Chapter 75

A shrill, piercing scream shattered the predawn silence of the mountain village. Even the fiercest beasts and birds would have fled in terror at that sound.

"You can take him away, but I promise you, once he's gone, he won't live to see the Spring Festival," the doctor said, looking at Xu Xiaoyi with a particularly wild, mocking grin.

The car stopped in the upscale "Half Bay Mansions" community near Xujing, Shanghai, close to Qingpu. Lush greenery surrounded the gently undulating fairways, creating an idyllic atmosphere. The extravagant, standalone villas by the man-made lakes made it obvious: such a place was reserved for high officials and wealthy merchants—ordinary people could never afford to live here.

Here, Krups closed the boundary illusion outside, while Pucatus and Victor used a magic array once again to determine the state of Quio and Morals—the results proved that the time-space isolation here was even more effective, the demon's influence on the two had diminished further compared to before.

Arriving at the office in the morning, Su Mo glanced at the calendar on her desk and realized her monthly visitor had yet to arrive—it was already several days later than last month, which was unusual.

I strongly suspected she had lived here for some time. After coming downstairs, she wandered slowly out of the guesthouse entrance. There should have been an attendant on duty at all hours, but at that moment, the front desk was utterly deserted.

When Yang Guifei mentioned the Yang clan of the Thunder Drum Tribe returning to the Hanging City for the "Thunder Pearl," only to find it missing, I immediately recalled the vengeful spirit Luo Qingyang had told me: he found the Thunder Pearl beneath Mount Kunlun and entrusted it to his brother, Luo Qiandao.

Having come this far, all the tangled mysteries and karmic riddles lay within the eternal enigma of the "Hanging City." If I truly had to enter that Bread Cliff—even if it were a mountain of blades or a Ghost King Mountain teeming with a myriad of spirits—I would have to force my way through. As the saying goes, "Knowing there are ghosts on the mountain, I head for the ghost mountain nonetheless."

As for Nata, Roddy seemed unusually busy these days, disappearing from sight for entire days. Her life, as a result, became monotonous.

With a faint remark, Baldy’s figure slowly dissolved into the shadows—truly dissolved, as if calcium carbonate vanishing into dilute hydrochloric acid.

Feng Wuya’s expression was impossibly dark, as if water could drip from his face. Should anything befall the Tian Ding Sect’s most promising disciple, he would have no way to explain himself upon returning and would surely be punished.

Yet, Mingxin paid no heed to Tong Youyu’s shifting expression. Bathing in the wind-attributed spiritual energy, a small blue dot at the center of her brow suddenly flashed with a beam of light.

With all team members present, it was time for a warm-up. I closed the Chinese server and logged into the Korean server.

As for the devastating power he wielded with the Golden Crow Force, everyone was visibly astonished.

As soon as they got out of the car, they immediately apprehended the soldiers Pei Long had stationed at the entrance to harass them. Heavy iron shackles locked the soldiers' hands and feet. If anyone resisted, a flurry of joint locks and punches would swiftly silence them.

It was all my own fault—I admit that. And I further admit that everything I’m doing now is meaningless. Even knowing that, I still can’t find a way out of this besieged city.

“If all cultivators refused to flee from fire spirits and insisted on fighting to the death, this is what would happen!” Ye Feng nodded, though his premise left people speechless.

But just then, the evil clan trapped inside the tortoise shell began to laugh wildly.

She was the first in Group Ten, ranking tenth overall—a postnatal ninth-realm cultivator named Su Qian.

Ji Changying had realized this; he didn’t use his trump card but instead tried to wear down Bu Zheng’s stamina, hoping to make Bu Zheng's next battle even tougher.

Now, all the deans present fell into unanimous silence, saying nothing more, for the images captured by the Memory Stone had made everything clear. Moreover, Jun Ao’s arrival was clearly purposeful—they decided to wait and see how the situation unfolded.

Many people gazed at the assessment rules inscribed on the stone wall, voicing their concerns and lamenting the difficulty, worried for their future.

“As expected, there’s no running this time.” She let out a long sigh, then drew a deep breath, gathering her energy and spirits. Waving the innkeeper away, she carried a chair from the inn and set it squarely in the center of the marketplace. Sitting with the air of a great general, she ran her hands over a dusty, unremarkable curved blade.

Though both wielded sword qi, Wang Zhenfei’s true force was slightly inferior, yet more refined—his sword techniques were clearly superior to the young man in white.

Swordsmanship, after all, is a form of magic, and true sword arts are always supplemented by magic arrays. This is a new realm—only by doing so can the power of sword qi be fully unleashed.

After drinking the Life Mother Elixir, Lulu promptly fell into a deep sleep. Xu Zheng, glancing over at the beast tamer Joe, noticed an unmistakable look of envy in his eyes as he gazed at Lulu.

Everyone present nodded in agreement. They weren’t surprised, either, that the Violet Sky Sword Emperor would speak in place of the silent Sword Emperor, who was the head of their sect.

One of the beast clan members burst into laughter, his lecherous gaze fixed on Zhuo Yiyi. He already looked like a pig, and now he seemed even more piggish than ever.