Chapter 40: Number One St. Lyre Street (6)

The insect eggs hatched in unison, coalescing into a giant, blue-gray hand that clamped firmly around Su Ninglong’s ankle.

The whispers transformed into barbed roots, piercing her heart and eroding her spirit.

“Do you smell the irises? Behind you lies an eternal spring, a natural world of endless life. Everything you have ever desired is here.”

“Shuyi only adopted you to have another slave to do her dirty work; she sees you as nothing more than an expendable tool.”

“She’ll come down in a moment to apologize to you...” Li Mingxuan’s words from earlier suddenly echoed in her ears.

“There seems to be something living moving inside that fire cloud. Could it be the Heavenly Serpent that the tall, thin man mentioned?” Zhang Tianci watched the fire cloud with caution. When he spotted something writhing within the flames, he immediately recalled what the Soaring Serpent had said during its chant.

The gangs thrive on territory and manpower; the lords of the harbor clash, West Ring maintains its neutrality, the center is dominated by one powerhouse, and the rest all bow to the Song family.

“But Song Jiang said all of this was your doing. By the time he realized it, you had already acted, so he had to pacify you before he could bring you back,” Wang Lun said with a smile.

Bai Yu was momentarily speechless. She knew something about what Xiang Yulong said was wrong, but she couldn’t find a way to refute it, for what he pointed out was indeed a stark, naked reality.

Before long, the soft laughter and playful chatter of the children in the room faded away. Li Yingjun let out a long sigh, made up his mind, and crouched down once more among the pile of newspapers under the moonlight.

The sensory ninjas of the border guard unit searched and scouted along the road, finding a few more clues that allowed them to continue tracking the trail.

Father Jiang’s words made Mother Jiang roll her eyes. She reached out and shifted the dishes on the table, placing everything Jiang Huo had prepared to one side.

After walking a few steps in a daze, she suddenly stopped. Tears flowed uncontrollably as she thought of the possibility that the child in her womb might be missing a leg. Her heart felt as though it were being crushed by an iron fist, and she was overcome with anguish. What would become of her baby?

As for the Immortal Duo, Hidan had been lured into a trap of comfort, while Kakuzu, for reasons unknown, had gone berserk.

Mephala noticed the slightly excited look in the eyes of Rodhart and Xiangzhi. She wanted to ask what benefits they had gained from the ritual, but for the moment, she could only follow the flow of the crowd.

Xie Shen did not care much for sweets, so Madam Zhu specifically instructed the kitchen to forgo the use of sugar syrup or sweetened water. Still uneasy, she went to supervise the kitchen herself.

Recalling the dark-gold salamander-serpent hide that had dealt such astonishing lightning damage last time, it was clear that it too had been granted additional enhancement by the treasure known as the “Breastplate of the Great Serpent God.”

Few people paid New Year visits to doctors during the first lunar month, and doctors rarely went out to visit others, so the Zhang residence remained relatively quiet these past few days.

His earnest tone touched someone’s sense of humor, and a suppressed giggle broke out in the room.

He had heard Zhang Gonglüe say that Profound-rank martial artists were already as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, and that there were only a handful of Earth-rank martial artists in the entire Great Tang. As for those of the Innate rank, they were legendary figures; in several hundred years, only Li Yuanba had emerged.

Pibatian felt the bone-deep pain in his left arm reach his nerves and his brain. This extreme agony drove him to madness. The sensible choice would have been to flee, but his frenzy compelled him to lash out at Qin Feng with his crimson whip instead.

Third point: Cao Cao possesses the advantage of human support; the two great clans of Jingzhou, the Cai family and the Kuai family, have already secretly defected.

It seems I have no choice but to pay a visit to my father-in-law, the Dragon-Fish Emperor. Chu Xun rose and walked out the door, his figure flashing as he soared into the air. Identifying his direction, he headed toward the residence of the Dragon-Fish Emperor.

After all, this is not like a real wall where one can eventually find a boundary; a barrier is different. This sense of helplessness gave me a splitting headache.