Almost all multi-team surges have one thing in common: the Jiangshui will push from behind, setting the stage for conflict and fierce competition among the Zuojiangzhe.

Once on the river, with a hundred boats vying for position, you must contend, you must seize.

However, this contention and seizing also come in different grades.

Since the young man arrived in Luoyang, he has faced many conflicts, killed many people, and recovered many lost items.

This is a “small contention.”

Typical multi-team surges generally follow this pattern: pushing out competitors to claim the largest share of the prize.

But in this particular surge, it seems somewhat unfitting for the stature of a Longwang Menting as a trial ground.

Li Zhuiyuan habitually views each surge as an exam paper, and the Jiangshui as the examiner.

Therefore, after the commotion at the Yu Family Ancestral Temple erupted, Li Zhuiyuan not only speculated that the spirits of the past Yu family Dragon Kings were still present, but he also further deduced the true intention of this surge.

It was assessing who possessed the true demeanor of a Dragon King.

And this, this was the “great contention”!

If one understands the Jiangshui deeply enough, they will find that it excels at assigning a functional label to every layer of existence within each surge.

This phenomenon becomes more pronounced in larger multi-team surges.

Li Zhuiyuan suspected that the spirits of the past Yu family Dragon Kings would “passively” serve as co-examiners in this surge.

The young man didn’t know how many Zuojiangzhe had already died in this surge, but according to convention, a group of survivors, excellent in both character and strength, would eventually gather.

Then, at the end of this surge, its most challenging point, at least half of them would quickly die again!

Heaven always leaves a way out.

Who would gain more advantages to survive at that time would depend on the “co-examiners'” impression scores.

Those who were meant to die died, and those who survived gained more than just life; they gained a step forward.

This is the so-called “stepping on the corpses of competitors to reach a higher place.”

Therefore, what Li Zhuiyuan was doing now was accumulating points.

And he wasn’t just doing it for himself; he was also doing it with Chen Xiyuan.

Chen Xiyuan couldn’t understand why the spirits of the Yu family Dragon Kings still existed after the Yu family suffered such a calamity.

Li Zhuiyuan understood.

The inheritors of other Dragon King Menting lived in a honeypot, smelling a bit of sweetness and thinking it was everything.

But when Li Zhuiyuan entered, he saw the shattered ancestral tablets in Ah Li’s dream, a Dragon King Menting that possessed two great Dragon King inheritances but had no spirits present.

For the greater good, the Dragon King spirits of the Qin and Liu families could all be sacrificed, leaving not even one to protect their descendants.

From Ah Li’s perspective, this was undoubtedly cruel, but from the perspective of the past Qin and Liu family Dragon Kings, it was the choice they had to make.

Why were the Yu family Dragon King spirits still there?

Li Zhuiyuan thought it was likely because the evil spirits suppressed by the past Yu family Dragon Kings in their ancestral home… were still there.

Even if that old dog was capable and made many promises, it wasn’t qualified to keep so many once extremely fierce evil spirits in the Yu family ancestral home patient until now.

The reason why the spirits of the past Yu family Dragon Kings stood by and watched their descendants be slaughtered and enslaved was that they had to suppress these evil spirits. Once these evil spirits were allowed to escape from the Yu family ancestral home, the Central Plains, being a densely populated area, would inevitably trigger a catastrophic disaster.

One family crying is better than thousands of families crying.

From a personal perspective, it’s hard to understand, yet one cannot help but feel deep admiration.

Therefore, Li Zhuiyuan even felt that his current actions were somewhat out of place.

The Jiangshui wanted to filter out those who truly possessed the stature of a Dragon King and push them further up; the spirits of the past Yu family Dragon Kings wanted to see juniors with righteous spirit, daring to shoulder the moral responsibility.

Instead, what they saw was him, a person with emotions so faint as to be almost nonexistent, “performing” here.

But he had no choice; he couldn’t deliberately get the answer wrong after “glancing” at the correct one, could he?

Li Zhuiyuan felt a warmth beneath his nose; his nose was bleeding.

The young man raised his hand, signaling a pause.

Tan Wenbin had just taken out tissues and water when Chen Xiyuan snatched them away. She knelt in front of the young man, carefully and gently helping him stop the bleeding.

When she noticed Li Zhuiyuan staring intently at her, she said:

“Little brother, lift your head, don’t keep it down.”

This kind of nosebleed, caused by overexertion, was already difficult to stop.

After figuring out Li Zhuiyuan’s purpose, she no longer urged him to rest and slow down.

