A Da Dou Shi Struck, Xiao Zhan and Gu Ni Arrived!

As Zhou Changqing crashed through the courtyard wall, a figure appeared atop the wall opposite him!

This figure was also a masked Black-Clad Man, his features hidden from view.

"This little bastard's talent is truly terrifying. Just over half a year ago, he was only a High-Rank Dou Zhe, yet now he has broken through to Four-Star Dou Shi!"

"And his Magic Core Armament is even stronger than what Mittel auctioned off. With the strength of a Four-Star Dou Shi, he actually fought a Nine-Star Dou Shi, an Eight-Star Dou Shi, two Seven-Star Dou Shi, two Six-Star Dou Shi, and over a dozen Dou Zhe single-handedly without losing, and even slaughtered more than half of them!"

"Fortunately, the clan head had the foresight to send me here as a safeguard. Otherwise, if this brat were allowed to live, he would surely wipe us all out in the future!"

"Caught off guard by my surprise attack with a Yellow Tier High Grade Dou Technique, even with his inner armor and Dou Qi Veil protecting him, this little bastard must be breathing out more than he's breathing in by now."

"Heh, dead or alive, I must grind his bones to dust and scatter his ashes to stamp out any future trouble!"

The masked man stared at the collapsed wall shrouded in dust, countless thoughts flashing through his mind in an instant.

At that thought, his gaze turned vicious. He pushed off with his feet and leaped into the air, dense dou qi gathering in his hand!

In just a few breaths, that vast mass of dou qi had shrunk and adhered to his palm, as though he had donned a pale-green glass glove!

Then the masked man thrust his palm forward. The glass glove instantly detached from his hand and swelled in the wind, turning into a massive pale-green palm roughly ten feet across that slammed toward Zhou Changqing's position!

For his earlier ambush, the masked man had used a Yellow Tier High Grade Dou Technique that could be unleashed instantly. Now, to annihilate Zhou Changqing completely, he had brought out his strongest trump card—a Profound Tier Low Grade Dou Technique!

The giant dou qi hand moved at incredible speed and was about to smash into the collapsed wall.

"Villain! How dare you! Furious Lion Vajra!"

"Stop right there! Flame Glimmer Seal!"

At that moment, when everything hung by a thread, two furious shouts rang out!

At the same time, an illusory green lion's head shot in from afar, carrying terrifying force and a succession of air-rending whistles as it flashed toward the giant pale-green dou qi palm!

Then a fiery-red energy seal bearing a mysterious character followed close behind, hurtling toward the masked man!

Boom!

Bang!

The lion's head collided with the giant palm, and they canceled each other out, exploding in midair. Terrifying gusts swept through the courtyard, and even the stone table in its center was blasted into rubble!

The fiery-red character seal, wreathed in scorching flames, struck the masked man directly and sent him flying more than a dozen meters!

As the fire seal hurled him backward, he could faintly be seen spewing a mouthful of blood!

"Pfft!"

"This is bad! Run!"

He crashed into a building with a thunderous impact. Realizing the situation had turned against him, the masked man forced down his churning blood and the stabbing pain in his organs. Ignoring the burns beneath his torn clothes, he scrambled up and fled!

By then, two figures had already rushed into the courtyard!

One was a middle-aged man, and the other an elderly man.

"Clan Head Xiao, don't chase him. We won't catch him. Let's check on young Changqing first!"

"All right! Master Gu Ni, you're a Second-Rank Alchemist. If my nephew Changqing... please, you must find a way to save him!"

They had been quite far away when they attacked, and the masked man had used the force that sent him flying to aid his escape. By now, he had vanished.

Thus, neither man gave chase.

Their most pressing concern was to find a way to keep Zhou Changqing alive.

The two leaped over to the collapsed wall and waved their hands, stirring up a gust that dispersed the dust still hanging in the air.

Then a figure was revealed before their eyes.

"Nephew Changqing!"

"Young Changqing!"

Startled by the state he was in, both men hurried over to examine him!

Zhou Changqing looked utterly bedraggled.

Wall dust covered his entire body. His face was pale, blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, and his torn clothes exposed his damaged inner armor. His chest rose and fell erratically.

