Chapter 55: Striking in the Dark Against Liu Yuxuan

After arriving at Liu Yuxuan's residence, Yun Zhi found him in the study, playing a game of chess against himself.

Instructing the chat group system to retrieve a neutral energy stone from the personal space and activating the level 6 mental shield, Yun Zhi began to observe Liu Yuxuan closely.

After staring at him for quite a while, Liu Yuxuan showed no reaction at all.

It seemed the system was quite reliable; Liu Yuxuan's mental power definitely had not reached level 6.

After staring for a few minutes, she made no special discoveries.

Once Liu Yuxuan got up and went out to the living room to brew tea, Yun Zhi began to intently examine his study.

He had smashed everything in the other rooms yesterday, but left the study untouched, which meant there were items in the study that he could not afford to damage casually.

With this careful inspection, she noticed several decorative objects and items inside the display cabinets that were magical artifacts radiating special energy fluctuations.

Moreover, upon careful perception, they gave off a feeling similar to the white koi jade pendant Su Man wore—somewhat unsettling.

Of course, only someone with mental power who could look past appearances to see the essence would feel this discomfort.

Because these magical artifacts were filled with dense evil and baleful Qi, yet masked by special means so that on the surface they looked no different from ordinary magical artifacts.

Although Yun Zhi was only at level 2, because the chat group system she was bound to was formerly an immortal artifact, her mental power was exceptionally sensitive to evil and baleful objects.

Aside from those artifacts, even the floorboards of the study were engraved with special patterns that Yun Zhi did not recognize. After pestering the system for a while, it irritably replied to her: "Those are calming and soothing magic arrays, as well as protective arrays, only at the level 1 tier. However, if you want the inquiring-heart illusion array to achieve the best effect, it is best not to cast it on him inside the study."

Yun Zhi nodded to show she understood, then proceeded to Liu Yuxuan's bedroom.

There, she discovered that his bed had a protective magical artifact embedded in the headboard; other than that, there was nothing else.

Having finished brewing his tea, Liu Yuxuan began watching television in the living room.

Yun Zhi turned off the level 6 shielding force field since consuming energy stones meant she couldn't keep it running indefinitely.

Glancing sideways at the television screen, she found that it was playing a television drama Liu Yuxuan had acted in previously...

To be precise, it was a compilation of Liu Yuxuan's personal scenes.

Liu Yuxuan stared intently at his own handsome face on the large screen, then stood up from the sofa, walked over to the television, and reached out to affectionately stroke his magnified face on the display.

"Ah, how can there be someone as good-looking as me? Someone as gorgeous as me should stay young forever, living for all eternity..."

Yun Zhi: ......

Fearing she might accidentally betray her emotions, she quickly averted her gaze.

My goodness, Liu Yuxuan wasn't just normally narcissistic; he was narcissistic to the point of madness and perversion!

There was nothing wrong with narcissism, and wanting to pursue longevity wasn't wrong either, but plundering the fortune and lifespans of others just to maintain one's appearance and lifespan was unforgivable—he had completely lost even the baseline of humanity.

And yet, he still dared to dream of eternity!

Yun Zhi thought to herself: Tonight, big sister will eliminate you on behalf of the moon!

Next, Yun Zhi covertly observed Liu Yuxuan's household for a whole day, yielding some additional gains.

For instance, while Liu Yuxuan was taking a nap, she sneaked into the study, retrieved his forgotten phone into her space, unlocked it with his password, and plugged in a data cable connected to a computer.

The safehouse within her space possessed internet access, and with Xiao Jiu operating it remotely, the contents of Liu Yuxuan's phone were quickly exported.

Older messages had already been deleted.

Furthermore, his phone seemed to have professional security software installed; had Yun Zhi not retrieved the device and directly connected the data cable, Xiao Jiu would have found it extremely difficult to hack in.

In fact, Yun Zhi didn't even know Liu Yuxuan's phone number.

