A few days later, Zhou Tengyun, who had disappeared again for some time, suddenly reappeared and came to Liu Hui's office to find him.

Liu Hui was inside the office, mapping out a long-term development outline for the Star Group. Seeing Zhou Tengyun enter, he put down his pen and smiled, "Third brother, where have you been these past few days? Not a trace of you."

Zhou Tengyun found a seat for himself and said, "Boss, I just got back from Africa. The base over there is fully constructed, the relationships with the local government and tribal communities have been settled, and all the weaponry we procured is in place. Now, everything is ready but the final push—so I plan to lead our mercenaries there next week."

Liu Hui was startled. He rubbed his eyes and said, "Are all the preparations over there complete? Time flies so fast. Does this mean we'll be parting ways?"

Zhou Tengyun replied, "Boss, my going to Africa to set up the mercenary force was something we planned long ago. Besides, we're not never seeing each other again, so don't be so sentimental."

Liu Hui rubbed his eyes again and laughed, "I'm not being sentimental; I just got some sand blown into my eyes, that's all."

Zhou Tengyun looked around. Liu Hui's office was completely sealed; there was no way wind could blow in. However, Zhou Tengyun didn't point it out. He stood up, pulled an envelope from his chest, and placed it on the desk in front of Liu Hui.

"What is this?" Liu Hui looked at the envelope but didn't reach for it.

"This envelope contains the location of my wife's and child's graves. If I don't return, remember to bury me next to them. And remember to pay respects annually. They were lively and cheerful when they were alive; they wouldn't appreciate a lonely existence." Zhou Tengyun said.

Liu Hui snatched the envelope, threw it back in front of Zhou Tengyun, and cursed, "This is your personal business; why are you giving it to me? Wait until you return yourself before visiting them."

Zhou Tengyun didn't pick up the envelope and said, "Boss, I've never asked you for anything in my life. This time, I'm asking you to handle this for me." Without waiting for Liu Hui to respond, he walked out of the office.

Liu Hui paused, then picked up the envelope anyway. He hurried down to the company's basement, activated the Planar Trading Device, and began calling for Xiaoyaozi from the Cultivation Plane.

Ever since Xiaoyaozi had thoroughly tricked him last time, Liu Hui had called him numerous times afterward, but Xiaoyaozi never responded. This left Liu Hui grinding his teeth in hatred, yet utterly helpless against him.

Zhou Tengyun was about to head into battle in Africa, where the battlefield was extremely dangerous; a moment's carelessness could cost him his life. Although Zhou Tengyun possessed formidable personal strength, there were too many things on the battlefield that could threaten his life. Even though Zhou Tengyun had reached the Xiantian Realm, there was no guarantee of his safe return, which was why he left Liu Hui this envelope, essentially a last will and testament. To ensure Zhou Tengyun's safety, Liu Hui had to think of planar trading. Among the planes he had traded with, only some items from this Xiaoyaozi could genuinely help Zhou Tengyun, compelling Liu Hui to call Xiaoyaozi again.

Shortly after Liu Hui initiated the call, Xiaoyaozi connected. His image appeared on the Planar Trading Device, looking rosy-cheeked and very pleased.

"Little friend, I'm delighted to see you," Xiaoyaozi greeted enthusiastically.

"Why do you look so unbearably smug? Are you feeling overjoyed after scamming my spirit stones?" Although Liu Hui told himself to remain calm, seeing Xiaoyaozi’s triumphant expression immediately angered him, and for a moment, he couldn't control his mouth.

"Hey, Little Friend, that's unfair. When did I ever scam your spirit stones? We conducted an equivalent exchange; strictly speaking, I was the one at a disadvantage. What I gave you was the essence accumulated over millions of years by our sect, while you only gave me consumables. Besides, my reputation among our people is excellent; you can't slander me like that," Xiaoyaozi declared, shaking his beard in indignation.

"Selling me items I can't even use—what is that if not scamming me out of spirit stones?" Liu Hui questioned.

"Ah, you mean that. I thought you were aware of the limitations, so I didn't mention it, wanting to avoid sounding like an old man rambling. It was for your own good, so it shouldn't count as deception, right?" Xiaoyaozi replied.

"In short, by not detailing your products, you caused my misjudgment and led me to be cheated. That is deception," Liu Hui said resentfully, unable to win the argument.

