It was a piece of paper, or more accurately, an A4 printout.
There was nothing special about the paper itself, except for the four characters written on it: "Hòuhuìqī". They were written in calligraphy, each character so powerful and vigorous that it would take more than ten, even dozens, of years of dedicated practice to achieve such strokes.
However, what truly caused Ye Huohuo, Xiao Lingzi, and even the Great Master Ba, who had squeezed in to take a look later, to turn pale wasn't these four characters.
It was the handprint imprinted on the paper.
It was a bloody handprint, and what made this handprint most peculiar was that it had six fingers.
The hand that made this print wasn't one with a deformed finger growing outside the thumb or pinky. The entire hand was so symmetrical, with each finger growing in proportion to the hand, as if each finger was meant to be there.
Looking at this handprint, you would doubt if the person had an extra finger, rather than questioning if you were missing one.
"Six fingers? And so coordinated? Is this handprint special effects?" Li Mohan couldn't understand why such a handprint, even if real, would cause Ye Huohuo and the others to change their expressions. Unless...
Ye Huohuo glanced at the staff members who had been terrified by Lihua earlier and smiled, "It's nothing, just someone playing a prank, special effects. Normal people don't have hands like this."
Xiao Lingzi chimed in, "Exactly, exactly. It's fine now, everything's resolved. You should all get back to work. This place is a mess, someone needs to clean it up!"
Ye Huohuo stood up and searched for a while before finding her Great Master Brother Ba. He was currently surrounded by a few young female staff members, all talking to him.
Some of them were holding chips and shrimp crackers, trying to feed him snacks.
The Great Master Brother Ba was so startled by this scene that he didn't know whether to advance or retreat, just kept circling in place.
If it were a person, they would be covered in sweat and blushing furiously.
These young girls were incredibly fascinated by the Great Master Brother Ba, a bird who spoke with a stutter but whom Ye Huohuo and the others called their Great Master Brother. They were all clamoring to buy a myna bird to raise at home.
Two of the bolder ones even reached out and petted it.
The Great Master Brother normally stayed by his master's side. This time, his master, traveling on an excursion, had calculated that Ye Huohuo was in trouble and had specifically sent him to help. It was only then that he flew here from thousands of miles away.
Great Master Brother Nie Ming was originally an honest person, and coupled with his stutter, he was somewhat self-conscious and afraid to interact with outsiders, especially of the opposite sex.
He met his girlfriend, Mu Qianying, because of a ghost haunting Mu Qianying's opera troupe. The old troupe leader had come to find Master Xuanjizi for help. However, Xuanjizi was busy with other matters at the time and sent Great Master Brother Nie Ming to resolve it.
It was during that time that he met the love of his life, Mu Qianying.
Except for Mu Qianying, he had hardly ever touched the hands of other girls. Now, being surrounded by a few young and beautiful girls, and with them touching him, he was so scared that his wings had gone numb, and he couldn't even fly.
Ye Huohuo beckoned to him twice, and he flapped his wings twice but still couldn't fly up. Finally, Ye Huohuo scooped him up and placed him on her shoulder.
As they took the elevator, she couldn't resist teasing her Great Master Brother, "Great Master Brother, I didn't expect you to be so popular with young girls when you turn into a bird. Were there any you liked among those just now? How about I let you stay at her house, giving you a chance to be alone with a beauty?"
Nie Ming was already clumsy with words, and now he couldn't even speak clearly, "Don't, don't talk nonsense. Hurry, hurry and find out, or, or you'll have consequences!"
The elevator was heading back to Li Mohan's office on the 35th floor.
Li Mohan had of course seen that Ye Huohuo's words were meant to appease people. Now, seeing that there were no outsiders around and hearing Nie Ming's words, he got to the main point.
"What's the deal with that handprint? Why did all of you change your expressions upon seeing it?"
Ye Huohuo tilted her head, looked at Great Master Brother, and then at Xiao Lingzi. Her earlier joking expression turned serious, "That handprint is real, not drawn or forged by anyone.
