Powerful! Scorching!
The enormous fireball swelled and intensified without pause, truly like a newly risen, blazing sun.
Fear and dread instantly overwhelmed the female cultivator.
Yu Rou halted on the spot, gazing with shock and suspicion at the figure standing beneath that blazing sun.
"Danchenzi?"
As she stopped, the blazing sun gradually dispersed as well.
A chilling, piercing gaze bore straight into her.
Looking into his eyes was like staring into a frigid, bottomless abyss—pitch-black and bone-chillingly cold.
Yu Rou forced out in a strained voice, "Huo Hu cannot die. You must not kill him."
Casting a glance at the unconscious body trapped inside the cage of vines, Luo Chen let out a cold sneer. "Where in this world does it say one must submit to slaughter without fighting back? Fellow Daoist Yu, wouldn't you say so?"
"But the Huo family… Huo Quan!"
Mentioning Huo Quan seemed to bolster Yu Rou's confidence.
Gradually regaining her poise, she said, "If you dare kill Huo Hu, the Huo family will never let this rest. Huo Quan has spent years at the sixth level of Foundation Establishment. His current secluded retreat is specifically to break through to the late Foundation Establishment stage. Once he emerges from seclusion…"
"He isn't the one standing before us," Luo Chen interrupted flatly. "The one blocking our path is you."
*Right!*
*It's me!*
Those calm, indifferent words made Yu Rou's entire body shudder.
Her gaze darted about. Nearby stood Danchenzi, radiating bone-chilling killing intent.
In the distance, Wang Yuan stood atop a stone pillar, resembling an Asura demon tiger.
Behind her, Li Yixian held a longsword, ready to strike.
Just moments ago, she had seen plainly that Li Yixian had genuinely intended to intercept her.
In other words, Li Yixian had already decided to take Danchenzi's side!
Under normal circumstances, she would have had the confidence to rely on the swift speed of her emerald-feathered white eagle to flee this place.
Yet the fiendish aura rolling off Danchenzi was truly terrifying.
That he had returned alive meant two Foundation Establishment True Cultivators had failed to bring him down—and had likely been slain by him instead!
Surrounded like this, she did not have the slightest certainty of snatching Huo Hu away and escaping unscathed.
"So be it! So be it!"
With a bitter smile, she slowly retreated.
"For tonight's matter, I wish you luck. Huo Quan's wrath is not something you can bear."
Watching her retreating figure, Luo Chen suddenly spoke.
"Wait!"
Yu Rou's expression shifted, the bitterness instantly hardening into fierce vigilance.
"What is it?"
"Could it be Fellow Daoist wants to keep me here as well?"
As she spoke, spiritual light surged around her body, primed to erupt, and a feather fan dropped into her hand.
In that moment, she resembled a ruffled falcon with its feathers bristling.
Yet Luo Chen merely shook his head.
He said indifferently, "I can let you leave. However, upon your return, not a word of the battle details here is to reach Huo Quan. If he presses you, tell him Huo Hu is in my hands. If he dares make a rash move, he can prepare for the Huo family to be left without an heir!"
As he spoke, his gaze drifted toward two spots.
One was deep within the subterranean depths of the stone forest; the other was the towering figure standing atop the stone pillar.
Yu Rou naturally understood his meaning.
Even so, having always stood high above others, such coercive words left her deeply uncomfortable.
Perhaps sensing her resentment, Luo Chen chuckled softly and murmured a single sentence.
That sentence sent her heart hammering wildly, leaving her with no choice but to comply.
"To me, the Luotian Association is merely a means to gather cultivation resources. But the Yu family is your very lifeline."
Yu Rou gave him a long, searching look.
"I will remember this!"
With that, the white eagle beat its emerald feathers and soared into the distance.
Watching this unfold, Li Yixian felt the stifling frustration that had choked her chest all night finally vanish into thin air.
That friend with whom she had once been quite close, calling each other sisters—tonight, she had repeatedly used the Li family to hold Li Yixian in a chokehold.
She had truly pinned her down where it hurt most.
Who could possibly understand that helpless misery?
To her surprise, Luo Chen understood!
Those final two words, "Yu family," had surely left Yu Rou trembling all over, her hands and feet freezing cold!
