It was a combination of a scale and an umbrella, and Mo Di, with his familiarity with blood, could guarantee it was drawn with human blood.
He frowned, and a scene flashed before his eyes, revealing another magic circle.
At the center of the magic circle, a tall, charming woman sat cross-legged, with her five centers facing upwards, holding an unknown hand seal, her expression serene.
After memorizing the woman's face, he observed the magic circle on the ground.
As he expected, this magic circle also had the same symbol as before, and the entire thing was drawn with human blood.
'A dark art ritual for casting curses, but this is too crude; many parts are just a waste of materials.'
Crude, simple, and inefficient—these were Mo Di's evaluations of this dark art ritual.
If he were to perform it, he could easily cut the ritual materials in half, and he wouldn't even need human blood.
As Mo Di made his sharp assessment, the woman at the center of the magic circle suddenly opened her eyes and looked at him... or rather, behind him.
“Are all the consumables ready?” the woman asked in a cold voice.
“Although it was a bit difficult, they are all ready.”
The one who replied was a dignified middle-aged man, accompanied by a young man—it was Xu Hongzhi, the Young Master Xu, with whom Mo Di had met once before.
'It seems this matter is most likely the work of the Xu Family... If I hadn't interfered, would the next plot have been Ling Tianfeng's death, and Long Yutian saving the day?'
The three people present were completely unaware of Mo Di's prying and continued to leak information.
“A baby that met the requirements was just born. We pulled some strings to get him out of the hospital. Now, it's up to you.”
After the middle-aged man finished speaking, Xu Hongzhi, who was beside him, handed over a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.
“This time, Long Yutian will surely die. After he and Ling Tianfeng are dead, I will make Ling Qinghan kneel and beg me like a dog.”
The malice in Xu Hongzhi's words made the woman, who was presumably a dark art practitioner, slightly curl her lip, a hint of disdain flashing in her eyes.
However, she still took the baby and replied, “I need to wait for the appropriate time to craft the magic tool, which will be around three in the morning. Once it's complete, I will notify you before I perform the ritual.”
With that, she waved her hand, dismissing them.
Beside them, Mo Di's face had already darkened, resembling a sea tiger's black face.
'...Another person who deserves to die.'
Based on his observations and knowledge, that woman should be offering the infant in her hands to her sect leader to obtain the magic tool for casting curses and performing rituals.
Mo Di could tell that this woman was a dark art practitioner, and a powerful entity was definitely backing her.
In the Eternal Realm, he had dealt with such things often. They could be strange otherworldly entities, unspeakable beings, or even somewhat friendly deities or undead.
And this woman, without a doubt, was backed by an entity that harbored malice towards humans, which was evident from the need for infant blood sacrifices.
'The Xu Family, the dark art practitioner... such people are better off eliminated.'
Having figured out the source of the curse, Mo Di had another reason to act.
Although he didn't claim to be a good person, his past education and the painful experiences during his apprenticeship made him deeply abhor such acts of sacrificing innocent people.
What to do next was practically self-evident.
It was nothing but slaughter.
The scene before him shattered like glass, and in the blink of an eye, he saw Long Yutian and the other person looking at him with concern.
“The curse caster has been found. The Xu Family hired a female dark art practitioner, and she is preparing to curse Long Yutian.”
“Ah, me?” Long Yutian's eyes widened. “Does that mean I also have to undergo the same ritual as before?”
Mo Di shook his head, “No need. You don't have a curse on you yet. That dark art practitioner won't cast the curse until at least three in the morning. We just need to deal with her before then.”
“Senior, what do you mean?” Ling Tianfeng's eyes twitched; he sensed the anger in Mo Di's voice.
“They've gone too far,” Mo Di said expressionlessly. “Drawing magic circles with human blood, intending to turn a newborn infant into a magic tool... This isn't the first time they've done such a thing.”
Before Long Yutian, it was Ling Tianfeng who was cursed. Who knows how many similar rituals that female dark art practitioner had performed?
Such rotten people—no, such beasts—Mo Di couldn't tolerate them even if he could tolerate everything else!
He recounted what he had seen and heard, and both of them frowned upon hearing it.
“The Xu Family... indeed went too far.” Ling Tianfeng hadn't expected them to be so deranged, doing such horrifying things just to bring down the Ling Family.
“They probably don't even see other people as human.”
Long Yutian didn't view commoners as lowly, like some scions of major families. Although he often had trouble stirred up for him, his moral compass was still very normal.
“This time, the Xu Family has crossed the line.” Ling Tianfeng understood that Mo Di intended to act against the Xu Family, so he decided to join him, taking the opportunity to eliminate this rival and forge a connection with him.
“We must strike hard.”
What should they do? Report them to the Ning Country authorities?
No, in this country where political power was almost entirely controlled by aristocratic families, doing so would not only be useless but also very likely tip them off.
If there were people from the Ling Family within the government, who could say there weren't any from the Xu Family?
It would be better to dispatch the company's direct forces and engage in a corporate war directly.
