Blood as red as vermilion poured from Xiao Yuanming’s mouth, staining half of the sky a crimson hue.
His eyes were fixed on Chen Nan as he felt his life rapidly ebbing away, filled with immense unwillingness – he was actually dying at the hands of someone from Qi Dao Ninth Heaven.
He, a prestigious Taoist Master, was unable to defeat someone from Qi Dao Ninth Layer!
At that moment, Xiao Yuanming regretted it.
He regretted engaging with Chen Nan, he regretted underestimating the power of the Jade Lotus Platform.
If it were a battle of true strength, without any external assistance, he would have easily crushed Chen Nan; after all, there was an insurmountable chasm between Qi Dao and Yu Dao.
If it were an ordinary Qi Dao master, even five from Qi Dao Ten Layers Heaven could not defeat one from the First Level of Imperial Realm.
But now, Chen Nan, with the power of the Jade Lotus Platform and the strength of Qi Dao Ninth Layer, had severely injured, and even killed, a Taoist Master!
Xiao Yuanming’s eyes were lifeless as he now lacked the strength to even muster a trace of energy. He looked down at his sunken chest, saying with extreme reluctance, "Without this Jade Lotus Platform, killing you would be like crushing an ant."
"There are no ’ifs’ in this world, only outcomes, and today you will surely die!"
Chen Nan’s voice was cold, his killing aura billowing.
All he did was raise his hand, and his right hand, like a sharp dagger, pierced directly through Xiao Yuanming’s chest and exited through his back.
A shower of blood sprayed in the air and Chen Nan, retracting his hand, clutched a shattered heart and brought it back.
Xiao Yuanming’s eyes bulged enormously as he fell to the ground with a thud, dead with his eyes wide open.
Thus, the Taoist strength met its end.
Chen Nan discarded the heart from his hand and looked toward Hua Yunfei, only to find that the lad had taken advantage of his intense fight with Xiao Yuanming to escape again.
Clutching the Lotus Platform, Chen Nan picked up the Hunyuan Sword and swiftly followed in pursuit.
However, unlike the last time, Hua Yunfei hadn’t left any footprints this time, and after chasing 200 meters, Chen Nan was at a loss where to go next.
Clearly, the footprints Hua Yunfei had left earlier were deliberate because he had buried explosives ahead, and in fact, his injuries weren’t severe enough to prevent him from using Qinggong.
Without any clues, Chen Nan couldn’t continue the chase.
Glancing at the corpse of Xiao Yuanming on the ground, Chen Nan took out a small porcelain bottle, which contained Corpse Dissolving Liquid, obtained from the Toxic Wolf previously.
After dropping two drops on the corpse, black smoke arose, and the fleshly disfigured body quickly dissolved, soon leaving only a pile of clothing behind.
Chen Nan summoned his Inner Strength with a shake, directly grinding it into dust that scattered in the air, leaving no trace behind.
After walking some distance in the direction out of the mountains, Chen Nan disposed of the bodies of the black-clothed man and the three Cultivators as well, and then headed towards the edge of this barren mountain.
Finding a water source to clean the blood stains off his body, Chen Nan sat down cross-legged on the ground and circulated his True Qi to dry his damp clothes.
After taking care of everything, he finally rose and walked towards the Chen family’s direction.
Under the big tree in front of the Chen household, Su Yixuan stood there looking out. Upon seeing Chen Nan holding the Jade Lotus Platform, a smile appeared on her face, "You’re finally back, you had me worried to death."
"That guy’s Kung Fu was quite good, it took a lot of effort to snatch it back," Chen Nan said with a light smile, not mentioning the fact that he had killed someone, to avoid frightening Su Yixuan.
Su Yixuan nodded and smiled, "It’s good that you got it back."
"Where’s Grandma? Let’s say goodbye to her and return to Ningjiang City."
Su Yixuan gave him a glance and said, "Returning to Ningjiang City is just an excuse, you’re just eager to go find your junior sister, aren’t you?"
Chen Nan smiled and did not respond.
The conflict in his heart, besides himself, no one could understand.
He truly couldn’t wait to meet his junior sister, but he also worried about how he would handle his relationship with Su Qingqing and Huo Xinya when she returned.
After parting with the elderly, around six in the afternoon, the two returned to Ningjiang City.
As they were about to reach home, Su Yixuan asked, "When are you going to see your junior sister?"
"I think... I’ll go after a while," Chen Nan said truthfully.
"Qingqing must be feeling bad, why don’t you..." Su Yixuan began, then hesitated for a long moment before changing her words, "Never mind, leave after dinner."
Chen Nan nodded in agreement.
Now that Su Qingqing and the others had finished school, when Chen Nan walked into the hall, the two girls and Yun Fei of the east were watching TV.
"Cousin, you’re back."
As soon as she saw Chen Nan, Liu Tiantian happily called out.
However, Su Qingqing only glanced at him briefly before turning her head away without saying a word.
Chen Nan thought it was because he hadn’t come home yesterday that she was angry, so he didn’t worry about it, unaware that she had seen everything this morning when he broke up with Huo Xinya.
"Girl, why are you so sullen?"
Chen Nan went over, smiling as he reached to pat Su Qingqing’s head, but she blocked his hand and pushed it away: "Don’t touch me."
Seeing her huffy appearance, Chen Nan found it somewhat cute and laughed, "Alright, our little princess, don’t be angry, what do you want for dinner? I’ll make it for you."
"Make whatever you want, what does it have to do with me?" Su Qingqing turned her head to the other side.
Her heart was completely unbalanced; Chen Nan would rather date his aunt than be with her, making her feel like she was just a stranger in Chen Nan’s heart.
In reality, she was too sensitive; in Chen Nan’s heart, her place was no lower than Huo Xinya’s.
Seeing her still angry, Chen Nan didn’t say anything else and pulled Yun Fei up to head to the kitchen, "What are you waiting for, help with the cooking!"
"So rough, do you even know how to treasure gentleness?"
Yun Fei rolled her eyes and said, "Seeing you lose face in front of the little girl, I’ll pity you a bit and help out."
Chen Nan turned around with a smile, "What help, you’re just a helper."
"Helper? Damn it, I quit."
Yun Fei threw up her hands and turned to leave.
"No no no, Yun sister, I’m the helper, I’m the helper," Chen Nan grabbed her and pulled her into the kitchen.
Yun Fei kept rolling her eyes: "I think you’re just asking for trouble, can’t give you a nice face."
The few beauties in the hall also felt speechless, especially Liu Tiantian, who scratched her head and muttered, "Cousin really likes to ask for trouble."
After dinner, around nine at night, Chen Nan, holding the Jade Lotus Platform, stepped out of the front door.
Outside the villa, a Land Rover was parked, the same one Chen Nan had driven to Fire Qilin Mountain last time.
He was leaving tonight and estimated that by dawn tomorrow, he would arrive at his destination and enter the formation to rescue his junior sister.