Although the guests present had no clear understanding of the situation, they followed suit and fled along with the rest, transforming what was originally a festive and orderly wedding banquet into utter chaos in an instant.
Zhao Yongyuan had initially been terrified as well, but seeing that Xie Yuanjia remained completely unmoving, he stubbornly forced himself to stay put, he refused to accept that he could be outperformed by a cripple whose cultivation had been destroyed. Yet as the fleeing crowds grew denser and denser, Zhao Yongyuan finally reached his breaking point and wanted to run, but it was already too late.
The moment he stood up, he saw a woman dressed in bridal robes, her hair disheveled and face deathly pale, eyes rolled back, dragging a blood-dripping arm as she walked straight toward them.
Zhao Yongyuan was scared out of his wits and instantly lost control, collapsing onto the ground in a heap.
Behind the woman followed quite a few maidservants and attendants, their conditions closely resembling hers, except that some of these individuals were missing arms while others lacked ears.
Xiao Chen looked at these people and thought: Chinese-style zombies?
[What zombies, these are infected by demonic energy.]
Xiao Chen rubbed the bridge of his nose. So being contaminated by demonic energy turned people into this sort of state; the book’s descriptions of this plot point had been rather sparse, focusing primarily on highlighting Xie Yuanjia secretly playing the hero to save the beauty and winning her heart.
Since it was the Dragon Overlord’s main stage, he certainly wouldn’t go stepping forward to steal the spotlight, and besides, he had matters of his own to attend to. With that thought, Xiao Chen stood up and left.
Witnessing this sudden turn of events, although Xiao Chen’s cultivation level meant he would be completely safe, Xie Yuanjia still felt an instinctive surge of worry for him. Keeping a close eye on Xiao Chen’s movements, the moment he saw Xiao Chen depart, Xie Yuanjia lifted his feet and followed right behind.
The male guest section was already in such a state of chaos, let alone the female section. When Xiao Chen arrived at Lotus Courtyard, it was already a scene of absolute devastation. The female guests had either joined the ‘zombie’ army, hidden beneath tables, or were still desperately fleeing.
Xiao Chen glanced around, his gaze finally landing on the lower part of a cabinet. A playful smirk tugged at the corners of his lips as he walked over: “Mother really gave me quite a hard time searching for her.”
Seeing Xiao Chen, Zhang Liusi’s eyes lit up with joy: “Chen’er, that’s wonderful! I’m saved, quickly get me out of here.”
Xiao Chen lightly flicked his sleeve, summoning a chair to his side, and lazily seated himself without a trace of haste: “When Mother plotted against me in her schemes, did she ever imagine today would come? Mother forced me into marriage as a wife, so why on earth would you think I would save you?”
Zhang Liusi’s face turned deathly pale: “So you came here to kill me?”
“I could never bring myself to commit patricide—ah, matricide, but to save Mother just like this leaves me feeling thoroughly unreconciled. Why doesn’t Mother beg me? Who knows, maybe once my heart softens, I’ll end up saving you after all.”
Zhang Liusi clenched her fists. She harbored intense hatred toward Xiao Chen’s biological mother; asking her to beg Xiao Chen was simply out of the question.
At that moment, several ‘zombies’ were already shuffling toward them. Xiao Chen said lazily, “I’ll give Mother three breaths of time. If Mother refuses to beg me, then I’ll just let them devour you. However, Mother can rest assured, getting bitten won’t kill you; it only infects you with demonic energy. I can help expel the demonic energy for Mother afterward, but there’s no way to restore the arm Mother gets bitten off, nor the face they claw to pieces. Mother, do think carefully.”
“One.”
“Two.”
Watching the monsters draw closer and closer, Zhang Liusi finally gritted her teeth and said, “I beg you.”
Xiao Chen’s lips curved into a smile: “Mother lacks sincerity.”
Zhang Liusi grew furious: “What more do you want?”
“You should at least kowtow.”
“You!”
Xiao Chen lowered his gaze to look at Zhang Liusi, appearing to wait. Seeing that Zhang Liusi was still hesitating, Xiao Chen gracefully stood up and smoothed out his slightly creased robes: “It seems Mother is unwilling, so I won’t disturb Mother any further.”
“Wait.”
Xiao Chen looked back at Zhang Liusi. Zhang Liusi knelt and kowtowed: “I beg you to save me.”
Xiao Chen let out a small smile: “Mother truly knows how to bow and bend when circumstances require it.”
With those words, he lightly flicked his sleeve, and the approaching ‘zombies’ were instantly locked in place by a binding spell.
“Does Mother plan to stay here, or come with me?”
Remaining here meant certain death. Zhang Liusi stood up without a moment’s hesitation and followed behind Xiao Chen.
The two walked all the way to the side of a small pond calling it a pond was generous; it was actually a landscape feature in the Qian estate, roughly two meters long and two meters wide, with several lotus plants growing inside.
“Why aren’t we moving anymore?” Zhang Liusi asked in a deep, questioning tone.
Xiao Chen looked at Zhang Liusi, raised his foot, and kicked her right into the center of the pond: “Mother can wait here for a moment; I still have to go help out the Qian estate.”