Luo Chen was no saint.
He had fought two Foundation Establishment True Cultivators alone, returned completely unscathed, and intimidated both a cultivator and a demon beast into submission.
He had even dared to level ruthless threats against Huo Quan, who was on the verge of the late Foundation Establishment stage.
If pushed to the brink, a ruthless man like him wouldn't hesitate to abandon the Luotian Association, cast aside all restraint, and set his sights purely on slaughtering the Yu family.
When that time came, how could the Yu family clansmen ever venture out to train? How could they conduct business?
Indeed, family cultivators drew strength from their clans, yet were made vulnerable by them just the same.
*Phew!*
Exhaling a long breath of turbid air, Li Yixian felt utterly refreshed.
Glancing toward the unconscious Huo Hu trapped inside the verdant cage, she asked, "He isn't dead?"
Luo Chen nodded, his eyes shifting toward Wang Yuan as the man approached.
Wang Yuan's condition was far from good. A palm-sized chunk of flesh was missing from his lower abdomen, and his overall demeanor was somewhat sluggish.
Evidently, this battle had not been nearly as effortless for him as Li Yixian and the others had made it sound.
Wang Yuan grunted, "He took a hit from my Blood God Tribulation Finger. Even if he isn't dead, he's severely maimed."
The Blood God Tribulation Finger!
This was the offensive technique for the second realm of body cultivation that Wang Yuan had mentioned to Luo Chen—the one he had painstakingly devised after years of research.
Its area of effect wasn't immense, but it was exceptionally fast, delivered highly concentrated power, and could be unleashed from a distance.
That last point was especially critical.
The reason second-realm body cultivators struggled against Foundation Establishment True Cultivators was that most of their techniques were limited to melee range. Even relying on vitality blood projection, they could barely reach a dozen zhang.
It was virtually impossible to threaten Foundation Establishment True Cultivators, who could command flying swords to strike from several dozen zhang away.
Back then, Duan Qiankun had relied on his mobility, flight, and long-range bombardments to torture Wang Yuan within an inch of his life.
Now, Wang Yuan had finally managed to compensate somewhat for his lack of ranged attacks.
Luo Chen shook his head. "He cannot die!"
Neither Wang Yuan nor Li Yixian objected; in fact, they thoroughly agreed.
Having now offended the Huo family, if Huo Hu were to die, the Huo family's old ancestor would undoubtedly erupt in a torrential fury upon emerging from seclusion.
That was a sixth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator—perhaps even a late Foundation Establishment grand cultivator once he stepped out!
A living Huo Hu served as far better leverage against him.
"It would be wonderful if Huo Quan failed his breakthrough and fell into Qi deviation instead," Li Yixian said with a faint smile.
A heavenly, melodious laugh paired with an ordinary face.
Luo Chen glanced at her and said calmly, "We cannot pin our hopes on such ethereal strokes of luck."
As he spoke, he dispelled the cage and tossed the unconscious Huo Hu over to Wang Yuan.
"This man is your spoils of war. I leave him in your custody."
"Rest assured, I have a hundred ways to keep him bound," Wang Yuan replied gruffly.
Without lingering, he hefted Huo Hu and dropped down into the throng of Luotian Association cultivators.
"Fellow Daoist, I shall return first. In a moment…"
Facing Li Yixian's eager, imploring gaze, Luo Chen nodded.
"We will wait a short while for you. Make haste!"
Li Yixian offered Luo Chen a grateful look, then quickly flew toward the Li family encampment.
This was no place to linger.
That Luo Chen was willing to wait and travel together was already an immense gesture of goodwill.
It also proved that she had chosen the right side.
In this cultivation world of intrigue and deception, people like Wang Haichao and Huo Hu were everywhere, while someone like Luo Chen—powerful, yet holding firmly to his principles—was extraordinarily rare.
She would rather place her trust in Luo Chen than believe Huo Hu and his ilk would ever show mercy to her Li family.
Watching her departing figure, Luo Chen gave a barely perceptible nod.
He had actually returned some time ago, but had held back from intervening immediately.
Only after assessing the entire battlefield and confirming the overall advantage lay with his side had he stepped in.
