Hua Che replied stiffly, "I'm talking about a person, and you're telling me about a monster?"

"No, no," the simpleton said anxiously. "The person you mentioned is the monster. I saw it with my own eyes. He suddenly turned into a monster and started eating people!"

"The Fen Qing Tower, right?" Hua Che turned to leave, but the simpleton hurriedly blocked his way. "Young Master, please, don't make it difficult for me."

Hua Che thought seriously for a moment and then said, "How about I knock you out?"

The simpleton couldn't process this, so Hua Che kindly reminded him, "It will give the Left Protector the impression that I escaped and you couldn't stop me."

The simpleton nodded blankly, and Hua Che struck him on the back of the neck.

The demonic cultivators of the Fen Qing Palace were aware that although Yin Wuhui was furious and had locked Hua Che up, he was still his biological son. Yin Wuhui was merely teaching his unruly and rebellious son a lesson and didn't intend to harm him seriously. So they turned a blind eye to Hua Che's movements, letting him wander freely.

After leaving the water dungeon, Hua Che went to the Fen Qing Palace.

There weren't many demonic cultivators guarding the large Fen Qing Palace, as most were at the front lines supporting the battle against the approaching army of immortal cultivators.

A maze was set up outside the Fen Qing Tower, but it was no obstacle for Hua Che. He entered the tower with ease and heard a woman's scream from a distance.

The interior of the Fen Qing Tower was vast and boundless, unlike its ordinary exterior. It stretched endlessly, with various illusion formations and structures that could easily cause someone to lose their way.

Following the source of the scream, Hua Che hurried along and unexpectedly collided with someone at a corridor corner.

The smell of blood made Hua Che alert, and he saw it was actually Mei Cailian!

"Hua Qingkong?" Mei Cailian was sitting on the ground, looking extremely dishevelled.

Her hair was in disarray, blood smeared on her lips, her forehead was bleeding from hitting something hard, her right eye was bruised, and her clothes were covered in mud and dust. She looked like a madwoman who had just caused a commotion at a market.

Hua Che looked around and saw no one chasing her. "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you!" Despite her wretched state, Mei Cailian maintained her haughty demeanour before Hua Che. "I came to rescue my son and accidentally entered this place. It's full of twists and turns and traps everywhere."

Hua Che asked, "Were you being chased?"

Mei Cailian's lips tightened as if recalling something terrifying. She turned pale and said, "Not by a person."

Hua Che remembered second fool’s words and shivered slightly. "A monster?"

Mei Cailian suddenly looked up. "You know?"

"Hey, hey, hey, don't just throw labels around, okay?" Hua Che raised both hands to show his innocence. "That look in your eyes makes it seem like I released that monster."

Mei Cailian stared into Hua Che's eyes, seeming to find some sincerity there, and reluctantly believed him.

Hua Che said, "Chu Binghuan isn't here. It's chaos outside, and finding someone won't be easy."

Mei Cailian didn't respond. She tried to stand by holding onto the wall but felt a sharp pain in her foot, forcing her to sit back down. She gasped in pain, cold sweat streaming down her face.

Seeing her condition, Hua Che quickly squatted down and lifted the hem of her skirt, revealing her severely bitten and bloody right ankle.

Hua Che asked with certainty, "You can't walk?"

Mei Cailian, being a healer, knew the severity of her injury. It would take at least ten days to heal enough to walk. She bit her lip to endure the pain and said quietly, "Don't worry about me. Go find Binghuan!"

Hua Che didn't move. He stared at Mei Cailian for a moment, then teased, "Aren't you afraid that monster will come back and eat you if you stay here?"

"Stop talking and go find my son!" Mei Cailian shouted in a hoarse voice, "If something happens to Tianyu, I'd rather be eaten by the monster..."

Hua Che looked at her quietly, a faint warmth in his eyes. He turned around and squatted down, saying, "Get on."

Mei Cailian was stunned. "What?"

Hua Che sighed, "Is it that hard to understand? Get on my back, and I'll carry you!"

"You..." Mei Cailian could hardly believe her ears.

Hua Che, knowing what she was thinking, didn't explain further. He simply said, "It's because you're Binghuan's mother. I'm doing this for his sake, don't overthink it."

It wasn't a lie. No matter how unreasonable and troublesome Mei Cailian was, she was Chu Binghuan's mother. If Hua Che let her die now, not only would Chu Binghuan hate him, but he would also despise his own cold-bloodedness.

