The Black of the Soul

Dongfang Shuye walked in front, with Lin Mo half a step behind, carrying himself with deliberate posture.

The waiter at the door merely assumed Lin Mo was Dongfang Shuye's driver or bodyguard. His gaze lingered on Dongfang Shuye for three seconds, but when it fell on Lin Mo, it was nothing more than a perfunctory glance.

This place was as resplendent as a palace situated in a bustling downtown area.

Lin Mo cared nothing for the gazes of others. His Divine Sense swept back and forth through this building that outwardly resembled a resort hotel.

In a certain room, a wealthy and noble woman was engaging in a shady transaction with a top-tier celebrity.

In a dark underground room, several dealers were skillfully dealing poker cards.

Deeper still, there were several people locked up with iron chains, their eyes numb.

There were also all sorts of novelties.

Wherever there are people, there is the martial world.

Glamour and filth.

They were nothing but two sides of the same coin.

Lin Mo never considered himself a savior; he was just a diner with a bit of mysophobia.

If you don't see the rats in the kitchen, you can let it go. But once you see them, if you don't kill them, you will always feel disgusted, terrified that one day the food in your bowl might have been crawled over or gnawed on by these things.

Walking down the corridor paved with thick carpets, Dongfang Shuye turned his head several times, using the corner of his eye to glance at Lin Mo.

This guy's expression truly hadn't changed a bit. He was as calm as a deep pool of water, making it impossible for anyone to fathom his depths.

"The stuff here isn't bad, want to try some later?" Dongfang Shuye made small talk.

"Dirty," was Lin Mo's single-word response.

The elevator doors opened, and the two walked in.

At the exact moment the elevator doors closed, a message was sent through internal channels with utmost urgency to the top floor, to Chai Tianrong's office.

He pressed a button on his desk, and a massive screen on the wall lit up, dividing into dozens of surveillance feeds.

In the monitor, Dongfang Shuye's familiar face flashed by, followed closely by Lin Mo's handsome face—a face that made the blood in his veins nearly freeze.

It really was him!

Chai Tianrong only felt his throat go dry, his heart seemingly gripped by an invisible giant hand, making it hard to breathe.

He abruptly grabbed the encrypted phone on the desk. His fingers, trembling from panic, entered the password wrong twice before finally unlocking it. He dialed a number with shivering hands.

The call connected almost instantly.

"Are you all freaking sick in the head?! Who told you to provoke him! The man is already at my club right now!"

Chai Tianrong lowered his voice, but couldn't conceal the terror and fury in his words.

The other end of the line seemed to be explaining something.

"Block him? What am I supposed to block him with? Your life or mine?!"

"Crazy! You're an absolute lunatic! Do you want the entire Chai family to be buried with you?!"

"Do you even know what kind of monster that is?! The Heavenly Beings of the Hidden Sect families all died by his hands! Heavenly Beings! Do you understand what a Heavenly Being is?! You and I are nothing but dust in front of a Heavenly Being!"

A barrage of roars caused the veins on Chai Tianrong's forehead to bulge.

The frantic questioning proved that Chai Tianrong was already panicking.

Yanhuang Awakening had passed down the word long ago, and the family had repeatedly ordered that Lin Mo was absolutely not to be touched.

This was a monster who possessed the power to single-handedly uproot a millennium-old aristocratic family!

If they weren't backed by Yanhuang Awakening, upstart families like theirs wouldn't even have the capital to arm-wrestle with the Hidden Sect families.

Even Yanhuang Awakening could only choose to befriend an existence like this, rather than oppose him.

Chai Tianrong hung up the phone dejectedly and slumped into his large executive chair. His hands shook violently, and it took him several tries to light his cigarette.

Amidst the swirling smoke, his gaze flickered uncertainly, eventually settling into a bone-chilling coldness and absolute resolve.

He took a deep drag of the cigarette, stubbed it out, and dialed another number.

This time, his voice was terrifyingly calm.

"Don't wait anymore."

The other end of the line fell silent for a moment, seemingly waiting for what came next.

"Tell the people stationed in Yangcheng to make their move."

"Boss, this..."

"To save the Chai family," Chai Tianrong enunciated each word clearly, as if squeezing them through his teeth, "we can only trade a life for a life."

Just as the elevator doors opened a crack and Dongfang Shuye was about to step out, his back collar suddenly tightened, and his entire body was yanked back by brute force.

Lin Mo's palm pressed against the cold metal door, and the elevator doors snapped shut.

The next second, the elevator car emitted a faint hum, and the floor numbers on the digital display began to jump upward madly.

"What are you doing?!" Dongfang Shuye steadied himself, looking at the rapidly changing red numbers, his brows knitting into a knot.

Lin Mo didn't turn his head. He just stared at the tightly closed doors, his tone as flat as if he were discussing a trivial matter.

"Wearing out iron shoes in a fruitless search, only to find it without any effort at all."

Ding!

A crisp chime sounded, and the elevator came to a steady halt on the top floor.

As soon as the doors opened, several figures blocked the entrance. All were dressed in sharp suits, but the fluctuations of power emanating from their bodies clearly indicated they were all Ability Users.

Yet, these Ability Users were not from Yanhuang Awakening.

Using Ability Users as bodyguards.

The man in the lead instantly recognized Dongfang Shuye. A professional smile piled onto his face as he bowed slightly.

"Young Master Dongfang, what brings you to grace us with your presence?"

Before the man could finish his pleasantries, and before Dongfang Shuye even had time to speak, a sudden change occurred.

Crack!

A crisp snap echoed clearly through the dead-silent corridor.

The head of the leading man bent backward at a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree angle—a feat absolutely impossible for an ordinary person. His face was now pointing directly at his own back, the smile still frozen on his features, while the vitality in his eyes rapidly faded away.

It was Lin Mo.

He hadn't even seen how Lin Mo moved.

Dongfang Shuye's pupils contracted sharply, a chill shooting straight from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

Before the surrounding people could react, Lin Mo merely raised his other hand with indifference, spread his five fingers, and then clenched them fiercely.

Squelch! Squelch!

Several muffled sounds, like punctured leather balls, rang out in the air.

The men in suits couldn't even let out a single scream. Their bodies seemed to be gripped by an invisible giant hand; their bones, flesh, and internal organs were madly compressed, ultimately twisting into irregular, ball-like shapes. Blood spewed from every pore and orifice, dyeing the expensive carpet red.

"You..."

Dongfang Shuye didn't know what to say at this moment.

Looking at the expressionless Lin Mo before him, he only felt a terrifying sense of unfamiliarity.

Lin Mo also frowned as he looked at his own hand.

He could feel his own disgust toward these people.

That was why he had disposed of them so cleanly and directly.

But such a violent approach was indeed rare for him.

For some unknown reason, his heart could clearly sense the wickedness of these people.

It was a pure blackness of the soul.

It proved that these people had never done a single good deed.

This change seemed to have emerged only after the Ancestral Dragon buff appeared.

Could he distinguish good from evil now?

Then why hadn't he felt such immense killing intent when facing Wen Di?

Or was this perception specifically targeting malice toward this land?

Just what had these guys done?