[Head Pat Kill: Pat your head, give a wicked smile, then designate a target. That target will focus all their attention on you. Can be upgraded using Fortune Points. Price: 1,000 Fortune Points]
Lu Chen clicked purchase. After deducting 1,000 Fortune Points, his balance became 3,800. Fortunately, his lifetime total was unaffected and had already reached 5,800. Once he broke through to Soul Grandmaster, he could upgrade the shop to tier 2.
With the purchase successful, a thoroughly ridiculous-looking meme appeared in the system space. With a thought, Lu Chen attached it to... Er Ming.
If Tang Hao really does spawn at Ah Yin's hiding place, I'll be counting on you to draw his attention. Er Ming, you've got thick hide and tough flesh. You'll definitely be fine (dead serious)!
With Er Ming, an ape-shaped vehicle capable of manipulating earth vein power, the three traveled many times faster than before. Following Lu Chen's "sensing," they crossed the rolling mountains and soon reached their final destination-a valley deep within the mountain range.
An enormous pool lay in the valley, its water clear to the bottom, like a beautiful sapphire.
On one side of the valley, a waterfall about twenty meters wide hung like a jade ribbon across a cliff nearly two hundred meters tall. The rushing water poured down, crashing onto the pool below with a thunderous roar. Sunlight caught the spray, forming a seven-colored rainbow spanning the entire pool, dazzling beyond description.
Ordinarily, if the three came across such beautiful scenery, they might have stopped to admire it properly. Unfortunately, they had something more important to do now.
Thanks to the original novel's description of Ah Yin's hiding place, Lu Chen directed Er Ming to part the water and deliver him to a spot more than halfway up the waterfall. He released his Spirit Suppression Domain, which, combined with his fairly powerful spiritual strength, allowed him to locate the rock serving as the mechanism with ease.
Click!
He raised a hand and pressed gently. With the sound of a stone door opening, an entrance appeared within the cliff. After telling Er Ming to stand guard outside the valley, Lu Chen led Xiao Wu into the cave.
The cave was about three meters high and two meters wide, dark inside and extending deeper inward. The waterfall outside made the air within very damp. Lu Chen took out the Luminous Stone he had gotten from the old man, and its soft white light illuminated the cave.
The two advanced, with Lu Chen leading the way and Xiao Wu acting as a war correspondent, constantly sending pictures back to the chat group, giving the group members a little more sense of involvement in the online rescue.
Just as they seemed to have reached the end, everything around them suddenly brightened. A stone chamber of only about ten square meters came into view. Looking up, they saw a small hole in the cave ceiling. Sunlight shone down through it, keeping the chamber bright.
The stone chamber was empty, without any furnishings. Directly beneath the hole, however, was a small mound of earth, upon which a slender stalk of Blue Silver Grass swayed in the breeze. Its leaves were long and slender, far beyond those of its kind, and the fine golden lines on them seemed to speak of her difference from ordinary Blue Silver Grass.
In terms of the impression she gave, this was an exceedingly noble stalk of Blue Silver Grass. She was Ah Yin's true form-the Blue Silver Emperor!
Approaching the mound and looking at the gently swaying Blue Silver Grass before him, Lu Chen was about to say something when he saw the black dot representing Tang Hao suddenly move within the system space, then head toward them at tremendous speed.
What kind of tasteless plot twist is this? Instead of wallowing in his kennel and drinking himself senseless, what's Tang Hao suddenly coming here fo-
Lu Chen froze. By his reckoning, Su Yuntao should already have completed Tang San's Martial Soul Awakening. Then Tang Hao would have seen Tang San's twin martial souls. Seeing them would have reminded him of her, so wanting to visit Ah Yin did seem reasonable?
Although he had torn Tang Hao to shreds in the Notebook, Lu Chen believed that while Tang Hao truly had schemed against Ah Yin, his love for her was probably real too. It was just that Tang Hao loved himself more.
Change of plans. Act now!
"Ah Yin, come with me."
There was no time to explain. Without caring whether Ah Yin agreed, Lu Chen swiftly dug her up, roots and a large mass of soil included, and put her into the system space.
Throughout the process, he did not use Martial Soul Possession, relying entirely on raw physical strength to avoid leaving any Soul Power fluctuations Tang Hao might detect. The same reasoning lay behind using a Luminous Stone for illumination earlier rather than a Portable Soul Guidance Lamp.
From beginning to end, it was a passing Titan Giant Ape that came here and took Ah Yin away. What does that have to do with me, Lu Chen of Dragon Soul Village?
"Er Ming, Tang Hao will be here any moment."
"Punch the cave behind the waterfall and cover our retreat."
