"Master, w-what do we do now?" The butler stared at the scene, clearly scared out of his wits—he'd literally pissed himself.
"How should I know!" Leonard Zhang was just as lost, his whole body shaking. The two Japanese guys beside him looked even more hopeless—they wanted to run, but with all four limbs broken, there was nowhere to go.
Right then, Ryan Ling strode out, leaving bloody footprints behind as he appeared before everyone. He gave the group a cold, deadpan look—his hands were full of severed heads.
"Spare me, sir! Spare me!" Leonard Zhang didn’t hesitate for a second—when Ryan Ling showed up, he dropped to his knees, banging his head against the floor over and over. The other servants all hit the deck, groveling.
"So you’re Leonard Zhang, the head of the Zhang Family of Yue City?" Ryan Ling’s eyes swept over, locking onto the patriarch.
"Yes, yes, that’s me!" Leonard Zhang stammered, shaking like a leaf.
"Good. Did you have Kelly Xu from North Horse Lane kidnapped? Where is she?" Ryan Ling stepped forward, voice icy.
"W-what? Where is she? Hurry up and let her go!" Leonard Zhang was sweating buckets, totally panicked.
"Master, Miss Mandy told us to snatch Kelly Xu. We don’t know the details—she said it was for... for..." The butler gulped hard, too scared to go on.
"Speak!" Ryan Ling shot him a glare—instantly, the butler’s scalp split open, blood pouring down his face as he howled in pain.
"She was sent straight to Naikawa, the onmyōji in Qianzhou City, to be used as a yin maiden. They've already delivered over twenty girls, but it wasn’t enough, so this morning they sent another ten—including Kelly Xu!" The butler, terrified, blurted out everything at once.
"Giving girls to Japanese sorcerers for yin rituals? Why doesn’t she offer herself instead?" Ryan Ling snorted. Instantly, Mandy Zhang crashed through the window, sucked up into the air by his true qi.
Mandy Zhang had been busy enjoying herself with a bunch of pretty-boy gigolos, totally naked and loving it—until Ryan yanked her out of the party and hauled her up for all to see.
"Ahhh!" Mandy Zhang shrieked as her bare body slammed onto the floor, delicate and pampered but totally exposed.
Nobody dared look. Nobody dared move.
But Mandy Zhang was a pro at being a brat—even now, with everything falling apart, she started screaming her head off.
"Who? Who the hell ruined my fun? I swear I’ll kill you—"
"Whore!" Ryan Ling didn’t hold back. He grabbed Mandy’s chest and squeezed—hard. Her prized assets exploded in a bloody mess. Then he snatched up a long pole and rammed it up through her, the bloody tip bursting out the top of her skull like skewering a frog.
Leonard Zhang fainted on the spot. The Zhang retainers just kept kowtowing, totally stunned by Ryan’s brutal, frog-skewering handiwork.
"Surround the building—don’t let a single fly escape!" Just then, Jason Lin’s voice thundered from below. Gabriel Xue had clearly sent Jason to back up Ryan, though honestly, he was just here to clean up the mess.
"Boss!" Jason Lin’s voice boomed, and he was instantly at Ryan’s side, Heaven-Tier Void Realm aura blasting out and making everyone—including the two Japanese onmyōji—crumble.
"Jason, dig up everything about the Zhangs colluding with Japan. This is proof of Japanese crimes in Su Province. Keep only the witnesses we need—kill everyone else involved!" Ryan Ling ordered. Jason sprang into action, bringing a thousand troops to sweep the Zhang clubhouse, slaughtering everyone tied to the plot except Leonard Zhang and the two Japanese sorcerers.
What they uncovered was jaw-dropping.
Turns out, from top provincial officials down to several old-money clans, the whole Su Province was working with the Tokugawa Clan—smuggling massive amounts of Huaxia resources. The Zhangs of Yue City were just pawns; the real masterminds were way above their pay grade.
