Mermaids Weep (18)
Yao Yao hadn't expected this guy to use her as a hostage to threaten Sister Ying'er and Senior Yun, so she immediately opened her mouth and shouted to try and warn the people in the teahouse. But Lin Xiaowen didn't give her a chance at all, and stuffed a piece of cloth into her mouth, warning her, "Behave yourself, or when you meet again later, I can't guarantee you'll still have two hands."
"Bastard!" Yao Yao couldn't speak, only cursing Lin Xiaowen's despicable and shameless nature in her heart. Lin Xiaowen didn't linger and immediately ordered the driver to drive to Wanghai Tower.
Inside the teahouse, Yun Yanqiu observed everything silently as the messenger arranged by Lin Xiaowen walked straight toward them.
"If you want to ransom her, come with me to Wanghai Tower." The guard pointed at Ye Yingying and said succinctly, "Only she can go alone."
Yun Yanqiu's expression darkened noticeably, his eyes filled with warning and hostility as he looked at the guard. This guard, after all, worked for Lin Xiaowen, and remained calm and composed despite the spiritual pressure Yun Yanqiu intentionally or unintentionally emitted.
Hearing this, Ye Yingying was momentarily confused about what the Lin family leaders were thinking. The earlier fire and water-fighting had created utter chaos. Coupled with their inability to contact Yao Yao, Yun Yanqiu and Ye Yingying were in a very passive position. They had to try to contact the Han brothers for help while simultaneously observing the Lin family's movements from the teahouse. They finally managed to contact the Han brothers, but Lin Xiaowen suddenly intervened, forcing them to abandon their rescue plan once again.
Lin Xiaowen wanted them to go to Wanghailou to redeem Yao Yao, which was clearly a trap. But Yao Yao was in his hands, so they had no choice but to go.
"I'll go with you." Ye Yingying said as she stood up, but Yun Yanqiu grabbed her arm.
Have you thought this through?
Ye Yingying was slightly taken aback, not quite understanding Yun Yanqiu's meaning. She only knew that Yao Yao was currently in danger, and if anything happened to her, her trip to the Secret Sea would have been in vain. Thinking this, she gently placed her hand on Yun Yanqiu's hand and comforted him, "It's alright, senior. Wait for my news."
After saying that, she tried to pry open Yun Yanqiu's hand that was holding her. But Yun Yanqiu had a strong grip, and she failed several times.
"Senior Yun..." Ye Yingying said helplessly.
Yun Yanqiu showed no intention of letting go, instead saying, "Since you have difficulty moving around, I'll escort you to Wanghai Tower."
"..." Is this alright? Ye Yingying felt that Lin Xiaowen probably didn't mean it that way, but the guard didn't stop them, only urging them to leave quickly.
So, under Yun Yanqiu's escort, Ye Yingying arrived at Wanghai Tower. The guards didn't lead them through the usual main gate, but instead took them through a hidden path to a back entrance. Upon reaching the entrance, the guards stopped them, saying sternly, "That's enough. The rest is up to this woman."
Yun Yanqiu hesitated for a moment, but finally let go of Ye Yingying's hand and whispered in her ear, "Be careful."
Before Ye Yingying could react, a talisman slipped into her sleeve. She understood, nodded, and followed the guard into the Wanghai Tower. The sky was already dark; the recent overcast skies had dimmed the moonlight, but this did nothing to diminish the bustling atmosphere of the Wanghai Tower. The tower was even more noisy and busy at night than during the day. Ye Yingying walked through the corridor, climbed the stairs, and was finally ushered into a private room by the guard. Although she couldn't see anything around her, Ye Yingying could clearly sense a vast spiritual power before her, a power comparable to that of Yun Yanqiu.
Beside this spiritual power, there was another cluster of relatively weak spiritual power. Ye Yingying recognized the feeling of this spiritual power—this spiritual power belonged to Yao Yao.
"You arrived quite quickly." Lin Xiaowen sipped his tea and said jokingly, "It seems you have more courage than I expected. I thought you would just cower behind your companions."
"You flatter me, you flatter me. It would be impolite to refuse such a kind invitation from the Second Master." Ye Yingying was not annoyed by Lin Xiaowen's provocation. Instead, she joked with him, "I just didn't expect that you would dare to choose this place to talk, even though it is drafty and not exactly a prosperous place."
Lin Xiaowen raised an eyebrow, naturally understanding Ye Yingying's implied meaning. However, this sarcasm meant nothing to him. He continued to sip his fine black eyebrow tea, saying calmly, "Whether it leaks or not depends entirely on my mood. If I'm not happy, do you think you people, with your status, are worthy of sitting at the table in Wanghailou?"
Ye Yingying frowned almost imperceptibly, increasingly unable to fathom the intentions of the person in front of her. If he wanted to harm them, why go to such lengths?
Her intuition told her that Lin Xiaowen had some other purpose, so Ye Yingying simply asked bluntly, "Since it all depends on the Second Master's mood, let's get straight to the point. What is it you want to see me about?"
Lin Xiaowen paused in his tea-tasting, then, without beating around the bush, looked sharply at Ye Yingying standing at the door and stated his purpose: "Make a deal with me."
A trade? Ye Yingying was puzzled and asked, "How do you want to trade?"
“I’ll give that brat back to you, and you can help me bring down Lin Shiyou.”
Ye Yingying was startled, completely unprepared for Lin Xiaowen's offer to make such a deal. She composed herself and decided to first confirm Yao Yao's safety: "How is she?"
