The atmosphere in the private room turned oppressive as Donghua Sanren suddenly attacked, as if the very air had begun to solidify.
Jian Ling stared blankly at Donghua Sanren, his mind a blank slate, unable to react for a moment.
He had just thought he had misunderstood Donghua Sanren and was about to apologize, but in the next instant, Donghua Sanren launched an assault, slapping him hard across the face!
This Donghua Sanren had set up a Hongmen Banquet!
Jian Ling's face was now filled with disbelief, unable to comprehend how Donghua Sanren dared to do such a thing.
Ye Ling seemed unfazed by Donghua Sanren's outburst. He even poured himself another bowl of rice and took a few pieces of twice-cooked pork, saying as he ate, "Since you look down on the culinary offerings of the mortal realm, why did you trouble yourself to host a banquet here?"
"The Three Realms are vast; where couldn't you host a banquet? To launch an attack before everyone had finished eating, wasting all this delicious food, is truly a pity."
Seeing Ye Ling eat with even more gusto after he had revealed his hostility, Donghua Sanren's expression turned so grim that it seemed water could drip from it.
Donghua Sanren no longer bothered with pretense. With a dark expression, he asked Ye Ling, "Ye Ling, do you know why I insisted on inviting you here to eat?"
Ye Ling, as if completely unconcerned, continued eating his meal, indifferently replying, "Why bother with that? As long as there's food, isn't that enough?"
"It's free anyway, might as well eat it!"
Jian Ling, witnessing the exchange between Ye Ling and Donghua Sanren, was utterly bewildered, feeling like the only one out of the loop.
Although Jian Ling didn't know what Donghua Sanren was planning, he knew he had to pick a side now that Donghua Sanren had turned hostile. He quickly said to Ye Ling, "Your Majesty, this has nothing to do with me! I'm just here to freeload, I had nothing to do with Donghua Sanren's schemes! I also think this food is delicious! It would be a waste not to eat it!"
As he spoke, Jian Ling still felt he couldn't clear his name and continued, "Oh, Your Majesty! Donghua Sanren has been acting very mysterious all day. I always felt something was off about the armed forces he arranged outside! I was about to investigate, but then Donghua Sanren set up a barrier..."
"You mean the armed forces outside?"
Ye Ling smiled, glancing at the closed window, and said to Jian Ling, "Go out and see for yourself..."
Hearing Ye Ling's words, Jian Ling was momentarily stunned, then reacted, immediately getting up and opening the window. He saw that a sea of fire had already erupted outside!
The fully armed security personnel had all had their limbs severed, lying as corpses outside the Zijing Tower, their blood staining the ground.
Jian Ling stared at the scene of carnage outside with shock, trembling, "Wh-what happened here?"
Not long ago, everything outside was fine, how could it all be dead now, presenting a scene of apocalypse?
Worse still, Jian Ling hadn't sensed anything happening outside at all!
Ye Ling calmly replied, "You'll have to ask your friend about that. After all, as soon as I entered the Zijing Tower, he killed everyone outside..."
Jian Ling's pupils contracted sharply. He immediately grabbed Donghua Sanren by his collar and demanded, "What exactly are you doing?"
Donghua Sanren easily shrugged off Jian Ling's grip, walked to the window, and closed it again, saying indifferently, "What am I doing... Naturally, I'm taking back what belongs to me."
"Taking back what belongs to you?" Jian Ling was still confused, "What are you talking about?"
Donghua Sanren turned to look at Jian Ling and said coldly, "Do you really think you called Ye Ling over to save me?"
Jian Ling was stunned, trembling, "Wh-what do you mean?"
"What do I mean?" Donghua Sanren sneered, "That young man was originally my test subject. The inheritance within his body was originally my power. You, however, meddled in my affairs, bringing Ye Ling here. Not only did I lose my test subject, but Ye Ling even snatched my inheritance!"
Hearing Donghua Sanren's words, Jian Ling's pupils widened in shock, and he looked at Donghua Sanren in disbelief, "Dong-Donghua, you..."
Jian Ling's mind had almost stopped functioning.
The young man who had turned Donghua Sanren into a human pig was actually Donghua Sanren's subordinate?
After saying this, Donghua Sanren dropped all pretense and confessed, "Let me be blunt, I am a member of the Shadow Hall. The power that young man possesses was a reward allocated to me by the Shadow Hall!"
"My plan was for that young man to kill me, intending to discard this decrepit body of mine and possess the young man's body to inherit the Creation God's legacy!"
"But you insisted on finding me at this time, and even asked me to help you find some desolate... Out of necessity, I had to guide that young man to kill you. Unfortunately, you are more slippery than an eel, and you escaped!"
"If you had just run, I wouldn't have pursued you out of our past friendship. But you, you scoundrel, took it upon yourself to bring some reinforcements, disrupting my entire plan!"
Jian Ling was completely dumbfounded, unable to believe what he was hearing. His body trembled violently, his eyes filled with shock.
How could things have turned out like this?
"So that's how it is..."
Ye Ling, still eating at the table, let out a laugh. He put down his chopsticks and looked at Donghua Sanren, "I knew it. That young man's memory was all jumbled. Forget finding his enemies; he probably didn't even know who he was. How could he have been shouting about acting on behalf of heaven and cruelly slaughtering saints?"
"Yet, such a person found you, Donghua Sanren, and insisted on destroying your body... I couldn't understand it before, but now it seems this was all a performance you staged yourself."
Donghua Sanren sneered, "Since you understand now, you should also realize that you've taken something that doesn't belong to you. Won't you hand over the inheritance?"
Ye Ling replied, "I'm sorry... I have a habit of not spitting out what I've eaten. That inheritance is mine now, and I won't give it back to you."
"I knew you wouldn't hand it over willingly."
Donghua Sanren hadn't expected Ye Ling to willingly give up the Creation God's inheritance, so he said, "Therefore, to reclaim my power, I've prepared a surprise for you here in the Zijing Tower!"
"Come out! Shadow Hall members!"
As Donghua Sanren finished speaking, four figures in black, shrouded in dark mist and exuding powerful auras, suddenly appeared in the four corners of the private room!
The four figures placed their hands on the floor, and a formation hidden beneath the Zijing Tower erupted with immense power!
The mortals who had been busy working in the Zijing Tower were instantly reduced to dust!
The vast Zijing Tower was engulfed by black flames!