Yes, the corporate magnates of this world were so militarily well-equipped; the larger ones would cultivate their own private armed forces, called “Security Departments.”
From Mo Di's perspective, it wouldn't be long before this world would form a structure similar to "Cyberpunk 2077."
That is, unless an unforeseen event occurred that was significant enough to change the world.
“Contact the company's Asset Protection Team. You must act quickly; don't let the Xu Family react.”
Ling Tianfeng's heart hardened. If they were going to do it, they would go all the way.
He ordered the Ling Corporation to mobilize all its connections and immediately launch a siege against the Xu Family's Xu Corporation.
It was also thanks to Mo Di's presence; otherwise, he would never have dared to act like this.
The deterrent power and sense of security brought by a Xiantian Realm old monster were simply too great.
“Senior, do you have any other instructions?”
Mo Di didn't stand on ceremony and directly told Ling Tianfeng his needs.
Hearing this, the helmsman of the Ling Corporation showed a strange look but still agreed.
Two in the morning, near the Xu Family Manor.
A quietly rising white mist enveloped the entire manor, and figures moved silently through the mist, like ghosts.
Mo Di stopped, raised his hand slightly, and the soldiers behind him uniformly halted.
These were the Ling Corporation's private armed forces, officially called the “Company Asset Protection Team One,” considered the most elite unit within the Ling Family's private military.
Under the cover of the white mist created by Mo Di, they infiltrated various positions outside the Xu Family Manor, waiting for his command to begin their planned operation.
A flicker of magical aura passed through his eyes, and as mana flowed, Aether Vision slowly unfolded.
In a trance, he heard a baby's cry, and the usually calm aether rippled with a bloody hue in front of him, the source of it all located somewhere underground in the manor.
'It's the aftershock of a blood sacrifice; the dark art practitioner's ritual site is underground in the manor.'
Mo Di exited Aether Vision. Having found his target, he made a gesture, and the soldiers behind him immediately advanced.
At the same time, Long Yutian, on the other side, also received orders and led his subordinates to approach the manor.
To be honest, ever since he met Mo Di, he felt his normal daily life was gone forever.
One day it was campus showing off, the next it was a corporate war movie set.
Although, due to certain agreements among the various family corporations, they couldn't use weapons like tanks, planes, and artillery, nor could they expand the conflict to a point where it was known to the world.
But this was still a cruel corporate war, the kind aimed at killing the opposing company's senior executives.
'The Xu Family's private armed forces really don't seem to have discovered us. It seems master's magic is truly effective.'
His worldview somewhat shaken, Long Yutian cleared these distracting thoughts, leaped, and easily scaled the high wall, landing behind a patrolling soldier.
A hand clapped over the mouth, a knife to the throat.
The other soldiers followed his lead. Each of them was in the Post-natal First Realm, with internal energy, and combined with the element of surprise, they efficiently eliminated the manor's patrol units.
Before long, they had hidden the bodies and continued their infiltration.
Climbing through a window, Long Yutian and the subordinates who entered with him exchanged gestures, then each led their people to disperse throughout the house.
At the same time, the patrol units around the manor had been largely eliminated.
Mo Di advanced unimpeded, his tall figure shrouded in a black robe seemingly radiating chills, making even the elite soldiers following him shiver involuntarily.
'Where did the chairman find such a formidable person? Just following behind him, I can't help but feel a tremor in my heart,' an elite soldier in the Post-natal Second Realm thought to himself.
'Good thing he's on our side.'
Just as they reached the side of the house and were about to climb directly in, a gunshot suddenly broke the silence, followed by a series of gunshots.
The entire manor erupted into chaos, with shouts of killing, gunshots, and screams all mixed together.
Mo Di knew that an unforeseen variable had occurred.
He immediately adapted, leaped, grabbed the edge of a window, shattered the glass with an elbow, and flipped into the second floor.
As soon as he landed, he smoothly elbowed a man, his massive body weight pressing down on the man, causing him to instantly faint.
“Oh? Isn't this Young Master Xu?” He looked at the man's face and was surprised to find it was Xu Hongzhi, who was on his kill list.
Xu Hongzhi was thus grabbed by the neck and lifted into the air.
“Quick, put Hongzhi down!” A middle-aged man's face was grim, his gun raising and lowering, seemingly worried that firing would accidentally injure Xu Hongzhi.
“Oh, it's you.” Mo Di glanced at him, saying something irrelevant.
It matched. This person was the middle-aged man on his kill list.
“Perfect, I don't need to waste time looking for you.”
As soon as his words fell, a punch came from behind him, but even faster was a fist.
Long Yutian, who had followed closely, saw this scene and quickly warned, “Master, be careful...”
Mo Di turned his body, pushing the Xu Hongzhi in his hand forward, colliding with that fist.
“Pfft!”
Xu Hongzhi's body was thus punched through, leaving a bloody hole.
Grabbing the fist that had passed through the body with his other hand, Mo Di looked at the newcomer with a playful expression.
A white-haired old man's face was ashen, not only because he had accidentally injured Xu Hongzhi but also because his fist was being held, unable to break free.