92-100

This sword move was the first ever killing move taught to Jiang Xiu by his master and could be used to battle by skipping ranks. It was really unworthy for this move to be used to kill the Wang Ancestor.

Thousand Flying Sword Chain, a chain made of layers of several sword lights refined from a sword.

"A Divine Art, it's a Divine Art…" Tang Zhenshan cried, "Wenchong, do you see it? Mr. Jiang is actually so powerful…"

Tang Wenchong nodded, unable to contain his excitement.

Cheng Lingsu, Ye Wenchen and the rest were already left utterly speechless, looking at this ethereal scene with a dumbfounded gaze.

"How can someone like this exist in this world?"

"Doesn't it look like a movie scene?"

However, all of this had really happened, and the one amongst them who disdained Jiang Xiu the most, Cheng Lingsu, felt utterly perplexed. H-He's actually such an existence.

At the moment she learned that Jiang Xiu was Jiang Luoxia, Cheng Lingsu felt a variety of emotions, including shock, doubt, anger and… after watching him use myriad of godly skills, all those emotions had finally transformed into disbelief and remorse. She then remembered his words.

"Alright. This Deity will satisfy you so listen well."

"At Belden, this Deity slapped the four young masters."

"At the Heavenly Dao Arena, this Deity…"

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!"

The Wang Ancestor screamed in pain. That chain was unceasingly piercing into his deified body and ravaging it.

"This isn't possible."

His expression twisted with pain, gaze filled with disbelief.

"I have a deified body…"

"No one can kill me."

The arrogance of this Demigod who had ruled over Jiangnan for 200 years had finally vanished.

"NOOO…"

He made a final struggle at this moment of life and death, chopping towards the chain of sword lights with his Giant Sword. The Giant Sword got cut off and broke into halves when it touched the sword light, one half falling into the water while the other flew out due to the vibrations, revolving twice mid-air before landing in the water.

"Blergh!"

The Wang Ancestor puffed out a mouthful of blood. His deification reversed and then his body fell down.

"The Wang family's Demigod… got killed?"

"Dead?"

The Wang family's vassals shuddered as they said these words.

"Wang Jianzhi is dead!"

After the sword light disappeared, the people there saw that an ordinary sword which seemed to be made of scrap iron had pierced into the location of the Wang Ancestor's heart. Jiang Xiu suddenly rushed forward and grabbed the Wang Ancestor who was falling then he walked towards the Bayview Platform by treading on water.

Thud! He threw the Wang Ancestor's body in front of Old Madame Wang.

"What other methods do the Wang family have? Use them as quickly as possible."

"This Deity shall wait."

The Old Madame gazed at the dead body of the Wang Ancestor which had begun to shrivel then petrify. Her bloodshot eyes almost popped out as she repeated monotonously.

"Ancestor… Ancestor…"

The Demigod who had guarded the Wang family for 200 years had fallen.

"ANCESTOR!!!"

Old Madame Wang knelt down.

"My Wang family admits defeat. I request Mr. Jiang to please act with leniency and leave out a way for my Wang family to survive."

All the people looked at Jiang Xiu as if he were a god, waiting for his judgment towards the Wang family.

"Sign all the assets under the Wang family to my name."

"Thank you, Mr. Jiang. Thank you very much…"

The Wang family had received amnesty.

They weren't willing to give up 70% of the assets, and now, they had to offer all their properties and even act grateful.

The curtain had finally closed on the legend of Jiangnan's Wang family.

The gallery couldn't calm down for a long time. There was no doubt that only a few people were left in Jiangnan who could stand on equal footing with Jiang Luoxia. They believed that the news about the Wang family's Demigod dying would sweep past the entire country before long and even the world as it was too shocking for a Demigod to die under a youth's hand.

The martial arts circle would etch this name deep into their memory.

Jiang Luoxia.

"Mr. Jiang, will you still be looking at the tides?"

Tang Zhenshan couldn't contain his excitement.

"Of course!"

It would be a pity if such a spectacular scene weren't seen. Moreover, when Jiang Xiu had gone underwater, he felt that the rock where Wang Jianzhi leaned on was a bit strange. He wanted to make a trip down and investigate as that rock might be related to the Qian River's strange tides.

The feast proceeded quite quickly. It was initially a feast meant for the paying respects ceremony, but it had now become Jiang Xiu's victory feast.

"Mr. Jiang…"

"Mr. Jiang…"

All the power holders of Jiang City toasted to Jiang Xiu reverently and respectfully.

Outside the Bayview Platform, Cheng Lingsu looked at these big shots act like lowly servants in front of Jiang Xiu. Her eyes turned red, unable to endure any more, tears sliding down from her eyes due to the endless remorse.

"How can Jiang Xiu be Mr. Jiang?"

"It doesn't make sense."

Ye Wenchen and the others still couldn't comprehend that Jiang Xiu was Mr. Jiang. Or to say, they were not willing to believe it because they realized that they had lost a chance to achieve meteoric success in life. But none of them were willing to lay this bare as they had all sneered and vilified Jiang Xiu before.

It would instead be a great mercy if Jiang Xiu didn't come to find them for their previous behavior.

"Susu, why are you silent?"

"Let's leave, okay?" She replied.

They didn't have the qualifications to enter among those big shots as they had just come to watch by relying on Wen Zuolin.

An opportunity once missed is forever gone. There was no medicine which could cure regret.

"Let's go!"

They all felt quite downcast.

"Motherf*cker, that Jiang Xiu actually reversed his fate." Though Lin Shu cursed out, he still felt afraid. He had seen Jiang Xiu's methods clearly. Even the Wang family had lost to him. He wouldn't even need to act personally. Just a word from him and those big shots of Jiang City would serve at his beck and call.

The more he thought about it, the more afraid he became. It wasn't only him. A few of his companions also went pale, thinking similar thoughts. Their families all operated in Jiang City, and they were terrified of the possibility of becoming penniless.

"Will… we still be going out to have fun tomorrow?"

"I think we should go back home."

"I also want to go back."

Cheng Lingsu returned to her room in a muddle-headed state then took out her phone to call her mother. Sun Xiaohong felt quite happy receiving a call from her youngest daughter, "Susu, are you having fun at Hang City? Did you watch the tides?"

Cheng Lingsu had a bellyful of things she wanted to tell her mother, but she was left speechless after the call was answered. "It's fun. I watched the tides. It was a pretty nice scene."

Sun Xiaohong felt that her daughter's state wasn't normal, "Susu, what happened? Mama feels you're not happy at all."

"Did that brat Jiang Xiu provoke you again?"

"Your father is to blame for making him accompany you. I don't know what your father is thinking. We should've ended our relationship with their family long ago."

"Skill, character and background, none of them are enough to suit my Cheng family's second daughter."

Cheng Linsu stared at a blank sheet, yet her gaze was disorganized.

"Let's stop talking about him. Let me tell you some good news. Your father met Wang Xuetang from the Wang family while returning from abroad as they were sitting on the same plane. It seems like they even had a nice chat. Don't you think it's quite a chance? We actually got a link to the Wang family."

"Do you know the Wang family? It's Hang City's Wang family!"

"You children might not know about it, but the Wang family is a family with a heritage of 200 years. Although they aren't that famous in the business world, their name is quite well known among the upper-class of Jiangnan. It's a true traditional clan."

"It looks like our family's business will scale up again. I really hope your father can become the richest man in Jiang City one day."

Sun Xiaohong had fantasized the scene several times. Walking down the party aisle with the identity of being the wife of the wealthiest man in the city wasn't something that could be expressed in words.

"Your father would be a huge idiot if he still wants you to marry Jiang Xiu even after achieving such a status."

"Mom, I'm feeling quite tired, so I'm going to take rest now."

"Oh. Take rest then and be careful while going outside."

After ending the call, Cheng Lingsu walked towards the window. The most bustling area in the villa zone right now was the Bayview Pavilion. Bright lights were glowing there. Cheng Lingsu's mind was filled with Jiang Xiu's silhouette while she gazed there.

"Jiang Xiu, Mr. Jiang…"

"How can you be Mr. Jiang…"

She smashed the glass on the table to the ground, crushing it to pieces.

Then, she wept gloomily.

Jiang Xiu sat on the top seat in the Bayview Pavilion. All the big shots from Jiang City were accompanying him. Today, they were able to watch the river tides, and also witness a battle between Demigods with their own eyes. It had indeed broadened their worldview.

"Mr. Jiang, the people from the Wang family have arrived."

"Let them come over," replied Jiang Xiu.

After receiving Jiang Xiu's pardon, the Wang family didn't dare to tarry and immediately returned to prepare the assets. They didn't hold back anything this time as it could result in the extermination of their entire family if they did.

The group of a few Wang family children was headed by Wang Xueli. Old Madame Wang hadn't accompanied them. He spoke in a deferential tone, "Mr. Jiang, this is all of my Wang family's assets. A total of 113.2 billion."

The others were astonished.

In the year '08, just having assets worth 100 million was enough to enter the high-class circle, while 2-3 billion was enough to rank among the top. Even the nominal richest person of Jiangnan didn't have assets worth over 20 billion.

From the number of assets they had amassed, it clearly showed that they were worthy of being called a family with a heritage of 200 years.

This was the exceptional thing about martial arts families. They don't take risks by gambling with businesses like the families who have roots in officialdom or commerce. Thus, their assets keep accumulating.