Usually, the numbers Su Man contacted were likely just those of her three senior martial brothers, all of which had been information-encrypted.

Within just a few minutes, all the data was uploaded, and Yun Zhi silently returned the phone to the study desk.

She even had the system help wipe away the faint traces left by her mental fluctuations.

Chat group system: ......

You're really squeezing me dry!

Sigh, being too familiar with the host resulted in this—whenever there was a minor task that didn't consume much energy, she would just help out on a whim, feeling too embarrassed to charge her points.

She lived in constant fear that this fellow would blurt out again—"I'm not doing the next mission!"

Totally got me wrapped around her finger.jpg

After a period of decryption, Xiao Jiu reported: "Among them are four phone numbers. The contacts codenamed Boss, Second Senior Brother, Fourth Senior Brother, and Little Four have very high encryption levels. I cannot decrypt them temporarily; it will take a day or two. Moreover, forced decryption would alert the hacker experts on the other end."

Yun Zhi thought for a moment and decided to wait until she met Second Senior Brother and Fourth Senior Brother in person that night.

To replenish its energy, the chat group system offered a specialized paid service targeting her—planting a level 7 mental imprint on Second and Fourth Senior Brothers, which possessed tracking and positioning functions.

A single level 7 mental imprint cost 100 points!

What could Yun Zhi do? Having fleeced the system of its wool so many times recently, she couldn't refuse to throw it a bone.

However, since Yun Zhi had time to spare, she bargained with the system for a dozen minutes, finally settling on 190 points for two imprints.

Liu Yuxuan regularly cleared his phone periodically, and the phones of the others likely underwent the same treatment. The useful information remaining was probably scarce, and much of it duplicated what was already found on Liu Yuxuan's side.

Consequently, Yun Zhi was in no rush to have Xiao Jiu hack their phones, so as not to startle the snake in the grass.

"Do not crack their phones for now; wait for my notification."

Xiao Jiu: "Understood. I have organized and packaged the potentially useful information from Liu Yuxuan's phone and sent it to you."

Yun Zhi thanked Xiao Jiu and began reading the documents.

Because Liu Yuxuan had the habit of regularly purging his phone, the useful content wasn't very abundant.

Even so, there was plenty of crucial information. For instance, it confirmed that the four of them currently shared five disciples in total: three males and two females.

These disciples were presumably tools used for harvesting fortune. However, because Su Man had joined relatively late and possessed no cultivation, relying purely on magical artifacts, her status was quite low.

In addition, there was a candidate disciple, though he was only a ten-year-old boy and had not been formally "accepted as a disciple."

Unlike Su Man, who played the script of the fake wealthy daughter, this boy played the script of the fake young master, and the city he lived in was not City X, but City C, which was quite far from City X.

Presumably, they feared that playing similar tricks too many times in the same city would easily expose anomalies.

The true young master's background differed slightly from Bai Miao's; he had been abandoned in an orphanage, living a modest life without suffering any major hardships.

Liu Yuxuan and his associates had sent peripheral subordinates to secretly monitor this pair of true and false young masters, reporting on their recent conditions once a month.

According to Liu Yuxuan and the others, it seemed they had to wait until the "fortune storage livestock" reached adulthood and their fortune peaked before it became the optimal "hunting moment."

No wonder back then, just as Bai Miao was approaching adulthood, she was suddenly "found" back by the Su family under Su Man's intense demand.

Presumably, all of this was orchestrated in secret by Liu Yuxuan and his cohorts.

As for "fortune storage livestock" like Dou Wanqin and the Su family members, they were categorized into three tiers: excellent, good, and ordinary. Excellent ones were like Dou Wanqin, good ones were like the Su family, and ordinary ones possessed family assets and fortune only slightly more prominent than average people.

Altogether, they numbered over three hundred... all part of the five disciples' respective networks of relatives and friends, alongside "fish ponds" developed through romantic relationships.

