Returned to the Chen Family

"What is that?" Lü Yinglong shouted in terror.

"Roar!" A mighty roar rose from the valley floor, shaking the mountain rocks.

Then they waited and waited. Roars and furious bellows came from the valley floor, but the torches had gone out, leaving it pitch-black. They could only hear the sounds, with no idea what was happening within.

Then one of the lanterns actually went out!

Meng Yuan did not want to wait any longer and immediately descended.

When he reached the valley floor, although it was dim, being down there allowed him to make out a little of his surroundings.

He saw the Black Serpent coiled there, wounds covering its body.

Lü Yinglong was bare-chested and likewise bathed in blood. He rode atop the serpent's head, gripping a horn with his left hand while pounding its eye with his right fist.

The Black Serpent writhed in pain, its tail immediately sweeping up to coil around Lü Yinglong. But Lü Yinglong was nimble. Holding on to its horn, he kept shifting about, even finding openings to hammer its eye a couple more times.

"Lü Yinglong truly is a hero!" Meng Yuan could not help marveling that this man had the makings of a martial god.

Before long, both of the Black Serpent's eyes were destroyed, yet its fighting strength was undiminished. Instead, it grew even more frenzied.

"When striking a snake, strike seven inches below its head!" Meng Yuan watched silently with his back against the cliff, admiring Lü Yinglong's unmatched valor even as he lamented his brute's nature.

The Black Serpent's strength far surpassed Lü Yinglong's, but Lü Yinglong was exceedingly agile and deft in his movements. The Black Serpent could only rage helplessly.

Just then, Lü Yinglong suddenly heard something cleaving the air. An arrow was flying straight toward him.

He had long since noticed a stranger's arrival, but the Black Serpent had kept him occupied, leaving him no time to pay any attention.

"Who are you?" Lü Yinglong was furious now. He dodged aside, only to hear the bowstring twang as arrows came one after another.

Having to evade the Black Serpent while guarding against arrows, Lü Yinglong inevitably struggled to fend off attacks on every side.

He wanted to first put some distance between himself and the Black Serpent, but the arrows blocked every escape route.

Under these circumstances, one careless move saw the Black Serpent sink its fangs into Lü Yinglong's shoulder.

Having landed a bite, the Black Serpent's ferocity surged. It slithered around on the ground for a while, dragging Lü Yinglong in its jaws, before winding its tail around him as well.

Compared with the Black Serpent, Lü Yinglong's only advantage was agility; his strength fell far short. Now that its jaws held him, he not only could not escape, but its body coiled around him, tightening ever further.

"Tell me, where did the siblings Chen Yucheng and Chen Yuyin go?" Meng Yuan asked.

"I don't know!" Caught in the Black Serpent's coils, Lü Yinglong felt as though every muscle and bone in his body was about to shatter. Gritting his teeth, he pleaded, "The black snake's squeezing too tightly. I can't breathe. Help me out first!"

"When binding a tiger, one has no choice but to bind it tight," Meng Yuan said.

"What nonsense is that?" Lü Yinglong wanted to beg for mercy again, but he could no longer speak.

"Lü Yinglong, I'll ask you once more. Where did Chen Yucheng and Chen Yuyin go?" Having obtained his fortuitous opportunity and now seeing Lü Yinglong trapped by the Black Serpent, Meng Yuan felt thoroughly reassured.

"..." Lü Yinglong's eyes rolled back. His mouth gaped wide, but no words came out.

Then Lü Yinglong saw that the man in the bamboo hat remained silent. Only after an unknown stretch of time, when he was nearly dead, did the man finally bend his bow and nock an arrow.

The heavy arrow was sharp and instantly sank into the serpent's eye. The Black Serpent tightened its coils further.

Unable to utter a single word, Lü Yinglong watched the man shoot arrow after arrow, all straight into the Black Serpent's eyes.

Moreover, the arrows seemed to have been coated with some drug. Lü Yinglong could smell a pungent odor.

After twelve or thirteen arrows in succession, the iron bow actually snapped. At that moment, Lü Yinglong suddenly felt the Black Serpent's coils loosen a little, and he could breathe again.

Lü Yinglong sucked in several breaths, only to feel a knife-like pain in his abdomen, as though it were a leaking bellows.

Enduring the pain, Lü Yinglong struggled free of the Black Serpent's coils. He paused briefly to catch his breath, then suddenly sprang forward, lunging at the man.

