's beautiful blue eyes became dewy, shimmering with an alluring moisture. She suddenly found herself desperately wanting to be 'educated' by her powerful Master once again.
Shen Anyu, however, couldn't care less about some distant Hall Master on the verge of a breakthrough. 'Land Immortal?' he thought with a faint, dismissive smirk. 'He hasn't even broken through yet. And even if he did… could he possibly defeat Susan?' The thought was laughable.
At this moment, Shen Anyu looked at Long Hao, who had been brought over, and smiled.
"Long Hao, we meet again..."
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