All five disciples were masters of manipulation; anyone who genuinely liked them or had deep physical exchanges with them could have their fortune siphoned in small amounts...

Su Man's eldest senior brother had a relatively high cultivation level and served as an executive in an entertainment company. He had over a dozen fish—not a huge quantity, but of good quality, mostly consisting of wealthy young ladies or wealthy matrons.

As for who had the largest fish pond, that title belonged to Su Man's second senior brother, who alone kept over a hundred fish, though their quality varied widely.

This second senior brother was also a figure in the entertainment industry and had already climbed to the second-tier level.

The third senior brother was also engaged in industries related to entertainment and was a well-known agent in the field.

As for the fourth senior brother, he was likely the hacking expert of their syndicate, because aside from a contact number, there wasn't a single word of information regarding him.

——This was merely Xiao Jiu's personal speculation.

Liu Yuxuan, the third among them, had also retired from the entertainment industry.

Even though he hadn't been active in the industry for years, articles praising his peerless beauty frequently popped up online, appearing in collections of handsome men alongside other former or current top male stars without anyone finding it particularly strange.

In reality, however, 90% of these promotional articles featuring Liu Yuxuan were self-published at his behest.

Because the more people who admired them and the higher their popularity, the easier it was to plunder others' fortune and the more convenient it became to "blind the heavenly secrets."

Yun Zhi felt her scalp tingle; fortunately, she discovered the existence of these malignant tumors through Bai Miao, otherwise, if they were left to develop and expand in the entertainment industry, heaven knows how many more people would suffer and meet a wretched fate.

Having gathered most of the information, Yun Zhi collated it and instructed Xiao Jiu to forward a copy to the Supernatural Management Bureau at nine o'clock tomorrow morning, ensuring the information remained leak-proof.

Yun Zhi was only one person; no matter how formidable she was, she couldn't handle a criminal case involving evil-path metaphysical masters with such a wide scope. It was better to let the Supernatural Management Bureau get involved as well!

She scheduled it for tomorrow morning to prevent the Bureau from intervening too early and disrupting her plans for tonight.

......

In the afternoon, Yun Zhi drove her spatial safehouse for a circle in the skies above City X.

With the help of cajoling the chat group system, she sensed eight locations fluctuating with faint baleful Qi.

Yun Zhi quietly memorized the addresses and mapped out the general terrain of the surroundings.

Soon, night fell.

Yun Zhi had been waiting outside the window of Liu Yuxuan's house for a while.

Hearing the sound of the hidden elevator ascending, Yun Zhi knew that tonight's main event had arrived!

The chat group system detected the two individuals inside in advance, noting that one of them possessed a mental power of level 6. She directly activated the level 7 mental shielding barrier.

To Yun Zhi's surprise, the second senior brother was a bespectacled man of about forty with a scholarly and refined appearance.

Yun Zhi took a frontal photo of him from the French window and sent it to Xiao Jiu.

Before long, Xiao Jiu retrieved the man's identity information... He was actually the most popular handsome professor at the City X Academy of Arts! His name was Qi Xingxue.

Given the behavioral patterns of the others, Yun Zhi instantly guessed why Qi Xingxue stationed himself permanently at the art academy: because there were countless young, attractive men and women there... Individuals with outstanding looks usually received preferential treatment and slightly better luck, making them ideal targets for micro-plundering of fortune.

As for the fourth senior brother, he was a Taoist priest with a somewhat immortal aura—white-haired with a youthful complexion, his hair completely snow-white yet his face devoid of wrinkles, making it impossible to guess his actual age.

According to Xiao Jiu's retrieved information, this person was none other than Li Taifeng, the abbot of the well-known tourist attraction XX Taoist Temple in City X.

Entering the room, Li Taifeng stroked his beard and asked straight to the point: "Third Junior Brother, what is this about a prime target with flourishing fortune? If the quality is mediocre and makes me and Second Junior Brother make a wasted trip, I'll definitely drink a bottle of your good wine."