"Little Friend, you must speak with a conscience. It's true I didn't tell you the specifics, and that's my fault; after all, I'm so old, I might forget things. But you are a young man with excellent memory; why didn't you ask more questions at the time, leading to this great misunderstanding between us?" Xiaoyaozi masterfully shifted the blame.

"You..." Liu Hui was once again suppressed by this nemesis and was rendered speechless.

"Ahem, well... Little Friend, actually, those problems about the items being unusable that you just mentioned can all be resolved. They aren't major issues, so why be so angry?" Seeing Liu Hui highly agitated, Xiaoyaozi quickly explained.

"How can they be used? The requirements for your formations and artifact refining techniques demand such high levels of True Essence, and I can only reach the Foundation Establishment stage at best. My True Essence is simply insufficient. How can I possibly use them?" Liu Hui asked angrily.

"Little Friend, the knowledge about artifact refining I gave you is indeed unusable right now because you lack a Floating Peak; our refining must be conducted inside one. However, there isn't no way to solve the issue with operating the formations," Xiaoyaozi said, stroking his white beard.

"How do we solve it?" Upon hearing that the problem of insufficient True Essence could be solved, Liu Hui immediately became interested. As for the artifact refining techniques being unusable, he had already resigned himself to that.

"I can refine a Storage Orb for you. We can infuse the True Essence of cultivators from our side into this orb, and then trade the orb to you. You can then devise a way to draw the True Essence out of the orb to power the formations," Xiaoyaozi suggested.

"Can your True Essence be stored?" Liu Hui asked in surprise.

"Originally, no, but my sect invented a unique artifact refining method that allows us to store the True Essence of cultivators," Xiaoyaozi said proudly.

"Then what are you waiting for? Hurry up and refine this thing for me!" Liu Hui was overjoyed. If he could truly receive the support of a large amount of cultivator True Essence and then thoroughly study those peculiar formations, he might forge a path no one had ever taken before, realizing his ideals. The thought made Liu Hui feel a rush of heat, involuntarily.

"Ahem, Little Friend, I remember telling you that all our refining must take place on a Floating Peak. With the high-grade spirit stones you traded last time, we aren't lacking in that regard, but we are missing one small item to activate the Floating Peak. This item can only be found at the Qiyun Auction House. Since you refused to lend me some high-grade spirit stones to buy that small item, our Artifact Refining Sect has been working for the Qiyun Auction House, saving up money to purchase that thing. But after all our exhausting labor, we are still short by one thousand high-grade spirit stones to buy it. Therefore, the Floating Peak remains inactive, and the item you need cannot be refined for now. This is also why I haven't answered your calls recently; we've been completely occupied," Xiaoyaozi explained.

Liu Hui felt a wave of disappointment, but he didn't believe Xiaoyaozi's story about working. No matter how busy they were, they shouldn't have zero free time. Moreover, Xiaoyaozi looked rosy-cheeked and energetic, nothing like a laborer. But he immediately remembered his objective and didn't expose the lie, instead asking, "Senior, do you have any equipment left that can defend against attacks?"

Xiaoyaozi thought for a moment and said shamefully, "None left; the only piece I had, I already gave to you."

Liu Hui immediately asked, "Can you help me purchase defensive equipment in your world? Didn't you mention there's a Qiyun Auction House there? Auction houses should have equipment up for auction, right?"

Xiaoyaozi shook his head, "You don't know how brutal the last great war in the cultivation world was. Nearly all equipment was destroyed in that battle. The reason I could give you that Guangguang Armor was that I didn't participate in the fighting and managed to keep it. But even so, it was affected by the residual shockwaves of the war, leaving it tattered and possessing less than one ten-thousandth of its former functionality. If even I, hiding so carefully, ended up with damaged gear, how many usable artifacts do you think remain in the cultivation world now? Never mind putting them up for auction; the Qiyun Auction House wouldn't have any equipment to auction off."

Liu Hui was deeply disappointed. He had hoped to buy a piece of equipment from Xiaoyaozi for Zhou Tengyun to use, giving him a chance to survive on the African battlefield, but it seemed impossible now. He only possessed the Guangguang Armor, which was for his own protection, and his own surroundings weren't much safer than Zhou Tengyun's. Thus, he couldn't give this armor to Zhou Tengyun; after all, Liu Hui was the foundation of their group. If he fell, Zhou Tengyun would be like rootless duckweed and would quickly vanish on the African continent.

