99: Chapter 99 We're both at the ninth rank, should I avoid your sharp edge?

The sandalwood incense in the Ghost Guild headquarters meeting room was swirling a bit too excessively.

At the end of the long table, President Long Zaiyuan was toying with a Rank 9 magic core, his five fingers taking turns flicking the dark golden crystal, letting it roll back and forth between his knuckles.

He leaned back in his chair with his legs crossed, his posture as relaxed as if he were curled up in his own living room watching TV.

"So I say—"

He dragged out the words lazily.

"What are you panicking for?"

Eleven elders sat on either side of the long conference table.

The old man with the goatee, seated third on the right, had been wiping away sweat for a long time; the sheen of oil on his forehead was brighter than the magic crystal lamp on the table.

"President, the assassination team we sent to kill Su Bai—they were wiped out. Including the deputy leader at the peak of Rank 6 who was providing support from the perimeter."

The old man with the goatee read the intelligence report again, his voice trembling as if he couldn't believe what was written himself, "Thirteen professional assassins, the lowest being Rank 5 with four at Rank 6, were all killed by a single Rank 2 Card Creator. Furthermore, the Truth Sanctuary has launched a crackdown on our other subordinates; their movements were too fast!"

President Long Zaiyuan placed the magic core on the table with a dull thud.

"Well killed. There's no point in keeping such trash."

The old man with the goatee was stunned.

"But President—Li Qingyue sent a message last night."

"What message?"

"Three words: 'Your turn'."

The temperature in the meeting room seemed to drop by half a degree instantly.

Several elders unconsciously shrank their shoulders, and the two young people sitting at the very end had already begun frantically scrolling on their phones, likely checking templates for their last wills.

That was Li Qingyue!

A Rank 9 Card Creator with top-tier connections all over the world; who wouldn't want to give Li Qingyue some face?

Especially since it was rumored that Deputy Commander Xiao Hongyan had recently received a Rank 9 card... God knows how strong she would become.

President Long Zaiyuan laughed.

He stood up.

His height of over two meters stretched out his dark black president's robe, and the pressure of his Rank 9 magic power seeped out from within him, strand by strand, like ink dripping into clear water, silently saturating the entire meeting room.

"Li Qingyue, 9th-tier Supreme, core elder of the Truth Sanctuary, wielder of the universal balance. Truly impressive, boundlessly strong."

He tilted his neck, his cervical spine giving a crisp click.

"But I, President Long Zaiyuan, am also Rank 9. Nine years and nine months to rush from Rank 1 to Rank 9, the Ghost Forbidden Codex cultivated to the highest level, a full set of nine SS-rank Nether Skeleton Armaments. Do you think I would be afraid?"

He said this in a very flat tone, as if stating a basic geographic fact.

"The President is right."

Great Elder Liang Yue, the first on the left, spoke slowly. His gray, short hair stood on end, and the old scar crossing his forehead glowed dark red under the light.

"Rank 9 against Rank 9, no one is worse than the other. Besides, we took this assassination job, the employer's identity is completely confidential, the assassins are all wiped out, and there is no evidence. Even if Li Qingyue wants to hold us accountable, she has no handle."

"Great Elder Liang is wise."

Someone immediately chimed in.

"That's right, can our dignified Ghost Guild really be afraid of a single Li Qingyue?"

"Not just Li Qingyue, that madwoman Deputy Commander Xiao Hongyan also issued an ultimatum saying she wants to sanction us—what a joke. She's just a deputy commander who just reached Rank 9, what can she do to us?"

The atmosphere in the meeting room visibly relaxed.

President Long Zaiyuan sat back in his chair, crossed his legs, and his fingers began toying with the magic core again.

A meaningful arc hung on the corner of his mouth.

"Let me give you the inside scoop. For this job to assassinate Su Bai, the employer gave more than just ten Rank 8 magic cores. Behind it, there are also permanent access rights to three abyss material smuggling routes. Do you know what this means? If we secure these routes, the Ghost Guild won't have to worry about high-end material supplies for the next ten years, and by then, having a set of SS-rank gear for everyone will be a given."

The elders' eyes lit up.