The sole variables had been Yu Rou and Li Yixian.
Yu Rou's attempt to intervene had been well within his expectations, but Li Yixian's effort to intercept her had come as a pleasant surprise.
Had Li Yixian turned against them, then in his state after a grueling battle and alongside the wounded Wang Yuan, taking down both women would have been exceedingly difficult.
After all, there was also a second-tier emerald-feathered white eagle capable of coming and going as it pleased.
Had that scenario truly played out, he would not have hesitated to blast them from the shadows with the Blazing Sun Art he had been channeling, which would have severely injured at least one of them.
Now that Li Yixian had extended an olive branch, he had no objection to drawing their ties closer.
Once Li Yixian was gone, Luo Chen finally had a moment to survey the battlefield.
In truth, there was little left to watch.
The moment Huo Hu crashed to the ground and Luo Chen returned, the battle had already become a one-sided rout.
The Great River Gang cultivators had done everything they could to shake off their pursuers and flee madly into the surrounding wilderness.
Those lacking the skill had been encircled and cut down one by one under Sima Huiniang's lead.
At this moment, below the Gaoling Plain, corpses littered the ground and blood flowed like rivers.
Releasing his spiritual sense, Luo Chen took in the entire battlefield.
A fistful of multicolored little beads then appeared in his hand.
Spent jade marrow beads!
With a cold snort, he flung them outward in all directions.
With the outcome decided, the cultivators of the Luotian Association were busy under Murong Qinglian's direction, scouring the field for spoils, tallying casualties, and tending to the remains of their fallen brethren.
Just as a seventh-layer Qi Refinement cultivator bent down to pry a magic tool from a corpse's tight grip—
*Pfft!*
A soft pop echoed.
A spray of blood blossomed from the corpse's forehead.
The corpse's eyes snapped open in sheer shock before glazing over in unresigned death.
The Luotian Association cultivator jumped in fright, quickly leaping backward.
Luo Chen's cool voice drifted into his ears.
"Watch out for those playing dead. Do not drop your guard."
Before his voice had even faded, muffled pops sounded one after another in all directions.
Under the sweep of his spiritual sense, the many Great River Gang cultivators attempting to feign death had nowhere left to hide.
With his warning, the subordinates cleaning up the battlefield grew far more cautious.
Before collecting any spoils, they made sure to poke the enemy's head with a magic tool first.
Suddenly, a figure bolted up from the ground, transforming into a streak of light as he sprinted away.
Luo Chen raised an eyebrow. "There are capable ones even among the low-tier cultivators, managing to slip past my spiritual sense."
He flicked his finger.
A spark of fire shot out like a shooting star.
The fleeing figure darted left and right in midair, desperately shifting stances to evade it.
And yet…
*Pfft!*
Luo Chen reached out, and a dusty grey storage bag flew from afar straight into his hand.
Paying no heed to the reverent, admiring gazes of the Luotian Association cultivators, Luo Chen drifted down to the ground.
"What is the situation?"
Sima Huiniang said excitedly, "A total victory! Several hundred enemies slain, and countless spoils recovered!"
After this battle, the Luotian Association's foundation was thoroughly consolidated.
The remnants of the Fu family, the Duan family, and several hundred Great River Gang cultivators were enough to arm the Luotian Association to the teeth.
They had even recovered over a dozen fully intact defensive magic tools.
Seeing her excitement, Luo Chen shook his head.
"What are our casualties?"
Sima Huiniang froze. Meeting Luo Chen's profound, dark gaze, an involuntary shiver ran through her.
She hurriedly said, "Hall Master Murong is still tallying them; there are simply too many wounded. The confirmed dead have already reached one hundred and fifty-seven, and that number is still climbing. Granny Yuan is leading the female cultivators from the Medicine Hall and the Gold Hall to treat our companions as best they can, striving to keep the deaths from severe injuries as low as possible."
"What is the breakdown of the fallen by realm?"
"Most were in the early and middle stages, though the late stage suffered heavy casualties as well. Even three ninth-layer Qi Refinement grand experts have fallen."
*Three!*
Luo Chen frowned, staring at her.
"Which three?"
