"So, you actually found me out. Very well, I was indeed stalling for time. But it's a pity; this short while only allowed me to mend some superficial wounds. That shattered femur would need until this time tomorrow to fully recover. You lot arrived far too early," Duoming chuckled.

Liu Hui and Zhou Tengyun were stunned. They hadn't expected Duoming to make such light of injuries that appeared so severe, treating them as nothing, and to recover with such alarming speed.

"If that's the case, then die!"

Liu Hui instantly pulled out his heavy machine gun and began sweeping fire toward Duoming. Duoming smiled faintly, suddenly sprang to his feet, and surged forward. His movements were so agile it was as if he hadn't been injured at all. The heavy machine gun bullets struck his body, causing him no actual harm; they only served to momentarily halt his momentum due to the sheer kinetic energy they carried.

Seeing that conventional bullets were useless against Duoming, Zhou Tengyun switched to special ammunition and began firing. Duoming was a firearms expert, and coupled with his incredibly high cultivation realm, he immediately detected the trajectory of Zhou Tengyun's bullets and deftly dodged them all. For someone of his caliber, even a single, fast-moving bullet couldn't inflict damage. The specialized rounds he evaded slammed into the cabin, resulting in violent explosions that blew a large hole in the structure, while Duoming relentlessly closed the distance to Liu Hui.

Liu Hui tossed aside the heavy machine gun and also switched to special ammunition, firing at Duoming. Unfortunately, these specialized rounds were single-shot, preventing continuous fire, so Duoming managed to evade them as well.

Liu Hui and Zhou Tengyun remained undeterred, continuing to launch specialized rounds at Duoming. Suddenly, Duoming's steps faltered; his yet-to-be-fully-repaired femur slipped out of alignment mid-stride, causing his gait to become erratic. Liu Hui and Zhou Tengyun seized the moment instantly. Two specialized rounds struck Duoming's body. Amidst two deafening explosions, Duoming was blasted airborne, crashing violently onto the cabin floor before sliding to the ground. Upon landing, Duoming began coughing up large mouthfuls of blood.

The pair dared not relax for a second. Two more shots followed. Explosions wracked Duoming's body again. After the blast, one of Duoming's legs and one arm were completely blown away. This time, he collapsed onto the deck, utterly unable to rise again.

Liu Hui and Zhou Tengyun finally let out a breath of relief. Even if this Duoming was formidable, he could no longer harm them. They marveled at how powerful the heavily wounded man had been, realizing how incredibly fortunate they were to have successfully inflicted such severe injuries upon him during the earlier surprise attack. What they had anticipated as a simple pursuit of a fallen foe nearly turned into a suicide mission. When Duoming had threatened Liu Hui just moments before, Liu Hui had nearly resorted to using Xiao Hei to eliminate him. In Liu Hui's experience, Duoming's true strength was unmatched.

Seeing that the situation was under control, Liu Hui hesitated no longer. Two more shots struck true, blowing off Duoming's remaining leg and arm.

With both legs and both arms gone, Duoming was finally stripped of all mobility. Yet, he erupted into manic laughter, spitting up blood, and suddenly roared, "Exhilarating! Thank you for ending ten years of agony for me. To show my gratitude, I permit you to journey with me. With you both accompanying me, I won't be alone."

Liu Hui paused, saying, "You'll be taking the road to the Yellow Springs alone; our brotherhood won't be joining you."

Duoming let out a tragic chuckle. "Whether you go is not up to you. Open the nearby cupboard, and you will understand."

Zhou Tengyun stepped forward, punching through the cupboard wall. He quickly widened the opening with a few more strikes and discovered a box inside. The box displayed a set of LCD digits, counting down. It was a countdown timer, showing less than three hundred seconds remaining until zero.

"It's just a bomb. I'll toss it into the ocean immediately; it won't hurt us then. Are you trying to take us with you using this thing?" Liu Hui asked coldly.

Duoming coughed, expelling more blood. His spirit visibly flagged, but he forced a smile. "I am naturally confident in bringing you along, because this is no ordinary bomb. This is a nuclear weapon. Its explosive yield is equivalent to 200,000 tons of TNT. We acquired it from an Eastern European nation when the Soviet Union dissolved. It was meant to be the ultimate weapon for our 'SN' organization, not to be used lightly. But now, the 'SN' organization is on the verge of vanishing, so I shall use it to send you off. You should consider yourselves honored. Within five minutes, you won't escape the blast radius."

