Volume One, Chapter 28: The Scandal of the Zhao Family

"What is going on! Why did thousands of people collapse all at once? Is this the Black Cross seeking revenge? Why did we have absolutely no intelligence on this?" the new principal demanded, pointing at the head of the Intelligence Department, his former subordinate.

Previously, Lu Yu had relied on refining spiritual energy into internal energy within his body to recover his vitality—a truly inefficient approach that yielded half the result for twice the effort.

"God of War, the facts are right before our eyes. If you just let them return the Sacred Tree to us, I guarantee that we will never breathe a word of this to anyone else," Captain Xiao Yan said, offering a fawning smile.

Up ahead, Yuan Hongcai, the fat man, narrowly dodged; looking at the spot where he had just been standing, a massive palm print was scorched into the ground, and a large boulder within it had been crushed to powder.

When Li Mu cultivated, he usually chose to book a room in the arena during less important classes. Chu Yun, however, felt the school instructors’ level of teaching was too poor and preferred self-study; occasionally, when bored, he would just tag along with Li Mu. Having no other choice, Li Mu had to take him along to cultivate.

Lu Yu secretly channeled his internal energy to examine himself, sensing that he had about fifty percent of his internal energy remaining. He then calmly retreated toward the edge of the beast tide, constantly putting himself in his opponent's shoes, wondering when they would choose to strike.

Along the way, one would occasionally see an abandoned temple, the bones of cattle and sheep, and solitary wolves prowling in the distance. The terrain here rose and fell, and within the rolling landscape lay countless secrets of heaven. The history of this land predated the Central Plains by five thousand years; now that he was so close to it, he felt strangely distant.

"Damn this racial talent! Fuck!" An Zi muttered to himself, holding his blade before his eyes. The broad, golden-glowing blade of the Cold Domain Sword reflected half of his face, and by chance, he caught the reflection of the God-Burial Sun, which made him chuckle.

"Whoosh, whoosh!" Amidst the whistling wind, led by Long Rui, the sixteen men on the scene surrounded the gourd.

I sat to one side, nodded, and let out a slow sigh. It seemed that after that incident, everyone had grown significantly.

Before he had even fully sobered up, Su Xing had been plied with quite a bit of liquor by Zeng Yinghua, and now, after being rattled by Zeng Danru’s sudden outburst, his eyes were bloodshot and shimmering with a crystalline intensity that even the night could not conceal.

"Xiaoyaozi said, 'Giant, you are formed by the malice and resentment absorbed by demons. Malice and resentment are your essence. Although my sword can cause you to temporarily lose your power, if the source of that malice and resentment is not severed, you will resurrect again. Once you resurrect, your power will be even greater. Am I right?'"

***

This time, one hundred percent of the audience erupted in even more enthusiastic cheers, seemingly as a mockery of the host’s deliberate nitpicking.

Mu Fan also breathed a sigh of relief. He had once seen a demonic beast undergo a tribulation near the Fire Domain, but compared to the sheer power displayed before him, that was nothing but trash.

Yang Jinyi received an urgent message from home saying there was a critical matter to discuss, so she bade farewell to Xiao Fan and left in a hurry.

Endless chaotic energy surged and raged incessantly. One after another, immensely vast, pitch-black rifts emerged, stretching for hundreds of millions of miles, swallowing star system after star system, leaving onlookers with a sense of profound shock.

"Come on, Uncle An, don't blame Qin Lan! If you have something to say, just say it, alright?" Su Xing, feeling uneasy due to An Guangyi’s increasingly somber demeanor, also wanted to know why the man he had summoned had suddenly become so courteous.

"Get out!" Su Xing had already given Qin Lan enough face. If those unfinished words had come from the mouth of any other man, the least he would suffer would be having his tongue pulled out and his tendons severed.

The six-time champion, Ning Chuan, was furious. His heavenly totem rose behind him, dazzling and brilliant, slowly pressing down toward Shi Hao, while he simultaneously unleashed a violent punch at him.

A long, wet kiss allowed Zhuna to feel the man's deep affection; she looked at Xiao Fan with blurred, longing eyes.

With a muffled "clack," the massive iron cage before them slowly opened. Stepping over the threshold, the group finally arrived at the inner courtyard.

"Other than this place, where else does the Kunxiao Sect have buildings?" Li Yuanqing looked at the vast expanse of rubble before him, his eyes immediately turning red.

And so, across this desolate, uninhabited wilderness, a strange scene unfolded.

Having said that, Murong Fu directly unleashed eighty percent of his power in a single palm strike. A giant hand, large enough to cover the entire arena, descended from the sky, crushing down directly upon Mu Feng.

***

After returning to the Prince's Mansion, Xie Changjing did not give up in despair over the death of the Dowager Consort. He knew very well that once his mother died, he would be the next one to suffer. His influence, especially within the military, was formidable, making him a long-standing thorn in Xie Changheng's side.

Wei Fengchu pulled me tightly into his embrace. His bright eyes were filled with the flames of his rage. His face was so close that I felt a bit dazed; it was a face that had frequently appeared in my mind over the past three years, and memories of our time together slowly came flooding back.

Shufang rambled on, speaking in one breath about how terrible those three sects were and what kind of unconscionable evil deeds they had committed, listing them all with absolute clarity.

Ruoli thought that since Chu Yuan had already woken up and the matter of the Northern Underworld resentment spirits had been settled for him, rather than sitting there in silence, she would choose to leave first.

Thus, she cherished her life dearly; for her, "mutual destruction" was nothing more than an indifferent, hollow phrase.

"Senior Brother!" A gatekeeper ran panic-stricken to the rear hall, bumping into Ling Chen and Ling Luo as they were heading out.

As a competent assistant to the General Manager of the Emperor's Palace, he had, of course, investigated the family backgrounds of all the attendees at this banquet, and all this data was stored in his mind.

Although she had tacitly allowed him to bring her back to the Rakshasa Palace, she had no intention of marrying him—at least not for the time being.