A Familiar Face in a Strange Land

On the other end of the phone, a man held the receiver. His expression was cold, but his hand gripping the phone trembled slightly.

Sixty years. He knew the original owner of the Ghost Lantern Temple was powerful and wouldn't die easily. However, after sixty years, he thought perhaps the original owner no longer cared about this place?

So, he began to make arrangements, trying to find a way to quietly break the seal near the Ghost Lantern Temple to take what was inside.

But he never expected someone would actually come.

"Damn it!" the man gritted his teeth.

After leaving the hotel, Shuhang and Yurouzi wandered around Luoxin Street.

They didn't encounter any groups of elderly people chatting, but they did run into something more interesting—five drunken perverts.

He hadn't encountered a "femme fatale" situation on the high-speed train, but upon arriving at Luoxin Street, he instead ran into a group of drunks with lustful intentions.

It was a sparsely populated path. Five drunken men staggered and blocked the way of Song Shuhang and Yurouzi. Their eyes were bloodshot and greedily fixed on Yurouzi.

Alcohol emboldens heroes, and it can also embolden scoundrels. Under the influence of alcohol, people are capable of anything. They might kiss a pig, bite a dog, or even fight with one.

These five drunks had never seen such a beautiful woman in their lives. The moment they saw Yurouzi, their eyes were glued to her.

"Damn, this woman is as beautiful as a fairy. If I could have her just once, I'd gladly lose ten years of my life!" That was their thought, so they used their drunkenness as an excuse to surround them.

What's there to fear? At worst, they'd go to jail for a few years.

This was the tragedy of ignorance of the law. They had only vaguely heard people bragging about getting a few years in prison for raping a girl. Did they think it was still years ago? Or perhaps they thought they were in India?

Nowadays, rape would land you life imprisonment, and a slightly more severe case would be a single peanut.

Song Shuhang found the scene both amusing and frustrating. He stretched his muscles and prepared to step in.

His combat ability was decent... Normally, he could easily take on three people, let alone these five scrawny drunkards? Because of this, delinquents near his school never bothered him.

Against opponents like these, he could take on ten!

Just as Song Shuhang was about to show off his skills, a gust of wind whistled past his ear.

Then he saw a pair of slender legs kicking out with lightning speed. As the legs moved through the air, they were like butterflies flitting through flowers, incredibly beautiful. And not just beautiful, but terrifyingly powerful. When the legs struck the air, they even made cracking sounds like a whip.

The five drunks screamed and were sent flying backward, writhing on the ground, vomiting everywhere, and soon lost consciousness.

Down for the count? How long did it take? One second? Or even less!

Song Shuhang turned his head and saw Yurouzi retracting her long legs—how cool was that!

Compared to Yurouzi, his own martial arts were amateurish.

Looking at the unconscious drunks, Shuhang's mind flashed back to the group of delinquents who had been taken down outside his school.

If, hypothetically, Yurouzi's combat power was as displayed just now, she could indeed have made those seventy to eighty delinquents collectively fall unconscious in a very short time?

However, Yurouzi was still on the plane then.

Could it be that the "Sixteen" from the Su family in the group did it? Could it be that everyone in the group truly possessed explosive combat power?

"I didn't kill anyone, did I?" Song Shuhang asked, a little worried.

"Don't worry, senior. I have a sense of proportion. They'll wake up in at most two days. This duration is just right; three days without food or drink could cause problems," Yurouzi replied.

This answer gave Song Shuhang a sense of sudden enlightenment—those delinquents who had been unconscious for so long, perhaps it was because the 'two-day' limit hadn't been reached yet?

"Let's go, senior." Yurouzi giggled.

Song Shuhang nodded stiffly, his mind in chaos, and followed Yurouzi away from the scene...

After Shuhang and Yurouzi were far away, a man emerged from a corner behind the path, walking with steady steps towards the five drunks.

"Drunks are indeed too weak. They couldn't even make the opponent get serious," the man sighed.

Behind the man, a figure in black knelt on the ground and said in a deep voice, "Hall Master, shall we send a few people to try?"