Li Zhuiyuan: “I feel a bit stuffy in my chest, don’t block my air.”

Chen Xiyuan paused, then understood, moving her body to crouch beside the young man. The young man also tilted his head back, letting Chen Xiyuan help him stop the bleeding.

The woman glanced at the direction the young man was facing, which was the center of the Yu family ancestral home, where the ancestral temple was located.

So, the little brother had consciously set his sitting posture and direction from the very beginning when helping these Yu family members.

Li Zhuiyuan felt Chen Xiyuan’s hand trembling slightly.

This caused his nosebleed to fail to stop after several attempts, instead covering the lower half of his face with blood and staining his clothes.

There was no need to make it so dramatic; the performance should be subtle, overdoing it would be inferior.

Li Zhuiyuan shifted his gaze to Chen Xiyuan.

The young man realized he was wrong; she wasn’t trying to add to his “act,” she was genuinely scared.

Scared of whom?

Scared of me?

Li Zhuiyuan simply closed his eyes.

Tan Wenbin walked over: “Miss Chen, let me do it. I have experience.”

“Oh, alright.”

Chen Xiyuan stood up and moved aside, standing at a distance. She had indeed suddenly felt scared.

She abruptly realized that the reason she found the little brother cute was because he was still young and hadn’t practiced martial arts.

If the little brother were an adult now and had practiced martial arts, would she still find him cute if he stood before her, even if it was their first meeting?

The one who ambushed and plotted against the little brother, forcing him to light the lamp and embark on the Zuojiang journey early, seemed to be…

Chen Xiyuan vigorously shook her head: What on earth am I thinking!

Runsheng held the shovel head, looking at Chen Xiyuan, whose eyes kept changing as she stood there, and then saw her shaking her head. He scratched his head; he knew why Chen Xiyuan was like this. It was:

“Post-brain-growth syndrome.”

Tan Wenbin asked while helping Li Zhuiyuan stop the bleeding: “Little Yuan Ge, the Yu family is still very dangerous. Now that we’ve saved them all, do we need to arrange for them to be safely escorted out?”

Since they were saved, they couldn’t just be left here to fend for themselves.

But this would mean specially assigning people to lead them away.

Moreover, one person might not be enough. Even if the nails were removed now and their “minds” recovered, they were completely out of the scope of normal life, raised as pigs from a young age, unable to even speak.

Li Zhuiyuan: “Let’s continue saving people first.”

He paused, then continued: “If no ‘accident’ occurs, then you and A-You will lead them along the path we came, leaving the Yu family through the back door, and then notify the village to have Ah Gong and the others come and pick them up.”

These Yu family members would be most suitable living in the village. After a period of adaptation, most should be able to leave the village and integrate into normal society.

Tan Wenbin: “Yes.”

He didn’t ask if the cost was too great; he believed that Little Yuan Ge must have weighed his options to be willing to do this.

After stopping the bleeding, Li Zhuiyuan gestured to continue the rescue.

White flames flickered continuously at the young man’s fingertips.

Li Zhuiyuan used to only play with karma fire; now he found that other fires were also quite interesting.

However, he didn’t plan to use this on his own soul.

The Ming family cultivated “soul proliferation,” but he did not. As a “heart demon” and “main body,” he was inherently the same entity, seemingly similar to the Ming family’s situation but fundamentally different.

But vaguely, the young man felt a sense of “closeness” to these white flames.

Not because he had seen them before, but because the side effects of these flames combined with the Ming family’s core technique… seemed a bit familiar.

He had felt this way when learning the Fenshun Qingxin Jue.

Deducing and creating cultivation methods requires continuous trial and error, but with this, trial and error means death. How was trial and error achieved?

Could it be by finding a large group of experts in this field, one by one, willingly sacrificing their lives to measure data?

But in terms of the soul, with a thousand people having a thousand souls, how could sample control be achieved?

And how could it be promoted to become the core technique of a Dragon King Menting?

However, looking at what he was doing now, the Fenshun Qingxin Jue was indeed suitable for saving the Yu family members here.

So, this treatment, this performance score, should have been tailor-made for that eldest daughter of the Ming family.

But the young man thought she probably didn’t have time for these draining and troublesome minor tasks right now.

Small contentions were necessary and had to be fought, otherwise, one wouldn’t even survive.

But if one’s vision was confined only to small contentions, it would be picking up sesame seeds and losing the watermelon.

The correct answer to this surge, Granny Liu had actually told him long ago.

The young man glanced at Chen Xiyuan standing nearby. Chen Xiyuan’s grandfather had actually told her too.

