The death of Jin Shikou quickly spread throughout Jiangbei City.
The Jin family was considered one of the prominent families in Jiangbei City.
Therefore, the news of Jin Shikou's death directly reached Jin Gong, who was abroad.
At Jiangbei Airport, a private jet's cabin door opened.
A middle-aged man in a black suit stepped off the plane.
Although the middle-aged man was over fifty, his face still held a fierce aura, suggesting he must have been a formidable figure in his youth.
As soon as he disembarked, people waiting on both sides of the tarmac immediately rushed forward.
A man wearing glasses approached the middle-aged man and, bowing subserviently, said,
"Patriarch."
"Speak," Jin Gong said, glancing at him indifferently, his tone carrying a hint of pressure.
Upon hearing this, the man with glasses trembled, swallowed hard, and then said,
"Young... Young Master went out the night before last and never returned. When we found him at the unfinished building outside the city's south side, he was... he was already dead."
As he finished speaking, sweat beaded on the man's forehead.
The pressure emanating from the man before him was immense.
But that wasn't the most significant reason.
It was due to another identity Jin Gong held.
Jin Gong was once the second-in-command of a mercenary legion abroad in Jiangbei.
In his youth, he had likely killed no less than nine hundred, if not a thousand, people.
The man with glasses had personally witnessed Jin Gong's ruthlessness.
Once, he had entered an enemy mercenary legion alone with a submachine gun, killing over a hundred of them before returning to base with the enemy leader's head.
Over the years, the aura of killing he carried could no longer be concealed.
"Have you not found the murderer of Shikou?" Jin Gong questioned with a chilling tone.
The man with glasses' legs suddenly buckled, and he knelt on the ground.
"Patriarch, there were no traces at the scene, making it impossible to investigate! There was only a wooden stick stuck in a rock."
"A wooden stick? What happened?" Jin Gong frowned, a thought seemingly dawning on him.
"Explain it in detail."
The man with glasses quickly recounted truthfully,
"That stick was just an ordinary bamboo stick. When we arrived, half of the stick was embedded in the rock..."
Inside the top-floor office of the Li Group Building.
"Mr. Li, Jin Gong has landed," one of Li Shengtian's subordinates reported to him.
Li Shengtian lit a cigar, took a puff, exhaled a smoke ring, and after a long pause, slowly said,
"I didn't expect that old fellow to return too. He's a difficult person to deal with."
Li Shengtian was well aware of Jin Gong's background.
He had previously planned that once Jin Shikou dealt with Qin Xuan, he would eliminate Wang Yuyan and frame Jin Shikou, which would undoubtedly lead to chaos between the two factions.
Then, Li Shengtian would seize the opportunity to annex the Jin family's assets along with the Wang Group.
The Li Group would then rise to become the number one conglomerate in Jiangbei, and perhaps even establish a presence in the capital.
However, Li Shengtian had not anticipated Jin Shikou's death.
Although Li Shengtian knew this must be related to Qin Xuan, if he were to expose this matter, he would inevitably be implicated.
After all, Li Shengtian was in a partnership with Jin Shikou, and it was Li Shengtian's own idea.
Li Shengtian took a deep drag from his cigar and fell into deep thought.
Given Jin Gong's temperament, after killing Qin Xuan, he would likely seek retribution from Li Shengtian.
Therefore, it was best not to inform him. But Kun'er was still lying in bed, and this vengeance could not go unfulfilled.
A trusted subordinate beside him seemed to read Li Shengtian's mind and suddenly said,
"Mr. Li, I actually have a good idea."
Li Shengtian raised an eyebrow and looked at his subordinate, asking,
"Oh? You have a plan?"
The trusted subordinate continued,
"I've heard about the female secretary who was by Jin Shikou's side..."
With Leng Qian by Tantai Yue's side, Qin Xuan felt much more at ease.
For the past two days, he had been diligently cultivating at home, absorbing energy from that original stone.
The fifth dragon scale had begun to show its edges. At this rate, Qin Xuan's fifth dragon scale would be fully formed in at most three days.
After completing ninety-six minor cycles of cultivation, Qin Xuan ended his absorption and took out the sarira that Mo Tao had helped him acquire last time.
During the last auction, this sarira had managed to block Qin Xuan's spiritual senses.
Therefore, this sarira was definitely not as simple as it appeared.
Qin Xuan placed the sarira, the size of a ping-pong ball, in his palm.
After examining it carefully, Qin Xuan couldn't discern anything special.
Besides being slightly larger than ordinary sariras, there was nothing different about it.
If he hadn't sensed the spiritual energy fluctuations around the sarira, Qin Xuan would have thought he had been duped.
"How do I activate this thing?"
Qin Xuan fiddled with it for a while, even trying his dragon power, but he couldn't penetrate the sarira's interior.
"Could this really be an ordinary sarira?"
Qin Xuan began to doubt whether he had sensed it correctly.
"Does this thing also require a blood pact?"
A bold idea struck Qin Xuan's mind.
In the past, Qin Xuan had seen in some TV shows that many spiritual treasures required a blood pact for ownership, and perhaps this sarira was the same.
No sooner said than done, Qin Xuan bit his index finger and dripped a drop of blood onto the sarira.
As soon as it landed, Qin Xuan's blood was absorbed by the sarira and merged into it.
Then, the sarira trembled slightly, and the next moment, several cracks appeared.
Qin Xuan was startled.
"This thing won't just shatter, will it!"
Qin Xuan then remembered that his blood had been evolved into dragon blood by the dragon core.
The power contained within dragon blood was capable of destroying heavens and earth.
Just one drop could nurture all things, and likewise, destroy everything.
Although Qin Xuan's current cultivation level meant his dragon blood didn't possess such immense power, it was still not to be underestimated.
Before Qin Xuan could think further, the cracks on the sarira emitted a blinding flash of light, forcing Qin Xuan to close his eyes.
A few breaths later, the intense light slowly subsided, and Qin Xuan slowly opened his eyes.
When Qin Xuan's gaze fell upon the sarira again, he was utterly stunned.
The sarira had shed its original exterior and was now emitting a dazzling golden light.
This was the sarira's true appearance.
If he were to auction it now, it would fetch ten billion, or even more than twenty billion!
As Qin Xuan marveled, the sarira transformed into a golden beam of light and shot into Qin Xuan's chest.
Qin Xuan blinked, and before he could react, his body began to feel intensely hot, with white smoke continuously rising.
Feeling so hot, Qin Xuan directly took off his jacket.
As the temperature in the room continued to rise, golden light began to emanate from Qin Xuan's body, and soon, he was completely immersed in the golden glow.
Following this, Qin Xuan's bones began to emit a series of creaking sounds, and his skin trembled incessantly.
Still unsure of what was happening, Qin Xuan gritted his teeth in pain. Before long, he lost consciousness.