In Liu Yuxuan's study, aside from magical artifacts, an entire wall was dedicated to a wine rack displaying various fine wines, the cheapest of which cost several thousand yuan.

Qi Xingxue also remarked: "Targets with better fortune than Dou Wanqin and Bai Miao are rare indeed. Especially Dou Wanqin; she could practically be considered the one among our targets with the greatest wealth, blessing, and lifespan. Even Bai Miao fell slightly short, her financial fortune incomparable to Dou Wanqin's."

Mentioning this, Liu Yuxuan grew displeased as well: "A high-quality target like Dou Wanqin is indeed a rarity. With the final harvesting moment nearly upon us and just days away from stripping away all her fortune—alongside a portion of the fortune belonging to her husband and descendants—she was unexpectedly spirited away behind our backs at this exact juncture."

Li Taifeng said unhappily: "What was that girl Su Man doing? Wasn't Dou Wanqin supposed to be watched by her?"

Then, turning his gaze to Qi Xingxue: "If I recall correctly, the fortune-plundering restriction and the restriction forbidding leaving City X placed on Dou Wanqin were set by your son Qi Yue, right, Second Brother? What, do you hold back when teaching your own biological son?"

Qi Xingxue: "What nonsense are you spouting? Ah Yue's proficiency in restrictions is almost catching up to mine; his cultivation might be lower, but his mental power has reached level 4. Whoever spirited Dou Wanqin away must have employed some special means to shield against the restrictions Ah Yue laid down."

Yun Zhi, eavesdropping secretly: ...... Qi Yue seemed to be the name of their eldest disciple? The entertainment industry executive.

Good grief, so he was actually Qi Xingxue's biological son.

Wait, Qi Yue's public profile stated he was thirty-seven this year!

And Qi Xingxue's public profile stated he was forty-two this year...

Forget it, this guy was undoubtedly another old monster.

Liu Yuxuan chimed in at the right moment, cutting short their meaningless argument, and said: "The new target I mentioned is the person who stole Dou Wanqin away. She is likely Dou Wanqin's direct descendant, her biological granddaughter. She even physically attacked Su Man once, and I captured a wisp of her aura. My divination skills are inferior to Boss's and Fourth Brother's, so I can only calculate up to this point. Fourth Brother, could you help take a look and see if there's any way to track this woman down?"

Qi Xingxue and Li Taifeng exchanged glances, their interest instantly piqued.

Li Taifeng said happily: "What, Dou Wanqin's granddaughter? That daughter of hers was already blessed with fortune, managing to quietly slip away right under our people's noses when she was only five. Presumably, her granddaughter's fortune won't be low either!"

Qi Xingxue asked: "Why did she attack Su Man? Could it be that she is also a practitioner of the mystical path?"

Liu Yuxuan smiled faintly: "No, she just beat Su Man up—leaving her battered, bruised, and thoroughly thrashed. However, she should be a level 2 supernatural being."

Qi Xingxue and Li Taifeng exclaimed in unison: "What, a supernatural being?"

For a moment, the atmosphere among the three fell silent.

After a long while, Qi Xingxue spoke slowly: "Times are different now. 95% of level 2 supernatural beings today have been incorporated by the state. If we make a move against her and get targeted by the authorities, it will spell trouble."

Li Taifeng also chimed in: "Tsk, supernatural beings—even though their mental power levels are far inferior to ours, when it comes to physical constitution, we might not necessarily win in a fight. According to what you said, that girl must be someone who prefers resolving issues through violence; otherwise, she wouldn't have failed to suppress her temper and beaten Su Man up."

Liu Yuxuan poured a cup of tea for each of them, picked up his own teacup, and took a slow sip.

He tapped his fingers on the tabletop: "If that weren't the case, why would I bother sharing a piece of the pie with you two when I could take down a target with such fine fortune all by myself?"

The two of them: ......

That was true.

