Infiltrating East Peak City

Unlike the Heaven Dou Empire, where the imperial family was weak and major sects and academies found fertile ground to grow, with the Upper Three Sects, the Five Element Academies, and others all gathered there.

The Star Luo Empire's situation was even more complicated. Not only did it have sect forces like the White Tiger Sect and Saint Dragon Sect, but also a great many powerful family clans.

The western region of the Star Luo Empire was mainly composed of mountain ranges centered around the Mingdou Mountain Range.

Other than reclusive sects such as the Star Crown Sect, it was practically uninhabited. Soul beasts even roamed the area, and travelers were few and far between.

Star Luo City lay at the center of the Star Luo Empire. The empire's northeastern region bordered the Heaven Dou Empire and was directly controlled by the imperial Dai Family and the families close to it.

Meanwhile, the southeastern region of the Star Luo Empire was not only home to sects like the White Tiger Sect and Saint Dragon Sect, but was also a complicated land filled with countless family clans.

Naturally, the sect had assigned Xu Mingxi bodyguards for this journey.

Following him in secret was none other than his grandfather, First Elder Xu Chunyi.

On the surface, this was Xu Mingxi's first time traveling far from home alone. With the strength of a Soul King, he was already more than capable of taking care of himself outside.

But sometimes, it was not that one went looking for trouble—trouble came looking for them.

Xu Mingxi really had not expected that one day, he would find himself in such a cliché hero-saves-the-beauty scenario.

As he drove his carriage toward East Peak City, the largest city in the southeastern region of the Star Luo Empire, he suddenly saw someone in tattered Soul Master combat attire collapsed in front of his carriage. From a distance, the person seemed to be a woman?

Xu Mingxi had just pulled the carriage to a stop and had not even gotten down to see what was going on

when several men in black charged out of the woods nearby. There were four of them. Some carried long blades, while others had fangs protruding from their mouths.

Soul rings hung around each of them. There was one Soul Ancestor and three Soul Elders, but what left Xu Mingxi speechless was that among the four of them, only the Soul Ancestor had a single purple soul ring.

The others had either white or yellow rings. One particularly bizarre fellow holding a blade even had two white rings and one yellow ring.

Though Xu Mingxi looked young, his luxurious clothes made it clear that he was not someone to be trifled with.

"Sir, we're from the Wild Wolf Gang. Our gang leader is a Soul King-level expert. We only want that woman. We won't interfere with each other's business. How about it?"

Although he found the hero-saves-the-beauty plot far too clichéd, Xu Mingxi still decided to save her.

The woman's clothes had been torn to shreds during her escape, but it was still obvious that the original fabric had been of excellent quality.

Xu Mingxi had been worrying about how to blend in around here. He had not expected someone to bring him a pillow just as he was getting sleepy.

"I'll count to three. Get lost."

Xu Mingxi directly released his Martial Soul and soul rings. The four thugs stared at that pitch-black 100,000 Year Soul Ring.

They immediately lost all thought of fighting. They did not even dare leave behind a threat and fled in disgrace.

A 100,000 Year Soul Ring! Even their gang leader did not have one. Could a few insignificant nobodies like them possibly provoke someone their gang leader would not dare offend?

Xu Mingxi carried the woman onto the carriage and briefly examined her. The wounds on her body were all minor injuries, like scratches. She had probably fainted only because she was exhausted and dehydrated.

Xu Mingxi picked up a waterskin and poured a couple of mouthfuls into her, then summoned the Star Crown and fired a Star Net to bind her. After that, he ignored her.

As East Peak City drew closer and closer, the woman still had not awakened. Xu Mingxi withdrew the Star Net, moved her out of the carriage, took out a basin of water from his storage ring, and splashed it over her face.

"Where... is this?"

"Miss, you're awake. I happened to pass by earlier and saw you lying here alone, badly wounded."

Chen Qinghuang looked at the blond man before her, somewhat unable to make sense of the situation.

She only remembered that she seemed to have encountered bandits. Grandma Lingyi, who had been protecting her, was held back by men in black who suddenly appeared. Then the bandits had chased her, and she had fled all the way until... after that, she remembered nothing.

Could this man have saved her?

Chen Qinghuang blushed slightly. Someone this handsome would not be so bad.

"Miss, miss, would you like to change clothes? It rained earlier, and you're all wet."

Only then did Chen Qinghuang realize it. She felt around herself with both hands.

Good, good. Her clothes were fine. Though they really were quite wet. The ground nearby had dried rather quickly.

Chen Qinghuang borrowed Xu Mingxi's carriage and took out a clean set of clothes from her Storage Soul Tool to change into.

"Thank you for saving me, Young Master."

"It was nothing. But when I saw you lying on the ground earlier, you were covered in wounds. Did something happen?"

Chen Qinghuang's aggrieved emotions erupted all at once. She did not even know how she had ended up being chased. Those bandits had been smelly and ugly, and they had scared her to death.

"I... I don't know either. Yesterday..."

Xu Mingxi could tell that she had definitely never gone out to gain experience before. She casually spilled all the information.

Chen Qinghuang, the daughter of the Chen Family Head of East Peak City, was twenty-two years old. Her academy was on break this time, and she had returned to visit her parents.

Just as Xu Mingxi had expected, other than her home and academy, she had rarely gone anywhere before.

Whether she went out with classmates for fun or hunted for soul rings, she had always been thoroughly protected and had no idea how dangerous the world could be.

Xu Mingxi handed her some dry rations. Having been hungry for more than half a day, she took them and immediately stuffed them into her mouth, making Xu Mingxi almost unable to bear deceiving her.

Just as Xu Mingxi wanted to learn more, a burst of urgent hoofbeats suddenly sounded in the distance.

Looking closely, he saw a squad of more than a dozen Black Armor Cavalry, led by an elderly woman with a stern expression.

"Get up. See if those are your people."

Chen Qinghuang stopped mid-bite, rose to her feet, and looked into the distance. Then she suddenly began hopping with delight.

"Grandma Lingyi! I'm here! Over here!"

The old woman had naturally seen her as well. Her stern expression instantly softened as she hurried over and carefully checked Chen Qinghuang from head to toe. Only after confirming that she was unharmed did she finally let out a sigh of relief.

Only then did she notice Xu Mingxi standing nearby. She pulled Chen Qinghuang behind her and watched him warily.

"May I ask who this young master is?"

"Oh, Grandma Lingyi, Brother Mingxi saved me! He even gave me food."

Chen Qinghuang had completely forgotten that even if Xu Mingxi had not given her anything, she still had supplies in her Soul Tool.

Upon hearing this, Lingyi's expression finally eased, and a smile appeared on her face.

"Thank you, young master, for coming to her aid."

"It was nothing. I was on my way to East Peak City when I happened to see her collapsed on the ground."

"Young master is going to East Peak City? Why don't we travel together?"

"Well... wouldn't that be inappropriate?"

Xu Mingxi pretended to hesitate as he glanced at Chen Qinghuang, then at the Black Armor Cavalry beside them.

"Brother Mingxi, what's the problem? Come with us."

Chen Qinghuang was quite familiar with him already. Perhaps it was because of Xu Mingxi's face, but she directly grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the carriage.

After shaking off the enemy's pursuit, Lingyi had rushed back to East Peak City and urgently dispatched the Black Armor Cavalry to search for her. Naturally, she could not have driven a carriage herself.

Lingyi handed her horse over to one of the cavalrymen and boarded Xu Mingxi's carriage with Chen Qinghuang.