As soon as the name Lu Yan was mentioned, Li Zhaoheng immediately felt the cold, sinister atmosphere in the room vanish, replaced by a warmth that spread throughout his body.
Feeling he had narrowly escaped disaster, Li Zhaoheng was about to speak when he suddenly saw the silently hovering vengeful spirit extend its nearly transparent hand toward him.
Unimpeded, the hand penetrated his body and seized Li Zhaoheng's beating heart.
The vengeful spirit's fingers clenched down hard, causing Li Zhaoheng to feel a tremor in his soul; his heart stopped beating in an instant, and his life's vitality was swiftly drained away.
"You... you..."
The light in his eyes extinguished, Li Zhaoheng collapsed onto the bed, completely lifeless.
Three hundred meters away from Li Zhaoheng's house, in a restaurant, Lu Yan was having dinner.
By now it was past nine in the evening, and the restaurant, near closing time, had few patrons. Naturally, no one noticed Lu Yan's deep, dark eyes.
After confirming Li Zhaoheng's home address, Lu Yan waited in this restaurant for him to return home, intending to use the vengeful spirit to intimidate him into revealing information about the person behind it all.
Initially, Lu Yan hadn't planned on killing Li Zhaoheng; after all, he was the police chief, and killing him recklessly would lead to more trouble.
As long as he could get information and the address of Gongyang Xuanming, the task would be considered accomplished.
Even if Lu Yan later manipulated the vengeful spirit to kill Gongyang Xuanming, Li Zhaoheng would only think it was the spirit seeking revenge and wouldn't dare to speak up easily.
But Lu Yan never expected that Gongyang Xuanming would target him, wanting to use Li Zhaoheng's position as the chief to investigate him.
Li Zhaoheng's knowledge of the vengeful spirit was of no consequence to Lu Yan, but once he was involved, the death of Gongyang Xuanming would make him a suspect and returning to the Xianxia version would inevitably bring big trouble.
Thus, Lu Yan decisively had the vengeful spirit silence Li Zhaoheng.
Under the night sky, no one could see a vengeful spirit pass through the walls into the restaurant, clutching a struggling soul in its hand.
Lu Yan glanced indifferently at the soul, just as a small golden retriever ran to his table, wagging its tail incessantly under him.
Lu Yan picked up a piece of meat and handed it to the little golden retriever.
"Eat up!"
The little golden retriever happily gobbled it up in one bite, while beside Lu Yan, the vengeful spirit eagerly devoured Li Zhaoheng's soul.
After finishing all this, Lu Yan put down his bowl and chopsticks, settled the bill, and left the restaurant.
He was acutely aware that Gongyang Xuanming had begun to target him. This matter of revenge could not be delayed any longer.
The longer it was dragged out, the more likely others would become aware of his existence.
He waved down a taxi.
"To Fenglan Hotel."
...
Fenglan Hotel was one of the two most famous five-star hotels in Luo City, located in the city's most bustling area.
Standing at the hotel entrance, Lu Yan got out of the taxi but did not head straight into the hotel.
He only glanced sideways at the opulent building and then turned to head for the large shopping mall next to the hotel.
No one knew that the moment Lu Yan paused, three vengeful spirits silently flew towards the hotel.
According to Li Zhaoheng, Gongyang Xuanming held an extraordinary identity, so the three spirits flew directly to the top-floor presidential suite.
Lu Yan casually bought a pair of sunglasses at the mall, put them on, and then switched his vision to the perspective of the spirits.
The presidential suite of the Blue Maple Hotel occupied the entire top floor, with corridors lined with black-suited bodyguards.
Inside the room, Gongyang Xuanming was reclining on a sofa.
Gongyang Xuanming appeared to be in his twenties, wearing a white suit, exuding handsomeness and an extraordinary demeanor.
The moment Lu Yan saw Gongyang Xuanming, he confirmed that the demonic cultivator behind Shopkeeper Chu was indeed this young man.
He had seen Gongyang Xuanming before in the Spirit Talisman Workshop!
That was when Lu Yan had just entered the Spirit Talisman Workshop, and Gongyang Xuanming claimed to be a loose cultivator discussing a big deal with Shopkeeper Chu.
It was the first time Lu Yan saw the arrogant Shopkeeper Chu show a humble expression, voluntarily inviting Gongyang Xuanming into the backyard.
Thinking about it now, Gongyang Xuanming must have visited the workshop to personally check the progress of the Soul Banner.
Gongyang Xuanming lounged lazily on the sofa while a middle-aged man in front of him was reporting on a deal involving Li Zhaoheng.
Gongyang Xuanming waved his hand to interrupt the middle-aged man's report, casually saying:
"Li Zhaoheng is just a minor character. If we can find this guy named Lu Yan, a little investment wouldn't hurt.
But if we can't find him, just deal with it quickly!"
"I'm more curious about this guy named Lu Yan,"
"We carefully examined the bodies and confirmed that Lu Yan's body was not at the scene. He definitely set fire to the underground factory.
I thought he would report the matter to the authorities, but surprisingly, he took the initiative to burn the factory himself, saving us a lot of trouble. What an irredeemable fool."
The middle-aged man also frowned slightly, puzzled: "With Chu Hao's skills, ordinary people wouldn't stand a chance against him.
Let alone those sent to the underground factory who had been secretly injected with drugs, leaving them no opportunity for resistance."
"But judging by the marks on the charred corpse, Chu Hao's head was smashed with a fist, which is hard to imagine Lu Yan could achieve."
Gongyang Xuanming sneered: "No matter how good a fighter, he's ultimately just a mere mortal.
Once we trace his whereabouts, a single gun will easily finish him off, and we'll interrogate him at leisure."
Just then, the lights in the presidential suite suddenly went out.
Gongyang Xuanming immediately furrowed his brow and sternly questioned the middle-aged man:
"Send someone to ask the hotel what's going on."
"Yes!"
The middle-aged man, using the light from outside, walked towards the door and had just reached out to open it when a heavy object fell to the ground with a thud.
"Boom!"
The heavy object hit the ground, and a chilling aura began to spread, instantly enveloping the presidential suite.
"What is this?"
The middle-aged man's pupils shrank suddenly, as he clearly saw that as the door opened, a burly bodyguard lay on the floor.
"There's danger..."
The middle-aged man attempted to speak but felt an unseen icy hand clamp around his throat, lifting him from the floor bit by bit, trying to struggle, yet seeing nothing before him.
The middle-aged man felt as if he had plunged into an icy abyss, the chilling aura spreading through his body, stripping away his vitality piece by piece.
In just a moment, his struggling hands went limp, and his life force completely dissipated.
Meanwhile, in the corridor outside the presidential suite, more than a dozen bodyguards had already fallen, lifeless. Many tried to reach for their waist guns but didn't have the chance to draw them.
The suspended body of the middle-aged man slammed heavily on the floor, and in the midst of this darkness, the three formless vengeful spirits took human shapes, gazing at the trembling Gongyang Xuanming on the sofa.
"It's your turn!"