With a clear shout, the sword light transformed into several silver threads sweeping toward Guan Jinyue, their trajectory like an inverted galaxy, each strand of sword qi precisely bypassing Yin Chen’s body.
Stars shifted and constellations reversed.
Almost simultaneously, an invisible binding force field expanded outward from Su Yuehe.
“Restrain.”
Their cooperation was seamless—one attacking, one defending—completely sealing off Guan Jinyue’s retreat and movement.
Just as the sword qi and binding force field approached within three meters of Guan Jinyue, space experienced an extremely brief jump.
An Changqing’s sword qi was entirely diverted, embedding into the far ceiling of the restaurant and bringing down a shower of debris.
Su Yuehe’s binding force field vanished completely.
“Useless.”
Guan Jinyue spoke, her tone indifferent.
“Within the space I define, distance and the laws of physics are mine to command. Your attacks are relocated elsewhere before they ever reach me.”
In that moment, Long Ao charged forward.
He didn’t care about space or not—he closed in with a single stride, his right fist carrying terrifying power as it smashed toward Guan Jinyue’s face.
Guan Jinyue didn’t even look at him.
Long Ao’s fist curved midair, its trajectory twisted ninety degrees by an invisible force, slamming straight into the nearby dining table. The entire table shattered into wooden fragments.
“Long Ao, stop,” An Changqing called out.
Hong Yuan did not act rashly, because she noticed that Yin Chen seemed to be signaling her to hold still.
Though she didn’t fully understand, she had enough trust to restrain her fury.
Yin Chen stared at Guan Jinyue’s expressionless face. “What exactly do you want?”
Guan Jinyue finally looked at him directly.
“Yin Chen, come with me.”
“Your grandfather will open that door for you.”
Yin Chen’s entire body trembled. “You know my grandfather?”
“Yin Tianzheng,” Guan Jinyue uttered the name.
“Three years ago, he personally sealed a girl beneath the tower’s formation eye. That girl was my sister.”
Though exploiting the righteousness of these people was somewhat despicable, to Guan Jinyue, it no longer mattered.
She didn’t want to see any variables now.
Guan Jinyue’s body began to turn translucent, and the space beneath her and Yin Chen blurred.
She was about to take him away.
An Changqing raised his sword again.
Guan Jinyue glanced at him.
“You can try, but he’ll take this sword strike for you.”
An Changqing’s sword tip froze in midair.
“Tell Yin Tianzheng: his grandson’s life, or the mistake he made three years ago—he chooses one.”
“I’ll be waiting atop the Oriental Pearl Tower for one hour.”
“If I don’t see the seal lifted, then Shanghai’s most beloved grandson will be buried with her.”
Guan Jinyue and Yin Chen broke into specks of light before everyone’s eyes, silently dissolving into the air.
The restaurant was left with only four people and the table shattered by Long Ao.
An Changqing lowered his sword hand, his knuckles white.
Long Ao stood still, fragments of the broken table still wedged between his knuckles.
Hong Yuan slowly set her battle-axe back on her shoulder, her expression worse than when she went out to hunt demon beasts.
Though she trusted Yin Chen had his own trump cards, but... but... the man had disappeared right under her watch!
If anything happened—good or bad—how would she ever explain it?
The flames of the city still spread beyond the shattered floor-to-ceiling window that Chen Guan had kicked in, the roars of demonic beasts mingling with the thunderous collapse of buildings.
An Changqing spoke first: “Regardless, we need to contact the Yin family first.”
Su Yuehe had already picked up her phone.
She scrolled through her contacts. Damn, she didn’t have the number saved.
“Use his own phone to call.”
Hong Yuan picked up a phone from the floor—the one Yin Chen had left behind before he was taken, slipping from his pocket as he was dragged off.
She unlocked it; the last message on the screen was from the Magic City Association. After casually bypassing the lock, she handed it to An Changqing.
An Changqing opened the contacts. Yin Tianzheng’s number was at the top, saved with just two words:
“Grandpa.”
He pressed the call button.
It rang, but no one answered. Then came a busy tone.
“The old man even blocked his own grandson,” Long Ao muttered nearby.
An Changqing copied down the number and dialed it from his own phone.
As the call was still trying to connect, Hong Yuan suddenly spoke up.
“Where’s Chen Guan? Still not back?”
Everyone’s gaze swept across the restaurant, and they realized that from the moment Guan Jinyue appeared until she vanished, Chen Guan hadn’t been present.
Su Yuehe dialed Chen Guan’s number. “Chen Guan, where are you?”
“I’m on my way back,” came Chen Guan’s voice, layered with wind noise, followed by a statement that tightened everyone’s nerves again.
“She took Yin Chen, didn’t she?”
…
When Chen Guan landed back in the revolving restaurant, he stepped onto the same broken window frame he had kicked in earlier.
The wind rushed through the gap, ruffling Su Yuehe’s hair.
An Changqing looked at him, cutting straight to the point.
“How did you know Yin Chen was taken?”
“She never planned to fight me from the start,” Chen Guan said as he stepped over the shattered glass. “She appeared on the rooftop just to lure me away. Her real target was Yin Chen all along.”
Long Ao’s fist was still clenched, his voice low.
“You guessed that all along?”
“Half of it,” Chen Guan replied, glancing at the empty center of the restaurant where a half-finished glass of water still sat, left at the spot Yin Chen had last stood.
“But she doesn’t want Yin Chen dead. She wants his sister.”
Hong Yuan shifted her battle-axe to the other shoulder.
“How do you know everything? Who’s that silver-haired woman? And how do you all seem to know her?”
“Guan Jinyue. She used to be from the Beishi Academy and is the contractor of the demon god Baal. There’s a ten-billion bounty on her head.”
An Changqing took over the explanation.
Seeing that An Changqing had already clarified things, Chen Guan didn’t add anything more. “Did you get in touch with the Yin family?”
“Already did. The car is on its way,” Su Yuehe said, looking down at the bright signage clearly visible below.
The Association personnel were handling the cleanup quickly. The area was already under control. Most of the beasts that had appeared were low-level, so the brief chaos had been contained.
As for what the demon beasts might have in store for the future, who knew? At least for now, things looked calm outside. Civilians had taken emergency shelter, leaving only uniformed personnel and well-intentioned locals bustling through the streets.
The private car raced through the streets of Magic City. Outside the window, Association reinforcements could occasionally be seen dealing with lingering beasts. The large and small cracks in the sky hadn’t completely vanished, but their expansion had clearly slowed.
Chen Guan could sense that Guan Jinyue was controlling the pace. She didn’t want to actually destroy this city—at least not yet.
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
