At this moment, there were very few cars on the highway. Occasionally, a car would pass by, but nobody paid much attention to the woman parked in the emergency lane. Although parking on the emergency lane was theoretically not allowed, there were few surveillance cameras on this highway in the mountains. In addition, with low traffic and the beautiful scenery, tired drivers often chose to stop and admire the view. So, it wasn't an unusual sight for anyone.The vehicles passing by in a hurry did not surprise Fleur, but she was puzzled by the hundred-meter-high bridge spanning between two mountains, connecting two tunnels. She knew this was the closest point on the highway to where her master used to meditate.However, since this area was nearly uninhabited and there were no exits on the highway for tens of kilometers in either direction. This meant that if she wanted to reach her destination quickly, she could only jump from here. Otherwise, she'd have to exit the highway dozens of
Fleur's thoughts stirred, and she then wrapped the off-road vehicle with numerous broken branches, concealing it thoroughly. After that, she straightened her clothes and walked toward the depths of the mountains without looking back.-Meanwhile, all surveillance videos from Stoneridge had been transferred by Emmett's subordinates to a special cloud server. After giving the server address and password to Vera, Vera, along with Charlie, watched the surveillance videos on a laptop in her room.Although Mount Turtle Back had no surveillance, based on Fleur's time of arrival, Vera quickly found her figure on the surveillance footage at the entrance to the mountain. Starting from this surveillance camera, they traced back to Stoneridge Ancient Town, covering all of Fleur's routes within the surveillance range.As a result, the two easily found Fleur's off-road vehicle in the parking lot. In Oskia, while people might escape surveillance, it was nearly impossible for vehicles to do so. An
Charlie was well aware that this time, he wasn't searching for Fleur herself, but rather for the place she intended to go. When he released the portrait of Marcius, Fleur immediately silenced the Qing Eliminating Society, proving her intense fear. However, the more fearful she was, the more she stealthily came to Oskia alone and went to Mount Tason. This indicated her urgency.Charlie speculated that she was probably searching for the secrets left behind by Marcius and perhaps the ‘secret to longevity’ mentioned by Mr. Chardon earlier. So, after Fleur left Mount Tason, he planned to enter and search for it. Regardless of whether he found anything, at the very least, he wouldn't be risking danger unnecessarily.Meanwhile, in Mount Tason, Fleur was like a heroine from a martial arts film as she swiftly moved through the dense forests between the mountains, almost as if the steep mountains and deep forests were nothing before her. Although she ventured deeper into the mountains, her p
Moreover, these stone pillars were numerous and placed in a disorderly manner, resembling a stone forest. Upon seeing these seemingly randomly placed stone pillars, Fleur did not look surprised at all. Instead, she touched them somewhat emotionally and murmured, “Master, Elijah, I’m back.”With that said, she stepped into the stone forest and navigated through it according to a specific pattern.This stone forest was the Nine Palace Formation set up by her master, Marcius, before his death. The brilliance of this formation lay in the fact that without knowing the method to break the formation, it was impossible to find a real exit from any position within the stone forest.The only way for outsiders to break the formation was to destroy all the stone pillars, leaving none behind. However, this formation was originally set up by Marcius to protect his secret dwelling. According to his plan, as soon as someone forcefully intruded, he would be informed immediately even before the int
Fleur, who was doubtful, promptly stepped toward the inner stone chamber.Initially, Marcius's stone chamber only had this outer chamber. Marcius, in his second five hundred years of cultivation, had already achieved fasting, spending his days in meditation without the need for sleep, food, or even bathroom breaks.After bringing Fleur and Elijah back to his cave, Marcius used his sword to create two bedrooms for them as well as a kitchen and a toilet. In order to ensure his own cultivation wasn't disturbed, he also carved out another stone chamber for himself.Therefore, there were now five stone chambers here. Fleur inspected the first four chambers, and when she reached the location of the fifth, there was no sign of the fifth stone chamber. The entrance to the original fifth chamber was now a smooth, unmarked stone wall.As Fleur felt the smooth stone wall, she spoke up and said, “Master, when your end approached years ago, you called me and Elijah here to entrust matters to us
She suspiciously pondered, “That old man has reached the end of his thousand-year lifespan, so he's definitely dead. This is probably a formation he left behind to stop others from finding his chamber and discovering his corpse as his end approaches!”She immediately turned around, retrieved the sword that had been knocked away, and thought coldly, ‘Hmph! Since it's a formation, no matter how strong its abilities are, they will eventually be exhausted. I will break this stone wall today and uncover the truth!’With that in mind, Fleur swung the sword with her left hand, once again yielding her powerful Reiki, and struck the stone wall with all her might!In a flash, there was a loud bang, and before Fleur could react, she felt a tremendous force in her left hand, causing it to go numb. The sword she tightly gripped was knocked away again.The force of the rebound this time was no weaker than the previous one, leaving Fleur with a look of shock on her face. She could understand a fo
