Uninvited Guests at Night

"So... you spent ninety million at an auction?!"

Cai Yue'er stared at Yun Jingheng with an unfriendly expression.

"Cough... The main thing is, those things are all useful, you know?"

"I don't know if it will work, but I know you're going to get a beating today."

Yun Jingheng's lips twitched, and he took a deep breath.

"Aunt Cai, let me explain."

"Explain what?"

Cai Yue'er's voice wasn't loud, but every word sounded as if it had been pulled out of an ice cellar.

"Explain how you spent half a year's worth of the Shrek Academy's funds in fifteen minutes? Or explain how you created a topic at the auction that made the entire Star Luo City talk about whether 'the people of Shrek have too much money to spend'?"

Yun Jingheng opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"My pendant is of the moon element --"

"Thirty million monthly attribute points?"

"It works for me--"

"Is it necessary to add 21.5 million to the price for something that's useful?"

Yun Jingheng remained silent.

Every time he opened his mouth, she could pinpoint the flaw in his words and stab it in without even drawing blood.

"Aunt Cai, I was wrong."

"You're wrong?"

Cai Yue'er's tone softened slightly, but her lips remained taut. "What did I do wrong?"

"We shouldn't have spent so much money."

"Anything else?"

"... Shouldn't you have known?"

"You--!"

"Collapse--!!!"

It seemed like something was exploding; it was far away, but the whole building was shaking.

The crystal chandelier shook violently, the glass beads clattering against each other with a soft clattering sound, and the teacup on the coffee table slid to the edge, only to be caught by Yuanen Yehui.

The landscape painting on the wall was crooked, the curtains swayed violently, and then everything returned to calm.

But the sound of the explosion still lingered in everyone's ears, like someone had struck their eardrums with a sledgehammer.

Cai Yue'er stopped moving.

Her hand was still raised to her mouth.

Her gaze underwent a complete transformation in a fraction of a second.

The two states switched so quickly that Xie Xie thought he might be seeing things.

Cai Yue'er turned around and looked in the direction from which the explosion came.

That was in the north of the city. A ball of fire rose in the distance in the night, its orange-red light dancing between the buildings, turning that small patch of night sky a dark red.

"Stay in the hotel."

Cai Yue'er's voice changed; it no longer carried the anger and teasing of before. It was concise, clear, and without any superfluous words.

"Lock the door and don't open it for anyone."

She walked to the door and glanced back at Yun Jingheng.

"No one is allowed to leave before I return."

Yun Jingheng nodded.

Cai Yue'er pushed open the hotel door and walked out, her steps quick but without any sign of panic.

The door made a sudden, sharp sound, then slowly returned to silence.

Her footsteps faded quickly into the distance in the corridor, disappearing in the direction of the stairs.

Upstairs, on the top floor of the hotel, in a room belonging to Zhuo Shi.

The old man sat on the edge of the bed and slowly opened his eyes.

His eyes were cloudy and deep, like two old wells that had dried up for many years, but at this moment, something at the bottom of the wells was faintly glowing.

His gaze pierced through the ceiling, through the floors, through the night air, and landed on the north side of the city.

The firelight was reflected in his pupils, but he did not look at it.

He was looking further afield, observing the subtler details: the fluctuations of Soul Power, the flow of energy, and the subtle changes in the city after the explosion.

Cai Yue'er's aura was moving rapidly, heading north from the direction of the hotel, like a streak of silver light across the city sky.

That was a fluctuation of moon-attribute Soul Power, clear and sharp.

Zhuo Shi sensed her presence, and then his Divine Power surged out of his body like a tide, spreading silently.

The Titled Douluo's Divine Power spread outwards from the hotel room like an invisible net, covering the entire building, the surrounding streets, and all areas where the Shrek Academy students were located.

He sensed every subtle fluctuation within this network: the footsteps of the waiters in the lobby downstairs, the whispers of the guests in the corridor, the rustling sound of a student turning over in the next room, and the more distant and hidden presences.

He's waiting.

Waiting for those auras that shouldn't be here.

After Cai Yue'er left, Yun Jingheng was left alone.

It's his turn to fill that gap.

Cai Yue'er is a knife in the open; when she is drawn, everyone can see the glint of her blade.

Zhuo Shi closed his eyes, but his Divine Power did not recede.

The invisible net stretched wider and wider, becoming denser and denser, completely enveloping the entire hotel.

He could sense that Cai Yue'er's presence was fading away; she had reached the vicinity of the explosion point.

And the hotel...

Wrong!

Zhuo Shi's eyes suddenly snapped open, and two beams of light shot out from those murky old eyes, like a beast that had been sleeping for many years finally smelling the scent of its prey.

In those fractions of a second, his Divine Power detected something that shouldn't have been there—no, it was a person.

Someone who shouldn't be here.

Level 95 Titled Douluo.

Approaching at high speed.

Zhuo Shi sprang from the bed, and instead of going through the door, he smashed the French windows.

