Wild laughter erupted inside the great hall. Judge Bane, his face alight with joy, strode up to Redmond and glared viciously at him.
"Send my orders at once—seal off everything around the Great Wailing Hell."
A rush of wind sounded as tokens flew past Ray Lin and me. Flashes of red light streaked by. I swallowed hard; at some point, the great hall had filled with ghosts. They knelt on one knee, catching the tokens and quickly dispersing. Each one radiated a powerful ghostly aura.
"Looks like things are spiraling out of control."
Ray Lin muttered. Among Redmond’s Blue Wraiths, aside from Noah Grimm and Vivian Maple, the rest weren’t even at Ray Lin’s level—maybe comparable to Lord Wraith’s subordinates, but still counted as weak among the seven Ghost Sovereigns. Even those at Lady Yvonne May’s Soulbound Inn were stronger.
The newly arrived subordinates of Judge Bane were all stronger than Redmond’s Blue Wraiths. That’s why so many Blue Wraiths were wounded during the chaos at the Hall of Malice.
Back in Jialan City, when facing Life and Death, Ethan Zhang single-handedly held off Life, while the fat Dragonhead was no match for Death. Even now, Dragonhead’s wounds hadn’t healed.
But Judge Bane’s eyes weren’t relaxed now—he was deep in thought, looking completely serious.
"Looks like there’s no avoiding a fight, especially since he brought his top lieutenants."
Ray Lin nodded with a broad smile.
"If any one of those three shows up, even the Four Great Judges wouldn’t be able to handle them. But if all three are together, it’ll be real trouble—especially with Vivian Maple and Noah Grimm at Redmond’s side. Lord Yan, you’d better think this through. If a fight breaks out, your Great Wailing Hell might not survive unscathed."
I let out a sound and looked at Judge Bane, who burst out laughing.
"Once things start, there’s no stopping."
"Hey, fatso, you’ve been lying around long enough. Get up and hand over Ethan Zhang."
King Hollowbelly immediately climbed down from his mountain of cash, chuckling.
"Got it. Isn’t Ethan Zhang and Ray Lin inside?"
I noticed the fake Ethan Zhang and Ray Lin hadn’t left—they seemed unwilling to go near Redmond.
"What’s wrong, Ethan Zhang? Come here."
Redmond grinned and called out. My shadow, looking awkward, walked up to Redmond.
"You owe me a lot of money, Ethan Zhang. Looks like you’ll be working for me forever now."
I watched Redmond in silence. The passage behind me hadn’t closed yet, but he seemed oblivious to any anomaly. Anxiety crept in—Judge Bane was right beside me. Even if I wanted to act, it was impossible.
My shadow didn’t say a word, only offered an awkward smile.
"Enough, Ethan Zhang. We’ll settle this debt when we get back. For now, let’s talk business, King Hollowbelly."
King Hollowbelly sat atop a pile of money, refusing to come down. He nodded from his perch as Redmond turned to look at him.
"You’re still as disgusting as ever, King Hollowbelly."
King Hollowbelly burst into laughter, transforming in a flash of red light to stand before Redmond and extending a hand.
"Let’s discuss this inside."
His gaze never left the pile of money as he spoke.
Judge Bane’s eyes burned with anger as he paced back and forth, waiting for the Great Hell to seal before making his move.
"Lord Yan, are you sure you won’t reconsider?"
Ray Lin asked again, but King Hollowbelly had already made up his mind and said nothing more.
"Earlier, I discussed a lot with Miss Maple. I’m still not satisfied with the profit margin. One percent isn’t unreasonable, Malice Wraith."
As soon as he sat down, King Hollowbelly spoke up. Redmond chuckled, while Noah Grimm produced a folder, glanced through it, then said:
"The highest profit share our company can offer is 0.5%. We can’t go any higher."
King Hollowbelly’s face fell, twisted with indecision. As he pondered, Redmond propped his legs up on the table and laughed loudly.
"King Hollowbelly, we’re all businessmen here. We’ll be working together for decades, maybe centuries. We’ve already made the biggest concession just to cooperate with you. If you keep refusing, I won’t be so polite. My patience is not my strong suit."
As soon as Redmond finished, King Hollowbelly nodded with a forced smile.
"Understood, Malice Wraith. We'll go with your 0.5%. I’ll take the loss."
No sooner had King Hollowbelly spoken than Redmond glared at him, black Malice Wraith Fire igniting around him. Vivian Maple quickly grabbed Redmond and shook her head.
"Malice Wraith, let’s hope for a fruitful partnership."