Naturally, this was also related to the property that the Wang Ancestor had left behind for the family. In those days, the Wang family had over 10,000 troops, so the amount of wealth they had plundered was quite difficult to imagine.

Wang Xueli handed over the box containing the property documents while trembling, "Old Madame wanted to personally deliver them, but her body had taken ill. Hence, she could only send me to deliver them to Mr. Jiang."

"The Old Madame said she'll move to the Wang family's retirement house and live in seclusion until her last breath."

Jiang Xiu nodded.

Old Madame Wang understood thoroughly that the Wang family had come to an end. There was no meaning for her to control the Wang family now.

"Looks like she has realized it."

Jiang Xiu's slender fingers dropped on top of the early 19th-century era brocade box, moving his fingers past it lightly. His gaze swept past the Wang family children present there, "Who handles the Wang family's businesses usually?"

"It's this humble one!"

A middle-aged man walked out. This person looked around 50-years-old and appeared different from the other Wang family members. He wore a suit as well as a necktie of a luxurious style and also seemed quite astute.

"This humble one is known as Wang Xuetang."

He made a great effort to keep his calm while speaking but his face was pale while his body trembled. It was clear that he was quite afraid.

"Which industry can make the most money in the future?" asked Jiang Xiu.

"Real estate," Wang Xuetang blurted out without even thinking.

The next decade was for the real estate and internet. Especially real estate as it would boom in the following years. Jiang Xiu had experienced this personally in the previous timeline, and this also revealed the foresight Wang Xuetang possessed to have predicted it.

"How has the Wang family dabbled in the real estate business?"

Wang Xuetang replied with a hardened expression, "We haven't got involved in it."

"Why didn't you do so if you already knew about it?"

"That's…"

Long ago, the family had sent Wang Xuetang abroad to study. But after returning home, he discovered that it was all futile since the elders stuck to their old ideologies and refused to listen to him even if he said something. They weren't willing to pick up the interest by placing the wealth in the bank and instead bought shop fronts to rent them out. Currently, there was quite the minimal investment in commerce, let alone amassing a venture capital.

The Wang family wasn't to blame as money came to them too quickly. There were plenty of people who wished to ask for their help and exchange all their life savings in return. This brought in a tremendous amount of money. The Wang family had more money than they could spend, and since they were a family with a martial arts heritage, they didn't attach much importance to money.

However, this was akin to a nightmare for Wang Xuetang. His skills unused, forced to work part-time for others to be able to display his talent, it was quite a hard time for him.

"You didn't learn martial arts?"

Jiang Xiu discovered that Wang Xuetang didn't even have inner strength. It was quite difficult to imagine that the Wang family had such a person in his age group.

"To answer Mr. Jiang's question, my body wasn't suitable for martial arts. I also didn't have any interest in it, so I never learned it." In fact, these weren't Wang Xuetang's true feelings. He believed that the world would head towards a peaceful era so the importance of martial arts would reduce drastically. Even if someone had achieved high cultivation, they couldn't do anything against a gun. On the contrary, he was very interested towards commerce.

Jiang Xiu pushed the brocade box towards him, "From now on, you'll have the final say in the Wang family."

"What?!"

Wang Xuetang couldn't believe his ears.

"You're the family head now. You're allowed to control the funds here arbitrarily and venture into the business you want. I hope you don't disappoint this Deity."

The Wang family had already lost their patron, so it was impossible for them to continue thriving as a martial arts-based family. They need to change, and commerce was the way to go.

"Thank you, Mr. Jiang. Thank you…"

This was akin to a meat pie falling from the sky to him.

The Wang family's great catastrophe had turned out as a boon for him.

An unremarkable little shopkeeper who didn't even have a say in the family had directly become the family head.

"That girl behind you, who's she to you?"

Jiang Xiu noticed Wang Xintong hiding behind Wang Xuetang at this moment. Her beautiful eyes peeked at him with fear and rancor. She was the one who brought Jiang Xiu to the Wang family and thus felt quite guilty, feeling she had led the wolf into the house. Since the family was now at a delicate juncture, she had explicitly come to support them.

"She's my daughter!"

Jiang Xiu glanced at her. Didn't you used to say that this Deity was coming to ask your Wang family for help? Look who's asking who now.

"We shall take our leave then…"

The darkness of the night approached slowly. Jiang Xiu stood at the edge of the Bayview Platform after the feast ended. The Qian River appeared pitch-black under the night scene and matched well with the serenity. It was quite spooky though as the people didn't dare to go downstream during night time. They didn't even dare to enter their own swimming pools at this time. One reason was that the water was too cold at night and the other due to the feeling that something was inside the water.

This time, Jiang Xiu didn't need to use the lantern for directions since he remembered the location.

He arrived at the location Wang Jianzhi was staying.

Jiang Xiu found the stone he was searched for. Though his vision in the water blurred after entering, he could vaguely see that the stone was merely the tip of the iceberg. It was actually a huge rock.

Moss had grown all over the rock, and more than half of it was buried under the mud. It was as if a 10 storied building had fallen into the Qian River then turned into ruins. Moreover, this location was a curve in the river, so it was quite easy for a torrential current to form underneath.

"Hmm?"

This rock's material was quite strange and seemed to resemble a statue yet also looked like that of an animal's form.

"T-This is…"

Jiang Xiu stared at it with his eyes wide open.

"River Swallowing Toad?"

There was mention of the River Swallowing Toad in the Immortal Martial Continent's Record of Monsters. The River Swallowing Toad is as enormous as a mountain and very slothful. It would sleep for a duration of 10 to 100 years in one go, and the first thing it would do after waking up was to drink water. It would suck the entire river water dry and thus got the moniker of River Swallowing Toad.

"How can a River Swallowing Toad exist on Earth?"

Jiang Xiu thought it was a sculpture, but his inference was overthrown immediately as it wouldn't be easy to carve such a colossal statue meant for offering prayers. He felt it with his hand, noticing that its sides and corners were accurate to the minute details. Even the veins on its skin were vivid and lifelike. It wasn't possible to chisel out such things. After considering all the facts, he came to a judgment that this was a fossil.

A River Swallowing Toad's fossil.

"According to the legends, the River Swallowing Toad likes to hoard treasures. I wonder if there are any here."

Jiang Xiu tried to push out the River Swallowing Toad from the mud, but it was too large. He couldn't move it even by using all his strength.

He got tired in the end and could only manage to take out the River Swallowing Toad's face, revealing half its mouth outside.

Its mouth was slightly open, and there was nothing there, leading directly to the abdomen. Jiang Xiu was definite now that this wasn't a statue but rather a fossil as no one possessed the technology to carve out internal organs.

"If it's indeed a fossil, I wonder whether there's an inner core present?"

It'd be a significant gain for him if he could find an inner core.

Jiang Xiu entered the River Swallowing Toad's abdomen.

He was greeted by a pale and gentle light after reaching the abdomen. Jiang Xiu was overjoyed that there was indeed an inner core present inside. He speculated that the reason Wang Jianzhi had chosen to cultivate at this location was due to this inner core as it should have increased his cultivation speed, but he couldn't figure out the reason.

Jiang Xiu grabbed it and rejoiced.

"Hahahaha…"

He was expecting for the number of Divine Regalia on his arm to grow by using this inner core.

He impatiently returned back to the resort and entered his villa, only to discover someone inside the house. It was… Wang Xintong.

Wang Xintong wore a low-cut cheongsam of a flame-like red color, exuding a bold and passionate vibe. Her beautiful jet-black hair let down on her pale shoulders while her bountiful bosom was in plain view with a jade diamond necklace laying on her breast, giving her an exquisite look.

Though he felt that Wang Xintong had a good figure when he first saw her, he wasn't expecting it to be this fine. Her aura had elevated so much after she dressed up. She held a glass of red wine in her hand, gently swaying it. Everything seemed to turn ambiguous as she did so under the lighting of the night scene.

"Mr. Jiang!"

This time, her tone wasn't prideful like before but instead docile like a little kitten. She assumed a weak appearance which really seemed to make her look lovelier.

"Do you need anything from this Deity?"

"I was afraid you would feel bored, so I came to accompany you."

She took the already prepared glass of red wine from the bar counter and walked towards Jiang Xiu lightly. Her gaze was blurry due to the tipsiness.

She offered the wine cup to Jiang Xiu.

"Drink wine, take a bath, then sleep early…"

"You aren't scared of me?" asked Jiang Xiu.

Wang Xintong assumed a scared appearance coyly as a blaze lit in her eyes, "I'm afraid. Why wouldn't I be? I'm so frightened of dying and scared you'll eat me."

A deliberate smile rose on Jiang Xiu's mouth, which made things only worse. He had noticed that her calves were trembling.

"That's good then…"

He took the wine glass from her and made a big gulp. The wine had a rich and exquisite taste as it slid down his throat. He handed over the empty glass to Wang Xintong before entering inside and said to her in passing, "This Deity will take a bath first."

"Be quick, don't make me wait for long."

The Wang family followed olden traditions very seriously. Before, she wasn't even allowed to act intimately with her male friends, let alone have a boyfriend. But now, she had to do such a thing with Jiang Xiu.

Wang Xintong's gaze turned complicated after Jiang Xiu entered inside. She went to the bar counter again and downed a few more glasses of wine. Her courage swelled up as the warmth spread throughout her body.

