Chapter 53: Arrival

The young man attacked once more, holding nothing back.

He had to seize the moment before any accidents could occur.

The double-fish pendant repelled the young man yet again, but the cracks spreading across its surface were becoming denser by the second.

This plunged Cai Yameng and Cai Shasha back into despair.

Coincidentally, a luxury car drove by, heading back to the city center from the Yunmei Auction House.

Seeing the situation ahead, a young scion from a prestigious Beijing family jumped out of the car, eager to play the hero and save the damsels in distress.

"Fear not, young ladies! With me, Li Junxian, here, your safety is guaranteed!"

He charged toward the young man, only to be decapitated by a single sweep of the young man's sword in a fraction of a second.

His posture leaping out of the car had been quite dashing; his headless posture rolling on the ground was truly pathetic.

"Courting death!"

"Fireball!"

Forming a hand seal with one hand, the young man cast a spell directly at the approaching luxury car.

A fist-sized fireball collided with the vehicle, instantly unleashing a terrifying wave of fire that blew the luxury car to pieces.

The young man then turned his gaze back to Cai Shasha and Cai Yameng, who were still sheltered by the double-fish pendant.

At this moment, the pendant was covered in a web of cracks, as if it would shatter at any second.

"Heh, making a futile last stand!"

Wielding his spiritual sword, the young man channeled his spiritual power into the blade, causing it to hum with a sharp vibration.

The entire sword lit up with a pink glow, its aura surging violently.

He charged at the two women once more.

When the spiritual sword struck the protective barrier, there was no remaining energy left to support it.

With a loud crash, the double-fish pendant shattered into pieces, leaving the two women standing completely unprotected before the young man.

"This time, I'd like to see—"

Before he could finish his sentence, a keen sense of danger washed over him. An immortal cultivator's instinct made him leap backward instantly.

Frowning, the young man scanned his surroundings. He saw no one else, save for other wealthy elites leaving the venue in the distance, driving back toward the city.

"Huh?"

With the sharp perception of the ninth layer of Qi Condensation, the young man quickly spotted more than a dozen tiny insects, smaller than flies, hovering around Cai Yameng.

"It seems I truly underestimated you. Still, a few mere bugs pose no threat to me!"

The young man refrained from casting long-range area-of-effect spells, as that might accidentally injure the two women.

He was still counting on their virgin yin essence to propel him straight into the Foundation Establishment stage in one go.

He closed in once more, his spiritual sword slashing precisely at the soul-devouring insects.

Suddenly, however, a sharp pain shot through his soul, as if he had been jabbed by a needle.

This unknown force forced him to retreat again, clutching his head as he stared at the insects.

"What kind of damned bugs are these?!"

Shaking his head, the young man took a deep breath.

He prepared to strike the two women again, determined to subdue them first no matter what happened.

Exploding with terrifying physical strength, the young man's foot cracked the asphalt road beneath him.

In a near-instant blink, he appeared before the two women, his spiritual sword wreathed in flames, intending to incinerate the dozen or so insects in one fell blow.

Regrettably, he only managed to burn five of them to ashes; the rest scattered in all directions.

"Unimpressive tricks!" the young man scoffed disdainfully, reaching out with his other hand to grab the alchemy furnace in Cai Yameng's arms.

Down the road behind them, a sports car came speeding over.

Zhang Bingnan was driving Zhou Chen to the scene.

Earlier, Zhou Chen had already perceived Cai Yameng's perilous situation through his soul-devouring insects.

However, it still took some time to travel there.

He had initially assumed that the female cultivator in the Foundation Establishment stage would attempt to snatch the item, yet he wasn't worried she would resort to murder, as she presumably adhered to the rules of the secular cultivation world.

Even if it were stolen, there was nothing he could do since he was entirely outmatched.

Therefore, Zhou Chen's plan had simply been to monitor the woman and ensure Cai Yameng returned safely to Beijing University.

He would then figure out another way to retrieve the alchemy furnace from her later.

To his surprise, however, a malevolent cultivator at the ninth layer of Qi Condensation had also set his sights on Cai Yameng.

This wicked cultivator was not merely after the furnace; judging by his aura, he was a depraved practitioner of dual cultivation through plunder.

Zhou Chen had been careless this time, losing five level-zero soul-devouring insects.

Fortunately, the soul-devouring queen insect was on the verge of breaking through to level four, which would enable her to breed twenty or thirty level-zero offspring.

