A man opened his eyes, which were pitch-black. Like the darkest night, there was not a single glimmer of light whatsoever in them. A hint of faint displeasure was seen on the calm face of the man.

The figure kneeling down beside the man"s feet straightened his upper body and then nervously prostrated himself, his brow against the ground, his voice trembling. "Master."

The man languidly raised his hand. "That fathead of He family took the liberty of making his move without my consent and got caught."

He quietly fixed his eyes on the figure on his kneels beside his feet and instructed him in a soft voice, "I want you to handle this properly before he says anything I don"t want to hear."

"Yes. Of course."

"By the way, have you found out about the whereabouts of the Demonic Seed?"

The figure shuddered even more violently.

"Among all the matters, the Demonic Seed is the highest priority." By the faint light coming into the room, it could be dimly seen that the man raised his hand and softly rested his chin on it. "Your strength is far from enough to handle this..."

"Master, ple-please don"t forsake me!" implored the shadow-demon in a tearful voice, shivering violently.

"Don"t worry. The time to sacrifice you hasn"t arrived yet." There was a tinge of thoughtfulness in the man"s voice. "All this time, those guys of SMB have been holding back from taking action for fear of involving innocent people. They are going to find me sooner or later anyway, even if I keep hiding."

"Master, are you saying that you are going to..." The intensity of the figure"s trembling decreased somewhat.

"Waiting for this opportunity to present itself was the very reason why I deliberately let them seal me in an enchantment back then... Emergence of the Demonic Seed is forthcoming. What we should do now is keep those guys occupied so that they won"t be able to lay hands on the Demonic Seed."

The man gave a snap of his fingers. "After the matter of He Jin is handled, you are to fulfill another task for me."

"Yes, Master." The shadow-demon didn"t dare to raise his head but couldn"t help but ask, "Master, I could sense that your energy is damaged. I brought some humans here. Would you like to consume them?"

The man in a black robe was very pleased to hear this. "Bring them in and take your leave."

The figure, like water, flowed away from the man"s feet and soon disappeared.

Before long, a man in suit and leather shoes, who looked like a member of the intellectual elite, appeared outside the room. He adjusted his clothes and slightly raised his fingers. Following in his wake, a couple of teenagers seemed somewhat scared, panic on their faces. "Sir, you promised that every one of us would be offered a chance to audition if we come here."

The intellectual-like man gave his gla.s.ses a gentle upward push and smiled mildly, "Push this door open and you"ll get what you want."

"Get...what we want?"

The three teenagers couldn"t help but rest their eyes on the handle. After a few moments, one of the teenagers fell prey to the urge inside him. He swallowed hard, held the handle, turned it and opened the door...

*

In the meeting room of the first action group of SMB.

Zhen Daoyuan flicked a glance at Li Zong who had just returned. Before the commencement of the meeting, he made an irrelevant remark.

"The optimum judgement is based on objective circ.u.mstances. Everybody should learn to make the best choice."

All people present kept silent, their eyes looking down, as if their souls had been disembodied.

Li Zong pushed the door shut without even an instant"s pause while hearing this remark. "Sure."

Zhen Daoyuan fixed Li Zong with a gaze. Suddenly, he heaved a sigh. Li Zong was widely considered the heir apparent of the director general of SMB. As a result, Zhen Daoyuan and a couple of other high-ranking officials had been concerned about his marriage. They had made a grudging peace with Li Zong"s s.e.xual orientation, but it had never crossed their minds that Li Zong would choose the son of He family.

In their eyes, this marriage was not bad but far from good. Li Zong shouldn"t have chosen a spouse who couldn"t even cultivate.

"The procedures of family visitor registration have been handled. I"ll deliver the form to your office later."

"Okay." Zhen Daoyuan made no further remarks concerning Li Zong"s private life in the knowledge that Li Zong was not as affable as he seemed.

Han Zhuo was the first one to speak after the meeting commenced. " He Jin has already been escorted to the Ministry of Supervision. We have also informed the patriarch of He family. He"ll come here and give us an explanation."

"Good." Zhen Daoyuan tapped his fingers on the table as his eyes swept across the faces of members of the first action group, who were few in number. “There haven"t been any signs of demon activities ever since Director General Zong Xian and some others sealed the Demon King in enchantment with their concerted efforts twenty years ago. But lately, somebody has been making trouble by using demonic Qi, which is why I believe the magic seal has loosened."

