The body’s vital essence was wholly drawn in by the Dao Embryo, leaving Gu Xichen lying on the ground, shrouded in black smoke, so utterly lifeless that even professional physicians with advanced instruments could detect no spark of vitality.

As for Ruohua, who lay five or six meters away from Gu Xichen, he was even more spectacularly ‘lifeless.’ If the art of playing dead were a competition, who could possibly outshine a genuine zombie?

Several beauties, shouldering rifles, approached Gu Xichen. They kicked him forcefully a few times, and only when they confirmed he was 'stiff as death' did they finally leave him be.

A large contingent of female soldiers stormed Lawrence Lee’s ancient castle, the sounds of gunfire echoing incessantly from within. Lawrence's clansmen and servants were discovered one by one in their hiding places and executed. One by one, the female soldiers emerged, hauling out valuables from the castle, piling vast amounts of antiques and relics into a small mountain fronting the estate.

Gu Xichen, head tilted, squinted toward the castle. He held absolutely no intention of intervening to save Lawrence Lee. That bizarre silver-haired man was a ‘Jie Shi’ (Boundary Master), whereas Gu Xichen was merely an ordinary Pluto-rank Innate Fighter. He certainly didn't wish to cross swords with a Jie Shi wielding mystical power. Ruohua was also playing dead beside him, making no move to step forward and uphold justice. Gu Xichen privately reflected that he didn't possess such a strong sense of civic duty.

A massive airship slowly descended from the high sky. The female soldiers loaded the antiques, famous paintings, and gold and silver wares into the vessel. As the items on the ground dwindled, the soldiers themselves began transforming into beams of light, flowing into the body of Siren, who stood planted before the castle gate. The aura radiating from Siren intensified with every infusion of light, as if his strength gained a fraction with each soul absorbed.

Finally, one female soldier carried a specialized metal case out of the castle. She saluted Siren: “Master, all the valuables in the manor have been cleared out.”

Siren nodded noncommittally. He snatched an automatic rifle from the hands of a female soldier and began spraying indiscriminate fire into the stable, where over two dozen purebred horses were kept. One magnificent steed after another screamed and collapsed, their pungent blood pooling across the ground. Siren shook his head and sighed quietly, “A pity. These horses couldn’t be transported in time.”

Ruohua, still playing dead, instinctively licked his lips. He seemed to harbor a distinct interest in that blood.

Gu Xichen stared, dumbfounded, at the female soldier carrying the metal case. If he wasn't suffering from a fever, he remembered there were three such metal cases in Lawrence Lee's study, all filled with the Lee family's ancestral treasures. Why was only one being carried out now?

His heart gave a slight flutter, and in his surprise, Gu Xichen failed to fully contain the flow of his vital energy.

One hundred meters away, Siren abruptly spun around, his gaze snapping toward their location. A fierce silver light erupted from his eyes. He suddenly produced a slender, incredibly resilient rapier from some unknown source and flicked his wrist, sending a moon-shaped arc of sword energy tearing across the earth toward Gu Xichen. The slash was barely half an inch wide but stretched over ten meters long. Coincidentally, Ruohua lay precisely between Gu Xichen and Siren; this energy blade was guaranteed to cleave Ruohua in two before it could touch Gu Xichen.

“Damn it! You won’t even spare a dead man?” Ruohua roared in fury. A massive surge of black corpse Qi, thick with sinister energy and chilling cold, erupted from him. The ground trembled violently. Ruohua sprang up with a whoosh, leaping a hundred meters into the air. His eyes blazed with deep blood-light as he crushed the demonic head atop the crystal staff he held, muttering a string of strange incantations. The staff pulsed with intense blood-light, and the shattered tip dissolved into a plume of black smoke that shrieked with an ear-piercing whine before injecting itself into the shaft.

With a wave of his hand, the staff shot toward Siren, trailing a plume of dark smoke.

Siren sneered. He waved his left hand lightly, and a field of silver light shimmered ahead. Nearly a hundred fully armed, stunningly beautiful women materialized before him. The moment they appeared, they pulled their triggers, unleashing a torrent of bullets that whistled toward Ruohua. Several of them manned small-caliber machine cannons, their dull thuds shaking the air and causing sharp pain in the ears.

The silver sword energy swept harmlessly past Ruohua’s feet, slicing dozens of tall birch trees in the rear thicket clean in half at the trunk.

Ruohua glanced down in alarm and was shocked to realize that Gu Xichen had vanished without a trace!

As soon as Siren launched his attack, Gu Xichen had shot out like a slick banana peel adhering to the ground, streaking toward the dense woods over a hundred meters away. The moment Ruohua crushed his crystal staff to counterattack, Gu Xichen had bounded up, leaving a dozen afterimages, disappearing from sight within a few rapid leaps. The movement technique Gu Xichen employed was also derived from the supplementary volume of the Hanyuan True Codex—his father’s ultimate movement art, the 'Misty Cloud Step,' perfected over a century of arduous effort. At full escape velocity, this speed surpassed that of an ordinary sports car.