Liu Hui's face changed drastically; he didn't doubt Duoming's words for a second. Although Duoming was his enemy, he possessed a straightforward integrity, reminiscent of the chivalrous heroes of ancient times. He shouted, "You lunatic! Stop this nuclear weapon at once! Do you realize how many people will die if this thing detonates?"

Duoming laughed. "It’s impossible to stop now, not even for me, because stopping it requires my palm print, and my palm print was destroyed in the recent explosions. Nothing can be salvaged. You speak of many deaths? But after I die, let the floods rage!"

Seeing the countdown on the nuclear device ticking away, Liu Hui no longer hesitated. He stepped forward, a longsword appearing in his hand. With a forceful swing, he cleanly severed Duoming's head. Duoming instantly expired, yet, strangely, a look of serene contentment settled on his face.

Liu Hui bellowed, "Third Brother, hurry and come with me!"

The timer showed two hundred and twenty seconds remaining. Zhou Tengyun immediately followed Liu Hui. They sprinted wildly and reached the ship's roof in less than twenty seconds. Then, they swiftly leaped into the ocean. Xiao Hei caught them mid-air, and with a powerful sweep of its tail, it swam desperately toward the northern current. Xiao Hei exerted its full power, achieving a swimming speed that surpassed twice the speed of sound, reaching 400 meters per second.

In under two hundred seconds, Xiao Hei physically propelled them nearly eighty kilometers north. Liu Hui calculated the time and immediately ordered Xiao Hei to dive. Simultaneously, he activated the Hongguang Armor to shield himself and Zhou Tengyun. Xiao Hei had barely submerged to a depth of one hundred meters when the countdown timer on the luxury yacht reached zero.

In the pitch-black night, where the luxury yacht had been, an instantaneous fireball erupted, illuminating the surrounding seawater with blinding brilliance. The moment the high-temperature, high-pressure gas foam and airflow forming the fireball reached the surface, the flash vanished, and the fireball disappeared. Immediately following this, a colossal hollow water column shot thousands of meters into the sky. The column reached a height of 5,000 meters, a maximum diameter of about 1,600 meters, and a thickness of about 150 meters. The volume of seawater ejected was approximately five million tons, forming a massive cloud, composed primarily of water droplets and mist, contaminated with radioactivity, that billowed upward and spread out.

A monumental shockwave then ripped through the area, followed by a massive surge of air that swept outwards, culminating in a tsunami wave, taller than thirty meters, expanding in all directions. A few minutes later, the immense air wave washed over the surface where Liu Hui was located, yet it caused them no harm. Shortly thereafter, the mighty sound reached Xiao Hei's location. Even beneath one hundred meters of water, the intense shockwave caused Liu Hui excruciating pain, but that agony quickly subsided.

During this time, Xiao Hei continued to move rapidly underwater. They were now approaching one hundred and fifty kilometers from the hypocenter. They were finally safe. However, Liu Hui dared not let Xiao Hei surface, fearing contamination from the nuclear fallout; he couldn't be certain if the Insect Race's medicines could treat radiation damage. They continued adjusting Xiao Hei’s course underwater, eventually approaching the waters off Somalia.

Selecting a coastline extremely close to the Dragon's Tooth Mercenary Group's base, the two went ashore and sought refuge in the dense forest lining the beach.

"Boss, how are we going to handle the aftermath of this?" Zhou Tengyun asked. The events of that night were profoundly shocking. Not only had a master of the Divine Realm appeared in a remote location, but a nuclear weapon had ultimately been deployed. The situation had escalated far beyond their initial estimations, causing Zhou Tengyun considerable worry.

Liu Hui considered the matter carefully and said, "Third Brother, don't panic. This incident cannot be traced back to us. You must immediately lead the mercenary group personnel to that Valley of Death and destroy every trace of evidence within it. Ensure no clues regarding our presence can be found there. As long as no evidence of our existence is discovered in the Valley of Death, we won't be implicated."

Zhou Tengyun nodded. "I'll arrange that right away. Boss, what are your plans now?"

Liu Hui stated, "A nuclear explosion has just occurred here; international nations will know about it immediately. Before they seal off the surrounding waters, I need to rush back to Hong Kong tonight to avoid any unforeseen complications."

The two brothers discussed further operational details before initiating their separate courses of action. Zhou Tengyun returned to the base to mobilize his troops, while Liu Hui once again stood atop Xiao Hei, speeding toward Hong Kong.

In New York City's Central Park, a disheveled old homeless man was lying on a bench. The very instant Duoming's head was severed by Liu Hui's sword, and his life ended, a mysterious fluctuation permeated the air and settled upon the vagrant. The old man suddenly opened his eyes.

