Taking a leave of absence today.

Driven by the sincere intention to share the burdens and ease the worries of the Martial Empress, Wan'er took the initiative to come to Princess Taiping's residence to make some arrangements. "This must be a matter of utmost importance concerning the Princess's lifelong reliance!" Wan'er did not beat around the bush and went straight to the point.

Glancing around anxiously, she heard a familiar set of footsteps approach, which finally allowed the heart that had been hanging in suspense all day to settle.

Wang Qiang frantically maneuvered his mecha in continuous dodge patterns, the armor body involuntarily retreating step after step. There was no helping it; when the pilots' skills were roughly on par, the inherent discrepancies between their mechas created a massive advantage and disadvantage.

A clear look of disgust surfaced on Guguran's face, and a fierce rage burned within her eyes. However, Jaldabaoth—the one bearing the brunt of her fury—merely shrugged the matter off.

The wind blew in from outside the window, the rattling sound of the shattered pane resembling falling leaves, while the room still carried a foul stench that even the gale could not dissipate. He knew his wounds had completely festered, resembling a piece of rotting, maggot-infested meat.

"Between us, there is no need to utter these two words." Xiao Yihan reined in the bitterness residing in his heart, his brows once again radiating his former, high-spirited vibrancy.

"My Lord, Long Wu bears responsibility for this matter; it was my failing not to detect the anomalies in time," Long Wu said, dropping heavily to his knees before Feng Qingchen with an expression filled with guilt.

Consequently, Ma Qingfeng instructed Guan Ying to contact the elders who supported him along with the disciples of the Black Snake Gang, preparing to reclaim the position of gang leader.

Once the matters concerning the Sword Sect were settled, Ma Qingfeng released four divine beasts to roam freely upon Sky-Breaking Peak, instructing Wei Min that if the Sword Sect were ever attacked again, he should ascend Sky-Breaking Peak to transmit Ma Qingfeng's decree, at which point celestial soldiers would descend from the heavens.

As soon as those words were spoken, the ground beneath our feet began to grow unstable, trembling like an earthquake. Yet, that tremor felt strangely familiar, as if we had experienced it somewhere before. Suddenly, it dawned on me—was this not the exact sensation we felt the other night when the giant snake burst forth from beneath the earth?

The imperial clans of the Wang and Wu families utilized supreme peerless treasures to shatter the heavenly and earthly profound array, descending directly above the Heavenly Court Academy. Wang Xinhuang and Sage Wang Qing of the Wang family gazed intently upon the Heavenly Court.

Jiang Han turned his head and offered a smile, which gave the trio led by Yutian quite a scare. Anyone capable of instantly obliterating a late-stage Divine Soul expert must possess at least a peak Divine Soul realm cultivation; against such an opponent, Jiang Han would merely be marching to his death in vain.

Yet, this very scene was playing out around another man, and instantly, the fires of jealousy blazed furiously within Feng Kang's heart. As he looked at Xie Yeyu, deep and profound hatred immediately surfaced in his gaze.

***

Hunter actually listened carefully to the sect rules just a moment ago. The rules of the Thief Sect were indeed virtuous; thieves could act as chivalrous bandits who robbed the rich to give to the poor. However, just as Uncle Fu had stated, the sect was simply too vast, and coupled with poor management, it had become internally fractured, with the four directions—east, west, south, and north—each acting independently, unable to even elect a proper sect leader.

Chen Feng upgraded his wristband communicator and scanned himself, only to discover with astonishment that despite having undergone several upgrades, he still remained at the third stage of Awakening.

Hunter and Yan Tianxin had witnessed two explosions with their own eyes. They were not surprised when the first explosion occurred; before their departure, they already knew that Arnold had planted explosives in the surrounding residential houses and knew where the safe zones were, allowing them to evade danger should an explosion occur during their return journey.

