Chapter Thirty-Five: Troubled

Lu Yalan had no idea that, out of nowhere, she had acquired yet another fiancé.

At this moment, she and Hong Xing were walking along Vermilion Bird Street, the busiest thoroughfare in Salt City.

Shops lined both sides of the road, one after another. There were textile stores where men in long tunics sold homespun cloth and silks, as well as import shops staffed by men in shirts and trousers hawking foreign goods. Besides the shops, there were also peddlers carrying their wares on shoulder poles, selling trinkets as they walked. When tired, they would set their burdens down by the roadside and lay out a small stall, continuing to call out their wares.

Every few steps along the street stood a little vendor’s stand, selling all manner of things—hair ribbons and rouge favored by young women, as well as small wooden or jade carvings. Lu Yalan and Hong Xing found themselves dazzled by the endless array of curiosities.

Vermilion Bird Avenue was wide and smooth, so there was no need to worry about vendors crowding the center and squeezing the pedestrians—people could pass easily in both directions.

Though their duel lasted twenty rounds and ended in a draw, Ye Wentian’s spiritual energy remained entirely unaffected; he wasn’t even short of breath. Instead, each exchange only seemed to invigorate him, his strength undiminished and even growing.

When it came to controlling the intensity of magical energy, Allen noticed subtle differences depending on which hand he used. Because his bones had mutated during an incident in the Wild Plains Forest, he found his grip on magical force exceptionally tenacious.

The bartender, on seeing Ning Wuhua, was not at all surprised. He poured the usual for Ning Wuhua, who downed a glass, looked at the empty cup in his hand, and then placed it back on the bar.

Now that matters had come to this, Huicheng recounted in detail the course of the great battle at Mount East, Ye Wentian’s origins, and the adult seal that had been placed on him.

When Wuming awoke, he felt light and unburdened. He sat up from the carriage seat and looked up into the starry night. Lowering his gaze, he touched his own skin—gone was the pain of being gnawed by the parasitic insects. The chaos they had caused was now suppressed, which meant Wu Yong had already infused him with magic.

No one knew when he had appeared there, but nonetheless, I followed him into a room that had once been guarded.

In such a scene of bullying, Luo Junnan would never permit outsiders to witness it, nor would too many people be arranged in this room. This was Qi Rui’s only chance.

“Qing… why are you here?” came a weak voice, making Mu Qing’s heart ache with concern.

“No way, how could someone just drop dead like that?” was the first reaction of a still-stunned netizen.

Rong Ya nodded at Yun Yao, and the two left the inner hall together, heading toward the main audience chamber. When they arrived, the few remaining concubines of the harem were already seated. Beauty Xu sat in silence, looking rather dispirited, while Concubine Du and Beauty Jiang were engaged in an animated conversation.

He walked over to inspect the carved relief ahead. Sure enough, there was a passage inside, but Grand Eunuch Hai was nowhere to be seen; he had long since fled, even slipping beyond the reach of the energy-detecting monocle.

Yet with every blow, both combatants felt a tremendous force rebound through their bodies—the Blackwind Python’s strength was truly immense.

Zhu Wei resembled a crazed beast, roaring in agony with his bloodied jaws wide open, his thigh wounded by a hunter’s shot. His eyes, shot with blood, gleamed with such ferocity that his face looked terrifying and savage.

The collision of two swords erupted in midair in a dazzling burst of mysterious light—a spectacle beautiful beyond words, but with no one to appreciate it. The force contained within that clash unleashed a tidal wave of vital energy, tearing up the air in a swirling vortex.

This appeared to be the bottom of a mountain valley, surrounded by towering, unfamiliar trees that formed a boundless, primeval forest.

At that moment, Liu Ying began to feel a flicker of dread. He regretted killing Xu Tian; that death had been the spark for everything that followed.

As Wu Jun’s words faded, an invisible pressure settled over everyone present, the situation having taken a wholly unexpected turn.

Having confirmed these three matters, Liu Fei first called Lou Luan and Han Ying to report to the police, then phoned Chu Wentian, asking him to send someone to take stock of the workers at the Liu family village construction site.

After arranging the bouquets, Liu Fei took out his professional camera and snapped numerous photos of the two women. At their request, he set the camera to take timed shots so he could join them, posing together for a flurry of pictures.