The sound of shattering glass exploded in the night sky, and the shards reflected countless tiny sparks of light under the moonlight, as if someone had scattered a handful of ice shards from the sky.

The old man's figure plummeted from the top floor, crimson Soul Power exploding on his body like a burning meteorite crashing to the ground.

The hotel guests heard the noise; some screamed, and others opened their windows to look out, but they couldn't see anything.

The only people who could see it were those standing in the lobby on the first floor.

boom--

The moment the Zhuo Shi landed, crimson Soul Power exploded outwards from him, smashing a shallow crater several meters in diameter into the ground, sending debris flying and dust billowing everywhere.

His Martial Soul was released as he landed, and crimson scales emerged from beneath his skin, covering his arms, chest, and back. Each dragon scale gleamed with a dark red metallic luster under the streetlights, like cracked earth after molten lava had cooled.

His hands transformed into dragon claws, their fingertips sharp as hooks, their nails gleaming with a chilling light.

His figure did not stop.

The moment he landed, his legs bent and sprang up, and he shot forward like a crimson arrow, rushing head-on towards the approaching aura.

The aura neither dodged nor slowed down, but met the attack head-on.

Two figures collided in mid-air above the plaza in front of the hotel.

boom--

Another explosion, closer and more powerful than the last.

The shockwave from the collision of Soul Power spread outwards, snapping the streetlights in half, stripping most of the branches and leaves from the roadside trees, and shattering the glass windows on the first floor of the hotel.

Broken glass fell like rain.

Yun Jingheng and the others were still in the hotel lobby.

They had just reached the center of the hall and were preparing to go upstairs.

After Cai Yue'er left, the noise of Zhuo Shi breaking the window from the top floor was too obvious; everyone heard the loud crash of shattering glass.

He was the first to stop, Yuanen Yehui was the second, and then everyone stopped.

"What was that sound?" Xie Xie hadn't finished asking when the shockwave arrived.

A hurricane of Soul Power rushed in through the hotel entrance, overturning potted plants in the lobby, pushing sofas several meters away, and causing a chandelier on the ceiling to shake violently. Several crystal beads were shaken off, bounced a few times on the floor, and rolled into a corner.

Xu Xiaoyan was pushed backward by the shockwave, but Yuanen Yehui grabbed her by the back of her collar and lifted her up like a chick.

Ye Xinglan crouched down, lowering her center of gravity, grabbing the armrest of the sofa with one hand and Wu Siduo's wrist with the other.

Yun Jingheng took a half step back with his right foot, his body slumped slightly, and his center of gravity lowered, like a tree with its roots firmly planted.

The wind swept past his sides, ruffling his hair and the hem of his clothes, but his feet remained perfectly still.

His gaze passed through the shattered glass door and landed on the plaza in front of the hotel.

There were two figures moving at high speed.

One stripe was crimson, the other dark purple.

The crimson one was the Zhuo Shi —he recognized it; the Soul Power fluctuations were familiar to him, thick and intense.

The other one, he didn't recognize.

The dark purple Soul Power fluctuations moved at an astonishing speed, leaving trails of afterimages in the night sky, like a snake slithering through the darkness.

Zhuo Shi's attacks were powerful and heavy, each punch carrying the might of a dragon and the high temperature of lava, but the dark purple figure always managed to dodge them by the slightest margin, as if dancing on the tip of a knife.

Yun Jingheng frowned slightly as he looked at the dark purple figure.

Just then, a chill suddenly shot through his back.

That wasn't a change in temperature; it was instinct.

It's an early warning mechanism ingrained in your bones after countless battles, one that requires no thought and moves faster than consciousness.

He felt something behind him, very close, so close that he could almost feel the other person's breath.

His body reacted before his brain did.

Yun Jingheng turned around abruptly, releasing the Moonlight Sword as he did so.

A silvery-white sword light drew an arc in the dimly lit hall, its tip pointing in the direction of the approaching person.

Four black Soul Ring and one red Soul Ring appeared around him. Although they were not fully lit yet, the pressure emanating from the red Soul Ring made the air in the hall feel heavy.

There was a person standing behind him.

The man was wearing a long black robe with the hood pulled low, obscuring his face.

The robe's material was strange; it didn't resemble cloth, but rather some kind of solidified light—a dark purple with a faint silvery-white hue, gleaming with a cold, eerie sheen under the moonlight.

The hem of the robe reached the ground, without any folds or fluttering, as if it were held in place by some force.

What made Yun Jingheng's pupils shrink was not the way this person appeared—although appearing silently behind a Five-Ring Soul King without being noticed was terrifying enough in itself.

What truly made his heart race was the aura emanating from that person.

moonlight.

It was cool and serene, like the moonlight that falls on a lake at midnight in late autumn.

It's not light, not energy, but something more essential and ancient, like a mark that the moon left deep within this world millions of years ago.