She came near the bed and turned off the lights. Faint moonlight dawned inside the room through the window as she bit her red lips while stripping off the pretty evening dress then slithered under the white bed sheet.

She laid down on the bed obediently, her hair scattered on the pillow. Her pale skin glowed under the moonlight, a slight scowl on her pretty forehead as her long eyelashes trembled from the nervousness.

She felt as if she was an imperial concubine waiting for the Emperor to copulate with her.

Waiting while feeling torment.

She felt a myriad of emotions; wronged, distressed, and frightened, but could only force her tears back.

She heard footsteps come over from the bathroom's direction. A demonic god-like shadow casting over, making her heart beat faster.

He's here!

Wang Xintong felt incredibly nervous as well as ashamed while she did her best to shut her eyes tightly.

Jiang Xiu took a bath and came outside to discover that the lights were all turned off. He then looked at the figure laying on the bed, leaving half of the bed for him.

He went over there only to see her nervous and shy appearance as she did her best to close her eyes. He lifted the sheet and went under it.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to seduce this Deity?"

Wang Xintong blushed even more as she stuttered while replying, "N-No. I… Yes…"

She didn't even know what she had spoken.

"Hmm!"

"You think it's so easy to seduce this Deity? That I'll get tempted just because you want to entice me?" His gaze swept past the clothes on the ground as he imagined the alluring scene under the sheet.

"Also, do you plan to seduce this Deity with only this?"

"By stripping naked like some dead fish?"

Wang Xintong felt quite embarrassed as she bit her lips. She stuck her body to him, but this made Jiang Xiu feel quite strange.

"This Deity is mysophobic and doesn't touch just any woman."

Wang Xintong was stunned.

She didn't know whether she should feel happy or sad. She would be able to preserve her purity if Mr. Jiang doesn't take her but she couldn't feel happy about it because she'd get ostracized by others.

"Get down. Honor this Deity with a dance."

"Hah?"

Wang Xintong had learned dancing from her childhood, but she had never danced in such way. She felt even more ashamed now.

"What? You don't want to?"

"Get out from here then."

There was a big contrast between spending the night in Mr. Jiang's room and being driven out from there. Wang Xintong panicked, "Don't! Mr. Jiang, please don't send me away…"

A bewitching shadow danced under the enthralling night scene. Although soundless, the moonlight sprinkling through the window emphasized her loveliness, reflecting it on the wall behind her. In fact, a noiseless view was alluring than one with sound and even seized a person's soul.

Jiang Xiu woke up early in the morning of the next day. That girl who was similar to a rose blooming in the night winds sat at the bedside. Perhaps because she couldn't endure it anymore, her face was leaning on the bedside.

She had slept quite soundly, a blush covering her entire face.

Perhaps because she was roused up due to Jiang Xiu's movements, she opened her eyes in a great rush. Her hair was messy and gaze hazy as she called out to him in a respectful manner, "Good morning, Mr. Jiang."

She felt happy after seeing the daybreak outside. She had successfully spent a night in Mr. Jiang's room.

"Your dancing skill is a bit out of practice. You need to improve it further."

Jiang Xiu had seen several thousands of beautiful heavenly dances on the Immortal Martial Continent. However, a person's mood always changes depending on the environment. There was a clear difference between drinking water in a desert and in a resort. Appreciating a dance like this here, that too a shameful dance by a girl from a wealthy family. Though she was out of practice, it was a beautiful pleasure.

"I'll work hard."

Wang Xintong's voice replied in a mosquito-like voice. She felt very shy as Mr. Jiang's words implied that he could request her to dance like that again.

This was the first time Jiang Xiu had cohabitated with a beautiful woman in the same room after coming back to this world and shared an endless night. Pain flashed through his eyes. He had spent 3 millenniums to forget a person but would recall her again within 3 seconds. Someone once said that the things you regain after losing are what you must cherish the most. Then losing what you've obtained is what pains you the most.

A thick mist rolled over the river bank, giving rise to a hazy fog all over the villa zones.

"How old are you?" asked Jiang Xiu.

"I turned 20 just recently."

"The same as her." Jiang Xiu was naturally thinking about Cheng Lingran. She had turned 20 recently as well. She would start her 3rd year of university in September.

"Are you still studying? Where do you study?"

"I studied at Colombia. I already graduated from the MBA course."

"I also hold a PhD." she added in the end.

Jiang Xiu was a bit amazed. When he met her, she seemed quite arrogant and cold, but she actually turned out to be a rare business genius. He speculated that it must've been due to Wang Xuetang's upbringing.

"Interesting…"

"Soon, all the big shots from Hang City will come over."

"You shall receive them on behalf of this Deity."

"Me?" Wang Xintong was quite surprised.

She couldn't believe it as she knew what this signified. It meant that she had become Mr. Jiang's spokesperson. She was expecting that this work will fall to the Tang family but never thought she would be selected.

"Yes!"

Wang Xintong blushed again after getting his confirmation. It wasn't due to shame this time but instead due to the excitement. Her eyes shone with enthusiasm.

"Thank you, Mr. Jiang. I won't disappoint you."

Jiang Xiu nodded then said in a deadpan manner, "The most important thing is to practice dancing better, remember this."

"…" Wang Xintong was left speechless.

At this time, the bell of the villa rung. Tang Zhenshan and the others had arrived. They felt their hearts skip a beat when they saw Wang Xintong accompany Jiang Xiu for breakfast in the villa's open space. Wang Xintong was waiting right for this moment when others will see her. She felt quite ashamed, especially so due to her father's unclear expression. She wished she could escape to another region.

"Mr. Jiang, this is the plan document and also the first project I'm planning. As my Wang family doesn't have any foundation in real estate, we are planning to make a contract with Jiang City's Cheng family to be safe…"

Jiang Xiu waved his hand, "From now on, if you have anything to report to this Deity, first go through her. She'll filter through them then inform this Deity. Wait for a second… What did you just say? Who are you going to cooperate with?"

Wang Xuetang replied, "Jiang City's Cheng Estates. Has Mr. Jiang heard about them?"

The Cheng family's rise along with the end of his father's career had brought a tremendous amount of pain to Jiang Xiu and his mother. He detested the Cheng family from the bottom of his heart yet his dark emotions towards Cheng Lingran were also equally true. His feelings towards the Cheng family were quite complicated, and sometimes he would reveal this subconsciously.

Jiang Xiu's gaze turned cold, "You want this Deity to rely on others to make money, that too the Cheng family?"

Wang Xuetang had drafted this plan before Jiang Xiu had taken over the Wang family. As the family was acting too conservative, he adopted this method, cooperating with the Cheng family to share the risks so that the elders would agree with him. Since the contract was already signed, he was planning to proceed with it so that he could obtain achievements as soon as possible. But Wang Xuetang wasn't expecting that he would anger Mr. Jiang.

Wang Xuetang's face turned pale, "Mr. Jiang, I'll immediately amend the plan. I won't make such folly again."

The people present there were all experienced persons, so they had read between the lines already.

Mr. Jiang's first sentence wasn't strange as with the wealth he possessed, he could do anything and didn't need to ask other's help, but his next sentence was indeed thought-provoking - 'that too the Cheng family'. This revealed that Mr. Jiang had an encounter with them before.

"You know what to do?"

Cold sweat formed on Wang Xuetang's forehead, "Yes!"

Jiang Xiu didn't like cooperating with others. This was because he lacked trust in them and it was also related to his experience. Although he had made many acquaintances, there was no doubt that he was a person who was slow at warming up to others. A contradiction between the other party and him would arise when cooperating, even more so when he disliked them. Let alone, the other party was the Cheng family this time.

"Is there anything else?"

"Mr. Jiang, a few big shots of Hang City have come to pay respects to you." Tang Zhenshan stated.

Jiang Xiu pointed towards Wang Xintong, "Tell them to meet her. They can tell her anything they want to convey." Jiang Xiu's ambitions laid somewhere else, so he didn't have the mood to play social niceties with these people. He was already a bit impatient due to Wang Xintong disturbing his cultivation yesterday night.

"Alright!"

Jiang Xiu began cultivating with a peace of mind once these people left.

He took the inner core out. He had already refined it, so it wasn't glowing like before. He threw it lightly before him, after which it floated while again releasing a bright radiance.

This inner core was different from the Heavenly Dao Religion's God and Li Mi, they were souls, i.e. spiritual energy and could be devoured directly, but the inner core needed to be absorbed slowly.

"Hmm. A Millennium Inner Core."

He discovered that it was a Millennium grade Inner Core when he began absorbing it. However, the energy inside this inner core wasn't pure. He speculated that the River Swallowing Toad had rushed its cultivation, thus reducing the quality of the inner core.

"Bzzt!"

The Divine Race bloodline in his body pulsed, showing the signs of another awakening. Jiang Xiu pressed on and absorbed the energy from the inner core more fiercely.

The pale light from the inner core hit Jiang Xiu's body strongly, getting absorbed into his body in the end.

Boom!

His body trembled as if he was about to explode, releasing an energy pulse with him at the center. Jiang Xiu's divine force increased again.

The 6th divine regalia appeared on his arm.

Awakening Stage's 6th Mythical Realm!

He raised his arm to take a look. The pattern was faintly discernible now after the appearance of the 6th divine regalia, resembling a character. If he had the Divine Race Regalia Design Chart, he could have predicted what Godhead it is by comparing each one of them.

He continued to cultivate without any intentions of stopping.