The Heavy Sword had also slipped from his grasp and lay off to one side.

Fortunately, as the two approached, he opened his eyes.

"Cough, cough..."

After coughing twice, Zhou Changqing made out the two men before him. He dispersed the dou qi he had secretly gathered in his palm, then said weakly, "Uncle Xiao, Master Gu Ni..."

"Don't speak yet, young Changqing. Take this pill to stabilize your injuries."

Gu Ni raised a hand to stop Zhou Changqing, then took out an emerald-green pill and handed it to him.

Zhou Changqing accepted it without ceremony and swallowed it in one gulp.

The pill dissolved the instant it entered his mouth, becoming a cool stream of energy that flowed into his stomach before spreading throughout his body, steadily repairing his injuries.

Under the pill's effects, Zhou Changqing's feeble aura quickly stabilized, and his breathing gradually became even.

Only then did Xiao Zhan and Gu Ni breathe sighs of relief.

Anger then surfaced on both their faces. Xiao Zhan spoke in an icy, harsh voice, "Bastards! Someone actually dared ignore the Xiao Clan's warning and attack you!"

"Rest assured, nephew Changqing. I will drag out the mastermind behind this and give you an answer!"

"It seems some people in Wutan City no longer have any regard for Mittel. The Mittel Auction House will also pursue this matter to the very end!"

"Young Changqing, this place is no longer safe. Until the matter is resolved, you should return to Mittel with me."

Gu Ni's expression was equally grim as he spoke coldly, then turned to Zhou Changqing.

Had the guards their two sides sent to protect Zhou Changqing not noticed something was wrong tonight and immediately sent messengers back to report it, allowing the two men to arrive in time...

This young prodigy would probably have already fallen!

Zhou Changqing did not refuse. He nodded. "Sorry for the trouble, Master Gu Ni."

Xiao Zhan opened his mouth, then swallowed the invitation he had been about to offer, a trace of regret flashing through his eyes.

How had he been a step too slow and let Gu Ni get ahead of him?

"In that case, let's leave now. With Clan Head Xiao and me escorting you, those skulking rats won't dare attack."

"Master Gu Ni, there's no hurry. I left one of them alive. If we take him along, we should be able to find out who arranged this attempt on my life."

"One alive?"

At Zhou Changqing's words, the two men froze, then surveyed the courtyard, now reduced to broken walls and ruins.

The courtyard was riddled with devastation, the ground covered in corpses and blood. It was difficult to find even one intact human form.

The situation had been so urgent earlier that neither had had time to examine their surroundings. Looking now, even these two Da Dou Shi could not help being startled by the dismembered bodies strewn across the ground.

They could well imagine how brutal the fighting had been before they arrived!

By now, Zhou Changqing had risen and was staggering toward a spot in the courtyard.

Seeing this, Xiao Zhan and Gu Ni followed.

The three soon reached a "corpse" whose lower legs had been severed, yet were not bleeding.

"This is the one. He was one of the leaders of the men in black who attacked me. I cut off his legs earlier, but didn't kill him. I knocked him unconscious instead. He should still be alive."

Looking at the "corpse," Zhou Changqing spoke weakly.

Earlier, when that Eight-Star Dou Shi in black had thrown one of the black-clad leaders at him, Zhou Changqing had not dealt a killing blow.

Instead, after killing one of the black-clad leaders, he had carried the Heavy Sword's momentum through to sever this man's legs, then knocked him unconscious with a knife-hand strike.

He needed to confirm whether Che'erluo had truly orchestrated this attack, so naturally, he would not slaughter every last one of them.

The black-clad Dou Zhe who had escaped certainly would not know as much as these black-clad Dou Shi, making this man the best choice to keep alive for questioning.

Just as he had suspected, this attempt on his life was not so simple after all. Even a Da Dou Shi had appeared.

He did not believe this was entirely Che'erluo's doing. After all, if these men really had all been Che'erluo's subordinates, the man would never have waited until the very end, when Zhou Changqing let his guard down, to strike.

Che'erluo could not afford losses like these.

(End of chapter)