"That bitch Wang Yuyao actually lent him a pair of shoes at the high-grade artifact level!"
Seeing the familiar shoes, Liang Chen and Qian Yu both had the same thought flash through their minds.
The next moment, both shoes detonated at once.
A furious force tore up a whirlwind that instantly enveloped the two of them.
Liang Chen fared better—his spiritual-power palm imprint blocked the blast for a split second, so his injuries were lighter.
Qian Yu was worse off: he was blown clean away.
His clothes hung from him in tatters; his skin was charred black.
By contrast, the two weakest of the group—Niu Shouren and Chen Jiaojiao—suffered the least. Because Liang Chen and Qian Yu had been out front taking the brunt, the pair were only lightly affected.
They were swept away by the storm's remnant winds, but otherwise unhurt.
When the storm died down and the four regrouped, Wang Jianqiang had already vanished.
Liang Chen, Qian Yu, and Niu Shouren's faces soured.
Chen Jiaojiao, for some reason, felt a strange sense of relief.
…
"Liang Chen, Qian Yu—got you both remembered."
"And Niu Shouren and that two-faced bitch Chen Jiaojiao as well."
About ten li away, Wang Jianqiang reined in his aura and walked among plants coated in ice.
After that fight his remaining spiritual energy had been completely drained.
He popped a Fuling Pill into his mouth.
The spiritual energy returned very slowly.
"No good—need to find somewhere to recover properly," he muttered. "If I get ambushed now I'll be dead for sure."
His gaze swept the surroundings and landed on a stretch of icy mounds ahead; his eyes brightened.
One mound rose a dozen zhang high, and at its base grew waist-high ice grass.
Behind the ice grass was a dark mouth of a cave.
From his vantage, the entrance was just barely visible; otherwise it would have been easy to miss.
"This will do," he decided, quickening his pace into the cave.
The cave mouth was less than a zhang across—narrow.
But once he stepped inside he found the interior unexpectedly spacious—about the size of a normal house.
Even more surprising: there was an array formation arranged inside.
It looked very old, like it hadn't been activated in ages.
Wang Jianqiang tossed a few spirit stones toward the array's central eye.
To his delight, the formation sprang to life.
"Still usable!" he breathed. "And it's a concealment array!"
Once active, the cave entrance was completely hidden.
Inside, the cave felt like an isolated world.
Even a fully cultivated Qi Refinement master, using full detection, wouldn't be able to perceive the cave's existence.
With this array, safety here would be vastly improved.
He finally let his taut nerves relax.
He sat cross-legged and swallowed another perfect Fuling Pill to recover.
As he settled and began to refine, the pill's medicinal power spread fast. A cool current flowed through his limbs.
Spirit energy began to regrow along his meridians where it had been barren.
The recovery speed was more than thirty times faster than before.
Two hours later, Wang Jianqiang opened his eyes.
His spiritual energy had been fully restored.
When he thought of Liang Chen and Qian Yu, a fierce light flashed across his gaze.
A gentleman doesn't leave a grudge unpaid.
He was no saint.
Even before he'd detonated the artifact, he'd tampered with it.
A sliver of his spirit had been blended into the blast, attaching itself to the two men.
With that shard of spirit to guide him, he could sense their positions clearly within a certain radius.
They would have nowhere to hide!
"They actually set their sights on me—fine. I'll make sure none of you live through today!"
…
While Wang Jianqiang lay hidden in the cave to recover, Liang Chen and the others had already scoured the surrounding tens of li.
Unfortunately, because of the concealment array, they found no hiding place.
"Impossible. That old fool was so weak—he couldn't have gone far," Niu Shouren said, unwilling to accept it.
Liang Chen fell silent for a moment, his gaze sweeping Niu Shouren and Chen Jiaojiao—lingering over Chen Jiaojiao for a beat.
His look was lecherous and shameless; it made Chen Jiaojiao uncomfortable.
She frowned and hugged her chest, taking two steps back.
Liang Chen smiled at her with meaning, then turned his attention to Niu Shouren. "But the fact remains: Wang Jianqiang escaped."
There had been no attempt to hide the intent in Liang Chen's eyes when they fell on Chen Jiaojiao.
Niu Shouren stood beside her and saw everything.
His face flickered; he discreetly stepped in front of Chen Jiaojiao and forced a smile. "Brother Liang, don't be anxious. The secret realm only opened a month ago—we'll have plenty of chances later."
Liang Chen's smile took on a strange edge. "Yes, Brother Qian and I will have opportunities. Whether you two do depends on whether you and your wife are cooperative."
"What do you mean?" Niu Shouren suddenly felt a bad premonition.
"Brother Niu, are you playing dumb?" Liang Chen scoffed, his eyes greedily scanning Chen Jiaojiao. "If you didn't have a pretty, youthful partner, do you think with your pathetic strength either I or Qian would bother making friends with you?"
"My brother Qian and I enjoy taking care of a friend's wife and daughters—it's no secret. I don't believe you didn't know, Niu Shouren."
"And since you knew and still accepted our pills as gifts, isn't that tacit consent?"
"You accepted their pills!" Chen Jiaojiao stared at Niu Shouren in disbelief.
She hadn't known Liang Chen and Qian Yu's true nature—only that recently her husband had suddenly become friends with them.
She had thought the connection might help him rise; she never imagined this hidden foulness.
Niu Shouren looked at Chen Jiaojiao, struggling. "Jiaojiao, believe me—I did accept their gifts, but I never intended to betray you—"
"Ridiculous!" Liang Chen snorted. "If you knew our habits and yet still took our pills, why take them if you refused our terms?"
"Were you hoping to freeload our goods? Do you not know the meaning of death?"
"I—" Niu Shouren opened his mouth.
He did know their tendencies. But they had given him so much, and without explicit terms—only saying they wanted to befriend him—he'd clung to the hope it would be harmless.
His advancement to ninth-level Qi Refinement was thanks to those pills.
He never expected it would bring such disaster.
While Niu Shouren hesitated, Liang Chen's voice continued, "Now I'll give you two choices: die, or move aside and enjoy the show."
Sensing the killing intent in Liang Chen, Niu Shouren felt his heart go cold.
Between death and his partner, he finally chose submission.
Seeing Niu Shouren step back, Chen Jiaojiao felt hopeless. "With my looks I could easily find a fully cultivated Qi Refinement partner, yet I didn't."
"And every time I got resources from Wang Jianqiang, I split them with you."
"Tell me truthfully—without me, would you be where you are today?"
"I was faithful to you, yet you sell me out for a little gain—you'll die a miserable death!"
For a moment she thought of Wang Jianqiang.
In the past she'd despised him as a useless man with a bad reputation.
But thinking carefully now, Wang Jianqiang hadn't treated her badly.
It was her own excesses that had changed him.
Now she had been betrayed too.
She finally understood Wang Jianqiang's feelings.
Regret filled her heart.
She shouldn't have cut ties, shouldn't have schemed against him!
But it seemed everything was already too late.
As Liang Chen and Qian Yu closed in, a resolute look flashed across her eyes.
She had a temper.
She wasn't a virtuous woman, but she refused to let these schemers get what they wanted.
She flipped her palm—an airborne sword materialized in her hand.
She stabbed it hard into her own chest.