The Hot Spring Chase

Screams, curses… utter chaos!

Xiao Chen unfurled his Undying Wings and shot forward, closing in on the women. Their robes were in Kana Si and Hai Yunxue's hands. He struck without hesitation.

Two hazy beams of light transformed into enormous dragon claws, reaching for the girls' slender waists. Kana Si, furious, sent a pink radiance sweeping back, while Hai Yunxue also loosed a streak of green light. Both women only wanted to escape now, their faces burning with shame and their thoughts scattered. They had no idea that the clothes they held were precisely the reason Xiao Chen gave chase.

Several crunching sounds rang out. The two hazy claws successfully coiled around the graceful Hai Yunxue and the lively Kana Si, dragging them back.

"Let go! Get away!"

"Give us back our clothes!"

Xiao Chen had caught them, but the posture was rather undignified. The two dragon-shaped light claws gripped the girls' willow-like waists tightly. Though there was no true contact, it was enough to make both women red-faced and gnashing their teeth.

"Xiao Chen, I'll fight you!" Kana Si struggled fiercely, and her white bathrobe slipped down, revealing a snowy expanse of soft flesh—a beautiful, distracting curve.

"You're exposed," Xiao Chen said carelessly, freeing one hand to carefully pull her robe back up. "Lots of 'substance' there."

"You…!" The blue-haired girl Kana Si fainted dead away.

"Miss, would you kindly return my clothes?" Xiao Chen flashed a brilliant smile at Hai Yunxue, white teeth gleaming.

The great beauty of the Southern Wastes had stolen his clothes—no matter how you phrased it, the whole thing felt off.

Hai Yunxue was tall and slender, with elegant curves and an exquisite figure. She was only a head shorter than Xiao Chen, her graceful form far more elongated than that of ordinary beauties—literally a first-rate beauty. Her wet hair gave off a faint fragrance; her snow-white skin was like smooth, congealed jade. Her hazy eyes seemed to hold swirling mist, her straight nose and delicate bridge beneath it, her bright red, lustrous lips looked incredibly sensual, and her snow-white teeth gently bit her lower lip. She spoke softly, "Let me go, please." She was trying to stay calm.

She had already dropped Xiao Chen's clothes on the ground. She was truly afraid of this wild man now, but even in this situation she remained composed, not completely panicked.

Before Xiao Chen could release her, Hai Yuntian's excited voice came from outside the flower grove of VIP Area Two: "Xiao Chen, I've come to see how you're collecting your ill-gotten gains…"

His voice was urgent, as if he were bounding over, but then it cut off abruptly, replaced by a furious shout: "Xiao Chen, I'll fight you! How dare you harass my sister!"

Hai Yuntian had already burst through the flower grove and charged over.

Any ordinary man would have found it impossible to explain himself, but Xiao Chen remained perfectly calm. He dismissed the dragon-shaped light claws and stepped forward to steady Hai Yunxue. "Careful, don't fall."

Hai Yuntian was livid. "Xiao Chen, you…"

"You what? Don't jump to conclusions. It's not what you think. Ask your sister if you don't believe me."

Hai Yunxue pulled free in an instant and said to Hai Yuntian, "It's nothing. I'm going back now." Even if something had happened, she wouldn't have spoken of it—let alone when it really seemed like nothing.

Seeing them both so composed, Hai Yuntian looked suspiciously from one to the other. It wasn't until Hai Yunxue's figure disappeared that he snapped out of it. He glared at Xiao Chen. "I definitely didn't misread that. You were trying to hurt my sister. Xiao Chen, I'm warning you—we're friends and all, but if you set your sights on my sister, I'll fight you to the death!"

"That's a very enticing challenge. Maybe I'll take it up when I have some free time."

"You dare!" Hai Yuntian paused, then stared at Xiao Chen in shock. "What are you doing?"

At that moment, Xiao Chen had smoothly spread out paper and ink, taken Kana Si's snow-white hand, dipped it in ink, and was pressing her fingerprint onto a blank sheet.

"Nothing, she owes me money. I'm just having her leave an IOU."

Hai Yuntian stared blankly. Behind him, Zhuge Kun and Hoffman watched with mouths agape. This Xiao Chen was utterly outrageous! He didn't even spare a beauty—what a terrifying "equal treatment" for everyone! And he dared to treat the precious daughter of the Mande family like this. What made their mouths go dry was that Xiao Chen had grasped Kana Si's delicate hand and pressed prints on not just one sheet, but sheet after sheet—eight or nine in total.

"Let's go. Nothing to see here." Xiao Chen didn't seem to feel he had overstepped at all. He finished with practiced ease, put on his clothes, and left with Keke and the Little Defiant Dragon. Hai Yuntian hurried after him.

Many people were heading toward the hot spring paradise. Xiao Chen nimbly dodged them all and left the area.

On the way back, when Hai Yuntian heard the full story, he felt like he wanted to vomit blood.

"Brother Xiao… you're too… bold, aren't you? This… this game isn't meant to be played like this. Aren't you afraid some old fossil from the Zhuge or Ligen families will jump out and annihilate you?"

