Chapter 986: Crushing the Rumors
Yang Haoran was extremely fond and satisfied with Tang Shi, both for his capabilities and his attitude. Precisely because of this, he had always been unreservedly generous towards Tang Shi and the Evil Spirit squad he led.
This mission was successfully completed, and the result left Yang Haoran very pleased. In such circumstances, true to his usual style, rewards were naturally indispensable.
Under Tang Shi's gaze, Yang Haoran waved his hand and retrieved five exquisite small wooden boxes from his independent space. Inside these wooden boxes were precisely the Soul Pills that beings of their kind needed most.
"Here are five Soul Pills," he said. "Use two of them to enhance your own strength, and the remaining three are to reward the brothers under your command."
Five Soul Pills were no small sum. For an ordinary Emissary of Death, five Soul Pills were an even greater fortune. Even though Yang Haoran was relatively wealthy now, five Soul Pills were not something he would just give away casually.
However, at this moment, not only did he take out five Soul Pills, but he didn't even show a hint of reluctance.
"Your strength has now reached the peak of an Evil Spirit," Yang Haoran smiled as he spoke. "You only need one more step to break through to the Ghost King realm. If you refine these two Soul Pills, I estimate it should be enough. If it's not, I'll find a way to get you more Soul Pills then, to help you break through to Ghost King as soon as possible."
Tang Shi remained as steady as ever; although he verbally thanked him, he didn't show any excited emotions on his face.
"Please rest assured, Master," Tang Shi promised. "Your subordinate will handle this matter without a hitch; there will absolutely be no slip-ups!"
Yang Haoran nodded with satisfaction, then glanced at the collected information on the table.
"I won't be taking these materials with me," he said. "You should keep them safe. Perhaps they might still come in handy one day."
In the time that followed, Yang Haoran gave Tang Shi a few more instructions, and finally, with Tang Shi's respectful send-off, he left the Ghost Cave.
As for Boss Huo, Yang Haoran certainly wouldn't let it go so easily. Regardless of whether the assassination attempt was entirely orchestrated by Boss Huo, he would naturally lay this debt at Boss Huo's feet. After all, Xia Yu was Boss Huo's subordinate.
However, he needed to plan this carefully. He couldn't proceed blindly, otherwise, he wouldn't just fail to achieve his goal, but might also end up paying a heavy price.
Having Tang Shi send people to be permanently stationed in Xinyang City, constantly monitoring Boss Huo's movements, was precisely in preparation for his plan. Only by knowing oneself and one's enemy could he truly overcome his opponent.
After leaving the Ghost Cave, Yang Haoran headed to the Administrative Courtyard. His appearance shocked many people, because in their eyes, Yang Haoran should have already been dead. But Yang Haoran was not only alive, but had also appeared perfectly fine in the Administrative Courtyard. How could this not surprise them?
This news spread through Lecheng with extreme speed. Anyone or any force with even a modicum of inside information immediately learned of the matter.
Yang Haoran naturally knew about the rumors circulating that he was dead. However, he hadn't come forward to crush the rumors before, because the rumors were originally spread by him, with the purpose of luring out the Black-Robed Person.
Now that the Black-Robed Person's soul was scattered, he naturally had no need to let the rumors continue. After all, with him guarding his territory, others wouldn't dare to easily provoke or cause trouble for his Underworld Office.
For a while, he had been busy dealing with Xiang Chuan's matter, so he hadn't bothered to concern himself with these rumors. Now that Xiang Chuan's matter was handled, it was also time to crush these rumors.
Coming to the Administrative Courtyard, finding Zhu Rong was a pretense. The real purpose was to let others see that he was still alive. He didn't intentionally hide his whereabouts, precisely so that others would see him.
After staying at the Administrative Courtyard for a short while, Yang Haoran left and then proceeded to Lecheng's largest Ancestral Talisman Temple. The prominent figures of the Lecheng Talisman Order, including its head, Wang Yiming, were almost certainly all within this Ancestral Talisman Temple.
Heading to the Ancestral Talisman Temple was partly to inform others that he was still alive. Besides that, he had another purpose: he wanted to ask Wang Yiming about the situation with the Ancheng Talisman Order. As the head of the Lecheng Talisman Order, Wang Yiming would certainly be much clearer on this aspect of things. Especially some internal news unknown to the outside world, he might be able to find out a thing or two from him.
