Who Are You, Really?

Inside the ruined temple west of town, Zhou Yan lit half a candle and fished a parchment map out from beneath the offering table.

"The Luo family has set up the Nine Yin Gathering Malice Array in the desolate valley north of the city. At midnight three days from now, they will use the living souls of a hundred boys and girls as bait to refine a Golden Core Realm Corpse Puppet."

Lu Chen folded his arms and said nothing. His gaze swept over the map before he suddenly asked, "Since you understand arrays, how did you end up like this?"

Zhou Yan gave a bitter smile. "My master was originally a guest elder of the Luo family. Because he refused to help them refine an evil array, they crippled his cultivation and threw him into the black market to die."

"When I escaped, I only brought out this half-volume of the Heavenly Evolution Array Compendium. Sadly, my comprehension was lacking..." He stroked the array disk, hatred churning in his eyes.

"What if someone could complete the array diagram?"

"Why would such great masters pay any attention to an unknown nobody like me..."

"Not necessarily." Lu Chen took a jade token from his robe—one he had found in Lu Mingyuan's storage ring.

"At the wild ferry twenty miles south of town, there is a ferrymwoman every day at dawn. Take this and find her."

Zhou Yan's breathing abruptly quickened. "Brother, how did you know..."

"I've killed plenty of Luo family members. I was bound to hear some secrets."

Reeds grew thick around the wild ferry, and amid the morning mist, a small boat bobbed gently with the current.

At the bow sat a woman in a straw rain cape and bamboo hat, fishing with her line lowered.

Clutching the jade token, Zhou Yan stepped forward. Before he could speak, the fishing rod suddenly flicked.

Whoosh!

The line wrapped around the jade token and yanked it into the cabin.

The woman glanced at the token and sneered. "The Luo family's old dog's token? You slaughtered him?"

Zhou Yan forced himself to answer. "This junior wishes to exchange it for the second half of the Heavenly Evolution Array Compendium."

"Oh?" The woman lifted her bamboo hat, revealing a face crisscrossed with scars. "You understand arrays?"

Zhou Yan nodded. "I studied under Master Feng. It is only that the Luo family was too vile, and they harmed..."

"You're Feng Cheng's disciple?" Yun Niang suddenly cut him off.

Zhou Yan nodded.

"You said the Luo family killed him?"

"Yes. The Luo family wanted to set up the Nine Yin Gathering Malice Array in the desolate valley. My master refused, so they crippled him, and I..."

"Damn it!" Yun Niang flew into a rage and leaped ashore. "Lead the way. I will tear down the Luo family's filthy array."

Yin winds howled through the desolate valley. Lu Chen hid within a crack in the rocks, overlooking the altar below.

Nine bronze pillars stood in a ring, their bodies wrapped in chains whose ends bound dozens of unconscious children.

Three black-robed demonic cultivators were planting black banners into the array's focal points when their leader suddenly looked up at the sky.

Whoosh!

A whistling arrow tore through the air. The explosive talisman tied to its shaft detonated with a thunderous boom, and through the smoke, Zhou Yan and Yun Niang shot into the array.

"Move!" Runes glowed in Yun Niang's hand as ten array flags streaked out and embedded themselves in the open ground between the bronze pillars.

Array patterns abruptly emerged from the earth, tangling with the black light of the Nine Yin Gathering Malice Array.

A demonic cultivator roared, "What ants dare ruin the holy sect's grand scheme?"

"Ask again after you've turned to ash." A cold laugh came from overhead. Lu Chen swooped down like a hawk, scarlet saber energy surging as he cleaved through two bronze pillars in a single strike.

The array fell into chaos. Backlash surged in reverse, and blood sprayed from the seven apertures of the three demonic cultivators before they were swallowed by saber light in an instant.

Zhou Yan seized the chance to cut apart the chains, while Yun Niang took out a compass and guided all the spiritual energy from the broken array into the Earth Vein.

When the dust settled, Lu Chen lifted the demonic cultivators' leader's storage pouch and pulled out a jade slip.

"The Blood Spirit Sect has stretched its hand far enough." Lu Chen sneered.

"No. King Yanbei is colluding with them to rebel!" Yun Niang suddenly said.

Hiss...

Lu Chen sucked in a sharp breath.

Had King Yanbei already grown this powerful?

"King Yanbei is brimming with ambition. Without his consent, the Blood Spirit Sect's people would never have appeared in Yanbei!"