When Hai Yuntian heard Xiao Chen's explanation, his expression was one of utter disbelief. "You… who told you that?! The restriction on old-timers acting has limits. The precondition is that you can't go too far. I'm speechless… I suggest you run for it now, or you're dead for sure!"

"We've been friends for a while. I'll help you out; I'll find someone to plead for you." With that, Hai Yuntian ran off.

But soon enough, Hai Yuntian was back at Xiao Chen's residence, shouting as soon as he entered: "Xiao Chen… you're too much!"

"Brother, you don't have to go this far, do you? I really didn't do anything to your sister. I didn't use much force when I grabbed her, and I was gentle when I steadied her by the waist…"

"Xiao Chen, I'll fight you! Where did you grab my sister?! Why did you touch her waist?!" The incomparably handsome Hai Yuntian flew into a rage again.

Xiao Chen felt speechless. It seemed no explanation would work; this guy didn't seem to be here to accuse him about his sister at all. His reaction only made things look more suspicious.

It took a long time for Hai Yuntian's excitement to settle.

It was only then that Xiao Chen learned, to his surprise, that he had been misunderstood by some people. Apparently, some thought his identity was extraordinary.

"You come from the deepest part of the Southern Wastes?!" Hai Yuntian said resentfully. "You're really not being a good friend. I treat you as a brother, and you won't even tell me your real identity."

Lowering his voice, Hai Yuntian added mysteriously, "Since you come from that most terrifying and unfathomable depth of the Southern Wastes, then that Little Defiant Dragon must be a Dragon King, right? Definitely a descendant of theirs!"

Xiao Chen quickly processed this information, more or less understanding his own new "identity." He murmured to himself, "Yes, I come from the deepest part of the Southern Wastes. That's my identity now. And it will be in the future…"

As Xiao Chen was muttering to himself, the Southern Wastes Sea seemed struck by a tsunami.

A tall, imposing youth gripping an iron sword slashed outward. One sword strike—and waves crashed against the shore, rocks pierced the sky, a thousand layers of towering waves rolled up, and a terrifying force erupted. The sea was split open, water cascading to either side, revealing a flat road stretching straight into the azure depths.

"I, Dugu Jianmo, can leave seclusion now!" It was the Southern Wastes strongman who had returned from Dragon Island and bitterly trained for over a year—Dugu Jianmo.

Not far away, a young Dragon King with the body of a lion-tiger and the head of an Ancestral Dragon howled furiously at the sky. It was the Red Dragon King who followed Dugu Jianmo—the most savage of the eleven young Dragon Kings. Its blood-red scales gleamed brilliantly, and blood-colored light leaped all around its body like blazing divine flames. Its roar was like thunder, ear-splitting. Its strength had clearly grown much greater than during its time on Dragon Island.

Meanwhile, in the primeval forests of the central Southern Wastes, ferocious beasts howled and stampeded. A black-haired youth, his body seemingly forged from steel, his upper body a naked bronze, covered in blood, charged through the horde of savage beasts.

Wild to the extreme!

Beasts seven or eight meters long were like straw dolls in his hands—he grabbed them and tore them in half, and with a few casual chops, he shattered several enormous savage creatures.

Demonic to the core!

He was terrifyingly savage. His bronze skin, shining with treasure-like light, was completely stained red with blood. His eyes were more ferocious than a beast's, flashing with cold light like blades.

As if shrinking the earth to inches, the blood-drenched demonic bronze body left trails of afterimages through the wilderness. Wherever he passed, waves of blood burst forth, and the horde of savage beasts fled, leaving behind a field of enormous corpses. The blood mist dyed the forest red.

Bloodthirsty to the extreme!

Finally, the fearsome demonic body charged straight through a ten-meter-long savage beast before he stopped his slaughter.

He came to a massive waterfall and let the thousand-foot cascade batter his tall, bronze demonic frame. His ice-cold gaze seemed to cut through the water curtain, shooting two terrifying beams of light toward Heavenly Emperor City.

"I, Yuwen Feng, should go back now!" He punched out, and with a thunderous roar, the mighty waterfall reversed its flow, surging upward.

In a desolate mountain range eight hundred li north of Heavenly Emperor City, a youth sat cross-legged atop a stone peak like an ancient stone carving. No life fluctuations could be felt from his body. His long, grey-white hair fell like withered grass in the wind, and his body was covered in dust, as if he had weathered endless ages and become completely petrified.

When the clouds in the sky drifted away and light dispelled the darkness, a ray of morning light fell upon him. The birds in the forest began to sing. In an instant, he erupted with vibrant life force; dust flew everywhere as it burst away from his body. His withered grey hair scattered on the wind, and a head of water-blue long hair instantly grew to shoulder length, gleaming with bright blue luster, looking incomparably healthy.

He was an exceptionally handsome young man. He rose to his feet and gazed toward Heavenly Emperor City, murmuring to himself, "I've already tasted Wu Xingfeng. Who should be next…"