"With the medicinal bath and my help in refining it, this whale rubber can finally reach its full potential..."
Lu Cheng looked at the girl's flushed face and said softly.
Whale rubber was definitely not something ordinary people could afford.
Of course, it was mostly due to being poor that one had to be so meticulous; after all, a single piece of thousand-year whale rubber had a market price of at least thirty thousand gold coins. Even one piece a month... would definitely be a significant expense.
"One piece of thousand-year whale rubber a month? Who on earth eats like that..." Zhang Lexuan grumbled softly as she leaned into Lu Cheng's embrace.
"Besides, shouldn't Soul Masters focus more on Soul Power and Martial Souls? Why do you keep obsessing over constitution?"
"Well, I haven't seen you make much progress with your Martial Soul either." Lu Cheng found it amusing and gently tapped the girl's forehead.
"Ugh..."
"By the way, Brother, my birthday is coming up. Aren't you going to give me a gift?" The girl's beautiful eyes darted around as she flashed a mischievous grin, wrapping her arms around Lu Cheng's neck.
"A gift?" Lu Cheng was taken aback.
"It's actually quite a coincidence... I came across an accessory at the market the other day that really matches your looks." As he spoke, he pulled a jade-green hairpin from his storage ring. At its end hung a wind chime of the same color, which let out a pleasant tinkling sound as it swayed in the breeze.
"It's beautiful!" Zhang Lexuan's eyes lit up for a moment.
"Brother, help me put it in!"
With that, she straightened up and turned her back to Lu Cheng, letting her long, silky black hair fall loosely.
"Yes, it's very beautiful..."
Lu Cheng looked at the playful girl who had turned around with the hairpin in her hair, his eyes dazed for a moment.
But in the next second...
His pupils suddenly constricted.
A bone-chilling cold swept through his entire body.
This was...
Boom!
As a roar shattered the silence of the night, a deadly trap was unveiled.
Lu Cheng was in a disheveled state as he held Zhang Lexuan in a princess carry. He rolled to the side, and fire wings instantly sprouted from his back. Like a streak of bright flame, he burned straight through the roof of the bamboo house. Instead of fleeing into the distance, he stood quietly in mid-air.
In the next moment, the bamboo house was reduced to ashes and charred remains. If his reaction had been a second slower...
Lu Cheng's gaze shifted. The Lu family guards, who had been hidden near the bamboo house, were already bleeding from their seven orifices, dead without a sound.
Just a hundred meters away, three figures approached slowly in a triangular formation. All were cloaked in black, radiating a cold, sinister aura.
Evil Soul Masters...
The night of the clan's extermination had finally arrived.
It cruelly tore apart the original peace and beauty, as if everything that had just happened was an illusion—save for the hairpin swaying on the girl's head, emitting a crisp, silver chime.
"Brother, Brother... I'm scared." Tears shimmered in Zhang Lexuan's eyes. As a flower raised in a greenhouse, she had never seen such a scene. She hid in Lu Cheng's arms, clutching his sleeve tightly and trembling.
"It's okay, I'm here."
Lu Cheng slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.
His eyes scanned the three people closing in from different angles. Their cultivation was at least at the Spirit Saint realm; he couldn't see through them at all. Otherwise, the two Lu family guards protecting him, who were at least Spirit Kings, wouldn't have died so silently...
But this was fine too.
At least it confirmed he wasn't fighting shadows in the Void.
"Jie jie jie! Still bluffing when death is at your doorstep, kid? Listen to the wails in the distance. Your Lu family and the Zhang family will be completely wiped out tonight..."
The leading black figure spoke in a low, hoarse voice, laughing eerily.
"Tomorrow, I will let the entire continent know that this is the fate of anyone who dares to oppose Duke Bai Ling!"
As expected, a classic frame-up.
Like villains dryly reciting their lines, the three black-robed figures exchanged glances and began a "siege" that was clearly holding back.
Even though Lu Cheng was holding Zhang Lexuan with one hand, he was still able to escape their encirclement...
...
Outside Heaven Dou City.
Boom...
A fiery red figure crashed down like a meteor.
In the pitch-black night, the woods shook.
Zhang Lexuan lay on top of Lu Cheng, her small face covered in blood. Her voice trembled as she asked, "Brother, Brother, are you okay...?"
Pfft—
Lu Cheng spat out a mouthful of blood, his face pale. He reached out and gently pinched the girl's fair cheek, leaving a trace of blood on her clean face.
"Brother, waah..." The girl finally couldn't suppress her sobs and began to cry softly. When they had escaped, the Lu family was already a sea of fire. And according to what those black-robed guys said, the Zhang family would likely not escape disaster either. Her father, her mother...
"Shh."
Lu Cheng put a finger to his lips and scanned the surroundings.
The girl also hurried to cover her mouth, curling up in Lu Cheng's arms as much as possible. Feeling his burning heartbeat seemed to be the only way she could find some peace of mind.
The surroundings were silent.
Those guys seemed to have "lost the trail." Clearly, if things went according to the mastermind's plan, the two of them should be wandering out in the open, traveling day and night toward Shrek Academy, where they would happen to meet a Shrek Academy teacher and be brought to Elder Mu to seek revenge.
But...
Lu Cheng sensed something was off.
The intense, sharp killing intent from the three-man siege earlier hadn't been fake.
If he had been even a second later in taking Zhang Lexuan out of the house, they would likely have been heavily injured. And just now, those three hadn't held back much. If he hadn't protected her with his life, Zhang Lexuan would probably...
Wait!!
Lu Cheng's pupils suddenly constricted.
Zhang Lexuan... was also on the death list!!
These guys' target had been him alone from the very beginning!
Forcing him to become a disciple, while Zhang Lexuan... had to die in this catastrophe.
To him, Zhang Lexuan was a childhood friend with whom he shared extremely deep feelings. In the future, without any surprises, they would likely become husband and wife. But Mu En might have already made arrangements for him... Ma Xiaotao.
Only if Zhang Lexuan died could the latter fill her vacancy, binding him completely to Shrek. Just as Zhang Lexuan had become Bei Bei's child bride, emotional chains were actually the most reliable and resilient.
In that case... the attack was likely not over yet.
Lu Cheng's heart skipped a beat.
"Watch out!"
Lu Cheng suddenly grabbed the girl's waist and rolled to the side.
"Jie jie jie! Kid, you actually reacted to that..."
A black-robed figure slowly emerged.
Heart-palpitating dark energy surged in his palm.
However, a hint of impatience flickered in his eyes. The mission from above was to leave only this boy alive without making him suspicious, but now...
He was proving to be a bit too troublesome.
Cough, cough, cough...
Lu Cheng knelt on one knee, clutching his chest. He coughed up streaks of crimson blood that dripped onto the dry grass.
"Brother!"
Zhang Lexuan's beautiful eyes were bloodshot.
She disregarded the consumption and showered Lu Cheng with the Silver Moon's buff, but it didn't seem to do much.
The girl glared at the black-robed man who was slowly approaching.
She blocked the way in front of Lu Cheng.
"If you're going to kill someone, kill me first!"
"Hehe, I'd be more than happy to..."
Notes:
ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧
Read advance chapters at p@atreon/holyangelicdemon