This time, Chen Xiaobei did not absorb the blood essence and the souls of the dozen of men. He chose to claim the merit points instead.

　　He had done so because he had already used up a sum of merit points to purchase the raw ingredients to make Heavenly Dog Biscuits. After killing Yap Tianlin and his men, not only was he able to replenish all of the merit points that he had used, he was able to earn a little extra.

　　After he had spoken to Xiao Tianquan, Chen Xiaobei discovered that merit points were very important. But it was equally essential to absorb blood essence and souls to power up his Chaos Blood Sword. This created a ‘can’t have your cake and eat it’ problem. Chen Xiaobei could only choose one or the other. That meant that he had to give up one for the other.

　　But Chen Xiaobei did not make a fuss of it.

　　Just like health and combat power, Chen Xiaobei was aware that he would need to find a balance between merit points and powering up his Chaos Blood Sword. Since he had just recently used merit points, Chen Xiaobei would need to replenish it first. Before heading for Japan later on, he would need to focus on powering up his Chaos Blood Sword because he would need all the power he had to defeat some mighty enemies.

　　After the battle in Bei Xuan Faction, the Chaos Blood Sword absorbed hundreds of enemies’ blood essence and souls! That included thirty-five Silver-Winged Myrmidons! A single hit from it was equivalent to an 80,000 combat-power attack!

　　That was definitely a great help.

　　If you must know, the biggest trump card in Chen Xiaobei’s treasure chest was the nuclear bomb he harvested from the US army carriers! This thing could kill a demi-god but it could also tear Chen Xiaobei into a million pieces.

　　That was why Chen Xiaobei would only choose to use it under life-threatening circumstances! And because of that, Chaos Blood Essence became Chen Xiaobei’s second most important trump card! The more power he invested in the Chaos Blood Sword, the more things he could do in Japan.

　　After he had settled things here, Chen Xiaobei brought Lan Mengcheng back to Bei Xuan Faction.

　　The truth was exposed. Bei Xuan had become the safest place to be at now.

　　……

　　“Crap! I can’t get through to Tianlin! I can’t get hold of the men sent to kidnap Lan Mengcheng either!”

　　In the Zhuang household.

　　Yap Jianming, who had been waiting for news from his son, was overwrought.

　　“Brother Yap, don’t panic.” Zhuang Hao comforted, “I have already sent Elder Su to check up on things. He should be arriving at the designated warehouse about now!”

　　Situ Hengfeng added, “This time, we made sure to keep everything quiet. No one on the outside knew about it. It should be fine!”

　　Ring!

　　Ring!

　　Ring!

　　Zhuang Hao’s phone rang.

　　“Look! Speak of the devil! It’s Elder Su!”

　　Zhuang Hao smiled and picked up the call.

　　Elder Su’s voice was heard over the phone.

　　But before he had completed his first sentence, the smile on Zhuang Hao’s face stiffened. His pupils contracted and he kept swallowing.

　　“Master Zhuang! What is it? Why do you look like that…” Yap Jianming’s heart pounded in his ears, prompting him to shout, “What the hell happened! Don’t scare me like that!”

　　Situ Hengfeng’s face fell. He understood the gravity of the issue and said solemnly, “Master Zhuang! This is critical! What happened there? You must tell us now so that we can figure out a solution!”

　　Zhuang Hao sucked in a deep breath and said, “Brother Yap, you must ready your heart…”

　　“What?!” Yap Jianming was no fool. Pasty-faced, he asked shuddering, “Did something happened to Tianlin?”

　　Yap Tianlin was Yap Jianming’s only son. The Yap Family’s heir, which had to do with the bloodline of the Yap Family, and most of all, it had to do with the Yap Family’s future. He would rather that something bad happen to him than to his son!

　　“Master Zhuang! Tell us, quick!”

　　Situ Hengfeng was also on the edge of his seat.

　　He was entrusted by Yap Tianlin’s grandfather to come down from Mount Shu to assist Yap Tianlin.

　　If anything happened to Yap Tianglin, Situ Hengfeng would not be able to explain himself to his grandfather.

　　“Master Yap… Master Yap he…” Zhuang Hai drew in a deep breath before announcing, “Master Yap… He is dead. The men we sent to capture Lan Mengcheng are also dead!”

　　“What?!”

　　Yap Jianming and Situ Hengfeng shot out of their chairs.

　　“Who did it? Who is the killer? Who is it?”

　　Yap Jianming let out a heart-wrenching howl. The veins in his eyes popped.

　　“They haven’t been able to identify the murderer…” Zhuang Hao said helplessly, “But seeing that it was so savagely done, I’m afraid it must be one of Chen Xiaobei’s men!”

　　“How could this be?” Terror washed over Situ Hengfeng. “We had only just come up with the plan this morning! I had only talked about with Master Zhuang over the phone once. There is no way Chen Xiaobei could’ve known about it!”

　　“What are you saying?” Zhuang Hao’s face scrunched up. “Are you suspecting that I gave our secret away to Chen Xiaobei? Are you out of your mind?”

　　“Enough!” Yap Jianming thundered, “I want Chen Xiaobei dead! I will stop at nothing! No matter what it takes, I want Chen Xiaobei dead! I want him so ravaged that there is nothing left of him to bury! We’ll go ahead and implement the plan to buy Lan Organization immediately! I want everything to be taken away from the Lans! I want their family destroyed and dead! I want to use them as bait to draw Chen Xiaobei out so that we can slaughter him! I want to eat his flesh and drink his blood!” Yap Jianming growled like a man possessed.

　　When all is said and done, he was the man who was able to secure the position of the richest man in China. The pain of losing his son did not trip him up but inspired his greatest fighting spirit! Yap Jianming wasted no time. He picked up the phone and called his men instructing them to mobilize all the liquidity as quickly as possible and begin implementing his plans.

　　Both Zhuang Hao and Situ Hengfeng had cooled down and did their best to assist Yap Jianming.

　　“This time, we will use the simplest, most diabolical way to obtain Lan Organization’s shares from the minority shareholders.” Yap Jianling said, “As long as I own more than 50% of the share, I will be the commanding chairman and have absolute control of Lan Organization! Then I can take my time toying with the Lan family and kill them off one by one. After that, I can finally finish Chen Xiaobei off!”

　　“That is a very good plan!” Zhuang Hao agreed. “As long as we have the Lan Family’s lives in our hands, then Lan Mengcheng will submit to us! And when Lan Mengcheng submits to us, Chen Xiaobei will follow suit!”

　　Situ Hengfeng laughed. “You forgot one more thing. Once Chen Xiaobei is out of the picture, we will be the greatest benefactor of Mount Hua Faction, Green Town Faction, and Mount Shu Faction! By that time, we will get to enjoy all kind of good stuff!”

　　The three men exchanged looks, grinning wickedly at each other.

　　……

　　As that was happening, Chen Xiaobei was also on the phone, ordering his men to prepare to face the war.

　　“Wei Suo! Hurry up and trail the Yap Family’s activity in the stock market!”