The order was relayed from the conference room, the General Director signed and stamped each document in front of everyone.
In less than half an hour, at the rear building of the Scorching Sun Headquarters in the Capital City, a figure leapt from a hundred-meter-tall skyscraper.
When that figure was still three or four meters away from the ground, his speed abruptly dropped, as if he'd hit some invisible speed bump; after passing through those two meters, with just over one meter left to the ground, he suddenly dropped to the ground.
The General Director's secretary, leading his people, stood under the eaves, watching coldly.
"Director Liu, you seem to have forgotten, this is the Scorching Sun Headquarters. If there's one thing we don't lack, it's all sorts of wondrous items. No one has managed to jump to their death here for decades—you probably don't even know why."
Seeing that even death was impossible, the middle-aged man's face was instead full of despair.
"Take him down. Take him away."
...
Mount Zhongnan Taiyi Temple.
This is what everyone usually calls the grand Taoist temple that represents Mount Zhongnan.
Scorching Sun Department's moves were no secret; within an hour the news had already spread.
The Second Artillery of Guanzhong Commandery had already begun to mobilize, in name for a live-fire drill—clearly, they were using real fire now.
Deep within the Taoist temple, in a main hall, a Taoist sat cross-legged, his back to the door.
Behind him, a middle-aged Taoist knelt on the floor, speaking in a low voice.
After a long time, the Taoist sitting on the mat let out a deep sigh.
"Foolish, so foolish. At this point, there's no room left to maneuver."
The kneeling Taoist responded in a solemn tone,
"Senior Brother, this was a struggle over the Taoist lineage—we can't blame me for taking such a desperate measure.
The times are against our sect, public sentiment is against our sect.
If we don't seek a breakthrough, seek change, sooner or later we'll vanish in the flow of time.
Fuyu Mountain has already seized the momentum, sending people to ascend to the Celestial Court.
The direction they're pursuing isn't the same as ours.
Right now, it's a fight over the next century's direction.
Even inside the Scorching Sun Department, even within the Divine Land, debate still rages on.
Now that we've failed, there's no one else to blame.
I will dissipate my body willingly—never will I implicate our sect."
The Taoist knelt down, kowtowed, turned, and departed.
A dozen minutes later, at the foot of the mountain gate, the Taoist, with three other Taoists, drew swords and slit their own throats, blood spattering the ground.
At the scene, a blood-written confession was left, stating that he'd been possessed by evil, listened to slander, acted rashly in a moment of hot blood and caused irreparable disaster; now, regret was useless, and he no longer had the face to see the ancestors again.
Nor did he dare die inside the mountain gate—he must end himself outside the sect.
Soon, the Scorching Sun Department received the news; and Wen Yan, who had just returned to Virtue City, also got word—a phone call from his Fourth Great-uncle Master, who, after giving the news, also tried to counsel Wen Yan.
"Didn't I tell you, you should've listened—no need for hacking and killing.
If they'd managed to pull it off, sure, they could have fooled everyone.
But now that it's failed and come out, they've offended both the Scorching Sun Department and the Three Mountains and Five Ridges at the same time.
They've stepped on the landmines of the General Director and the Old Celestial Master both.
All you need to do is hand over the surveillance footage and use retreat as a form of advance.
You don't have to do anything else—whoever took part in this is doomed to be forced to die.
If they don't die, even more people will have to.
It won't just be a couple of nobodies, not some temp they can throw under the bus.
The one dead now is the Mount Zhongnan Sect Master's junior brother—basically number two or three in the sect.
This is already the limit."
"Fourth Great-uncle Master, any reasonable person would know, there's no way he could have done this alone… My mind just can't accept it."
Wen Yan knew this was the easiest way, but he just couldn't take it easy.
At that moment, Fourth Great-uncle Master spoke again.
"I just heard some new intel—by the Huai River, there's a Taoist whose Yin Spirit has left the body, shackled to a rock on the shore.
He's bound there, unable to move or communicate.
Luckily, the spot is shaded and hasn't been exposed to the sun, otherwise he'd probably be burned up by the Great Sun True Fire by now.
His identity's been confirmed too—a traveling Taoist from a small temple in Mount Zhongnan's area."
Wen Yan's expression changed slightly.
"Fourth Great-uncle Master, I'm going to hang up—I need to confirm something."
"Don't act rashly—the same ends can be achieved by simpler, lower-risk methods."
"Understood, Fourth Great-uncle Master—I just want to sleep for a bit."
After hanging up, Wen Yan didn't care that it was still daytime; he lay straight down on the bed and slept instantly.
Using the Dream Projection Technique, he left his home, took to the wind, soared into the Blue Abyss, and quickly plunged into a body of water.
Sure enough, Water Monarch was napping, slumped in his dreams, munching on wine jars like they were potato chips.
When he saw Wen Yan enter, Water Monarch spat out fragments of the wine jar, sizing Wen Yan up and down.
"Looks like you're not such trash after all—not dead at the hands of those filthy wastes."
"So the idiot by the riverside really thinks killing me would win Water Monarch to his side."
"Tch, if I wanted to kill you, would I need those wastes?"
"Yeah, exactly—that I can agree with. Those wastes tried to ambush me and still failed.
Trying to use Water Monarch? Pure idiocy.
I was actually preparing some wine for you, Water Monarch—heard about this old distillery, grain-based spirits.
I even made an appointment with them, but before I could go, I got ambushed."
"Bah, evil spirits—should've just been beaten to death." Water Monarch scoffed.
"One of my elders… died in battle.
The Mount Zhongnan Sect Master's junior brother—committed suicide for fear of punishment."