"That's right, we were sent by Uncle-Master Yuan. We've been waiting here all day for you—finally, you're here! Please, take our car!" One of the Orthodox Unity disciples said very politely.
Sophie Su and Lily Liu were already getting ready to move, but Ryan Ling quickly stopped them: "No need, we'll drive ourselves. You guys just lead the way up front!"
"Uh, that's probably not okay. Uncle-Master Yuan specifically instructed us to escort you the whole way. Besides, now that you're in Dragonridge, it's our duty to show hospitality. Otherwise, we'll have trouble explaining when we get back!" The guy said, hurrying forward.
"I said no. Didn't you hear me?" Ryan's face darkened, voice rising for emphasis.
"Mr. Ling, you're really making things difficult for us!" The man forced a smile, looking awkward.
Ryan, what's the point? No need to make things hard for these juniors. Let's just take their car!" Lily Liu quickly chimed in.
"Sis, don't say anything. If Old Yuan really cared, he should've come himself. Who am I to him? I'm his master, and he just sends a few junior disciples to pick us up? What does that mean? If he pisses me off, I'll leave right now!" Ryan deliberately raised his voice.
Lily Liu's face fell, and Angie Chen seemed to sense something was off—she quickly pulled Lily back.
The Orthodox Unity disciples looked like they wanted to say more, but Ryan cut them off: "Tell Yuan Zhengang to come pick me up himself, or I'm not entering the city!"
Hearing this, everyone's expression changed—they had no idea what to do!
At that moment, a dark-skinned figure in the corner suddenly laughed and said, "You guys—how do you do things? Do you not know how important Master Ling is?"
"Mr. Ling, please don't be upset. If you want to drive yourself, go ahead—we won't stop you. You guys, lead the way up front!" The dark-skinned guy barked at the other Orthodox Unity disciples, who all got into their cars with gloomy faces. Ryan started his own car too.
Inside the car.
Lily Liu asked with some confusion, "Ryan, why are you making things hard for the Orthodox Unity people? They were sent by Old Yuan, after all!"
"Not necessarily. Didn't any of you notice something off?" Ryan stared at the cars ahead, his suspicions deepening.
"I think they have a weird smell, kind of repulsive. Old Yuan's nothing like them!" Angie Chen, raised in a big family, clearly had more experience with this kind of thing.
"It's not just the weird smell—they've got killing intent, too. But that's not the main thing. Did you all notice their faces when I said Yuan Zhengang should come pick us up?" Ryan pressed.
The three women paused. Sophie Su blurted out, "Nervous—really nervous! Like Old Yuan couldn't possibly show up!"
"Did something happen to Old Yuan and the others?" Lily Liu asked in surprise.
"I doubt it. Orthodox Unity is one of the three big Daoist sects in Dragonridge—they're supposed to be righteous, not shady like this. Plus, Old Yuan's just returning to his sect, there's no real conflict of interest!" Angie said, looking at Ryan.
"I hope I'm just overthinking it, but you can never be too careful." Ryan glanced over at Angie Chen and continued, "Angie, this is a major city in Jiangnorth—your Chen family must have businesses here, right? If you do, take Sophie and my sister and leave halfway. I'll go in alone!"
"We do, but if you go alone, I'm worried..." Angie started to say, but Ryan cut her off.
"Relax—a little Orthodox Unity sect isn't enough to stop me!"
"Alright, I'll stop at the corner of Lucky Street up ahead and take Sis and Sophie with me!" Angie nodded quickly. She knew that even though Lily and Sophie had taken Grandmaster Pills and all three were now grandmasters, at best that just meant they'd survive—if anything went wrong at Orthodox Unity, they'd probably become liabilities. Getting into Chen family territory was actually safer.
Ryan!
Ryan, be careful if you're going alone!
Sophie and Lily, though reluctant, obediently got out of the car.
Seeing the three leave safely, Ryan finally relaxed a little. But what really worried him was Yuan Zhengang and the others. Honestly, these surface details weren't enough to make him totally suspicious—the real issue was that after the huge mess in Harbor City, Yuan Zhengang, Jason Lin, Harvey Jin and the rest hadn't reacted at all. That had already struck him as really weird.
In fact, his rush to leave Harbor City was partly because of this. Now, he felt things might be even worse than he imagined.
......
Up ahead, the black cars leading the way clearly hadn't noticed Angie Chen and the others getting out. The dark-skinned guy was on the phone, sounding pretty smug.
"Senior Brother Ma, it's handled—the target's here. That Ling guy's pretty arrogant, though, refused to take our car. But don't worry, now that they're in Dragonridge, there's no escaping. Everything's under our control!"
"Heh, arrogant? Let him act tough for a bit. Once he steps into Orthodox Unity's formation range, no matter how capable he is, he's dead meat this time. Just make sure none of you let him slip away, got it?"
"Relax, there's no way he'll get away. He might have some skills, but he's clueless about real jianghu business—can't spot any traps at all. He's probably still thinking about his disciple's reinstatement ceremony!"
"Alright, remember what Master and Uncle-Master said—this guy's worth a ton. No matter what, we have to keep him here. If we capture him, Orthodox Unity could become the top sect in Jiangnorth, maybe even rival the Azure Dragon Society!"
"Got it. We'll be entering sect territory in about fifteen minutes!"
"Don't take your eyes off him for a second!"
......
The dark-skinned guy spoke, then glanced back at Ryan's car. Ryan was still driving leisurely, like he had no clue disaster was about to strike.
"Idiot. You'll learn soon enough what happens when you act tough with me!" The guy snorted coldly and pulled out a jet-black dagger from his sleeve, still stained with blood.
......
Meanwhile, halfway up Dragonslope in northern Dragonridge, inside the Orthodox Unity Sect, the atmosphere was chillingly murderous. The dense forest was utterly silent, not even a bird in sight. Near the sect gate, a disciple in a wheelchair gritted his teeth, replaying the moment his Dao root was destroyed in Peachvale County—a nightmare that's haunted him for months.
He was none other than Mark Ma, once one of the Seven Stars of the Dipper and a leading disciple of Orthodox Unity. Now crippled, if not for his father and grandfather's huge influence in the sect, he'd have been kicked out as trash ages ago.
"Senior Brother Ma, Yuan Zhengang's Dao root was personally destroyed by Elder Ma last night!" a nearby disciple whispered.
"Good! But crippling him isn't enough for me. Once we catch that bastard, I want his flesh sliced off piece by piece!" Mark Ma barked fiercely.
"Don't worry, they're just bait. Once the fish bites, they're useless. We've already got executioners ready—at least a thousand cuts for him!" the disciple replied.
"Good. By the way, is the Big Dipper Dragon-Binding Array set up?" Mark asked.
"Relax, it's all ready. Plus, the uncles and elders have set up the Heaven-Gang Earth-Fiend Demon-Subduing Array for beast suppression. With these two formations, even a Da Luo Heavenly God descending would be doomed!" the disciple said, grinning coldly.
"Great. This is our time for Orthodox Unity's three chief disciples to shine. Have all disciples stand by—using both arrays and their magic tools, we must capture that brat!" Mark nodded, finally feeling at ease.
"Leave it to us! The losses our senior brothers took last time—we'll pay it back double today!" the disciple said, just as a lookout rushed in.
"They're here! They've entered the mountain gate!"
Right after he spoke, a convoy could be seen slowly driving up the mountain.