Jiang Sui knew that her premonition had been right all along.
She should have skipped the verification process back then and just taken him out.
Because of the ice beneath her feet, the piercing cold constantly stimulated her sensory nerves.
But Jiang Sui was sweating—cold sweat.
One thing was strange.
Why did Luo Tianyu look just as surprised?
She glanced at his expression.
The head of the Luo Family’s face was twisted with a mix of anger, disappointment, and other emotions. He clearly hadn’t expected Lin Ying to show up at a time like this.
Jiang Sui had originally assumed that even if Lin Ying became a villain, he would still be on the Luo Family’s side.
But judging by the current situation, that didn’t seem to be the case.
“Lin Ying, as a veteran employee of the Luo Family, are you so senile that you can’t tell right from wrong anymore?”
Luo Tianyu’s voice rang out with authority.
It didn’t sound like he was facing an enemy, but more like a supervisor scolding a subordinate.
Lin Ying’s eyes dimmed slightly.
However, the cold aura emanating from him didn’t weaken—it grew stronger.
“The reason is simple. I worked for the Luo Family for all those years, thinking I could rise to the top.”
“But after more than a decade of hard labor, I’m still just a butler.”
Whenever the Luo Family discussed their private matters, he was always excluded.
He was tired, but he couldn’t see a single glimmer of hope.
No matter how well he performed, he was just an employee.
What Lin Ying truly wanted was to become a member of the Luo Family, to be part of that wealthy and noble clan.
That way, he could squander his later years to his heart’s content.
Since there was no hope, Lin Ying simply said goodbye to the Luo Family and got involved with their mortal enemies.
If anyone could bring down this big tree, it had to be the Black Star Cult.
And the conditions they offered were the most tempting.
He had already done a lot of things in coordination with the Black Star Cult.
But the plan had never gone smoothly.
The hardest to deal with were, as expected, Lu Yunze and his group.
From the assassination attempt at the start of summer vacation to the recent shopping center intelligence, Lin Ying had been secretly providing their location information time and again.
As for Kong Yang, who had also infiltrated as a mole…
Lin Ying hadn’t known his identity at first, and the other side hadn’t known that Lin Ying had betrayed the Luo Family.
Sacrificing one colleague to make the Luo Family think the traitor had been eliminated.
That was actually more advantageous for Lin Ying.
Lin Ying could have maintained his mole status forever, sabotaging the Luo Family from the shadows.
Until today, he received the strangest order:
Stop Luo Tianyu from approaching the Geopark.
Do not allow them to take a single step near the cave.
Lin Ying didn’t understand why such an order existed.
He also didn’t know what was behind the Bronze Gate.
But an order was an order.
He could no longer hide himself, so he had to show up here and personally take out Luo Tianyu.
“Once I kill you, the head of the family, not only will no Luo Family member know about my mole identity, but the entire Luo Family will fall into chaos.”
Lin Ying took a deep breath.
“It’s risky, but it’s a worthwhile trade.”
“From the moment you betrayed the Luo Family, your life has already run a deficit that can never be repaid.”
Lin Ying frowned slightly, then immediately raised his hand.
Sharp ice spikes grew from the ground, rapidly extending forward.
His first target was not the old and frail Luo Tianyu.
But Jiang Sui, who seemed like a bigger threat standing nearby.
“Wait, why is he targeting me?”
Jiang Sui was dumbfounded.
The ice spikes shot forward at incredible speed, carrying a ground-shaking force that directly crushed the spot where she had been standing.
Luo Tianyu, standing beside her, was only grazed, his clothes flapping loudly in the wind.
With a loud crash,
the spreading ice spikes slammed into the cave wall, making the entire cavern tremble.
“Done.”
Lin Ying had just started to smirk when he saw light flickering inside the giant ice spikes.
A raging flame burst through the ice.
The purple-haired girl in the gray-white robe, holding her scythe, leaped straight out.
Lin Ying clicked his tongue.
The cold aura emanating from him grew even stronger.
Seeing Jiang Sui charging toward him, he immediately condensed ice on the back of his hand, forming a shield to defend himself.
The ice shield was thick enough.
Lin Ying was confident it could block this attack.
But he underestimated the sharpness of the Waning Moon Scythe.
As Jiang Sui swung the scythe, a black afterimage cut through the air.
It pierced the ice shield and split it in two.
Lin Ying’s eyes widened.
Then, in a panic, he took a deep breath and exhaled a blast of intense cold air toward her.
The stream of air carried sharp shards of ice.
They could pierce through clothing and stab into the body.
Feeling the sting on her arm, Jiang Sui’s body transformed into a cloud of black mist, swirling around Lin Ying.
“You have a trick like that?”
Lin Ying hadn’t expected her to be a Secret Arts Practitioner with multiple secret arts. He became even more vigilant.
The cold aura kept spreading.
A layer of frost began forming on the cave walls.
The temperature seemed to plummet into the depths of winter.
With every breath, Jiang Sui inhaled a large amount of freezing air, nearly shivering all over.
Although he couldn’t pinpoint Jiang Sui’s location,
Lin Ying wasn’t worried. He seemed to be waiting for her to attack.
Jiang Sui was puzzled, but she didn’t intend to drag things out any longer.
If the temperature kept dropping, her body’s movements would be affected, and the situation would grow even more disadvantageous.
