The girl shrieked, “Firstly, I don’t think I’m crossing any lines—I only wanted you to apologize to me and not anyone else! Secondly, your apology didn’t please me. On the contrary, it only made me more upset! Thirdly, your little lap dog reprimanded me when I didn’t do anything wrong, so you have to fire her! Lastly, I’m warning you—I want you to apologize to me and me alone! If you don’t do everything that I just said…I’ll have no choice but to spread this all over the internet. When that happens, you’ll be on the receiving end of everyone’s criticism. I pray you’re strong enough to take it!” She held her head up high, looking pleased with herself.Darius narrowed his eyes. His patience for her had run out, so he straightened up and stepped back. The girl smirked, thinking he was going to go all out to apologize to her. Unfortunately for her, her phone exploded in flames; the heat was so intense she felt like her skin was burning. She let out an ear-piercing scream, making everyone

Then, Darius focused on the screen, his brows slowly furrowing. He didn’t understand how the video could’ve been edited to make it seem like he’d been picking on the girl unreasonably.Erin frowned. “Sir, could the girl be behind this?”Darius shook his head. “I don’t know, but I don’t think she’d be that dumb. This doesn’t benefit her in any way.” He sounded and looked calm, and he walked ahead confidently. Erin tucked her phone away and followed him silently. As they walked out of the VIP passage, they were surrounded by flashing cameras, and several reporters stood in their way. Darius’ brows furrowed tightly as he tucked his hands in his pockets, looking displeased. He turned to Erin and said, “Contact the legal department and have them resolve this immediately.”His eyes were frosty, and he turned to stride forward once again. Erin nodded and pulled her phone out. At this moment, Darius was less than a yard away from the reporters waiting to ambush him. Though Erin was on the ph

Erin was right behind Darius. She sensed Bruce’s eyes on her and lowered her head, not daring to meet his eyes. She knew she was still lacking in this department; whenever Darius was in trouble or danger, she had no way of protecting him. On the contrary, he was always the one protecting her. She couldn’t help but feel guilty and remorseful.Bruce sighed but didn’t reprimand her at the moment. He merely trailed Darius from a distance, keeping an eye on him until he had left the airport. Darius stopped before an extended limo customized with a special engine. He’d never seen it before, so he turned to give Bruce a curious look. Bruce smiled and said respectfully, “Master James had this car made-to-order for you because you always have many people with you now. They can’t be too far from you, or they wouldn’t be able to ensure your safety. This car will give him peace of mind, knowing that you’re always protected.”Darius raised an eyebrow, finally realizing something was up. He turne

Bruce felt his heart start to race when he saw Darius and James hugging each other. He could sense a thin barrier between Darius and the rest of the world, but no matter how thin it was, there was no getting past it. Now, however, things were different. Bruce smiled in relief. James was an old man who’d lost his son and daughter-in-law, but at least they’d left him with a grandson. Unfortunately, an accident caused him and his grandson to be separated for years. Darius and James were each other’s only family left, yet they’d become strangers over the passage of time. Until a month before they’d tracked Darius down, Bruce had lost all hope of ever finding him, but reality had proven that miracles did happen. He was so moved he couldn’t even speak.James had calmed down. He was overjoyed to see Darius, but there were more important matters at hand. He let Darius go; he was still smiling, but his eyes were serious as he said, “Come to the study with me. I have something to tell you, and

James fell silent, his gaze darting between Darius’ arm and the black-robed people kneeling on the floor. Teivel was worried James couldn’t understand him, so he switched back to their normal language. His accent was strong, but it was better than nothing. He told the black-robed people, “I’m no longer your master. You belong to the Reid family, so you shouldn’t be speaking up for me.”James had regained his composure. He said calmly, “That’s not important.” Darius raised an eyebrow at his grandfather’s serenity. He knew James would be able to adapt to this, but he hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly. He couldn’t help giving James a mental thumbs-up—as expected of the head of the Reid Consortium! At this moment, James said seriously, “I know you’re powerful—you gave us plenty of assistance in the past. However, I’m still worried that you’ll harm my grandson if you stay in his body for extended periods of time.” James clenched his fists and braced himself for the worst. No one wou

