Chapter 24

Yao Yuan sank into a long silence. I held my breath, waiting, believing with all my heart that he would find the strength to carry on.

The entire day passed in a blur, my mind thick with fog and my spirit perpetually weary. The Poison Prince asked what was wrong, wondering if I was simply exhausted from the past few days, and urged me not to dwell too much on the matter of the flying thief.

"Fine," Tang Chenghao said, arriving before a house. The ground here was still nothing but mud, slick in places and riddled with deep, stagnant puddles.

I offered Yao Yuan a way out, and he sat on a stool, devouring bread and water in large gulps.

But then again, with that old gentleman there, how could he possibly abandon such hope?

He had even become his mentor, rescuing him time and again from the fires of adversity. Just moments ago, he had unleashed terrifying lightning abilities, beating the arrogant Kuang San until he knelt like a stray dog, begging for mercy.

The name "Su's" had become a prominent merchant brand across several nations. With reasonable prices and delicious goods, agents had naturally sprung up everywhere, some more numerous than others.

I entered the hospital room. Shen Zhong was hooked up to various tubes; seeing me arrive, he reached out with a trembling hand, and I walked over to him.

"Director Dong, I was just looking for you," Lin Dong said with a smile. As Dong Mingzhe approached, those before him parted ways; in Zhenjiang Imperial City, and indeed throughout the entire Eastern Qin Kingdom, Dong Mingzhe commanded immense respect.

"What is it? Is there something ahead?" Huang Shaohua was slightly taken aback, watching Xuan Hu with growing suspicion. This was the first time he had ever seen the beast act this way, and he could not help but feel a twinge of anxiety.

Having received confirmation from the Ink Qilin, Dong Linye, Zi Feiyu, Feng Lin, and the others beamed with joy, cheering and leaping about.

From within the great formation, the spirit’s roar erupted. Suddenly, the entire dragon-shaped array shuddered, and a vast surge of chaotic energy erupted forth.

Zhu Yuanzhang glared in fury, while Leng Xuan merely lowered his eyelids, his expression unchanging. After a while, the rage faded from Zhu Yuanzhang’s face. He slumped into his chair, gasping for air, before falling into a violent fit of coughing.

"Luo Jianhang is delusional!" Shi Hanyue said coldly. Luo Jianhang was the current young master of the Luo family; they had a prior engagement, and he actually dared to think of taking Shi Hanyue as his wife. Such a thing would never have happened while Lin Dong was around, but with Lin Dong absent for so long, it was no surprise that the Luo family had developed such designs.

The police officer was visibly stunned by these words and turned to look at Murong Ling'er. She let out a cold snort, furrowed her delicate brows, and finally waved her hand. The two officers, who had been about to subdue Xiao Qiang, backed away with grave expressions.

Meanwhile, Leng Ya was left stunned and shaken, his mind struggling to process how his terrifying attack had been so easily neutralized. He felt as if he were dreaming. It wasn't until Su Rongrong’s sharp cry that he was jolted back to reality, but by then, the water-lightning was already hurtling toward his face.

Two young men in black suits, evidently his bodyguards, followed closely behind him.

Watching Long Xuan, Helius furrowed his brows as if lost in thought, his gaze darting repeatedly between Long Xuan, Long Ting, and the young man, as if trying to discern the truth of their words.

The thought that her heart might belong to another ate away at him, bit by bit. Not wanting to hear her explanation or even look at her, Shi Zichen turned and ran away.

The formation used by the Seven Wolves of Mobei was truly bizarre. Usually, when people surrounded others, the majority encircled the few, but their formation was designed for seven people to surround Shen Feng and his nearly thirty men.

Ever since they had met in Xianyang of the Great Qin Kingdom, Shen Feng had never spoken a word to her, yet he had always harbored this distinct feeling.

The conversation had turned to the core issue. Not only Chen Qimei and Gao Hongbo were watching Kang Youwei, but everyone else was as well. Kang Youwei glanced at Chen Qimei, then at Gao Hongbo. Having been a prefect under the Manchu Qing, Gao Hongbo felt distinctly uncomfortable under that gaze.

"Exactly, exactly! If we hadn't escaped, we might all have been killed in a single battle!" Li Erhuai hurriedly chimed in.

"No, I never pay attention to what he says! I'm just afraid he'll drag me back to Xinyang and lock me in the mountains to face the wall! I can't beat him." Lu Feng’s face twisted into a mask of misery.

A knock sounded at the door. "Miss, the Prince has sent us to help you dress." The newcomers did not know that the woman inside was the Prince’s newly appointed secondary consort; after all, who had ever heard of a secondary consort living in a servant’s quarters! They all assumed the maid of the house had caught the Prince’s eye.

If they sensed the situation turning against them or their attacks were thwarted, they could vanish into the tall grass, where regular troops were simply unable to pursue.

"..." Xiao Luo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, feeling the world turn gray. Yan'er’s voice was so loud that the neighbors could all hear; he could already foresee his future life falling to ruin.

The two figures accelerated, turning into streaks of light that broke through the grasp of the massive hand and fled toward the distance.

These intelligent robots lacked only consciousness; having been imbued with a vast amount of knowledge, Zhen Xun and Betty simply brought their new subordinates to a lush, vibrant jungle and left them to act on their own.

This plan would be extremely difficult to implement, but compared to the meteorological project, it had a higher probability of success and was far more practical.

"Sister Yue'er, the village ahead is my home," Bai Meiqi said, pointing excitedly at the archway at the entrance of the village.

The Flash Dragon tried to sense them, but unfortunately, it was being jammed. It could not pinpoint them directly, so it seemed it would have to resort to brute force—demolishing everything in its path. By attacking wherever the density of floating debris was highest, the chances of encountering other space monsters would be higher.

Back then, after obtaining the dying prophecy of the Ten Armor Ancestor, he had decisively chosen to use his trump card, deceiving the five great families—including the Changsun clan—to divert everyone’s attention elsewhere. Then, relying on the Shadow-Shifting Jade, he left the ancestral lands... After doing so much, he had finally arrived at the last moment to witness the scene from the prophecy.

This was why the rest areas were arranged around the competition platform; it ensured the safety of the spectators, and each of the six major rest areas was guarded by a deity-descendant.