“People nowadays have absolutely no sense of loyalty!” Ruohua screamed in frustrated rage. He suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, aiming it directly at the rapidly retreating column of black smoke.

Five demon heads, each the size of a water vat, erupted from the smoke, their fangs bared as they shrieked and ravenously lunged toward Siren, who was closely guarded by the female soldiers.

The barrage of bullets slammed into Ruohua, especially the nearly one hundred rounds from the machine cannons exploding simultaneously on his chest. Ruohua grunted as he was blasted backward a great distance. He plummeted from the sky, swaying precariously. The instant his feet touched the ground, he stomped down hard. The earth within a ten-meter radius sank several inches simultaneously, and several large trees nearby exploded from their roots. Using the force of this stomp, Ruohua shot forward like a cannonball, traversing over two hundred meters into the forest, vanishing within a few more bounds.

The black smoke, carrying the demonic heads, descended directly upon Siren. A bone-chilling cold swept over the area, instantly coating the lake beside Siren with an inch-thick layer of black ice. Siren paled with terror and rapidly retreated. The hundred-plus female soldiers before him were enveloped in the black smoke, and continuous, unpleasant sounds of chewing emanated from the dense haze. Siren’s face suddenly drained of color, and two bright trails of blood trickled slowly from his nostrils; he had completely lost his connection to the female soldiers.

“What terrifying demonic arts!” Siren muttered, “Retreat quickly. This isn't Western Dark Magic; it must be the demonic cultivation of those damned Easterners. Damn it, why are they in London? This city is the territory of the Holy See! Why are Easterners here?” Clearly, a look of genuine dread crossed Siren’s face.

After muttering a few curses, Siren hurriedly dissolved all the female soldiers back into streams of light and absorbed them into his body. He himself leaped onto the airship and commanded it to ascend rapidly, fleeing eastward.

Gu Xichen took a wide detour, circling around to the hillside behind the castle. Sure enough, beneath a cluster of chestnut trees on the slope, tucked among the thorny undergrowth, he found Jack.

Jack, whose clothes were shredded by thorns, was curled up tightly in a shallow burrow, clutching two metal cases. His forehead was pressed to the ground, his rear pointed skyward, and he was frantically whispering, “Oh, my God! Oh, my Lord! Oh, Holy Mother Maria! Protect me from being killed by these terrifying people!”

After offering a rapid prayer to the Christian saints, Jack began muttering again: “Great, Almighty Buddha, protect me from this disaster! Oh, I am your devout believer. Merciful Goddess Guanyin, please forgive my past sins and safely guide me back to the base. Thank you so much!”

Gu Xichen chuckled dryly watching Jack tremble like a quail. Jack then started appealing to the Taoist deities: “Supreme Jade Emperor, Sacred and Inviolable Three Pure Ones, and all the spirits in heaven, please ensure my safe return to the base! If I manage to leave London this time, I promise to offer you roasted pork head meat during the Spring Festival!”

“Jack! You are so damn talented!” Gu Xichen delivered a hard kick to Jack’s backside.

Nearly scared out of his wits, Jack sprang up like a released spring. He nimbly pulled out a small handgun and aimed it squarely at Gu Xichen. Gu Xichen slapped the weapon away, sending it flying over ten meters, and pointed at the two metal cases on the ground, demanding, “What are these?”

Finally recognizing the soot-covered, ‘black man’ before him—who looked as if he had been burned for three days and nights—as his captain, Jack excitedly opened his arms to embrace Gu Xichen. Gu Xichen quickly grabbed Jack by the neck to prevent him from getting close and pointed at the two cases again, asking, “What are these? Huh? Did you steal Mr. Lawrence Lee’s family treasures?”

“No, not stealing!” Jack hurriedly waved his hands. “I’m saving them! These treasures shouldn’t fall into the hands of those women! They murdered poor Lawrence Lee and his kin; I merely rescued them from those bandits!”

Jack grinned slyly at Gu Xichen. “I think they would appreciate my actions. Those women were the enemies of their former master, and I am a friend of their former master!”

Gu Xichen scratched his nose and shot Jack a fierce glare. When Siren’s subordinates only carried out one case from the castle, he knew something irregular must have happened inside. But the only person capable of such an act was likely Jack.

Squatting down, Gu Xichen forced open one of the metal cases, his tone cold and demanding. “You can take one-third of the treasures inside; the rest are mine. You can disagree, but you know the consequences of disagreeing, right? This behavior of yours stains the honor of our mercenary group!”

Jack waited, torn between anger and fear. He was about to argue that Gu Xichen’s actions were no different from outright robbery, and he wanted to emphasize that he had painstakingly ‘rescued’ these two cases through heavy gunfire and mortal danger. However, before he could speak, the dozen or so dazzling jewels emitting a hazy light within the box silenced him completely.

“My Jade Emperor, God, and Buddha! This is too damn beautiful! How much is this worth?”

Jack’s saliva nearly dripped from his mouth, and Gu Xichen was momentarily transfixed.

