Chapter 185: The Great Clans of Songyang, A Threat to Zhang Yu
A few days earlier.
Songyang High School.
Inside the school’s private cultivation chamber.
As the current Student Council president, the top student of the third year, and an outstanding scion of the Zhou family, Zhou Chechen had spent a great deal of time, energy, and money, yet he had been completely unable to discover who was backing Zhang Yu.
Upon hearing Zhou Chechen’s report, Lan Ling’s eyes flashed with hatred.
“If you can’t find them, then forget it. Just hire someone to run him down and cripple him!”
“We’ll hire the fastest courier in Songyang City. Have them hit him during a delivery and leave him disabled, then drag out the compensation for as long as possible.”
“People get killed by couriers every year anyway. Hitting a high school student would be perfectly normal…”
Looking at Lan Ling’s impulsive state, Zhou Chechen sighed. “Can you please not be so reckless?”
“So what if he carved words on your body, beat me until I threw up, and made the entire student body laugh at us behind our backs?”
Lan Ling stared at Zhou Chechen in disbelief. “This is a ‘so what’? This is a humiliation! If I have to endure this, I might as well change my heart art and practice the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra instead!”
“Sigh, your temper has gotten so much worse since you started cultivating that tyrannical heart art. But a person should master their heart art, not be mastered by it. Often, instead of doing something to… smooth the flow of your heart art, it’s better to think things through yourself.”
Zhou Chechen pointed to his own head. “As long as you come to terms with it yourself, you don’t have to spend a single cent. Isn’t that more cost-effective?”
“For example, I was furious at the time, but a person can’t stay angry forever, can they? Think about it. When you’re in university, when you’ve graduated and started working… who will still be talking about this?”
“Many things seem infuriating and important in the moment… but when you look back in a few years, they’re nothing more than minor troubles.”
“If we study hard and get into a good university, won’t our futures be far brighter than those of those two paupers?”
“Every year in Songyang City, some poor genius makes a name for themselves, but how many of them actually end up making waves? This world ultimately belongs to the great clans, to the wealthy…”
But Lan Ling had heard enough. “We just let it go?” he demanded. “President! A GIF of you vomiting has spread to the regular high schools! Do you know what they call us out there now? The Vomit King of Songyang and the Vocational Student of Songyang.”
“And we’re supposed to endure this? You were never like this before!”
A muscle in Zhou Chechen’s cheek twitched, and he forced a helpless smile. “Lan Ling, if the person who offended you was some student from Grade Two, Class 10, I wouldn’t say another word. I’d go with you right now and we’d put their entire class on the ground.”
“But as for Zhang Yu, for now, I can only advise you to endure it. After all, the most important thing is to look forward…”
“Why?” Lan Ling looked deeply at Zhou Chechen, as if seeing a stranger. “President! You are not the type to swallow insults, especially from two paupers. Tell me, what is the reason?”
Zhou Chechen said lightly, “You yourself know that Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen are two paupers. Do you really think that after Zhang Pianpian left, they could have continued to advance to their current level if there wasn’t someone else behind them?”
“There must be someone backing them.”
“But we can’t find out who.”
“And not being able to find them is the most terrifying part.”
“It means that their backer’s power is completely beyond ours.”
“That is why I am advising you this way now.”
“We’re already in our third year, with only ten months until the university entrance exams. It’s not worth spending our money and energy on this.”
This was what Zhou Chechen thought, how he advised Lan Ling, and what he fully intended to do.
But that night, the appearance of a family elder completely shattered his plans.
With a ripple of divine power, a projection materialized directly in front of Zhou Chechen.
Zhou Chechen’s heart lurched. Is this… a projection talisman?
The projection resolved into a young man who bore a slight resemblance to Zhou Chechen, but with a far colder expression.
The most eye-catching thing about the young man was the five large, glittering golden words floating above his head—Purple-Gold Merit Master.
Purple-Gold Merit Master…
Zhou Chechen understood the immense weight of those words. They signified a revered believer who spent over a hundred million a year on their faith in a righteous god, a believer who had raised their faith level to a full three.
And to display the title of Purple-Gold Merit Master in real-time, to force it upon the vision of others so that it remained even when they closed their eyes… this was but one of the privileges afforded to a Purple-Gold Merit Master.
Looking at the figure before him, Zhou Chechen immediately stood up and said respectfully, “Uncle.”
The person who had appeared before him was a Zhou family elder named Zhou Yang.
Zhou Yang himself was not involved in the Zhou family’s corpse business; instead, he had joined the Myriad Stars Group and become one of its high-level executives.
And Songyang High School was affiliated with the Myriad Stars Education Group.
This was a common arrangement for the great clans of Songyang City. Family members were placed in various corporations, their interests deeply intertwined, serving as crucial nodes for the companies’ local operations.
Standing before Zhou Yang, Zhou Chechen felt his own status as a so-called top student and Student Council president shrink into insignificance.
After all, there were only a handful of high-level executives from the Myriad Stars Group in Songyang City, while new top students emerged from Songyang High School every year.
