Hard Work

"Alright, deal!!"

Count Gray blurted out his agreement without a second thought. Let alone paying extra, he would willingly exhaust his entire fortune as long as he could save Anna.

He wiped the tears from his face and looked at Ye Chuan with eager eyes:

"Lord Xi Xi, please act quickly! Whatever materials you need, I'll have someone fetch them immediately!"

"No need, I brought my own."

Ye Chuan waved his hand and slowly walked toward the woman in the magic circle.

The power of chaos gleamed at his fingertips.

Then, he pressed his hand onto Anna's head, and the power of chaos flooded into her body like a tidal wave.

Anna, who had been roaring and struggling, suddenly stiffened before erupting into an even more violent resistance.

The human-skin monster inside her sensed a lethal threat and began a frantic backlash.

"Aargh!" Anna let out a shrill, inhuman scream. Beneath her livid, grayish skin, the squirming traces became increasingly obvious.

Immediately after, a terrifying scene unfolded.

Countless fingernail-sized eyes densely sprouted from the surface of her skin, covering her cheeks, neck, arms, and even her entire body!

These bloodshot eyes had dark black pupils that darted around constantly, exuding a nauseating eeriness. Pale yellow mucus oozed from the whites of the eyes and slid down her skin, emitting an even stronger putrid stench.

"Eek!!!!!"

Such a spine-chilling sight left Elara, who was standing not far away, trembling all over.

Count Gray also turned deathly pale and subconsciously took a step back, yet he kept his eyes fixed on Anna, his gaze filled with heartache and anxiety.

Clank, clank! The silver chains binding Anna began to shake violently. The light of the magic circle flickered, and the originally solid seal was actually forced open with cracks by the monster's sheer strength.

With a loud bang, the chains snapped, and the magic circle collapsed completely. Anna's body hovered in the air, her limbs twisted at bizarre angles, and a pitch-black monstrous aura swirled around her!

"Anna!" Count Gray cried out in horror. He wanted to rush forward but was blocked by an invisible force.

"Don't get in the way, or I'll smack you," Ye Chuan said in a calm tone. He raised his hand and waved it at Count Gray and Elara, instantly enveloping them in two black shields of light.

The light shields isolated them from the eerie aura and the screams outside.

He kept his hand pressed on Anna's head. His power of chaos did not diminish in the slightest, firmly suppressing the monster inside her.

Anna's shrieks grew increasingly piercing. The last shred of sanity in her eyes completely extinguished, replaced by pure brutality and terror.

She snapped her eyes open. Her original pupils had long vanished, leaving only a pitch-black void. Emitting a hoarse, monstrous roar, she questioned in a tone that did not belong to a human:

"Who... who exactly are you?! This power... it can actually hurt me!"

Ye Chuan raised an eyebrow. "Me? Just a passing ordinary guy. Remember that."

"An ordinary guy? Impossible!" The monster roared, manipulating Anna's body to lunge fiercely at Ye Chuan. Her sharp fingernails grew several inches longer, gleaming with a dark green, highly toxic light as she clawed at Ye Chuan's throat.

But at the very moment her fingertips were about to touch Ye Chuan, he took a step forward. An invisible aura crushed down like a massive mountain, pinning Anna's body firmly in place.

"No! Impossible! I won't accept this!" The monster struggled madly, its limbs writhing non-stop. The eyes all over her body wept continuously from extreme agony, the mucus dripping onto the floor and corroding it into small holes.

Yet no matter how hard it exerted itself, it could not break free from that invisible restraint. It was as if she were nailed in mid-air, unable to move an inch.

Ye Chuan's power of chaos began to purge and devour the human-skin monster inside her body.

Sizzle... The monster let out a mournful wail. The pitch-black aura was continuously extracted from Anna's body, condensing into a writhing black shadow in Ye Chuan's palm.

The black shadow struggled and roared incessantly, but it ultimately could not escape the fate of being completely annihilated by the power of chaos, gradually turning into flying ash and dissipating.

As the monster was devoured, the eyes on Anna's body closed and fell off one after another. Her skin gradually returned to its normal color, the livid gray fading away, and the squirming traces vanishing entirely.

Her body went limp and fell toward the ground.

"Anna!" Count Gray quickly rushed forward, catching her steadily and holding her carefully in his arms.

Anna weakly opened her eyes, her gaze having regained its clarity. Looking at Count Gray, her voice was soft yet hoarse: "Darling... I... I'm back."

"It's good that you're back. It's good that you're back..." Count Gray hugged his wife tightly as tears rolled down his face again. This time, however, they were tears of joy and relief.

He did not care about the stains on her body; instead, he lowered his head and kissed Anna's forehead. The tension in his entire body instantly dissipated, leaving only the rejoicing of regaining what was lost.

Ye Chuan tossed a healing spell at her. Anna gradually fell into a deep sleep in Count Gray's arms, her breathing steady, having already escaped from danger.

Count Gray carefully picked her up in his arms, turned to look at Ye Chuan, and bowed solemnly:

"Lord Xi Xi, I, Gray, will never forget this kindness!"

With that, he shouted toward the door: "Someone! Bring five thousand gold coins here!"

Soon, an attendant walked in carrying a heavy bag of gold coins and respectfully handed it to Count Gray.

Count Gray offered the bag of gold coins to Ye Chuan: "Lord Xi Xi, if you have any further requests in the future, I, Gray, and the Dior territory will definitely fulfill them!"

Ye Chuan took the bag of gold coins, weighed it in his hand, and revealed a satisfied smile:

"Not bad. Very straightforward."

"I will issue an order right away to assemble all the military forces of the Dior territory and set off for Galen immediately to join forces with Count Kan Gong's allied army!" Count Gray spoke in a firm tone, his eyes full of determination.

"The monsters in the Royal Capital made my wife suffer, and I will definitely make them pay for it with my own hands!"

"Alright, we'll head back to Galen and wait for you first." Ye Chuan said as he picked Elara up with one arm and flew outside, quickly disappearing from the attic.

While flying in mid-air, Elara's limbs dangled limply. She seemed quite used to this rollercoaster-like feeling by now, and couldn't help but speak up,

"Teacher, is this matter considered resolved?"

"Yeah, it's resolved. We just have to wait for them to dispatch their troops."

"Teacher."

"Hmm?"

"You're really so strong... You're stronger than anyone I've ever met. Teacher, how on earth did you train to become like this?" Elara swung her limbs in mid-air, full of curiosity.

"You must have put in a lot of hard work."

"I worked so hard adding stat points, doing quests, AFK farming, and building my attributes. Of course I'd have this kind of strength," Ye Chuan said.

"How could ten years of bitter cultivation possibly compare to my hard work of AFK farming?"

Although Elara didn't quite understand what AFK farming meant, she still felt that Ye Chuan's strength must be the result of putting in ten thousand times more hard work than ordinary people.

This was something Elara couldn't even imagine.