Li Taifeng said: "Give me her aura, and I'll calculate it more carefully. If that girl's fortune really is twice that of Dou Wanqin, I'm in for this round! Didn't we deal with two supernatural beings before? We even transferred their charm and hacker superpower nuclei to Xiao Er and Xiao Si, and the authorities didn't investigate anything."

Qi Xingxue reminded him: "But we failed to silence those two during that operation; they saw Xiao Si's true face and managed to escape, forcing Xiao Si to live under a fake identity ever since."

Li Taifeng: "Regardless, we gained two more supernatural beings under our command without suffering any ultimate losses, right?"

Liu Yuxuan smoothed things over: "Indeed, although that operation wasn't perfect, the outcome wasn't too bad either. What's this, Second Brother? Are you saying you don't want to participate?"

Qi Xingxue: "Such a good opportunity must certainly include my share. Besides, Ah Yue bears part of the responsibility for Dou Wanqin's restrictions being bypassed. As long as that girl dares to show her face, I refuse to believe she can escape the restrictions personally set by a level 6 master of the mystical arts like me!"

Qi Xingxue was the one among the three with the highest mental power level and was particularly skilled in laying down various restrictions. If that woman appeared and they wanted to plunder the maximum amount of fortune from her, Qi Xingxue's restrictions were indispensable.

Liu Yuxuan smiled: "Splendid, then the three of us brothers are now in the same boat!"

Offering a cup of tea in place of wine to toast them both, Liu Yuxuan removed the black jade thumb ring he always wore and handed it to Li Taifeng.

"The aura belonging to that girl is sealed right inside here."

Li Taifeng received it cautiously, took out a wooden box from his portable cloth bag to place it in, and then affixed a breath-concealing talisman on top.

"Your venue here lacks the proper setup. I'll return to the Taoist temple and utilize the magic array there to carefully deduce her identity information and current location."

Qi Xingxue chuckled mockingly: "You mean a magic array to shield against heavenly secrets, right? You're just afraid that if you cast spells casually outside, you'll be... detected, and a bolt of lightning will strike you down."

Qi Xingxue pointed toward the sky.

Li Taifeng retorted: "Heh, talk as if you aren't afraid yourself."

Pausing, Qi Xingxue stated: "Let's make it clear beforehand: I want her superpower nucleus for Ah Yue."

Old monsters like them whose mental power far exceeded their physical constitution—relying entirely on fortune to maintain their youth—were unsuitable for having superpower nuclei implanted. Doing so would cause rejection reactions, not only wasting the nucleus but also harming the body, whereas individuals whose actual age did not exceed 45 could safely receive them.

The two superpower nuclei obtained last time were secured largely because Xiao Er and Xiao Si played the main roles, so it wouldn't have been fair to allocate them to outsiders.

Liu Yuxuan: "As for the fortune on her body, you take 20%, and Fourth Brother and I will take 40% each."

Qi Xingxue: "Agreed."

Li Taifeng: "I have no objections."

Yun Zhi, hiding in her spatial safehouse: Heh, keep on dreaming!

Having settled the most important matters, they discussed some miscellaneous issues and complained about their eldest brother acting as a dictator every time, relying on his status as a peak-level 6 mystical master.

The three of them also summoned the person responsible for looking after Liu Yuxuan's daily diet and lifestyle downstairs to send up several side dishes, drinking wine for over three hours.

It wasn't until past ten o'clock in the deep of night that the second and fourth brothers successively took their leave.

As soon as they stepped out of the Liu residence and entered the hidden elevator, Yun Zhi instructed the chat group system to stamp them with level 7 mental imprints. Unless someone's mental power exceeded level 7, these imprints would remain undetectable.

The imprints were valid for three days.

Besides, Yun Zhi had already acquired all of their phone numbers.

After the other two departed, Liu Yuxuan summoned the person downstairs to clear away the messy table.

Once the housekeeper had also left, Liu Yuxuan maintained a tipsy state, sitting in the lazy sofa by the French window in the living room and staring blankly.

