The fuzzy sound of the piano passes through the screen carved with landscapes, flowers and birds, and enters the study from the living room.
The furnishings in the room are exquisite, the cats and butterflies on the jade ashtray are vivid, and a large amount of soot is accumulated inside, like a gray hill. Amidst the smog, the Great Elder of the Illusory Demon Clan clenched his phone tightly and gradually narrowed his eyes.
Since last night, there have been constant phone calls, mostly bad news, and he hasn't closed his eyes for half a night.
"...The owner of the family has hidden a lot of ledgers that should be destroyed. All the old ledgers from decades ago have been turned up! After getting the ledgers, the Exorcist Bureau checked the company overnight, and every check was accurate."
This time the situation was even more difficult than they had expected. The General Administration of Demon Elimination participated in the investigation, and the academy followed suit. Yuan Mu delegated power to the kid from the ghost clan, which gave him a fair and just reason to deal with the elders' house. The impact from the outside world was not as good as the internal turmoil. As the head of the family, Hua Hengjing did not stand with them in this accident. Rather, he planned the whole thing by himself.
He attracted the Academy and the Demon Elimination Bureau, and reached a cooperation with Yu Huai. If they had known that there would be a situation like today, they would never have allowed him to sit in that position.
The subordinate on the other end of the phone said anxiously: "For some reason, all the auction items that were going to be sent away were intercepted by the owner, and he even found the witnesses of the night. The General Administration of Demon Elimination will issue an arrest warrant immediately. The other elders are all in Find a way, look now—"
"Understood." The Great Elder hung up the phone in a cold voice.
Flowers, scales, and scenery.
He silently recited the name word by word in his heart, his wrinkled eyes revealed a fierce and fierce light. He was silent for a while, and made another call.
"Hurry up and destroy the evidence related to me, I cannot be sentenced to death directly!"
"Help me contact the Black Tower Prison and take care of everything..."
"No, don't worry about the Patriarch," the elder's voice was so soft that it was almost weird, "he will pay the price soon."
After answering the phone, he walked out of the study.
The vinyl record player makes an inaudible muffled sound when it is running, perhaps due to the aging of the stylus, the music comes out with a slightly hoarse blunt feeling, and the piano sound comes from here.
He moved the needle and changed the tune again.
The wishing mechanism made Hua Hengjing obedient, and the elders' house spent a lot of effort on this. Hua Hengjing's mental power is very strong. In order to achieve the goal, at least tens of thousands of people need to be prepared for blood sacrifices. The flesh and blood of one exorcist is worth dozens of ordinary people. These days, they are also marking the exorcist as much as possible .
The Great Elder counted the sacrifices that had been prepared, and methodically brewed a pot of old Pu'er for himself. With the diffused water vapor, the elegant tea fragrance lingers on the tip of the nose.
Although the Black Tower will take good care of him, it is still a prison, and he will not be able to drink such good tea for a while. Just feeling regretful, a voice came from the side.
"A cup of tea is a meal for a broken head, it seems a bit shabby." The visitor walked from the side of the great elder to the front, and slowly sat down on the grand master's chair, as naturally as if this was his home.
The elder was stunned for a moment, then calmly poured the tea into the cup in front of Yu Huai.
"Mr. Yu came at an unfortunate time, I can only treat him with such poor tea."
The hand of the old man refilling the tea never trembled, and the tea was firmly level with the rim of the cup, and if it was too much, it would overflow.
The tea is full to see off the guests, and the wine is full to deceive people.
Yu Huai glanced at the cup of expulsion order in front of him without interest, and turned to the eyes of the elder: "You are very confident that you can walk out of the black tower alive."
The sound of the piano flowing through the room is a melodious nocturne, and the old-school vinyl record player just complements this aging piece.
The great elder said nothing.
For Yaozu, his age is considered very high. Even though his physical body has inevitably revealed his old age, his eyes are still as sharp as a falcon.
"The Black Tower can be used as a place to temporarily avoid the limelight. There are indeed many connections in the Elder's House."
"It seems that someone has leaked the news," the elder said calmly, "There will indeed be a lot of small troubles in the temporary arrangement."
"In addition to these, I also got a route to enter the Black Tower, and the end point happens to be your prison cell." After Yu Huai's voice fell, a strange expression finally appeared on the face of the elder, "It may not be accurate to call it a prison cell. The bedroom I prepared myself was as big as the double cell next door. Are you going on vacation?"
"… what you up to?"
"I want to ask your opinion. Do you prefer to die in the sea when you are free, or die in your room in the middle of the night? No matter what you choose, I will kill you in the end."
As if he couldn't see the ugly face of the Great Elder, Yu Huai picked up the tea cup instead of the guest, and poured the tea into the empty teacup of the Great Elder. He didn't deliberately fill the cup, but just randomly added some tea into it.