This metal case, roughly two feet long and wide, was divided into meticulously crafted small compartments, each lined with thick velvet. Eighteen treasures, secured in place with silk ribbons, lay calmly in their slots, continuously radiating an intoxicating brilliance.

A pear-shaped diamond the size of a child’s fist, a supreme sapphire as blue as the ocean, rubies as deep crimson as pigeon’s blood—these varied jewels made Jack’s heart race violently, blood rushing to his head, causing him to see spots. With his keen eye, he could tell that even one-third of these dozen treasures was worth billions, enough for him to live out the rest of his life in decadent luxury.

Gu Xichen, however, was not drawn to the diamonds and gems. He stared blankly at a jade plaque inside the box.

It was an exceedingly rare purple jade plaque; Gu Xichen couldn't even confirm if its material was truly jade. Yet, judging by its luster, this strangely shaped object—flat on the bottom, rounded on top, about a foot long—was unmistakably top-tier fine jade. A deep purple, translucent stone? Gu Xichen had truly never seen anything like it.

It measured one foot two inches long, six inches wide, and one inch thick, rounded at the top and flat at the bottom, the perimeter adorned with magnificent cloud patterns. The carving detail on every single cloud was so exquisitely masterful that it defied belief, considering it was etched onto a jade tablet. Each thin cloud seemed to ripple as if caught in a breeze, and after only a few glances, Gu Xichen experienced a dizzying illusion that a great wind was blowing around him, threatening to tear the clouds right off the plaque.

While the border featured cloud patterns, the face directed toward Gu Xichen was carved with a complex celestial map. The alignments of the twenty-eight Mansions and eighty-four thousand stars were inscribed within the tablet using some incredible, inexplicable technique. Each star faintly emitted a subtle silver glow, and at a glance, it appeared as if these stars were revolving along some profound, esoteric trajectory.

Looking closer still, this translucent jade tablet was filled with shifting vapor: layers of purple, gold, silver, red, white, cyan, and blue clouds and mist constantly formed and dissipated, creating the strange sensation that the tablet contained an entire pocket universe unto itself.

Gu Xichen felt as if he were riding on a cloud, traversing endless layers of mist until he gradually entered a divine, empty void.

Here, the surrounding space was filled with the Zhou Tian stars, and at the center of the infinite expanse hung a colossal Tai Chi diagram.

The black and white Yin-Yang fish spun slowly before him, encircled by countless, infinitesimally small golden particles orbiting the massive diagram at incredible speed. Each tiny golden particle pulsed with spirituality, giving the impression that they were living entities. The Yin-Yang rotation governed the slow turning of the surrounding stars, imbued with an indescribable, profound ‘rhythm.’

Gu Xichen’s Dao Embryo suddenly began to throb violently. Streams of pure energy continuously surged forth from his heart, gradually filling his entire body.

A profound, transcendent aura slowly emanated from Gu Xichen. This subtle power, soft as water yet irresistible, gently pushed Jack far away. The aura flowing from Gu Xichen’s body began to subtly merge with the aura emanating from the Tai Chi diagram deep within the jade tablet.

The eighty-four thousand stars within the tablet flashed simultaneously, casting a sheet of silver light over several meters of space. The purple jade plaque suddenly transformed into a streak of purple energy and shot directly into Gu Xichen.

Before Gu Xichen could react, the purple energy flowed into his body through every pore.

The seventeen remaining treasures in the metal case still shone brightly, but the miraculous jade tablet had vanished without a trace. Gu Xichen only vaguely sensed a clear stream rushing straight through his meridians to his Purple Mansion Sea of Consciousness, where it merged with his already mutated awareness.

Jack’s face twitched, and he cried out in shock, “Where is that purple jade plaque? Oh my God, purple jade! That’s rare purple jade! And judging by the craftsmanship, it’s definitely an artifact from the extremely ancient dynasties of old China. The script on it is almost identical to their oldest oracle bone inscriptions. That’s an incredible relic, a true treasure! Where did it go?”

Script? Gu Xichen shook his head. He didn't recall seeing any script on the plaque.

Composing himself, Gu Xichen picked up the box and shot Jack a fierce look. “If you don’t want to die, follow me and leave. A jade plaque? What jade plaque? Are you hallucinating?”

Jack stared blankly for a moment. He looked at Gu Xichen, whose clothes were completely incinerated by the close-range explosions, leaving him nothing but soot. No, Gu Xichen couldn't possibly conceal such a large plaque on his person.

But where did the plaque go?

Was it truly a hallucination?

Seeing Gu Xichen already walking away tens of meters, carrying the two metal cases worth hundreds of millions, Jack glanced back at the castle ruins below the slope, which had been blasted into rubble by the bombs, and quickly shrieked as he gave chase.

Only after Gu Xichen and Jack had traveled more than ten kilometers from the castle did three all-silver helicopters slowly descend with boundless arrogance and authority before the ruins of the ancient structure.

Dozens of priests clad in white robes stepped out of the helicopters. They began meticulously searching every inch of the castle debris.

The people of the Holy See had finally arrived.