With that in mind, Zodiac glanced at Snake. Snake also felt Zodiac’s gaze, and she knew exactly what he was thinking. At this moment, they needed a powerful combatant on their side, and the only one capable of that was her brother.

Snake nodded at Zodiac before stepping behind Ox, whose large body concealed what she was doing.

Zodiac forced himself to calm down, then walked forward. The dark mist still covered his features. He knew his cultivation was far lower than the woman before him, and she might have some method to attack him even while he remained in mist form.

But at this moment, he had to gamble. He needed to stall for time.

"Ah! A guest! Welcome to my humble abode. How may I help you?" Zodiac said as if Wei Chen and Yan Rongjun were merely ordinary guests and not intruders.

Yan Rongjun looked at Wei Chen as if asking whether this man’s head had been kicked by a donkey, while Wei Chen merely shrugged and shook his head.

"Dear honorable guests, my name is Zodiac, the founder and leader of the Zodiac. Why don’t you two sit down first so we can discuss things further?" Zodiac said pleasantly as he gestured toward the two vacant seats.

Yan Rongjun nodded toward Wei Chen, signaling him to speak while she remained silent and continued munching on french fries.

"Sorry buddy, but there are only two types of people I’ll sit down and talk with. People I trust, and people who don’t reek of bullsh*t every time they open their mouth. And you are neither," Wei Chen said bluntly.

Monkey chuckled at the jab Wei Chen threw at Zodiac. He had disliked this guy for a long time. Always acting mysterious, always pretending everything was under control.

And never showing his face. Monkey hated people like that the most. It reminded him of the traitor who had betrayed his loved one.

Zodiac paused, clearly stumbling over Wei Chen’s response. What kind of hooligan was this man? He had already been polite enough to invite him and that powerful woman to sit down. Why weren’t they giving him any face?

Yes, he might not be as strong as them, but at least he was the founder and leader of the Zodiac, an organization with more than ten hidden forces associated with it.

And one of them was the powerful Underworld Palace.

Zodiac was about to lose his temper at Wei Chen’s disrespect, but he knew that even if he could fight this foul-mouthed man, he would definitely be crushed by the powerful woman accompanying him.

"Ahem!" Zodiac coughed awkwardly to gather his wits and calm himself down, returning to his usual composed demeanor where everything appeared under control. Then he began again.

"Hahaha, you jest, honorable guest. Even if we are enemies, don’t you think you should gather as much information as possible? I assure you, what I’m about to say is not a lie. If you don’t believe me, we can form a soul contract," Zodiac said with a smile.

What he did not say was that, through his connection with the Underworld Palace, the soul contract on his side would not punish him even if he violated it. That was a precious trick he had obtained from the Underworld Palace, one that had allowed him to deceive many experts into serving him.

Wei Chen looked at Zodiac as if staring at an idiot.

"What part of the word ’bullsh*t’ do you not understand? Spouting bullsh*t does not always mean lying. Words from delusional idiots also count as bullsh*tting," Wei Chen sneered.

"You..." Zodiac gritted his teeth.

"Also, I know you’re trying to stall for time by spewing a load of nonsense. Why would I want to listen to it? Listening to my dog fart is more entertaining than listening to you."

Zodiac’s chest rose and fell violently. The mist state he constantly maintained began to crumble as his emotions destabilized his mind.

"Hahahahaha!" Monkey suddenly burst into laughter as if he stood on the opposite side of Zodiac.

"This is the first time I’ve seen this bastard lose his cool like this. You really are something, Mr. Wei," Monkey said as he took several steps back, separating himself from Zodiac’s group.

Then his hand reached for his mask and pulled it off.

What appeared was a familiar face, the handsome face of a middle-aged man with a dandy gentleman style and his iconic goatee.

It was none other than Hua Zuixian, the guardian of the Immortal Dream Garden and Dream Butterfly’s uncle.

Wei Chen merely smirked, showing no sign of surprise.

