Liu Erlong, her anger still not fully dissipated, offered an apology to Xue Qinghe.
"Please forgive me, Your Highness."
Since Xue Qinghe had chosen not to pursue the matter with Shi Nian, he naturally would not hold it against Liu Erlong, a member of the Upper Three Sects.
Having received Xue Qinghe's verbal pardon, Liu Erlong took Yu Xiaogang and headed straight for Yu Tianheng's residence.
After offering his own apologies, Shi Nian led the members of Blue Sunshine Academy away.
Seeing that Xue Qinghe had chosen not to press the issue, the several Soul Douluo present naturally said nothing more.
The entire incident felt like a conflict that had erupted unexpectedly due to a verbal spat, only to be immediately halted because the occasion was inappropriate. It ended as soon as it began; because no real damage was done and the perpetrators were relatively powerful, the matter was brushed aside.
Yun Ming watched the backs of the Blue Sunshine Academy group as they departed. He felt the strange force that had been injected into his body during that brief moment of distraction, quickly piecing together the entire process and sequence of this bizarre assassination attempt, a playful expression appearing on his face.
However, Yun Ming did not immediately expose the trickery of Shi Nian and his cohorts. Although he knew the mastermind behind this operation surely had ties to Tang San, he wanted to see exactly who it was. This job was too professional; Tang San was not capable of it.
After placing a Sky Support Mark on Yang Wudi, Yun Ming had his Grandfather go and keep an eye on Shi Nian. He himself pretended that nothing had happened, joining Xue Qinghe and the others from the various academies to continue toward the banquet hall for some social networking.
Once the Blue Sunshine Academy group was out of sight, Shi Nian carefully used his Martial Soul ability to pull one of his teachers into an illusion to summarize the results, while their bodies continued to walk without pause.
Shi Nian looked at the teacher who appeared in the illusion and asked with some anxiety.
"How is it? Did you succeed?"
He couldn't afford to be patient! The person he had attempted to assassinate today was no ordinary genius; he had a Soul Douluo backing him. If he made one wrong move, he wouldn't be walking out of Heaven Dou Royal Academy alive. He had taken such a massive risk—if he failed, he wouldn't just lose the reward promised by Tang Yuehua; it would be a total loss, a loss of his life!
The teacher replied calmly.
"Rest assured, Senior Shi Nian. The 'Blood Fire Force' was injected into that kid's body during that one second."
Indeed, the most important executor of this assassination was this subordinate of Tang Yuehua, disguised as a Blue Sunshine Academy teacher; Shi Nian was merely a crucial assistant.
From the moment Tang Yuehua set the goal of having Yun Ming die a miserable death, she never intended to find a powerhouse to engage in a direct, head-on kill. Because for Yun Ming, who was certainly protected by a Soul Douluo, that was basically impossible. She didn't have the influence to hire a Titled Douluo, so she had to resort to underhanded tactics.
This led Tang Yuehua to think of this combination assassination plan, which she had considered years ago when her subordinate first obtained this spirit skill. As the only eyes of the Clear Sky Sect in the outside world during their period of seclusion, she had prepared many varied plans to deal with all kinds of emergencies.
Because the Clear Sky Sect had been in seclusion for many years and she managed the Moonlight Pavilion in Heaven Dou City with the support of high-level connections, she had never encountered anyone too difficult to kill that required such measures, so she had never had the chance to use this reserve tactic.
The 'Blood Fire Force' itself was not actually an assassination-type spirit skill, as it had a delayed effect, and the target would notice the moment the force entered their body. As long as the target mobilized their Soul Power to resist before the force merged with their blood, there wouldn't be any major issues.
The strange thing about this spirit skill was that the force could merge with the host's blood. Once merged, it was not only difficult to detect, but it would also use the host's blood as nourishment to grow.
However, there was still a chance for salvation at this stage; as long as one used external ice-attribute Soul Power or certain cold-attribute medicinal herbs to wear down the force, one could survive. This method wasn't hard to think of and was considered a standard treatment plan for fire-attribute forces entering the body.
But once the force reached maturity and suddenly erupted, it would cause all the blood vessels in the host's body to burst, and not even the gods could save them.
Tang Yuehua used this spirit skill, which had many limitations but a massive upper limit, as the core of her assassination plan. The biggest difficulty was how to inject the 'Blood Fire Force' into Yun Ming's body silently and in full view of everyone, and most importantly, without Yun Ming noticing.
To this end, her prepared solution was Shi Nian, a Spirit System Soul Saint with a poor reputation in the Soul Master World but bizarre abilities. If Huo Gua could rely on mental abilities to wreak havoc ten thousand years later, then applying such mental abilities now would naturally yield even better results.