Li Zong inclined his head. "Old Master Zhu has started decrypting the fortune-telling result left by Zhu Ning."

Zhang Jingqiu, leader of the second action group, observed, "I keep having this feeling that the oracle given by the G.o.d of Divination is about something bad."

Zhen Ni was thrown into panic. "That magic seal was forged by Director General Zong and several top exorcists at the cost of considerable attenuation in their strength, yet it loosened after less than twenty years?"

Zhen Daoyuan kneaded his forehead, looking somewhat tired. "A few days ago, Director Lu paid a visit to the Kunlun Mountains, where the Zu Dragon Vein (In Chinese geomancy, a dragon vein is a mountain range or similar terrain that is extremely auspicious and brings people living nearby good fortune) starts. Director Lu said that she and members of the Kunlun Mountains Special Operation Team did some scouting and found that some grave robbers accidentally fell into the magic seal and died. Their blood nurtured the demonic Qi, which took a heavy toll on the magic seal. Though they restored the seal in time, a puff of demonic Qi still managed to escape from it."

"No wonder. I believe this puff of demonic Qi was responsible for the incidents of both the Chinese scholar tree Yōkai and the Dream Eaters."

"Um. I"m sure that puff of demonic Qi is extremely weak. Though it can manage to maintain human form, I don"t think it can walk on the street like a normal human being. It must have made contact with some Demon"s Attendants, which is why there have been so many homicide cases. If things keep going this way..." Zhen Daoyuan didn"t finish his sentence. There were a lot of secrets in SMB that were not suitable to be shared with many.

Zhen Daoyuan tapped at the table again. "I now give Li Zong a free hand with the matter of He Changchun."

After a brief pause, he added, "Go and start making preparations. In a couple of days, leaders of the first and the second action groups are to take you to the northwest and the Hang City respectively."

Currently, the first priority of the second action group was to deal with the disputes between Yōkai in human form living outside Shanhaiguan Pa.s.s and Yōkai living inside Shanhaiguan Pa.s.s, which was also a task of great importance. Given the circ.u.mstances, Zhen Daoyuan would never have instructed Zhang Jingqiu to put aside the work on hand and went to SMB of the Hang City if this matter was not of extreme urgency.

Something must have happened.

But Zhen Daoyuan kept his lips b.u.t.toned.

"All right. The meeting is over."

At the same time.

A pitch-black shadow stealthily slid up the wall of the Rosefinch Lane, but it had not moved far when a faint white light was seen on the wall and forced it a couple of paces backwards.

The shadow fell and landed onto the ground, shifting constantly. A figure in human shape gradually emerged from the shadow. After a while, the shadow had turned into a man in neat suit and shiny leather shoes. He looked handsome and charming, but there was no shadow beside his feet.

The man stretched his fingers. The headquarter of SMB was heavily guarded. The whole place was shrouded in a gigantic invisible magic barrier. It was almost impossible for a demon to get inside.

The man walked to a hidden corner and sat down on the ground cross-legged.

"It seems that I have to figure out another way," he thought.

He Jin abruptly came around from coma and opened his eyes. A groan escaped his lips due to the pains all over him, and with that it instantly struck him where he was. Memories came flooding back into his mind. He felt fear, in a distinct way, and he could also foresee what kind of miserable end he was going to come to after being disgraced.

Suddenly, a faint inner voice was heard. He Jin, who failed notice that the voice was not coming from outside, abruptly twisted his head around in panic. "Who is it?!"

The one staking out the cell of He Jin was instantly on the alert.

"This guy woke up. Everybody stay sharp."

It was not until this moment that He Jin came to realize that the voice was emanating from his mind. "Wh--Who are you?!"

His voice was trembling.

In an apathetic tone of voice tinged with sinisterness, the man answered him with but a sneer.

He Jin"s eyes widened with horror, but the next second, he suddenly fell to the ground and pa.s.sed out.

Outside the Rosefinch Lane, the man sitting cross-legged opened his eyes and a weird smile appeared on his pale face.

"These people shall pay their price for getting Master"s way."