Chapter 24: The Duan Clan of Dali

Seeing that Yun Shiyi was on the verge of being torn apart, An Miaotong raised her hand and fired a shot at the giantess’s eye. Simultaneously, her figure moved like lightning, transforming into a ghost as she lunged toward the giantess.

The giantess was not particularly agile, so she naturally could not dodge the bullet An Miaotong fired, but she did not need to. She raised her palm, which was as wide as a cattail fan, to block her face. The bullet struck the back of her hand and was easily deflected, just like a steel marble hitting the ground.

In the next instant, the water-splitting dagger in An Miaotong’s hand moved at a high speed invisible to the naked eye, acting like a sharp scalpel to precisely sever the fragile blood vessels on the giantess’s wrist. An Miaotong’s strike was calculated; she had specifically targeted a sensitive pain nerve. In agony, the giantess accidentally dropped Yun Shiyi.

Given An Miaotong’s pride, she would never allow someone she brought with her to die so miserably. Blood gushed from the giantess's hand; although the wound An Miaotong left was shallow, it bled surprisingly profusely. However, a beast, once injured, does not lose its courage; instead, its most primitive ferocity is ignited. The giantess let out a sharp roar and swept her massive hand outward, scattering An Miaotong like autumn leaves in a gale, sending her flying dozens of meters away.

Watching An Miaotong’s body tumble through the air like a feather, Chen Yuchong knew that while this strike appeared to have severely wounded her, the reason she flew so far was that this formidable woman was using the momentum to neutralize the giantess’s monstrous strength.

Chen Yuchong knew that his marksmanship could hardly hit a target moving at high speed in such a chaotic melee, not to mention that An Miaotong’s trajectory was inherently unpredictable and illusory. (No matter how she disperses the force, being hit head-on by Giskaby’s full-strength blow will leave her incapacitated for a long time. Next, I only need to deal with these two Yun family servants, and the hunt will be concluded.)

"Miss An, I have come to assist you!"

A rough, booming voice suddenly rang out—it was the Earth Chief, Huo Kuangyan. Because the Great Desolate City was filled with traps, Huo Kuangyan had been separated from Yun Zheng and the others after a moment of carelessness and had been teleported here. He had originally been the last of the Five Earth Chiefs to remain loyal to Chen Yuchong, but after Chen Yuchong was defeated and left in shambles, he harbored no goodwill toward him. At this moment, Huo Kuangyan’s only thought was how to kill Chen Yuchong and redeem his past mistakes.

His waist saber left its scabbard with a sharp hiss. The blade suddenly glowed with a faint, charcoal-red hue, and the surrounding air grew scorching hot.

"Old Thief Chen, taste my Flame Blade!"

The Flame Blade was a martial art passed down through the Huo family, moving with the sudden, fierce power of a volcanic eruption. Taking advantage of the brief stagnation after the giantess Giskaby’s sweeping blow, Huo Kuangyan shouted and lunged at her, his saber slashing out with the ferocity of a low-profile ground strike.

Giskaby let out a pained groan and tried to kick Huo Kuangyan away, but he had already retreated like a phantom, leaving two or three blade wounds on her calf. The wounds did not bleed; instead, they appeared scorched, leaving patches of charred black.

The giantess hoisted Chen Yuchong onto her shoulder and roared in fury, pounding her chest with fists the size of mortars. Huo Kuangyan looked smug, planning his next assault on the giantess. After that, he would assist An Miaotong in taking the head of his former master, Chen Yuchong, to complete his pledge of defection.

However, An Miaotong suddenly sensed something was wrong and called out to warn the Earth Chief: "Chief Huo, watch out for hidden arrows."

It was already too late.

***

The giantess Giskaby’s movements suddenly became extremely rapid. It did not last long, but it was enough.

A massive warbow, resembling a ballista, was unslung from Giskaby’s back. She took an arrow over a meter long from the quiver at her waist, drew the bow, and fired. The arrow, as thick as a child’s arm, streaked through the air like a white rainbow piercing the sun, aimed straight at Huo Kuangyan’s chest.

Huo Kuangyan was still basking in his triumph, completely off guard. By the time the lethal arrow neared him, it was impossible to dodge. With a sharp "thwack," the massive arrow punched directly through Huo Kuangyan’s chest and emerged from his back, splattering his internal organs across the ground.

Chen Yuchong couldn't help but give Giskaby an approving look, which made the giantess beam with delight. An Miaotong remained expressionless; she had fulfilled her duty to warn him. If Huo Kuangyan was killed by his own overconfidence, it had nothing to do with her. She had once heard Yun Zheng say that the female warriors in the Amazon jungles of South America often fought with blowpipes. But under Chen Yuchong’s training, this giantess Giskaby was clearly capable of using a bow, and her marksmanship was quite precise.

Seeing Giskaby shoot down another traitor, Huo Kuangyan, Chen Yuchong sneered several times. However, he still had to deal with An Miaotong, who was far more troublesome than Huo Kuangyan.

The servant Yun Shisan raised his guandao high and brought it down with full force onto the giantess’s chest, yet it only caused the green granite-like muscles on her body to sink slightly, failing to inflict any real damage. Yun Shisan felt as if he had struck a massive boulder, his arm tingling from the impact.