When he put down the teacup, he made a gesture of invitation, but his words were commanding: "Choose."
The great elder stared at the cup of tea, as if looking at a vicious snake and scorpion, the muscles at the corners of his mouth trembled involuntarily.
He hadn't tasted being in control for many years, and his chest heaved and his breathing became violent unconsciously with rage. The cup of tea in front of him was knocked to the ground with a bang, and the Great Elder ignored the water splashed on the back of his hand, raised his red eyes and looked at Yu Huai.
Even though he was unwilling to admit it, deep down in his heart he was always afraid of the abilities of the ghost clan, and when he was furious, he was still afraid of the eyes in front of him.
so similar.
These eyes are too similar to Xuan Tan.
That high-ranking banshee easily ruined most of his life's hard work and peaceful coexistence with humans. Those big families that depended on the gray industry were the ones who were hit the hardest. The Peaceful Coexistence Regulations directly put this part into the restricted area. The Illusory Demon Clan is going from bad to worse, but other families that comply with the regulations are quietly rising. The small families that were originally lagging behind faintly have the momentum to surpass them, and the guy who was begging for mercy in the past dares to point fingers at him: peaceful coexistence with human beings is the future trend! An old antique like you who doesn't know how to adapt will be abandoned by the times sooner or later!
He looked down on those monsters who happily integrated into human society overnight, and even hated Xuan Tan who advocated peace. But even in the moments when he hated her the most, he dreaded confronting her.
Being killed by a ghost means that you cannot enter reincarnation after death. Only when this ghost dies can the people and demons killed by him be reincarnated. The Great Elder is not afraid of death, what he fears is the long torture after death.
The melody of the piano becomes intense and high-spirited. He took a deep breath and squeezed out the words in a hoarse voice: "I know what you really want. Five years is enough for them to remove all traces. There must be very few things you can find... Kill me , the clues will be completely cut off.”
Under the determined gaze of the Great Elder, Yu Huai leaned back and said a name leisurely.
Then came the second, third... Every time a name was announced, the face of the Great Elder became ugly. When the seventh name came down, Yu Huai stared at the elder: "These seven elders have all participated in that incident. Seeing your end, they will scramble to reveal the news to me."
"No, no one knows more than me! Only I have had direct contact with 'Qi Luo', and the other elders follow my instructions. If you want to get clues from me..." the elder Pausing for a while, staring at Yu Huai firmly, "You must ensure my safety."
This kid was stronger than he imagined, causing him to accidentally ignore the most important point.
To be stuck in circles with him at this time is more like having an ulterior motive than watching his ugly appearance when he is about to die. The Great Elder said decisively: "I will give you all the rights and property. You can treat me as if I died in the Black Tower, and I swear that I will never leave one step in my life."
Yu Huai was unmoved, and there was no warmth in his voice: "I'm not interested in the old man's coffin at all. How about this, the people living in this mansion are all your relatives, I'll call them all over, and share them in front of you." Kill one, you can say as much as you want."
The sound of the piano stops abruptly—
A smooth and beautiful rest.
"Ridiculous!" The Great Elder slapped the table with his palm, the tea set shattered, and the fragrant tea dripped all over the table. His eyes were tearing apart, the corners of his eyes twitched, and he could no longer maintain the dignity that the elders of the big family should have, "They are innocent...!"
"When you participated in the massacre, did you consider that all the ghosts are innocent?" Yu Huai asked strangely, "Why do you ask me to let your family go?"
The Great Elder's expression kept changing, and after a while, he seemed to have lost all strength to resist, and buried his face in a slump.
"... It's all over. You don't know how many people were involved in that incident. The Illusory Demon is just one of them. If you can kill me, can you kill all the monsters who participated? Your mother may not want to see you become like this." Look, you have the ability and status now, and you can live a better life, why don't you let go?!" After speaking, he raised his head unknowingly, and his expression became terrifying and hideous.
"Don't worry, none of them will be missed." Yu Huai said indifferently, "It's fair."
The Great Elder looked at him incomprehensibly, and finally realized the difference between him and himself.
He doesn't care about rules and regulations at all, as long as he decides to take revenge, he will do whatever it takes. Such a terrible attachment makes people feel uncomfortable from the bottom of their hearts. They did something wrong, they shouldn't have given him a chance to live on; at that time, everyone thought he was a kid who had just grown up, and even if he was Xuan Tan's child, it would be impossible for him to see the light of day again after entering the burial ground …
Facing the dejected Great Elder, Yu Huai opened his mouth like a reward: "I can give you a chance, and you will also have to pay for your life, but I will not kill you with my own hands, or move your family."
Even knowing that his conditions would come at a high price, the Great Elder couldn't help but have a glimmer of hope. He asked hoarsely, "What exactly do you want?"
