Inside the dilapidated and abandoned River God Temple, two corpses lay sprawled on the ground—one with a twisted neck, the other decapitated.
Ning Chen felt no guilt whatsoever. From the moment they set their sights on An Beixue, they were destined to die.
However, Wanyan Zhu was, after all, the most beloved young master of the Wanyan Family. If this wasn’t handled carefully, it could bring serious trouble.
Buzz!
Thinking of this, Ning Chen waved his hand, and a flame instantly bloomed in his palm.
Layer upon layer of fire burned like a crimson lotus flower, its searing temperature distorting the surrounding space.
It was the Nether Lotus Demon Flame—a special reward he had received for lying flat for a full month.
This flame was said to have the power to purify and incinerate all things in existence. Using it to destroy corpses and eliminate traces was more than sufficient.
With a flick of his fingers, two wisps of Nether Lotus Demon Flame fell upon the corpses of Wanyan Zhu and Wanyan Zhongshan.
In an instant, red flames blazed to life. Flesh, blood, bones—even their clothing—all ignited at once.
This flame was overpowering. By the end, not even ashes remained.
Moments later, the two blood-drenched corpses had vanished without a trace.
“Heh… that should take care of it.”
Satisfied, Ning Chen smiled faintly, then signaled Shadow Ghost to return to hiding before hurrying to the altar.
There, An Beixue was curled up, trembling in fear.
Her delicate face was streaked with tears, and she was still mumbling incoherently in a daze, “No… don’t… don’t touch me… Sister, save me…”
The sight made Ning Chen’s heart ache.
If he hadn’t already incinerated Wanyan Zhu’s corpse, he would have whipped it to a pulp a second time.
“Beixue, wake up. It’s alright. Everything’s fine now.”
Ning Chen stepped forward and gently helped An Beixue sit up, secretly channeling spiritual power into her to help her recover.
“Brother-in-law? Brother-in-law!! Wuwu~”
As soon as An Beixue saw Ning Chen, she could no longer hold it in.
She threw herself into his arms, sobbing like a pear blossom bathed in rain.
Though she had been drugged, she’d remained somewhat conscious. She knew it was Wanyan Zhu who had her abducted and tried to assault her.
That terrifying sense of helplessness—of watching herself about to be dragged into a dark abyss—had nearly broken her.
Now that she was safe, the emotions she had suppressed burst out all at once.
“Beixue! It’s okay now!” Get faster updates on g.com.
Seeing An Beixue crying in his arms, Ning Chen set aside all reservations about propriety and gently patted her back to comfort her.
A long while later, An Beixue finally calmed down and stopped crying.
But once her mind cleared and she felt Ning Chen’s warm, broad chest against her, she jolted upright as if shocked.
Her exquisite face flushed bright red in embarrassment.
“Brother-in-law… I-I didn’t mean to…” An Beixue tried to explain but couldn’t find the right words.
After all, she was his sister-in-law, and the way she had clung to him just now was far too intimate.
Ning Chen only smiled and shook his head. “Beixue, as long as you’re alright.”
“Mm.”
An Beixue pushed aside her embarrassment, but then suddenly seemed to remember something.
“Right, that damn Wanyan Zhu—what happened to him?”
“I vaguely remember someone arriving and fighting him. Brother-in-law… was it you? Were you the one who saved me?”
Looking into her bright, hopeful eyes, Ning Chen shook his head.
“Beixue, you’re confused. I’m just a scholar with no strength to even truss a chicken. Wanyan Zhu was a Martial Emperor. How could I possibly fight him?”
Hearing this, the light in An Beixue’s eyes dimmed slightly. “It wasn’t you, Brother-in-law? I guess that makes sense… you don’t have any martial cultivation. There’s no way you could’ve saved me from Wanyan Zhu.”
“Then, Brother-in-law, when you found me, did you see who did save me?”
“When I got here, I only saw you lying alone on the altar. I didn’t see anyone—just a glimpse of a shadow.”
“A shadow?”
An Beixue frowned. Then, her delicate body trembled as a thought struck her.
“Could it be him? That mysterious man who saved the An Family during the infiltration of the Tianluo remnants?”
“It must be him! But who is he really? Why does he keep saving us—always appearing as nothing more than a shadow?”
She clearly wasn’t letting it go.
Ning Chen quickly cut off her train of thought. “Beixue, whoever he is doesn’t matter. As long as you’re safe, that’s all that counts.”
“This place isn’t safe anymore. Let’s hurry back to the An Residence.”
Still feeling shaken, An Beixue didn’t want to stay any longer either.
She quickly followed Ning Chen, and the two of them returned to the An Residence by carriage.
After returning, both Ning Chen and An Beixue tacitly agreed not to speak a word about the dangerous encounter during their spring outing.
In the blink of an eye, several days passed.
While the An Family remained calm, the Wanyan Family had already fallen into chaos.
They had discovered that their beloved Young Master Wanyan Zhu, along with the Martial Saint guard Wanyan Zhongshan, had both disappeared without a trace.
At first, they didn’t think much of it. Everyone knew the young master was a reckless playboy who often vanished for days at a time.
But after several days passed with no word, the Wanyan Family began to panic and launched a search. No matter where they looked, they couldn’t find any trace of Wanyan Zhu.
“Useless fools! Find the Young Master at any cost!”
“There’s no way both our Young Master and a Martial Saint bodyguard vanished for no reason! If he’s alive, I want to see him. If he’s dead, I want his body!”
Eventually—
The incident alarmed none other than the Wanyan Family’s patriarch, Wanyan Tianxiong!
Wanyan Tianxiong adored his only grandson. Since childhood, he had granted him every wish, pampered him to the extreme.
With a single command from him, the Wanyan Family launched a city-wide search, turning the entire Great Chu capital inside out.
Finally—
Someone reported to Wanyan Tianxiong.
“Reporting, Patriarch. We’ve scoured the entire Imperial City and its surroundings multiple times but found no trace of the Young Master.”
“However, according to our investigation, before his disappearance, the Young Master had a conflict at the Yushu River with An Beixue—the An Family’s second young miss—and her useless brother-in-law Ning Chen.”
“Shortly after the conflict, both the Young Master and his Martial Saint guard Wanyan Zhongshan completely vanished.”
Sssss!
Upon hearing this, a terrifying light erupted from Wanyan Tianxiong’s cold, aged eyes.
“An Beixue! Ning Chen! Damn it! It was the An Family! They must’ve killed my grandson and destroyed the evidence! It has to be them!”
By the end of his roar, Wanyan Tianxiong’s killing intent blazed like a storm.
“Send word to the An Family immediately—have them hand over the murderer who killed my grandson! Otherwise, I, Wanyan Tianxiong, will personally wipe the An Family off the map!!”