Seeing Liu Hui's disappointment, Xiaoyaozi said, "We still have some inventory of low-grade talismans. Because their grade is too low, they never had a chance to be used in the last war. If you're interested, I can show them to you."

"Low-grade talismans? What are those?" Liu Hui inquired.

"They are protective talismans made by low-ranking disciples. They can defend against the full-power strike of a mortal Xiantian expert, but they are single-use items; they break and become useless after being used, so we generally don't use them." Xiaoyaozi explained.

"Can defend against a full-power strike from a Xiantian expert? Then they should be able to block ordinary bullets, right?" Liu Hui mused, suddenly interested, thinking it was better than nothing. He said, "Senior, how many of these protective talismans do you have?"

"Around twenty-some left. But now, we don't even have the raw materials to make these lowest-grade talismans anymore, so these twenty-some talismans are now considered rare items that cannot be remade," Xiaoyaozi stated.

Liu Hui pondered, then took out a large box from his storage space, placing it on the Planar Trading Device. He said, "Senior, I have a suggestion. Would you like to hear it?"

"Little Friend, please speak," Xiaoyaozi replied.

"You help me inscribe formations onto all the bullet heads of various calibers in this large box. There's quite a number of bullets—about ten thousand rounds. Then, you sell me the twenty-some remaining protective talismans in your inventory, and I will give you the one thousand high-grade spirit stones you are still missing." Liu Hui proposed.

Xiaoyaozi's eyes lit up, and he asked eagerly, "Little Friend, are you serious?"

"I am serious, but I haven't finished. Once your Floating Peak is activated, you must refine a Storage Orb for me free of charge, fully charged with the True Essence of cultivators," Liu Hui added.

Xiaoyaozi burst out laughing, "Little Friend, I agree to all your conditions. As long as our Floating Peak reopens, the time for our sect's revival will arrive immediately. Your requests are minor issues."

"Senior, I need those bullets urgently. You must finish inscribing all the formations within seven days. Half of them must have the Blazing Fire Formation inscribed, and the other half the Freezing Cold Formation," Liu Hui instructed.

Xiaoyaozi clicked the trade button, and the large box instantly appeared in his hand. He laughed, "Inscribing formations is a small matter. I can finish it for you within three days."

"Wait a minute, Senior. You said inscribing these formations was very difficult before, only managing fifty formations a day at most?" Liu Hui questioned.

Xiaoyaozi looked embarrassed and chuckled dryly, "Well... actually, it's mainly because I saw that the Floating Peak was about to open, so I was very happy. When one's mood is good, efficiency increases, so it's understandable that I can work faster."

Liu Hui silently grumbled; his efficiency increase was too drastic. However, he had shifted his mindset now. He didn't care about those monster cores, as the Magic Plane had plenty. What he cared about most was efficiency. He needed to help Xiaoyaozi recover his strength sooner so that Xiaoyaozi could provide him with better assistance. They were essentially in a win-win situation. Therefore, it didn't matter if Xiaoyaozi gained a slight advantage for the time being; Liu Hui was looking at long-term cooperation, which was why he agreed so readily this time.

The bullets inscribed with formations by Xiaoyaozi were incredibly powerful. Liu Hui hoped Zhou Tengyun could take more of these bullets when he left, as one such bullet was equivalent to a missile, yet smaller and easier to carry—truly a miniaturized weapon of mass destruction.

Thus, Liu Hui and Xiaoyaozi arranged the time for their next trade and ended the call. With Zhou Tengyun's safety seemingly guaranteed, Liu Hui finally relaxed.

Moved by Zhou Tengyun's impending departure, Liu Hui called over Zhou Tengyun, Mei Peng, and Yue Wang for a reunion at his home. Otherwise, once Zhou Tengyun left, the opportunity for the four brothers to gather would be rare.

Liu Hui's home hadn't been this lively in a long time. His parents were overjoyed because they finally saw Liu Hui emerge from his depression, his smile returning. Hu Xian'er was also summoned by Liu Hui's mother to help in the kitchen, and Liu Lin rushed over too. The women huddled in the kitchen preparing dinner.

"Boss, I've had quite the haul recently," Yue Wang said with a sly grin upon seeing the four brothers gathered.

"Tch, stop being disgusting. I don't want to hear any more of your romantic exploits," Mei Peng scoffed at Yue Wang's remark.

"Haven't you always loved hearing about them? And that time you went whoring before you got married, I introduced you to the spot. Why don't you want to hear it now?" Yue Wang challenged.