That aura made Yun Jingheng feel close to it; it was an almost instinctive sense of closeness that surged from the deepest part of his Martial Soul, exactly the same as the one he encountered on the train.

His Moonlight Sword trembled slightly; it was excited.

It was his Martial Soul that was excited, yearning, and responding to some kind of power of the same origin.

But at the same time, his body was sending warning signals.

Every pore on the skin contracts, muscles tense, breathing becomes shallow and rapid, blood flow accelerates, and the heart beats faster—these are the most primal physiological reactions when facing danger.

Intimacy and danger coexist, like two sides of the same coin, tightly intertwined and inseparable.

Yun Jingheng gripped the Moonlight Sword tightly, its tip pointing motionless at the approaching figure.

"Who are you?" His voice was calm, but the knuckles of his hand gripping the sword were slightly white.

The Black-Robed Figure did not answer.

The shadow of the hood covered most of his face, revealing only a pale chin and slightly pursed lips.

He stood there, neither releasing his Martial Soul nor revealing his Soul Ring, and making any aggressive moves.

He simply stood there, like a statue, or like someone who had waited a long time and finally reached this moment.

He slowly raised his right hand.

Yun Jingheng's sword tip followed his hand, locking onto his throat.

The hand did not make any aggressive movements.

It merely lifted it to the edge of the hood, its slender fingers resting on the hood's fabric, and then stopped.

It looked as if it wanted to take off its hood, yet also as if it hesitated about whether to do so.

"Jing Heng! Lead them and run! Split up and run!"

Yun Jingheng's pupils suddenly contracted.

The telepathic message from the Zhuo Shi was like a bucket of ice water poured over his head, forcefully pulling him out of that strange tug-of-war between "closeness and danger."

His body made a decision faster than his brain—his hand holding the sword didn't tremble, and the tip of the sword was still steadily pointing at the Black-Robed Figure, but his gaze had already shifted from the man and swept over everyone in the hall in a fraction of a second.

Yuanen Yehui stood in front of Xu Xiaoyan, his fists clenched, his body lines more defined than usual.

Ye Xinglan and Wu Siduo stood back to back, one holding a sword, the other displaying a cat's paw.

Xie Xie had somehow moved to the side door of the lobby, the most secluded exit in the entire hotel. His fighting instincts were on full display at this moment. He didn't try to steal the spotlight or play the hero; he found a corner where no one cared and then delivered a fatal blow.

"Run separately!"

Yun Jingheng's voice wasn't loud, but everyone moved at the same moment.

They hadn't discussed it or rehearsed it, but Shrek Academy's training had ingrained this kind of teamwork into their very bones. One person gave an order, and everyone carried it out without hesitation or questioning.

Xie Xie the first to rush out.

He moved as fast as lightning, disappearing into the night in a flash, heading straight for the alley on the east side.

That was the direction he was heading, with no teammates following him, because his Martial Soul and fighting style made him the most suitable one to retreat alone.

Yuanen Yehui grabbed Xu Xiaoyan and rushed towards the hotel's back door with Wu Siduo.

Only Yun Jingheng and Ye Xinglan remained in the hall.

The Black-Robed Figure's right hand was still resting on the edge of his hood.

He didn't chase anyone, didn't block any escape routes, and his body didn't even turn.

Beneath the shadow of his hood, his pale chin remained fixed on the spot where Yun Jingheng was.

He didn't move, but he released his Soul Ring.

Six.

It's all black.

Six Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring rose from beneath his feet, pulsating slowly around him, emitting a cold, eerie light in the dimly lit hall.

Sixth Ring, Soul Emperor.

Moreover, it's Soul Emperor with a full ten-thousand-year configuration of six rings.

Ye Xinglan's breath caught in her throat for a moment.

Yun Jingheng's First Soul Ring also lit up, flashing eight times in a row.

Eight Crescent Slash emerged from the Moonlight Sword, not one after another, but almost simultaneously.

Silver-white blades of light spread across the hall, weaving into a dense web of death that blocked all directions of the Black-Robed Figure's advance.

Eight Crescent Slash.

This was a limit he had never used in front of anyone before.

His fingers trembled slightly, and the depletion of his Soul Power made his face turn pale for a moment, but he did not turn around to check whether the light blades had hit their targets.

He turned around, grabbed Ye Xinglan's wrist, and the third Soul Ring on the Moonlight Sword lit up.

The silvery moonlight enveloped their bodies, activating their ethereal state, making them impossible to lock onto by any means.

Yun Jingheng's figure left a long, silvery-white afterimage in the hotel lobby, rushing out through the shattered glass door and disappearing into the night of Star Luo City.

Behind him, eight Crescent Slash exploded in the hall, the booming sounds and the light of colliding Soul Power intertwined.

He didn't hear the Black-Robed Figure's counterattack, nor the sound of chasing footsteps, but he knew that person would definitely catch up. The feeling was so clear, as if there was a thread tied to his back, and no matter how fast or how far he ran, that thread would never break.