Volume One, Chapter 45: The Sibling Rift

Jiang Rui could be certain that Li Qinghong was deliberately making things difficult for her.

The maidservant not only brought over the orchid painting by Qi Xuan from the elegant gathering, but also fetched the painting of the orchid and the beauty created by Jiang Rui.

Placed side by side, the disparity between the two orchid paintings was instantly apparent.

Li Qinghong was using Jiang Rui's painting to slap Li Qingxue across the face.

With the Zhu family taking the lead, the other households also began to take action. The Lin, Han, and Meng families successively presented congratulatory gifts. Naturally, they were not as lavish as the Zhu family's, yet they were far from meager. Once these four families had finished presenting theirs, the other prominent clans in Fengyang City likewise sent in their own generous gifts one after another.

"My emotions cannot fluctuate too drastically, but this is truly, extremely cruel," said Moluo.

Such a breathtaking beauty, yet unfortunately born among the mortal race, and unfortunately unyielding, destined to spend her fate passing through the pitch-black, bottomless abyss of the Black Water Heavenly Prison.

Martial arts and Daoist magic shared a wondrously similar subtlety. At the very pinnacle, martial arts had ultimately blossomed into magnificent and brilliant flowers. The Martial Ancestor founded the golden age of martial arts, and the spirit of martial combat swept across the entire continent.

The more critical the moment, the calmer Feng Duwu remained. Taking advantage of the fact that Shui Jingyue had not yet noticed and was still in a panic, she tossed everyone out of the spatial dimension in one go and swiftly sealed the space, preventing anyone from entering. The nine blood-red divine lightning strikes of the Primordial God were something the space could not withstand; she could not allow them to endure it alongside her.

Even the Poison King Yang Yi, who usually never stepped outside his door, was deeply captivated by this figure at this moment, his eyes filled with greed.

"So that's how it is," Deng Xiaojie said, listening to the situation Qing Shan had just described, as if he had understood something. The place they were currently in was called Ottux, and it was a relatively peaceful zone—though that was only relative to other places, of course.

No sooner had he withdrawn his magical power than he suddenly saw the waves part violently. A creature broke fiercely through the surface, leaping out of the water with half its body in the air and the other half still beneath the sea. Jian Dao stared closely: its golden scales flashed brilliantly, with the head of a camel and the antlers of a stag—it was unmistakably a five-clawed golden dragon. He could not help but feel profoundly astonished.

Life slowly bore fruit across that barren desert. That kind of fruit revealed a restless and stirring joy. Beneath this joy, the ten-thousand-li-wide, utterly empty expanse of death was encroached upon and eroded by life.

The bones in Shui Jingyue's hands were already popping as he clenched them so tightly. Feng Duwu had mentioned Pei Hao to him before, but he had completely dismissed it, paying it no mind. He had never expected that such an incident would now set a fatal trap for Feng Duwu.

Otherwise, she might as well just kiss him and get it over with. After all, there were still benefits to be gained—such as Zhan Yu being able to advance in cultivation, not to mention that she herself could purge the Yin energy from the energy stones, and the like.

Leng Mushan recalled how, just moments earlier when Xia Tian emerged, his complexion had been even paler than during the previous few times, seemingly growing more ghostly pale with each appearance.

Yang Chen nodded. He could understand Granny Meng's state of mind; after all, these people had walked this path together for such a long time, had been through a multitude of events, and understood each other deeply.

However, An Jinzang did not truly mind: "Destroying a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of one's own is also a helpless course of action." His words referred as much to himself as they did to Shangguan Wan'er.

In the blink of an eye, a sense of crisis surged into his heart. Jian Rujiao instinctively reached out in a hurry to draw the longsword at his waist, only to grasp empty air.

In this world, there were skies beyond skies and people beyond people. Perhaps within the imperial family of the Dan Kingdom, there truly were some exceptional figures whom he had not yet laid eyes on.

Furthermore, the members of the Shura Hall were different from those of the Dragon Tooth Special Forces. The people of the Shura Hall had begun practicing their arts much earlier; each of them possessed considerable cultivation, and through frequent combat, they had accumulated rich battle experience. They were definitely not opponents that the scions of those noble families within Ancheng could handle.

Meng Jiao'e pondered the matter, figuring the chores at the shop were not strenuous, and since Meng Jiao'xing was there helping Lady Shen, it wouldn't matter if she didn't return for a short while. Thus, she agreed.