Xi Niu He Zhou, Huangliang City.
This once-prosperous city was increasingly crumbling under the assault of slaughter-crazed demon beasts that feared neither pain nor death.
The demon beasts were ferocious, and all news was choked off. What little information reached the city carried the same refrain—hold on, there is hope, rescue is being organized.
Which was basically as useful as a screen door on a submarine.
Lychee leaned wearily against the city wall. To her left, a section of the wall had already been reduced to a half-collapsed ruin. She gently fingered the protective Dharma treasure in her hand, feeling its spiritual energy once again nearing depletion.
The elixirs Xu Jin had given her last time—she hadn't hoarded them. She had shared them with the other critically wounded cultivators.
They too had fought to the death for this city. Lychee had no reason, nor any way, to stand by and watch them die.
So the remaining elixirs had dwindled to almost nothing.
When the life-saving elixirs had suddenly appeared, some had asked about their origin. Lychee had deflected with vague answers.
Some might have understood. Others might still have been puzzled. But Lychee's previous actions had already earned everyone's respect.
In the end, they could only generously conclude—these were two extra chances heaven had bestowed.
The demon beasts wandering this way had grown more numerous of late. She didn't know if someone had begun specifically directing them, intending to uproot this eyesore of a town.
"I get the damn feeling we're not gonna hold."
A rough male voice sounded behind Lychee. She looked up.
A burly man, covered in wounds, climbed onto the wall and gazed down at the common folk below, harvesting demon beast carcasses for food.
A faint smile appeared on Lychee's face.
"The fortune teller said my fate is hard—I won't die easily. And a great cultivator said I'd get to eat lychees. I haven't eaten them yet."
The burly man gave a dry laugh at that, gripping the wall. After a long silence, he finally spoke.
"Lychee, I'm no good with words. I only speak what's in my heart."
"Strictly speaking, you've already died once. You've given everything to Huangliang City."
"You have a protective Dharma treasure—you could leave this place and seek a path to survival."
"Your talent is exceptional. The people of Huangliang City shouldn't all die here."
Lychee shook her head slightly. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life unable to sleep, regretting that I walked away."
The burly man turned to look at her, his expression conflicted. He opened his mouth to speak but ultimately said nothing, offering only a somber nod.
What Lychee said had struck right at his own heart.
He too was unwilling. That was why he wouldn't leave.
The two of them waited on the wall for a moment before both suddenly sensed something.
Lychee shot to her feet, her gaze fixed on the distance.
Beyond the flat expanse surrounding Huangliang City, a cloud of dust was rising, stretching for miles.
The burly man looked somewhat dumbfounded.
"How many demon beasts must that be?"
After defending Huangliang City for so long, he had never faced an assault of this magnitude.
Let alone now—even at the beginning, when the city was at full strength, they might not have withstand it.
Lychee pressed her lips together and spoke coldly, "Tell everyone to prepare."
The burly man didn't leave immediately. Instead, he turned to Lychee.
"This time, we really might not hold. No one would blame you for leaving!"
Lychee said nothing, only gripping the protective Dharma treasure tighter.
"I'll hold the first wave."
The burly man tried to persuade her again.
But behind them, an incredibly terrifying Dao resonance descended from the sky.
The two turned to look once more.
A streak of rainbow light was flying toward them at tremendous speed.
At the same time, a brilliant blue radiance shot forth even faster, heading straight for the rising cloud of dust.
Their eyes followed that blue light. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, it arrived.
The next moment.
Terrifying spiritual energy erupted. A pillar of blue light pierced the heavens.
The wind from the spiritual shockwave remained immensely powerful even from a great distance.
Lychee and the burly man stared dumbfounded at the distant pillar of light, their clothes flapping violently in the turbulent gale.
The light pillar dissipated, and the dust settled.
Dozens of miles away, a sword scar had struck the earth, as if cleaving open the ground, leaving an enormously wide gash in its wake.
Lychee hadn't yet recovered her wits. She hadn't even realized she had survived this wave of the demon beast tide.
Only shock and disbelief remained.
"Am I... dreaming?" Lychee murmured softly.
"I don't think so."
The rainbow light descended, and Chu Xingchen stood behind them both, answering Lychee's self-murmured question.
Hearing the familiar voice, Lychee quickly turned around, surprise and joy welling in her eyes.
"Senior Chu!"
Chu Xingchen chuckled and nodded. "Long time no see. From the looks of it, you've been through a lot lately, haven't you?"
Lychee wanted to throw her arms around Chu Xingchen but then realized the gesture might be too rash. The ways of Xi Niu He Zhou might not suit the restraint of Central Plains folk. She awkwardly lowered her arms.
Chu Xingchen noticed and gently patted Lychee's shoulder. "You've all worked hard."
"It's our own home—we should protect it ourselves. How could that be called hard work?"
A smile bloomed on Lychee's face, just like when she had been a guide back then.
"If you hadn't come this time, I'm afraid we wouldn't have made it through."
Chu Xingchen nodded slightly. "Looks like I arrived just in time."
Lychee's heart swelled with gratitude. Whether it was the protective Dharma treasure that had guarded her and Huangliang City, or Chu Xingchen arriving perfectly at this moment of crisis...
She couldn't express her gratitude in words.
But then Lychee remembered something. She deliberately looked Chu Xingchen up and down and laughed.
"I knew you were tricking me before. How are you a Nascent Soul cultivator? What Nascent Soul cultivator could unleash a sword strike like that?"
Chu Xingchen raised an eyebrow. "We haven't seen each other in so long—can't a fellow make some progress? I'm already a Divine Transformation cultivator now."
Hearing this, Lychee's gaze grew doubtful. "This power of yours... is Divine Transformation?"
"Have you ever seen a Divine Transformation cultivator?"
"No..."
"Then that's that. Divine Transformation cultivators in Central Plains are all like this. You'll understand when you visit Central Plains."
Lychee still felt something was off, but having never seen a Divine Transformation cultivator, she couldn't argue. She could only smile. Then, remembering something, she spoke.
"You're here to find Senior Xu this time, right? He should have gone to Pusa Man."
"It's been a while since he left. If you're in a hurry to find him, you don't need to linger here."
"The important matter you need to handle comes first."
"We people of Xi Niu He Zhou can still take care of ourselves. You needn't worry about us."
Hearing this, Chu Xingchen smiled. "This time, you—the people of Xi Niu He Zhou—are the important matter I need to handle."
Lychee froze at the words.
Chu Xingchen said nothing, only gestured for Lychee to look behind him, in the direction he had come from.
Lychee looked. After a moment, she saw what Chu Xingchen wanted her to see.
Cultivator rainbow lights, blotting out the sky, were flying toward them.
She couldn't count how many cultivators. She couldn't count how many people.
Far more than the vast beast tide.
Today, they had come for the people of Xi Niu He Zhou.
Chu Xingchen looked at the sky-covering rainbow lights and spoke.
"We are all people. There is no difference between Central Plains and Xi Niu He Zhou."
"Since we are all people, we naturally must join hands against our common enemy."
"In this world, there are those who do nothing—but there will always be those who act."
"Don't lose heart. Now it's our turn."
Lychee nodded fiercely, tears glistening in her wide eyes, her smile radiant.
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