Volume 1, Chapter 21: She Must Be Kept

The man in black was decisive. Realizing there was no hope of escape, he immediately bit down on the poison capsule hidden in his mouth. By the time Chu Ping noticed, it was already too late; the toxin had instantly permeated the man’s internal organs.

Chu Chen spoke, then pointed out his own room and Lin Yi’s, as well as the rooms of Bai Qian and Lin Feng, telling Li Yan she could choose any of the other magnificent chambers as she pleased.

She could not fathom how this man, who had been a pauper just half a year ago, had suddenly become so wealthy. It seemed the profits from the Litian Group were truly immense; in just six months, his net worth had surely risen to no less than a billion.

Human affairs are unpredictable; human hearts are inscrutable; human feelings are hard to fathom; and human love is difficult to comprehend.

Opposite him, Zuo Yong struggled violently, but to no avail. Only a faint whimpering sound escaped his nose, and tears streamed down his face incessantly.

I recalled the ashen expression on Kuang Shi’s face at the time; no wonder he glared at me with such icy hostility. If not for Liang Ci’s presence, I feared he would have flicked his sleeves and stormed off on the spot.

Today, from the moment I woke up until breakfast, no fewer than ten people had asked about Zhang Qingshan.

Chu Ping felt a sense of bewilderment in his mind, his eyes occasionally flickering with a hint of struggle before becoming clear once more. Every time he regained clarity, he felt that his previous thoughts had been incredibly strange. They did not seem to be his own, as if they had burrowed into his mind from somewhere unknown.

"Mind your own business!" she scolded fiercely, not forgetting to stomp hard on Zhang Qingshan’s left instep before covering her face and turning to run away.

Instantly, a large expanse of snow-white, delicate skin was revealed. Combined with her unparalleled, enchanting face and her current languid posture, it was enough to send any man’s adrenaline surging.

Zhao Xu already knew Zhang Yi’s temperament, so he only offered a bitter smile, but his words terrified everyone present.

Two masters of the Creation Realm were so frightened by the sheer power of the punch erupted by Old Man Ye that their hearts shattered and they retreated rapidly. With such might, who else could it be but the current Saint of Martial Arts, Ye?

"Better than going back to meet our deaths!" the senior disciple shouted, unleashing his full internal power and pounding his chest, causing him to cough up mouthfuls of blood.

Jenny did not wait for anyone to argue or intervene; she unwrapped the swaddling clothes, cast a loving look at the infant inside, and then, with tears in her eyes, resolutely handed the bundle to Seiya.

Xige had not expected the lightning to retain such power after piercing the wooden hut. Although his magical armor absorbed some of the damage, the strike still sent his blood and energy into turmoil. He dared not pause, fearing a second attack from the enemy.

Li Bixia was currently in the process of recovering his vitality, and the mermaid, watching him, felt both anxious and deeply encouraged.

It was like this raging plague; it arrived like a storm, sweeping across the land with a force that human strength could not possibly resist.

It turned out that the reason Zhang Mochen had been unable to contact the Wood Spirit and Earth Spirit was that they had gone to awaken the Gold Spirit and Fire Spirit. The four elements complement and restrain one another, and a celestial connection exists between them. As for why the Water Spirit had not appeared, the independent nature of water elemental energy was the best explanation.

However, the dog-bird was still descending very slowly; it seemed there must be something truly terrifying on this island.

"Alright, I’m going back to my room to handle some company business. You two should get some sleep early! There’s class tomorrow," Luo Yan said, rising to head upstairs.

Seeing the furious state of the Fusang Island Master, the minister named Yu Fei explained quickly that the entire shipbuilding industry—its data, raw materials, and even its workforce—had suffered significant losses.

It is said that Li Cunxu’s father, Li Keyong, had indeed sworn a brotherhood with Yelü Abaoji back in the day. Though ten years had passed, they were, in a sense, uncle and nephew.

Although reprimanded by the Emperor, He Jin felt a sense of relief. The General of the Gentlemen of the Household for All Purposes, while holding a rank comparable to the Three Excellencies, was still officially below the General-in-Chief.

Sun Buxu finished his shower in a rush to find the room tidied up and even scented with perfume.

"My apologies. I generally don’t charge good people; for bitches, I usually charge a very high fee," Sun Qian said, shrugging indifferently.

"She’s in the car, going for a drive? Can you connect to the car’s onboard phone?" Qin Fen shook his head, speaking to Er Fen inside his body.

"Now, or after I’m gone—it doesn’t matter, as long as it can be allowed to survive," Qin Fen sighed softly, the sound barely audible.

"I have a friend at the police station. Because of her low rank, she didn't participate in the operation to capture Han Xiao. But she has a grudge against her and offered to come help you. What do you think?" Sun Qian asked.

Jia Mu poked his head out from the room. Seeing someone outside, he rubbed his hands together and ran out.

This game was a perfect application of the special training they had undergone recently; it was a test of who possessed the greatest endurance and resistance in a freezing environment, and most importantly, how to learn to survive in such conditions.

The Holy Mother of Wudang, the Immortal Bilu, and the Immortal Jingu were nowhere to be found. Among them, the Holy Mother of Wudang was the only direct disciple of the Saint Tongtian to survive, preserving a spark of hope for the Jie Sect.

He turned to look into the darkness. The void’s color seemed to have faded, so had the elements truly stopped within the void and remained there to become a source of light?

However, manipulating the past to reach Blackwater Lake might be enough to attract the attention of the Blackwater Qilin. Whether one could hold on long enough to lure the beast over was another matter, but this method was certainly worth a try, as it allowed him to avoid taking the risk himself.

Lü'er thought about it; at the start, that was indeed the case. But for a man, unless he was truly at the end of his rope, who would ever agree to marry into a woman's family?

He must harbor hatred—hatred for revealing his thoughts too early, which led his sharp-witted wife to end her own life rather than see him torn by internal conflict.