Thus, Tang Yuehua used a reward to persuade Shi Nian, who had a penchant for torturing geniuses, and finalized the general plan for this assassination. They would lure Meng Shenji away, Shi Nian would find an opportunity to mentally control everyone for a second or two, and then her subordinate would inject the force into Yun Ming. As long as it wasn't discovered at the moment of injection, Yun Ming would basically be dead.
Just now, Shi Nian had agreed with Liu Erlong to have everyone leave together after the seminar ended. He then provoked Liu Erlong by mocking her and Yu Xiaogang, creating a brief moment of congestion and chaos at the entrance when the timing was right, using his ability to control the crowd and giving Tang Yuehua's subordinate the chance to strike.
Because Yu Xiaogang was indeed worthy of contempt and Liu Erlong's personality was indeed fiery, this gave their actions a sense of legitimacy. In the end, because the ability wouldn't take effect immediately and everyone remained unharmed, it gave them the possibility of escaping unscathed.
Hearing that the mission was a success, Shi Nian breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it was a success, he asked in a calm tone.
"So, what about my reward?"
Tang Yuehua's subordinate replied respectfully.
"Rest assured, Senior Shi Nian. Once we return, the Pavilion Master will present the Spirit Bone to you with both hands."
Shi Nian nodded, a flash of greed in his eyes. He, Shi Nian, was about to obtain another Spirit Bone! The reward Tang Yuehua promised was a thousand-year Spirit Bone of the Support System. In any case, this Spirit Bone wasn't suitable for members of the Haotian Sect, and it was just gathering dust in the sect's warehouse, so it was better to put it to use.
Although Tang Yuehua was the spokesperson for the Clear Sky Sect, the head of the Upper Three Sects, the sect had been forced into seclusion for many years. They no longer had the ability to drive a Soul Saint powerhouse based on favors alone. Without a treasure like a Spirit Bone, how could Shi Nian possibly help Tang Yuehua carry out such a dangerous assassination?
After giving an order, Shi Nian canceled the illusion.
"No time to lose, leave Heaven Dou Royal Academy immediately."
Right now, nothing had happened to Yun Ming, and the scene he and Liu Erlong had played out hadn't revealed too many anomalies. After all, no one was actually injured, and his use of his seventh spirit skill was justified as a response to Liu Erlong, a Power Attack System master of the same rank who was about to close in on him—a reasonable excuse for a fragile Control System master like himself. So, it could be covered up for the time being.
However, in a few hours, once Yun Ming died from the eruption of the 'Blood Fire Force' in his body, the suspicious points of this conflict would be magnified infinitely. By then, the people from the Breaking Clan might not be interested in reasoning with him; they might just kill him outright. So, he had to quickly take the Spirit Bone from Tang Yuehua and then run away to hide for a while.
After Shi Nian led the Blue Sunshine group down the mountain and away from Heaven Dou Royal Academy, he separated from the others and went directly to find Tang Yuehua to collect the Spirit Bone.
Yang Wudi followed silently in the shadows.
After sending Yu Xiaogang back to Yu Tianheng's residence, Tang San went to the banquet hall. His main purpose for coming today was to see Yun Ming's miserable death, not to accept the mockery and pity of others. Liu Erlong accompanied him; she wanted to see it too.
Returning to the banquet hall, Tang San watched Yun Ming silently, intentionally or otherwise.
One hour. Two hours. Three hours.
Until the banquet was about to end, Tang San had not seen anything unusual about Yun Ming. Yun Ming, who had been watched for several hours, said a few words to Xue Qinghe and the others, then walked toward Tang San.
Tang San looked at Yun Ming approaching him, his heart burning with rage, but his expression remained unchanged. However, one sentence from Yun Ming almost made him lose his composure.
Yun Ming looked at the furious Liu Erlong beside Tang San and said to Tang San in a flat tone.
"Stop waiting. You won't get what you're waiting for."
Tang San's heart shook violently, but he still said as if nothing were wrong.
"What are you talking about? I don't understand."
Yun Ming was not surprised, smiling as he spoke.
"Is that so? Then let me say something you can understand."
Yun Ming leaned in slightly, whispering into the ear of Tang San.
"Do you know why I let you watch me for several hours?"
"Because I was waiting, too."
"You were waiting for me to die, while I was waiting for the gift I prepared for you."
As soon as the words fell, Tang San realized something was wrong and immediately retreated, but Yun Ming's palm still struck Tang San's chest.
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Translated by: randomtranslator.com
Proofread by: DaoistReader