Raising a sigh of satisfaction, Yu Ji says—
"This girl here is my little sister. And with that out of the way, do you know the story of how I ended up becoming a fugitive of Dainsfield?"
"…"
Out of curiosity, Shao Tianming had Chen Lan look into the matter a while back; however—
"Only as much as the public is allowed to know. They said that you destroyed a weapon of Dainsfield and escaped; after that, they placed a bounty on your head."
As the matter wasn't of any importance—to the hall's operations, Shao Tianming hadn't bothered to dig into it further.
"That weapon required my little sister to operate, and it places a heavy strain on her."
"…I see how it is now."
Just from this alone, Shao Tianming is able to guess what Yu Ji wishes to do, as he goes on to ask—
"You want revenge on Dainsfield? Sorry, but we don't do mercenary work—regardless of how much you're willing to pay."
Having expected as much, Yu Ji replies—
"Oh? And what if I tell you that in the next excavation, there will be plenty of Spirit Extracts to be had?"
"Hm?"
Taking a bit of time, Yu Ji informs Shao Tianming of what Long Hua had told her—regarding the interconnected ruins, which are jointly owned by the Long Yue family and NPI, along with the livestream that is sponsored by them.
"…Leaves that contain Spirit Extracts?"
Resting his elbows on his knees, and placing his chin on top of his hands, Shao Tianming narrows his red eyes, and asks—
"Where did you get this information from?"
"Long-laoban. Surnamed Shao, everything will be revealed tomorrow, lying to you here would be meaningless."
"…So, how does this tie back to your revenge then?"
Responding to the question, Yu Ji takes out a USB device, and slides it towards Shao Tianming.
Contained within this USB device is every piece of dirt possible on Jing Yuandong and Dainsfield.
"During the livestream, I need you and your people to spew out everything in this USB device."
"…?"
Slightly confused by this, Shao Tianming turns to Chen Lan—who takes out a laptop and inserts the device into it.
"…"
"…"
Giving Chen Lan a bit of time to scroll through the contents, silence looms in the air between the two parties.
"...…?"
Skimming through the information, Chen Lan can't help but widen his eyes at some of the things that he saw. Eventually, he reports—
"Shao-laoda, everything on here is basically blackmail material on Dainsfield and its CEO."
"…Are they all true?"
Towards this question, Li opens her mouth for the first time since her arrival, as she remarks—
"Whether it's true or not, does it matter? Slanderous information—regardless of their credibility, they will all be damaging, when they are revealed to the public. So long as even a bit of information on that USB device is true, and gets Jing Yuandong to perform damage control; it will be enough to get people to gradually think it's all true. At that point, further falsehood will automatically be registered as the truth by the general populace."
Adding to this, Yu Ji says—
"What I'm asking you all to do is basically mercenary work, but if you're competing with one another in the next excavation anyways, you're bound to cross paths with Dainsfield's associates. All I'm asking you to do—is to give those people a bit of "extra service," to spice up the livestream. I don't see anything wrong with that, and if you demonstrate your abilities well, you might even be able to reap in some investors."
"…"
"…"
Staring into the two siblings' deep blue eyes, which are giving off a sharp light of hatred, both Shao Tianming and Chen Lan swallowed.
"This matter…?"
Before Shao Tianming could say anything, Li Zi Xiang, who had heard everything walks over, and answers—
"We'll do it."
After taking a Carp, Li Zi Xiang has been feeling a bit under the weather lately, but for the most part—her current body conditions, they do not hinder her daily activities.
Turning to Li Zi Xiang, Shao Tianming wanted to ask why she's making the decision for them; however—
"We're taking credit for exposing Dainsfield though."
"…"
"Hm?"
Blinking his eyes, Shao Tianming is quick to realize what Li Zi Xiang's intent is by doing this, whereas Chen Lan can't help but put on a look of confusion.
"You're saying, all this blackmail material came from ourselves, and taking credit for it, we can let those—in the outer domain, know that regardless of how old their dirt is, we have the ability to dig it back up?"
"Un."
Nodding to Shao Tianming's statement, Li Zi Xiang replies—
"Indeed. As for whether or not, we can live up to this belief—it hardly matters. Sometimes, all you really need to do—is get a message across, and people fearful of that message will naturally fall in line."
Sucking in a cold breath of air, Chen Lan stares at Li Zi Xiang in a new light; judging by her tone, she seems to be speaking from plenty of experience.
"Big sis, I didn't know you were this dark…"
"…"
Throwing Chen Lan a glare of irritation, Li Zi Xiang snorts coldly, as she folds her arms, and says—
"Sort out all the contents on that USB. I'll be in charge of spewing out matters related to this Jing Yuandong's love life."
"Ah? Why this of all things?"
Towards Chen Lan's question, Li Zi Xiang frowns, and replies—
"I don't know. I just…- I feel like, I was hurt badly in the past by blackmail related to this subject, so now I want to vent?"
"Ah?"
"…?"
"Uh?"
Simultaneously, Shao Tianming, Chen Lan, and Yu Ji directed a questioning gaze at Li Zi Xiang.
"Zi Xiang, as far as I'm aware of, you've never dated anyone in your life…"
Having known Li Zi Xiang since childhood, Shao Tianming can say this with confidence, to which, the former shrugs her shoulders.
"…"
Shutting her eyes, Li thought—
(Everyone… All the weapon spirits in this world, they're all beginning to recall bits and pieces of their memories from their practitioner life. Does this mean that the Leng Bing Realm's laws have started to collapse?)
Different from Yu Ji—who possesses no recollections of their life as the ruler of Yu Ling Empire, Li has retained all the memories related to their reign, along with faint traces of their memories from when they were practitioners.
All these memories, they had come flooding back to her during her slumber—after being used as a component of the Heaven's Blade.
(If I recall…? The original Yu Ling Empire, it was from a star region called the Primordial Star Realm? Ai, it has probably ceased to exist at this point.)
As Li shakes her head, Yu Ji turns to her with a look of concern, and asks—
"Is something the matter?"
Drawing closer to Yu Ji, Li whispers—
"No, nothing, big sis. Let all ancient histories be bygones—once we leave this world."
"Hm?"
Just as Yu Ji is about to raise another question, Shao Tianming says—
"In any case, surnamed Yu, this task of yours… We'll take it."
Turning to Shao Tianming, Yu Ji replies—
"Very good."