"Xiang Yan, Peng Yuanyu…"
Luo Chen knew these two. They were rogue cultivators from Dahe Market who, along with Bian Zhen, had joined the Luotian Association during his three-year secluded retreat.
In truth, they had formerly been the second and third masters of Panshan Fort.
However, because their leader, Fang Chengshan, had tried to stand out during the battle of Mount Xiaohuan and was beheaded by Luo Chen in a single strike, Panshan Fort had collapsed.
After agonizing for a few years, the two of them had ultimately chosen to join the Luotian Association.
In terms of strength, they were capable hands.
He hadn't expected them to die here…
"Zeng Wen."
"Hm?"
"Zeng Wen as well."
"Who did you say?" Luo Chen's calm facade broke.
How could Zeng Wen be dead?
Even if every other Qi Refinement cultivator in the Luotian Association perished, it shouldn't have been his turn.
Luo Chen knew that chubby fellow Daoist—the very first person to buy Myriad Wonders Pills from him—better than anyone.
He was exceptionally capable and full of resourceful tricks.
Back when Luo Chen's cultivation was still meager, he had consulted Zeng Wen extensively on Earth-attribute spells.
Moreover, Zeng Wen was prudent to a fault.
To put it bluntly, he was terrified of dying.
Whenever things looked south, he was always the first to slip away.
Even when the Mountain Breaker Gang was wiped out and Wang Yuan was gravely wounded, Zeng Wen had emerged without a single scratch.
How could someone like him die in a chaotic melee like this?
He should have outlived everyone!
Under Luo Chen's incredulous gaze, Sima Huiniang swallowed hard and said with profound sorrow, "Fellow Daoist Zeng suffered multiple wounds trying to protect his wife and child. After Hall Master Gu broke out of the Gaoling Plain, he could no longer hold on, collapsing…"
"Take me to him!"
"Never mind, attend to your duties."
With a flick of his wide sleeve, Luo Chen strode toward the rear.
Sima Huiniang bit her lower lip, watching his retreating back with a complex mix of emotions in her eyes.
No one could tell what she was thinking.
With a soft sigh, Sima Huiniang threw herself back into the hectic post-battle duties.
…
"The Association Leader is here!"
"It's the Association Leader!"
"Association Leader is mighty, invincible among his peers!"
"Greetings, Association Leader!"
Luo Chen walked silently through the crowd, letting the flattery and praise drift past him like fleeting smoke.
Soon, he arrived at the encampment where the wounded were gathered.
To the left lay an area covered in white cloths.
Faint, incessant sobs echoed softly in the air.
His gaze flickering, Luo Chen stepped into the crowd.
At first glance, he saw a tiny toddler.
The boy lay sprawled beside a mangled, chubby corpse.
"Daddy…"
"Daddy…"
"Xiaolong, your daddy is just sleeping."
The toddler looked up at his mother in confusion, then wobbled as he lay back down beside the corpse, muttering with a childish grin.
"I want to… sleep too…"
"Mm, go to sleep."
Watching this scene, Luo Chen drew a deep breath.
He stepped forward slowly.
Grief-stricken, mourning eyes turned toward him in unison.
Luo Chen bent down and gently gathered little Zeng Yilong into his broad embrace.
Without resisting or throwing a fuss, the boy drifted off into a quiet sleep.
Lowering his head, Luo Chen looked at the corpse, whose features were almost unrecognizable. He parted his lips, hesitating.
In the end, he asked softly, "Did Fellow Daoist Zeng leave any final words?"
In that moment, he naturally uttered the phrase "Fellow Daoist Zeng," just as he had when they first met.
There was no distinction between high and low realms, no hierarchy of status.
There was only a farewell between friends.
Slumped on the ground, Xiugu wiped away her tears and choked out, "There were no last words. He only managed to say one thing… 'Live on.'"
"'Live on'…"
Luo Chen pressed his lips together, a bitter smile rising in his heart.
*That's truly you, Fellow Daoist Zeng. Even at death's door, you made sure to pass down the family motto.*
Holding Zeng Yilong, he gently patted the child's back.
His lips parted slightly.
In a voice soft yet resolute as iron, he said,
"His son will live on!"
Chapter 216