Seventy-seven

In the bar, He Mian was downing glass after glass, drinking heavily. Zhuang Jiang swirled his own drink, and when He Mian finished a bottle and called for the bartender to open another, Zhuang Jiang reached out to stop him, telling the bartender to go about his business.

“So, you asked me out, and now you’re just sitting here drinking by yourself?” Zhuang Jiang said.

He Mian didn’t reply, but he also stopped drinking.

...

The Blood Fiend unleashed all manner of blood sect techniques, forming barriers of light one after another, but they shattered like fragile bubbles beneath the blurred immortal’s spear, pierced and broken layer by layer.

After a brief silence, he lowered his voice, yielding a little, “Even if they must be punished, it should be up to our own Jinyang tribe to deal with them.”

A few strands of white fur drifted lazily in front of the big white dog’s nose; its round eyes were fixed on the floating hairs, motionless.

Nascent Soul cultivators were pitifully scarce in the Tianyuan Realm—barely more than a hundred in all. But the Biling Realm was different; just one Dome Secret Realm held a hundred or two itself. Here, Nascent Soul cultivators were never in short supply, and even Soul Transformation cultivators were a common sight.

Wang Jie scrambled to his feet, drawing his spear, while at the same time secretly releasing his flying needle artifact. After a quick glance around, he darted off in a chosen direction, feigning difficulty in battle.

The Mo Clan has relied on its peerless mechanical arts to stand firm since ancient times, undying through ten thousand eras, their reputation echoing through history.

Perhaps he was just overthinking, but the strangeness of it all left him with a vague sense of foreboding.

The night he made his breakthrough, Wang Shuo purposely stayed awake, determined to discover where all his painstakingly cultivated power had gone. Sure enough, that night his spiritual roots contracted, and all the spiritual energy traveled along his meridians, sinking into his bones.

Xia Sheng didn’t feel there was much to prepare, but seeing Hua Tao so excited, he didn’t have the heart to dampen her enthusiasm.

Once they reached their destination, Cian glanced back at the noble young man who seemed to be in a deep sleep.

Uncle Zhang was briefly taken aback, but as soon as he realized what was happening, he didn’t dare delay for a moment—he turned at once to notify everyone. This was the first time since entering the Shangguan family that Yu Lu had lost her temper so dramatically.

Although fate was not immutable, she minded deeply about intervening in other people’s destinies with her own hands.

It was the first time she’d treated ordinary people this way; usually, she simply ignored them. But now, being part of the situation, she naturally had to adopt more appropriate measures.

The old man sobbed until he was choked with grief. Yu Zi watched as he slowly collapsed to the ground, resting his face against the green grass in front of the grave, tears falling in a string.

“Well…” A warrior wanted to ask why he hadn’t said that earlier, but considering Lord Zhantian’s usual pride, his earlier anger, and their respective positions, the words stuck in his throat.

“Hey, hey! Wait…” Although her head was still a little dizzy, it didn’t lessen the loneliness in Houki Shinonono’s heart. When Zhao Yi picked her up, she wished she could stay in his arms forever. But when she remembered their promise, an endless sense of loss welled up inside her.

Cheng Yanhui ignored Ji Yusheng completely; since that last time, the two had been sleeping in separate rooms. She paid no attention to what Ji Yusheng did, and even less would she allow him to know anything about her. Their stubbornness toward each other was nothing new.

“That bastard! It must be him!” Wusong, burning with rage, pinned all the blame on Lin Xiao, convinced that Lin Xiao had instigated those challenges, stirring up trouble across the city and robbing everyone of peace.

Ling Jiajia’s tone was flippant and bold, just like the time she’d offered to buy the condoms—utterly fearless, utterly unruly.

“I always wanted to raise a tiger, but never had the chance. Ever since you had Naonao, though, facing that little one, I suddenly realized my dream had come true,” Ye Hansheng said in all seriousness. I listened just as seriously, but after he finished, I thought about it several times, and the more I thought, the more I felt something was off.