“Hmm?”

Although he had been distracted by his thoughts, Li Zhuiyuan still maintained enough focus on the rescue.

He immediately noticed that the young man in front of him, with longer hair and a sharp, angular face, was different.

When Rungsheng removed the nail from his head and he was about to release a flame to help him heal, he found that his soul had already healed.

This young man still appeared dazed and confused, drooling at the corner of his mouth, his eyes vacant.

He was pretending.

Perhaps there was a flaw when the demonic beast nailed this soul nail, causing a certain Yu family member not to be completely nailed down.

Or perhaps… he was exceptionally gifted and hadn’t been discovered early enough to be transferred to another beast enclosure, able to resist the soul nail on his own and silently seek healing.

But either way, this meant that for so many years, he had been playing the role of “a pig.”

Eating and sleeping with his kin in these pigsties.

Li Zhuiyuan stopped his actions, his gaze slightly narrowed, watching him.

The others around, noticing the young man’s actions, immediately focused their attention on this naked Yu family member.

The pressure of intense scrutiny gradually made the young man unable to maintain his act.

First, his expression softened, unsure of what expression to show, and panic appeared in his eyes.

Li Zhuiyuan pulled out a Qingxin Talisman and placed it on the young man’s forehead. The young man calmed down, and then knelt before Li Zhuiyuan.

He wasn’t bowing; rather, he understood that these people weren’t here to torture them, they weren’t enemies, but his long-term pretense and guardedness had prevented him from dropping his guard earlier and even more so from daring to do so.

Li Zhuiyuan: “I am not your enemy. I am here to save you, to save all of you.”

The young man looked up at Li Zhuiyuan, at the young man’s lips. He didn’t understand the meaning of the words, but he could generally feel the “emotion,” so he nodded.

Li Zhuiyuan could sense that he was very intelligent, a product of a cruel survival environment.

But the current problem was the inability to communicate.

Tan Wenbin: “Little Yuan Ge, should we let A-You talk to him alone first?”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Hmm.”

Tan Wenbin patted the young man’s shoulder, motioning him to follow. The young man understood, got on all fours, and crawled to Lin Shuyou.

“A-You, he’s yours.”

“But, Brother Bin, what should I talk to him about?”

“Whatever you want.”

“Shouldn’t there be, like, a general scope or guidance?”

Tan Wenbin waved his hand and said, “You’re a genius, and geniuses are most averse to restrictions.”

Lin Shuyou knew Brother Bin was coaxing him, but he was indeed very happy to hear it.

The young man lying on the ground looked at Lin Shuyou with great curiosity.

Lin Shuyou also bent down, got on all fours, and “communicated” with the young man.

After chatting for a while, seeing the crowd here, Lin Shuyou decided to take the young man to a quieter corner.

Before leaving, Lin Shuyou went to get his backpack, but when he lifted it, he found it very heavy, it must have been Rungsheng’s.

“Then I’ll just take Rungsheng’s, too lazy to switch.”

With a wave of his hand, Lin Shuyou crawled forward, and the young man obediently followed A-You out.

Li Zhuiyuan, meanwhile, continued to help the remaining Yu family members.

Time passed by, minute by minute. During this period, there were occasional disturbances from afar, but none were as significant as the commotion in the ancestral temple earlier.

When the last person’s nail was removed, Rungsheng couldn’t help but rub his wrist.

Li Zhuiyuan’s vision had become somewhat blurry.

Fortunately, before this surge, his spiritual consciousness had been further refined and tempered at home, otherwise, he truly wouldn’t have been able to complete this major project in the beast enclosure.

The Yu family members who received help first had already woken up. They were uncomfortable with the environment outside their individual small pens and appeared very agitated.

Some were crying, some were shouting, and some were even trying to jump back into the pigsty.

Rungsheng could only raise his shovel, making a threatening gesture, to slightly suppress their agitation.

Chen Xiyuan brought food. Outside the beast enclosure were several large vats, containing today’s feed, which was indeed pig slop.

Feeding them this made Chen Xiyuan feel some psychological pressure, but the food they brought themselves was simply not enough for so many people. Moreover, the things they carried had to first ensure their own people’s subsequent use; she was very clear about this point.

When the first bucket was brought over, these Yu family members swarmed it and quickly overturned the bucket. The porridge-like food spilled onto the ground, and they began to grab it with their hands or simply lick it off the ground.

Chen Xiyuan looked at the feeding trough.

