Cultivating with Bragging System-Chapter 490 - 249 The High-Ranking Members of the Demon Race: Find Nicholas! Dead or Alive, We Must See the Body! (5000 words)_3
They all gathered in the tiny Return to Dreams Pavilion. After a long and arduous search without a single clue, they immediately rushed over the moment their target voluntarily revealed his location.
...
The night was as still as water. The air inside the Return to Dreams Pavilion was thick with a murderous aura. Experts from all sides hid in the shadows, keeping a close watch on every movement. Beyond the pavilion, many more figures lurked in the surrounding streets, their attention fixed on this spot.
This turmoil had been brewing for quite some time, and too many people were eager to see how the night would end.
"Will he come?"
"Hard to say!"
"All the Pureblood Families are here. They’ve set up an inescapable dragnet, and the entire area is covered in Formations. Unless a Lord-level expert shows up in person, no one else... no matter how strong... could possibly escape!"
"..."
In the shadows, countless people whispered among themselves.
Time ticked by, yet there was still no sign of activity.
Is this guy playing us? Hidden in the darkness, Yin Ye narrowed his eyes, his killing intent overflowing. He had every reason to suspect this was both a provocation and a mockery. The other experts remained silent, but their grim faces showed they harbored similar thoughts.
"AH—"
A shrill scream shattered the tranquility of the night.
Something’s happened! Everyone’s heart skipped a beat.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
In an instant, numerous figures tore through the void and materialized inside the Return to Dreams Pavilion. They saw the owner lying in a corner as if he had seen a ghost. He pointed a trembling finger at the table, stammering, "The book... the book!"
Everyone stared. On the table, a booklet had appeared at some unknown time.
*Destiny’s Tale*—by Nicholas Xiu!
"Where is he?" Yin Ye’s eyes blazed with fury. His tail blade shot out, coiling around the pavilion owner and lifting him into the air as his killing intent boiled over.
"No... no one! It just appeared out of thin air!" the owner gasped, struggling to breathe.
"Impossible!" Yin Ye’s voice was ice-cold with disbelief.
This place was riddled with lethal Formations. Even if a Lord-level expert could come and go as they pleased, they couldn’t have done so without leaving a single trace. Furthermore, the Demon Crystal that the owner had prepared and placed on the table was also gone.
The expressions of the other Demon Race experts turned ugly. Someone had come and gone right under their noses, and they hadn’t detected a single thing. It was an outright slap in the face!
The commotion quickly spread, and before long, almost everyone knew: Nicholas had come, left the book, and taken the money, all without being noticed by anyone!
"Hiss... this is too bizarre!"
"Could it have been a Demon Emperor?" someone exclaimed in shock, feeling that only an existence of that level could pull off such a feat under such heavy lockdown.
"How is that possible?" Most people refused to believe it. Demon Emperors were such exalted beings; why would they debase themselves by writing popular stories? Most importantly, if it really were a Demon Emperor, would they have allowed these Pureblood Families to hunt them like a common criminal? Wouldn’t they have already caused a river of blood to flow?
It made no sense. They simply couldn’t figure it out. The Demon Race experts present racked their brains until they were sore, but they could not comprehend how the person had done it.
"There’s only one possibility," Yin Ye said, his cold gaze fixed on the pavilion owner. "You are Nicholas Xiu!"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible! How could I possibly be him?" The owner’s soul nearly fled his body in terror.
Yin Ye, however, was adamant, intending to capture the owner and bring his body back to complete his mission. Of course, he knew this man couldn’t be Nicholas. But his mistress had a violent temper and had given the order to bring Nicholas back alive or dead. Since he couldn’t find the real Nicholas, he had no way to explain himself upon his return and feared he would suffer the same fate as his predecessor. It was better to throw caution to the wind and just bring back a corpse.
However, he was blocked by the other Demon Race experts.
"There is another possibility. He was already here in the Return to Dreams Pavilion before we arrived today," a half-woman, half-serpent expert analyzed, implying that Nicholas might be one of the pavilion’s servants.
"We can’t rule that out!" the others hastily agreed.
They had no desire to follow Yin Ye’s example and bring back a corpse as a substitute. After all, their masters had different demands: they all wanted him alive! And he had to be able to write!
"Then he must still be here in the Return to Dreams Pavilion! Search!"
All the demons scattered, using every means at their disposal. They were prepared to dig three feet into the ground if that’s what it took to find him. The Return to Dreams Pavilion was ravaged as everything was smashed to pieces, its walls and roofs collapsing into rubble.
Yet, after an entire night, they had found nothing.
The various parties withdrew only when the sky brightened, leaving behind a desolate ruin. Countless demons gathered before the wreckage, sighing and lamenting at the sight. It was a truly unexpected calamity.
"I heard Nicholas delivered his new book last night!"
"That’s right! Those fools couldn’t catch the man, so they tried to take the book back to fulfill their orders. A fight broke out, and in the end, the book was ripped to shreds!"
"Such a waste of a masterpiece!" More and more demons converged on the site, their hearts aching. Who knew how splendid Nicholas’s new work would have been? To think it met such a tragic end before it could even be read.
In the crowd, Xiang Shan stood clad in a purple robe, listening silently to the surrounding chatter for a long time. Just as he was about to turn and leave, he noticed a page from a book under his foot.
He slowly knelt and picked it up. The writing was very blurry, but he could faintly make out a single line: "For three thousand years, I kowtow before a demon; I look back upon the mortal dust and refuse to become an immortal!"
BOOM!
In that instant, Xiang Shan felt as if his heart had been struck by a heavy hammer, sending an unimaginable shock through him. He knew with absolute certainty that this had to be Nicholas’s work. Only he could write such words.
Something inside him seemed to awaken, a voice driving him to search frantically through the ruins for the other pages. He became almost fanatically obsessed, which soon attracted the attention of others nearby.
"Isn’t that the Ninth Prince of the Earth Magic Elephant Clan? What’s wrong with him?"
"Why does he look like he’s gone mad?"
"I heard he’s also a huge fan of Nicholas’s work. Maybe he couldn’t handle the shock?"
"What a pitiful soul..."
"Hah, a prince from a Pureblood Family needs our pity? Let’s go, before he gets angry and kills us to vent his frustration!" someone in the crowd said sarcastically.
His words sent a chill through the others, and many quickly dispersed. Far too many similar incidents had occurred recently, and they had no desire to become the latest victims.