"Looks like this is way bigger than we thought. The whole province is in on it, and I bet there’s someone even higher up pulling strings. I’ve heard Su Province’s top dog is part of the World Dominion Society!" Jason Lin had done his homework; hearing this, Ryan Ling realized things were even messier than he’d guessed.
"Don’t be scared. Traitors get no mercy—if they need killing, kill them; if they need flaying, flay them!" Ryan Ling steadied himself. As Jiangnan’s First Saint, if he couldn’t handle this first big test, the whole country would laugh at him.
"But this is a whole province?" Jason sounded worried; word was, Gabriel Xue might already be getting crushed in Qianzhou City.
"If the whole province’s gone traitor, then so what if I wipe out a whole province?" Ryan Ling gritted his teeth.
"Got it!" Jason Lin nodded, all hesitation gone from his eyes.
"Leave some men behind to quietly escort my parents and the elders to a safe spot—make sure nobody finds them. Then you come with me straight to Qianzhou City. I want to see just how rotten Su Province really is!" With that, Ryan and Jason hopped into a military vehicle and sped off.
They sped off toward the provincial capital of Su Province.
...
Right now, a storm was brewing in Qianzhou City—the air was thick with killing intent.
Inside the Su Province governor’s mansion, top officials, old-money clan reps, and even strategists from Yan Capital were meeting. Deep inside, several members of the Tokugawa Clan were gathered too.
"Who the hell is Gabriel Xue? He’s suddenly deputy commander of the Jinling Military Region, and now he wants a deathmatch with all of Su Province? I heard he even moved warships into Wusong Harbor!"
"He’s asking for it. Su Province borders Jiangnorth—lots of people here never cared about Jiangnan’s rules. And our top dog is Adrian Liu, one of the World Dominion Society’s Five Element Flags. His rank’s higher than most elders. What can they do to us?"
"The real issue is our secret dealings with those guys. If word gets out, we’re screwed. We can’t let them find out!"
(Chapter not finished—click next page for more!)
"What do you mean, screwed? If Gabriel Xue had real proof, he’d have attacked already—not just surrounded us. The guy’s a legendary anti-Japan war hero in Jiangdong! The one we really need to worry about is Ryan Ling, the new Saint. He’s not someone you want to mess with!"
"Relax. Adrian Liu, our top dog, already sent for the Saint Banner. So what if Ryan Ling’s a new Saint? With the Saint Banner, even he’ll have to kneel!"
"As long as we’ve got the Saint Banner, we’re good. With the World Dominion Society’s Saint Banner, even if Ryan Ling knows something, he won’t dare make a move. Su Province may be part of Jiangnan on paper, but in reality, we answer directly to the Society. Even the Qin Family of Jinling had to give us face back in the day. No way some rookie like Ryan Ling would dare mess with us—I’d like to see him try!"
...
While the big shots inside were scheming, suddenly someone outside started shouting.
"The Saint Banner is here! The Saint Banner is here!"
Everyone inside burst into cheers.
"The Saint Banner’s arrived—let’s go kneel and welcome it!"
"Yeah, let’s go!"
A middle-aged man with the face of a career official hurried out. It was none other than Adrian Liu, governor and top dog of Su Province. He straightened his suit and rushed outside.
Adrian Liu grabbed the Saint Banner, grinning from ear to ear, totally pumped.
"This is perfect. Gabriel Xue barged in out of nowhere and we couldn’t do a thing. Now that we’ve got the Saint Banner, we can go on the offensive—drive him out!" one of the strategists piped up.
"Exactly! We’ve been holding back for days—it’s our turn now. With the Saint Banner, we don’t have to fear Gabriel Xue, or even Ryan Ling if he shows up himself!" another clan leader shouted.
"Alright, let’s get organized. I’ll go confront Gabriel Xue myself, as governor of Su Province! How dare he bring in heavy troops—does he want open rebellion?" Adrian Liu sneered, the Saint Banner gleaming in his hand.
As they spoke, a long convoy rolled out of the governor’s mansion...