"You don’t seem surprised," Hua Zuixian remarked as he tossed the Monkey mask aside.

"Why should I be surprised by something I already expected?" Wei Chen replied.

"Can I ask when? When did you begin suspecting this?" Hua Zuixian asked.

"Back during those fake pirate attacks on the flying ark. To intercept a flying ark that wasn’t traveling along a regular route, they would need the exact coordinates of where we passed."

"If you tell me that two flying arks full of pirates, with Nascent Soul cultivators as the weakest members and a Void Refining Realm expert as the strongest, just happened to appear by coincidence, I wouldn’t believe it," he replied.

"I see..." Hua Zuixian nodded, then stepped back and sat down on a nearby stone. He did not seem interested in defending himself or trying to escape.

Wei Chen tilted his head. "Aren’t you going to defend yourself a little? You know... just in case," he asked.

"Heh heh." Hua Zuixian chuckled. "What’s the point? What’s done is done. Even though what I did was only to end my deal with this damn group and never to harm Yu’er..." He looked at Wei Chen.

"I have no qualms about harming you or your dog, or targeting the wealth of that girl surnamed Mo," Hua Zuixian admitted truthfully. To him, the only person he would never harm was Dream Butterfly.

Back then, on the flying ark, when she faced that barbaric man, if Wei Chen had not appeared, he would have intervened himself and beaten the sh*t out of that guy. But since Wei Chen had stepped in, there was no need for him to act.

"Alright... we’ll talk about your case later. As for now..." Wei Chen looked toward Zodiac. His gaze shifted past him toward the woman in green wearing the Snake mask.

Suddenly, a burst of powerful spiritual qi exploded from her body.

Slowly, her clothes transformed from women’s garments into men’s attire.

Within the glow, the silhouette gradually changed into that of a tall man. The soft green armor covering his athletic, lean muscular body slowly became visible as the light faded.

A stern-faced man appeared. His eyes were cold and indifferent, as if he disdained the entire world and looked down on everyone around him.

Wei Chen who sees the transformation can’t help but blurted out.

"Damn... I bet lots of folks in California must have envy this guy biology."

"Zodiac, I hope you have a good reason for telling that useless girl to disturb my cultivation in the Immortal Realm," the man said sternly.

He only used his sister’s body as a vessel to occasionally play the role of Snake. He had never expected the secret of him residing in the Immortal Realm to become known to this rat who called himself Zodiac.

If he wanted to blame someone, he could only blame his sister for not being careful enough. And now this man had latched onto his leg and the Underworld Palace he served like a parasite that refused to let go.

"Yes, Young Master Shi! These two are the ones I told you about last time. The impersonators pretending to be people from the Underworld Palace!" Zodiac said as he gestured toward both Wei Chen and Yan Rongjun.

"Hmm? Which one dared court death by impersonating..." Young Master Shi paused.

He shook his head, his eyes narrowing as he stared hard at Yan Rongjun, who was still munching on french fries. Then he used his spiritual qi to condense water from the surrounding environment and wash his face and eyes.

After doing all of that, he looked at Yan Rongjun once again.

He paused.

Paused...

Still pausing...

Pausing as if his brain operating system had suddenly got a blue screen...

Then his face turned pale, pale like a sheet of paper.

"Sh*t!" he blurted out before trying to cancel his transformation, but Yan Rongjun vanished and reappeared behind him. Her fingers, still greasy with salt and oil from the french fries, instantly sealed the man’s acupoints along with his cultivation.

"Since you’re already here, why don’t you stay and chat with us for a bit. Hmm?" Yan Rongjun asked with a smile that did not reach her eyes.

The case of the fake Underworld Palace had already caused her fourth sister, Youqi, to lose a great deal of sleep. It also annoyed her that some maggots dared impersonate her husband’s organization.

"Err... Lady Yan... this... this is a misunderstanding." Young Master Shi smiled submissively as he tried to placate Yan Rongjun.

Zodiac: Huh!?