Boom!

Boom!

Jiang Xiu cultivated with an overwhelming force. The Divine Race bloodline continued to awaken like a mad demon. He had evoked another five divine regalia on that day, reaching a total of 11 divine regalia. He only stopped after his body felt tired and could no longer absorb the inner core's energy easily.

"This pattern looks like a letter…"

He had finally obtained a clue after awakening 11 divine regalia. The pattern resembled an ancient character.

"Not bad…"

According to what he knew, character-type divine regalia belonged to the strong divine races. The character itself was a very mysterious thing, and it took the form as divine regalia, this was something incredible. Octaspell Divine Race, Shadow Emperor Divine Race, False Immortal Divine Race… all their Godheads were formed of character-type divine regalia, and they possessed abilities which even Jiang Xiu envied.

As for which race Jiang Xiu had awakened to, he could only figure that out after the first letter became evident, concluding the process of turning into a real god. If the character became a glyph, it'd be even stronger and might also produce a Grand Dao Art, which was a heaven-defying existence.

Jiang Xiu became excited thinking about this. He wished he could return to the Immortal Martial Continent and cultivate to maturity by exploiting the resources there so that he could pry into the complete pattern of his divine regalia.

Since it was a bit clear after he had awakened several times, Jiang Xiu didn't act radically anymore and selected to purify the divine force in his body so that his boundary wouldn't become unstable.

Ring-Ring. His cell phone started ringing. Jiang Xiu took a look and saw that it was from his mother, Lin Yueling, so he had to receive it.

"Son, did you have a fight with Susu again?"

"No, why?"

Jiang Xiu didn't know whether Cheng Lingsu had revealed about him to Lin Yueling.

"Why did Susu return home silently then?"

It seemed like she hadn't revealed it. Jiang Xiu thought that this complied with her nature as she wouldn't praise him, "I also don't know."

"Stinky brat, Susu is your fiancee. How can you say you don't know?" Lin Yueling felt a headache. Her husband had deceived plenty of girls during his youth, and she had also got coaxed by him. She really wondered how she had given birth to such a slow-witted son.

"Hehe…"

Jiang Xiu had almost forgotten she was his fiancee.

"She'll be your wife in the future."

Lin Yueling was quite dissatisfied regarding Jiang Xiu's vague actions so she reminded him of this so that he could act more clear-headed and understand the relation between him and Cheng Lingsu.

"Wife?"

His wife wasn't Cheng Lingsu in the previous timeline, it was Cheng Lingran who had sacrificed herself to complement for the harm that the Cheng family had done to Jiang Xiu. Jiang Xiu felt a bone-piercing pain when he remembered this.

A woman's miserable fate of using her love to heal a man who she didn't love at all was itself a tragedy. It was like entering one unhappy tale after another.

The suffering tormented them both.

"Hey, why aren't you replying? Okay, Mother will stop speaking about this to you. Since Susu came back, you can also return and go to the Cheng family to see her."

Jiang Xiu was stunned, "You want thi… me to visit her?"

Lin Yueling raised her voice all of a sudden, "What attitude is this? You'll go since I told you to go! Foolish son, quickly come back then visit Susu. If I heard you didn't go, see how I deal with you then!"

Jiang Xiu wished he could cry. He felt it quite difficult to accept such a lessoning tone, being disciplined by his mother suddenly after living an unhindered life for 3000 years.

"Do I have to go?"

Deity Xiu asked in a pleading tone. He had nothing to say to Cheng Lingsu and didn't wish to see her.

"I'm not discussing it with you here. This is an order."

Lin Yueling's tone was quite firm.

She wished for her son to understand how her view on this matter was. Jiang Xiu must marry Cheng Lingsu.

"Mother, actually…"

"Beep-Beep-Beep…"

Lin Yueling ended the call without even giving Jiang Xiu a chance to explain. Jiang Xiu hadn't expected his mother's grudge to be so deep. This was also no strange matter as their entire family had declined. His mother had suffered the most during all these years.

Lin Yueling hated the Cheng family. Jiang Xiu also hated them, he wanted to thoroughly destroy Cheng Lingsu, the woman who had destroyed him in the previous timeline, but he couldn't bear to make Cheng Lingran suffer. She wouldn't be able to bear it if anything happened to anyone in the Cheng family.

After thinking about it, he remembered that Cheng Lingran had come to visit for the holidays. He speculated that she would be at home if she didn't go outside.

"Prepare a car for me. This Deity is going back to Jiang City…"

Jiang Xiu called Wang Xintong.

"Alright!"

Wang Xintong arranged a chauffeur and a car for him quickly. It took only 2 hours to return to Jiang City. Cheng Lingran was indeed there when he reached the Cheng family. She was the one who opened the door for him.

She had worn a pink headband to bind her hair and wore a relaxing summer dress which emphasized her curves. Her warm gaze bewitched Jiang Xiu.

"Sis!"

Cheng Lingran was also happy seeing him, "Little Xiu, you're here! Quickly come inside."

Jiang Xiu hid his intense gaze from Cheng Lingran and followed behind her into the Cheng family's house. She gazed at him from the side with a smile on her face, "Little Xiu, you really surprised me. I didn't know you are this year's provincial topper for the college entrance exam."

"It was just luck."

Deity Xiu said said it with modesty though luck played no factor in it. He had achieved it using his own strength and could easily score the top marks if he wrote it again.

"Haha. Little Xiu, you've become mature now. Sister still remembers how naughty you were in your childhood and also quite energetic. But you've become so calm now."

Cheng Lingran's memories of him were from when they were children, way before the Jiang family had declined. At that time, they acted lovey-dovey with each other and played together often. Cheng Lingran was older than Jiang Xiu and Cheng Lingsu by two years, so she monitored them, but Jiang Xiu never acted obediently. He was quite competitive then.

"Humans always grow up."

Cheng Lingran guided him inside the house then squat down while using her left hand to fix her collar to avoid exposing herself. She took the slippers out with her right hand then said to Jiang Xiu, "Susu is upstairs. She locked herself in her room."

"My mom said that you went out to have fun together."

"Did you have a fight?"

Jiang Xiu shook his head.

"Did Little Xiu come?" A calm voice came through from the drawing room. Jiang Xiu didn't reply as he didn't have a good opinion towards the person who had caused his father to go to prison and even might've been behind his father's accident in the previous timeline.

"Mhm. It's him!"

Cheng Lingran responded.

"Really mannerless."

Sun Xiaohong's voice came through after that. She was sitting beside Cheng Hanlin. She naturally didn't feel happy about Cheng Hanlin calling the brat home. Cheng Hanlin was around 40 years old, had a refined appearance and gave off an intellectual feeling to others with his indifferent yet friendly smile.

Cheng Hanlin was slightly startled when he saw Jiang Xiu. It had been 3 years since he last saw him, At that time, Jiang Yi had come to ask for help regarding Jiang Xiu joining Second High.

Jiang Xiu was a yes-man then, but he was completely different now. He had a solemn face with a deep gaze, brimming with confidence, exuding a mysterious aura.

It's just that his clothes were too wretched.

"You've grown up."

He didn't mention the matter about Jiang Xiu becoming the provincial topper. Even he wasn't optimistic about Jiang Xiu at that time. Only, his old friend's genes had proved themselves.

After coming inside, Jiang Xiu discovered that there was another person inside the house. He was a refined, handsome youth. What Jiang Xiu wasn't expecting was that Cheng Lingran went towards him and sat near him.

"Little Xiu, let me introduce him to you. This is my friend, he's called Li Junfei."

Friend?

An ordinary friend naturally wouldn't visit Cheng Lingran's home, and that too sit so near to her. There was no doubt that he ought to be Cheng Lingran's boyfriend. In the previous timeline, after his parent's passed away and before Cheng Lingran entered his life, he had no clue about Cheng Lingran's past experiences.

Only, it was quite rare for a 20-year-old girl to not have a boyfriend. Let alone, a beauty like Cheng Lingran, she naturally had a lot of pursuers.

In that split second, Jiang Xiu felt the flames of jealousy flare up to his head, but his mind became tranquil in a flash. He had already come to a decision about it. He wished for Cheng Lingran to get together with a man who she loved genuinely and live all her life in happiness.

"Junfei is from the Imperial Capital, his home has assets worth over 10 billion…" Sun Xiaohong said with an excited look and even raised her voice higher when she mentioned '10 billion'.

In the year 2008, 10 billion wasn't a small amount. It wasn't possible to make such an amount just by dabbling in business. There was no doubt that there was a relation between the family and the government.

This Li Junfei was a prominent figure.

"So you're Jiang Xiu," commented Li Junfei.

"Aunt was just talking about it."

It could be made out from the contempt which flashed through his eyes that Sun Xiaohong had undoubtedly vilified him. Jiang Xiu guessed that she must have already mentioned that their home ran a fruit stall.

The two of them were candidates of the Cheng family's son-in-law position. One was a young master from the Imperial Capital, heir to assets worth 10 billion while the other wasn't even worth mentioning. Sun Xiaohong lamented for her youngest daughter.

"Hello!"

Deity Xiu replied elegantly.

Cheng Hanlin said, "Little Xiu, did you and Susu have a quarrel? That girl returned back in a gloomy mood and locked herself in the room without even eating anything for a day. Just what happened?"

"I too don't know."

"Go up and call her down. She must be famished."

