Everyone witnessed Zhang Ji trash the living daylights out of Gu Hanzhong in the VIP lounge of Jade Lake Club then swaggered away like a champ.
Ah Cai watched it all live. What shocked her the most, however, was seeing him out of the club one second and finding him in the same room the next.
Ah Cai jumped in fright.
Li Mo smiled, “This way it won’t come back to bite me, nor pin the blame on you. Perfect, right?”
“Y-yeah, but how did you do it?” Ah Cai was floored.
She was a peak fifth level, but couldn’t pull what Li Mo did in a million years.
“Grandmaster Li is outstanding. I am thoroughly convinced.” Ah Cai was in awe.
To be totally honest here, Li Mo’s skill base wasn’t that awesome. He just made sure to leave a transfer checkpoint in her room with an earth qi jade. Once his gig starring as Zhang Ji was up, he’d use another earth qi jade to swing back in.
“With that settled, I better be going. To avoid anyone second-guessing.”
Ah Cai said, “Immortal Master Li, please wait. I have a humble request!”
Ah Cai threw the grandmaster title of the window in a heartbeat. Only Immortal Master was enough to truly encompass her respect and Li Mo’s power.
‘With this confirmation, I am the one to end up requesting his help!’
“Immortal Li, I wish to make you the Jade Lake Club’s chairman. From now on, you will lead this business. It all belongs to you now.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“My sole wish is for Immortal Master Li to take us under your wing…”
Li Mo said, “Dear Ah Cai, you are one of the strongest on Earth. Where’s your nerve?”
Ah Cai smiled bitterly, “I haven’t lost it, but this small planet has so many powerful beings…
“Immortal Master Li can’t imagine how horrible it was for me and my daughters after we finally got out of the Void Beast bone item.”
Ah Cai shuddered at the mere thought.
“Go on.”
“Two centuries ago, a woman calling herself Zhou Xian’er rescued us from the Void Beast bone. We, Ephemeral Birds, put a heavy price on favors so we followed her for as long as she lived in gratitude.
“But I was wrong. She did not do it to save us, nor cared about our promise. She saw us as mere tools. She never trusted our pledge and imprisoned us from the start. She absorbed our demon qi every single moment, night and day. She desired to use our power to halt her aging and live forever, while also going beyond the fifth level.
“Zhou Xian’er had kept us locked away in a dark hole for 150 years where her torments turned into nightmares. But even this wasn’t enough to satisfy her. She wanted to refine our demon cores…
“I begged her to let my daughters go, that I’ll become her ingredient, but she wouldn’t listen. She never had the intention of letting any one of us go, including my daughters.”
Ah Cai’s eyes trembled.
“On the day she was going to refine us to death, I deceived her by saying there was an eternal life immortal scripture inside the Void Beast bone item. Her greed got to her and released me. So I took the item and my daughters, fleeing from that godforsaken abyss…”
Ah Cai’s smile was filled with pain, “Out of the frying pan and into the fire. I led my daughters deep into the mountains where I thought it would be safe. Half a month later, we stumbled upon an old man with nothing but skin and bones. He wanted us as slaves to warm his bed. We fought him but even with all of us combined we couldn’t defeat him. I only managed to get us away by expending some lifespan to activate the Void Beast bone item and teleport us a hundred miles away.
“The people in this world are just too strong. So much it saps all my bravery away. I do not fear death, only wishing to keep my daughters safe from harm.
“To me, Immortal Master Li is as strong as those monsters, yet different. You are upright, and my best choice!”
“I’m upright? How do you figure?” Li Mo asked.
“Immortal Master Li, I can see righteousness from the spiritual qi around you.”
“Oh, that’s how. Then strip and let me admire you.” Ah Cai was dumbstruck.
“Don’t go trusting your intuition so much.”
Li Mo left, but not before adding, “I can’t take your business for nothing, so I will accept your request.”
“Thank you, Immortal Master.” Ah Cai was overjoyed.
“But there’s no free lunch in this world. If you want my protection, you will have to earn it.”
“Command me, Immortal Master.”
“I will leave the intelligence gathering to you.”
Li Mo threw her a miniature sized Stellar Orientation Array to Ah Cai.
“What’s this?”
“In the face of danger, use your demon qi on it and I will come to your aid.”
“Thank you, Immortal Master!”
Li Mo returned to the lounge, but the place was as noisy as ever. He sure was thorough when he beat Gu Hanzhong to an inch of his life. In his serious condition, he’d recover in half a year at the most. So Li Mo could put that problem aside for now.
“The nerve on that Mobei Province Sage! To reduce TS’s head, Gu Tianjue’s only son to such a state, his life will be forfeit!”
“Gu Hanzhong isn’t that strong, but his father is another matter entirely. Recalling that world shocking battle between him and chief that year sends shivers down my spine.”
“I heard the battle ended up with both heavily wounded and weakened. Since then they’ve withdrawn from the Heaven Board struggles, or it wouldn’t be Zhou Mengxian as the first right now.”
“Stop it, it has nothing to do with us.”
“Yeah, it’s all that prick Gu Hanzhong’s fault anyway for not knowing restraint and end up like this.”
Gu Hanzhong was carried away and news of his deed was spread in every corner of the expert world. In one night, the entire capital went abuzz with this story.
To Mo Zifei and Bai Wudi, Li Mo was plain average. Not in a million years would they even conceive the daring notion this kid was the one who beat Gu Hanzhong to a pulp.
Of course, if they also knew he was the new big kahuna of the Jade Lake Club, they’d pick their jaws off the floor from shock.
Come sunup, Li Mo left for Chuan Province. On his way, he heard some interesting info.
Gu Tianjue blew his stop at the sight of his wretched son and issued a kill order for Overreaching Sage Zhang Ji.