Li Zhuiyuan: “They need to eat their fill to have the strength to leave the Yu family, go to that village, and relearn how to be human. Pour the food into the feeding trough; consider it their last meal as livestock.”

Chen Xiyuan knew that the young man was trying to comfort her.

This little brother sometimes made her feel terribly cold, and sometimes made her feel very warm and gentle.

After pouring buckets of food into the feeding trough, the Yu family members began to squat together and eat in an orderly manner.

After eating their fill, their emotions also settled down. Some were lazily lying there, planning to sleep again, others were playfully chasing each other, and some were even picking lice off each other.

Just then, Lin Shuyou and the Yu family youth crawled over together.

The youth had compressed biscuit crumbs around his mouth and kept burping as he moved.

Clearly, Lin Shuyou had given the youth a special meal, or perhaps the two friends had just finished a picnic.

The youth was still clutching an empty can of Jianlibao in his right hand.

Rungsheng’s backpack was the heaviest of all, containing the most supplies.

The youth looked at the group of his kinsmen in front of him, opened his mouth, and let out a call:

“Wulei wulei wulei~”

This sound was used to call pigs.

Li Zhuiyuan was very familiar with it.

When he first arrived in Nantong, his grandmother Cui Guiying would always call the children like this when it was mealtime.

The youth’s call had an immediate effect.

All the Yu family members sat on the ground obediently, looking at him in unison.

If an anomaly appears in a small tribe, they are either attacked and killed or driven out, or they become the leader.

The youth was clearly the latter.

His anomalous behavior should have only been hidden from the demonic beasts here; among his kinsmen, he hadn’t hidden much in his daily life.

Among a group of “pigs” with soul nails, one appeared who was most like a human, and everyone tacitly agreed to follow his words.

Immediately, the youth turned around, raising his hand, which clutched the Jianlibao.

Most of the Yu family members followed him by default. Those who were hesitant and confused, seeing everyone else start to move, also followed.

Tan Wenbin was a little surprised: “They’re just leaving? Does he know the way?”

Lin Shuyou stood up straight and replied, “He knows. I taught him how to go.”

Tan Wenbin: “I didn’t see a map in his hand.”

Lin Shuyou: “He doesn’t need a map. He’s very smart, truly.”

Tan Wenbin: “That’s beyond doubt.”

If this person had been born into a normal Yu family, even if not a direct descendant, he could still attain the status of a core member through his natural talent.

Tan Wenbin walked to Li Zhuiyuan’s side and asked: “Little Yuan Ge, should we send someone to follow them?”

Li Zhuiyuan: “I trust A-You.”

Tan Wenbin nodded.

Lin Shuyou lightly nudged Tan Wenbin: “Brother Bin, I also gave him a name.”

Tan Wenbin: “Yu Yi?”

Lin Shuyou: “How could I give such a simple name?”

Tan Wenbin: “Then what is it?”

Lin Shuyou: “Yu Da.”

Tan Wenbin: “Good name.”

Everyone packed up their things, preparing to continue their journey. After a sufficient delay, their next destination was the Yu Family Ancestral Temple.

Li Zhuiyuan climbed onto Rungsheng’s back, quickly closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

He didn’t know exactly how long he slept, but Li Zhuiyuan woke up, “choked” awake.

The demonic resentment permeating the air had doubled in concentration here.

Li Zhuiyuan looked up and saw everyone standing still, and Chen Xiyuan, who had originally been leading the way, was now walking towards Rungsheng.

“Little brother, you’re awake? I was just about to wake you.”

The young man had told her earlier that he hoped the demonic resentment would increase tenfold; she remembered.

This place was still some distance from the Yu family ancestral temple, but the concentration of demonic resentment here was significantly higher than elsewhere.

Li Zhuiyuan looked in a direction within the darkness and asked: “Has that area been investigated?”

Chen Xiyuan: “Waiting for your command.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Investigate it.”

“Okay.”

The demonic resentment in that direction was clearly more concentrated.

Chen Xiyuan rushed into the darkness.

Not long after, she returned, holding a wet head.

Chen Xiyuan: “There’s a relatively large pond there. The closer you get to the pond, the denser the demonic resentment. I found her head on the pond.

I remember her; she was among the people who attacked me at the museum that day.

I didn’t find the bodies of her subordinates; it was just her, and only her head has been found so far.

Also, I went down into the pond. The pond is much deeper than it looks, and there seems to be a cave inside. The closer you get to the cave, the more unbearable the demonic resentment becomes. Luckily I have my domain, otherwise even I might go mad.