Upon hearing those words, Fleur felt a chill run from the soles of her feet to the top of her head. She had never felt this helpless and terrified since Marcius had saved her by chance over three hundred years ago on Mount Tason.The last time she had felt this panicked was when she stumbled upon Marcius' image online. But now, she suddenly realized that her master, who was supposed to have passed away over three hundred years ago, might still be alive.This realization hit her like a ton of bricks.Fleur couldn't contain her fear, and her voice trembled as she said, “Master, I… I know that I was wrong…” At that moment, a furious shout echoed in Fleur's ears. Marcius's voice was filled with extreme coldness as he rebuked, “Get out now!”This rebuke struck Fleur's heart like a thunderbolt. She dared not hesitate any longer and quickly got up, trembling as she bowed toward the stone wall and said, “Master, forgive me. I… I will leave…”With that said, she turned around eagerly, dr
Vera shook her head. “I'm not sure either.”Just then, on the screen, Fleur flagged down a passing van here and had a brief conversation with the driver. The driver waved her off, seeming to refuse her request. Fleur looked a bit anxious, hastily pulled out a stack of red bills, and handed them to the driver, who took the money, and Fleur then quickly stepped into the van and sat in the back of the van.Charlie was even more puzzled, “Where is Fleur going?”Vera replied, “Young Master, I can't understand it either.”Charlie suggested, “Let's keep an eye on her and see where this van is headed.”“Okay.”In the underdeveloped mountainous town, surveillance mainly focused on the roads, so Vera could track the van's movements by continuously switching surveillance feeds of the roads. Soon, the van left the town and headed toward the entrance of the highway.At this moment, inside the drafty van, Fleur was eager to leave Oskia as soon as possible. So, she messaged her crew to quickly
If Charlie really did get Jimmy to stay, who knew what other rubbish Jimmy would spout.As for Jimmy, he was actually surprised Charlie was asking him to stay, and his instincts told him that Charlie definitely didn't mean well.Not only that, he was on foreign soil—wouldn't he be defenseless if Charlie called in his friends to beat him up?Hence, he shook his head without hesitation as he said, "I'm sorry, but my sister-in-law is quite keen for me to leave, so I have no reason to stay and add to her problems. And it is her big day. I can afford to let her save face instead of spilling the beans on her all at once.""Oh, but you were complaining about the lack of important people just now!" Charlie quickly interjected. "It just so happens that we have a big-shot on his way here, and he's a good friend of the groom. When I told him about you over the phone, he said to keep you here no matter what it took, since he would like to talk to you face to face."Jimmy frowned. "What, are y
And with those words, Jimmy turned to leave.Despite threatening Matilda, there was no such agreement, and he knew that Matilda was well aware of that.Regardless, the only strategy he had in mind when he came to Oskia was harassment. As such, he simply came up with a lie to make Matilda look bad in public. All it took from there was just for one person to relay what he had said—even if it were all lies, Matilda's character would still be called into question.He made himself very clear so that Matilda would understand that if she didn't give in, his family would keep hounding her to take their two pounds of flesh. Even if she wouldn't surrender the stateside estates and human resources of Smith Group Corporate Law, they would still claim a sizable chunk.But if that failed too, they would just have to destroy Matilda's reputation along with Smith Group Corporate Law.Either way, they were not letting her off easy!And reading that much from Jimmy's behavior, Matilda snapped co
Jimmy didn't expect Matilda to break down the share ownership of Smith Group Corporate Law to such detail, and he hollered as he was starting to feel embarrassed, "Now, you're just being irresponsible, Matilda. My father gave my brother a million to start the law firm in the first place, and they had agreed that the family would have a stake, albeit only at 49%, to not deny your decision-making as a startup. Or are you denying it?"Matilda immediately became furious and snapped, "Bullshit! That was just a loan of one million, and the agreed term was three years. However, your brother returned it in one! I even asked him to return the money with every single one of his siblings watching, since you might all get skeptical, yet suddenly, you're calling it an investment?""You said he's returned it? Well, what proof do you have?" Jimmy quickly shot back. "Our entire family can testify that the money hasn't come back to us!""So, this is how you're going to play it?" Matilda smirked. "Th
