The Jade Repository housed all the secret canonical texts of the Jiji Sect, along with various magical artifacts. Gu Xiechen, knowing better, did not enter the Pavilion of Enlightenment. Filled with boundless gratitude towards the Great Illusion True Man, bearing the immense favor owed by the Jiji Sect, and clutching a Memory Crystal containing all the sect's introductory scriptures, he returned to Paris, completely satisfied.

Between the Champs-Élysées and Les Invalides, along the riverbank near the Pont Alexandre III, Gu Xiechen possessed a grand mansion. Having become a Federal Congressman and Director of the Secret Service, he anticipated frequent stays in Paris and required a private sanctuary, thus having this estate purchased for him. Though the deed had transferred to his name half a month prior, his recent overwhelming schedule meant this was his first visit.

The motorcar swept down the tree-lined avenue, stopping before the closed gates. Through the filigreed bronze doors, the main residence glowed with interior light. Penghua, driving, leaned on the horn repeatedly, but received no answer.

Glancing at Gu Xiechen in surprise in the passenger seat, Penghua frowned. "Did the butler and servants you hired conspire, sweep up your valuables, and run off together?"

"Nonsense!" Gu Xiechen cursed with a laugh. The estate’s staff were all honor graduates from the most professional servant academies, and their entire background data was held by Hardword Defense. Unless they were entirely insane, who would dare make off with the possessions of the newly installed, powerful figure in the Federation?

He pushed open his door and stepped out, forcing open the bronze gates. Penghua slowly guided the car into the spacious courtyard.

In the center of the courtyard stood a fountain, where the three Graces of Greek mythology stood with inviting postures in the pond. Clear spring water jetted from the urns held in their hands. Bright droplets spattered onto the small angel statues circling above them.

The courtyard flanks were lined with hedges and lawns. Gu Xiechen followed the car, his ears, now dozens of times more acute than before, capturing every sound around him. Besides the faint rustle of wind through the foliage, there were no other anomalies. Focusing his attention on the brightly lit, three-story main building ahead, he still heard nothing amiss.

The car stopped before the main entrance of the building. Penghua deftly slid out of the passenger window and, with a hearty swing, kicked the solid wooden, intricately carved front door clean off its hinges.

The heavy door shattered into fragments upon impact, cracking and scattering pieces that smashed and overturned a large portion of the main hall's furnishings. Two sets of pure silver armor, standing sentinel in the corners of the hall, were pierced by wooden shards and hung wretchedly upon the wall.

Gu Xiechen winced in pain. Those two suits of silver armor were clearly priceless antiques. Such perfectly preserved medieval suits were rare on Earth after the war with the Romans. Today, Penghua had utterly ruined them.

"Hahaha! What demon or fiend dares wreak havoc here? Your Grandpa Penghua is present; come out and face death!"

Perhaps destroying Gu Xiechen’s property provided a peculiar thrill, Penghua darted into the hall in a blur of motion. As if determined to cause maximum noise, he smashed an ornate, carved chair against the wall. Infused with powerful Corpse Qi, the chair disintegrated, and the two-foot-thick wall ruptured, revealing a large opening that exposed the servant quarters behind it, where twenty or more people in uniform were tied up like rice dumplings. They stared at Penghua through the broken wall in terror, their expressions as if they had seen a ghost.

Penghua bowed elegantly to the group. He chuckled smugly, "Gentlemen, you are safe! I am a friend of your master; please stop looking at me as if you’ve seen a phantom!" Perhaps stimulated by the mansion, which clearly belonged to nobility, Penghua was acting strangely today. He repeated his address to them in Classical Italian, Classical French, and Classical Latin, each rendition delivered with fluid mastery and a genuine air of aristocracy.

Giving the theatrically posing Penghua a sharp look, Gu Xiechen muttered, "Seeing you appear is quite enough of a ghost sighting, isn't it?"

Ignoring Penghua’s deliberately aggrieved posture, Gu Xiechen leaped straight to the second floor of the main building. A faint moan drifted from the billiard room upstairs, and he instantly gathered his True Qi, mobilizing every ounce of caution. His toes skimmed the floor as he slid silently toward the billiard room door.

The door was ajar. Lined up neatly on the floor were over twenty large men. Every single one was swarming with the Three-Tailed Purple Scorpions. The scorpions covered them in perhaps seven or eight layers; their mouths, nostrils, and ears were stuffed tight with the scorpions' tails. They emitted continuous, terrified groans but remained utterly incapable of movement.

Yuliss, clad in a flowing white gown, ethereal and beautiful as a goddess, was lounging casually on the billiard table, kicking her fair, pale legs. She was idly flipping through a fashion magazine. Noticing Gu Xiechen, Yuliss greeted him nonchalantly. "Hey, you’re back? If you hadn't returned, your servants would have starved to death!"