Their wild-man tribe was renowned among countless clans; if Chen Feng and his two companions had merely emerged here by chance from some distant tribe, it seemed plausible, except that they resembled the ancient clans far too much.

"How is that possible? Why are his twenty bowls of chicken meat worth twenty gold coins? Calculated that way, it comes out to one hundred copper coins per chicken! Even plumed and plucked, the difference couldn't possibly be that vast, right? Why are these three magic chickens of ours only ten copper coins each?" Li Yun-cai asked in disbelief.

Having attained the rank of a Tier 3 Wizard Apprentice in less than three months, many people speculated whether he could advance to a full-fledged official wizard within a single year.

"Open fire!" Xie Bangui suddenly shouted in a furious roar, finally snapping the Fire God Guards back to their senses. They instinctively pulled their triggers, firing wildly and indiscriminately ahead of them. After the smoke cleared, the fire remained fire, and the night remained night. Aside from the beads of cold sweat covering the Fire God Guards, absolutely nothing had changed in the slightest.

Qu Qingyou suddenly burst forth, flinging Qu Qingran's hand away as if she could no longer endure having such a monstrous crime as murder pinned so forcibly upon her.

"Knowing that is enough. If you keep talking, I will let you girls experience what a true yuri bond is!" Andy continued browsing the forum and finally discovered useful information, such as the current general status of the territory.

As they flew downward, Du Tie and Jia Jing saw that among the people below, some actually possessed wolf or bear heads; even those with human appearances had dark, ash-colored faces, and some lacked white pupils entirely, their eyes glowing with a sinister black light.

Ha, it was finally auctioned off! Originally, when this Qingling Grass was transported here, the auction house management had no intention of selling it, but Fu Kang suddenly changed his mind just now, which is why it was brought out. He had assumed it wouldn't sell at all, only for that idiot Fangzheng to win the bid.

He could not help but smile bitterly. This must be hell; otherwise, how could one float suspended in mid-air without falling?

As for Ouyang Ke's fist techniques, Yusheng would parry whenever he could, and "dodge" away the moment he could no longer block, launching counterattacks from different angles to continue experiencing the sensation of dancing with a "snake." Before long, Ouyang Ke had finished executing his "Spirit Snake Fist" once through, and now he began performing it a second time.

***

If one were to speak of the rarest pieces of equipment, they should be rings and earrings. Currently, fewer than one hundred people possessed these two types of equipment, and bronze-tier items were similarly scarce, whereas necklaces already numbered in the thousands.

Tomorrow was the day to dispatch the troops. Ji Ya rested for a while to alleviate the physical discomfort before deciding to pay Wu Yan another visit.

Juliana did not reactivate her flame shield once more—not because she lacked the time to cast the spell, but because she possessed alternative methods to handle the situation.

That being said, judging by recent developments, the opponent appeared to be intentionally slowing down their offensive pace. This felt like a deliberate attempt to lull us into complacency, meaning a major move was likely approaching. Preparations had to be made in advance to cope with it.

Yet, what the other party said was not entirely unreasonable either; Ma Jiajue was no pushover. To blindly follow him down this single path to the bitter end would likely lead to an equally certain death.

At the center of Star-Awakening City stood a seven-story stone tower known as the Guardian Tower, which only the City Lord was permitted to enter.

Ye Fei remained seated inside the car in his usual manner, lighting a cigarette, reclining his seat to the maximum angle, and resting his feet casually upon the steering wheel while leisurely blowing out rings of smoke.

Ji Lue's face was ashen, cold sweat already seeping across his forehead. He stared with wide, unblinking eyes fixed directly upon Ye Fei.

Upon arriving at Boss Chen's inner courtyard, the person who received them was the current Mrs. Chen. Fortunately, Ah Shou had brought Ziyun and Zhuge Leng along; otherwise, had two total strangers shown up out of nowhere inquiring about Chen Yao—especially with Master Chen away—Mrs. Chen would never have permitted them to enter.