“Swish!”
A Glazed Ice Blade spun out from Lian Yunzhi’s fingertip, slicing through the air straight toward Mu Qinglin’s wrist!
Mu Qinglin released his grip at the fastest speed to dodge, but the ice blade still severed half his palm.
Mu Qinglin clutched his severed palm and let out a miserable scream.
Mu Cheng silently and steadily continued walking to Lian Yunzhi’s side.
Mu Qinglin clutched his severed palm and groveled on the ground. Hatred filled his heart to the extreme. Rage and loathing made him forget his fear. He glared deathly at Lian Yunzhi and spat hatefully, “No wonder… No wonder you always looked at me unfavorably last time, no wonder you snatched all the treasure-blue clothes. It turns out it’s because you secretly harbored this wild bastard!”
Mu Cheng’s expression shifted slightly.
“Secretly harbored?” Lian Yunzhi slowly walked up to Mu Qinglin, looking down at his wretched state from above, and sneered, “Something your Mu Family threw away—I picked it up to make use of this trash. How is that secretly harboring?”
Mu Qinglin was stunned.
He never imagined that Lian Yunzhi, who seemed to protect Mu Cheng so extremely that no one was even allowed to touch him, could so nonchalantly say such insulting words.
He instinctively looked toward Mu Cheng, only to see this former Heaven’s Proud Son—who once wouldn’t even deign to glance at him—standing silently with hands at his sides by Lian Yunzhi, his face showing no change whatsoever, as if he had long grown accustomed to such insults.
Mu Qinglin felt an indescribable stifling rage and hatred surge straight to his heart, making him wish he could cut Lian Yunzhi into a thousand pieces!
Only after the two figures vanished from sight did Mu Qinglin take out a Voice Transmission Jade Token and pour spiritual power into it: “Grandfather…”
Mu Qinglin recounted the encounter with Mu Cheng in full detail to the Mu Family Head. After hearing it, the Mu Family Head pondered for a moment before asking an out-of-the-blue question:
“How were Mu Cheng’s eyes?”
“Eyes? What about his eyes? He only looked at me once… I didn’t notice his eyes.”
“What about his cultivation?”
“His cultivation… His cultivation was naturally crippled long ago. Now he looks like nothing more than a mortal without any spiritual power…”
The Mu Family Head’s tone suddenly turned impatient: “Don’t contact me for such trivial matters in the future. Lian Yunzhi is already at Half-step Golden Core. Instead of picking fights with him, you should focus on improving your own cultivation!”
Mu Qinglin’s nails dug harshly into his flesh.
Just as the Mu Family Head was about to end the transmission, he hurriedly spoke up again: “Grandfather! Even if Mu Cheng has fallen to mortality, he shouldn’t look so healthy. He was injured so badly back then! It’s only been a few short days, yet there’s no sign of injury left on him! Could it be… Could there be some other treasure on him?!”
.
Lian Yunzhi had just led Mu Cheng out of Luo Ping Trading City and removed their masks to shed the disguises when a group of people Imperial Sword Flew and surrounded them.
Lian Yunzhi counted: four in total—three at Foundation Establishment and one Golden Core cultivator.
They were the Mu Family’s black guards and a Golden Core Puppet.
Lian Yunzhi stopped in his tracks, and Mu Cheng’s figure beside him tensed up as well.
“Young Master Lian,” the black guard leader said in a mild tone, though his body took a forceful step forward, “The one beside you took something from the Mu Mansion. We need to take him back for a search. Please make way.”
Lian Yunzhi: “Oh? What thing.”
Black guard leader: “A supreme treasure of the Mu Mansion—not for outsiders’ ears.”
No sooner had the black guard leader spoken than the other three black guards approached with ropes and iron shackles in hand, ready to bind Mu Cheng and take him away.
“Clang—”
The pristine-white Moon Gazing Sword pressed against the neck of the black guard about to touch Mu Cheng. Lian Yunzhi said coldly, “Let’s see who dares to touch my person!”
Black guard leader: “Young Master Lian misunderstands. We only wish to take him back for questioning. If he hasn’t taken anything from the Mu Mansion, we’ll naturally return him to you.”
Lian Yunzhi sneered: “Questioning? How will you question him? With torture or by flaying him alive? Or by shattering his bones and throwing him out again?! I don’t have a second Immortal Pill to give him!”
Black guards: “Immortal Pill…?”
Lian Yunzhi gnashed his teeth: “That’s right, an Immortal Pill! The Immortal Pill I went to great lengths to obtain was wasted on this cripple… Do you know how hard it was for me to get that Immortal Pill? Do you know how valuable his life is?! I saved him with an Immortal Pill! Every inch of his skin and every bone belongs to me! Try touching him and see what happens?!”
By the end, Lian Yunzhi was truly furious.
The black guards exchanged glances, hesitation and intent to retreat flickering in their eyes.
But at that moment, a sudden change occurred.
The mindless Golden Core Puppet didn’t understand the shift in situation. It only knew it had waited a long time, and its “companions” still hadn’t completed the master’s command.
“Take him back… Take him back!”
The puppet tilted its head, then step by step approached Mu Cheng.
The Golden Core pressure poured down on Lian Yunzhi, pressing him until he could barely breathe. He even had to brace the Moon Gazing Sword against the ground just to stand, his knees weakening as if they’d buckle the next second!
Why?!
An indescribable rage exploded in Lian Yunzhi’s heart.
Why?!
Immense unwillingness surged in Lian Yunzhi’s chest.
The former genius Mu Cheng was crippled. He, Lian Yunzhi, should have been Xiaoze State’s fastest-advancing Heaven’s Proud Son!
But why now did he have to be crushed to the verge of kneeling by a puppet, a mere tool, a former defeated foe of Mu Cheng?!
Why couldn’t he be just a bit stronger?!!!
“Boom!”
A startling thunderclap suddenly erupted from the clouds. The spiritual energy between heaven and earth swirled like a vortex into Lian Yunzhi’s body! Light layered over him, instantly forming a massive, impenetrable orb of light around him!