Unexpectedly, the man showed no fear at all. He actually stepped forward to meet him.

Their palms clashed, and only then did Lü Yinglong realize that the internal power in the other man's palm was supremely hard and fierce, exactly like the internal art he himself practiced.

The other man's internal power was slightly inferior to his own, but he had no idea how many of his ribs were broken. He was also badly wounded and utterly exhausted. When their palms met, he could not withstand the other man's palm force at all.

Lü Yinglong staggered back several steps, but his opponent pressed relentlessly, pursuing him again.

They exchanged several head-on palm strikes. Lü Yinglong spat blood and slumped to the ground.

Meng Yuan was also utterly astonished. He had practiced the Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art for two years, and Lü Yinglong had likewise only studied it for two or three years. Yet despite being exhausted and wounded, the man could still take so much punishment.

"Are you from the Chen Household?" Bathed in blood, Lü Yinglong leaned against the cliff wall, full of confusion.

Meng Yuan did not answer.

"Only people from my father-in-law's branch know the Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art. Just who are you?" Lü Yinglong asked with a frown. He did his best to stall, hoping only to catch another breath.

"Where did Chen Yucheng and Chen Yuyin go?" Meng Yuan asked instead of answering.

"I don't know! I really don't know!" Seeing that his opponent would say nothing else, Lü Yinglong pounded the ground in anger. "Chen Yuyin may have married me, but Chen never treated me as one of her own. Chen Yucheng and Chen Yuyin were sneaking around. I don't know what they went off to do!"

Meng Yuan believed him, so he asked another question. "How did Chen Qingyuan come to teach you the Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art?"

"My gifts are extraordinary, far beyond Chen Yucheng's. The old bastard wanted me to help him accomplish something great!" Lü Yinglong actually laughed smugly. "He'd always had this notion. He said the world was about to change and wanted me to assist his son in conquering the realm or some such thing!"

He looked at his opponent and said, "Don't kill me. I can assist you too! You're from the Chen Household. If I can assist Chen Yucheng, I can assist you. I, Lü Yinglong, keep my word!"

After speaking, Lü Yinglong saw light spilling down through the fissure overhead.

It was already noon.

The light fell, passing through the drifting dust. Then, as time shifted a little, sunlight fell upon a plant in the very center of the valley.

The plant bore a single fruit. Under the sunlight, its branches and leaves turned from green to red, while the purple fruit grew ever more lustrous and dazzling.

Lü Yinglong stared blankly as the man stepped out of the shadows, removed his bamboo hat, and stood before the plant, bearing that narrow patch of light upon his shoulders.

The man was around twenty, dressed in a worn gray robe with a sword at his waist. His looks were decent, but his face was particularly dark. Whether it was naturally so or tanned by the sun was unclear.

The man studied the purple fruit for a while and even leaned in to sniff it, his expression contemplative, though there was no telling what he was thinking.

"What else do you know?" Meng Yuan asked.

"Nothing else. The old bastard and those siblings were all wary of me. They never let me take part when they discussed things in private," Lü Yinglong said.

"I mean this." Meng Yuan pointed at the plant.

"That's a Red Flame Fruit. While sorting through my father-in-law's notes, I discovered he'd recorded the route here. He said this fruit was extraordinary and that swallowing it would greatly benefit one's martial arts," Lü Yinglong said.

It seemed Chen Qingyuan had kept a couple of things up his sleeve as well. First, he had not mentioned the Black Serpent. Second, he had not mentioned that the fruit had to be taken with the serpent's gallbladder.

"From golden cups I drink with you; with naked blades I spare you not." Meng Yuan slowly advanced. "Lü Yinglong, young today, old tomorrow. This time, I'll send you on your way."

"You..." Lü Yinglong could not understand this strange man's words, nor had he expected him to attack without a moment's hesitation. He immediately realized that begging was useless, so he sat cross-legged on the spot and laughed loudly. "Fuck! It's gone back to the Chen Household again!"

With that, he actually closed his eyes, his face showing no fear.

Meng Yuan drew his sword, advanced step by step, and thrust it into Lü Yinglong's throat.

The valley was utterly silent, and that curtain of light slanted ever further.

Meng Yuan took the wine gourd from his waist, drank half of it, and then set it before Lü Yinglong.

In this life, Chen Yuyin became a widow ahead of time.