As she spoke, Yun Niang's expression grew solemn. "The Nine Yin Gathering Malice Array is certainly not limited to one location!"

With that, she looked toward Cangwu City. "The Luo family cannot be allowed to remain."

Two sought revenge against the Luo family, while the third wanted to destroy them for colluding with the Blood Spirit Sect. The three hit it off at once.

Yun Niang clapped her hands, and before long, a group appeared and took the children away.

"They're locals. Leave the children to them—they'll return them to their parents."

"Who are you, really?" Lu Chen suddenly asked as he looked at Yun Niang.

Yun Niang smiled. "As long as I'm not your enemy, that is enough!"

Lu Chen looked her up and down, and his eyelid twitched slightly.

Her figure was slender and curvaceous, with every curve in the right place—a devilish body.

But that face...

It truly fit the saying: a ghost from the front, a seductress from behind!

The contrast was enormous.

"Miss Yun, your disguise technique is rather exquisite." Lu Chen suddenly spoke.

Yun Niang's back stiffened. When she turned around, she already wore an ambiguous smile. "Doesn't Young Master Lu hide himself deeply as well? And your courage is quite remarkable!"

Lu Chen narrowed his eyes.

It should not have been difficult for her to hear of him, but to recognize him...

Suddenly, Yun Niang spun sharply, cold light flashing from her sleeve as it shot straight for Lu Chen's throat.

As though he had expected it, Lu Chen tilted his head aside and dodged. In the same motion, he seized her wrist and pulled.

Riiip!

Half a charred-black face mask tore away, revealing skin beneath as smooth and creamy as congealed fat.

Zhou Yan dropped to the ground with a thud, pointing at Yun Niang as he stammered, "You, you..."

"Look again and I'll gouge out your eyes!" Yun Niang hurriedly covered the right side of her face with her left hand.

Yet Lu Chen's iron-pincer grip did not budge. Instead, he leaned closer to inspect the old scar running across her nose. "Real wound or fake?"

Then he took a deep sniff. "But the scent on you is fucking soul-stealing... Blergh!"

Caught off guard, he took an elbow to the chest from Yun Niang and nearly coughed up the beast meat he had eaten the night before.

"Do you want to die?" Yun Niang glared furiously, her chest heaving so vigorously that both men felt a little dizzy.

Lu Chen smiled awkwardly.

What he had just said was indeed somewhat vulgar—utterly indecent, even.

Little did he know that Yun Niang's heart was pounding like a drum as well.

She had never imagined this man would be so direct. It was the first time in her life.

And the aura around him was so scorching, as though it had plucked a certain string deep in her heart.

"Do that again, and die!" Yun Niang snorted angrily and kicked a stone away.

Smack!

"Ow!"

Zhou Yan took the hit square on the forehead, raising a huge lump.

"Fuck!" Zhou Yan was on the verge of breaking down.

Whom had I provoked?

That night, in the northern alley of Cangwu City.

Three blood-robed cultivators hurried along carrying an iron cage. The sobbing of the children inside had been sealed by talismans until it was as faint as a mosquito's buzz.

The leader suddenly felt a chill at the back of his neck. He turned around, but the moonlight was frost-white, and there was not a shadow in sight.

"Jumping at shadows..."

He spat, and the moment he turned back, a cold gleam slashed down from overhead!

Pfft!

The Soul Severing Saber tore through his protective Spiritual Light as easily as cutting tofu.

Before the other two could form hand seals, the Myriad Manifestations Furnace had already descended over their heads, refining their flesh and blood into flying ash in moments.

Lu Chen shook the blood droplets from his saber. The furnace tilted, and pure energy poured into his meridians.

"Third one." He glanced toward the firelight in the south of the city, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.

Over these past three days, the Luo family seemed to have been cursed.

The grain storehouse in the eastern market had inexplicably caught fire. Their manor in the western outskirts had been raided. Even the three Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators sent by the Blood Spirit Sect had suddenly vanished.

"It must be that little bastard surnamed Lu!"

In the Luo residence's main hall, the Luo Family Patriarch smashed a purplewood table with one palm.

Earlier, when the Lineage's Third Elder had gone to capture Lu Chen and his soul lamp suddenly went out, he had known that something serious had happened.

"Send out the order! Activate the Lineage-protecting grand array!" the Luo Family Patriarch roared like thunder.

Unfortunately, it was already too late. Someone had infiltrated the Luo family.