Chapter 350: A Chaotic Night

Night fell, a thin mist drifting through the mountain forest.

A bonfire rose on a clearing in the woods, surrounded by a few simple tents.

Li Luo sat beside the bonfire and glanced around. Zhao Zhao Jieyang and Gu Ying had both disappeared, though he still saw four other team members they had left behind—partly as protection, partly as surveillance.

Li Luo stretched, then caught a familiar, clean fragrance. He turned his head and saw Lv Qing'er approaching gracefully, sitting down beside him.

She seemed to have just bathed in the mountain spring nearby; her dark hair hung loose, still slightly damp, and her delicate, pretty features carried a bright charm under the bonfire's glow.

"Haven't gone to rest yet?" Li Luo said with a smile.

Lv Qing'er's eyes flickered slightly. "What scheme are you cooking up this time?"

Li Luo answered evasively. "What scheme? Whose? Yours?"

Lv Qing'er shot him an exasperated look. "Stop playing the fool. Did you sell out Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan and the others?"

Li Luo gave a dry laugh. Lv Qing'er was sharp by nature; she had clearly been watching his moves these past two days and could piece some of it together.

"Dogs fighting dogs—we're not the ones losing out," Li Luo said quietly.

"Don't think Ning Zhao and Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan came here to protect us. They probably heard about the Golden Dragon Qi on you and came to covet it."

"Let me tell you, here, only I am sincere toward you. Qin Qin Zhulu, that hothead, counts as half. So you have to believe that everything I do is to protect you," Li Luo said earnestly, lecturing her.

Lv Qing'er cupped her cheeks in both hands and said with a beaming smile, "Sweet talker."

"But don't worry, I never doubted you. Whatever you decide, I'll back you with everything I have. So even if Ning Zhao and Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan figure out you were scheming afterward and go to my mother to complain when we get back, I'll speak up for you."

Li Luo gave a thumbs-up. "That's exactly why I like you—always so reasonable."

While the two were talking, Qin Qin Zhulu came trudging back from a distance, drenched in sweat. He carried his heavy spear, wood chips clinging to his head—clearly he'd gone off again to take out his frustrations on the big trees.

He walked back, glanced at Li Luo, gave a low grunt, and carried his spear back to his tent.

Li Luo: "......"

At Qin Qin Zhulu's appearance—like a brat grounded by his parents and forbidden from going out to play—Li Luo was thoroughly at a loss.

He chatted with Lv Qing'er a while longer, then watched the girl head back to her tent.

Then Li Luo's gaze shifted toward the distant night. That was the direction where Ning Zhao, Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan, and the others were keeping watch—and where the vanished Zhao Zhao Jieyang and Gu Ying had likely taken their men...

Tonight was bound to be lively, but it had nothing to do with him. He was just an honest, well-behaved kid staying put in his tent and going nowhere.

In the thin mist.

Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan stood on a thick tree trunk, arms crossed over his chest, leaning back against it, his expression indifferent. In front of him, Ning Zhao sat on a branch, palm outstretched—thunder-aspected phase force pulsed in his hand, and a silver short shuttle quivered within the thunder-light, emitting a humming sound.

Neither spoke. They simply gazed at the silent mountain forest, as if waiting for something.

Until at some moment, a cold wind swept through the woods.

Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan tilted his neck slightly, turned his head, and looked toward the dark thicket behind with a faintly cold glint in his eyes. "Sneaking around—truly nothing presentable."

Footsteps rang out from the darkness, then two figures emerged—Zhao Zhao Jieyang and Gu Ying.

"Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan, since you arrived late, you ought to follow the rules. What isn't yours to take, wait patiently for two days before you try," Zhao Zhao Jieyang said coldly.

"We hadn't originally planned to do anything to you, but you just had to be ungrateful and wedge yourselves in to take a share of our profits. Since that's the case, don't blame us for being rude."

Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan smiled. "You certainly have thick skins. Do you really treat the Golden Dragon Qi as your private property?"

"Without our protection along the way, could they have held onto the Golden Dragon Qi? We're merely taking the reward we deserve."

Gu Ying let out a tinkling laugh, then mocked, "And don't act so righteous. Aren't you also greedy for the benefits the Golden Dragon Qi brings? Do you really think you're saints?"

Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan neither agreed nor disagreed. "The Golden Dragon Qi is on Qing'er. She's from the Great Xia Golden Dragon Treasure House, so naturally we're on the same side. By that logic, our claim is a hundred times stronger than yours."

"Sometimes, you know, it's when people seem like family that they eat people without leaving bones behind," Gu Ying said with a smile.

Zhao Zhao Jieyang stepped forward. Deep red phase force flowed across the surface of his body, heat spreading outward, gradually raising the temperature of the area. "Enough talk. Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan, I'll give you one choice now—scram on your own, or shall we make you scram?"

Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan clenched his hand, and a crimson copper staff appeared in his grip. Blazing red phase force surged out.

"I've long wanted to test whether your lava phase or my fire phase is more overbearing."

Seeing this, Ning Zhao gripped the silver short shuttle as well. Thunder-like phase force churned violently, faintly carrying the rumble of thunder.

"Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan, it seems greed has clouded your judgment. With your little squad, how can you fight us?" Gu Ying shook her head, then gave a light wave of her hand.

From the surrounding darkness, one figure after another stepped out, their gazes locking onto Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan and his group with ill intent.

Zhao Zhao Jieyang's side had four squads working together. Although a few people had been left behind to monitor Li Luo's trio, in terms of numbers they still held an overwhelming advantage.

Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan's gaze swept over those emerging figures as well, but surprisingly, there was no panic on his face—he had clearly anticipated this.

"Zhao Zhao Jieyang, you don't really think I came here without making any preparations, do you? In this world, clever people aren't only you." He suddenly smiled faintly.

At his words, Zhao Zhao Jieyang and Gu Ying's pupils contracted slightly.

At that moment, Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan slowly raised the crimson copper staff in his hand. Blazing red phase force surged skyward like a pillar of fire, strikingly vivid against the night.

Not long after Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan released the pillar of fire, Zhao Zhao Jieyang, Gu Ying, and the others heard the sound of something cutting through the wind from the distant darkness.

Streaks of phase-force light rose in succession, flashing through the dense forest.

At a rough glance, no fewer than a dozen or so people.

Zhao Zhao Jieyang and Gu Ying's expressions changed. They then looked at Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan with gloomy gazes. "So it was you who came prepared!"

Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan smiled. "I long anticipated you wouldn't be happy about us joining in. But fortunately, since you're unwilling, plenty of others are willing. Along the way here, you've offended quite a few squads. I just had to ally with a few of them, and I gathered quite a few allies."

"Zhao Zhao Jieyang, since you won't let me have a share of the soup, then I'm sorry—this whole pot, I'm taking it all away. If you don't know what's good for you, then I won't even leave you scraps."

"What arrogant words! Let's see if you actually have the ability!"

Zhao Zhao Jieyang laughed angrily, no longer waiting. Deep red phase force erupted; he stamped down, the ground cracking and scorching, and his figure, wrapped in searing heat, charged straight toward Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan.

Seeing this, Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan gripped his copper staff. Blazing red phase force surged, and like a man of fire tearing through the air, he met the charge with equally ferocious momentum.

Clang!

As the two collided fiercely, the figures who had come streaking from afar also began to clash with the members of the original four squads.

The silent night was broken at last.