Jiang Xiu furrowed his brows but still endured it for the sake of Cheng Lingran. Cheng Lingran had sensed the conflict in his heart, so she jumped in, "Little Xiu, I'll come up with you."

She ran over and pulled Jiang Xiu towards the upper floor.

"Sis, how long have you known that man?"

"Not that long. Father introduced him saying we should become friends…"

"Sis!"

Jiang Xiu stared into her eyes, "You must find a person you genuinely like. No matter how much resistance there is from your family, I'll help you settle it. The main thing is that you should be happy."

He felt his heart hurt when he said this, but these were his sincere thoughts.

Buddha said - There are Eight Sufferings in life, Birth, Aging, Sickness, Death, Parting with love, Meeting with hate, Unattained goals and Difficulty of letting go…

Cheng Lingran laughed, "Okay!"

"Sister will count on Little Xiu to protect me from now on then."

She knocked on the door while raising her voice, "Susu, open the door. Don't act with such a temper and come out to have a meal. Dad and mom will cut your pocket money if you don't."

Cheng Lingsu was hugging a big bear doll in her room with a bewildered gaze. She replied without even thinking, "Don't mind me, let me rest."

Cheng Lingran said, "Don't throw a fit now. Little Xiu has come. Quickly come out."

Cheng Lingsu's expression changed. She immediately got down the bed and ran to open the door. Her pretty face turned pale the moment she saw Jiang Xiu there. She didn't know why he had come.

"Looks like using Little Xiu's name is more effective."

Cheng Lingsu looked into his apathetic gaze, "W-Why did you come?"

Her voice was quite nervous.

"Alright, let's go down!"

Cheng Hanlin smiled after seeing his youngest daughter come down. He was quite lenient towards his elder and younger daughter. Sun Xiaohong, however, pursed her brows, pondering why she had come down when Jiang Xiu called her out but didn't when she did.

"Have a meal first, okay? Everyone's waiting for you."

Sun Xiaohong became more upset as she had her meal on the dining table. She couldn't understand why her daughter was so fixated on Jiang Xiu and decided she couldn't allow it to continue anymore. "Do you know that the Cheng family and Wang family's joint project is about to start soon? After this project is completed, our Cheng family will be the richest family in Jiang City."

Li Junfei asked, "Is that Wang family the provincial capital's Wang family?"

Sun Xiaohong's gaze turned fervent, "That's right!"

Li Junfei said, "I've also heard about this Wang family in the Imperial Capital. They have a heritage of over 200 years. Although they aren't on the Wealth Ranking, in fact, it's possible that the Wang family's financial resources are stronger than my family's."

"The Cheng family will surely soar with this cooperation from the Wang family."

Cheng Hanlin's face revealed a smile. This was all pretty unexpected for him. He had coincidentally met Wang Xuetang who was in-charge of the Wang family's businesses in the aeroplane and even sealed a deal smoothly.

"The project was finalized just recently. There are many other things which need to be done so it'll be quite a busy time later."

Although he whined about the hardships, he was wholly proud.

Sun Xiaohong said, "Some people should be clear about what to do. My Cheng family has achieved all we have today by relying on ourselves, not on others."

Jiang Xiu remained calm. Cheng Lingsu peeked at him with worry as she knew that the Wang family was already crawling under Jiang Xiu's feet, all their assets belonged to him now.

Ring-Ring!

Cheng Hanlin's cell phone started ringing. He answered it with a smile, but it went rigid immediately, "What!? The Wang family breached the contract and canceled the collaboration with us on the project!?"

Cheng Hanlin planned to call Wang Xuetang after ending the call, but his cell phone rang again.

"Bailu Institution Project was shut down."

"Central Building Project was shut down."

"Bridal…"

News about projects being shut down came in unbroken succession. Cheng Haling was still calm in the beginning, but his face had turned pale by the end as a cold sweat formed on his forehead. He appeared as if he had lost his soul.

"Finished… Everything is over…"

"How is this possible?!"

"Our Cheng family will die from the financial loss."

Cheng Lingsu looked towards Jiang Xiu. She knew that Jiang Xiu must have done it as only he possessed this kind of power in Jiang City.

As for Jiang Xiu, he too was puzzled.

Jiang Xiu had only told the Wang family to break down the cooperation with the Cheng family to destroy their dream of becoming the wealthiest people in Jiang City, so he was also clueless about the rest.

A problem arising with one project might be coincidental, but when it happens in succession, there was no doubt someone was acting behind the scenes.

The Cheng family was ruined this time.

Sun Xiaohong's face turned ugly due to the nervousness, "Hanlin, what's happening? How can this happen? Wasn't the company doing well?"

"How can something like this happen?"

She was thoroughly frantic and couldn't calm down. If the Cheng family declined, she would become a poverty-stricken peasant.

"I-I also don't know."

He was completely stupefied.

However, he was sure that someone was targeting the Cheng family. Who is it? Who has such power?

There was no doubt that it was someone with influence as only such a person could shut down all the projects of the Cheng family in a day. He couldn't remember offending such a person ever though.

"Come out with me…" Cheng Lingsu said in a voice tiny enough just for Jiang Xiu to hear. She got up then walked towards the courtyard.

"It's so warm. Why have you called this Deity outside?"

Cheng Lingsu looked straight at Jiang Xiu. Ever since she returned from Hang City, this man entirely occupied her mind, that visage of him looking down on everyone like a monarch.

"Did you do it?"

Jiang Xiu shook his head.

Cheng Lingsu persisted, "Even if you don't admit it, who else in Jiang City can make my family sink into such a state?"

"I know you aren't a magnanimous person."

Jiang Xiu never believed he was a nice person and never acted magnanimously. He had obtained the position of the Sect Master of the Heaven Treading Sect by stamping over the corpses of several other people. Blood was piled up behind the moniker Deity Xiu. His dictionary didn't have the two words known as leniency and magnanimity.

"What? You have nothing to say now?"

"Jiang Xiu, we are family friends. I didn't expect you would do such a thing."

"Family friends?"

If your Cheng family knew the meaning of these two words, you wouldn't have tried to remove the engagement with this Deity nor tried to make a clear dividing line with the Jiang family. Also, the tragedy in the previous timeline would've never happened.

"What if this Deity was the one who was behind it? What if I wasn't?"

"If it was you then stop immediately. The Cheng family is my parents' heart's blood, they had paid a lot for this…"

Jiang Xiu sneered, "Stop?"

"Don't you know who I, Jiang Xiu, am?"

A ruthless character who had left behind corpses in the Wang family and had over half of Jiangnan under his feet.

Saying this, Jiang Xiu turned around to leave.

Cheng Lingsu pursed her lips and stated towards his back, "Do you think you're terrific? You have a weird personality and act condescendingly. Don't think you'll always be like this, even from the underworld people still get killed. You'll definitely suffer the consequences for your actions one day."

"When the time comes, you'll find yourself alone without anything at all."

"No one will pity you."

"Even those villains in the TV end up living under the bridges after getting old."

Cheng Lingsu's mood turned intense the more she spoke, right until tears glistened at her eyes and her voice went hoarse.

But Jiang Xiu didn't stop.

She cried out in despair, "I promise, I promise you…"

Jiang Xiu stopped, "Promise me what?"

He took note of her tear-stained face now. "I promise to marry you.." She felt her heart crush into pieces as she said this. "Let the Cheng family off."

"Hahaha…"

Jiang Xiu felt as if he had the heard the best joke ever, almost crying from the laughing.

"Isn't that what you want?"

Cheng Lingsu couldn't understand why he was laughing. She knew he wasn't laughing due to feeling pleased but rather due to laughing genuinely, exposing a satisfied devilish smile on his face as if his plan had succeeded.

"Cheng Lingsu, you overestimate yourself too much. Did you think this Deity handled the Cheng family to get you?"

"You didn't do it for that?"

According to what Cheng Lingsu knew, Jiang Xiu had liked her right from their childhood and always took her word. She just acted cold towards him, so she thought that he was hurt due to that and was making reprisals now.

"Hah…"

"If you feel resentful, deal with me directly. Don't act against my family. My parents and my sister are innocent."

Jiang Xiu pondered about Cheng Lingran's fate if the Cheng family really lost its businesses. He wondered whether she would accept his care. According to what he knew about her, she absolutely wouldn't do that. In the previous timeline, when Cheng Lingran had decided to follow him, she had never accepted the kindness of others. And now, Jiang Xiu was just an ordinary person to her so she would never accept him.

What troubled Jiang Xiu was that if Cheng Lingsu revealed to Cheng Lingran that he had dealt with the Cheng family, it would change the way she would act with him. He continued to think further and pondered if she would hate him.

"I had nothing to do with this…"

Jiang Xiu was also puzzled about the person who had acted against the Cheng family.

"Really?"

Cheng Lingsu didn't believe him, "Who else besides you can do it in Jiang Cty?"

"I merely told the Wang family to break off the contract with your family."

Deity Xiu didn't like explaining things to others, but one person was an exception, that's Cheng Lingran. He didn't wish for her to misunderstand him.

"Why have so many incidents happened to my family then?"

Jiang Xiu shook his head. "This Deity doesn't know. Maybe your father offended someone while doing business. Nowadays, there's a lot of profit in real estate and the Cheng family has it going good so it isn't a wonder that people will covet it."

"Then… Can you help?"

Jiang Xiu felt astonished, "You want this Deity to help your Cheng family?" It felt simply absurd to him.

