Volume One, Chapter 40: An Unexpected Encounter with Wen Qianxue at Xuanshui Bay

There were still five or six patrolling soldiers pacing back and forth atop the city tower, bows slung across their backs, short swords gripped in their hands, as if ready to spring into battle at any moment.

The man in blue cried out in agony, wracked with pain so intense that his whole body convulsed, his facial muscles twisted in torment. The searing pain dulled his reactions, and in that instant, the fist that had shattered his arm opened its fingers, only for Xiao Fan to strike him with a backhanded slap across the face.

Moreover, everyone was deeply curious. To be able to marry the young master of the Blade Sect, the bride was clearly no ordinary figure. Yet, to this day, not a single detail about her had been revealed.

The two unruly princelings were at their antics again. Hearing the commotion, Liu An promptly stepped aside to avoid any harm. He truly wondered what use the head eunuchs serving the Eighth and Ninth Princes were—never accompanying their masters, probably off currying favor with the Fourth Prince’s retinue again.

This familiar scene brought a flood of memories to Qin Xiao: the time in the deadly secret realm, when at Soul’s End, the four disciples of Yin Tianya, in their quest for power, also chose to undergo the Three Lights Baptism during the moment of trinity. The events of that day stood vividly in his mind. The lively, outspoken fifth disciple’s figure flashed by fleetingly.

Liu An was alarmed! If he grew too close to Empress Ye, wouldn’t that provoke Consort Li? He hastened to defend himself.

The next day, with nothing of importance on their hands, Duan Ye and his companions swaggered through the streets, idling away time; there were still several days before the birthday banquet, and it was inconvenient to pay their respects to Tufa Sifujian just yet. Strolling the city might bring unexpected fortune—or perhaps, a romantic encounter.

Yet despite these efforts, the entire state of Wu remained unwilling to yield. On his deathbed, Shou Meng, seeing he could not pass the throne to Ji Zha, was forced to hand it to his eldest son Zhu Fan, instructing his sons that ultimately, the crown must be given to Ji Zha.

Ali’s stunning beauty was largely hidden beneath coarse cloth garments; the interplay of light and shadow revealed only a glimpse of her delicate, ethereal face, but even that single patch of jade-like skin drew the attention of many present.

Arriving in haste, Shangguan Yunfei stared at the grievous, blood-soaked wounds on his own back. With blood loss leaving him barely clinging to life, Shangguan Fengyun, after smashing everything breakable in the hospital room, turned on the hospital directors and the police who had rushed over, unleashing a torrent of furious curses.

"Why did you come out? If you’d just held on a little longer, you might have beaten Ju Yuqu!" As Ye Haochuan emerged, Cao Renshuang greeted him with a face full of disappointment.

After leaving Qiu Xuan’s command tent, Tuoba Jie and Murong Lan walked side by side. Suddenly, he raised his hand and summoned a soldier: "Go tell Commandant Lang to lead the men in building houses." The soldier answered and hurried off.

Yet at that very moment, an overwhelming, invisible force pressed down, like a vast shroud descending from the heavens.

"Is this what happens when ordinary people try to control second-generation beasts? Their bodies nearly explode at the slightest mishap?" Lu Yu sighed in lament.

The old man nodded and departed. Dao Fei watched his retreating figure, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

At this point, one cultivator and one devil practitioner had each broken into the top four.

Yan Goldrobe and Yan Silverrobe were stunned for a long time; in truth, Yan Zhen’s talent in swordsmanship was indeed formidable now, whether from rebirth or some other cause.

After returning to Sky Pillar Mountain, Senior Brother He Liang devoted himself to martial practice and helped Master Zuo Ci manage all mountain affairs.

He was already forty years old. In this era, many had achieved fame and glory by that age.

Damn it, the Four Demon Sects actually put a bounty on his head—though only a thousand inferior spirit stones per attempt! The Four Demon Sects must be rich; with such a reward, it was no wonder every devil cultivator was after him. Yan Zhen eyed the thousand spirit stone reward with a hint of greed, half-tempted to turn himself in.

Li Mei studied foreign languages solely to help Huo Jun communicate more easily with overseas clients during business negotiations.

At this moment, Jiang Yan’er was breathless, her eyes somewhat dazed. She staggered to steady herself, gazed at Zhou Chen, tried to speak, her red lips trembling for a long while, but in the end, no words came.

He remembered that in the original story, Lin Lei’s cultivation manual, "The Dragonblood Codex," survived only in hand-copied versions; the originals were all lost.

Wei Jiayan immediately regretted her words; after all, her real purpose in this chance meeting was to discreetly learn about their current living conditions and gradually win them over, not to create direct conflict.

Ming Xifeng listened to him speak at a measured pace, repeatedly referring to "my wife"—it felt as though what he wanted most was simply to savor those three words.

Alyia was a little surprised. She knew the Azure Night Stone was heavy, but had never actually lifted it herself before.

Since Xuan’er had already agreed to give him both Spirit Guardian slots, Lin Yan made no preparations to guard the ancient spring.

Last time, when Chen Fan contacted them, Qi Yaohua mentioned that the Qi family’s offshoots seemed to be looking for help, though nothing was certain yet. Unexpectedly, the help they found was also in Jinling.

Being a traditional fisherman, Brother Li put his faith in luck, even to the point of superstition. When Yang Jian accompanied Haozi to the tide flats, Haozi found a splendid dragon lobster; but whenever Brother Li went out to sea, nearly every net came up overflowing.

A figure no taller than one meter sixty, cloaked entirely in a black robe, stood before a black hall.

Without the mages who could craft enchanted items, relying only on a handful of bloodline sorcerers and shadowy alchemists, magical artifacts within the entire Radiant Church’s domain had become exceedingly rare and precious.

"Not a bad idea, but not very reliable. Pity that back when I hunted down the last five Chaos clan experts from the Time clan, I killed them all at once and learned nothing from them. Otherwise, there’d be no need to search for answers now."

"Right away, sir! Please wait a moment!" The attendant hurried into the kitchen, and moments later, brought out several large bowls of lamb soup, setting them on the table.