Some were already calculating what good things could be refined with abyss materials, others were counting the profit-sharing ratios of the permanent access rights on their fingers.

The meeting room was filled with the unique sense of relaxation people have on the eve of getting rich.

"So—"

President Long Zaiyuan tossed the magic core high and caught it.

"Never mind that Li Qingyue has no evidence, even if she did, I wouldn't care. Rank 9—"

Bang.

The meeting room door exploded.

It wasn't pushed open, it wasn't rammed open, it was an explosion in the literal sense.

The two three-meter-high cast bronze doors, along with the door frame, shattered inward.

Fragments of bronze and wood shavings swept across the entire meeting room like shotgun pellets.

Two Rank 5 guards sitting by the door were blown away by the shockwave, their bodies embedded into the opposite wall.

A small shadow stepped in through the dust.

Military boots made a harsh grinding sound as they stepped on the copper fragments.

Knee-high boots inlaid with dark gold flame patterns, a deep red combat skirt, a waist-cinching short jacket paired with a high-collared lining, and the flame emblem of the 3rd Army Group on the shoulder straps.

In her right hand, she held a flame war halberd taller than a person, and nine phantom flame dragons on the halberd's shaft were emitting low roars.

The most eye-catching part was her head.

A head of dark red long hair was tied high into twin tails with black ribbons, with two miniature flame crystal cores attached to the ends of the ribbons.

Flame-shaped patterns burned in her amber pupils.

The elders on both sides of the long table were stunned in unison.

Not because they were scared by the door being kicked in, but because the figure of the person in front of them was too strange.

That face looked at most twelve or thirteen years old, with a height of less than one point five meters, and it was almost cast from the same mold as Li Qingyue, whom they had seen at the exhibition before—only the hair color was different, and the eyes were fiercer.

"Li, Li Qingyue's clone?!"

The old man with the goatee shouted first, his voice cracking.

"Impossible—Li Qingyue's hair is silver-white, this one is red—"

"Could it be a new form of the universal balance?!"

President Long Zaiyuan raised his hand to press down, signaling his subordinates to shut up.

His gaze swept from the face of the twin-tailed loli in front of him down to the dripping flame war halberd, then stopped at the flame emblem of the 3rd Army Group on the shoulder strap.

He scoffed.

"Deputy Commander Xiao Hongyan, is this a magical girl card?"

The words "Deputy Commander Xiao Hongyan" smashed into the meeting room like a ladle of oil poured into boiling water.

The elders' faces changed instantly.

The old man with the goatee sprang up from his chair, pointing at the twin-tailed loli at the door, his lips twitching for a long time.

A magical girl card, Deputy Commander Xiao Hongyan really refined it!

And she even transformed!

This, this, this, this, could there really be high-rank magical girl cards?

No, wait, could that be a magical girl card refined by Li Qingyue?

Thinking of this possibility, everyone's expressions changed wildly.

The deputy commander of the 3rd Army Group, a Rank 9 Magic Card Master, the youngest officer in the Western Theater, had turned into a Magical Girl!

But that wasn't the point.

The point was that Deputy Commander Xiao Hongyan herself had come, and was standing here in a form that perfectly matched the magical girl card!

Where was her soul gem?

Was it on the back of her hand?

Or embedded in her chest?

This woman was too arrogant!

The old man with the goatee subconsciously glanced at Deputy Commander Xiao Hongyan's hand.

Then he saw it.

A dark red soul gem was embedded on the back of her right hand, flickering at a very slow, breathing-like frequency.

A Rank 9 Magic Card Master who had become a soul gem—the very concept made his back instantly soaked with cold sweat.

President Long Zaiyuan stood up from his chair, looking down at Deputy Commander Xiao Hongyan, who was more than a head shorter than him.

He released his Rank 9 magic pressure with full force, and ghost-green light flames condensed into the phantom of a giant skeleton behind him.

The walls of the entire meeting room creaked under this pressure.

His expression was very calm.

"Rank 9, that's all. You are Rank 9, am I not also Rank 9?"

He tilted his head, the arc at the corner of his mouth still not retracted.

"Deputy Commander Xiao Hongyan, even if you pretentiously turned into a little girl, do you think I fear you! We are both Rank 9, why should I avoid your edge?"