Zhou Yang looked at him and, with a flick of his finger, a talisman manifested from thin air, forming a soundproof barrier around them.
Watching this, Zhou Chechen sighed inwardly. When one’s faith level reached the stage of a Purple-Gold Merit Master, one could conjure various talismans at will, even as a projection. To many, such abilities… were already god-like.
He heard Zhou Yang say faintly, “The family has a task for you.”
Hearing this, Zhou Chechen tensed slightly, a bad feeling already creeping into his heart.
Zhou Yang paid no heed to Zhou Chechen’s mood, continuing in the same detached tone, “Suppress Zhang Yu. It just so happens you have a grudge and a conflict of interest with him. Do it in your own name, not the family’s.”
“Zhang Yu?” Zhou Chechen was taken aback, not having expected this kind of assignment.
He heard Zhou Yang continue, “You must pay close attention to the amount of pressure you apply.”
“The goal is not to crush him, but to use the rules to back him into a corner, to force him to seek aid…”
Hearing these words, a thought sparked in Zhou Chechen’s mind. He asked, “Force Zhang Yu to seek aid? Is the family targeting the person behind him?”
Zhou Yang did not reply directly, only saying, “You just need to follow our instructions and pin Zhang Yu to the ground. The rest is not your concern.”
Zhou Chechen sighed internally, feeling the unfathomable depth of the situation.
At this moment, he felt as if he and Zhang Yu were merely two pieces on a chessboard, while the true players were the person behind Zhang Yu and his own Zhou family.
Although the Zhou family was ranked among the lower of the sixteen great clans of Songyang, as a member, Zhou Chechen knew what a terrifying behemoth it truly was.
And now this behemoth was moving against Zhang Yu’s backer, which suggested that the force behind Zhang Yu was not to be underestimated.
Yet here they were, he and Zhang Yu, caught in the maelstrom of the conflict between these two giants, where the slightest misstep could lead to their utter destruction.
Zhou Chechen sighed in his heart, but he knew that after being raised by the family for so long, he could no longer defy any of its commands. He simply said, “I understand.”
Zhou Yang’s projection slowly faded, his voice lingering in Zhou Chechen’s ears.
“Don’t worry. The family will support you with both personnel and funds.”
“Do what you must, Zhou Chechen.”
Meanwhile.
In an apartment on the 333rd floor of the Central Tower.
Zhou Yang lay on a medical bed. His entire lower body was gone, with only his upper half connected to a web of tubes as he quietly gazed out the window at the city’s nocturnal panorama.
He thought to himself, A new evil god incident has occurred. The inspection team has finally shifted its focus elsewhere.
Ever since an evil god had carelessly left a trail at Songyang High School, key figures from the school, the Myriad Stars Group, and even the Zhou family had been under the watchful eye of the inspection team. Consequently, they had been forced to lie low, not daring to use even a shred of evil god power.
Yes… an evil god. That was the source of the Zhou family ancestors’ initial rise to power.
It was also one of the pillars that, after generations of careful management, had allowed them to monopolize most of the corpse trade in Songyang City, to gradually infiltrate the corporations, and to become one of the sixteen great clans.
But the Zhou family had always been extremely cautious in its use of the evil god’s power, hoping only to borrow its strength to make the family stronger.
Thus, the Zhou family ancestors had established certain rules.
For example, family members who performed the evil god ritual were forbidden from ascending to the second layer. This was to prevent the ritual’s power from being discovered there, and more importantly, they did not want the evil god’s influence extending to the second layer.
Therefore, no promising member of the Zhou family destined for university had ever performed the ritual, nor had they ever known of the evil god’s existence.
Gazing at the impossibly prosperous city center under the night sky, Zhou Yang’s mind was filled with images of tumultuous waves—the pressure the Zhou family faced in the current era.
Scenes from Songyang City’s past flashed through his mind: the rise and fall of one great clan after another, each a symbol of the changing times.
Wealth was constantly concentrating, the great clans extending their reach into every industry.
But with the tide of the era and the advancement of Immortal Dao technology, the number of great clans at the apex of Songyang was gradually dwindling.
The fallen clans became nutrients, making the survivors stronger and stronger, allowing them to amass ever more astonishing power within Songyang City.
Yet, which of the great clans did not wish to stand eternally atop the skies of Songyang City, watching the tens of thousands below contribute their value, toiling for their family generation after generation?
If the Zhou family wishes to remain at the pinnacle of Songyang, to avoid being swept away by the tide of this era, the most crucial thing now… is to master a greater evil god power.
Zhang Yu… to think a spare organ would become a believer in an evil god.
A pity that fool Zhou Tianyi failed in his attempt back then. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have had to wait until now…
As for the individual Zhang Yu, Zhou Yang naturally gave him no thought. With a single whim, he had countless ways to destroy him.
He was far more concerned with the evil god behind Zhang Yu.
He had no intention of pushing Zhang Yu to his death. Instead, he would use Zhou Chechen’s name to apply continuous pressure, forcing him under the watch of his surveillance to actively contact the evil god, to plead for the evil god’s help, and in doing so, lead them to it.