Yurouzi and Luoxin Street

"It's good that everything's fine. I'm relieved too. I'll contact Yurouzi later and tell her not to worry, so she won't have to make a trip to H City," Northern River Loose Cultivator replied afterward.

Song Shuhang felt that Northern River Loose Cultivator seemed to be online practically twenty-four hours a day. He had no idea where the man got such boundless energy. Could it be that his schedule happened to match Song's own? That was why Northern River Loose Cultivator was always online whenever he logged in.

No... when Song Shuhang was online, he was online. When Song Shuhang logged off, he was still online, because every time Song logged in, he saw chat records left behind by Northern River Loose Cultivator.

The guy really seemed as if he never needed sleep. He was practically a Saint Seiya of the internet.

Song Shuhang could not help worrying. So many people died suddenly these days from staying up all night—if Northern River Loose Cultivator kept this up, would he suddenly drop dead one day?

He should make a note of that too... When he was about to leave the group, he would give the man a good talking-to.

Shuhang dragged the chat window downward.

After speaking, Su Clan's A-Seven had said goodbye and gone offline.

Next, at around five in the morning, Pharmacist had come online, posted a picture, then added a question mark after it.

It was a picture of a plant Shuhang had never seen before.

The plant grew in twisting curves, like a coiled dragon. A row of backward-facing thorns lined its tip, while its roots and stalk were purple-black. It was a peculiar plant, highly ornamental.

"Poison Dragon Grass? Pharmacist, do you need it again? Didn't you cultivate some not long ago?" Northern River Loose Cultivator was once again the first to reply.

"Experiment. They all died." Pharmacist sent a gloomy emoji. Besides, that batch of Poison Dragon Grass had not been of very good quality.

"Fine. If I get hold of any, I'll contact you. If anyone else sees some, they'll definitely notify you too," Northern River Loose Cultivator replied.

"Alive ones," Pharmacist added.

Poison Dragon Grass... It did not sound like a particularly kind plant. Was it going to be used for pill refinement too? Could it poison someone to death? Song Shuhang was a little worried. The people in this group really seemed to have a talent for courting death.

Wait, something seemed off.

Song Shuhang's hand froze. He dragged the screen back up to Su Clan's A-Seven's reply and read it again.

'There were just a few... well, several dozen ordinary people who didn't know their place. Little Sixteen knocked them unconscious. No one died.'

Those words gave Shuhang an eerie feeling, because he naturally thought of those delinquents who had been wiped out by a crowd...

Could this still be a coincidence? If all of this was coincidence, then there had been far too many coincidences lately!

"Perhaps I should look at it from another angle. Maybe it isn't coincidence—it's just that I'm overthinking things."

"People are always like this. Once they become suspicious of something, they forcibly knead together many things that originally had nothing to do with each other. Just like when you suspect someone of stealing your money—you pin all sorts of things on them, and the more you look, the more they resemble a suspect."

He felt that his current state of mind was probably the same as 'suspecting someone of being a thief.'

He could not keep thinking about it. If he did, he would go mad like the people in the group. Song Shuhang stretched lazily, preparing to go for a run.

The morning was the foundation of the day, after all. Besides, he felt his constitution had weakened. The lingering cough left behind by the cold he had caught more than ten days ago still had not fully cleared up, and he would cough a few times now and then. It was uncomfortable!

So, on a whim, he decided to run fifteen hundred meters in the morning and exercise a little.

His goal was to keep up morning runs for a month!

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Meanwhile, at Jiangnan Region Airport.

A woman with waist-length hair pulled a huge suitcase out of the airport. Her skin was fair, she was tall, and her legs were long. She wore a white T-shirt, denim shorts, and sporty canvas shoes on her slender legs. She was youthful and beautiful.

At the moment, though, the long-haired woman looked troubled as she gazed at the enormous airport. She muttered softly, "I hate places this big the most. It's so easy to get lost."

Then she pulled out her phone and began fiddling with it.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

After working up a sweat during his morning run, Song Shuhang felt refreshed in a way he had not felt for a long time.

He bought buns and soy milk for breakfast when he passed the cafeteria, then returned to the dorm after his rapid breathing had calmed somewhat.

