Chance Encounter II

Especially after his battle with Xing Pengfei, Lin Xin had been assessed as one of the new generation's Great Sages, standing alongside Wei Ning, Yin Chuan, Buddha Child, and the others.

Because his true strength was still weaker than Xing Pengfei and the rest, he ranked at the very bottom of the Star Ranking.

But even the lowest-ranked Great Sage was still a Great Sage!

They were seeds of immense potential, standing shoulder to shoulder with Heavenly Venerates—the source of life within the entire Great Calamity.

In some places, a Great Sage's status even surpassed that of an ordinary Heavenly Venerate.

Ning Xiang and Chen Yuruan exchanged glances, both sensing that something was slightly off about Bai Qingjue.

Bai Qingjue, who was usually clear-headed and meticulous, seemed somewhat flustered and unsettled now. And as the eldest young lady of the Bai Family, her attitude was far too gentle, unnaturally so.

The Bai Family's situation was rather serious. Although he was merely a friend they had met on the road, he could not possibly be of much help.

But with more channels, perhaps they could uncover more information and find a sliver of a turning point.

They had come out to wander around and shop, but in truth, they were buying gifts to grease the wheels and see whether there was any solution.

"Qingqing." Ning Xiang gently nudged Bai Qingjue.

The latter immediately came back to herself and lowered her head.

"It's all right..." Bai Qingjue's words left her two friends rather stunned.

"It's just a small matter. It's nothing."

The Bai Family was not the sort of Lineage that coveted petty gains. This incident had caused considerable losses, but they were still within what the family could bear.

She did not want to ask Lin Xin for help over this. After all, they had only met by chance, fellow travelers who had happened to sit together on the journey.

For many things, if one could handle them oneself, one absolutely should not lightly ask others for help.

That was the Bai Family's dignity in how they conducted themselves, and it was also one of their family precepts.

Lin Xin raised an eyebrow.

"Then that's good. You can keep shopping."

He did not press the matter. Taking the Cloud Light Lord, who had long since grown impatient, with him, he parted ways with the three women and slowly strolled back in the direction they had come from.

Bai Qingjue watched the two leave and gradually disappear around the corner of the street, then let out a long breath.

"Qingqing, are you stupid? Why were you so absent-minded just now? He asked whether you needed help, and you still stubbornly held on. Why not just tell him?" Ning Xiang asked in confusion.

"It's nothing. I'm not familiar with him. This can be resolved by sending a few gifts; there's no need to trouble him." Bai Qingjue shook her head.

"Do you like that man? The moment you saw him, your whole body went limp, your heart started racing, and your cheeks turned red..."

Chen Yuruan leaned close from the side and teased her in a low voice.

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

Bai Qingjue shoved her friend away in embarrassment and irritation, then walked a few steps ahead.

"Have we bought everything?"

"With Xiangxiang on the job, how could anything go wrong?" Chen Yuruan said smugly.

"It's not you who's capable. What are you so proud of?" Ning Xiang snapped.

"What's Xiangxiang's is mine, and what's mine is Xiangxiang's." Chen Yuruan giggled. "Once this young lady finds herself a Great Cultivator to marry, I'll let you two follow me around and feast on the finest food and drink!"

"Dream on!"

Ning Xiang pushed Chen Yuruan's smug little face aside with one finger.

"It'd be a ghost story if a Great Cultivator took a fancy to you."

Watching the two fool around, Bai Qingjue revealed a faint smile as well. The tension she had been feeling eased all at once.

Chen Yuruan's dream was to marry a Great Cultivator. Then she would never have to do anything again, and could spend every day eating, drinking, playing, sleeping, and doing whatever she pleased.

Though she was only a young girl who had just succeeded in Qi Refinement, and her aptitude was poor. If she could reach the Golden Core stage in her lifetime, she would already be thanking heaven and earth.

Wanting to find a Nascent Soul Great Cultivator at perfected level as a Dao Companion was practically a fantasy beyond the heavens.

However...

Bai Qingjue carefully appraised her friend's figure.

The silver-red soft armor only covered her chest and abdomen. Because it clung so tightly to her body, it fully revealed most of the contours of her **** and lower body, making one's heart and soul sway at a single glance.

Below the soft armor were equally long and firm legs, taking up more than half her height. They were wrapped in black thigh-high stockings embroidered with patterns, their lines incomparably alluring.

Among the three of them, Chen Yuruan's appearance was slightly inferior, but her figure was the best—especially her **** and long legs.

Her upper body was exceptionally prominent, as though it might burst apart at any moment. Even wrapped in black-red soft armor, it instead gave off an even more mysterious, seductive sensuality.

What a pity... her aptitude is just a little too poor...

Bai Qingjue thought regretfully.

"Let's go. We should head back." She called to her two sisters.

"Please wait a moment, young ladies."

Suddenly, a voice called out to the three women.

The three turned to look and saw a group of cultivators wearing the armor of the port patrol army hurrying over from nearby.

The leading officer came before Bai Qingjue.

"Please register your name, background, age, and... could you briefly explain how you came to know the Inspector?"

The officer asked solemnly, his tone courteous and requesting.

Bai Qingjue and the other two were all stunned.

The Inspector?

Before her two friends could react, Bai Qingjue suddenly recalled the scene she had seen when they had first disembarked. Her heart could not help but skip slightly.

"A Great Cultivator!!" Before she could speak, Chen Yuruan suddenly cried out.

Only then did the other two notice that the officer before them was actually wearing the official armor of a Yuan Jing cultivator. He was unmistakably a Nascent Soul Great Cultivator.

