Chapter 082 - The Calm Before the Storm

Stillwater, Xu residence, servants’ quarters.

On their first day in the residence, there was nothing for the new servants to do. They had been told that tomorrow, one of the old hands in the estate would show them around and explain the specific tasks they would be responsible for.

Qin Mo lay on the small bed, staring at the wooden ceiling. He hummed a little tune while thinking through what he should do next. He had never expected to see Su Jinxuan on his very first day in the estate, much less that he would be so worked up after seeing her.

“That little girl never agreed to anything with you, brat. Look at you, floating already.” The middle-aged man’s slightly mocking voice suddenly sounded in Qin Mo’s heart.

Qin Mo’s thoughts stalled for a moment. He coughed lightly. Old man, it’s not like you didn’t see Jinxuan’s reaction. There’s always a chance.

“Tsk, tsk. I wonder who it was who kept insisting she was just an ordinary friend at the start.”

Qin Mo clicked his tongue and laughed. Old man...

“Wait.” The middle-aged man suddenly cut him off, sounding faintly puzzled. “Someone is sending you a voice transmission.”

What? Qin Mo froze, unable to react at once.

But in the next instant, a streak of white light passed through the wooden window and shot into the room.

The moment that ball of white light entered the chamber, it burst apart with a sharp pop.

Then a light, airy voice rang out inside the room. The message was very brief.

“Kid, a powerful expert is coming. If you want to save that sweetheart of yours, you’d better hurry. I can hold him off for half a quarter-hour at most.”

Qin Mo’s pupils shrank slightly.

The room fell silent for two seconds.

Then Qin Mo said in a low voice, Old man, what... what was that?

“A voice transmission skill.” The middle-aged man’s voice turned somewhat grave. “Mhm... judging by this aura, the person should be in the Origin Awakener Realm.”

Qin Mo did not lose his head because of the sudden change. He asked, Can this person be trusted?

The middle-aged man was silent for a moment before replying in a low voice, “I don’t think he’s trying to trick you. If he wanted to harm you, with his cultivation, killing you would be easy. Since he chose to send you a message at a time like this, my guess is he’s probably a friend of one of those little fellows from the Burial Village.”

As he spoke, a hint of teasing crept into the middle-aged man’s voice. “This person has likely been following you for quite some time.”

Qin Mo frowned and said nothing.

The middle-aged man’s tone was light and casual. “So, brat, what are you planning to do? I don’t know what exactly happened, but my advice is to run first. As long as the green hills remain, there will always be firewood to burn.”

Qin Mo lowered his eyes and fell silent. How they had been exposed was no longer the thing worth agonizing over. What mattered now was what came next. Run? Rationally speaking, with an unknown crisis unfolding, he truly ought to flee first.

But if he ran, what would happen to Su Jinxuan? And if he left this time, slipping back in later would be harder than climbing to the heavens.

Qin Mo slowly clenched his fists. His gaze grew firm. Master, can you help me?

“Ah...” The middle-aged man sighed. But after a moment of silence, he laughed again. “You little brat really are practical. Now you know to call this old man Master?”

Ahem... Qin Mo looked slightly embarrassed.

The middle-aged man’s voice carried a teasing note. “But since you’ve already called me Master, I can’t just leave you alone. If the situation truly becomes impossible, your teacher will take you and run. But you’d better move quickly. The person helping you probably won’t be able to stop that expert for long.”

Thank you. Qin Mo smiled faintly. Then he got down from the bed and walked out of the room.

With every step he took, an immense surge of soul power instantly spread out from the ring. The aura around him grew stronger by the second.

Qin Mo had only just stepped out of the chamber, when an explosion that seemed capable of tearing space itself apart came from the sky beyond Stillwater. The tremendous roar could be heard clearly in every corner of the entire prefectural city.

And right after the sound faded, a violent gale swept through, still fierce despite having weakened over the distance.

At that moment, every cultivator in Stillwater with a passable cultivation base could faintly sense the source qi between heaven and earth trembling slightly, then continuously flowing toward the southwest of the city.

As for the countless ordinary people in the streets who had no cultivation whatsoever, all of them stopped and looked up at the sky after this sudden change. Yet they could see nothing. The terror brought by the unknown nearly threw the whole city into an uproar, and countless voices rose in messy discussion.

“Hey, Old Liu, you’ve seen a lot. What... what was that sound just now?”

“Not too sure... Maybe an earth dragon turning over?”

“Miss. You’re a cultivator, right? Do you... do you know what that sound was?”

“Mhm. I know.”

“It couldn’t be a demonic beast invasion, could it? I heard several small cities near the Myriad Ascents Mountain Range have already been breached by demonic beasts.”

“This is Stillwater, a prefectural capital. What demonic beast would dare come here?”

“Old Wang, Old Wang, get out of the way! The mount got spooked and lost control!”

“Move! My earth dragon turtle has gone out of control again!”

“Ah!”

...

Compared with the chaos and noise in the streets of the prefectural city, the vast northwest courtyard of the Xu residence remained as quiet as a bookshop. The guards of every rank still stood silently at their assigned posts.

Ying’er had taken Su Jinxuan to the northern courtyard and was standing guard there, while Zhou Chen and Si Ziyu stayed by Xu Yuan’s side.

Even from deep inside the secret chamber, Xu Yuan had heard the tremendous boom from the sky just now. His heartbeat was a little fast.

Xu Changge had already made his move outside the prefectural city. In other words, Qin Mo would most likely act right away as well.

Amid the silence, Zhou Chen, who carried a sword on his back, suddenly raised his eyes and glanced upward. His voice sounded somewhat hollow in the sealed underground chamber.

“Third Young Master, please remain here in the secret chamber and do not move about.”

“Mhm. All right.” Xu Yuan, dressed in the Blood Jade Glazed Robe, nodded.

“Then I’ll take my leave for now.”

Zhou Chen cupped his fist slightly. Si Ziyu, standing beside him, said nothing, but also cupped his fist in salute to Xu Yuan.

Then the two of them vanished from the silent chamber almost at the same time.

In the vast underground chamber, only Xu Yuan remained.

The battle aboveground began very soon

Xu Yuan could clearly feel the earth trembling again and again. His strength was insufficient. In a fight taking place on the surface, he could not intervene at all. Having his life completely placed in the hands of others to protect him did not feel good to him at all.

Time passed bit by bit. The battle above continued without pause.

At some unknown point, a roar rang out, and Xu Yuan’s body swayed. He could feel that something seemed to have smashed into the ground directly above him. Bits of sand and stone shook loose from the ceiling of the chamber and fell.

Xu Yuan’s heart jolted, but before he could think carefully, another violent tremor shook the place. This time, cracks spread across the specially built dome of the secret chamber.

Xu Yuan stared upward with a grave expression as the Blood Origin Heartfall Art began to circulate silently within him.

What’s going on? How has the fight reached right above my head? Doesn’t this secret chamber have a soul warding array to block perception?

Fortunately, after that explosion, there was temporarily no major movement above his head.

Five seconds, ten seconds, thirty seconds...

After those two impacts, Xu Yuan could roughly guess that his location had most likely been exposed.

After a brief hesitation, he slowly stood up, preparing to leave. If he did not get out now, he would probably be buried alive.

And the moment he rose, another violent shake struck. Large sections of the special ceiling shattered, and the earth and stone above instantly poured into the chamber through the broken opening like seawater flooding a breach.