Chapter 43: Picked Up by Shen Zhi

Xu Ziyu woke up to find Guan Yueyue slumped beside his hospital bed, fast asleep.

He reached out and gently stroked the back of her head.

Guan Yueyue woke up almost immediately, looking at Xu Ziyu with sleepy, hazy eyes. Seeing that he was awake, she sat up instantly. "You're awake. How do you feel? Is anything hurting?"

Xu Ziyu touched the gauze on his forehead and asked deliberately...

Ma Xiaokao had no intention of hiding anything from Li Qinghan, and directly recounted the conversation between Madam Ma and himself.

While the speculation regarding the Morning Star was absurd, it was clever in a way, as the vast majority of people associated it with the Holy Son, which to some extent suppressed the spread of the rumors.

Luan Hongyan's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly. After pondering for a moment, she finally picked up the medicinal pill and swallowed it.

"There are simply too many matters to attend to. Although we have recently acquired several prefectures, they are all a mess. The people are impoverished and struggling to survive, and all of this takes time to manage. Once this matter is over, you should officially return to your posts and stop lingering on the mountain," Chao Gai said.

The people of Yuncheng had never imagined their city could be so prosperous. Even the markets in the mountainous regions were filled with delicacies like chicken and duck. In ordinary years, which commoner would ever dare to afford such things? This year was entirely different; anyone with a little spare silver at home would buy a few chickens to take back and stew.

Wang Tiqian chuckled softly and clapped his hands twice. At that moment, several embroidered uniform guards emerged from behind the fire-making room.

Had it been in the past, how could the young master ever have uttered such picky complaints? Not to mention that the fabric of this garment was of the finest quality; it could hardly be called inferior by any stretch of the imagination.

At the time, Danchen had assumed the array in the Shattered Stone Valley was broken and was prepared to return to inspect the situation. However, after the bovine-faced array spirit explained that the severed connection between the spirit and the Shattered Star Sword was due to the bizarre nature of the Water-Moon Grotto Heaven, Danchen decided against turning back.

Liu Ke galloped all the way, finally reaching Luxiang, only to find the battlefield in utter chaos. Before he even had a chance to catch his breath and ask what had happened, he saw an opposing general leap forth on horseback, brandishing a halberd and charging directly at him.

First is the Carefree Sovereign. I wonder whose bounty this is—two Pure Yang celestial artifacts. Tsk tsk, simply breathtaking.

"You beast! Today, even if I die, I will never let you snatch away my sister-in-law!" The Flood Demon King roared in fury.

Hongfu had already regained consciousness from her faint. Upon seeing Muchen, she embraced him and burst into a fit of uncontrolled sobbing, leaving Xin Ruoruo standing nearby feeling rather awkward.

"I don't have wine here, but I do know how to brew it myself. I researched it on my own—it's a kind of medicinal wine, though not the heavily nourishing kind. It's just beneficial to the human body, and the taste is quite good. Everyone who has tasted my wine says it's excellent," Hua Tuo said with a smile.

Seeing this, a ferocious gleam flashed in the giant ape's eyes, and a blinding yellow light erupted across its body. With another grasp from mid-air, over a hundred massive pillars thrust upward from the ground, hurtling violently toward the silver giant palm.

In the distance, Zheng Zhong saw this, the corners of his lips curling into a sneer. Then, a murderous intent flashed in his eyes, and his divine sense stirred once more.

Aunt Yan considered the matter over and over again. In the end, she was swayed by the remark that even the Manor of Loyalty and Righteousness could not compare. Her greatest wish in this lifetime was to secure a good life for Jiying, so that she would not have to live frugally like herself, constantly calculated against by a mother-in-law over a meager dowry.

Deep within his heart, Qi Guanzhou also longed to possess classic achievements like those of Qin Guanglu. If he could defeat Qin Guanglu in a direct confrontation within the old territories of Southern Yue, Qi Guanzhou would shake the world, his renown reaching its zenith. His future official career would be boundless, and perhaps he might truly be able to replace General Pang Zong.

As for why this fog could engulf cultivators and make them vanish—whether they perished, were transported to some other realm, or were sent directly to the Heavenly Demonic Realm—Bu Yunfan had no way of knowing.