STNS: Chapter 520 (Patreon)

Huáng Zhuó was scum. Always had been. Always would be.

He had been born to scummy parents, lived in the seedier parts of Qiángzhě Chéng, and had been forced to commit many crimes to survive.

However, he had a knack for that. He was good at survivor, good at committing crimes. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been strong enough to avoid being beaten and kicked out of the city.

He wandered from place to place after that, fighting and stealing as he discovered like minded individuals. He had eventually formed his little group. They wandered the Da Continent, capturing, enslaving, and selling other magical beasts to powerful individuals and auction houses to make a living. Sometimes, they decided not to sell their slaves and keep them as pets until they were used up. It was a good life. A life he enjoyed greatly.

Ah, that look. I love the look on his face.

Wu Jian’s face was blank, but the cold rage in his eyes was enough to give Huáng Zhuó a thrill of pure pleasure.

Nobody spoke or moved, and Huáng Zhuó grinned as though sensing he now had the upper hand. He walked over to Xuán Yǐng, even as he studied the woman in his companion’s grasp.

What a beauty…

“This your girl?” he asked Wu Jian, grinning as he reached out to touch her cheek. “She’s quite the beauty. She’s the kinda gal a guy like me’d stop in his tracks for. Skin so pale it looks like moonlight kissed it. And those lips? Soft and pink, the kind that makes you wonder how they’d taste…”

Huáng Zhuó chuckled at the young man who remained silent and stony. He glanced at the other woman. She was a beauty of a different sort. This one in Xuán Yǐng’s grasp looked pristine like fresh snow, but the other woman was gorgeous like sin made manifest. She was the kind of woman who caused men to lose themselves to lust, to unleash their carnal passions. He felt like a hungry wolf looking at her.

For now, however, he focused on the other woman. There’d be time to play with that one later.

“Look at that hair! Deeper than night! And so shiny and soft. Never seen anything quite like it!” He reached out to grab her hair, then sniffed it. “Smells good. Heh,yeah, she’s the kinda woman that makes men reckless, stupid even.” His grin widened further as he stared at Wu Jian. “You get what I’m saying, right? You understand where I’m coming from? This is your girl. Heh. I wonder how far you’ve gone with her…”

“She still has her Yin Essence,” Xuán Yǐng said quietly.

“That so? Hah! Guess I’ll be having fun tonight!” Huáng Zhuó laughed.

“No,” a cold voice echoed out. It was nice next to his ear. “You won’t.”

“Spatial Severing.”

Huáng Zhuó leapt back, but he was not fast enough. He watched in shock as blood flew through the air, along with his right arm, which flipped end over end before landing with a meaty thud on the ground. It was still twitching, though it stopped soon.

What… happened?

He looked at where the woman had been in Xuán Yǐng’s grasp and found the young man he had been fighting there instead. Where had the woman gone? A glance around the cavern revealed the beauty in the other woman’s grasp.

“Spatial Folding.”

Before he had time to figure out how they had traded places, Wu Jian plunged his hand into Xuán Yǐng’s chest. His companion couldn’t even react as Wu Jian ripped his heart clear from his chest. The heart was still beating, though it was spurting blood and thumping erratically. Huáng Zhuó gawked as the young man crushed the heart in his grip.

“Chrysanthemum Bloom!”

While they had been fighting, Chì Yàn had tried to attack the two young women, but Zhou Lihua had swung her zhànshàn, infused with ghostly white flames. The flames quickly swept out. They did not extend far, instead forming a lotus flower that expanded outward. It was not large. Just big enough to cover the two women. However, the petals that shimmered like translucent glass formed a shield with multiple layers.

When Chì Yàn tried to attack with his fist, the flames quickly engulfed his arm, then extended past his elbow. He screamed and tried to put the flames out. Nothing worked. Even his own prodigious talent over fire could not diminish these flames, and they soon engulfed his entire body. He rolled back and forth across the ground as his eyeballs burst and his tongue turned to ash. It did not take long for the man to die. His withered corpse grew increasingly dry like a mummy until it simply crumbled into dust.

Dammit… it’s not supposed to be like this!

They had done extensive research on the people who had been hiding here, spending several days observing them. Everyone here had a higher cultivation than they did, but they were injured. Capturing them should have been easy. So how had it come to this? What had gone wrong?!

It never occurred to him that they had simply underestimated their opponents.

“Since it’s come to this, I am going to take at least one of you with me!!” Huáng Zhuó roared as he raced forward. He would not let the situation end like this! He needed to take down at least one of these bastards!

“You won’t get the chance,” Wu Jian said calmly as he reached out his hand.

“Spatial Folding.”

A strange feeling overcame Huáng Zhuó at that moment. It felt like something had clutched his heart. He staggered forward, wondering what was wrong, and only then looked up. His last image was of Wu Jian clenching his hand into a fist, crushing the red object in his hand to a pulp.

***

It’s over…

The moment Wu Jian killed the last of their opponents, his technique that kept him aloft ended, and he struck the ground face first.

“Owch! Dammit! That hurt! Ugh, this is why I didn’t want to use multiple techniques like that!”

He had been trying to fight those magical beasts conservatively to avoid looking foolish in front of Zhou Lihua and Wu Meiying. That was perhaps why he had landed in this situation. In trying to preserve his cool image, he had, in fact, made himself look even more foolish.

