At Ian Song's command, Second Elder Edward Nangong and Third Elder Victor Nangong rushed to the council hall.
"Greetings, Master."
Both men bowed deeply in salute.
"No need to stand on ceremony!" Ian Song waved his hand, then began giving them instructions.
Grand Elder Evelyn Nangong, having received word from Nathan Nangong’s trusted aide, set out for the council hall, though she was puzzled—what could Nathan want to discuss with her?
Unlike Edward Nangong and Victor Nangong, she was direct-line Nangong blood, and the biological aunt of Nathan Nangong and his two brothers.
Because of this, she cultivated the Nangong Family’s most powerful secret art, and her strength far surpassed that of the Second and Third Elders.
As soon as she stepped into the council hall, Evelyn Nangong noticed Edward and Victor were present as well. Nathan Nangong sat in the main seat, looking unusually serious, but what truly caught her attention was a young man standing below Nathan.
"Nathan, you called me here so urgently—has something happened?"
Boom!
Just then, the doors to the council hall slammed shut.
"Grand Elder, I do have something important to discuss with you. It's a matter of life and death for the entire Nangong Family!" Nathan Nangong said, his voice cold and sinister.
Evelyn Nangong sensed something was off. Instinctively, she stared at Ian Song and asked, "Who is he?"
"Grand Elder, let me tell you!" Edward Nangong smiled as he walked up beside Evelyn. "His name is Ian Song. He is the master of myself, Victor Nangong, and Nathan Nangong!"
"What?!"
Hearing Edward's words, Evelyn's expression changed dramatically.
Bang!
While she was still stunned, Edward Nangong suddenly struck out with his palm.
Evelyn Nangong was truly a formidable Innate Fourth-Layer master. Even caught off guard, she managed to counter with a palm, clashing with Edward's true energy-filled strike. With a muffled grunt, she was sent flying, a trace of blood appearing at the corner of her mouth.
One was a meticulously planned full-force ambush; the other, a hasty, unprepared counter.
So, with just one blow, Evelyn Nangong’s internal organs were shaken and injured.
"Forgive me, Grand Elder!"
Edward Nangong grinned fiercely and chased after her, his palms striking out in rapid succession, creating layers of palm shadows. Victor Nangong joined in, attacking Evelyn with all his strength alongside Edward.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
All three were Innate-level masters. As soon as they clashed, waves of energy surged and filled the air, shaking the entire council hall.
Ian Song watched with a smile. Even while injured, Evelyn Nangong managed to fight Edward and Victor Nangong to a standstill.
Innate Fourth-Layer really was no joke.
In the blink of an eye, dozens of moves passed. Evelyn Nangong had stabilized her injuries and launched a counterattack. If things kept going like this, Edward and Victor would definitely lose.
Seeing this, Ian Song wasn’t the least bit displeased. In fact, he was quite pleased—once Evelyn became his puppet, his strength would increase dramatically.
"You two, stand down!"
Ian Song gave a sharp shout, and with a flick of his hands, dozens of silver flashes shot out.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
Dozens of streaks of silver light filled the air, covering all of Evelyn Nangong’s acupoints.
Following Ian Song’s command, Edward and Victor Nangong withdrew, while Evelyn unleashed a set of palm techniques to shield her entire body.
But top-tier Innate martial arts hidden weapons weren’t so easy to block. Even though her palm technique formed a tight defense, a coin still struck her lower leg.
Instantly, Evelyn’s movements faltered, and her technique became slightly disordered.
At that moment, Ian Song’s figure flashed forward like a white streak.
Boom!
He unleashed the first three moves of his Raging Tidal Surge palm art in rapid succession, overwhelming Evelyn Nangong in a torrent of palm force.
Bang!
With a miserable scream, Evelyn Nangong’s body flew backward like a severed kite, crashing heavily to the floor.
"Ugh!"
A mouthful of fresh blood spurted out. She stared at Ian Song with a devastated expression. "Why… why is this happening?"
"You'll understand soon enough."
Ian Song stepped forward and tapped Evelyn's forehead with a finger, activating his Puppet Mastery Divine Art.
Unlike when he enslaved Edward and Victor Nangong, Evelyn's eyes showed a trace of resistance after being struck by Puppet Mastery.
Seeing this, Ian felt a bit worried.
If Puppet Mastery failed, he would have no choice but to kill Evelyn Nangong—and lose a powerful subordinate.
Fortunately, after about five seconds, the struggle in Evelyn's eyes faded, replaced by confusion.
Seeing this, Ian secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
At last, clarity returned to Evelyn Nangong’s eyes. Struggling to her feet, she tried to bow to Ian Song.
Through telepathic connection, Ian Song knew he had successfully enslaved Evelyn. He ordered her not to move, then sent a beam of Life Divine Light into her body.
Life Divine Light possessed immense healing power. In less than three seconds, the gravely injured Evelyn Nangong was completely healed.
Then, Evelyn stood up, bowed deeply to Ian Song, and said, "Evelyn Nangong greets her master!"
Having gained another Innate master—one at the Fourth Layer, no less—Ian Song was very pleased. He said to Nathan Nangong, "Find an excuse and summon your two brothers back to the Nangong Family!"
"Yes, Master!"
As the saying goes, if you’re going to do something, do it thoroughly. Only by enslaving Nathan’s other two brothers would Ian Song truly be able to sleep soundly and eat well.
He declined Nathan Nangong’s offer to drive him, and walked out of the Nangong estate.
There was less than half an hour until Li Mengni got off work, so he took a taxi straight to the sales office at Central City International.
Although Ian Song was dressed plainly as usual, every sales agent was exceptionally enthusiastic.
However, when the sales agents learned he was waiting for Li Mengni to get off work, they all looked at him with envy and jealousy.
Li Mengni wasn’t in the sales office; according to another agent, she was showing a property to a client.
After about ten minutes, Li Mengni appeared in the sales office with a middle-aged man in his forties.
The moment she saw Ian Song, Li Mengni’s eyes lit up. She apologized to the client and hurried over. "Mr. Song, what brings you here?" In her heart, Ian Song was her great benefactor—without his help, she could never have earned a 400,000 commission or gotten her promotion ahead of schedule.
"Weren’t you going to treat me to dinner? I was afraid you’d try to skip out, so I came to wait for you," Ian Song teased.
Hearing Ian’s joke, Li Mengni didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She thought, You’re someone who could buy a mansion worth tens of millions—would you really care about a meal from me?
"Mr. Song, please wait a moment. I still have one client to take care of—once I’m done, I can get off work!"
"No problem, go ahead," Ian Song waved her off.
The client Li Mengni was helping was named Zheng Jun, a township business owner. He’d had a good year, earning fifty or sixty million, so he planned to buy a villa in the city.
Central City International was the best property development in Xiang City. Though its prices were higher than other developments, after viewing the villa, Zheng Jun had already decided to buy. But looking at the slim, pretty Li Mengni, he started having other thoughts.
When meeting with other company bosses, they always brought along pretty secretaries or mistresses.
After being teased about it several times, Zheng Jun started thinking about finding a mistress himself—so he wouldn’t lose face at future gatherings. Seeing Li Mengni, who was attractive in every way, only strengthened that desire.
So, even though he intended to buy the villa, he didn’t give Li Mengni a definite answer.
He planned to string her along, use it as an excuse to invite her to dinner, and then shower her with expensive gifts—hoping he might win her over.
He hadn’t expected that, as soon as they returned to the sales office, Li Mengni would leave him behind to talk to some pretty boy. That made him quite unhappy.