Chapter 503: Chance Encounter (1/10, Autumn Subscription)

"Who's there?!"

"Ma, Lord Ma?!"

Rolling dust swept in, and Fang Yue and Qing Chen spoke at the same time.

After a momentary daze, Fang Yue immediately came back to his senses.

What?!

Lord Ma?

The horse-head masked man!!

That… Lord Ma who captured Lord Han and locked him in a room!!

His fists suddenly clenched tight, and Fang Yue's whole body trembled with excitement.

Truly, you wear out iron shoes searching in vain, only to find it without any effort at all!

"Run… run! Big boss, let's run! That's Lord Ma! He's back! He's come to kill us!"

Qing Chen grabbed Fang Yue's hand and prepared to flee, but found Fang Yue stood like a mountain, immovable, impossible to drag away—instead, he himself nearly stumbled and fell.

"Big boss?"

He felt Fang Yue's hand trembling, his body shaking, yet the expression on his face was gradually blooming into a kind of savage, frenzied smile.

Stuffing Xiao Xuedou into Qing Chen's hands in one motion, Fang Yue did not retreat but advanced, stepping into the rolling dust, walking step by step toward the horse-head masked man.

"Big boss?!"

"You go first, I'll cover the rear."

C-cover the rear?!

Is this a question of covering the rear? That's Lord Ma!

And without your protection, if they run into a Grotesque behind, these two people and one Grotesque would surely die without a doubt.

Qing Chen grew secretly anxious.

He had forcibly broken through his realm relying on 【Realm Breakthrough Progress】, and his strength had barely reached the Postnatal Third-rate Realm.

It wasn't that he had never fought a Grotesque before—before, he had a chunk of flesh bitten right off—with no actual combat experience, he was no match for a Grotesque at all.

As for Lin Ling on his back, even less combat ability—barely held in one hand, Xiao Xuedou was not only unconscious, but damn it, was a Grotesque; once awake, who knew if he would suddenly lash out and kill.

With this kind of lineup, the big boss still shouts for me to go first—isn't this asking for my life!

But when he saw Fang Yue and Lord Ma, in the process of gradually approaching, as if internal force were being released outward, two invisible Auras clashed together, and a sudden boom of an explosion rang out in the air; the violent blast wave immediately swept out, instantly scattering the rolling dust clean.

His view instantly broadened; Qing Chen, carrying Lin Ling on his back, was blown away directly by this blast wave, hurriedly shielding Lin Ling, and they tumbled to the ground together in a sorry heap—only Xiao Xuedou pitifully flew out and rolled over a dozen times.

Qing Chen:!!!

Casting a lingering-fear glance toward the direction of those two, Qing Chen hurriedly scrambled up in a sorry state, carrying Lin Ling on his back, grabbed Xiao Xuedou from the ground, and ran without looking back.

He had to run—god, what level of battle was this? Just the aftershock of the fight was already beyond what he could stand nearby and observe.

"Damn! The big boss is way too strong! He actually seems like he can really match Lord Ma?"

Recalling the Aura clash just now, Fang Yue was weaker than Lord Ma, but from Lord Ma's slightly surprised expression, he had clearly underestimated Fang Yue.

"He can fight! The big boss has a chance to win… if, if there's some external force intervening to help the big boss, the odds of winning can increase by at least another twenty percent!"

Unfortunately, this was the Phoenix Organization's Underground Stronghold, surrounded entirely by enemies; if any external force intervened, it would be helping Lord Ma.

But Qing Chen had no way either—he was alone and weak; besides running and not being a drag, what else could he do?

Boom!!

A huge explosion suddenly erupted behind—he and Lord Ma must have engaged.

Qing Chen didn't look back, just carried Lin Ling on his back, hugged Xiao Xuedou, and ran headlong forward.

He didn't know how long he had run, only that his legs had gone numb, and the sounds of the fierce battle behind could no longer be heard at all.

He only felt his body's strength nearly overdrawn, his mouth dry and throat parched, as if he could collapse from exhaustion at any moment.

Fortunately, along the way, he hadn't run into a single Grotesque, though he did encounter two groups of Phoenix Organization personnel also fleeing for their lives.

But they didn't seem to realize they had already betrayed the Organization, so they just ran past him as if he weren't there, without laying a hand on him.

"Can't go on… if I keep running, my legs will break…"

Qing Chen felt his eyelids so heavy they could close at any moment, his whole body as if filled with lead, unable to lift his feet; he had gone from running to walking, and the Xiao Xuedou he had been holding in his arms was now only gripped with one hand, and now he had switched to dragging it along the ground.

But Lin Ling on his back—he had always protected very well; after all, judging from the big boss's attitude, this guy was someone the big boss cared about more, and if the big boss really did defeat Lord Ma, he still had to keep following the big boss to get by.

Without the Phoenix Organization, Qing Chen's future became bleak, and he could only place his hopes on Fang Yue.

From running to walking, from walking to shuffling, Qing Chen really couldn't walk any longer now—not one step—his stamina completely drained, he just wanted to drop his butt on the ground and wait for death.

"Ahhh!"

Just then, a wretched scream suddenly rang out from ahead.

Qing Chen, who had been nearly dozing off while walking, gave a sudden start and instantly woke up.

When he nervously looked ahead…

Clip-clop!

Clip-clop!

A dense sound, different from footsteps, rose from the darkness ahead, rapidly growing from far to near, quickly approaching!

This was… the sound of horse hooves striking the ground!

And it was… coming from the opposite direction!

Not fleeing ahead, but rushing toward this side??

What kind of move was this? Could the road further ahead be blocked?

Qing Chen was puzzled, glanced left and right, and was just about to find a place to hide…

Whoosh!!

A sharp sound of something tearing through the air suddenly rang out.

Before Qingchen could react—

A shadow the size of a pebble instantly pierced through his left thigh.

Hiss—!

Blood spurted high from his thigh. Qingchen, overcome by the pain, collapsed to the ground, clutching his leg and letting out a wretched scream.

"Wait! Stop! That's Xiao Xuedou and Captain Lin!"

Whoosh—

Along with the second stone-like shadow, as though deflected by someone's interference, it landed less than five centimeters from Qingchen's head and sank into the ground, giving off a faint wisp of smoke as if from the high-speed friction with the air. Qingchen was so startled his face went pale as paper.

When he looked up ahead, he saw a large group of Qingsi Horses charging up to him, surrounding him completely.

A woman with a strikingly heroic air leapt down from her Qingsi Horse, a white sharp sword hovering at his chest.

"Speak! Why is Captain Lin in your hands? What exactly happened up ahead?"

Staring at the Qingsi Horses all around him and the people dressed as Qingsi Qingwei, Qingchen was instantly dumbfounded.

Once he came back to his senses, he immediately grew excited.

"E-everyone, hurry, hurry and go up ahead to help the big shot! Help Ye Baiyi!"

Ye Baiyi?!

Captain Ye?!

The crowd was stunned at first, then exchanged glances, their eyes filled with delight.

"Captain Ye is still alive?"

"That's wonderful! We haven't come the wrong way!"

"What's the situation with Ye Ge now? Why is Captain Lin with you, and what's going on with Xiao Xuedou?"

Updates have resumed.

Slept all day and still want to sleep, but wide awake at night…

(End of this chapter)