"You don't want to?"

"You're the most suspicious in this. This is the only way for you to clear my suspicion. I'm sure you don't want this to fall on your head in the end."

Jiang Xiu's face turned cold, "You dare to threaten this Deity?"

"I'm not threatening you. Let alone, do you care about my Cheng family?" She knew Jiang Xiu didn't have any good feelings for the Cheng family and even felt rancor. She also knew that he blamed the Cheng family for Uncle Jiang getting imprisoned. If he still cared about the Cheng family, the sole reason for it would be her.

The girl looked towards Jiang Xiu, thirsting to seek that burning desire in his gaze for her but it was no longer there. Only pain flashed through it.

He turned back in anger, "This Deity won't help you."

The girl clenched her teeth. "I'll go find Ye Wenchen if you don't help me. His father is the Deputy Mayor now and is in-charge of the construction work in the city. He can easily solve this matter."

"Find whoever you like to, it's unrelated to this Deity."

He pushed the door and returned back inside. Cheng Lingran was sitting on the sofa, comforting Sun Xiaohong who was out of her wits right now. Her face was filled with helplessness as if a nightmare was approaching them and Cheng Lingran's face was also covered with worry. She held her mother's hand tightly. "It's alright, don't worry. Father had done business for so long. I'm sure he'll find a way to solve this."

"Our Cheng family's liability accounting is still fine, so there shouldn't be a problem."

Jiang Xiu still remembered that Cheng Lingsu was studying MBA and understood things about companies pretty well.

"Sis! I have something to do so I'll be leaving."

Jiang Xiu felt it wouldn't be good for him to stay here.

"Alright, you can go back."

Cheng Lingran sent a meaningful glance towards Jiang Xiu, quietly saying, "Sister won't be seeing you out."

"It's all because of him. This poor devil, bearer of ill luck. Bad things keep happening ever since he entered our house." Sun Xiaohong started cursing after Jiang Xiu went a little far and blamed everything on him.

Cheng Lingsu had just arrived inside and got anxious that Jiang Xiu would hear this, "Mom, how is he related to this? Also, don't talk wrong about him from now on or scold in front of him. He isn't someone to be trifled with."

She wasn't planning to reveal Jiang Xiu's identity, but she couldn't allow her mother to vilify Jiang Xiu again. He was after all Mr. Jiang who had over half of Jiangnan under his feet.

Cheng Lingsu believed that Jiang Xiu always kept bearing her mother silently for her sake or due to the engagement between them.

But everyone has an underline. Just in case Jiang Xiu got angered, from the way he had handled the Wang family, Cheng Lingsu knew he wouldn't show mercy to his enemies.

"He isn't someone to be trifled with?"

"Are you telling me that he will rebel?"

Cheng Lingsu didn't wish to quarrel with her mother, "Leave it. I'll make a call to Ye Wenchen and ask whether Deputy Mayor Ye can help."

Sun Xiaohong's eyes brightened after hearing that, "Yes, that's right. Deputy Mayor Ye is in-charge of real estate. He'll surely be able to settle this issue."

Heavy rain poured down on Jiang City during the evening and changed into a fine drizzle by night. Although it was summer, Jiangnan's drizzles accompanied by the mist which surged over the entire city gave it an ethereal feel.

Cheng Hanlin sat together with Deputy Mayor Ye on a boat over the lake. Cheng Hanlin had already recovered his calm. He believed that this entire situation could be reversed if the man in front of him acted.

Ye Zhengqiu was over 40 years old and less than 50, the most active time for a man. He was flushed with success and was also promoted recently, "I had thought that Brother Hanlin would be quite unhappy and worried. But it seems like you're calm enough to invite me over for dinner."

"By having the company of a refined person like Deputy Mayor Ye, my mood would turn better even if it wasn't."

"Hahaha…"

Ye Zhengqiu laughed loudly while nodding towards Cheng Hanlin, "Brother Hanlin is indeed eloquent." If it were before, he wouldn't have had the qualifications to share a meal with a rich and powerful person like Cheng Hanlin. But now, he felt really proud that such a person was trying to fawn on him.

"Brother Hanlin, don't you feel anxious about the Cheng Conglomerate's problem?"

"Anxiety is one thing but having a bad mood is totally another thing."

Ye Zhengqiu commented, "The circumstances don't look too encouraging for the Cheng Conglomerate."

Cheng Hanlin replied in such a way, "The Cheng Conglomerate is a professional and healthy group. I've used my foresight and skill to do work and never overstepped my boundaries. There's no way our work is sloppy. Moreover, how can it be so coincidental that all the projects under the group got reported at the same time? It's clear that someone is trying to make things hard for us."

"I naturally believe that the Cheng Conglomerate is a good company, but it's useless if I alone believe it."

"The government will act if someone reports."

Since when did the government act so efficiently, Cheng Hanlin cursed inwardly. He asked in a low voice, "I'm curious about the person who wants to deal with me, so much that they have used such methods."

"The business world is a battlefield. This is also unavoidable."

These words clearly meant that he was avoiding Cheng Hanlin's question. This made Cheng Hanlin slightly wrinkle his brows. He knew someone was acting behind the scenes and that Ye Zhengqiu knew who it was, but was unwilling to reveal it.

He speculated that the perpetrator's influence was too big.

Ye Zhengqiu's cell phone rang at this moment, "Son, what's up?"

"Father understands that…"

He hung the call after listening to his son prattle again then said with a smile, "Just one word from your darling daughter and my son has kept calling me at my office since noon."

"Only, Susu is indeed a good girl, talented and pretty. Brother Hanlin, I'll be bold and propose marriage for the younguns. What do you think about marrying your Susu to my son?"

Cheng Hanlin was stunned, pondering whether this was the reason he had come to this appointment today.

He felt quite awkward.

Thinking about it, Ye Wenchen was quite outstanding and had a good character. Plus, he also had a father like Ye Zhengqiu, so he was really suitable for Susu. However, Cheng Hanlin had already promised someone else.

Ye Zhenqiu laughed after seeing Cheng Hanlin hesitate, "Brother Hanlin, the situation is much more complicated than you can imagine. It isn't just one or two people who are set out to deal with the Cheng Conglomerate."

"Aaahhh?"

Even though Cheng Hanlin tried to remain calm, he couldn't help but feel shocked a bit. He had tried to figure out the identity of the person behind the scenes but still couldn't find them, and it turned out that it wasn't just one person doing it.

"It's not an exaggeration to say that the Cheng Conglomerate would have ended if not for its work being according to standard."

Ye Zhengqiu continued, "Even if I wish to help you block those evil monsters, the Cheng Conglomerate will have to sacrifice a portion of the projects or else…" He shook his head.

The price for him to make a move was Cheng Lingsu marrying Ye Wenchen.

Cheng Hanlin hesitated over and over again.

He had obtained the capital to start his business through Jiang Xiu's and Cheng Lingran's engagement in that time. He had to persevere with the engagement due to Jiang Yi losing his job from trying to cover for him. He didn't budge no matter what his wife said but now… the Cheng Conglomerate's survival was at stake. If Ye Zhengqiu didn't help him, the Cheng Conglomerate would be truly done for.

No one would respect a person who only has only reputation left after losing both position and wealth.

He clenched his teeth, "I'm also quite fond of a talented youth like Wenchen!"

"If Deputy Mayor Ye will uphold your end, we shall settle on this deal."

Ye Zhengqiu laughed heartily.

Nowadays, the best pair up was between the government and commerce. One has the authority and the other money so they would benefit each other. Ye Zhenqiu thought that it might be possible to become the Secretary of Jiang City by next year.

"Deal!"

Cheng Hanlin's heart was filled with worry as he didn't know how to explain this matter to Jiang Yi.

"Deputy Mayor Ye, just who is making things hard for the Cheng Conglomerate in the end?"

Ye Zhengqiu laid the facts bare since the marriage was a done deal now, "Tang Zhenshan, Zhong Liyong, Wen Zuolin, Wu Degui…"

Cheng Hanlin was shocked by each one of the names and left dumbstruck by the end. These names included more than half of the upper-class circle of Jiang City, and each one of them had a troublesome character.

"I have never offended them!"

"Those who don't incur envy are just mediocre in the end. The Cheng Conglomerate's development has been outstanding these past two years. It has good positioning in the market as well as a good sales concept. How can those old fogies compare with you? This is all that they are capable of."

"As the Cheng Conglomerate has worked properly, I won't let them act recklessly."

Cheng Hanlin laid down the worry in his heart after hearing these words.

The following feast was quite jovial. Ye Zhengqiu returned to his ride after the dinner ended then called his son, hoping to tell this news he had been waiting for a long time. Naturally, Ye Zhengqiu also felt quite happy as he had a lot of expectations from this marriage between the families. "Your Uncle Cheng agreed."

Ye Wenchen was stunned for a second then went mad from the happiness rushing to his head, "Really? Uncle Cheng really agreed to it?"

"Foolish son, why are you still calling him Uncle Cheng? You should call him father-in-law from now on."

"Very good, this is very good…"

Ye Wenchen wished he could howl towards the sky. He had finally achieved his dream. This feeling was something only a boy who has chased after a girl could understand. It felt as if the entire world was in his palms.

He hung the call and impatiently called Cheng Lingsu, "Susu, my father has agreed. Your father has also agreed to our matter!"