In Star Gate Port, with its population of tens of millions, a Nascent Soul Great Cultivator was nothing much in the overall combat order. But to ordinary people, he was already of middle-to-upper standing.

Other than the high-level Tier Five Immortals, these Great Cultivators were the most eye-catching.

They were also the highest-ranking cultivators who had the most contact with ordinary mortals.

The even higher Human Immortals had mostly ceased interacting with mortals and low-level cultivators.

"Please explain a little, young lady."

The Yuan Jing officer repeated, emphasizing his request. Though the gaze the long-legged beauty beside her directed at him pleased him greatly, the mission came first.

"I..." Bai Qingjue took a deep breath and was about to speak.

"Oh heavens!! A Great Cultivator... an Inspector!!" Chen Yuruan had already completely lost her mind beside her.

"I actually spoke to a super-super Great Cultivator even stronger than a Great Cultivator!!" She held her face, disbelief written all over it, exactly like one of those crazed fans chasing celebrities.

The moment Bai Qingjue saw her like this, she immediately felt that things were going badly...

"Qingqing! My lifelong happiness, Chen Yuruan's lifelong happiness, is all in your hands!!!"

She suddenly grabbed her friend by the shoulders, her eyes shining.

Bai Qingjue sighed helplessly and quickly explained her personal information and how she had met Lin Xin.

"Thank you for your cooperation. We must ensure the utmost protection for the Inspector's personal safety, so we hope you can understand these inquiries."

The officer had also received orders from port headquarters. For a great figure like Lin Xin, the Governor had been so careful over security that he could not possibly have been more cautious.

"Also, since someone from the Bai Family is a friend of the Inspector, that batch of goods numbered fifty-nine need not remain impounded."

The Yuan Jing officer swiftly took out a simple communication device and said a few words.

Very soon, Bai Qingjue felt the communication jade talisman on her body vibrate. When she picked it up and looked, her heart jolted even harder.

The family's goods had been completely released. They had been notified to bring people to collect them, and her elder brother had told her to hurry back. There was no need to give gifts anymore.

After settling the matter, the Yuan Jing officer swiftly led his people after Lin Xin and the Cloud Light Lord, trailing far behind them and protecting the surroundings at all times.

The three women remained where they were. Even after the others had completely left, they still stood amid the crowd for a long while without recovering their senses.

"It was that simple?"

Ning Xiang's face was full of astonishment.

The three of them had painstakingly run through so many streets, visiting dozens of shops to find gifts that officials from the goods management department would like. They had spent many days on it.

They had gone to more than a dozen officials' residences in succession, and had only just seen a glimmer of hope. Nothing had even been accomplished yet.

Yet just because they had met that Inspector once and exchanged a few words, barely managing to establish the slightest connection with him—

The matter had been resolved...?

The three stood amid the crowd, unable to come back to themselves for a long time.

The contrast between the two was simply too intense. They had worked so hard, racked their brains for so long, and had nearly reached the point of selling their looks.

Yet it could not compare to the regard they received merely from speaking a few words with him.

Chen Yuruan had lost any mood for joking as well.

"So this is... power...?"

She lowered her head, as though a ball of fire were burning in her heart.

Bai Qingjue had seen the most and was the first to recover.

Ning Xiang clenched her fists too, her face full of helplessness.

"Comparing people really can make one die of anger."

"All right, don't think too much about it. They aren't people from the same world as us." She reached out to pat Chen Yuruan's shoulder.

But Chen Yuruan dodged away in one swift motion.

"Qingqing, can you introduce me to that Inspector?!"

She suddenly raised her head, staring at Bai Qingjue with blazing eyes.

"Don't worry! Once I make it big, I definitely won't forget you two!"

"What are you trying to do??"

Bai Qingjue felt her scalp prickle beneath that gaze.

"I'm not familiar with him either."

"Rather than being married off by my family to some old fossil in the future in exchange for resources and connections, I might as well go completely mad for once!" Chen Yuruan said fiercely.

"Don't worry, I'm not planning to sell my body. Even if I did, he'd have to take a liking to me first, wouldn't he?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Then what are you planning to do?" Bai Qingjue was a little frightened by her.

"I've heard people say that as long as you're shameless enough, you can always find a chance to get close to someone! As long as I get close to him, this young lady's opportunity will come!" Chen Yuruan transmitted in a low voice.

At the end, she added another sentence.

"I've already decided to throw away my shame."

"..."

Devil Domain.

The black void was filled with floating scraps of battlefield debris and drifting objects.

Some were large, some small. Some were ruins of buildings, while others were corpses of enormous creatures.

Occasionally, there were Energy Storm vortices of varying sizes. Some were white, some silver-blue, slowly rotating within the void.

Within one mass of pitch-black energy vortex.

A complete human body floated there, seemingly unconscious, before being flung out by the vortex's immense force.

Who am I...

Song Danhao.

...I reversed heaven's secrets and laid out the Great Calamity. How could I die in such a place, unknown to all!

I am Song Danhao.

No, you are the Demon God King, leader of the Devil Race, the strongest of all devil cultivators!

The Devil Race has already been destroyed...

So long as I am not dead, the Devil Race has not perished!

Boom!!

The floating corpse abruptly opened its eyes.

Throughout a vast stretch of empty space around it, countless strange blue frosts instantly emerged. Rings upon rings of frost gradually wrapped around the body, forming a gigantic ice-blue snowball that stretched for thousands of miles.