Zhou Chen dispatched the soul-devouring queen. Moving at an extraordinary speed, the level-three queen flew straight toward the young man.

While the level-two offspring had previously attempted a soul stab, their strength was simply too low to inflict any effective damage on the young man.

A level-two soul-devouring insect possessed a soul strength comparable to a cultivator in the mid-Qi Condensation stage.

Only a soul stab unleashed by the queen herself could inflict meaningful damage on him.

The young man's cultivation was indeed impressive, bringing him to the precipice of the Foundation Establishment stage.

Yet, until he actually crossed that threshold, his soul could not transform into a divine soul, leaving him vulnerable to soul attacks.

At this moment, the young man reached out to seize the furnace, but Cai Yameng clutched it tighter to her chest.
"Do you want to die?!"

Lacking any chivalry, the young man struck Cai Yameng across the face.

The blow was vicious, nearly knocking her unconscious as bright crimson blood trickled from the corner of her lips.

Even so, Cai Yameng refused to let go.

Irritated, the young man prepared to snap her delicate arms directly.

All he needed was her virgin yin essence anyway; hacking off all four of her limbs wouldn't affect that, as long as she stayed alive.

"Ah!"

The very next second, however, a searing agony erupted inside the young man's mind, far more intense than the previous strike.

Against the soul stab unleashed by the queen, the young man had no defense whatsoever.

With his soul heavily damaged, blood began to stream from his seven facial orifices.

Yet, an immortal cultivator was still an immortal cultivator; even with a wounded soul, he did not completely lose his composure.

Abandoning the thought of the furnace for now, he watched as Cai Shasha helped Cai Yameng limp backward into the distance, his sharp, hawk-like eyes filled with vicious intent.

"Even if I can't get your virgin yin essence, I'll make sure both of you bitches die!"

Pulling a talisman from his storage pouch, the young man slapped it onto his spiritual sword. The blade detached itself, hovering in mid-air amidst a chorus of ringing vibrations.

It then transformed into a streak of light, shooting straight toward the space between the two women's eyebrows.

At that moment, the young man spotted Zhang Bingnan and Zhou Chen arriving.

He paid them no mind, dismissing them as mere ordinary mortals.

However, the next second, the young man who had stepped out of the passenger seat locked his eyes forward, radiating an overwhelming pressure.

A ferocious wave of divine soul power poured outward, freezing the speeding spiritual sword dead in mid-air.

"Divine soul power! A Foundation Establishment cultivator!"

Realizing that Zhou Chen had effortlessly subdued his sword using divine soul power alone, the young man was frightened out of his wits. Abandoning all thoughts of revenge and even leaving his spiritual sword behind, he turned and fled desperately into the gathering darkness.

Zhou Chen chose not to pursue him; his own cultivation was only at the fourth layer of Qi Condensation, and he had yet to master any offensive soul techniques, making a counterattack too risky.

Maintaining his hold on the spiritual sword with his Foundation Establishment-level divine soul, Zhou Chen watched as the blade—now devoid of the young man's control—dropped to the ground like an ordinary weapon, clattering against the pavement.

Just then, Cai Shasha supported the faltering Cai Yameng over to Zhou Chen.

Though she had never met him before, Cai Shasha could sense the mighty pressure radiating from him, realizing he was the powerhouse who had scared off the vicious cultivator. She let out a long sigh of relief.

Cai Yameng also saw Zhou Chen, though her eyelids felt overwhelmingly heavy, as if she might slip into unconsciousness at any moment.

The moment she laid eyes on him, the tight string of tension in her mind finally snapped.

She struggled to hand the furnace in her arms over to Zhou Chen.

"For you... a gift."

Having taken a blow to the face, half of Cai Yameng's pretty cheek was swollen.

A clear, red handprint was stark against her delicate skin.

Her speech was slightly slurred, yet her demeanor remained as aloof as ever.

As soon as she finished speaking, Cai Yameng lost consciousness and collapsed.

Seeing this, a pang of heartache touched Zhou Chen.

This woman was stubbornly obstinate to a fault.

Picking up the furnace from the ground, Zhou Chen scooped Cai Yameng up into his arms in a bridal carry.

"Rest assured, I will kill him. He shall pay for this slap with his life," Zhou Chen muttered under his breath.

Raising his head, he gazed into the darkness where the young man had vanished.

His eyes were cold, and his heart was consumed by killing intent.

The life-devouring insects fluttered out from his purple mansion, led by the soul-devouring queen, and gave chase into the night.