Qi Suian had no idea that Fan Fengfei had tasked Wei Jiang with finding his location.
But when he contacted Wei Jiang and declared his intention to kill Li Yao, Wei Jiang fell silent.
In the end, he agreed to Qi Suian’s deal, stating he would find a way to lure Li Yao out of Longjing City to a designated location.
As for whether Qi Suian could actually kill his target, Wei Jiang wouldn’t concern himself with that.
It turned out that Wei Jiang, as the grand steward of Longjing City, truly wielded immense power, especially with Fan Fengfei paying no mind to worldly affairs.
Wei Jiang single-handedly controlled all the power in Longjing City and the Dragon Whale Sect.
「Three days later.」
Qi Suian received a notification from Wei Jiang. It stated that Li Yao had already left the city and would arrive at the predetermined location in half an hour.
Qi Suian immediately went to make his preparations.
And sure enough, he saw Li Yao.
Then, he launched a sneak attack without hesitation.
He was indeed stronger than Li Yao, but if he could achieve the greatest result at the lowest cost, why wouldn’t he?
But the sneak attack... failed.
"For someone of your caliber to ambush a junior... it’s rather unbecoming of an expert, don’t you think?" Fan Fengfei said casually, intercepting Qi Suian’s attack.
Qi Suian retracted his hand, immediately understanding that Wei Jiang had sold him out.
’It makes sense, though. One is an enemy, the other is an annoying junior brother. No matter how you slice it, you’d never choose the former.’
No matter how annoying the junior brother was, it was their own internal affair. An enemy, on the other hand, was out for their lives. How could they possibly choose to cooperate with an enemy?
So Li Yao became the bait, and Fan Fengfei took action personally.
"We’re all just survivors here. Who cares about the ’grace of an expert’?" Qi Suian sneered. All of his Floating Cannons materialized and fired their Dark Energy Beams simultaneously.
Fan Fengfei’s world-suppressing divine will manifested, and a Dragon Whale swiftly blocked the assault.
Her own divine will allowed her to feel the threat posed by the Dark Energy Beams.
Even she couldn’t guarantee her own safety against such an attack.
The result was just as she had expected: her divine will disintegrated in an instant, and she immediately pulled Li Yao out of the attack’s range.
However, she didn’t retreat. She advanced.
Now that he was here, her true goal was to kill Qi Suian. Not only would it eliminate a future threat, but it would also placate Li Yao.
If she was lucky, she might even obtain the unknown holy relic in his possession, which would be a huge boost to the Dragon Whale Sect’s power.
A new divine will appeared, and a massive Dragon Whale crushed down toward Qi Suian.
The immense power it radiated shattered the Tai Sui God’s double shields once again.
The Wind Master aviation system and the micro-elemental particle thrusters activated simultaneously, and the Tai Sui God shot backward.
But its speed couldn’t match Fan Fengfei, who was carrying Li Yao.
"Since you’re here, don’t even think about leaving. Today is the day you die," Fan Fengfei said as she closed in on Qi Suian.
The pressure from her divine will was already beginning to affect some of the Tai Sui God’s functions.
"Heh. Not long ago, I heard some news about a holy relic from the Eternal Love series."
"Sect Leader Fan, would you like to know?" As Qi Suian spoke, a missile silo emerged from the back of the Tai Sui God.
Upon hearing this, Fan Fengfei’s advance involuntarily halted.
She silently cursed his damned luck.
She had searched for so long with great difficulty, and now, after just a few days, this guy had another clue.
"Hand over the clue, and I’ll let you leave," Fan Fengfei said coldly.
"Not enough. I need one ton each of every quality of black and white gunpowder," Qi Suian immediately countered.
Killing Li Yao was clearly off the table, but that was fine. First, he’d extort some benefits.
"One pound of each!" Fan Fengfei’s assault resumed after her pause, fiercer than before, with every strike aimed at Qi Suian’s vitals.
The AI controlled the Tai Sui God. While not effortless, it was still able to hold its own.
"One hundred pounds of each. Any less and there’s nothing to talk about." Qi Suian had made an outrageous demand, so naturally, she had lowballed him into the ground.
What followed, naturally, was more negotiation.
If they could reach an agreement, great. If not, he would definitely make a run for it.
In the current situation, he could still escape.
Besides, his intercontinental missile was also powering up.
"No, at most—" Fan Fengfei refused again, but before she could finish her sentence, she suddenly felt a palpitation of fear.
Then she saw it: behind the Tai Sui God, the tip of a warhead was now armed and ready.
"When you negotiate a deal, you need to show some sincerity."
"If you don’t stop, then we can just die together," Qi Suian said coldly.
Fan Fengfei’s movements faltered. She had no desire to die.
When sacrificing others, she would naturally speak of the greater good and righteousness. But if she was the one being sacrificed, it was a different story entirely.
So, she was forced to stop.
In truth, she was fuming. This was the third time he had threatened her.
Beside her, Li Yao’s heart went cold.
He had gone through so much trouble to convince his master to help him eliminate the rulebreaker, even using himself as bait.
And this was how it turned out.
’No, I absolutely cannot let this rulebreaker escape.’ Li Yao steeled his heart.
’Since he took the initiative to contact Wei Jiang to kill me, he must have discovered my identity.’
He’d had no prior interaction with this rulebreaker. For him to make a move out of the blue, what other reason could there be?
