Chapter 44: Two Gifts, Two Worlds

"Mom," Zhou Susu's voice lacked any of the stiffness typically found between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. "Lu Zhan mentioned that when you were young, you loved the Mei School of Peking Opera best. I happened to acquire a pair of vintage cassette tapes from an old gentleman." (Sourced from the dimension)

She opened a velvet box, inside of which rested two reel-to-reel audio tapes, remarkably well-preserved and appearing extremely antique.

"These are the live recordings of Mr. Mei Lanfang's out-of-print performance at Huairentang back in the 1950s..."

Seeing that the plan had entered the practical execution stage, Starlight Brilliance, Steward Yue, Fu Yisui, and the others also gathered around, eager to see how that eccentric Lang Tianya planned to extract the programs from someone else's dark domain.

Yet, damn it all, who knew where that fat-headed leader had managed to recruit such a bunch of cool and handsome bodyguards? Just a casual glance upward to lock eyes with them was enough for Ling Jiantong to feel three lines of dark sweat instantly trace down the back of her head.

It was rare to see Sutu Qinchen's lips curve into a smile. He gazed at Ling Jiantong, then slowly lowered his head, pressing his warm lips without warning against her fair neck.

Luo Li lay inside the tent, feeling her body utterly limp and her belly completely sunken. She could feel her ribs by herself; in just a short span of time, she had lost a tremendous amount of weight.

With a flash of his figure, A Yi finally reached the center of the thousand-man formation, abruptly drove his long sword into the ground, and then wheeled around to charge back out.

"What kind of expressions are those? Do you really think this method is no good?" Lang Tianya asked, looking quite unconvinced.

True to form, no sooner had Zhuo Tian finished speaking than everyone rushed forward to choose the mystic swords they fancied. The scrambling and contending were countless, showing not the slightest demeanor of masters.

Everything in the surroundings instantly grew still, and the environment began dissolving bit by bit into flying sand, vanishing into the air.

"Let's go!" Yinglong and Zhulong supported the feeble Qinglong up onto the auspicious clouds, and the group guided a pillar of water toward the heavenly palace.

When it was over, the two of them lay entangled on the carpet, neither speaking. Rong Lang burrowed into the other's embrace and nuzzled against him; in three years, he would retire from the screen, and after that, the right and wrong of the outside world would no longer have anything to do with them.

Unable to withstand this chilling aura any longer, Grant offered a slight bow and eagerly took his leave, well pleased with his escape.

"Just do as I said before! Though this place needs a slight modification..." Guo Jia said with a smile.

Now, with the support of the Foolish Root, Quanyangzi could rest assured in selecting a few apprentices to intentionally cultivate, passing down his entire mastery of artifact crafting to them.

Little did they know that Jiangnan's Kukri knife was forged from special materials by a renowned craftsman, making it vastly sharper than ordinary Kukri knives.

Wang Ning emerged from his room to find the downstairs already in an uproar. Curses and oaths were mixed with a few ingratiating attempts at mediation; without looking, one could tell the innkeeper was trying to calm the intruders who had broken in. A few muffled groans followed shortly after, presumably from receiving beatings.

Not a single person stepped in to stop it; everyone held a detached attitude, looking on with anticipation and ignoring the cyan-colored object entirely, leaving them to fight it out among themselves.

The crowd cast playful smiles at Tang Nie, eager to see his look of embarrassment and waiting to watch how he would fare in a fight against Qin Youxie.

Whenever there was an opportunity to plunder, they would pillage what they could; if it were merely a Zerg gathering place, they would launch a massive massacre, slaughtering every last one of the Zerg.

Wang Ning returned to his own vessel, followed closely by Lu Rong. Having witnessed the scene on the Qi family's ship earlier, he for a moment had no inkling of what his employer intended to do.

At this moment, that successful hunting caracal, gripping the carcass of the serval in its jaws, glanced at Chen Hu, then turned and left, gradually disappearing into the tall grass.

Upon hearing this, though Qingsuang gave no verbal reply, a look of astonishment crossed her face. Noble Consort Li's calm and unruffled speech hardly sounded like the fabrication of a falsehood, but rather like the recounting of an event that had genuinely transpired.

Seeing his words spoken with such earnestness—especially taking the humiliation of the Later Jin invasion upon himself—Chongzhen felt the old chronic ailment in his chest lighten slightly. His complexion cleared a bit, and he placated him, saying, "The blame for this matter does not rest on one man alone," as he lifted his teacup and took several sips.