24: Chapter 24 Even Mortals Can Slay Immortals

At the beginning of the month, the first day.

Outside Hidden Dragon Manor, the gray fog quietly parted to reveal a passage, and a caravan of Mortal, devoid of any spiritual energy fluctuations, drove into Black Wind Valley under the cover of night.

As the lead carriage came to a halt, a hand with distinct knuckles and a steady, powerful grip lifted the curtain.

Thirty-one-year-old Su Cheng slowly stepped off the carriage.

He wore a dark gold merchant's brocade robe, and although he lacked even a shred of the magical power fluctuations of a cultivator,

having spent over a decade struggling in the mortal underworld of Dingzhou City, the aura of authority he had cultivated amidst mountains of blades, seas of blood, and the stench of copper and silver was now as deep and heavy as an abyss.

Passing through the front courtyard, Su Cheng went straight to the main hall of the villa.

"Father."

Su Cheng stepped forward and offered a deep, respectful bow to Su Yu, who was seated in the main seat.

"Sit," Su Yu said, slightly raising his hand with a gentle expression.

On both sides, Su Tie and several other stewards and elders at the mid-stage of Qi Refining were also seated.

Facing this young master who was a Mortal without spiritual roots, they all nodded slightly, their eyes revealing undisguised respect.

After some brief pleasantries and a reconciliation of the accounts, Su Cheng began to report on the recent deep-seated situation in Dingzhou City.

"Over these past few years, the black-market goods on the surface of the Dingyuan Trading Firm have been mostly laundered, and our covert lines have been spread out."

Su Cheng lifted his teacup, his tone steady.

"Using heavy worldly wealth, supplemented by the slow-acting poison 'Juejing Powder' from the Medicine King Valley, I have secretly recruited over thirty low-level loose cultivators at the early stage of Qi Refining to build a network of death-sworn agents."

Upon hearing this, Su Tie and the others all showed expressions of shock.

Mortal controlling cultivators!

In the eyes of the cultivation world, this was simply an absurd matter that defied the natural order.

"Young Master, although those loose cultivators are at the bottom, they still possess magical powers."

"Using poison to control them—if they were to retaliate, how could the mortal guards of Dingzhou City possibly stop them?"

Su Tie could not help but ask.

Su Cheng shook his head, his tone revealing a coldness that saw through human nature.

"Uncle Tie, you overestimate the integrity of low-level loose cultivators."

"They would kill each other in the wilderness over half a low-grade spirit stone. I provide them with a monthly stipend of three spirit stones, along with the finest mortal concubines and wine; they only need to escort the firm's shipments and silence those who know too much."

"It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality. Under the dual constraints of absolute profit and life-and-death, they are more afraid of death than Mortal, and more obedient than Mortal."

Listening to his eldest son's argument, Su Yu nodded slightly.

Once a Mortal's intelligence and methods are freed from the blind awe of cultivators, the energy they can unleash is often capable of striking directly at a cultivator's most vulnerable greed.

"Spreading the dark network is a good thing, but you rushed back overnight today, and your aura seems slightly sluggish; there must have been an incident in Dingzhou City."

Su Yu set down his teacup, his gaze like a torch, seeing through the trace of deep-seated fatigue his eldest son was trying to hide.

Su Cheng set down his teacup, his expression becoming solemn.

"I cannot hide it from you, Father. A few days ago, there was indeed a major problem in Dingzhou City."

"The Zhao family, who destroyed the main branch of the Qingmu Su Clan back then, had their direct-line young master pass through Dingzhou City for training."

Su Cheng's voice echoed in the main hall, every word like a heavy hammer.

"This person is at the 6th Layer of Qi Refining. He set his sights on the two core trade routes monopolized by the Dingyuan Trading Firm, attempting to use his status as an Immortal Master to seize them by force."

"Not only did he demand that the firm hand over eighty percent of its profits, but he also declared that everyone in the firm must sign a blood contract and submit to the Zhao family as slaves."

Dead silence.

The atmosphere in the main hall instantly froze, and the temperature seemed to drop by several degrees.

"A direct-line descendant of the Zhao family?!"

Su Tie stood up abruptly, his face turning pale, his voice carrying an uncontrollable tremble.

Fourteen years ago, the scene of those two half-step Foundation Establishment ancestors standing in the air, slaughtering the Qingmu Su Clan like chickens and sheep, remained a nightmare he could not shake off.

"How can we afford to provoke them!"

Su Tie looked anxiously at Su Yu, "Clan Head, no matter how large the businesses in Dingzhou City are, they are only worldly treasures."

"If that Zhao family young master follows the trail and discovers the secrets of Hidden Dragon Manor, bringing high-level cultivators from the Zhao family here, the consequences would be unimaginable!"