Zhou Lihua carried the still sleeping Wu Meiying over to the cave edge and set her against the wall before coming over to him. Wu Jian was amazed that Wu Meiying had managed to sleep through all that.

“Let me help you,” Zhou Lihua said, extending her hands.

“Thank you, Lili. Sorry.”

Zhou Lihua picked Wu Jian up. He didn’t say anything about how humiliated it felt to be held like a princess because he was grateful for her help… but he didn’t quite like this feeling. Wu Jian wanted to always look cool and reliable in front of his women. Needing their help for something so basic like getting up and moving around did not sit well with him.

“Why are you apologizing?” she asked.

“No… reason, I guess.”

“No reason, huh.”

She smiled like she could see through him.

Zhou Lihua set him down next to Wu Meiying, who was only now beginning to stir. He sighed. Why was it that she chose to wake up now after the danger had passed?

“I’m going to remove those corpses,” Zhou Lihua said. “Then I’ll… help with your legs again.”

Wu Jian looked down at his legs, which had healed up once more. He sighed. Then smiled self-deprecatingly at Zhou Lihua. “Please and thank you.”

Wu Meiying woke up as Zhou Lihua went about removing the bodies. She was going to take them outside to burn. While she did that, he informed Wu Meiying about what happened while she was sleeping. She seemed shocked but not worried.

“I saw what would happen, so I am not concerned. I knew you’d kill them.” She grimaced. “Though I don’t like the fact that a man other than you touched me.”

“I don’t either,” Wu Jian admitted. “In fact…”

He reached out and pulled her to him. His legs might have been gone at the knees, but he still had a lap, and he placed her on it before leaning down and kissing the places where that man had touched her.

“J-Jian… that tickles…” Wu Meiying said, sucking in a breath as he kissed her cheek, then trailed kisses down her jaw, before suckling on her neck. “Oh…”

Wu Jian became bolder and more handsy as he continued to kiss her. He slid his hands down her back and placed them on her rear end, then gripped them. Wu Meiying squealed into his mouth. She did not stop him, however, and instead slid apart his shirt and began letting her own hands rove over his chiseled chest and stomach.

“I’m baaaaaack! Did you miss… me…?”

And that was when Schuchang wandered into the cave alongside Zhou Lihua. His loud voice reverberated around the cavern walls for a moment before trailing off, just as he had. He placed his hands on his hips and grinned at Wu Jian.

“I see how this. So, while I was desperately searching for ingredients to restore your missing limbs, you were spending your time making out with these two, huh?”

“Schuchang… your timing is awful as always. Do you do this on purpose?” asked Wu Jian.

“Why, I don’t know what you mean.” Schuchang grinned like a naughty child playing a prank, but the expression left as he summoned something from his storage ring--an urn. “Anyway, I got this. Phoenix Ashes.”

“I’m surprised you were able to find that so quickly, but this is good,” Zhou Lihua said. “Now we just need to wait for Hou Jingshu and Yōuměi to return.”

They didn’t have to wait long for Yōuměi’s return. She came back two days after Schuchang, and not only did she bring Mystic Dew Herb, but also Golden Thread Root and Celestial Lotus Pollen--three of the five main ingredients needed for the Eternal Genesis Rebirth Pill.

“You did a great job, Yōuměi. Thank you for working so hard,” Wu Jian said as he gently rubbed Yōuměi’s head. The young girl practically purred as he ran his hands through her glossy black hair. The three scar marks traveling vertically across her eye wrinkled as she closed her eyes and smiled.

“Yōu… no, I worked my hardest. I want you to get better,” she said earnestly.

HIs smile became even softer. “It seems those ingredients aren’t the only thing you gained. You’ve become much stronger and more mature too.”

“Eh heh, so you noticed,” Yōuměi said with a cheery grin.

“It’s hard not to.”

Schuchang crossed his arms as he leaned against the cavern wall. “Guess that means we only need one more ingredient, yeah?”

Zhou Lihua nodded as she stored all the ingredients into her own storage ring. “Yes. All we need now is Azure Dragon Bone Marrow.”

“It was Hou Jingshu’s job to get that,” Schuchang said. “I wonder what’s taking so long. Also… I’m gonna have to leave you guys again for a bit.”

“Why is that?” asked Wu Jian.

Schuchang rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “I have some obligations I need to take care of. I got those Phoenix Ashes in exchange for a favor, so…”

“I understand. Do you need help?” asked Wu Jian.

Schuchang shook his head. “You focus on recovering. I’ll come back after I’m done.”

Schuchang stuck around for another day before heading back out.

Several more days passed, and Wu Jian became worried the longer it took Hou Jingshu to return. He had considered going out to find her, but everyone else stopped him. Even Yōuměi told him it was a bad idea. She did offer to search for the woman herself, but they also veto’d that since they didn’t know how long it would take.

Another day passed, and someone eventually arrived at their cave, but it wasn’t Hou Jingshu.

“Are you… Wu Jian?” asked the woman, studying him with an intense frown.

She had striking features that reflected a draconic heritage, longhair that shifted color from deep ocean blue to sea green, and bright eyes that were a piercing aquamarine. Her skin had subtle scales that reflected light from the fire. Right now, she looked visibly disgruntled.

Wu Jian frowned, but he quickly used Spatial Drifting to lift himself into the air. His actions caused the woman to blink several times.

“I am… who are you? Why do you smell like Jingshu?”

“My name is Loong Mei… and I come with both a gift and a message from Hou Jingshu,” she said in a grave voice.