Cheng Lingsu was with her mother and sister right now. They were all worried right now. Even that Li Junfei had left due to the Cheng family meeting this inconvenient matter. "That's good…"

"Hmm? Our matter? What's that?"

"Our marriage!" replied Ye Wenchen.

Actually, he felt a tad bit nervous. Although everyone believed he and Cheng Lingsu were a couple, and they both had similar intentions, they had never gone ahead with it.

"Uncle Cheng agreed to our marriage."

"Hah!?"

Cheng Lingsu cried out, her cell phone almost slipping from her grip. She realized that this must have been the condition for Deputy Mayor Ye to help the Cheng family and that her father had promised it.

The sound of the door opening came through. Cheng Hanlin had returned in quite a tipsy manner. Only, his mood was already better, so he fell on the sofa. He was terrified today. "It's fine. The matter is settled now. Deputy Mayor Ye said that everything will return to normal tomorrow."

"Father, did you promise Uncle Ye that you'll marry me to Ye Wenchen?" Cheng Lingsu's face turned pale.

Cheng Hanlin sat upright, "Yes."

"B-But I'm engaged to Jiang Xiu."

"Are we going to break the engagement?"

Cheng Hanlin said helplessly, "Nothing can be done about it. If I didn't agree, our Cheng Conglomerate would end. Our family will go bankrupt. Only misery will await us then."

Cheng Lingsu replied with a pale face, "If you break the engagement, we'll end up even more miserable than that."

"Father, we cannot break the engagement."

Cheng Hanlin pondered whether his daughter had fallen in love with that brat Jiang Xiu.

"It's a happy occasion."

Sun Xiaohong was quite excited and couldn't help but clap. She had waited for this day to arrive for a long time. "Susu, what foolish things are you saying? We should celebrate since your father has agreed to this with great difficulty. We have finally become free of the Jiang family. I feel so light right now."

Cheng Lingsu's face turned uglier as her body trembled slightly, "No way, absolutely no way."

"Father, listen to me. We cannot break the engagement, or the consequences will be unimaginable. We cannot afford to offend the Jiang family and even more so Jiang Xiu."

Sun Xiaohong sneered, "Susu, what's up with you? Why are you saying such idiotic words? Do you think our Cheng family can't afford to offend a family of fruit-sellers like the Jiang family?"

"Stop kidding!"

"Mom, Jiang Xiu isn't as simple as you think."

"You don't understand him!"

"No one understands him!"

"He is…"

She was on the verge of revealing it but couldn't continue. If she announced that Jiang Xiu was Mr. Jiang, though her family wouldn't rashly remove the engagement between them, this was also equal to setting down a death penalty for her. She would never break free from the devil known as Jiang Xiu.

She thought up a plan, "Just wait, let me make a call."

The entire family watched with bewilderment as Cheng Lingsu ran upstairs wearing her slippers then called Jiang Xiu. She wanted to know Jiang Xiu's intentions. Very soon, she heard Jiang Xiu's indifferent voice on the other end, "Why did you call this Deity?"

"My home's matter is settled."

Jiang Xiu felt quite astonished, "Oh, really?"

"Ye Wenchen's father, Deputy Mayor Ye is going to handle it. The projects will resume normal operation tomorrow. Only, he raised a condition…"

Cheng Lingsu felt her heart pound faster. She felt quite afraid of angering Jiang Xiu yet also looked forward to him getting angry.

"Deputy Mayor Ye wants me to marry Ye Wenchen."

"This Deity doesn't have any thoughts on that. Isn't the agreement to end our engagement already with you?"

"Is there anything else? If not, this Deity will end the call."

Cheng Lingsu only recovered her sense after hearing the beep sound. She couldn't believe that Jiang Xiu had let her off so quickly. She thought that this devil was plotting all this to obtain her so she couldn't believe he was letting her go.

Jiang Xiu's response was entirely out of her expectations.

"I'm free?"

Cheng Lingsu felt as if a meat pie had fallen from the sky, that she had broken free from him so effortlessly.

"Hahaha, I'm free."

She laughed happily yet for some reason, she felt an indescribable sense of loss.

After coming down the floor, Sun Xiaohong asked her, "Susu, what did you do after going up?"

"N-Nothing."

"This matter is settled then. Once the Cheng Conglomerate resumes normal operation, you will remove the engagement with Jiang Xiu then get engaged with Ye Wenchen…"

Cheng Hanlin slapped his thigh then stood up, "It's settled."

He turned around then returned to his bedroom after that. Sun Xiaohong cheerfully followed after him.

"Sister, what kind of person is Jiang Xiu in your impression?"

"What? Do you hate to part with him?" teased Cheng Lingran.

Cheng Lingsu rolled her eyes. Who would want to be with that devil? He's so tyrannical as well as condescending and would stoop down to any methods to gain what he wants.

Cheng Lingran ruffled her little sister's hair, "Sister only remembers how he was in his childhood. He was quite naughty then. However, he would always stand out to fight for us when we got bullied. Do you remember that your toy was snatched by a child once? He chased after that child for three streets then fought it back for you."

Cheng Lingsu commented, "That's the only good thing he has ever done."

"But now, he has changed…"

"He has become a demon."

"Fortunately, I don't need to get together with him now."

"Demon?" A scene flashed through Cheng Lingran's mind. That year, Jiang Xiu's family was going through a hard time. Not only the Jiang family but even their family also had it hard. Both the heads of the household had suffered, and her father had to even flee to Hong Kong so he couldn't take care of the family.

Standing in front of the store, she wanted to really eat the lollipop covered by the multi-colored wrapping, but she didn't have money so she could only look. She heard the store's boss yell then. She saw Jiang Xiu run over towards her with a lollipop in hand and pulled her as they made their escape together.

"Perhaps he isn't a good person, but he's always quite good to the people beside him."

The next day, the two pearls of the Cheng family accompanied the Cheng couple to the Cheng Conglomerate's building. Since this matter was so huge, there was no doubt that a board of directors meeting would convene as the board members would feel flustered.

"Director Cheng…"

"Director Cheng…"

All the board members stood up with worry when they saw Cheng Hanlin enter the meeting room. One of the old men on the left side of the table asked, "Hanlin, how can something like this happen? Have you thought up of a countermeasure to deal with this?"

"Yes, how can so many projects get shut down?"

Most of the board members had returned from various places after hearing the news.

"Everyone, please calm down!"

Cheng Hanlin came to his seat and said with a light tone, "Everyone must have already heard about the matter. Five of the ongoing, as well as a completed construction project, were shut down. The circumstances are quite grim."

"Only, please feel relieved. I've already solved the issue. Today, at 10 AM…" He looked at his wristwatch, "In 5 more minutes, the city hall will announce that we can resume our operations."

The board members were skeptical.

"Hanlin, why did such a grave thing happen?"

Cheng Hanlin still didn't know why this had happened, "The Cheng Conglomerate has grown so big that some people want a bite of it. This is my mistake. We cannot develop the group so radically in the future."

Working on six projects revealed that the Cheng Conglomerate's development was indeed quick and was soaring. Its market value kept rising, but the risk increased at the same time. They would be utterly powerless under this kind of attack.

If it was just 1-2 projects, the Cheng Conglomerate could still bear it. He could slowly handle it when meeting such circumstances as there were no issues with the project so the related department couldn't shut it down.

"Start the TV."

This matter made quite the buzz yesterday and had appeared on all the news channels. Today, Ye Zhengqiu would personally confront the media's questions and revitalize the confidence of the public in the Cheng Conglomerate's construction works.

However, everyone was dumbstruck after seeing the news on the TV.

The screen showed the front of the city hall. Flashes followed one after one, and Cheng Hanlin was mind blown after reading the headlines below - The provincial government has demoted the Deputy Mayor in-charge of Infrastructure.

"Hanlin, what's happening? Isn't that position Ye Zhengqiu's?"

"What happened to him?"

Cheng Hanlin's head buzzed.

"How is this possible?"

He immediately called Ye Zhengqiu, "Deputy Mayor Ye…"

Ye Zhengqiu said with frustration, "Brother Hanlin, I'm no longer the Deputy Mayor. I've been reassigned to my previous post as the District Chief. I can't help you."

"How did this happen?"

Ye Zhengqiu replied, "I also don't know. You will have to find some other means."

The reporters questioned the newly appointed Deputy Mayor about the violations that the Cheng Conglomerate had committed while constructing. "The case of the Cheng Conglomerate is still under investigation, but we will surely give a proper answer to everyone."

Cheng Hanlin's phone fell to the ground. He stayed paralyzed on the director's chair as if he had lost all his strength and soul, "We're done…"

"My Cheng Conglomerate is done for…"

He had found a savior with great difficulty, but even Ye Zhengqiu was taken down by the opponent. He naturally couldn't help now that he has lost his position, so there was also no point in selling his daughter now.

"Hanlin, quickly think of some method to solve this!"

Sun Xiaohong ranted with anxiety.

Cheng Lingsu was shivering all over, her face filled with alarm. It's him. It's definitely him. He must have done this.

She finally understood his words. He had successfully removed the engagement by using Ye Zhengqiu. "D-Devil…"

Cheng Lingsu felt extremely frightened in this moment. Jiang Xiu was too powerful. He could manipulate her fate as he wished. She couldn't escape his palms no matter what she did.

"This is too dreadful…"

He's so strong that he can decide the fate of someone of the Deputy Mayor rank?