The old man's eyes were cloudy and vacant, with crusts of dried matter clinging to the corners. He suddenly sat up, as if recalling something vital. His gaze then began to shift, rapidly moving from cloudy and listless to clear and sharp. Soon, his expression became piercingly astute. He instantly recognized that he was in an unfamiliar location and perceived the anomaly occurring within his own body.

A powerful aura immediately surged from the old man, permeating his entire form. Instantly, all the grime, grease, dust, and bacteria clinging to his body were stripped away. His body then trembled slightly, shaking off the dirt, oil, dust, and germs. Even the tattered clothes he wore fell away. In a single moment, the old man’s body became utterly clean and pristine. His once messy hair now fell smoothly over his shoulders. As the aged, filthy skin on his face sloughed off, his original complexion returned. His body was so clean that even washing it with water wouldn't achieve this result.

"How did I end up here? What place is this? What time is it? Eh? How can this be? My cultivation, how could it be..." the old man muttered to himself.

"My God! What am I seeing? Has the Almighty descended to Earth?" At that moment, two screams rang out nearby, abruptly interrupting the old man's thoughts. The radical transformation he had undergone since awakening, akin to a rebirth, had been witnessed by two passing hippies who could not help but exclaim in awe after seeing such supernatural power.

The old man shifted slightly and, without apparent effort, seized one of the hippies, lifting him to eye level. He demanded, "Answer me, what place is this?"

The hippie struggled desperately, but to no avail. His heart filled with terror as he shouted back, "Earth! This is Earth!"

The old man's expression turned cold. He tossed the hippie high into the air. The hippie flailed wildly for a moment before suddenly exploding with a "bang" into a cloud of bloody mist.

The other hippie, paralyzed with fear, was instantly grabbed by the old man, who pressed him for an answer: "Answer me, what place is this?"

This hippie had a severe stutter, usually finding it impossible to speak clearly. However, in this moment of extreme crisis, he overcame his impediment. He spoke rapidly, "This is Central Park in New York City, America. The bench you were resting on is Bench Number 3217 in the park."

"This is America? How did I get to America?" the old man murmured.

"What is the current time?" the old man pressed sharply.

"Today is the 78th of July, 2013. It is 6:20 PM, Eastern Time, America," the hippie replied quickly.

"Ten years. A whole decade has passed," the old man said with a sigh. He dropped the hippie to the ground and commanded, "Take off all your clothes and scram!"

Though terrified, the hippie swiftly stripped down, not even sparing his underwear. He covered himself and looked pleadingly at the old man.

The old man waved his hand, and the hippie fled at top speed. The old man then picked up the hippie's discarded clothes and dressed himself, piece by piece.

Liu Hui stood atop Xiao Hei, speeding eastward across the Indian Ocean under the cover of night. Strange atmospheric phenomena began to appear in the sky above where the nuclear explosion had occurred in the south. But Liu Hui dared not linger to observe; he had to escape this dangerous zone immediately and distance himself from the epicenter of this maelstrom.

Xiao Hei traveled rapidly across the Indian Ocean for three hours. By this time, Liu Hui and Zhou Tengyun were over three thousand kilometers in a straight line from the blast site. The eastern sky was already beginning to lighten; dawn was approaching. Liu Hui dared not risk traveling on the surface and ordered Xiao Hei to dive into the sea to continue. Soon, Liu Hui spotted a deserted islet less than 100 square meters in size directly ahead. He instructed Xiao Hei to stop, leaped onto the island, found a cave to rest, and had Xiao Hei submerge next to the islet. They would wait for nightfall to resume their journey.

Having experienced so much in one night, Liu Hui felt mentally exhausted. He lay down in the cave and closed his eyes to rest. Suddenly, a mechanical roar echoed from the sky. In the dim light, three aircraft bearing the emblem of the U.S. Air Force flew in formation from east to west, heading precisely toward the location of the nuclear explosion. Liu Hui was momentarily startled; he immediately understood these were U.S. military planes dispatched to survey the blast site.

Noticing the American planes overhead instantly chased away Liu Hui's drowsiness. He recalled the data he had found within the "SN" organization. With time on his hands, he retrieved the file to review it.

Liu Hui took the file out of his storage space and opened it. On the first page was a photograph of a handsome Caucasian man, stamped with a large red 'X'. Beside the photo was the man's name: Short, an elite assassin within the "SN" organization.

The description followed: Short, male, Elite Assassin for the organization. He has eliminated many high-value targets without fail, particularly skilled in using the "Honey Trap" strategy.

