Negotiation

An Changqing frowned at him.

Long Ao and Hong Yuan exchanged a glance, both seeing confusion in each other’s eyes.

Yin Tianzheng’s expression shifted.

“What did you say?”

“That thing you sealed away and the thing I carry on my back share the same origin.”

Chen Guan gestured to the coffin strapped behind him.

“It resonates with me. That resonance is accelerating the seal’s decay—that’s why Guan Jinyue chose to act today.”

Yin Tianzheng stared at the coffin. Because of the properties of dark iron, he couldn’t sense anything from it.

But hope had already kindled. His Adam’s apple bobbed.

“Are you telling me you’re carrying a demon god’s thing on your back?”

“A divine core. I possess part of a shattered divine core.”

Chen Guan answered calmly.

“So what’s your point?”

At his level, the line between humans and demons wasn’t so rigid. Calling demons enemies was political correctness, but power itself had no inherent morality.

“The seal suppresses the remnants. What those remnants need is the divine core that was stripped from them.”

Chen Guan locked eyes with Yin Tianzheng and spoke word by word.

“I have fragments of the divine core. The remnants’ instincts will be drawn to it, briefly abandoning the souls they’re devouring in the array’s focal point.”

“That window of opportunity is our chance to save the people trapped inside.”

“As for payment, I’ll refine those remnants myself.”

Yin Tianzheng’s lips moved, but no words came for a long time.

An Changqing was the first to react. He looked at Chen Guan with a rare solemnity.

“You’re saying you want to use yourself as bait?”

Knowing that Chen Guan possessed fragments of a divine core, An Changqing didn’t seem surprised at all.

Instead, there was a sense of relief—as if to say, you finally showed your hand, kid.

Chen Guan didn’t answer the question. He just kept his gaze on Yin Tianzheng.

“An hour’s gone. We only have thirty-five minutes left.”

“Make your decision, Old Master.”

…

Half an hour earlier, at the top of the Oriental Pearl Tower, a twisted space slowly unfurled.

Two figures stepped out from the folding panels of light.

Guan Jinyue’s toes touched down on the tower’s metal platform. Her silver hair lifted in the biting high-altitude wind. She released her hand from Yin Chen’s shoulder and stepped aside.

At the same moment, Yin Chen’s meridians began to flow freely again.

The rush of spiritual energy refilling his limbs made him exhale deeply. But he didn’t move immediately—he stood still, looking down at his feet.

Below: flames, thick smoke, sporadic flashes of explosions. The nightscape of the magic capital was torn to shreds.

Guan Jinyue turned her back to him, walking to the edge of the platform. The wind pressed her sleeves tight against her frame, making her look frail.

Then Yin Chen moved.

Spiritual power poured from his brow, and a complete summoning command was released in an instant.

The air temperature plummeted to freezing.

A white frost spread across the metal platform with such speed that Guan Jinyue couldn’t react in time. A three-meter-high wall of ice rose before her, its crystalline edges reflecting the fires of the city below with piercing cold.

Behind the ice wall, a massive white wolf stepped out from the frosty mist.

A Frostbone Wolf.

It was larger and more imposing than the last time it had appeared. Beneath its silver-white fur, icy blue skeletal patterns shimmered. Its fangs jutted out, and every breath it took condensed fine ice crystals in the air. Clearly, Yin Chen hadn’t skimped on its meals—it looked far more fearsome now. The great wolf let out a low, rumbling growl, and an arctic chill surged toward Guan Jinyue.

Guan Jinyue retreated half a step.

That half-step was purely defensive—the ice wall’s speed had exceeded her expectations, and she needed to re-establish safe distance.

The silver-haired woman shifted her gaze from the wolf to Yin Chen, surprise flickering in her eyes.

“A contracted beast?”

“You probably haven’t seen it before, right? Fair enough—I only got it recently.”

Yin Chen rested his hand on the wolf’s neck, his fingers sinking into the cold fur.

The wind howled. Yin Chen’s coat flapped noisily around him.

After a long pause, he spoke again.

“My grandfather hung up on me just now.”

“He wouldn’t pick up—that means he has something to hide. It means what you said is true.”

The Frostbone Wolf sensed its master’s emotional turmoil and nuzzled his hand gently. Its touch was cold but surprisingly tender.

“Three years ago, my grandfather sealed your sister beneath this tower.”

Guan Jinyue’s expression finally cracked. Her lips pressed tight.

“I only found out about this today.”

Yin Chen looked at her.

“I’m not going to make excuses for him. I can’t. Even if I could, it wouldn’t matter.”

“So, what do you plan to do?”

Guan Jinyue’s question was blunt. She already assessed the Frostbone Wolf’s strength—a Grade 8 mutated beast, not something she could easily handle.

Yin Chen tipped his head back and swallowed a mouthful of cold wind, his chest filling with icy air.

“My grandfather’s wrongs. I didn’t know, but my last name is Yin.”

“What the Yin family owes you—I’ll repay.”

Guan Jinyue studied his earnest expression. “Can you afford to repay it?”

“Even if I can’t, I have to.”

Yin Chen released his hand from the wolf’s neck and stepped forward.

The great wolf growled low but didn’t follow. It simply sat back on its haunches, a ring of white mist forming around it from the cold.

“I’m not your hostage.”

Yin Chen stood three paces from Guan Jinyue.

“You don’t need to use me to threaten anyone.”

“I’ll wait for my grandfather to come on my own. I’ll make him give you an answer in person.”

“But on one condition—close those rifts in the city. Stop harming any more innocent people.”

Guan Jinyue stared at him for a long, long time without speaking.

The wind whipped between them, carrying the ice crystals from the wolf’s breath.

“You think you have the right to negotiate with me?”

“No, I don’t.”

Yin Chen shook his head.

“But you don’t really want to destroy this city either. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have controlled the rate at which the rifts expanded.”

“It’s been a while, but I can tell—if you truly wanted to massacre these people, what appeared in the city wouldn’t just be these weak little beasts.”

Guan Jinyue’s expression shifted.

“You’ve been watching me.”

“From the moment you showed up, I’ve been watching you.”

Yin Chen stated it as fact.

“You’re not just lashing out at society or trying to take millions of lives in the magic capital. You want to pressure my grandfather. You don’t hate me personally and want me dead. All you want is your sister. We’re not really enemies.”

“Besides, if you actually kill hundreds of thousands of people, how do you think your sister will see you when she wakes up?”

That struck a nerve—the softest part of Guan Jinyue.

A clear tremor ran through her eyes.

It vanished almost instantly, suppressed, but Yin Chen had seen it clearly.

The silence stretched for a long time.

Then Guan Jinyue spoke, just one word.

“Fine.”

She raised her right hand, spread her fingers, and gave a small clench in the air.

From the edge of his vision, Yin Chen saw the spatial rifts of all sizes above the city begin to contract. Slowly, but definitely closing.

The howling of the beasts dimmed in response.

“The rifts won’t close completely.”

Guan Jinyue lowered her hand.

“Leave some, as a reminder to your grandfather that I mean what I say.”

Yin Chen didn’t ask for anything more. He simply nodded.

The Frostbone Wolf slowly rose to its feet and walked over to Yin Chen, its massive frame blocking half the wind.

Yin Chen sat down beside the giant wolf, leaning against its icy fur, gazing at the city below, torn apart by firelight and darkness.