The next moment, Yun Shisan saw a massive palm growing larger in his vision, until it blotted out the sky. With a dull, earth-shaking thud, and amidst Yun Shiyi’s pained cries, Yun Shisan was crushed into a pile of minced meat by the giantess from head to toe. Even the heavy guandao was snapped and deformed by the blow, breaking into two pieces that flew in different directions.

"Do you see? This is the power I, Chen, possess!" Chen Yuchong yelled in a state of high excitement: "My vision, my talent, my patience, my ambition, my physical strength, and my resolve are all far superior to those incompetent chieftains!"

"Those chieftains rely solely on their hereditary bloodlines! But I, not only do I far exceed them in ability, but I also possess relentless persistence and a spirit of exploration. I deserve a wider stage of power to display my ambitions and wisdom!"

Driven by intense narcissism, Chen Yuchong became increasingly inflated, shouting loudly: "This time, I will not only kill everyone who dares to betray me, but I will also have Yun Zheng and Ye Xi’s heads."

Looking at the hyper-excited Chen Yuchong, a look of empathy and shared emotion appeared on the giantess’s face.

"Those three chieftains of Wumeng, Wusa, and Yongshun—I will not spare them either! It would be best if the whole world fell into chaos; the more chaotic it is, the more opportunities I have!"

At this moment, Chen Yuchong felt his true self, buried for years by his long-standing patience, finally breaking through the soil, as if after all these years, he had finally merged with the hot-blooded self who had once headed to the Netherlands. From this point on, his life would no longer be fractured.

The smile on Chen Yuchong’s face stopped abruptly. A figure enveloped in an almost tangible aura of murderous intent slowly stepped into his sight. The aura was so dense that the person’s features were somewhat blurred. Her approach seemed extremely slow, yet in a mere instant, she covered the distance of dozens of meters and arrived before Chen Yuchong and his companions.

Immediately following this, every color and sound in the world seemed to be stripped away, leaving only two extremely sharp, icy gleams of light cutting through the void. They were brilliant and dazzling, yet cold and ruthless, like the brightest meteor in the night sky, or a chilling light suddenly blooming from the abyss, shrouding everything around in their peerless, unstoppable edge.

Chen Yuchong clearly saw the icy light of the Emei piercers in An Miaotong’s hands suddenly extend, becoming comparable to long spears. They were mere illusions, yet they possessed the power of reality.

"Shadow Slash..." Chen Yuchong murmured. He knew this was an extremely rare and overwhelmingly powerful assassination secret technique.

"Who exactly are you?"

Giskaby’s massive right arm struck out with her elbow, shattering one of the beams of light, but because she had been fighting An Miaotong, who used short weapons, she had not been sufficiently wary of the Shadow Slash. Even as the edge of a phantom, when facing an opponent without armor, it could still split skin and pierce bone. The giantess’s skin and muscles were harder than an average person’s, but she was still, in the end, flesh and blood.

Clutching her throat as blood gushed out, Giskaby knelt to the ground in despair, her bulging eyes still filled with attachment to Chen Yuchong. Before she died, seeing the pain and affirmation in Chen Yuchong’s eyes, the giantess felt that her entire life had found meaning. Although her body was far larger than Chen Yuchong’s, he was like a father to her; she often dreamed of herself resting in his arms.

Her expression relaxed. At this moment, her massive face no longer appeared ugly; her emerald body looked like an ancient mulberry tree beginning to wither.

Another cold light flashed, and Cao Ruobing, who had thrown herself in front of Chen Yuchong, had her head sent flying high into the air. Chen Yuchong’s face turned ashen. The deaths of Giskaby and Cao Ruobing meant that Chen Yuchong’s own life was about to enter the underworld, and it also symbolized that he had lost his final grasp on power.

To Chen Yuchong, what fate could be more tragic than "being unable to take power into the grave"? Just as Chen Yuchong closed his eyes to await death, a sudden surge of spatial magic struck, enveloping him. In the next moment, Chen Yuchong vanished from the spot.

Yun Shiyi, who had survived the ordeal, looked at the now somewhat unfamiliar An Miaotong with awe. Although her temperament was vastly different, he was certain that this was a face he would recognize even if it were reduced to ashes. In his shock, Yun Shiyi even forgot to focus on an important question: Where did Chen Yuchong go?

Where did Chen Yuchong go? Chen Yuchong himself was very curious about this as well. Because he had arrived in a place not recorded on any map.

The sun shone brightly in the sky, a sharp contrast to the deep chill of the underground city. At this moment, Chen Yuchong was standing in a wide square. In the center of the square stood a Nine-Dragon Wall carved from white jade; nine lifelike dragons danced in the clouds and mist, each in a different form, shimmering with a gentle luster in the sunlight.

Chen Yuchong limped around the Nine-Dragon Wall and saw a corridor paved with bluestone winding forward. On both sides were planted exotic Buddhist lilyturf and the lush, sacred "worry-free" trees that stayed green through all four seasons, the air filled with a faint fragrance of flowers and the freshness of leaves, making one feel refreshed and relaxed.

On both sides of the corridor, various pavilions and towers were distributed, ranging from grand halls for hosting guests to exquisite huts for nobles to rest and admire the scenery, every part designed with unparalleled ingenuity. Chen Yuchong was well-traveled, and the word "Imperial Palace" immediately surfaced in his mind.

At this moment, a clear, elegant voice, like that of a noble young man, rang out in his mind:

"I felt an indomitable courage in you, which is why I chose you—and this is not merely because the noble blood of the Dali Duan clan flows through your veins."