Volume One, Chapter 36: A Secret Crossing at Chencang, a Cicada Slipping Its Shell

"With the Blood Demon Sword in my hand, who is there left for me to fear?" A cultivator with a hideous, oversized head let out a wild laugh, drool trailing from the corners of his mouth.

However, when I finally made the call, I realized that things were entirely different from what I had imagined.

Three days later, Young Master Mu ceased his assassination game after slaying eighteen ninth-rank Barbarian Gods. With five of the seven stars of the Taiyin constellation now in alignment, he had no more time to hunt these deities; he could not help but worry about the current state of Yaochi and the others.

Sun Lin seemed to sense that she was exhausting too much of her energy and realized she needed to switch to a different method of attack. She muttered an incantation under her breath, then pointed her finger at the five people lying on the hospital beds nearby.

"Speak! What is going on?" Seeing this, Qi Haoyun closed the distance in two quick strides, catching the faltering assassin with a look of urgency in his eyes. Meanwhile, Li Fengjiao approached the other assassin, who had already fallen unconscious, to assess the situation. But at that very moment, an unexpected turn of events occurred.

As a result, Guangming Middle School underwent repeated expansions, and the city of Huadong even granted them a large plot of land specifically for that purpose.

"Clang!" The two defensive players heard a thunderous slam. Beasley, that fool, had somehow found himself hanging from the rim.

"My dad is returning to the country soon. When the holidays start, I’ll take you to meet my family..." Lele looked up at the ceiling, lost in her own thoughts, a shy expression blooming on her face.

Fang Mengbao kicked him again, turning her head away in feigned anger, only to be pinned against the wall by Huangfu Mo, who began to kiss her fiercely. With a flick of his hand, the door slammed shut with a bang. His callous-covered palms wandered eagerly over her body, filled with insatiable desire.

Yin Yun was about to intervene, but Zhang Sisheng beat him to it, slowly and tentatively stepping into the water. Zhang Sisheng looked back at them, his eyes beginning to cloud over, yet he maintained a lingering smile as he watched them.

"We’re from the Shadow Kill Mercenary Corps. I wonder how much the entry fee is?" the fat man said with a harmless, cheerful smile.

"Qian'er, I am leaving tomorrow. Do you really want to waste this final time on this useless ring? Even if we find out where it came from, what can we do? Since the ring is here, its owner must be dead. Do you truly hope to crack the secrets of this ring in a single day?" Yang Chen cautioned.

***

"How could that be? Sister, what important business brings you here this time? Surely it is not just to see your younger brother?" Zhan Tao asked with a clever, practiced grace.

Because Yan Mu had warned that the Qiongtian Mirror was of critical importance, Yun Feng did not mention it when explaining the situation. Naturally, the master of Qianhua Valley remained unaware that Yun Feng held the mirror in his possession.

It appeared that it would take another two or three hours to finish the preparations; even if they mustered the troops today, they would have to depart under the cover of night.

Could it be that Chen Tianming, who was asleep back at school, had actually seen this? What did that even mean? Superstition, a dream, or a premonition?

By now, Jian Miao had recovered from his shock, realizing that this was merely a divine artifact once wielded by the Primordial Ancestor Junhong in an age long past, and the voice he heard was but one of the thousands of divine projections the Ancestor had left behind in the world.

"Since we all know each other, shouldn't we take advantage of such a beautiful night..." The beauty walked with bold, sweeping strides, stopping just a step away from Liu Moxie, and lowered her head to stare at her intensely with those bewitching fox eyes.

One path is to become someone who knows too many secrets they shouldn't, only to be disposed of when the time is right.

Even Keya forgot his bold declarations about avenging the chicken, lying comfortably beneath his clothes to soak up the warmth of the campfire.

Gu Lang finally fell silent, placed the wife-cake on the coffee table without a word, and headed back upstairs to change his clothes.

Now that they had lost their pillar of support in the Grand Elder, she had no clear idea of what path to take next.

"Go ahead and laugh if you want. This blade is called the Black Back Saber." Chen Zaoshuang looked at the saber in her hands with satisfaction, carefully stroking the rust as if it were a precious treasure.

Zhang Fengxian’s face turned livid with rage! In the past, he would have simply had the informant flogged and been done with it, knowing they could do nothing against him. But now, with Prince Jing sitting by and watching, he found himself in a difficult position.

***

"Where did you learn that technique you used to save those people earlier?" I had been too distracted by the joy of Shen Muxian’s death to ask, but now it came back to me.

However, the twins' attention was entirely focused on the connection between Noah and Percy; they stared at him in shock, their expressions suggesting they had just seen a traitor who could never possibly have defected.

The brawny cultist waved a hand, and his followers surged forward like wolves and tigers, pouncing upon the defenseless sheep.

Seeing the child return to his own room, Xu Qingqing also got up and went back to hers to explain the situation to Qin Huairu, who was equally astonished.

The reason he had orchestrated that performance was, naturally, to protect the family’s reputation. For years, the Gu family had successfully hosted the medicinal herb fair, providing a platform for independent cultivators, solely by maintaining a facade of integrity.

In the few minutes since Xu Dashan had appeared, the public opinion of the crowd had shifted completely.

Chu Nantian was truly startled by his appearance. He saw that Shen Linfeng’s eyes were glowing with a crimson light, his fangs bared, looking like a beast that had been starving for ages.

Beside him, Li Sinian was still staring intently with wide eyes. After staring for a long time without seeing anything, he heard Ziyuan’s words and quickly pulled himself together, averting his gaze. Seeing the somewhat ferocious look on Li Chuyi’s face, Li Sinian couldn't help but feel a secret tremor of alarm.