I think she probably encountered an accident while seeking an opportunity here, leading to the annihilation of her entire team.

There should be a remnant of a great demonic beast in that cave.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Your analysis process is correct.”

Chen Xiyuan: “But the direction is wrong?”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Yes, you have to put her in the role of a Zuojiangzhe. She’s definitely not as strong as you, but her experience in other areas will only be richer than yours.

In a surge like this, you have to assume that everyone will have their own opportunities, and they will all be able to seize their opportunities.

So, her accident was probably not due to the opportunity itself, but to external interference.

Furthermore, any old-timer passing through here would definitely notice the change in the concentration of demonic resentment.

They came to carve up the Yu family ancestral home, that’s true, but they also have their basic tasks and responsibilities, which is to kill all visible demonic beasts of the Yu family.

I think she was probably successfully attacked by some old-timer while going down to harvest her opportunity.”

Li Zhuiyuan slid off Rungsheng’s back and walked to the head that Chen Xiyuan was holding. The young man extended his finger and pressed it against the center of the head’s forehead.

The secret art of the black leather book began to activate. Too little of the corpse remained to extract enough information, but fortunately, what remained was the head.

Yet, even so, when the young man successfully activated the secret art and his consciousness entered her “memory,” he found that she had been specially treated.

It was likely that during her death, the surrounding environment underwent drastic changes, coupled with the extremely strong demonic resentment here, which severely eroded the traces she left in the world.

Despite his efforts, Li Zhuiyuan only managed to obtain two barely complete images.

The first-person perspective of the female head’s owner.

In the first scene, she stood above a blood pool within the cave, holding a mirror in her hand, meeting the gaze of a blood python emerging from below the blood pool.

The second scene was inverted; she saw a headless corpse and a middle-aged woman standing beside the headless corpse with a look of guilt on her face. The blood python behind the middle-aged woman emitted an eerie glow from its snake eyes.

The image was inverted because her head had already separated from her neck at that time.

The middle-aged woman didn’t look old, but the details still revealed that her actual age was much older than her superficial appearance; she should belong to the category of “old-timers.”

Li Zhuiyuan withdrew his hand and opened his eyes.

The head Chen Xiyuan was holding began to melt into pus. She let go, and with a “plop,” it spread out on the ground.

She had grown accustomed to the young man’s frequent use of secret arts.

Li Zhuiyuan: “I need to go down.”

He needed the resentment in the cave.

The fish fry in the pond deep within his consciousness were eagerly awaiting.

Chen Xiyuan: “I’ll go down with you.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Brother Binbin, A-You, you two stand guard outside the pond. Brother Rungsheng, you wait underwater.”

Rungsheng never refuted Little Yuan’s words, but he had just heard “old geezer,” so he gripped his Yellow River shovel tightly, showing his attitude.

The old geezers were all powerful, and no matter how strong Chen Xiyuan was, she couldn’t handle them alone. He thought everyone should charge together.

Tan Wenbin and Lin Shuyou thought the same.

But seeing Little Yuan Ge and Chen Xiyuan already walking towards the pond, with no intention of changing the command, the three of them silently accepted.

Tan Wenbin and Lin Shuyou took positions on the left and right, maintaining awareness of each other’s presence while hiding themselves as much as possible.

Rungsheng jumped into the pond with them. The dense resentment under the water made him feel very comfortable.

His qi gates opened like fish gills, and he began to absorb and expel.

For a time, even the injuries previously sustained from enduring Li Jun’s flames were rapidly healing.

Chen Xiyuan maintained her domain, holding the young man’s hand, continuously sinking. She glanced at Rungsheng above, murmuring in her heart: Rungsheng, this person is so special.

Li Zhuiyuan’s gaze was fixed downwards, on the increasingly closer cave.

He naturally knew how difficult the old-timers were to deal with, so there was no need to rush in blindly and gamble on a winning probability.

Leaving everyone in batches behind, in case the situation in the cave became critical and unsolvable, Chen Xiyuan could also quickly retreat with him, and his companions could intercept in stages, increasing the success rate of escape.

“Little brother, are you alright?”

“After sleeping for a while, I’m okay.”

“My domain might be a bit unstable next; you’ll have to hold on.”

“I’m fine.”

Chen Xiyuan nodded. Was it because the little brother couldn’t practice martial arts that his spiritual consciousness was forged to be so strong and resilient?

When the two arrived at the mouth of the cave, Chen Xiyuan’s domain indeed began to tremble.

The resentment here was seven or eight times denser than outside. To maintain one’s own environment here, one had to withstand the repulsion from the surroundings.