In the first place, Jimmy had come to Oskia to claim a stake in Smith Group Corporate Law, ideally strong-arming Paul and Matilda into splitting the firm in two, with Jimmy taking everything in the States while Paul kept what was left.The way Jimmy saw it, Paul and Matilda were going to be permanently residing in Oskia anyway. There was no way they could manage things over in another country properly, so it was basically returning the firm to the rightful owner.Naturally, Jimmy also knew that despite bearing the Smith family name, the success of Smith Group Corporate Law was all the work of Jimmy's brother and Matilda. Jimmy's father had helped to a certain extent, but that extent of financial support wouldn't amount to an investment at all. No judge in the world would support his claim to the law firm's shares.Therefore, when he learned that Matilda was remarrying, he thought he could seize the moment to cause a scene. Nothing could be better if she and Paul decided to sacrifice
Jimmy deliberately raised his voice as he said coolly, "Oh, but I didn't want to intervene. It's you and your mother who left the States in a split second, taking with you the law firm which bears the Smith family name. Don't you think such behavior is inappropriate?"Seeing the surprised reactions of the guests, Paul promptly retorted, "The law firm uses the Smith family name, but it is my parents' legacy! They worked blood and sweat to build it from the ground up, and as their only son, I have a veto when it comes to decisions. Or did we need your permission to move to Oskia?""Where's your conscience, Paul?" Jimmy pursed his lips. "Even if you don't know how Smith Group Corporate Law was founded, is that the case for you? It would have been a joke if it weren't for my father's connections!"Hell, it's no exaggeration that it was my father who fought to expand the law firm across America, and just using the family name means you're borrowing the family's influence. The family hono
The blonde man's voice drew everyone's attention in an instant.Despite his foreign appearance, he spoke Oskian fluently and walked with a haughty gait, almost as though he was above the rest.Paul's expression turned grim the instant he saw him, and he hurried over with Charlie.Still, before Paul could speak, Charlie stopped him, frowning at the man as he said, "Don't you think it's inappropriate to come slinging personal attacks at someone else's wedding?"The man clearly didn't know Charlie, and he wasn't worried, seeing that he was young.Snorting in disdain, he asked, "You must be from the groom's family, yes? Please tell him that he doesn't deserve my sister-in-law.""It's up to the happy couple to decide that," Charlie retorted quietly. "Deserving someone is no issue as long as they both love each other."The man pursed his lips and looked pointedly around him. "Just look at how simple this wedding is. Forget picking an unassuming city like Aurous Hill—is there a single
Pausing, Charlie then said, "I'll call Steve to drop by later too. I'm sure folks in Aurous Hill won't know him, but your potential troublemaker might.""I-Is that really fine?" Yolden blurted."What's not fine about it?" Charlie chuckled. "He has been treated like a tool ever since he came to Aurous Hill, and now that he has a chance to strut about, he wouldn't ask for more."Yolden appeared slightly relieved at that, and Charlie asked, "By the way, where's Paul, Matilda, and Autumn?""Getting their makeup done," Yolden replied. "Paul's my best man while Autumn's the maid of honor.""Good," Charlie nodded with a grin. "Don't worry—the wedding's going to be a success."As they spoke, Matilda stepped out of the dressing room in a stark-white wedding dress, flanked by Autumn and Paul.Seeing Charlie, Autumn nodded politely, "Good morning, Mr. Wade."As Charlie nodded in turn, Paul started, "G-Good morning… Mr. Wade…"Seeing that he was nervous and tentative, Charlie knew that he
As Yolden and Matilda were remarrying after living abroad for years, the wedding ceremony was much simpler, skipping Oskian customs and having a simple wedding reception for their guests at the hotel hall.There weren't that many guests either—aside from their children and close friends, only a handful of Yolden's colleagues at Aurous Hill University were invited.As the celebrant, Charlie didn't have much to do and was mainly the emcee.He brought along his jacket as he headed out to Shangri-La, not wearing it immediately so that Claire wouldn't guess that he was attending Matilda's wedding.Arriving at the Hanging Gardens before the guests were supposed to arrive, he found Yolden working with the staff to finalize the preparations.Seeing Charlie, Yolden approached him and said, "Thanks for coming this early, Charlie."Noticing that he was a little tired, Charlie asked in concern, "Had a bad night?"Yolden nodded, sighing, "Paul's uncle caused a huge mess. Both Matilda and I a
Tarlon nodded. "How do you suggest we find them?"Fleur scowled. "There's no rush. There are things which I'm still confused about, so just keep a close eye on the Ackers and the Wades for the time being. Report to me right away if anything important comes up—don't afford our enemies any opportunities to exploit.""Yes, milady!" -The next day, more news outlets were covering the joint project between the Ackers and the Wades as word continued to spread.However, neither family revealed too many details, be it the name of the company, who was the CEO, or the scale of their business.While the public was dying with curiosity, nothing else was known.Still, Aurous Hill's officials were especially interested, with the town hall visiting the Ackers the next day and showing utmost sincerity by leasing a whopping 2-million-square-meter land along the southern highway. Still, the condition was for the Ackers to come true on their promise to propel the city's economy to 15 billion US d