“Wait, if you leave, what’s going to happen to me?!”
Xiao Chen gave a faint smile: “Mother can rest easy, they are afraid of water. As long as Mother obediently stands right in the middle, they won’t dare come over. Of course, Mother must stay strictly in the center, otherwise getting caught by them will be quite miserable.”
Having said that, he couldn’t be bothered to deal with Zhang Liusi any longer and turned away to leave.
Not long after Xiao Chen departed, many of the people infected by demonic energy swarmed over, but true to Xiao Chen’s words, these people merely circled the small pond and genuinely did not dare to take even half a step forward. Petrified with terror, Zhang Liusi did not dare to make a single movement, standing shivering right in the middle of the pool.
From a distance, Xie Yuanjia watched the entire process with a cold, clear amusement in his eyes. Xiao Chen was still far too soft-hearted; given how Zhang Liusi had orchestrated such a setup, he should have used this opportunity to leave her without a complete corpse.
Initially, Xie Yuanjia had indeed planned to do just that, but since Xiao Chen chose to mete out a minor punishment, he was unwilling to interfere excessively and displease Xiao Chen. Still, since she dared to scheme against him, she had to pay some kind of price.
With a subtle flick of Xie Yuanjia’s fingertips, a formation descended, shrouding Zhang Liusi, and immediately afterward, all the demonic-energy-contaminated individuals rushed straight toward her.
Xiao Chen had originally intended to go up front and help out, but he noticed that all the ‘zombies’ were gathering behind him instead. Strangely enough, the woman in bridal robes even passed right by his side, and the oddest part was that these ‘zombies’ had no intention of harming anyone else.
That made things much easier. Xiao Chen simply turned and followed right behind the ‘zombies’.
When they reached the destination, he discovered that all these ‘zombies’ were swarming toward Zhang Liusi. Xiao Chen frowned slightly, quickly spotting the demon-attracting formation cast over Zhang Liusi. Even with his toes, he could guess that Xie Yuanjia was behind this.
Xiao Chen looked at Zhang Liusi and sighed internally: Of all people to plot against, why did you have to pick the Dragon Overlord? Isn’t this asking for it? Come to think of it, in the book, Zhang Liusi seemed to have been killed right here by Xie Yuanjia, whereas now Xie Yuanjia was actually willing to spare her life; she would suffer a bit, but at least her life was saved.
Inside the pond, Zhang Liusi trembled as she watched the monsters continuously converging around her, her entire body soaked in cold sweat. In the past, such a sight would have likely caused her to faint on the spot, but now she didn’t dare to. Once she collapsed, she would undoubtedly be torn limb from limb; she had no choice but to hold on with all her might.
Xiao Chen sighed at the relentless tide of gathering ‘zombies’. It looked like this was going to take a while. Lifting his gaze to scan his surroundings, he leaped up, settled onto the branch of a nearby tree, and leaned sideways against the trunk, resting his head on his arm as he lay down.
Along the way, he hadn’t caught sight of Xie Yuanjia anywhere. With this formation set up and all the ‘zombies’ running off over here, he wondered if Xie Yuanjia had lost his chance to play the hero saving the beauty? Then again, why was he even worrying about this? Anything destined to be part of the Dragon Overlord’s harem would belong to him sooner or later, even if the process played out a little differently.
What Xiao Chen didn’t know was that at that very moment, Xie Yuanjia was standing in the distance watching him. He didn’t know since when, but Xie Yuanjia had realized he thoroughly enjoyed watching Xiao Chen and was deeply curious about what Xiao Chen would do next.
“Young Master, my subordinates discovered that the demonic cultivator who came here is at the early Nascent Soul stage. We should retreat and avoid them for now.”
Xie Yuanjia’s gaze darkened slightly. Why would a Nascent Soul demonic cultivator provoke an ordinary aristocratic family for no reason? “Have you investigated the cause?”
“Not yet.”
“Take our people and withdraw first; I’ll stay and observe a bit longer.”
“Young Master!”
Xie Yuanjia said in a low voice: “Go on, I know what I’m doing.”
“Understood.”
Seeing that the number of ‘zombies’ being lured over was dwindling, Xiao Chen stretched lazily and leaped down from the tree: “Time to go to work.”
With that, he flashed to Zhang Liusi’s side. Zhang Liusi, who had been terrified out of her wits, caught sight of Xiao Chen and clung to him desperately, crying out for help: “Chen’er, save me, save me! I promise I’ll never target you again from now on. As long as you save me, I’ll treat you just like my own flesh and blood from this day forward, Chen’er…”
Xiao Chen frowned slightly: “Too noisy.”
With a flick of his gaze, Zhang Liusi was instantly silenced and unable to make a sound.
Xiao Chen’s fingers moved swiftly, and a formation materialized beneath his feet, transforming into golden light that gradually expanded outward into the distance. Wherever the light passed, the demonic energy clinging to the people gathered here slowly dissipated.
Witnessing this scene, the woman in bridal robes let out an angry roar and flashed away in a blur.
