I'll Miss You

Lu Chen let out a muffled grunt, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, yet he bared his teeth in wild laughter. "A mere remnant soul dares call itself an ancestor?"

Boom!

Lu Chen suddenly shot forward, leaping three zhang into the air as the Soul Severing Saber cleaved down.

"Ignorant fool!" the divine sense sneered.

From five or six meters away, he still thought he could strike it? What a joke.

Yet in the next instant, Luo Tianxiong's divine sense was completely dumbfounded.

The Soul Severing Saber's half-meter blade aura abruptly surged. With a wet rip, the divine sense was split cleanly in two.

The full strength of the third level of the Qi Surge Realm erupted.

The moment the incarnation split apart, the furnace swallowed it in one gulp.

That Foundation Establishment cultivator was also nailed to a tree by Yun Niang's spear.

On the other side, Zhou Yan had fallen into a bitter fight.

Two demonic cultivators from the Blood Spirit Sect were controlling Corpse Puppets to besiege him. Gritting his teeth, Zhou Yan threw out an array disk. Golden chains suddenly rose from the ground, pinning the Corpse Puppets in place.

Yun Niang performed a backward flip, kicking one demonic cultivator in the chest. She then flung out three explosive talismans, blasting the remaining Corpse Puppets into fragments.

Zhou Yan slammed his palm onto the array disk. The trapped formation's barrier suddenly contracted, crushing the remaining Luo Family death warriors into a mist of blood.

The three regrouped. With a sweep of Lu Chen's furnace, every remnant on the battlefield was devoured, and the Myriad Manifestations Furnace trembled wildly in delight within his body.

The Blood Spirit Sect's and Luo Family's operations were ruined one after another, and the news spread like wildfire across the plains.

Three peak Foundation Establishment experts of the Luo Family had fallen, while the Blood Spirit Sect had lost elite forces. Every major power in Cangwu City was shaken.

The City Lord's Manor withdrew the wanted notice overnight. Luo Tianxiong had apparently gone into seclusion somewhere and did not show himself, while the Blood Spirit Sect quietly retreated as well.

The Nine Yin Gathering Malice Array plot had failed completely.

The rising sun dyed the world gold.

"What? You really don't want to let me see your true face?"

Just as they were about to part ways, Lu Chen suddenly spoke to Yun Niang.

Yun Niang's hand trembled.

"Want me to do it?" Lu Chen reached out, and Yun Niang abruptly took a step back.

After hesitating for a moment, she finally tore off the ugly human-skin mask.

A delicate, beautiful face was revealed.

Her brows were like distant mountains, her eyes like autumn waters, her vermilion lips soft and pink, her jade nose exquisite, her gentleness tempered with strength.

Lu Chen froze, then sighed in admiration.

"So beautiful!"

Yun Niang swiped a hand over her face, putting the mask back on. She snorted coldly. "You tease me day after day just to force me to remove my veil?"

Lu Chen chuckled. "Not exactly. Arguing with you... is rather interesting."

Yun Niang was stunned. She lowered her eyes to hide the turbulence in them, and when she looked up again, her face had returned to its icy calm.

"You and I walk different paths. This is farewell."

With that, she turned away, her robes fluttering like a butterfly.

Watching her retreating figure, Lu Chen suddenly called out, "Hey! When will we meet again? I'll miss you! Hey, hey, hey—you still haven't told me your real name!"

Yun Niang staggered in midair, nearly falling from the sky.

What a shameless lecher!

How could he say something so indecent?

Yet she still said through clenched teeth, "We'll see... whether you can live long enough to reach that day."

The mountain wind swept past, and the beauty was already gone.

Lu Chen rubbed the tip of his nose, then turned toward Chixiao City, his gaze gradually turning cold.

Lu Family, were they ready for his return?

Some debts needed to be settled.

"Young Master Lu!" A shout suddenly came from the foot of the mountain.

Lu Chen leaped down.

"Xiao Jin!" Lu Chen greeted the man standing beside Zhou Yan.

He was the first beast fighter Lu Chen had rescued from the beast arena.

A few days earlier, Lu Chen had run into him and entrusted him with a task.

"Young Master Lu, I've investigated it thoroughly. The organization conducting the slave trade with the Luo Family is called the Black Collar Prison Heaven Cave!"

"They occupy the mountains in the buffer zone between Great Yan and Yanbei, dealing in human trafficking. Their name stinks to high heaven. Nearly sixty percent of Yanbei's slaves come from this organization."