Chen Xiyuan took a deep breath, crossed her hands, her gaze firm, and stabilized the turbulent domain again.

“Little brother, we can continue.”

Chen Xiyuan maintained a hand seal posture, walking in front, with Li Zhuiyuan following diagonally behind her.

He really couldn’t have come to this place without Chen Xiyuan; his physical condition wouldn’t allow it.

The cave wasn’t deep, nor did it have any bends. After walking straight down for a short while, the front suddenly became bright. Chen Xiyuan’s pressure vanished, and the demonic resentment seemed to disappear all at once.

Because all the demonic resentment here had transformed into blood, condensing in that blood pool.

At the edge of the blood pool, directly opposite Li Zhuiyuan and Chen Xiyuan, a woman who appeared beautiful but whose age was unknown, had her arms resting on the edge of the blood pool, her wet hair hanging down on both sides, looking as if she were bathing.

The headless corpse was still standing there, and in a corner, several other mutilated corpses lay, presumably the subordinates of the headless woman.

What was thought to be an opportunity for the team turned out to be a calamity due to the arrival of the old-timer.

Li Zhuiyuan’s gaze lingered on the headless female corpse. She must have had a special method to bring her subordinates here, and she had many accessories on her.

However, all these accessories were stained red. If their owner were still alive, this could have been avoided, but after her death, they were no longer protected.

Li Zhuiyuan: “Continue to maintain the expansion of the domain.”

Chen Xiyuan: “I understand. Although the demonic resentment here has suddenly decreased, even a tiny bit of moisture contamination can cause greater harm than before.”

At this moment, the woman in the blood pool slowly raised her head and opened her eyes.

If she were to say “demon” next, it would mean she was about to make a move.

But this kind of “pointing to a deer as a horse” with direct confrontation was ultimately inferior to a swift strike from the darkness outside, because the former made it harder to clear oneself of suspicion.

Woman: “Which family’s children are you?”

These words meant the woman did not intend to attack.

Li Zhuiyuan didn’t think it was because the other party was kind-hearted.

After all, she had just personally killed an entire Zuojiang team under the guise of “misunderstanding.”

If a tiger wasn’t biting, it was definitely because it was sick.

Li Zhuiyuan: “Which family’s old-timer are you?”

Hearing this, a cold smile appeared on the woman’s lips. She was suppressing the anger in her heart.

Li Zhuiyuan started walking forward, Chen Xiyuan followed closely.

Stopping at the edge of the blood pool, the young man pointed inside.

Chen Xiyuan drew her green flute and swung it forward.

“Bang!”

The surface of the blood pool exploded, blood splashed, and a blood python’s tail began to churn inside. And the head of the blood python was actually that woman.

She had fused with this blood python.

And, she was stuck here.

Earlier, when reading the memories from the head above, in the second image, Li Zhuiyuan saw the blood python behind the woman revealing an eerie gaze.

This was like a painting, a photograph, an omen for what was to come, or perhaps a great ill omen.

Yet, even so, Li Zhuiyuan hadn’t expected his luck to be so good.

Of the three old-timers he encountered, one was half-killed by Zhou Yunfan’s puppet, one rushed into the tall tower, and the current one… was experiencing a cultivation deviation.

Seeing that she had been discovered, the woman no longer hid. She straightened her back, her figure rising from the blood pool.

Her lower body could still vaguely be seen as legs, but they were now densely covered with snake scales. The remaining part was all the body of a blood python.

“Little child, my patience is limited.”

Li Zhuiyuan looked up and met her gaze, saying: “Suppressing emotions is not good for your health.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the blood pool began to boil, and the concentration of resentment in the air instantly intensified.

Chen Xiyuan spun the green flute in her hand, her eyes sharp, staring at the woman. As soon as the young man gave the command, she would rush forward with him and attack her.

Miss Chen had also noticed that the woman’s condition was very bad.

The woman showed surprise and said, “Little child of the Chen family? When I was young, I was a guest at your Chen family’s home.”

She was looking for an out for herself.

Chen Xiyuan had entered by maintaining her domain, so she must have been discovered long ago.

However, it was also precisely because of her identity as a Chen family member that the woman was very apprehensive.

The inheritors and Zuojiangzhe of the Chen family – you had to gamble that they were either very mediocre, or… very troublesome.

Chen Xiyuan: “My family isn’t an immortal palace; visiting my home doesn’t mean you can escape birth, old age, sickness, and death.”