"You remember everything I taught you, right?"
Lu Chen swiftly led Xiao Wu out of the valley and gave Er Ming his final instructions.
If they were putting on an act, they naturally had to see it through. With the Titan Giant Ape's enormous size, he certainly would not follow the proper procedure of using the mechanism. How could it make sense if he did not punch the cave?
Er Ming nodded and answered steadily, "I remember everything. I don't really understand what you mean, but as long as it works. Remember your promise."
After this, Er Ming would return to the Star Dou Great Forest. Ultimately, he was a Soul Beast and did not belong in the human world.
Seeing that Xiao Wu now had a companion she trusted, and that Lu Chen's attitude toward Soul Beasts was quite good, he could naturally return with peace of mind.
"I will."
Lu Chen nodded solemnly. Although he had fabricated his identity, liked lurking in the chat group, and used the Notebook to toy with people through spoilers, looking nothing like a respectable person, he absolutely kept his promises.
Just as he had promised the system intelligence back then, if he said he would kill Tang San, he would kill Tang San. There would be no ambiguity.
About ten minutes after their farewell, Lu Chen and Xiao Wu, who had already traveled a considerable distance from the valley, suddenly heard a thunderous crash.
Immediately afterward, two immensely powerful waves of Soul Power swept past in succession. At their distance, these could already be described as a gentle breeze brushing their faces, yet the overbearing ferocity within them still made their hearts tremble.
"Titan Giant Ape, I have no intention of fighting you. Leave that stalk of Blue Silver Grass behind, and I'll let you go!"
Although Tang Hao excelled in the Clear Sky Hammer's offensive power and physical strength, his spiritual strength was not to be underestimated either. With a single sweep, he discovered the valley's utterly devastated state. The gaping hole behind the waterfall was an even more alarming sight.
But to avoid hurting Ah Yin, he still chose to try persuasion.
Er Ming said nothing. He simply raised a hand and patted his forehead, one corner of his mouth twisting into a strange curve as he gave a wicked smile.
"You dare refuse?!"
For some reason, seeing that stupid monkey opposite him pat his head made Tang Hao feel inexplicable fury surge uncontrollably through his chest.
At that moment, Ah Yin's safety, whether this would attract Spirit Hall's attention...
He cast all of it to the back of his mind.
The blood-colored Clear Sky Hammer in his hand swelled wildly, rapidly expanding from its original size of a water vat. Behind him, nine Soul Rings that could drive ordinary Titled Douluos mad with envy trembled one after another, as though they would shatter the next instant.
The blood-red Soul Ring shattered instantly, turning into a streak of red light that merged into the Clear Sky Hammer. By now, the Clear Sky Hammer was the size of a small mountain!
Er Ming raised both arms. Fierce earthen-yellow light surged before them as the power of the entire earth vein converged on him.
"Great Sumeru Hammer!"
"Roar (Titan Sky Shatter! It's just like Lu Chen said-he shattered his Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring! Sister Xiao Wu, I don't think I can beat him. Time to run~)!"
The violent collision resounded through the clouds. Looking toward the valley's former location, they saw that the peaks of several mountains had been completely shattered by the aftershocks of the Soul Power clash. A streak of blood-red light rapidly rose into the sky and flew in the opposite direction from the two.
"He really couldn't win!"
Xiao Wu's pretty face was taut as she said worriedly, "Lu Chen, just as you guessed, Tang Hao shattered his ninth Soul Ring. Er Ming has already started running."
Hearing Xiao Wu's translation of Er Ming's encrypted communication, Lu Chen actually relaxed.
If Tang Hao had shattered three or more Soul Rings right at the start, including the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, he might have been able to stop Er Ming from escaping.
But whether out of arrogance or because of his accumulated internal injuries, he had only shattered Ah Yin's Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, allowing the already-prepared Titan Giant Ape to escape swiftly at the cost of minor injuries.
During the pursuit, Er Ming had even caught him out with Gravity Domain, forcing him to abandon the faster ground pursuit and take to the sky, where Lu Chen and Xiao Wu happened to see him.
Lu Chen patted Xiao Wu's shoulder and reassured her, "Don't worry. If shattering his Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring didn't even seriously injure Er Ming, he won't get another chance. Besides, he's even more afraid of exposing himself to others than Er Ming is."
"Everything went smoothly. Let's go home."
Xiao Wu: "Mm!"
[Xiao Wu's affection +1] [Xiao Wu's affection: 70 (admiration)] [Congratulations to the host on obtaining 1,000 Fortune Points] [Host's current Fortune Points: 4,800] [Host's lifetime total Fortune Points: 6,800]
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