Chapter 241: The Little Girl and the Fat Old Man

The sound came from inside the shop.

Hu Siping anxiously waited for Zhang Xingyu's return.

At that moment, the fat shopkeeper emerged from the basement.

"Brother Hu, it's your turn!"

Hu Siping shook his head.

"Shopkeeper Liu, you go first! I'll wait a bit longer for my brother!"

The fat shopkeeper also shook his head.

"Brother Hu. Outside is filled with demon soldiers. Your brother probably won't make it back."

"It won't happen. It won't happen. Xingyu will definitely return; I can't abandon him."

Hu Siping insisted on staying.

The fat shopkeeper let out a sigh.

His complexion shifted several times, then he raised his hand like a knife.

"Brother, I'm sorry!"

Inside the Sword Curtain.

Zhang Xingyu spat another mouthful of old blood.

"Boom!"

The seventh sound.

One more.

If you hear that final sound, find a way to escape.

Even in a desperate situation, Zhang Xingyu believed that, with his own means, he could surely escape.

Outside the Sword Curtain.

The surrounded demon soldiers stared at each other.

After several successive attacks, the demon soldiers exhausted all their spare demon weapons.

Yet the human Sword Curtain remained unbroken.

"Awooo!"

In the distance, a demon dragon spread its wings and flew.

The dragon measured dozens of meters in length; its outstretched wings blocked the battlefield sky.

On the dragon's back stood a majestic Demon General.

He wore black demonic armor, wielded a God‑splitting spear, and a towering demonic shadow roared behind him.

He was Demon General Ha De, the commander of the demon army of Shanqi Cheng.

Ha De possessed late‑stage Demon General cultivation; half his foot had already entered the Demon Marshal realm.

Upon Ha De's arrival, all demon lords and soldiers knelt to the ground.

"You bunch of trash!"

"To capture a single human ant, I must act myself!"

In the sky, Ha De stood with his hands behind his back, looking down on all directions.

The gale wind rattled his armor, producing a whooshing sound.

Inside the Sword Curtain.

Zhang Xingyu felt a powerful aura pressing down.

Under the pressure, the flying swords in his hand operated sluggishly.

Alright, the big one is coming.

At least it's of Demon General rank.

Zhang Xingyu's heart tightened; he quickly reduced the Sword Curtain to one‑tenth.

He still couldn't run now.

That also meant he had to endure the Demon General's attack.

The Demon General's attack, even at only one‑tenth, would likely be beyond what he could withstand.

Can't run, can't block.

What to do?

Cold dish?

In an instant, his brain cells fired hundreds of millions of times.

A moment later, he made a decision.

Yellow Dragon retracts, Sword Curtain disperses.

Zhang Xingyu thrust his legs powerfully, darting into the demon soldiers like a rocket.

He intended to use this dense demon formation to buy time for that final sound.

A red flash in his hand sliced the blocking demon soldier in two.

Where the red light passed.

The demon formation seemed brushed by a calligrapher's brush.

Seen from above, one could see an S‑shaped pattern.

The S‑route is the hardest for enemies to lock onto.

A powerful presence hovered overhead; Zhang Xingyu certainly didn't want to be easily targeted.

Above the battlefield.

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Demon General Ha De's mouth.

This human scoundrel thinks that by fleeing into those low‑level demons, I would dare not strike?

He raised his right hand in a move, and a demon blade blazing with demonic flame appeared in his hand.

"Go!"

At the command, the demon blade swooshed to a position above Zhang Xingyu's head.

"Slash!"

The demon blade thundered down.

Flesh and blood flew in all directions, and smoke and dust scattered.

On the ground that had been filled with demon soldiers, a chasm several zhang wide suddenly opened.

Ha De retracted the demon blade and looked up at the sky.

At the far edge of his view, a flash of golden light streaked by.

Ha De gave a slight smile.

This human scoundrel does have some skill at fleeing for his life.

But this is my domain.

Even if you possess great power, don't even think of leaving alive.

It turned out, at the moment the demon blade was about to strike,

a booming sound came from afar.

The eighth boom.

Zhang Xingyu no longer hesitated and activated the golden divine wings on his back.

In the crisis, golden light flickered and he shot out flying.

Just as he was about to fly out of Shanqi City, the sky above the city suddenly churned with demon clouds.

Zhang Xingyu crashed headfirst into the demon cloud.

"Boom!"

A fist shot out from the demon cloud and instantly struck Zhang Xingyu's back.

It felt as if his body had been struck by lightning.

Zhang Xingyu instantly lost consciousness.

Looking at the figure falling from the sky, Ha De smiled.

Above Shanqi City loomed the supreme formation, the Heavenly Cycle Divine Demon Grand Array.

Without the passage token he personally bestowed, it would be impossible to pass.

He turned his head and said to a demon lord below, "That human scoundrel is dead; go fetch his head!"

"Creak, creak..."

On the road leading to Atlantis, a convoy of cargo wagons kept repeating their own song.

Zhang Xingyu slowly opened his eyes.

"You're awake?"

A faint scent of flowers wafted in.

Soon after, a girl holding a wildflower appeared before him.

The girl was about seven or eight years old, with a pair of pointed ears.

"Where is this?" Zhang Xingyu asked.

"This is a carriage, on my family's carriage," the girl replied.

"Who are you?" Zhang Xingyu asked again.

The girl didn't answer him, but stuck her head out and shouted outside.

"Dad, dad, come quickly. The guy you picked up has woken up."

Picked up?

Zhang Xingyu's mind went blank.

Remember?

Remember what you were doing before you passed out?

Right, I was fleeing for my life.

I was just about to escape Shanqi City when I took a massive punch.

Thinking of that, Zhang Xingyu felt pain in every part of his body.

He closed his eyes and gathered his spirit.

Zhang Xingyu's spiritual consciousness swept through his body.

Three bones were broken, all five viscera displaced, and his meridians shattered.

Fortunately, his dantian was only slightly injured, and his Golden Core remained intact.

Although it looked severe, a period of rest would allow full recovery.

At that moment, the carriage door swung open.

A short‑statured, broad‑shouldered old man struggled his way in.

He glanced at Zhang Xingyu and laughed, "You fellow, you really have a big fate. You were unconscious for over half a month; I thought you were beyond saving, yet you managed to wake up."

"Since you've survived, live properly!" The fat old man said, then struggled down from the carriage.

That fat old man seemed familiar.

His mind was hazy, and his eyelids were heavy.

After a while, he was utterly exhausted, so he closed his eyes and fell asleep again.

When he woke up again, he found himself lying on a wide wooden bed.

A thick blanket was spread on the bed, and a warm quilt covered him.

In the closet, several pieces of pine wood were crackling as they burned, and a faint pine scent drifted through every corner of the room.

A shaft of sunlight streamed through the glass window, evenly spreading across the area before the bed.

Outside the window, crystal-clear icicles hung from the eaves.

In the sunlight, the icicles sparkled with golden light, dazzling like diamonds.

"Looks like the harsh winter has passed and spring has arrived!"

Zhang Xingyu murmured softly.

"Ha ha, little brother, you're in high spirits! Looks like your recovery is going well!"