The Master's Intervention

Lin Yue nodded. "Bringing them to Jiangzhou makes sense—easier to look after."

"They're rooted in small-town life," Huo Xuan countered. "I'll lease them a storefront for a stable business."

"How will you explain a fresh grad making millions?" Lin Yue smirked. "Get a 'winning' lottery ticket as cover story."

Huo Xuan snapped his fingers. "Zhang Wu can procure a 'redeemed' lottery stub."

At Jinlong Hotel next morning, Zhang Wu shrugged. "Counterfeit lottery ticket ready in an hour."

Huo Xuan rolled his eyes. "Will a fake ticket cash out?"

"They just need plausible deniability," Zhang Wu said pragmatically.

"Counterfeit it is," Huo Xuan conceded bitterly.

During the wait, Huo Xuan visited Elder Li's suite. The bodyguards recognized him and granted immediate access.

First proper visit since treatment—Huo Xuan needed to verify the cancer's regression.

Elder Li's Jiangzhou villa underwent sanitization, forcing extended hotel residency.

"Young Huo! Join this old man for tea." Elder Li's military-grade posture softened with genuine warmth.

X-ray vision confirmed suppressed cancer progression. The necrotic liver section had regenerated with vitality.

"Recovery's on track," Huo Xuan approved. "Stay stress-free."

The statesman sat ramrod straight like a general reviewing troops. "Visit the CAPITAL often. My door stays open."

"I'll visit you in the CAPITAL when time permits," Huo Xuan replied amiably.

Elder Li leaned forward. "Young Huo, what binds you to Master Hua? Your medical skills must rival his."

"Merely assisting my master," Huo Xuan deflected. "The true healer was Hua Buyi."

"His disciple?!" Elder Li's teacup clattered against the saucer.

"Doesn't the robe fit?" Huo Xuan teased, adjusting imaginary sleeves.

"It fits impeccably!" The old man's laughter shook the porcelain collection.

What's fueling this geriatric glee? Huo Xuan wondered silently.

Unbeknownst to him, Hua Buyi's discipleship unlocked a shadow empire of connections and power.

"Desire military rank?" Elder Li pressed. "A general's epaulets could grace your shoulders by dawn."

"Camouflage fatigues clash with my complexion," Huo Xuan declined, sensing the political hook beneath the olive branch.

Seeing Huo Xuan's disinterest in all offers, Elder Li's wrinkled face creased into a foxlike grin. "Young Huo, my headstrong niece Zhou Rong serves on Jiangzhou's SWAT team—bullheaded enough to wrestle tigers barehanded. Just yesterday she barged in here lecturing her old grandpa about 'public duty' while polishing her service pistol. When—not if—she ends up with bullets where her spleen ought to be, you'll stitch her back together, eh?"

"A SWAT officer needing my aid?" Huo Xuan feigned modesty, though intrigued.

"Disasters strike like summer storms," the elder's voice dropped to a conspiratorial murmur, ​"You'll indulge an old man's precaution, Young Huo. In return, this withered tree still offers shade when your path darkens." Milky cataracts couldn't conceal the vulpine glint piercing through his gaze. ​"Surely we understand each other?"

"Consider it done," Huo Xuan surrendered.

Elder Li immediately requested Huo Xuan's phone number, stating he would pass it to his niece. With deliberate emphasis, he added: "Her name is Zhou Rong."

The forged lottery ticket materialized. Huo Xuan boarded the train home, clutching his parents' alibi.

With his train departing at 9 PM, Huo Xuan dragged Lin Yue on a Jiangzhou specialty shopping spree for his parents.

As Huo Xuan browsed souvenir shops, Hua Buyi stood before a decaying rural house. The courtyard gate creaked open, revealing a pale-robed middle-aged man.

"What brings Hua Buyi to my humble abode?" The man's vulture-like eyes glinted with venom.

"Rectifying cosmic balance." Hua Buyi's hands clasped behind his back like twin execution blades.

"Cosmic balance?" The man's sallow face twisted. "I'm a cripple retired from Jianghu affairs."

"Sun Wuji." Hua Buyi's voice dropped to subzero. "The Zhuang family's nightmare curse—your handiwork."

The middle-aged man was indeed Sun Wuji. A surge of panic gripped him internally—How did Hua Buyi uncover his scheme?—yet abandoning all pretense of concealment, he snorted, narrowing his triangular eyes. "Hua Buyi," he hissed venomously, "since when do you meddle in affairs beneath your notice?"

"My disciple shattered your scheme," Hua Buyi's pupils crystallized with killing frost. "Retribution is cosmic necessity."

"Cosmic janitor cleaning up messes?" Sun Wuji sneered. "You reek of sanctimonious hypocrisy."

Hua Buyi's gaze dissected his opponent. "Your cultivation surpasses even your master's prime."

Emerald phosphorescence ignited in Sun Wuji's eye sockets. "Persist, and you'll join that senile fool in the Nine Hells."

Hua Buyi advanced one precise step—precisely calibrated to lethal engagement range.

BOOM!

His afterimage still lingered as the real Hua Buyi blurred into motion. Twin craters marked his launch point, reducing solid bricks to particulate haze.