"Shhh! Do you want me dead? I have a wife and child now; watch your words," Mei Peng exclaimed angrily, leaping over to try and clamp his hands over Yue Wang's mouth.

"Hehe, I have some sense. Didn't you notice Sister-in-law is far away from us? She couldn't possibly hear what we're saying," Yue Wang struggled free from Mei Peng's grip, not forgetting to throw in a (scornful look) at Mei Peng.

"Alright, let's not talk about that tonight. Old Third is heading to Africa on official business and might not be back for a long time. Africa is very dangerous right now, so you should offer him some good wishes," Mei Peng quickly changed the subject, afraid of causing trouble that Liu Lin might overhear.

"It’s nothing really; the Boss just asked me to help train the company's security personnel over there. It's very safe; no need for blessings," Zhou Tengyun smiled gently.

"Hehe, with Third Brother going to Africa, it won't be so easy for us brothers to meet again. So tonight, we must drink until we drop!" Liu Hui laughed. He and Zhou Tengyun had agreed not to reveal that Zhou Tengyun was going to Africa as a mercenary, only saying he was going to help train security personnel.

"Boss, with your capacity for alcohol, don't try to bully us. Everyone knows you can drink a thousand cups without getting drunk," Yue Wang complained. During their school days, he had the best tolerance among the four, often getting the other three drunk, which was one of his pastimes. He was disappointed that Liu Hui, after a few years, had quietly become an even better drinker than him.

While the men chatted, the women busied themselves in the kitchen, and soon the table was laden with dishes.

"Haha, the food is all here! Look, these dishes were made by Hu Xian'er; they taste amazing, you all must try them," Liu Hui called out loudly.

"Oh... so these are the loving dishes specially made for the Boss? Then we dare not eat them," The others, now aware of the little history between Liu Hui and Hu Xian'er, all jeered and teased.

Liu Hui was suddenly reminded of Hu Xian'er's feelings for him and felt a bit awkward. He subtly glanced at Hu Xian'er, only to find her smiling knowingly at him.

Startled, Liu Hui immediately pointed at the television and exclaimed, "Look at that news report—it's infuriating!"

Everyone's attention was instantly diverted to the television news. It was reporting on an incident in Shenshao City, near Hong Kong. It concerned a county in Shenshao City where a group of family planning officials had forcibly taken children from farm households, sent them to welfare institutions to be rendered orphans, and then adopted them out to foreigners for high prices. The domestic media dubbed this the "Shao Clan Orphans" incident.

Liu Hui had intended to divert everyone's attention, but upon understanding the news, he became furious, cursing, "Damn bastards! Such things still exist in this world! These family planning officials deserve to die. Their actions can no longer be described as human; they are no different from beasts."

Liu Hui's father nodded, "Such behavior is indeed heinous. It's as malicious as destroying someone's ancestral lineage or grave. In the past, such actions would have warranted execution."

Liu Lin said, "The news reported that relevant departments are investigating, but the final results are still not out."

Yue Wang scoffed, "What investigation? They're stalling. I bet this investigation will fizzle out to nothing, slowly fading from the public consciousness, and the punishment for those family planning officials will be a slap on the wrist at most."

"Look, the direct person responsible for this 'Shao Clan Orphans' incident—the one who led the effort to take the children—is in Hong Kong, claiming to be there for an inspection and study tour. What could Hong Kong possibly offer these family planning officials for study? Shouldn't he be under investigation by the relevant authorities in Shenshao City right now? How can he be in Hong Kong? Is there any semblance of justice left?" Mei Peng suddenly pointed at the news on TV.

Indeed, the television showed footage of the family planning official walking on a busy street in Hong Kong. However, when the female reporter covering the story prepared to interview him, he refused. When the reporter relentlessly posed many questions, the official finally became enraged, roaring loudly, demanding the reporter obtain an interview letter from the relevant departments before he would grant an interview.

The reporter asked him, puzzled, saying this was Hong Kong, and where exactly she should go to find the relevant department to issue a letter of introduction. At that point, the family planning cadre finally sobered up, immediately lowered his head, and scurried away sheepishly.

The female reporter continued her broadcast: “The subject declined to be interviewed by our correspondent, but our team will continue to monitor this family planning official’s activities here in Hong Kong to fully uncover the truth behind the ‘Shaw Orphans’ case. This is Yang Simin reporting for Sky Television.”

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