"I've heard they have three Golden Core Kings. Great Yan has tried to wipe them out twice, but both campaigns came back empty-handed. Instead, it only made them grow even stronger."

Zhou Yan frowned in confusion. "Young Master Lu, are you planning to move against them?"

Lu Chen replied indifferently, "I'll take a look first. All right, you two, this is where we part. I'm heading back!"

"Where's Yun Niang?" Zhou Yan looked up toward the mountain.

"She flew away!" Lu Chen said, somewhat gloomily.

"What? You two..." Zhou Yan touched the tips of his index fingers together.

"What are you talking about?" Lu Chen curled his lip.

"What depresses me is that we're at comparable realms. Why can't Martial Dao Cultivators fly?"

It was true. Immortal cultivators could fly once they reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, but Martial Dao Cultivators could not.

"You really don't know when you've had enough!" Zhou Yan did not know what to say.

If Martial Dao Cultivators could fly, how would immortal cultivators have any way to survive?

After saying that, Lu Chen activated Wind and Thunder Steps and sped away.

"Have all the people who escaped been found?" Zhou Yan suddenly asked as he watched Lu Chen depart.

Xiao Jin nodded. "Not only have they been found, quite a few people with grudges against the major families have come as well. They want to organize themselves!"

"Young Master Lu has already given the Luo Family a thorough battering, but who can guarantee they won't rise from the ashes and continue doing evil?"

"A family like that must be cut down, roots and all. Not a single survivor should be left!"

"Good. I'm joining too!"

"Nothing could be better!"

Before long, an organization called Dark Moon was announced in Cangwu City. It specialized in targeting forces that ran black markets and conducted slave trades.

Lu Chen traveled alone along the desolate road outside Cangwu City.

Dust stained his blue robes, and the bone saber at his waist swayed lightly. The city behind him had shrunk into a tiny gray shadow.

Nearly three months had passed since he had been sold and made into a beast fighter. Though the journey had been fraught with danger, and even the original owner of this body had died, his gains had been immense.

He had raised his cultivation to the third level of the Qi Surge Realm, advanced the Soul Severing Saber into a low-grade spirit artifact, and the vast energy returned by the furnace after devouring all things could rapidly strengthen him further. He had also seized a Universe Ring from a Luo Family elder.

Though it held only ten cubic meters, it was still worth a fortune.

At the moment, it was piled with quite a few medicinal pills and spirit stones.

More importantly, wreaking havoc in the Luo Family had vented the rage that had built up inside him at the beast arena.

He had also destroyed the Luo Family's and Blood Spirit Sect's conspiracy, leaving him in far better spirits than when he had first escaped.

Then there was Yun Niang. From the very first time they met, he had known she was definitely disguising herself. For some reason, he had always enjoyed teasing her.

He was quite willing to enjoy the sight of her losing her temper. As for her expression... better not.

Her disguise had been far too ugly.

Perhaps it was what people in his previous life said: some people simply felt comfortable together, while others could be forced together with all their might and still never end up side by side. There was no reason for it.

Maybe it was a matter of aura.

In any case, being with her was easy and pleasant.

Three days later, he finally entered the Barren Wind Plain, the battlefield where Great Yan and Yanbei had fought five years ago.

Yellow sand swept through the air, while withered grass lay pressed to the ground like waves.

Beside the abandoned road, white bones half-buried in sand could occasionally be seen, marked clearly with the bite traces of beasts.

Lu Chen sped ahead with Wind and Thunder Steps, his robes snapping in the wind, when the clash of metal suddenly reached his ears.

Beyond a sand dune, more than ten black-robed cultivators were besieging a merchant caravan.

"You scum from the Prison of Heaven Cave! This shipment is headed for Great Yan—how dare you touch it?!"

"Great Yan is worth shit! In this buffer zone, the Prison of Heaven Cave calls the shots!"

The carriage at the center of the convoy had overturned, its cargo scattered everywhere.

The guards' leader held a long spear as he barely held on. A wound on his shoulder was deep enough to expose bone, and blood soaked his battle robe.

The leader of the attackers wore a black iron mask and held an array disk in his palm. As array patterns flickered across it, bolts of wind and lightning shot at the guards like venomous snakes.

Lu Chen narrowed his eyes for a closer look.

Though the array disk was damaged, it faintly carried the sound of wind and thunder.

It was actually a low-grade spirit artifact!

"What a coincidence." With a light tap of his foot, he flashed into the battle like lightning.