Funny, wasn't it? In his previous life, he was bloodthirsty and killed countless people. How did he become so soft-hearted in this life?

Hua Che suddenly found himself quite hypocritical.

To console himself, he thought Mei Cailian did have some redeeming qualities—at least she truly loved Chu Binghuan.

With Mei Cailian on his back, Hua Che took a few steps forward, then turned back. "What are you doing?" Mei Cailian couldn't help but ask after holding back for a while.

"You're already losing a lot of blood, yet you still talk so much? Be quiet," Hua Che said. He took two steps forward, then two steps back, then walked two steps forward again before heading straight for a wall. Mei Cailian, terrified, closed her eyes and screamed, but it was just an illusion. They didn't crash headfirst into the wall.

Mei Cailian panted, incredulous. "How do you know so much about these illusion arrays?"

Hua Che smiled and pretended to be knowledgeable. "Read a book a hundred times, and its meaning will appear."

Mei Cailian didn't believe a word. As Hua Che carried her for a while, she noticed him getting a bit out of breath. Suspicious, she thought it odd that a young cultivator would be so weak after carrying a woman a short distance. She tried using her true essence to check and exclaimed, "Your golden core is sealed?"

Sweat formed on Hua Che's forehead. He took a deep breath and teased, "Madam, you need to lose some weight."

Mei Cailian blushed.

They walked for three hours straight, and Hua Che never put Mei Cailian down to avoid any surprises. Even Mei Cailian started to feel a bit soft-hearted, though she wouldn't say anything sentimental. Instead, she remarked, "Binghuan told me you aren't in good health."

Hua Che bit his finger and drew a complex pattern on the wall. "If I were healthy, I wouldn't have entered the world of cultivation."

Mei Cailian thought he was making a mark and didn't pay attention.

"I'm tired," Mei Cailian said coldly. "Let's take a break."

"You, tired from not walking?" Hua Che adjusted Mei Cailian on his back. "Stop talking and save your strength. We're almost out."

Mei Cailian cursed inwardly. She said she was tired to give Hua Che a break too. What an idiot, no wonder he didn't match up to Chu Binghuan!

Annoyed, Mei Cailian said icily, "You're obviously lost but still pretending to be strong."

She waited for Hua Che to respond, but he ignored her. Instead, he formed a seal with his fingers, his face turning pale as he coughed up blood.

Mei Cailian was shocked. "What's wrong?"

Suddenly, the strange pattern Hua Che had drawn on the wall emitted a bright light, and a powerful pressure surged forward. The surrounding scenery crumbled. Corridors collapsed, pavilions fell, and the ground shook violently!

Mei Cailian stared in disbelief at the surrounding scenery crumbling. The ninety-nine layers of illusion arrays had just been broken like that!?

Finally seeing the true appearance of the Fen Qing Tower, Mei Cailian was horrified. "How... how did you do that?"

Hua Che had suffered backlash and coughed up blood because he attempted to forcefully break through the seal on his golden core. Although he failed, he managed to "leak" a bit of true essence, barely activating the incantation.

In the centre of the tower was an iron cage, which was empty. Around the cage lay five corpses, all disciples of Fen Qing Palace.

Suddenly, a shadow loomed from above. Alarm bells rang in Hua Che's mind, and he leapt away with Mei Cailian on his back. At the same time, a massive creature crashed down where they had just stood. The ground shattered upon impact, dirt and stones flying, as a menacing demonic aura filled the air.

Hua Che exclaimed, "It..."

Mei Cailian screamed, "That monster! It attacked me!"

Hua Che gazed in shock at the creature. It looked like a tiger, yet not quite; its entire body was pitch black, radiating a dark, demonic glow. It had blood-red wings, and its fur stood on end like sharp needles. Occasionally, it brushed against the walls, leaving deep scratches.

Hua Che shouted in disbelief, "Qiongqi!?"

(NT: Qiongqi (窮奇) is a mythical creature known as a ferocious and evil beast. It is often depicted as having a tiger-like body with sharp, bristling fur and blood-red wings. It is associated with danger and malevolence.)

Mei Cailian was equally stunned, "The ancient mythical beast Qiongqi?"

Suddenly, the doors of the Fen Qing Tower were kicked open from the outside—

Zhuang Tian, holding a demon-subduing bell, hurried forward, shaking the bell frantically. His bloodshot eyes were fixed on the ferocious beast in front of him, and he called out hoarsely, "Wen Yuan!!!"

 

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The author has something to say:

Mei Cailian will have more suffering later~

 

Translator: DarNan