"How did you..." Gu Xiechen entered the room. He cautiously maintained a distance of ten meters from her. Though his strength had greatly increased, making Yuliss no match for him now, he remained highly wary of her powerful background and bizarre abilities. The state of the men on the floor was proof enough. Being covered in scorpions must be agonizing; Gu Xiechen certainly did not wish to have over a hundred scorpion tails in his own mouth.

Tossing the magazine aside, Yuliss tilted her head and smiled. "It was nothing. Colonel Uriah, the former Secret Service Director, brought a retinue of trusted men to have a 'heart-to-heart' with you. They knew you bought this estate and specifically ambushed you here. You’ve been gone for half a month, so they’ve held your servants hostage downstairs for over seven days. If I hadn't kindly injected them with a nutrient solution, they would have starved!"

Penghua wriggled out from beneath the floorboards near the billiard table. His claws, chillingly cold, shot out and clamped around Yuliss’s ankle. Penghua grinned menacingly. "Little sorceress, if you were so kind, why not release them? Heh, don't move. I know you're tough. I’m no match for you right now, but if you dare move, I’ll let you sample the flavor of Corpse Poison!"

Ten emerald-green points of light shimmered on Penghua’s fingertips. The cold in the billiard room intensified, clearly the so-called Corpse Poison.

Yuliss indeed dared not move. She looked pleadingly at Gu Xiechen and sighed. "You can't blame me for that. I just wanted to wait for you quietly. I didn't want to cause a sensation the whole world knows about. If I released those men, they'd definitely sneak off to call the police or something, wouldn't that alert too many people?"

Her two pure white, delicate ankles twisted tightly together. Yuliss let out a charmingly seductive hum. "I just didn't want to waste my breath explaining things to them. I was actually very lenient this time! If it were my usual temperament, I wouldn't have wasted a single nutrient fluid shot on them; I would have injected them with Gene Enhancement Fluid instead!"

Gene Enhancement Fluid. Gu Xiechen knew about that. Many sectors in the Federation and private organizations were researching it, aiming to accelerate human evolution, granting humanity the formidable physical strength of the Romans, thereby giving humanity a stronger competitive edge in the cosmos. But he had never heard of a practical, finished product. Every test subject injected with the current Gene Enhancement Fluid met only one end: instantaneous death, the manner of which was always gruesome.

"In that case, I suppose I should be grateful to you."

Gesturing for Penghua to release Yuliss’s ankle, Gu Xiechen walked to a sofa in the corner and sat down, his gaze sweeping coldly over Uriah and the others lying on the floor.

Yuliss twitched her feet, rubbing her ankles fiercely against each other, and glared at Penghua, who was now emerging from the floorboards. She sneered, "I came here to discuss something with you. I just happened to run into these cowardly wretches. Hand them over, and you'll earn a significant merit, won't you?"

Countless purple scorpions flowed like water off Uriah and the others, revealing them—bruised and swollen but still breathing. Uriah glared venomously at Gu Xiechen, his lips twitching, trying to say something. But the potent venom of the Three-Tailed Scorpions had already drained the last bit of his energy; he couldn't muster the strength to speak.

Staring at Uriah in silence for about three to five minutes, Gu Xiechen finally said calmly, "Senior Brother Penghua, dispose of them. No need to hand them over to the Federation. Having them vanish silently is convenient for the Federation, and convenient for him as well."

Penghua cheerfully hoisted Uriah up and started walking out, grinning. "No problem, Master. I’ll bury him at the bottom of the Seine River."

"Hmm, bury him deep. I guarantee the Seine River management office will clean the channel a hundred times and never find a single hair of him!"

Uriah’s eyes widened in terror, his body convulsing violently. But poisoned as he was, he couldn't break free from Penghua’s grip. Penghua effortlessly dragged him to the doorway of the billiard room, preparing to phase underground. Watching Uriah’s desperate gaze, Gu Xiechen felt a touch of pity and said, "Don't blame me. The one who designed the trap for you is Lieutenant General Tartarus of Military Intelligence; he is a confidant of Marshal Wolf Fang. If you plan to come back in dreams to frighten people, make sure it’s him who has nightmares. Don't bother me."

"No, spare me!" Uriah let out a final wail as Penghua clamped a hand on his throat and vanished underground.

Yuliss glared at Gu Xiechen with displeasure. She snapped angrily, "You are utterly shameless! Everyone knows you stand to gain the most from Uriah's downfall, yet you're framing someone else!"

Looking surprised at Yuliss, Gu Xiechen pursed his lips and smiled strangely. "Oh? I almost forgot. Lieutenant General Tartarus is your—"

Yuliss’s expression changed instantly. A Three-Tailed Poison Scorpion shot toward Gu Xiechen with a sharp whistling sound, transforming into a streak of purple light. Yuliss roared in fury, "Don't you dare bring that up!"

Reminder: Halftime break

May 1st, First Explosion

Where are the monthly votes? (To be continued)