"Young Master, quickly hand over the trading firm, take the core personnel of the dark network, and retreat to the villa immediately! As long as we endure and remain silent, that Zhao family young master will leave once his training is complete!"

Facing Su Tie's panic, Su Yu's expression remained unchanged as he sat motionless in the grand chair.

He glanced at Su Cheng, who was sitting in his original spot, his expression as still as a pool of stagnant water.

"Since you have returned to the mountain safely, this matter must have already been resolved."

Su Yu said calmly.

Su Cheng stood up, took out a sandalwood brocade box covered in dark red bloodstains from his wide sleeves, and gently placed it on the table.

The box opened, and a lingering aura of blood and malevolence drifted out.

In the center of the brocade box lay a top-grade storage bag, exquisitely crafted and embroidered with golden cloud patterns.

"Thank you for your concern, Uncle Tie, but there is no need to retreat, because the person is already dead."

Su Cheng's voice was very soft, yet it exploded in the main hall like a thunderclap.

"Dead?!"

Su Tie widened his eyes, staring fixedly at the top-grade storage bag, his mind going blank.

"That Zhao family young master was a genius at the 6th Layer of Qi Refining! Young Master, did you… did you use all the loose cultivators in the dark network to pile onto him and kill him?"

"No."

Su Cheng shook his head, his tone as if he were describing a mundane business transaction.

"Although he was at the 6th Layer of Qi Refining, he carried the absolute arrogance of a great cultivation family toward Mortal in his bones. In his eyes, Dingzhou City was nothing more than a slightly larger nest of ants."

"I did not use a single cultivator with magical powers, so as not to alert his divine sense."

Su Cheng methodically recounted the beginning and end of the killing scheme.

"I rented out the largest brothel in Dingzhou City, treated him as an honored guest, and sent over a dozen beautiful Mortal."

"When cultivators are indulging in pleasure amidst mortal women, they would never constantly maintain their spiritual energy shields, which consume immense true essence. I had someone light the colorless and odorless mortal poison, 'Spirit-Dispersing Incense,' in the room's heater."

"This incense is harmless to Mortal, but it can cause the spiritual energy within a cultivator's body to experience a very faint stagnation for a short period."

Su Cheng's gaze was deep as he delivered the final summary.

"During the few moments when the drug took effect, the twelve mortal martial arts masters who were lying in ambush in the hidden compartments of the bed and the rafters, armed with weapons dipped in 'Blood-Sealing Throat' poison, directly detonated their blood and energy at close range."

"This genius at the 6th Layer of Qi Refining, in that moment of sluggish spiritual energy circulation, was hacked into a pulp on the spot by twelve mortal martial artists."

Su Tie gasped, falling back into his chair.

A Mortal, using worldly schemes, mortal poisons, and the lives of death-sworn agents, had forcibly piled onto a high-and-mighty 6th Layer Qi Refining cultivator and killed him.

Such a ruthless plot was even more chilling than the magical battles of the cultivation world where people flew and tunneled through the earth.

Su Yu reached out and picked up the top-grade storage bag.

Exuding a slight amount of spiritual energy from his fingertips, he easily wiped away the faint, lingering divine sense imprint on it.

He probed into it with his divine sense.

As expected of a direct-line descendant of a great cultivation family.

The space inside the storage bag was immense, containing not only thousands of low-grade spirit stones but also several top-quality mid-grade magical artifacts, as well as a bottle of extremely precious breakthrough pills for the late stage of Qi Refining.

"Was the aftermath handled cleanly?"

Su Yu put away the storage bag and asked calmly.

"That brothel, along with the bodies, was burned to ashes in a great fire,"

Su Cheng replied with his head bowed, "Even if the Zhao family sends people to investigate, they will only find that the young master died accidentally during a worldly pleasure trip, either from a gangland feud or from being ambushed by other passing rogue cultivators."

"This matter will absolutely not lead back to the Dingyuan Trading Firm, let alone implicate Hidden Dragon Manor."

"Well done."

Su Yu gave an extremely plain four-word evaluation.

He did not feel that there was anything worth making a fuss about in Su Cheng killing a 6th Layer Qi Refining cultivator.

Back when he was at the 7th Layer of Qi Refining, killing those of the same rank was like slaughtering chickens.

He valued his eldest son's calm demeanor in the face of crisis and his unconventional methods even more.

Cultivators are high and mighty, but they often die from their contempt for ants.

"Cheng'er, your methods today are enough to teach everyone in the villa a lesson."

Su Yu's gaze swept over Su Tie and the others, his voice as steady as an abyss.

"In this world, it is never just magical spells that can kill."

"As long as the schemes are appropriate and the chips are sufficient, Mortal can also slaughter Immortals."