In our Xuanmen, there has always been a very mysterious organization whose name no one even knows. All they know is that their leader is a person with six fingers.
He can release the Fire of Nirvana, a flame from hell that can burn everything to ashes. A person in this fire would turn to ashes within three minutes. Many experts in Xuanmen have also died by his hand.
Those targeted by him will die under the Nirvana Fire, leaving no trace behind.
Years ago, a Xuanmen sect, for reasons unknown, offended him. That night, all thirty-six members of the sect turned into ashes. The Fire of Nirvana burned nearly the entire sect to the ground.
The experts from other sects who rushed to reinforce them couldn't save anyone, nor did they even see a shadow of the perpetrator. They only saw the six-fingered handprint imprinted on the main gate.
From that day on, Six-Fingered Nirvana became the name used for that person and that mysterious organization. As for their true name, and how many people were involved, no one knew. Kai Shu Ge.
All the sect leaders have warned their disciples to stay far away if they encounter the six-fingered handprint." Ye Huohuo's expression grew heavier and her brows furrowed tighter as she spoke.
The elevator fell into a deathly silence, with only the sound of the elevator operating.
After a long while, with a "ding!", the elevator doors opened. Li Mohan finally asked, "Did our Li family provoke this person this time?"
Both of them and the bird remained silent. Finally, Xiao Lingzi said, "Not necessarily. I don't think that six-fingered person would target the Li family. Think about it, all his previous targets were from Xuanmen.
No matter how powerful the Li family is, they are just people of the mortal world. What benefit would they get from dealing with the Li family? Could it be that they are short on money? Would destroying the Li family bring them a lot of money?"
Xiao Lingzi spoke without thinking, but Ye Huohuo and the others heard it with intent.
"That's right. Logically speaking, Xuanmen cultivators with true high cultivation levels don't care about money. No amount of money can buy cultivation or increase spiritual power.
But that's referring to those with high cultivation. Someone like Six-Fingered Nirvana, who has such power, wouldn't care about the amount of money. But just because he doesn't care doesn't mean others don't.
Do you remember Master Peng? His sorcery wasn't very high, but he would do anything for money.
I have a vague feeling that someone is using the name of Six-Fingered Nirvana to amass wealth in the mortal world and engage in some unspeakable dealings. And this Six-Fingered person should know about these people, or perhaps he tacitly approves of their actions.
I think he should have his own purpose too." Ye Huohuo expressed her thoughts as she pondered, her language not very organized.
Xiao Lingzi listened, somewhat bewildered, but Li Mohan understood.
"Are you saying that for some reason, this Six-Fingered person has made himself the nominal leader of those people, lending his name to them to amass wealth? And those people, in turn, use their sorcery to help unscrupulous businesses do things they can't do in the marketplace?
For example, suppressing our Li family, thereby gaining substantial profits.
In other words, there is a group of Xuanmen people in Haicheng right now who are doing bad deeds behind the scenes to earn high rewards?"
With Li Mohan's explanation, Xiao Lingzi finally understood.
"Yes, that's probably it. They say money makes the world go round, but that person who could control shadows today was no ordinary person. We almost fell into his hands."
Ye Huohuo frowned, "Yes, I initially underestimated the Li family's situation and almost let this Lihua cause a major disaster. However, through this incident, we've seen the opponent's strength.
Whether it's the entire layout and planning, or the sorcery power of ghost control and shadow control, they can be considered top-tier experts.
If this were a game of chess, the planner is truly someone who thinks ten steps ahead for every move. When he was setting up that malevolent painting, he was already planning for today, having tampered with the painting in advance."
Ye Huohuo couldn't help but shiver after saying that.
Nie Ming, on her shoulder, also said, "This, this scheming, it's too, too terrifying!"
At this moment, Xiao Lingzi suddenly said, "If this person is as divine as you say, then is our current situation within his predictions? Does he still have any backup plans for us?"
Ye Huohuo smacked her forehead, "Right, how could I have forgotten about that..."