"Tell me the truth you know completely, besides that, there is one more thing..." He whispered a few words.
The Great Elder couldn't believe what he heard, his expression changed from surprise to anger, and finally to helpless hatred.
He lost his mind and said: "You madman..."
Xu Yinian slept all day.
Excessive use of abilities not only made his muscles ache all over, but also exhausted his physical strength, and even his vigilance dropped a lot. He lazily opened his eyes when he noticed someone approaching in his sleep.
He was still tired and his mind was not very flexible. A vague outline appeared in front of his eyes, and realizing that the man was staring at him straightly, Xu Yinian was jolted and completely sobered up.
Yu Huai stared at him quietly.
His eyes seemed to have substance, inch by inch, from the soft neck to the fair cheeks, unconsciously revealing desire and greed.
Xu Yinian was stabbed by his eyes, and subconsciously asked: "What are you looking at me for?"
Yu Huai didn't speak.
He leaned forward slightly, his gaze lowered. Xu Yinian was made quite uncomfortable by him, thinking that his behavior of occupying the magpie's nest had finally aroused the dissatisfaction of the master: "Don't look, I'll get out immediately. I really didn't mean to stay here, you should wake me up earlier... "
He lifted the quilt while talking, Yu Huai took his actions into his eyes, and his expression became more and more gloomy.
After listening to the things the Great Elder explained, he seemed to have returned to that day full of blood. A lot of unpleasant memories flooded in. From that day on, his life seemed to have slipped into an abyss. Countless people stood on it and threw stones. When he finally couldn't hold back and fell, the monsters in the abyss laughed and clapped their hands in celebration.
To him, the biggest stone was thrown by Xu Yinian himself.
When he was struggling in the mountain of corpses and the sea of blood, the marriage contract that was originally covering his chest was suddenly lightened, and it took Yu Huai a beat to understand what happened. Most of the nerves in his body were broken, and he should have lost his perception ability logically, but the feeling of the contract being stripped was terribly clear.
After the accident happened, Xu Yinian directly broke up through the marriage contract. He didn't give up and wanted to contact the other party again, but Xu Yinian simply terminated the marriage contract and cut off the last contact between them without hesitation.
The memory of being abandoned is vivid, but the person he most wants to catch is within reach.
Since Xu Yinian doesn't want a marriage contract, let's change it.
There are all kinds of contracts in the Yaozu, and there is a taboo contract that is based on blood. After the blood contract is established, the contract recipient must obtain the blood of the contract giver at regular intervals, otherwise, he will lose his mind, and his whole body will suffer like an illness.
As long as this contract is formed, Xu Yinian's life will be held in his hands, and he will not be able to leave until he dies.
Yu Huai silently clenched the edge of the bed, veins protruding from the back of his hands. A spirit body covered with mantras quietly appeared in a place that Xu Yinian could not see. The palm-sized spirit body opened its eyes, and strange bright red lines formed in its pupils.
The same red lines appeared on the back of Yaozu's hand at the same time, and the finger that was originally placed by the bed moved slightly—
Xu Yinian inexplicably felt that the surrounding air pressure had become lower, and he stopped his movements instinctively.
"Forget it," the boy leaned back suddenly, "I won't get lost."
Stepping on the soft quilt, he turned his head to look at the ghosts beside him. Yu Huai's state is a bit abnormal. He was about to speak when his stomach grumbled inappropriately.
The two were stunned at the same time.
"I..." Xu Yinian said in embarrassment with his ears burning, "Can Freeport order takeaway?"
He slept for a whole day, his injury was almost healed, and he missed all three meals. The empty stomach growled again. Xu Yinian was ashamed: "... I'd better go eat."
He was just about to get out of bed when he suddenly remembered something.
He didn't pay attention to the fight last night, he left his phone at the Oak Hill Arena, and he didn't have any cash with him. Xu Yinian frantically scratched the wall in his heart: "Well, can I borrow some money?"
After he finished speaking, he met Yu Huai's eyes with unclear emotions, and felt that the scene was extremely awkward.
Seeing his embarrassment, Yaozu, who hadn't spoken to him, finally spoke up: "You're so stupid."
Following this mild irony, the spirit body hiding in the corner closed its eyes with horrific lines, and slowly disappeared into the air.
Yu Huai threw the phone over, Xu Yinian reached out to catch it, and found that the call had already been dialed.
"You can tell what you want to eat."
Xu Yinian hesitated for a moment, probably because he was not very embarrassed, and asked tentatively: "Do you want to eat?"
The boy looked over with clean and soft eyes, without the slightest negative emotion from the beginning to the end.
Yu Huai looked at him, the aggression that was about to overflow in his heart was replaced by helplessness, and he lost his temper all of a sudden.