Xiao Chen couldn’t spare the energy to chase her right now, and besides, among the attending guests, he wasn’t the only cultivator present; others would naturally take care of it.
Half an hour later, the demonic energy on everyone had been completely purged. Following the removal of the dark energy came wave after wave of miserable shrieks, with some individuals even passing out straight from the agony.
Looking at the tragic scene, Xiao Chen let out a silent sigh. Regardless of how it happened, this could be considered a job well done, time to go home.
At that moment, the system suddenly popped up: [Host, side quest: Rescue the bride.]
Xiao Chen had assumed his tasks would exclusively involve humiliating Xie Yuanjia, or at the very least be tied directly to him; he hadn’t expected a quest like this to pop up. Without asking any further questions, he turned to leave, but Zhang Liusi abruptly grabbed the hem of his robe.
Xiao Chen raised a hand to lift the silence spell on Zhang Liusi. Bursting into tears, she wailed, “Chen’er, where are you going? Take me with you…”
Xiao Chen curved his lips slightly: “I’m going after that bride. Does Mother really want to come along with me?”
Zhang Liusi froze for a moment, then silently let go of Xiao Chen.
Departing from the small pond, Xiao Chen cast a tracking spell, quickly locking onto the bride’s trail, and set off in pursuit on his flying sword.
Midway, Xie Yuanjia intercepted him: “Xiao Chen, go back.”
“Huh?”
“The mastermind behind this is not someone you can afford to provoke. Now that the demonic energy has been cleared, there’s no need to dig to the bottom of it.”
Xiao Chen fell silent. Of course he knew the mastermind behind the scenes was a Nascent Soul-tier bigwig, well beyond the capabilities of his current Golden Core stage self to trifle with, but circumstances forced his hand, he had a quest to complete and had no choice in the matter. Still, the fact that Xie Yuanjia had so kindly come to warn him left him somewhat pleasantly surprised: “Thanks.”
After that word of thanks, Xiao Chen prepared to resume his pursuit. Xie Yuanjia instinctively reached out to grab his wrist: “Trust me, don’t go.”
Xiao Chen frowned slightly at Xie Yuanjia’s hand. Xie Yuanjia hurriedly let go: “Apologies, but trust me, this incident is truly not simple. I know your natural talent is extraordinary and your cultivation is among the best of your generation, but this matter is beyond your ability to handle. If you insist on meddling, you’ll likely meet a grim fate.”
Xiao Chen muttered inwardly: Trust him? It wasn’t that he didn’t trust him, but when you know there are tigers on the mountain, you still have to walk right into the tiger’s den to deliver yourself as food. Going might give him a sliver of a chance of survival, whereas refusing to go meant certain death.
“Xiao Chen has noted Young Master Xie’s good intentions, but this trip is something I must make.” Without lingering for further small talk, Xiao Chen mounted his flying sword and sped onward.
Watching Xiao Chen’s receding figure, Xie Yuanjia’s brow furrowed into deep vertical lines. He assumed Xiao Chen simply didn’t believe him, but upon closer reflection, the relationship between the two of them was delicate to begin with why should Xiao Chen trust him? Besides, coming to warn him was already fulfilling the favor of Xiao Chen bailing him out that day; whether Xiao Chen believed him or not was none of his business, and what did it matter to him if Xiao Chen insisted on running off to court death?
Sanity dictated that Xie Yuanjia should turn back, but just as he was about to leave, Xie Yuanjia halted his movements, a trace of displeasure flashing through his eyes. Having been inexplicably dragged into this mess, he needed to get to the bottom of the whole story; otherwise, wouldn’t he have suffered all these troubles for nothing?
With that thought, he unsheathed his sword and pursued Xiao Chen.
Half a quarter-hour later, Xiao Chen came to a halt in front of a dilapidated Yue Lao Temple (Temple of the Matchmaker), its roof already pierced through with holes from years of disrepair.
Consequently, through the moonlight, Xiao Chen could faintly discern a figure inside the temple. Although the face wasn’t clearly visible, the silhouette closely matched the bride he had seen earlier; this should undoubtedly be his rescue target.
It was pitch-black inside; charging in blindly would definitely be unwise. Let’s first test whether things could be handled from the outside.
Xiao Chen’s fingers moved briskly, and the previous exorcism formation materialized once more, yet the brilliance of the formation could only reach the exterior of the Yue Lao Temple and failed to penetrate inside.
It seemed there was no way to save the bride purely from the outside; entering the interior was his only option. Yet the mastermind behind the scenes was, after all, a Nascent Soul powerhouse. Fighting head-on meant he would lose far more often than he won, let alone fighting an enemy hidden in the dark while he stood exposed in the light.
Hesitating for a moment, Xiao Chen took a deep breath, death sooner or later was inevitable anyway; dying here was still better than hanging on half-dead.
With that, Xiao Chen clenched his fists. Just as he stepped forward, a man’s warm, gentle voice drifted into his ear: “You really don’t seem to know the meaning of fear of death.”
Xiao Chen halted, raised his gaze to inspect his surroundings, and finally spotted a man in white robes lazily leaning against a tree branch with his arms crossed, seated amongst the foliage not far away.