There was no need to save face for an elder. Here, those who attacked juniors had no right to act like elders.

Ming Qiushui: “My name is Ming Qiushui. Your grandfather should have mentioned my name to you.”

Chen Xiyuan shook her head: “No.”

Her grandfather never mentioned the names of women of similar age when he was home.

Her grandmother, however, would occasionally say to her grandfather, “This is delicious, Sister Liu would like it too,” or “These flowers are pretty, Sister Liu loves flowers,” or “This willow tree is growing so well, someone must have tended to it with great care.”

Grandfather’s face would turn red every time, but he couldn’t act out.

After all, his past affairs might be secrets to others, but to his wife, they were completely transparent, because his wife was his strategist when he was trying to pursue Liu Yumei back then.

Ming Qiushui: “Considering we are both Dragon King Menting, I won’t argue with you. Let’s each go our separate ways in peace.”

Chen Xiyuan: “But our opportunity is here. You can’t just occupy this place.”

Ming Qiushui: “Go find other opportunities. There are countless opportunities in the Yu family ancestral home.”

Chen Xiyuan: “That won’t do. It’s very dangerous outside now. Many shameless old-timers are deliberately killing young people.”

Ming Qiushui: “I, in the name of the Ming family, promise you that if you come to the Ming family in the future, I will bestow an opportunity upon you. How about it?”

Chen Xiyuan shook her head: “Taking yours would be like owing you. My grandfather taught me not to casually owe favors to others outside; it’s very troublesome to repay and can’t be explained clearly.”

Ming Qiushui: “Two opportunities… three!”

Chen Xiyuan looked at Li Zhuiyuan beside her.

Ming Qiushui: “As a dignified inheritor of a Dragon King Menting, why do you need to look at others’ expressions?”

Li Zhuiyuan: “No matter what, she’s an elder; the respect due to her should be given.”

Ming Qiushui’s gaze softened. Clearly, this young man was tempted. And rightly so; after all, this was an opportunity bestowed by a Dragon King Menting.

Li Zhuiyuan: “Isn’t she herself a great opportunity?”

Ming Qiushui: “You impudent wretch, how dare you repeatedly be presumptuous!”

A powerful pressure emanated from Ming Qiushui. Her snake tail lashed out, striking fiercely downwards.

But this snake tail couldn’t break through Chen Xiyuan’s domain.

Just as Chen Xiyuan was about to swing her flute in retaliation, Li Zhuiyuan stopped her again:

“Don’t hit her snake body; that’s like helping her escape.”

Chen Xiyuan: “Then little brother, come onto my back, and I’ll take you to hit her human body.”

“No need to go through so much trouble.”

Li Zhuiyuan took out the purple-gold compass with his left hand, holding it up, and opened his right palm, where the Jiaolong Battle Flag appeared.

The young man planned to use formations to slowly wear down Ming Qiushui until she died.

Strike while the iron is hot.

The first temporary formation was deployed, and Ming Qiushui felt a pressure fall upon her.

Next came the second temporary formation, the third, the fourth…

Ming Qiushui’s eyes widened, watching the young man’s relaxed and effortless movements:

“Are you from the Sixuanmen?”

Li Zhuiyuan didn’t answer, continuing to stack the effects of the formations.

This kind of one-sided, foolproof operation could never be used when facing a living person in normal times.

A weaker opponent would be finished with one shovel swing from Rungsheng, and a powerful opponent wouldn’t give you such a calm opportunity to set up formations.

Ming Qiushui constantly flapped her tail, striking, but even with Chen Xiyuan standing still, Ming Qiushui couldn’t break through her defense.

She wasn’t originally this weak; in fact, she was very powerful.

The reason for the current situation was that after she killed the Zuojiang team who arrived earlier than herself and was preparing to melt and absorb the severely wounded blood python, which had taken refuge here, into her body to nourish and replenish her soul, an accident occurred.

To this day, she didn’t know why this accident happened. She had long been proficient in the numerous procedures of the entire operation, and the probability of error in each procedure was very low. Even if something did go wrong, she could calmly remedy it. But this time, after a sudden jolt in her heart, all procedures went wrong.

This led to an accident, which was only theoretically possible, actually happening to her.

Now, she couldn’t use any of the Ming family’s techniques or methods, nor did she know how to use some of the blood python’s divine abilities. She could only attack purely with the snake’s body.

What she didn’t know was that the reason she was so unlucky at that moment was precisely because, under the guidance of the old dog, the Yu family’s Jieqi began to flood into the Ming family on a large scale.