"No need. The five drunks are ordinary people, so the opponent held back. If our people went up... the opponent wouldn't show mercy," the Hall Master said gravely. Each of his subordinates was not easy to cultivate. Even an ordinary newcomer required over a million US dollars to train; they were not disposable commodities.

The woman just now, by only dealing with these five drunks, had already revealed her strength. Those whip-like kicks that broke through the air and the controlled force were definitely not something a martial cultivator at the first-rank extraordinary level could achieve.

The opponent was already a strong practitioner who had condensed true qi!

This was no longer something his subordinates could contend with.

Moreover, beside the woman was a 'senior' whose depth he couldn't fathom at all, with unfathomable strength.

That person could easily defeat his expensively trained elites in various poses. Even if he had more subordinates, they couldn't be wasted like this.

To be honest, he was a little scared.

"We can only act when the opportunity arises," the Hall Master murmured.

His hope for the treasure within the Ghost Lantern Temple had largely vanished, but he was still a little unwilling to give up.

Yurouzi and Song Shuhang continued to wander Luoxin Street for a long time. They encountered elders in their fifties, but no one knew about the Ghost Lantern Temple.

Song Shuhang felt a headache coming on. He hadn't expected finding a temple to be so troublesome: "Yurouzi, are you sure the Ghost Lantern Temple is on Luoxin Street in J City?"

"It's definitely here, and I'm absolutely sure of the name: 'Ghost' from specter, 'Lantern' from lamp!" Yurouzi said firmly. "My mother came here when she was pregnant with me, but back then, I could only observe the outside world with my mind through my father's magic. I only remember the wooden Ghost Lantern Temple plaque."

Half of what she said, Song Shuhang understood, but the latter half went completely over his head. Their minds were clearly not on the same wavelength.

"Is there anything special around here? Like on a mountaintop? Mountainside? Or a small river?" Shuhang asked.

"Not on a mountain, it should be flat ground. I can't remember the rest clearly," Yurouzi said apologetically.

"Any news from Senior Northern River?"

Yurouzi took out her phone and checked, then said happily, "Senior Northern River is coming online."

In the Nine Provinces Group chat.

Northern River Loose Cultivator: "Yurouzi, have you found the Ghost Lantern Temple yet?"

"Not yet, do you have news, Senior?" Yurouzi typed excitedly.

"Sorry, I asked some fellow cultivators, but unfortunately, everyone I know is in the eastern part of China, and no one knows anything about J City." Northern River Loose Cultivator sent a wry smile emoji. "Besides, a very troublesome guy just showed up and is still bothering me. I probably won't be able to help much from now on."

"It's okay, Senior, you just focus on your business," Yurouzi replied with a smile.

When Shuhang saw this message, he immediately felt that Northern River Loose Cultivator... was truly an unreliable man. When he wasn't needed, he was online every second. When he was truly needed, he immediately ran into trouble!

"Senior Song, we'll rely on ourselves!" Yurouzi clenched her small fists and made a gesture of encouragement.

So cute! For some reason, Song Shuhang felt that this woman, who looked older than him, was unexpectedly cute.

As they were talking, dazzling headlights lit up in rows ahead. A group of colorful motorcycles roared towards Shuhang. Judging by the loud engine sounds, these motorcycles had been modified.

"Street racers? What era is this?" Song Shuhang muttered, pulling Yurouzi towards the side of the street.

When she heard the words "street racers," Yurouzi's eyes lit up: "Should we take them down?"

"What?" Song Shuhang didn't understand.

"Shouldn't street racers be sent to prison? Knock them out and send them to jail!" Yurouzi rubbed her hands together, looking eager to try.

"..." Girl, what you said makes so much sense that I'm speechless.

However, Yurouzi ultimately didn't make a move.

As the seven or eight motorcycles passed by Shuhang and the others, one of them suddenly braked hard, spun beautifully, and stopped beside Shuhang.

The motorcycle helmet opened, revealing a handsome face with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes: "Shuhang! What are you doing here, kid!"