Cheng Lingsu ran out then called Jiang Xiu.

"Why have you called this Deity?"

"Just what do you want?"

"Don't act too excessively."

A cold glint flashed through Jiang Xiu's eyes. Act excessively? Have I acted worse than the Cheng family? You think you can just throw away the engagement because you have no more use of it?

"Jiang Xiu, heed my words, I-I'm not afraid of you…"

"Afraid? This Deity doesn't need you to be afraid. Just think about it. How will a pampered princess like you live after the Cheng Conglomerate goes bankrupt?"

"You…"

Cheng Lingsu finally realized that this wasn't just a question of whether she could break free from Jiang Xiu. If the issue isn't settled, the Cheng Conglomerate will go bankrupt, and their entire family will be left on the roads then.

Cheng Lingsu's face turned pale, "Jiang Xiu, just what do you want? I'm ready to listen to whatever you want. Please let the Cheng family off, okay?"

"Let the Cheng family off?"

"The Cheng Conglomerate had used my father's official career to obtain what they have now. An ungrateful thing, you actually wanted to throw off my Jiang family in such a way. The best method to deal with people like you is take everything away from you."

Cheng Lingsu could feel the hatred seeping out of his bones through the cell phone.

"It's big leniency from this Deity that I haven't killed you, and you think you can haggle with me?"

"Jiang Xiu, I know my Cheng family has let you down. Please let the Cheng family off. I'll fulfill our marriage engagement and won't associate with other schoolboys anymore."

"Hahaha…"

Jiang Xiu laughed out. You're begging this Deity to spare you now?

He recalled events from the previous timeline in this split second. In those days, Cheng Lingran had gently apologized to him in every possible way and begged him to forgive the Cheng family. Unfortunately, even she didn't know what Jiang Xiu wanted in the end.

"Ignorant idiot…"

"Beep-Beep-Beep…"

Indoor, the board of directors kept discussing and criticized Cheng Hanlin. All the responsibility was thrown on him, "All board members, please calm down. Give me some time. I'll surely settle this issue."

"What's the use of it now?"

"We can only sell two of the projects at a low price to rotate the funds. If we can somehow manage to drag it on till the investigation ends, our Cheng Conglomerate can still make a comeback."

This was equivalent to giving up the secondary things to save the important things when in crisis.

Although the assets of the Cheng Conglomerate would reduce a lot and the shareholders would suffer a considerable loss, but this was a better choice than forcing through this situation. A lot of funds would be needed or else the Cheng Conglomerate can only wait to go bankrupt.

"I'll make a call to find some buyers."

Cheng Lingsu stated in a muddleheaded state, "It's all useless… completely useless.."

She knew how far Jiang Xiu's influence went. He even had the Wang family at his beck and call. He's also able to control the candidate for Jiang City's Deputy Mayor position so there was no way the Cheng Conglomerate could escape his palms.

He wasn't planning to end the Cheng Conglomerate in a single go but instead wanted to see it struggle at its deathbed.

That perverted devil!

Cheng Hanlin called everywhere to find a buyer. The project was worth 400-500 million, but none of them were willing to buy it even after he reduced the amount by 50%. It was no use even after he cut it to a meager 10% of the original value.

"Director Cheng, it's not that we don't want to buy it, but rather we don't dare to buy it…"

"Everyone knows something is going on."

All the people in the business world were experienced persons. It was evident that Cheng Hanlin had offended someone and his patron, Ye Zhengqiu was demoted due to this. It was clear that the man behind the scenes was someone with quite the influence, so none of them dared to go against such a person.

"Director Wu, Direct…"

The room turned silent. Those board members who were quarreling also stopped making a scene. The circumstances were evident at a glance. The Cheng conglomerate was finished and didn't even have a chance to make a comeback.

"Hanlin…"

Sun Xiaohong's complexion tuned quite ugly as if she were mourning at a funeral. She couldn't help but think of Lin Yueling. She was a pretty woman before, but she had degenerated into selling fruits on the streets due to the misfortune of their family. Sun Xiaohong felt as if she was looking at her own future.

"O-Our family will really go bankrupt?"

"How can this be possible? Don't we have a lot of assets? How can we go bankrupt?"

She never thought she would have to experience poverty in her life.

Cheng Lingran supported Sun Xiaohong, caressing her back to comfort her as she knew that it was no use for words now. She also felt quite distraught about this.

"Why don't you call Junfei? Maybe our Cheng Conglomerate can recover if his family injects funds." Sun Xiaohong recalled about Li Junfei who had visited their home yesterday. He was from a family which had assets worth 10 billion.

"That…"

Cheng Lingran hadn't associated with Li Junfei for long.

"Alright, I'll try asking."

Cheng Lingran had to brace herself to do this as her family was at a critical junction. She left the conference hall then called Li Junfei.

"It's useless…"

Cheng Lingsu shook her head in a daze. She knew that this situation couldn't be solved with just a little bit of money. Money could only delay it by a bit. As long as the government doesn't stop the investigation, there would be no chances for the Cheng Conglomerate to recover as that devil Jiang Xiu would make the investigation go on until the Cheng Conglomerate declared bankruptcy.

"What? You want my family to inject funds into the Cheng Conglomerate?" Li Junfei laughed, "Lingran, it's not that I don't want to help but rather that your circumstances can't be fixed with money, so it's useless to even throw money in. It can only be solved if the Cheng Conglomerate pays back the debt to the bank in full, but this just isn't consistent with the economic interest. How about this? Your Cheng Conglomerate will apply for bankruptcy then my Li family will provide enough money so that the Cheng Conglomerate can turn a new leaf."

"There's no need. Sorry for troubling you."

She returned to the conference hall and shook her head towards her mother who was filled with hope.

"It's useless…"

"No matter what you do, it's all useless…"

The situation developed into an irreversible direction later on. Cheng Hanlin used all methods he could, and all of the big banks outdid each other until the Cheng Conglomerate went into debt though they knew its dilemma. After 10 days, the Cheng Conglomerate had to helplessly declare bankruptcy.

A gradually rising star company had crumbled in the end.

On the day the Cheng Conglomerate had declared bankruptcy, the bank had begun to auction the 6 projects. The newly appointed head of the Wang family, Wang Xuetang came to Jiang City to bid for them.

Although he had come to bid, everyone knew that these things belonged to Mr. Jiang, so no one fought over them. They had all fallen into the Wang family's hands at low prices.

Cheng Hanlin sat on the chair in his director's office. Everything was the same as before in the big office, but none of these belonged to him anymore.

Slide!

The door was pushed open, and Wang Xuetang walked while being crowded by everyone. Cheng Hanlin's eyes opened wide when he saw Wang Xuetang, "IT'S YOU!"

He almost roared out. He was always pondering about the identity of the person who had acted against his Cheng family. He thought it was Tang Zhenshan and the others, but they didn't have the power to eliminate Ye Zhengqiu out of the picture. The puzzle was finally solved now. It was the Wang family. The same Wang family who had promised to cooperate with him.

Wang Xuetang said, "It's been a long time Brother Hanlin. Only, you've misunderstood it. I wasn't the one who did it. It's my boss."

"You have a boss?"

Wang Xuetang wasn't willing to take this blame. In fact, he didn't even know Jiang Xiu had enmity with the Cheng family. He nodded, "Yes, my boss."

"The business world is a battlefield, Brother Hanlin. A man is called a king if he succeeds, a thief if he loses. You can't blame people like this. If it weren't for you expanding so radically, my boss also wouldn't have grabbed your sore spot."

Real estate was surging a lot nowadays, and those vast profits were making the merchants go blind. Myriad Base's Qin Weiping was this way, and so was Cheng Hanlin. They had invested all their assets into it, and in-case a problem occurs, they would lose everything.

"Please…"

Wang Xuetang pointed towards the doorway.

Cheng Hanlin's face turned ashen. He felt quite reluctant to part with it, his right hand clenching onto the chair's handle rigidly, giving out a creaking sound from the force. He too was powerless to reverse fate. He stood up gloomily then walked out as if he had lost his entire soul.

"Father, where are you?"

His eldest daughter called him.

"We couldn't go inside our home so I, Mama and Susu are at our old home now…"

Cheng Hanlin recalled that old house which he had forgotten long ago. It was a small broken house where he and Sun Xiaohong had got married. They were quite satisfied then, but he had to go there to live now. His heart was conflicted when he recalled that crowded space, damp and moldy walls as well as the problematic toilet.

Cheng Lingsu was standing outside the door, taking a step inside, pondering whether this was a place a human could live.

Sun Xiaohong still wore expensive clothes and stood there motionlessly.

Only Cheng Lingran moved the huge suitcases inside one after one. Suddenly, a hand stopped her. Cheng Lingran's gaze brightened after she saw who it was, "Little Xiu…"

"Let me help you…"

Cheng Lingsu felt quite astonished that Jiang Xiu had appeared here. He was the same as usual, wearing simple clothes which really suited this old street. She almost opened her lips to question how he had the face to show up here. You murderer. Devil.

But in the next moment, she swallowed her words down, leaving only fear in her heart. Though Jiang Xiu appeared ordinary, he had the entire Jiang City, no, even more than half of the Jiangnan province under his control.

It was as easy as just thinking for him if he wanted to cause more trouble for the Cheng family.

"There's no need for you to do it. Let Sister do it, okay? You'll make your clothes dirty."

"It's okay… why don't you take a break?"