"Master, you absolutely cannot let the Iron Armor Man go! If he can threaten you once, he can threaten you a second time."
"He is utterly ruthless. Letting him leave would be allowing a grave danger to fester," Li Yao said at once.
Qi Suian glanced at Li Yao. The hostility was obvious, but that was to be expected.
If someone were trying to kill him, Qi Suian would feel the same hostility.
"The kid’s right. I’ll definitely threaten you again next time," Qi Suian said, adding fuel to the fire.
However, it did nothing to sway Fan Fengfei. "Ten pounds. Give me the information."
She also ignored Li Yao’s words.
Killing him was an option, yes, but Qi Suian was ready to fire. If he did, even if she survived, she would be severely wounded.
There was no need for her to take that risk.
"Same old rules. You give me the goods first, then I’ll give you the intel." This time, Qi Suian was planning to flat-out lie.
Once he told her, all pretenses would be dropped.
As for Li Yao, he understood it was impossible to kill him this time.
He could use nuclear deterrence to make Fan Fengfei hesitate, but from her attitude, it was clear she would never hand Li Yao over to him.
Qi Suian was certain that Fan Fengfei had used the Eternal Love series holy relic on Li Yao.
A thought even crossed his mind: ’Could it be that the Sect Leader of the Dragon Whale Sect wants to... fuse with Li Yao?’
The simplest explanation was that she knew Li Yao was the "protagonist."
This wasn’t so far-fetched. Back then, the Seven Elders of Ancient Martial Arts, the Red Blood Dragon, and others had some understanding of the "protagonist" and were even able to exploit it.
Fan Fengfei’s Dragon Whale Sect was founded by Ancestor Dragon Whale, whose origins were extraordinary. It wouldn’t be a big deal for them to know a few secrets.
"Ten pounds of each." Fan Fengfei took them out herself and tossed them to Qi Suian.
Qi Suian caught the items and stuffed them all into his Subspace Pocket.
"Speak. Where is it?" Fan Fengfei suppressed her rage. If not for the immense power of Qi Suian’s intercontinental missile, she would have loved nothing more than to chop him into mincemeat right now.
Qi Suian said with a grin, "I need a bit of reassurance."
"Otherwise, what’s to stop you from attacking me the moment I tell you?" Qi Suian pointed at the Dragon Whale behind Fan Fengfei.
Fan Fengfei glanced at the missile silo opening and the warhead on the back of the Tai Sui God and, in the end, endured it.
After dissipating her divine will, she said, "Is this good enough?"
Qi Suian nodded, then backed away a bit more. He secretly told his AI, "Get ready to run. Overload the systems."
"If she catches us, we’re both dead for sure."
[Rest assured, sir. Preparations are complete.]
In this regard, the AI was extremely reliable.
With the AI’s assurance, Qi Suian finally spoke.
"That holy relic from the Eternal Love series... is..." At this point, Qi Suian retracted the missile silo. "...on me!"
The moment the words left his mouth, the Wind Master aviation system revved up until it was smoking. The micro-elemental particle thrusters erupted with terrifying force, groaning and creaking as if on the verge of breaking.
The whole process was incredibly fast. Fan Fengfei could only watch as the Tai Sui God shrank in her field of vision, ultimately vanishing without a trace.
She wanted to give chase, but with Li Yao weighing her down, she eventually gave up the pursuit.
"Sigh... To fail when success was just within reach," Li Yao lamented with a sigh.
So close, just a little bit more. If his master hadn’t been threatened by some Eternal Love series holy relic, he would have already completed the Law Enforcer’s mandatory mission and obtained an SSS-rank talent.
At this moment, he understood something: rely on a mountain, and it will collapse; rely on a person, and they will leave.
No matter how good his master was, she couldn’t be wholeheartedly devoted to his needs alone.
Only by possessing his own strength could he control his own destiny.
"It’s fine. The Iron Armor Man is cunning by nature. Failure is to be expected," Fan Fengfei said, finding an excuse for herself.
She couldn’t afford to lose either the Eternal Love series or Li Yao. If she lost one, her entire plan would fall apart.
"But you’ve also seen how powerful this Iron Armor Man is. Even your master was not his match."
"For the next few days, I think you should stay within the Dragon Whale Sect. Don’t leave, lest you face the Iron Armor Man’s retaliation."
Although she hadn’t killed Qi Suian, she could at least keep Li Yao in line.
The next step was, naturally, to figure out a way to get the Eternal Love series holy relic she needed from Qi Suian.
The fact that he dared to bring it up meant he was prepared to make a deal.
It was just that his methods might be different, and he would surely resort to threats and outrageous demands.
Naturally, she couldn’t say this to Li Yao. She had to handle it herself.
"But..." Li Yao started to say, then stopped. If he was sheltered like this forever, he would likely become useless.
"No ’buts.’ Once I’ve killed the Iron Armor Man, you can do whatever you want in the future."
"For now, you will stay put and behave," Fan Fengfei cut Li Yao off forcefully, making the decision for him.
Seeing this, Li Yao had no way to object.
His own strength was only at the level of someone who does Miscellaneous Tasks. It wasn’t that his talent was poor, but that his cultivation had been restricted.
He couldn’t even think of resisting Fan Fengfei.
He hadn’t felt it before, but this crisis made him realize he couldn’t go on like this any longer.