Jiang Sui appeared silently behind Lin Ying, raised her scythe high, and brought it down with force—
But it didn’t land.
The scythe stopped midair.
Jiang Sui’s movement froze.
“Looks like it worked.”
Lin Ying turned around, a sly smile on his face.
“How does it feel? Having your internal organs and blood gradually freeze?”
Lin Ying had dedicated himself entirely to his one and only secret art, developing different uses for it.
Among them, the most insidious was this move.
From the moment the battle began, Lin Ying had been continuously spreading cold air.
As long as the enemy breathed it in, their body would gradually be invaded by the cold, quickly losing combat effectiveness.
Jiang Sui had also been hit directly in the face by Lin Ying’s blast of cold air, which only accelerated the process.
Her blood was coagulating.
Her body temperature was dropping rapidly.
Even her skin began to form ice crystals.
Jiang Sui’s face was as pale as a corpse, her lips purple from the cold and trembling slightly as her arms went limp.
“Little girl, in a fight between Secret Arts Practitioners, information gap is crucial.”
Lin Ying condensed ice on his arm once again.
“In your next life, first figure out your opponent’s strength before you challenge them.”
He raised his hand.
This time, instead of an ice shield, he formed a sharp ice blade.
Lin Ying thrust it straight toward the girl’s abdomen.
A bloodthirsty smile crept onto his face.
But the next second,
his smile seemed to freeze as well.
Lin Ying shook his stinging hand, staring at the broken ice blade in confusion.
Smiles don’t disappear.
They just transfer.
And it had transferred from Lin Ying’s face to Jiang Sui’s.
“Guess what I put inside to protect myself?”
The ancient book that even bullets couldn’t pierce.
A mere ice blade thinks it can be arrogant?
Jiang Sui used all her strength to grab Lin Ying’s arm.
Then, with a squeeze of her palm, she crushed the crimson crystal she had prepared earlier.
In an instant,
a raging flame erupted, engulfing them both.
The scorching heatwave quickly melted the surrounding frost.
Luo Tianyu, who had been watching the whole battle, squinted slightly, as if the glare was too much for him.
The flames quickly dissipated.
The figures of Jiang Sui and Lin Ying reappeared.
The former’s face and lips had returned to a rosy color, her eyes sharp.
The latter lay on the ground, barely alive from the burns.
Jiang Sui released Lin Ying.
He collapsed to the ground, mouth open—whether from the pain of his burns or fear, begging for mercy.
“You’re right. Information gap is indeed very important.”
“You’ve taught me a lesson with your own failure.”
Jiang Sui placed her scythe against his neck, about to interrogate him.
A gunshot rang out behind her.
Lin Ying’s face instantly froze.
Then the light in his eyes faded rapidly.
He hit the ground with a thud.
Jiang Sui whirled around.
She caught sight of Luo Tianyu’s cold smile.
“Why keep a traitor around?”
“…”
Jiang Sui frowned but said nothing.
“I know you’re in a hurry, but if you kill me now, you’ll never get to see the real secret.”
Luo Tianyu put away his gun and walked past her with a swagger.
Jiang Sui took a deep breath.
She didn’t follow immediately. Instead, she scraped a bit of deep red blood from Lin Ying’s charred corpse and smeared it on the ancient book.
The ancient book showed no reaction.
Jiang Sui then turned the corpse over and tore away the burnt clothes, searching for something.
But the scorched skin couldn’t give her the result she wanted.
Left with no choice, she followed Luo Tianyu up the steep slope to the Bronze Gate.
“How do we open this?”
“We need a key.”
“No shit. Where’s the key?”
“Isn’t it on you?”
“Huh?”
Following his gaze,
Jiang Sui looked down and widened her eyes.
Sometime without her noticing, a necklace had appeared around her neck.
What hung from it wasn’t a decoration—it was a brass key.
“This… where did this come from?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
Luo Tianyu sneered.
“I thought there was only one key. I didn’t expect you to have one too.”
So that’s why he was willing to bring me here?
Jiang Sui reached for it.
But what she touched was the ancient book.
Under her gaze, the light emitted by the ancient book actually materialized into an identical key!
Jiang Sui only knew that the ancient book could replicate others’ powers.
Since when could it replicate keys too?
Or was there some deeper reason behind this?
Either way,
she now had a key.
Jiang Sui inserted it into the lock.
Keeping one eye on Luo Tianyu, she slowly turned it.
With a heavy grinding sound,
the Bronze Gate officially opened.
The two walked inside.
They finally saw the deepest secret of this cave.
A massive altar stood tall.
The patterns on the surrounding walls were grotesque and incomprehensible.
The atmosphere suddenly became oppressive.
Even though Lin Ying was already dead,
Jiang Sui still felt the temperature drop even further.
In front of the altar, someone had been waiting for a long time.
It was an old man in a black robe, leaning on a cane.
On his robe was embroidered a cross entwined with thorns.
That was the seal of the Black Star Cult.
“You’re here, blasphemers.”
“You… an Apostle?”
Luo Tianyu frowned and asked.
“No, I’m just a lowly Bishop.”
The old man chuckled.
“But the one you’re about to face is a true Apostle.”
“No, I should address him as God-chosen Lord.”
As he spoke, he gently stroked the altar.
His whole body trembled with excitement.
It seemed as if fresh blood might burst from the wrinkles on his aged face.
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