During an assassination mission at a University of California campus, he used the Honey Trap to ensnare a Chinese female student named Wei Hong, using her to gain access to the target and successfully eliminate him.

After this mission, Short became entangled with the woman named Wei Hong, eventually developing a genuine romantic relationship. Short requested retirement from the organization; the leader approved it on the condition that Short complete one final assassination assignment. However, during this final mission, his attachment to his lover caused a flaw in his execution. At the last critical moment, the target successfully countered, and Short was defeated and killed.

Liu Hui read Short's history with relish, as if it were a novel, continuously reflecting that this assassin named Short seemed to be a romantic soul who ultimately fell because of a woman.

Liu Hui turned to the second page. It also held a photograph, but this was of a very beautiful young woman, marked with a red question mark. Beside it was her name: Wei Hong, classified as an Elite Assassin for the organization.

Liu Hui blinked. He recognized the woman in the photo; she was the female assassin who had tried to kill him twice in Ba Mountain City. He had dealt with her, and later learned she was the daughter of the Party Secretary of Ba Mountain City, Secretary Wei. After his daughter disappeared, Secretary Wei searched for her extensively. Later, when national authorities discovered his daughter had joined a killer syndicate abroad, Secretary Wei was summarily dismissed from his post.

Liu Hui scrutinized the accompanying annotation: Wei Hong, Elite Assassin for the organization, possessing divine marksmanship.

Girlfriend of the deceased organization assassin Short; her father is a high-ranking official in China. Short died in his final mission because of her. After learning Short's identity and the cause of his death, Wei Hong tracked down the organization and requested to join as an assassin to avenge Short.

After repeated vetting and special approval from the leader, Wei Hong was permitted to join. After receiving training from the organization, she achieved the standard of an Elite Assassin. She requested to continue Short's unfinished mission, and after ten days of preparation and observation, she successfully killed the target.

Subsequently, Wei Hong completed several other extremely difficult assassination missions without fail. Upon accepting the mission to assassinate Liu Hui, the boss of Han Tang Hospital in Ba Mountain City, she lost contact in Ba Shan. The organization suspected the target had counter-attacked and killed her.

After reading Wei Hong's profile, Liu Hui felt a wave of emotion. He hadn't realized that Secretary Wei's daughter, because she fell in love with an assassin, had become one herself and avenged her lover. The romantic entanglement between these two was quite touching; if someone were to make a movie about them, it would surely have market appeal.

Liu Hui turned to the third page of the file. This page featured a photograph of a middle-aged Caucasian man. This photo also bore a red question mark, and next to it was his name: Bill, classified as a Special Grade Assassin.

Liu Hui recognized this Caucasian man as well; he was the formidable assassin they had killed alongside Zhou Tengyun near the seaside at Star Sky Group.

The accompanying record stated: Bill, Special Grade Assassin for the organization, also serving as the organization's training instructor. He had completed numerous incredible assassination missions. After taking on the role of training instructor, he rarely engaged in fieldwork personally.

Wei Hong was Bill's last disciple. After Wei Hong's mysterious disappearance, Bill personally traveled to Hong Kong to investigate and accepted the mission to assassinate Liu Hui, the boss of Star Sky Group. Unfortunately, Bill went missing in Hong Kong, leading the organization to suspect that the target had counter-attacked and killed him.

Liu Hui tumbled backward again, only to find the space behind him blank. This dossier contained information on only three assassins. After reading their profiles, Liu Hui let out a long sigh. Wei Hong had come to kill him, and he had killed her; her mentor had come to kill him, and he had likewise dispatched him; now, their leader, a man who called himself a god, had also been killed by his hand. It seemed his fate was fundamentally incompatible with the "SN" organization—one side had to be completely wiped out.

A sliver of regret gnawed at Liu Hui, as he hadn't uncovered who or what entity was behind the attempts on his life from this material. With the "SN" organization now dismantled, finding the hidden mastermind behind it all felt like an insurmountable task.

Liu Hui’s thoughts drifted for a while before he finally drifted into a deep sleep. He wasn't sure how long he had been out when Xiao Hei abruptly shook him awake, reporting an anomaly at sea.

Liu Hui scrambled out of the cave, and the sight that greeted him made him gasp in shock: “Damn it all, how could a tsunami reach this far inland?”

～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～ Thanks to the reader DaHanguoXingLIU for the monthly ticket support, and thanks to the reader WoYunLeQuanZhuCeLe for the tip. With your support, this book will only become more spectacular V