Predicament

He clenched his fists and, without a moment's hesitation, charged outward!

Who would have thought that a flash of red light would erupt at the school gate, a Blood-Sucking Array suddenly rising to block his path?

Chu Yuan threw a punch at it, only to see the blood curtain shudder before returning to its calm state.

The reason Ma Hui hadn't encountered this thing when he arrived was that Yan Xuan knew he couldn't stop him, so he hadn't bothered to waste the energy.

But Chu Yuan was a different story.

"Principal!"

Qi Da understood the signal and smashed a fist into the blood curtain.

A passage several meters wide appeared, and Chu Yuan dove through it without a second thought.

"What is he doing?"

"I don't know, but it certainly isn't fleeing the battlefield." Qi Da said, his mind in turmoil. "Since you have no solution, why did you even come? To stand here and stare blankly with me?"

"Didn't I tell you? To save a few people."

"Are we really going to do this?" Qi Da felt a deep resistance in his heart.

The combat strength of Chenyang City was limited; if they were to divert some to preserve so-called seeds of hope, then the strength on the front lines would surely be insufficient.

Without anyone to hold them back, the speed at which Chenyang City fell would only accelerate.

After all, the Blood-Sucking Array faced some resistance when drawing essence from the bodies of the living, but if martial artists were to participate in the slaughter...

That son of a bitch Yan Xuan—who knew how many accomplices he had? But they had been lurking and laying plans in Chenyang City for so long that they had long since mapped out the distribution of the city's combat power.

One didn't need to be a genius to know that the force the enemy had mobilized surely exceeded that of Chenyang City.

Otherwise, why would Ma Hui still be here wasting breath with him?

He would have long since killed his way out to seek reinforcements!

Great Qin was vast, but for a seventh-realm martial artist, it wasn't that large.

If the seventh-realm martial artists at the Yunan Prefecture government knew everything happening in Chenyang City, they could arrive in two minutes... unfortunately, no one knew.

"Things have come to this..."

With his Smoke-Drifting Steps pushed to their limit, Chu Yuan's body streaked across the streets like a blurred afterimage.

The streets were in chaos by now, with many people wearing deranged expressions rushing about, launching wanton attacks.

Their realms were not high, mostly just the Blood-Qi Realm, with the highest being the Impermeable Realm, but their numbers were simply too vast.

In the span of just one street, Chu Yuan had already seen over a dozen such people.

But he had no time to deal with them now, focusing all his energy on rushing home.

It wasn't until nearly half of the spiritual energy in his body was exhausted that he finally reached his residential complex.

Hearing the screams echoing from within the complex, Chu Yuan's heart sank further. He covered the distance to his building in a few strides, scaled the exterior wall, and vaulted into his room through the bedroom window.

Fortunately, he had the habit of leaving the window open for ventilation, which saved him from having to break a pane.

"Mom!"

Chu Yuan shouted.

"Yuan-yuan!?"

Han Cui's voice, filled with shock and suspicion, came from the living room. Chu Yuan pulled open the bedroom door and saw Han Cui standing guard at the entrance, clutching a kitchen knife.

Half of the weight on his heart finally lifted.

"Yuan-yuan, how did you..."

"I came back from school." Chu Yuan said in a low, heavy voice. "Mom, something has happened. We need to find a place to hide!"

"Ying-ying is still at school!"

"I'll go get her!" Chu Yuan felt a surge of frustration; why hadn't he thought to ask the principal for some defensive items beforehand?

Taking his mother along to find Chu Ying would certainly be less convenient, but Chu Yuan was even less at ease leaving Han Cui alone at home.

An ordinary apartment complex had no reinforced materials, and the steel-reinforced wooden doors wouldn't be able to stop an attack from an Impermeable Realm martial artist.

"Alright... then go quickly and return quickly. I will wait for you at home!"

"Let's go together."

"But..."

Just then, a frantic pounding sounded at the door.

"Mom! Open up, quick!"

Both of them froze for a moment, as this was clearly the voice of Chu Ying.

Han Cui hurried to open the door, and a breathless Chu Ying immediately lunged inside.

"You ran back from school this quickly?"

"Did you skip class again!?"

Han Cui knew her daughter's character all too well; she certainly hadn't made it back from school in such a short time, but rather hadn't gone to school at all.

She had likely been off playing wildly somewhere near the house...

But it was fortunate that she had.

With the whole family together, even if the situation outside was unclear, it provided a great deal of comfort.

Han Cui looked at Chu Yuan and asked, "Yuan-yuan, what on earth is going on?"

Chu Ying was also still shaken, "Yeah, Brother. When I ran back, I saw the security guards at the gate had been killed!"

"I'm not entirely sure myself." Chu Yuan shook his head. "It seems someone intends to sacrifice Chenyang City..."

Although he hadn't spoken to Qi Da since he had backed away;

Based on the effects of the Blood-Sucking Array and the coverage area of the six pillars of light... it wasn't hard to guess.

Han Cui's face turned pale. "There are over a million people in Chenyang City... surely someone will stop them, right?"

"I don't know... Mom, let's leave first."

"Go where?"

"I remember there's a shelter at the Dafeng Mall nearby," Chu Yuan said in a deep voice.

Even if the shelter wasn't guarded by powerful experts, its building materials were sturdy enough to withstand attacks from martial artists at or below the Internal Breath Realm.

"Sigh, how could something like this happen out of the blue..."

Chu Yuan was actually quite bewildered himself. He had merely sensed his own spiritual power on Yan Xuan and exposed him;

How had it suddenly escalated into this situation?

Could it be that Yan Xuan and the organization behind him were so enraged by their failure to entrap him that they decided to make Chenyang City pay the price along with him...

With Han Cui and Chu Ying in tow, Chu Yuan naturally couldn't push the Smoke-Drifting Steps to move at top speed;

But his pace was still swift.

At the very least, along the way, no thugs capable of threatening him had appeared on the streets.

Han Cui hurried along, struggling to keep up with Chu Yuan's pace. As they passed the main gate, she looked at the corpses of the security guards inside and her expression soured once more.

"Brother! Someone is coming!" Chu Ying cried out in warning.

Three people were sprinting toward them from the road to the right of the gate!

The long blades in their hands were stained with blood, and their clothes were splattered with gore.

Yet, the expressions on their faces were fanatical, and they looked at the three of them as if they were prey!

In truth, there was no need for Chu Ying's warning; Chu Yuan had spotted them long ago.

He pushed the Smoke-Drifting Steps to their limit, lunged forward, and reached out to seize the throat of the man in the lead!

With a slight application of force, a crisp crack echoed out, and the man slumped limply to the ground...

Chu Yuan snatched the long blade from the man's hand, gripping it firmly in his palm.

He channeled the Wind-Riding Sword Control Art, and two flashes of cold light streaked through the air; two heads rolled across the ground.

The entire process was completed in the blink of an eye.

Concise, efficient, and artistic...

Chu Ying couldn't help but widen her eyes, her body trembling slightly as if she were looking at a stranger.

Her brother had always been mature and steady;

But since when... had he become so effortless and casual about killing people?

Han Cui's throat bobbed, and she slapped the back of Chu Ying's head to snap her out of it. "Don't just stand there! Run!"