“The person who brought the crates over said they were a gift from you and to open them when we were in danger. I hadn’t intended on opening them, but I accidentally knocked one over when taking something else. Only then did I realize there were people in the crates!”Teivel’s breathing sped up. James noticed this, and he fell silent, looking at Teivel nervously. “You don’t look so good right now, which puts me on edge. I also have some questions.”Teivel shut his eyes and took a deep breath to regain his composure. At James’ words, he nodded and said, “Please, go ahead.”James gulped and said shakily, “I’m guessing whatever you commanded them to do is different from what’s actually happened.”Teivel didn’t answer him. Instead, he turned to face James and asked, “Oh? What makes you say that? I should warn you that it won’t do you any good to say whatever you please.”James smiled, looking calm. He said leisurely, “The way you acted toward those people is completely different from how

“And yes, I’m worried about the exact same thing. No amount of sorcery or meditation would keep a person’s heart beating for five centuries unless the hearts that beat in their chests now don’t belong to them, or there’s something else at play that we’re unaware of.” Teivel sighed. “Either way, history is repeating itself—what happened five centuries ago is happening again now.”Darius bit his lip and frowned deeply. Then, he said, “What should we do to prevent the situation from worsening? I honestly have no idea how to proceed from here; I thought I’d eradicated the black-robed people, yet here they are, appearing before me again.”Teivel laughed, but it wasn’t mocking. He said, “They can’t be eradicated—not in the way you think, anyway—because no one could’ve stopped the mastermind after I died. I know my opponent well, and he must’ve thrown himself into expanding his forces after my death. He’s extremely conscientious, and not even his death would put a halt to this organization’s

James stiffened but still tried his best to keep his smile in place. “I haven’t seen your father’s friends in a long while, especially after your parents died. They all had their reasons for leaving.” He took a deep breath; Darius could tell he was upset. James continued, “At the time, I couldn’t accept your father’s death and would’ve appreciated having them around—at least it’d make me feel like he was still alive. I know they weren’t obligated to do anything, but they didn’t even bother attending the funeral. Yet here they are, years later, talking to you about their relationship with your father. I refuse to believe a word they say!” He tried to keep his fury at bay but still couldn’t help trembling. “You can’t trust them fully, so remember to take their words with a grain of salt. After all, there’s no guaranteeing they didn’t befriend your father with a hidden agenda; who knows what they’ve been up to all these years?”Darius had never heard James speak so much before; he was ob

“Don’t worry, they can’t see me. We’ll be fine as long as you don’t join me in mid-air,” Teivel said.Darius exhaled, put his hands behind his back, and looked at the scene before him quietly. There was rat blood everywhere, along with some bits and pieces of flesh. He felt his stomach churning, so he held his breath and levitated, joining Teivel in mid-air. “Sir, I see a mixture of anger and sorrow in your eyes.”Teivel shut his eyes and nodded. “Yeah. I used a secret technique to go through their memories; they’ve been through more than they should’ve before they were put to sleep. They were suffering various hardships when I met them, and when I brought them back with me, the oldest wasn’t even seven. I raised them and taught them to read and write, but I definitely didn’t teach them meditation. I only wanted them to live ordinary lives. Besides, most of them weren’t suited to become enlightened martial artists, which is why I was surprised to see that they’d taken that path. At fi

Teivel needed a quiet place where no one would disturb him. Darius waited until he could no longer sense Teivel before landing on the ground. When he did so, the black-robed people slowly opened their eyes and returned to their senses. Some of them started vomiting when they saw the rat blood and scattered parts around them, but this didn’t affect Darius. He said, “I’m sorry to have stumbled upon your secret like this.” The people settled down and trained their gazes on him. He smiled and said, “I think it’s an issue that needs to be resolved.”The leader of the group stepped forward to block the others from view and said lowly, “Everything’s up for discussion as long as you don’t let Mr. Teivel know about this.”Darius raised an eyebrow. “Unfortunately, he already knows.” The leader became ashen at his words, but rage started to burn in his eyes. However, a few seconds later, it was extinguished, and he slumped, dropping his eyes to the ground. Darius’ lips twitched at this. “If yo