At a glance, one might think he was admiring the glittering night view of the city lights; looking closer, the fellow was actually gazing at his own blurred reflection on the windowpane.

Such a hazy silhouette concealed the obvious fine lines on his face and the unmaskable vicissitudes in his eyes.

Yun Zhi decided that right now was the optimal moment to deploy the mini-version of the inquiring-heart illusion array.

Activating the level 6 mental shield, she directly initiated the mini inquiring-heart illusion array, then used the system's level 6 mental power to transport the array disc onto the carpet behind the lazy sofa.

Because the system assisted in the execution and its level 6 mental power surpassed Liu Yuxuan's, combined with his intoxicated state, he completely failed to notice the palm-sized array disc appearing on the carpet behind him.

Activating a small-scale inquiring-heart illusion array required no supporting array flags.

As the invisible spiritual energy fluctuations from the array disc enshrouded Liu Yuxuan, his already drowsy eyes gradually closed...

A few minutes later, the chat group system's light screen prompted: "His consciousness is completely trapped by the power of the array disc! Now, even if you break his arms and legs, he won't wake up."

Yun Zhi: ......

Though she had to admit, she really didn't have violent tendencies.

Emerging from her spatial safehouse, Yun Zhi used Liu Yuxuan's phone to take a photo of him in his unconscious state. In the frame, only one of her hands appeared, holding a firearm aimed right at Liu Yuxuan's temple.

First, she sent it to the eldest brother who was likely the furthest away, followed by the second and fourth brothers.

She also attached a message: I am Dou Wanqin's biological granddaughter. You bastards want to plunder my grandmother's fortune and superpower nuclei? Come and fight if you dare! Whoever doesn't show up is a coward!

Additionally, she attached an address—not Liu Yuxuan's home, but a newly demolished vacant lot in the western district of City X.

Even if this place attracted massive heavenly thunder, it wouldn't accidentally injure ordinary people.

Having completed all this, Yun Zhi fed the unconscious Liu Yuxuan a tenfold dose of soul-stupefying powder, slipped a sack over him, tied the opening tight, and stowed both him and the inquiring-heart illusion array disc into her spatial safehouse.

She also temporarily stored all the portable evil magical artifacts from the study into her personal space.

Then, piloting the spatial safehouse, she headed toward the coordinates she had sent out.

Yun Zhi's tactic was known as luring the snake out of its hole. Qi Xingxue and Li Taifeng, who knew partial information about her, would most likely rush over.

She just didn't know whether that eldest brother would come. He was the most deeply hidden among them, and up to now, Yun Zhi still didn't know his name or true identity.

The identity card bound to his phone number was fake as well. If he didn't show up, she would simply have to think of another way.

A few minutes later, driving the spatial safehouse in a straight line at 180 miles per hour, Yun Zhi arrived at her destination.

Throwing the limp, dog-like Liu Yuxuan out of the spatial house, she swiftly set up the inquiring-heart illusion array.

She additionally laid out a maze array and a trapping array around the perimeter.

Liu Yuxuan, still trapped inside the sack, found himself positioned at the dead center of the triple arrays.

When his accomplices arrived and attempted to rescue him, their attention would undoubtedly be drawn first to the most conspicuous maze and trapping arrays.

Once they relied on their formidable mental power to force their way into the center of the array, they would unconsciously fall right into the inquiring-heart illusion array.

At that moment, all she had to do was hide in her spatial safehouse and have the system bombard them with lightning talismans from the outside!

Just as Yun Zhi finished setting everything up, she sensed a powerful mental fluctuation rapidly approaching...

No, not just one—there were three! Two of the mental fluctuations lagging slightly behind were traveling together!

Yun Zhi was ecstatic. The bait had been swallowed; no matter how clever these fish fancied themselves, they couldn't resist taking the hook!

Rather than saying they came to rescue Liu Yuxuan, it was more accurate to say they were coming straight for Yun Zhi!