“She’s too noisy. Even if we don’t let her talk, she still makes a racket. We’ll just have to let her sleep for a while,” Lin Xiaowen said. “It’s nothing serious. As long as you agree to this deal, I’ll let you take her back.”
Lin Xiaowen paused, then added, "Don't worry, I'm not a shameless scoundrel like Lin Fang. I will definitely keep my word."
Ye Yingying had some concerns. The news of Lin Xiaowen's plot to rebel came too suddenly, and she couldn't tell whether he was deliberately luring her or really wanted to rebel and seize power. So she tentatively asked, "If you release the people first, aren't you afraid we'll go back on our word?"
Lin Xiaowen seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world and couldn't help but sneer, "Your Lingyun Alliance has always prided yourselves on being upright and honorable people, but it turns out you can say such things."
It seems that Lin Xiaowen's intelligence network was unaware that she was not actually a member of the Lingyun Alliance, but this was advantageous to Ye Yingying, so she did not correct him.
Unexpectedly, Lin Xiaowen then threw out an unexpected threat: "If you dare to go back on your word, I will expose that this guy is a merman."
The most important thing that shouldn't have been revealed to the enemy made Ye Yingying's heart skip a beat, and her mind immediately tightened. She forced a smile and said evasively, "...Isn't the position of second-in-command good enough? I heard you've reaped quite a bit of benefits. Why are you thinking of rebelling? And if you were to rebel, which side would your third-in-command be on?"
"Hmph." Lin Xiaowen sneered, seemingly mocking Ye Yingying's naivety. "Let me put it this way: Lin Fang is dead, but Lin Shiyou has a demon in his heart."
Lin Fang is dead. Ye Yingying had some suspicions from the previous situation at Lin Fang's residence, and from the fact that the person who hired him was the second-in-command. But Lin Shiyou was actually a demonic cultivator!
There is only one kind of cultivator in this world who has inner demons, and that is the demonic cultivator. Ye Yingying frowned, a sense of crisis suddenly rising in her heart. If even he is a demonic cultivator, then what kind of good person is Lin Xiaowen?
Lin Xiaowen was confident. He slowly put down his teacup and said, "I know that the Lingyun Alliance has always taken it upon itself to eliminate demons, which is why I sent you alone."
Ye Yingying's heart tightened, thinking that Lin Xiaowen was going to harm her. But then Lin Xiaowen continued, "Aren't you and that kid from the Han family investigating the case of the missing rogue cultivator? Let me tell you what Lin Shiyou's connection is to this case..."
Inside the Lin family ancestral home, Lin Shiyou's study had been completely cleaned up. The broken porcelain shards scattered on the floor had been swept away, and Lin Fang's body was nowhere to be found, not even a trace of blood remained. Lin Shiyou still sat in his sandalwood chair, the blackness in his eyes gone, yet no one could possibly guess what kind of tragedy had occurred inside. The doors and windows were tightly shut, making the room airtight. Lin Shiyou leaned back in his chair, one fist pressed against his temple, the other half-knocking on the edge of the table, his expression still somber.
Suddenly, he stopped tapping, flipped his hand over to reveal a crystal-clear glass bead in his palm. The bead suddenly flashed, and a flirtatious female voice came from it: "Oh, what's the matter that requires Boss Lin to go to the trouble of contacting me with a communication bead?"
Lin Shiyou said in a deep voice, "I know you are still in Xizhou. Come over tomorrow and help me destroy the evidence."
The person on the other end seemed to know a lot about what Lin Shiyou was up to, and asked directly, "They're just a few rogue cultivators, do I really need to make this trip in person?"
"They're not rogue cultivators, they're from the Lingyun Alliance."
Upon hearing the words "Lingyun Alliance," the woman fell silent for a moment, and when she spoke again, her voice was much colder: "You want me to help you kill the people of the Lingyun Alliance?"
"What? You can't do it?" Lin Shiyou challenged.
"Heh, others might be helpless against the Lingyun Alliance, but that one has always disliked it. If she wanted to take action against the Lingyun Alliance, it would be as easy as turning her hand," the woman said disdainfully. "But what do you have to offer in exchange?"
Lin Shiyou had anticipated her response and unhesitatingly revealed his trump card: "Haven't you always wanted to know where 'Ferrying the Lonely Souls' is?"
"oh?"
"Salvation of Lonely Souls" is the third level of the Azure Nether True Fire. Before his death, Lin Fang went to great lengths to find the whereabouts of the flame for Lin Shiyou. Lin Shiyou kept this information a secret in order to prepare for any eventuality.
Just as he expected, the woman on the other end became interested and pressed him for details, saying, "Do you know where it is? Tell me."
“In Jinzhou,” Lin Shiyou answered affirmatively. “As for the exact location in Jinzhou, I’ll tell you after you’ve helped me.”
Upon hearing this, there was a brief silence on the other end before he agreed to his request: "I will send someone to your place; they will arrive tomorrow."
As soon as he finished speaking, the glass bead shattered with a "crack." Fortunately, the deal had been made, and Lin Shiyou squeezed hard with his left hand, crushing the glass bead to pieces.
He raised his eyes, gazing straight ahead, his ambition blatantly clear. Everything was now prepared; all that remained was to clear out all obstacles by tomorrow, and he would still be the head of the Lin family, the Secret Sea still his for the taking…
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