Volume 1, Chapter 22: Father, I Protected Big Brother!

Lin Guodong rested his chin on his hands, his fingers opening and closing rhythmically. He stared into space, lost in silence.

Sen Youning did not know how long she had slept; she only felt a profound weakness throughout her body. It was only when her instincts signaled a desperate need for nourishment that she slowly pried her eyes open.

Seeing Zhu Chenhuan’s composure, Chang’e recalled the formidable aura he had just displayed. Her expression eventually steadied, though when she looked at him again, her gaze was sharp, devoid of its previous gentleness.

The demons were jolted into awareness. Just as they surged downward, a figure swiftly appeared before them—it was Right Minister Qing.

They had indeed brought guns with them, but for the sake of convenience, they had no intention of using them unless an emergency arose.

By the time those nearby discovered Saburo Suzuki, he was already cold and stiff. The officers around him immediately broke into wails of grief.

Now that the King of Xian had no heirs to inherit the title, he was the only one left to claim it. His greatest worry had finally been put to rest; how could he not be overjoyed?

Yuanhua’s face darkened instantly. How could she repeat those words? To say them again would be a slap to her own face. She realized that Lin Youning was no simple opponent; with just a single sentence, she had maneuvered her into a passive position.

When Zhang Zhenzhen was born, Zhang Huiqin had already married far away into the Xiao family. Though she had not seen her aunt many times in her life, the bond of blood naturally fostered a sense of intimacy. Zhang Huiqin patted her shoulder in comfort.

"That’s no problem," Jiang Liu said. "Eat this leg I roasted." He handed the perfectly cooked leg to Xiao Feiyan, taking the charred one she had prepared for himself.

The fire control system was buzzing wildly. The casing was hot to the touch, and the internal water-cooling system could no longer keep up. High-temperature alarms blared incessantly in the control room; there was no way to increase the power, and they could barely sustain their current operations for much longer.

"Even if there were fifty thousand pigs, it would take days just to find them one by one," Yuan Jun remarked.

Jia Ye was caught off guard. The sudden appearance of the Sword Soul shifted the tide of battle; he had never imagined that Ye Tian possessed dual souls. Ye Tian leaped from the ground, striking his chest with a Crushing Palm, sending him flying backward.

"I... my wallet is gone," the boy muttered. The earlier banter between the driver and the passengers now rang in his ears, making him blush with embarrassment.

The old man, suspected to be in the Dan Realm, looked toward Fu Lei and Ye Lin with a somber face. He nodded but remained silent.

"I have that same feeling. It is as if some vital clue was lost the moment we descended upon Gu’e," the man with sword-like eyebrows replied.

Before long, he had to summon his strength to rise and call Sushun, Zaiyuan, and Duanhua to discuss state affairs.

After staying for two days and wandering through the grotto-heaven, Zhuang Jian left without waiting for the Fifth Brother and the others to recover their cultivation.

"Yes... you can finally return to your rightful place," He Weiliang whispered, a tinge of bitterness in his heart. That position had always been destined for a youth of equal standing. The naive, tender years they had shared were merely a detour in her life.

This went on for several years, not reaching completion until the end of the Daoguang era. During those years, the Hunan Green Standard Army barely conducted a single drill; instead, each battalion took turns digging trenches and planting flowers at the Governor’s mansion.

"Croak!" With a single cry from the Eternal Toad, Biyu and Zhuzhu collapsed, their bodies turning rigid as they stared helplessly at the creature.

"How foolish," the Great Sage sighed, reflecting on the history of the Dragon Clan. "To fight until both sides are destroyed, only to hand other races the chance to rise." He felt no sympathy for them.

Li Hu had never expected that the power of a single talisman could clear away sixty or seventy percent of the immortal corpses. Yet, the Eternal Immortal Calamity remained indifferent, opening its maw to spew out even more.

He carried Ao Ji toward the door, his tone echoing the casual warmth of a father speaking to his son.

After witnessing the endless tide of beasts, Wang Chuan’s urge to hunt diminished significantly. The prey here was virtually infinite, but killing for the sake of killing held no meaning. If these great cats had only chanced upon them, Wang Chuan felt it would be better to spare them and let them live a few days longer before their extinction.

Moving forward and drawing out the bronze beasts, Ye Qiu’s party—boosted by the Valkyrie’s 200% attack power buff—cleared monsters with unparalleled efficiency. With Ye Qiu and Luoyu serving as the primary damage dealers, assisted by the Phantom Wolf King and the Thunder Beast, their progress was rapid.

These three figures were strange from the start; even under the brilliant glare of the guiding talisman, they remained shrouded in shadow, their forms visible but their faces obscured.

Now, hearing that he had built a three-billion-dollar fortune from scratch before finishing college, they looked upon him with even greater respect and admiration.

"Master, if you knew the Bodhisattva had been possessed by an evil spirit, why didn't you intervene?" the Great Sage asked, believing that Guanyin had been taken over by an extra-dimensional demon.