Upon arriving at the Ancestral Talisman Temple, his appearance caused a stir. The source of this commotion was the same as before at the Administrative Courtyard: many people thought he was dead, yet he had appeared alive and well. It was inevitable that those who thought he was dead would be surprised.
Yang Haoran's appearance quickly alarmed Wang Yiming, who was handling some matters at the Ancestral Talisman Temple. Upon learning that the visitor was Yang Haoran, Wang Yiming immediately put down what he was doing and personally welcomed Yang Haoran's arrival.
Inside a secret room equipped with a restriction formation, Yang Haoran and Wang Yiming sat facing each other. Next to Wang Yiming sat another person: none other than Jiang Die, the Black Talisman Master whom Yang Haoran had saved in the past.
Due to Bai Xue, Jiang Die had significant grievances with Yang Haoran, her savior. Although she hadn't gone looking for trouble with Yang Haoran or the Underworld Office after the unpleasant incident at Yang Haoran's villa, she always felt some aversion towards Yang Haoran as a person. Precisely because of this, she had no interactions with Yang Haoran over the years. Even though she knew Wang Yiming had a good relationship with Yang Haoran, she hadn't eliminated her grievances towards Yang Haoran because of it.
Wang Yiming knew that his martial aunt Jiang Die had strong grievances with Yang Haoran, so he had always wanted to resolve the animosity between the two. He hadn't stopped trying to talk sense into his martial aunt regarding this, but the effect wasn't obvious.
With Yang Haoran's arrival today, according to Jiang Die's personality, she naturally wouldn't show Yang Haoran a pleasant expression, let alone specifically receive him. The fact that she was currently in this secret room was entirely due to Wang Yiming.
Of course, Wang Yiming wouldn't dare to directly order his martial aunt. Not to mention that Jiang Die was his senior and his martial aunt, just the fact that he could sit in the position of head of the Lecheng Talisman Order meant he had to thoroughly thank Jiang Die. If not for Jiang Die, let alone sitting in the position of head of the Lecheng Talisman Order, whether he was even alive now would be an unknown.
Towards Wang Yiming, Jiang Die was indeed more accommodating. Even though she had considerable grievances with Yang Haoran in her heart, she still endured her discomfort and sat beside Wang Yiming. However, the half of her face visible outside her hair was cold and devoid of any smile; all her discomfort towards Yang Haoran was expressed on her face.
"Brother Yang, have your injuries healed?"
Wang Yiming looked at Yang Haoran, who had a smile on his face across from him, and couldn't help but ask.
Back then, to make the act more convincing, except for a very few people close to him who knew Yang Haoran was actually pretending, others were unaware of Yang Haoran's plan and didn't know that Yang Haoran's severe injuries were also feigned. Wang Yiming was one of them.
It was precisely because he didn't know Yang Haoran wasn't actually injured that Wang Yiming now asked Yang Haoran with a look of concern.
Regarding this, Yang Haoran felt a pang of guilt in his heart. But this guilt he could only keep to himself. He couldn't explain this matter to Wang Yiming, because once explained, it might bring him unneeded trouble.
"Haha, I made you worry," Yang Haoran replied with a smile. "But now I'm almost fully recovered."
"That's good," Wang Yiming said with a hint of embarrassment. "Speaking of which, I'm truly ashamed. During this period, a major incident occurred with the Ancheng Talisman Order, and this matter also had a considerable impact on our Lecheng Talisman Order. So, for this recent period, I haven't been able to make time to visit you. I hope Brother Yang doesn't blame me."
Upon hearing this, Yang Haoran's guilt in his heart couldn't help but intensify.
However, he still didn't show the guilt in his heart. And Wang Yiming actively bringing up the matter of the Ancheng Talisman Order was exactly to his liking; he could conveniently use this opportunity to casually probe for some information.
"Regarding the Ancheng Talisman Order's matter, I've heard a bit," Yang Haoran said. "I heard their head, Talisman Master Han, has gone missing. Now, the head of the Ancheng Talisman Order has been replaced."
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