And as the closest Ming family member, she naturally received the fullest share of Jieqi first, her luck plummeting to an unprecedented low.

If it weren’t for her current state of human-snake symbiosis being incomprehensible, if she were to return to her normal human form, even a street fortune-teller would be terrified and exclaim: “Darkness between the eyebrows, a sign of great misfortune!”

The formations were mostly stacked. The young man pressed down his palm, and all temporary formations unleashed their maximum effect.

“Boom!”

Ming Qiushui was pressed outside the blood pool, spitting out large mouthfuls of green blood, and the process of snake scales covering her upper body also accelerated.

“You… you… can’t do this…”

Li Zhuiyuan pointed at the headless corpse next to them and said, “He who kills will be killed.”

At this moment, the young man noticed the Jiaolong spirit excitedly circling his fingertips.

The original black Jiaolong spirit had long been worn away by Li Zhuiyuan. Now, it was like a reserved child who, while shopping with adults, deliberately looked at a toy on a stall multiple times, not saying it directly, but really wanting it.

Li Zhuiyuan raised his index finger, and the Jiaolong spirit immediately wrapped around it obediently, resting its head on the young man’s fingernail.

The Jiaolong spirit wanted this blood python as its sustenance.

“You’ll get it, but it needs to be processed clean first.”

Whether the blood python completely swallowed Ming Qiushui or Ming Qiushui completely fused with the blood python, they could not only recover their past strength but even become stronger.

Because of Li Zhuiyuan’s targeted suppression, Ming Qiushui was struggling now, but the young man would not sit by and watch her be swallowed by the blood python.

He had to extract her from this blood python body.

The blood python part could be left for the Jiaolong spirit to absorb; it had been diligently helping him set up formations, so it deserved a reward.

The Ming Qiushui part, he could throw into the “Wordless Book,” giving the “Evil Book” one more prisoner. On one hand, he could continue to test the “Evil Book”‘s capacity, and on the other hand, he could extract secret cultivation methods through interrogation.

As for this blood pool, it was fodder he was leaving for his fish pond.

Li Zhuiyuan: “The environment here is special. Later, I’ll set up a guiding formation for you. Standing within the formation will deepen your understanding of the domain and enrich its variations.”

Chen Xiyuan smiled: “Okay.”

She realized that even though the little brother was poor, he was truly generous.

Li Zhuiyuan knelt in front of Ming Qiushui.

Ming Qiushui’s eyes filled with hatred, saying, “A dragon out of its depth is tormented by shrimp…”

Li Zhuiyuan: “You are not qualified to call yourself a ‘dragon’ in front of me.”

Ming Qiushui steeled herself. The speed of her snake scales covering her body intensified. She would rather be swallowed by the blood python, letting it kill everyone in the cave, than give Li Zhuiyuan a chance.

Li Zhuiyuan calmly raised his right hand and snapped his fingers:

“Snap!”

When the white flame appeared, Ming Qiushui’s face showed shock:

“You… how can you… why do you know this…”

Li Zhuiyuan said no more, controlling the white flame to directly pierce into Ming Qiushui’s body.

“Ah!!!”

Accompanied by Ming Qiushui’s shrill screams and the constant thrashing of her snake tail, the young man calmly turned to look at Chen Xiyuan and asked:

“When I was sleeping on Rungsheng’s back earlier, did you all come here smoothly?”

Chen Xiyuan: “Somewhere along the way, we startled something, causing a mirage to appear before us, and we lost our direction for a time.

Seeing you sleeping soundly, we didn’t rush to wake you, wanting to figure out a solution ourselves first. Eventually, relying on Tan Wenbin’s ability to distinguish sounds, we got out of that area.

Although it took a bit more winding than the planned route, fortunately, we didn’t deviate much. When you woke up, we had already recalibrated our heading towards the Yu family ancestral temple.

But it was a lucky coincidence; if the route hadn’t deviated, we wouldn’t have discovered this place…”

Chen Xiyuan stopped speaking. She thought of a possibility:

Was it that the young man had saved so many Yu family members earlier, shedding so much sweat and nosebleed, paying such a great price, and delaying valuable time for seeking opportunities…

All of this was seen by the spirits of the past Yu family Dragon Kings, and they began to provide protection?

Although Chen Xiyuan’s previous experience with Zuojiang wasn’t profound, she knew a very simple truth: in a surge, never trust any coincidence.

Li Zhuiyuan nodded, tacitly acknowledging Chen Xiyuan’s guess, and at the same time, reminded her:

“Remember, leave traces of your work.”