After Li Hai uttered the words, “Everyone gets a share.”
All the Demon Slayer Commandants present immediately knelt down, one by one, lowering their heads and falling silent.
Completely gone was their earlier lively demeanor, where they had constantly chimed in, supporting Qiu Zheng Long.
“You’re rotten to the core, from top to bottom—your entire Bao Lan Sheng (Azure Blue Province) branch is rotten to the core.”
Li Hai shook his head and sighed deeply, “Alas~ as fellow members of the Demon Slayer Division, I am unwilling and will not inflict any private punishment upon you, so… I will hand you over to headquarters for processing. Professional individuals will interrogate you.”
“At that time, headquarters will decide who among you has embezzled how much and deserves what punishment, and who has colluded with external forces and whether they deserve the death penalty—”
“Li Hai.”
Qiu Zheng Long suddenly interrupted Li Hai, then, with a voice that felt utterly unfamiliar to Li Hai, he said with a smile, “Do you want to know how Gong Shuo Hong is doing now?”
“Hmm?!”
Li Hai’s expression immediately changed. He narrowed his eyes, looked at Qiu Zheng Long, and said coldly, “You are not Qiu Zheng Long. Who are you?”
“Hehehe~”
Qiu Zheng Long smiled eerily, “Do you want to know who I am? Survive first, then we can talk.”
With that, the deepest tooth in his mouth quietly split open, revealing a tiny crystal. Within this transparent crystal, an even smaller cluster of azure blue light points floated.
At the same one-ten-thousandth of a second that Qiu Zheng Long’s tooth split open, this cluster of blue light points, which emitted fluctuations completely opposite to everything in the world, suddenly exploded.
Also, in this one-ten-thousandth of a second, which was so brief as to be almost nonexistent, Li Hai had already swiftly raised his hand, and the words ‘hell’ lit up in his palm, instantly drawing Qiu Zheng Long into the Guiyou Cave Heaven’s North Forest Garden.
Then, after only another one-ten-thousandth of a second, Qiu Zheng Long, who had suddenly appeared in the vast wilderness above the North Forest Garden, abruptly erupted with a brilliant light comparable to the sun.
In the next instant, this brilliant light completely expanded into a blazing sea of light, enveloping the entire sky.
Boom!!!
Hellish heat waves covered all directions, as if an angry sun had appeared in the gray sky of the North Forest Garden.
Then, a terrifyingly vast amount of light and heat slammed down onto the boundless wilderness below.
And the North Forest Garden wilderness, which bore the brunt of this light and heat, also seemed to transform into a vast ocean. Centered on where Qiu Zheng Long had detonated himself in mid-air, hundreds and thousands of scorching waves, hundreds of zhang high, suddenly surged up, roaring and hissing as they swept and covered the more distant lands in all directions.
Thus, all the vegetation, rocks, strongman remains, architectural ruins, and rock strata on the boundless earth—everything—was instantly torn apart, evaporated, and reduced to nothing by this monstrous tide of waves, filled with terrifying thermal energy, like sandcastles on a beach.
Finally, after the land within a radius of several tens of miles had been completely swept, ravaged, and destroyed by this terrifying explosion, a massive gray mushroom cloud rose again from the center of this Hell, created by Qiu Zheng Long’s self-detonation, connecting heaven and earth.
And Li Hai, who was “observing” all of this from outside the Guiyou Cave Heaven, secretly thought to himself:
“It’s actually—an antimatter bomb.”
This antimatter bomb, which would most likely destroy his human form, was definitely part of a plot to kill him.
As for Qiu Zheng Long, who had already been annihilated and disappeared, he was merely the fuse for this deadly plot.
“How vicious! Who exactly is behind this?!”
Li Hai suddenly raised his head, his mental perception sweeping in all directions with sharp light.
But besides seeing the Demon Slayer Commandants of the Bao Lan branch, who were all stunned and unaware of what had happened, and the hundred private soldiers from Niujiao Town who had accompanied him, he couldn’t detect anyone else.
And just then, an ordinary-looking Demon Slayer Commandant with a simple and honest expression suddenly smiled brightly:
“Li Hai, you shouldn’t die that easily, should you? Haha, if you were to die just like that, I would be very disappointed.”
“Also, you don’t need to search anymore. I’m not even in this place, because all the arrangements were made in advance. Even if you kill everyone within ten thousand li, you won’t harm a single hair on my head.”
“You are Xuan Dynasty Remnants, aren’t you?”
Li Hai stared at this Demon Slayer Commandant, who seemed to have been possessed, and said in a deep voice, “Someone with such deep enmity towards me and such a lack of bottom line in their actions, it could only be you—”
“I bet you’re going to say I’m Xuan Dynasty Remnants right now, haha. You can think I am, but what I want to say is…”
The simple-looking Demon Slayer Commandant smiled eerily, “Li Hai, you are indeed very powerful. Your talent is rarely seen in this world, but your mind is too simple. You see things as either black or white, but many things in this world are not clearly black or white.”
“Similarly, the so-called Xuan Dynasty Remnants are not as despicable and detestable as you imagine, and the Great Jing Dynasty is not as magnificent and noble as you imagine, nor is it worth everyone, including you, protecting it.”
“What I want to tell you is that everything in this world, including things, objects, and even people, is not absolutely noble or magnificent. Everything can be overturned and reshaped, including you, me, and this world.”
“So, if you want to overturn this world, if you want to reshape your own life, instead of just scrambling for a bit of power and profit, then come find me in the Xia Alliance Chaotic Land. We can have a good talk then.”
“Oh, by the way, I don’t think I’ve told you my name yet. My name is—Anping Xi.”
After saying these words, the Demon Slayer Commandant immediately stiffened and melted into a puddle of blood in front of Li Hai.
At the same time, a square stone slab on a plaza just ten zhang away from him suddenly sprang up three feet high and flew to the side, revealing a slot only five feet wide, made entirely of some material that could block mental perception. Inside, Gong Shuo Hong was curled up, unharmed but unconscious.
Seeing this, Li Hai fully understood.
It turned out that this killing plot, designed to target him by using the entire corruption case of the Bao Lan Sheng Demon Slayer Division branch as a fuse, was essentially a recruitment letter containing both threats and a test.
If Li Hai had failed the test and died in the explosion just now, then all of this would have been an undeniable killing plot.
If he hadn’t died and passed the test, then this killing plot was a recruitment interview.
And the organization that issued this recruitment letter and arranged this interview was the Xuan Dynasty Remnants.
The Unknown person who called himself Anping Xi was a headhunter who wanted to poach Li Hai.
However, ultimately, all of this was the Xuan Dynasty Remnants’ own self-directed and self-acted play. They had absolutely no regard for Li Hai’s feelings or opinions.
Therefore, at this moment, Li Hai… was seething with rage.
“Damn it, you played me back and forth, and then you put on that profound act with all that bullshit. It seems I haven’t killed enough of your people, have I?!”
Li Hai narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction of the Xia Alliance Chaotic Land, grinning angrily, “Good, then this time I’ll kill all of you. Let’s see what other tricks you can play!”