There was still an entire Sunday ahead of him. What should he do?

"Should I go mooch off some books again?" Shuhang thought as he gnawed on a bun.

He casually turned on his computer and logged into the campus network—he was still paying attention because he was somewhat concerned about the delinquents being attacked and knocked unconscious.

However, there were still no follow-up reports on the campus network about the delinquents being instantly wiped out by a group, because the poor delinquents were still lying around like corpses in the hospital, with not a single one showing any sign of waking up.

Thus, there was no way of knowing what person or thing had beaten them into that state.

According to students who had gone to visit them, even while unconscious, the delinquents would occasionally let out agonized moans. Since there were so many of them, the hospital had arranged them in a gigantic ward. The sight of nearly seventy or eighty people screaming and moaning was simply too beautiful—so miserable it was beyond human endurance.

"If they were merely knocked unconscious, they shouldn't still be out after an entire day and night, right? Could these delinquents have been beaten into vegetative states?" Shuhang thought.

While his mind ran wild, he opened the group chat again.

During the time he had spent running and eating, several more messages had appeared in the group.

Feathery Island Yurouzi (online via mobile): "Senior North River, I've arrived at Jiangnan Region Airport. Does Senior Ah Qi need help over there?"

Northern River Loose Cultivator was indeed online. He quickly replied, "Yurouzi, you're online. Ah Qi found Little Sixteen in the early hours of the morning, then left H City. You don't need to worry about them. You can head straight to J City and take care of your own business."

"It's good that they're fine," Yurouzi replied, then added, "Senior Ah Qi has already left H City?"

"Yes, he left in the early hours." Northern River Loose Cultivator asked again, "Could it be that Yurouzi, you still have something you need to see Ah Qi about?"

Yurouzi sighed. "Actually... I was hoping to meet up with Senior Ah Qi. If possible, it would be even better if someone could accompany me to J City. I'm not familiar with H City, the Jiangnan Region, or J City. I'm afraid I won't be able to find my destination."

"Where are you going? Phones these days have a function called navigation. It's very useful. I have to say, many modern inventions are convenient and practical." Northern River Loose Cultivator enthusiastically explained. Many people in the group were unfamiliar with modern things, but Northern River Loose Cultivator could be considered a 'modern expert.'

Hey, hey, was there really nothing wrong with your whole style? Wasn't this a gathering place for classical xianxia chuuni patients? Shouldn't you be recommending ancient maps or something? Or location-tracking magical treasures? Better yet, even opening a portal would have been acceptable. But phone navigation was the one thing he simply could not accept.

"I've tried it, but the place I need to go isn't on the navigation app," Yurouzi said gloomily.

Of course she knew how to use navigation. In fact, she was only a little over twenty-five this year. In some respects, she was no different from modern young people—she merely knew more about the 'true* real world' than they did.

"Besides, my sense of direction is a little poor. Even with navigation, I might not be able to find my destination," Yurouzi added.

Northern River Loose Cultivator comforted her. "It's fine. Once you advance to the Fifth-Grade Realm and can ride qi through the skies, you'll stand high and see far, so you won't have to worry about getting lost. As for now, you can take a taxi. Usually, as long as you have a place name, the driver can take you there. Just be careful not to get into an illegal cab."

"Thank you, Senior. I'll give it a try," Yurouzi said gratefully. If no one had reminded her, she would have nearly forgotten that taxis were such a convenient means of transportation.

Northern River Loose Cultivator added, "Where are you going, Yurouzi? If you really can't find it, I can ask around and see whether there are any fellow Daoists nearby. Perhaps they can lend a little help."

"It's a place in J City called Luoxin Street. There should be an ancient temple there called Ghost Lantern Temple. That ancient temple is where I'm going!" Yurouzi quickly replied.

"Alright, I understand. I'll ask around for you. If I hear anything, I'll contact you," Northern River Loose Cultivator replied.

"Senior, I can't thank you enough!" Yurouzi sent a smiling face. "I'm going to find a taxi."

Jiangnan Region Airport

The long-legged girl with waist-length hair dragged her huge suitcase along and headed briskly toward the airport taxi stand. Her beautiful figure made the passing men stare straight at her.