Meanwhile, just as the deadly and terrifying Fivefold Serpent Trap was completely broken, in another luxurious villa several kilometers away, a gaunt Taoist priest with drooping brows, triangular eyes, sallow skin, and an aura of malevolence sat in meditation. Suddenly, a surge of intense baleful energy rose from his dantian to his throat, and he couldn't help but open his mouth and spit out a mouthful of blood with a loud "Wah!"
He immediately opened his eyes, his hands moving quickly as he calculated with his fingers, then muttered, "Damn it! The Fivefold Serpent Trap has actually been destroyed! Who dares to ruin my plans?"
After thinking for a moment, he pulled out a cellphone and quickly dialed a number. "Hello—Mr. Hu, where are you? Come over to my place right away!"
Unexpectedly, a fit of violent coughing came from the other end of the line, followed by a hoarse voice gasping, "Grandmaster Sage, you called me? I—I just got off the plane. I don’t know why, but a surge of intense baleful energy hit my forehead and—I coughed up blood! I’ve always been healthy, so what’s going on?"
The Taoist priest known as Grandmaster Sage replied coldly, "Just now, the Fivefold Serpent Trap I set at your sister-in-law’s place was broken, and I can no longer sense the main body of the Soul-Stealing Mother-Daughter Curse. It must have been destroyed by an expert! Our birthdates and spirit essence are tied to the trap and the curse. When they’re broken, the backlash of baleful energy makes both of us spit blood!"
"What?! How could this happen?! We’ve been planning this for so long, and just when the mother and daughter were about to collapse, something goes wrong!" The man on the other end panicked. He was a middle-aged man with a shadowy face—none other than Warren Hu, the mastermind behind the whole scheme.
"I don’t know who’s interfering at the moment," Grandmaster Sage said, furrowing his drooping brows.
"Grandmaster—will my sister-in-law suspect me? Will she call the police?" Warren Hu broke out in a cold sweat.
"Mr. Hu, stay calm—" Grandmaster Sage said coldly.
"But—but now that something’s gone wrong, I—I just can’t calm down. If my sister-in-law calls the police, I’m finished!" Warren Hu grew more and more afraid.
"Hmph, Mr. Hu, even if your sister-in-law suspects you, she doesn’t have any solid evidence. Even if she calls the police, they can’t do anything to you!" Grandmaster Sage reminded him coldly.
"True enough—but if my sister-in-law doesn’t die, I’ll never get my hands on Harmony Realty Group!" Warren Hu’s greed remained undiminished.
"Heh heh—don’t worry! You’ve given me plenty of offerings for my cultivation, so I won’t let you suffer. Setting up the Fivefold Serpent Trap and the Soul-Stealing Mother-Daughter Curse was supposed to make them die without leaving a trace. But now, it looks like I’ll have to take care of it myself!" Grandmaster Sage’s triangular eyes gleamed with cruelty.
"Good! Good! Good! With you taking action, my sister-in-law is as good as dead. That little brat Yvonne Hu is no match for me. Once I deal with the mother and daughter, the board will be easy to handle! Harmony Realty Group will be mine for the taking!" Warren Hu shouted with excitement.
"Hmph—your sister-in-law and her daughter are easy to deal with. The real problem is the expert protecting them!" Grandmaster Sage said.
"Uh—there’s an expert with them? Can you—take care of him? Will it alert the police?" Warren Hu asked cautiously.
"Relax! I’m from the Heavenly Master Order—I didn’t get my reputation for nothing. That expert may be skilled, but I have my own secret techniques and magical artifacts. When the time comes, I’ll make sure he’s wiped out without a trace. The police are just ordinary mortals—they won’t find out a thing! Just wait for my good news—" Grandmaster Sage said.
Note: The Heavenly Master Order was founded during the Eastern Han Dynasty by Zhang Xiu as the "Five Bushels of Rice Sect." It was passed down through Zhang Lu and others, and after the Three Kingdoms period, it gradually spread throughout central China, evolving into the Heavenly Master Order. Each generation's leader was known as Zhang Tianshi, and after the legendary Grandmaster Zhang Daoling practiced Daoism and alchemy at Dragon-Tiger Mountain in Jiangxi, the sect became famous across the land. It reached its peak during the Yuan Dynasty, when the 38th Grandmaster Zhang Yucai was appointed by the imperial court as the Unity Order leader, overseeing the Three Mountains and Talismans. It was renamed the Unity Order and, along with the Quanzhen Order and the mysterious Maoshan Order, formed the three great Taoist sects of central China. The Heavenly Master Order was regarded as the national religion by successive Han dynasties and remains the nominal leader of Taoism to this day. During periods of foreign rule, such as the Yuan and Qing dynasties, the Order suffered oppression and declined, but after the founding of the modern nation, it gradually revived.
"That’s great, I’ll leave it to you then. If you help me acquire Harmony Realty Group, I’m willing to give you forty percent of the shares as an offering! It’ll help you cultivate, restore your glory, and return to Dragon-Tiger Mountain to unify the Heavenly Master Order!" Warren Hu said eagerly.
"Good! It’s a deal then! If I succeed in my cultivation, I’ll make sure those idiots in the Heavenly Master Order know just how powerful I am!" Grandmaster Sage was overjoyed.
"I’d never go back on my word—and besides, with your skills, I wouldn’t dare, right?" Warren Hu said.
"Heh heh—you know what’s good for you—" Grandmaster Sage laughed wickedly.
Meanwhile, Shawn Young knew that Warren Hu and his sinister collaborator would definitely come back for more, so he made preparations. After secretly setting up a defensive barrier around the villa, he left Vivian Fang alone inside.
Vivian Fang had already called back the other staff to the villa and strengthened security. Since Shawn Young, Yvonne Hu, and Lilian Grace still had classes, Vivian asked the driver, Martin Zhang, to take them back to Southern University.
Because the Soul-Leech parasites inside Vivian Fang and Yvonne Hu hadn’t been fully eliminated, Shawn Young planned to spend about ten days treating each of them with daily energy massages to drive out the curse. The time and place would be up to the mother and daughter, since Vivian was busy running Harmony Realty Group and Yvonne had her own classes.
But the real reason was that Shawn Young had some secret, naughty thoughts—just imagining giving full-body massages to this perfect mother-daughter pair made every cell in his body howl with excitement!
After all, if he didn’t take advantage of this golden opportunity to do what he’d always wanted, he’d be letting down his poor, pent-up little Shawn Young!