Chronicles of Heaven's Chosen - Chapter 23

Yuan Yao looked at him, unable to voice the many things in her heart.

She gave a quiet hum of acknowledgment and continued applying the Saint-grade Skin-Restoring Salve.

At that moment, two figures appeared at the far end of the bone passage.

Yuan Yao and Song Yan both looked over warily. The newcomers were Yan Haonan and Weng Mingshu.

The two of them had naturally spotted Yuan Yao and Song Yan as well.

Weng Mingshu’s expression changed. She hurried to Yuan Yao’s side, then stared at the ghastly wounds across Song Yan’s face.

“What happened? How did your Eldest Senior Brother get hurt so badly?!”

“There’s a black dragon inside,” Yuan Yao replied. “It did this to him.”

“A black dragon?!” Weng Mingshu exclaimed.

She had thought it was a flood dragon. She had never expected it to be a true black dragon, a creature of an even higher order.

Once she had calmed down a little, Weng Mingshu turned to Yan Haonan.

“Fellow Daoist Song.” Yan Haonan greeted Song Yan.

Song Yan gave him a slight nod, a faint smile touching his pale lips.

“Where is your Third Senior Brother?” Weng Mingshu asked, glancing around.

After Yuan Yao had carefully finished applying salve to the wounds on Song Yan’s face, she took out some gauze and answered, “He went to find Junior Sister Lu.”

Weng Mingshu did not ask who “Junior Sister Lu” was. She had already classified the girl as a member of the Xiaoyao Sect.

Yan Haonan finally spoke. “Mingshu, stay here. I’ll go inside and take a look.”

Weng Mingshu bit her lip, torn, before nodding. “All right. Eldest Senior Brother, you must be careful!”

Yan Haonan inclined his head.

He soon turned and headed farther inside.

Before long, Yuan Yao had finished bandaging Song Yan’s head. Her technique, however, was so excessively crude that even Weng Mingshu’s mouth twitched at the sight of it.

Yuan Yao then quickly applied medicine to her Eldest Senior Brother’s other wounds, stopped the bleeding, and bandaged them.

Under the salve’s effects, Song Yan first felt the wounds on his face turn cool, then burn hot. He could clearly sense them gradually healing.

Looking at the jar of Saint-grade Skin-Restoring Salve, now nearly half empty, he frowned, a trace of heartache crossing his eyes.

He remembered that Master had bought this jar from the First Continent for more than one hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones.

Now half of it had been wasted because of him.

Once she had finished treating his external wounds, Yuan Yao turned to Weng Mingshu.

“Weng Mingshu, please look after my Eldest Senior Brother for me.”

Weng Mingshu froze, then caught on. “You’re going in too?”

Yuan Yao pressed her lips together. “I want to scout out the situation inside.”

“Your cultivation isn’t even as high as mine,” Weng Mingshu said. “I should be the one to go.”

She started to rise, but Yuan Yao reached out and stopped her.

“You’re stronger than I am. That means you should stay here and help look after my Eldest Senior Brother.”

Weng Mingshu thought that did seem to make some sense.

Before she could answer, however, Song Yan braced one hand against the wall and forced himself to his feet.

“Yaoyao, I’m already fine,” he said. “You two should stay here and wait for us.”

“No!” Yuan Yao’s face turned stern.

Song Yan had never seen her look so serious before. For a moment, he was stunned.

She glared at him. “Eldest Senior Brother, you’d better listen to me. Otherwise, I’ll knock you unconscious.”

Song Yan fell silent.

Yuan Yao looked at Weng Mingshu and rattled off, “We’re friends who have been through life and death together, right? Since you think so too, please look after my Eldest Senior Brother and don’t let him run around! Thank you so much, my friend!”

She clasped both of Weng Mingshu’s hands, every word brimming with sincerity.

Weng Mingshu blinked blankly.

Yuan Yao gazed at her expectantly. “Can you do that?”

“I can…”

Before Weng Mingshu had even finished, Yuan Yao bolted.

“Yaoyao!” Even Song Yan failed to react in time.

He instinctively tried to follow, but Weng Mingshu came back to herself and grabbed him.

“Fellow Daoist Song, you can’t run off!”

“Please release me.” Song Yan frowned slightly, though his tone remained mild.

Weng Mingshu looked aggrieved. “Fellow Daoist Song, don’t blame me. This is all Yuan Yao’s fault! She told me to do it!”

Then she pouted. “I never even agreed to be her friend, yet she decided all by herself! It’s not as if I, Weng Mingshu, lack friends. One more or one less makes no difference to me. Hmph.”

Song Yan had no attention to spare for her complaints. His eyes followed Yuan Yao’s retreating figure.

Soon, she disappeared from sight entirely.

Unease weighed on his heart.

He could not leave them alone in danger.

He tried to wrench free, but Weng Mingshu held him in a death grip.

“Fellow Daoist Song, don’t make this difficult for me,” she said.

Song Yan knit his brows. “Fellow Daoist Weng, I won’t run off. Please let me go.”

“Really?” Weng Mingshu asked suspiciously.

After a moment’s silence, Song Yan said, “Really.”

“As long as you stay here with me and wait for them…” Weng Mingshu released him.

Before she could finish, Song Yan took off running.

Weng Mingshu gaped after him.

She immediately sprinted in pursuit, shouting, “Come back—”

“Fellow Daoist Song!”

“Aaaah, Song Yan! How could you break your word?!”

She gnashed her teeth in fury, with more than a hint of hurt beneath it.

Meanwhile, the black dragon breathed raging flames at the assembled cultivators. The temperature throughout the entire area soared as they dodged and defended themselves in disarray.

“ROAR—”

The white-robed youth wielding the black spear sprang into the air and swept his weapon forward. A spear of lightning and flame collided with the crimson fire, the two forces roiling together before exploding with a deafening boom.

The white-haired elder moved and appeared above the black dragon. Gripping his saber in both hands, he poured all his strength into a downward stab at its skull.

Clang!

Sensing danger, the black dragon rapidly formed a ring of fire to block the elder’s saber.

The two forces strained against each other.

Blood poured endlessly from the elder’s mouth, staining his teeth crimson. His face twisted in agony, but he refused to give way.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Seeing their chance, the other cultivators unleashed their ultimate techniques.

“Mount Hua Axe!”

“Four Sacred Kicks of Diancang!”

“Exquisite Skyflight!”

“Five Peaks Frostblade!”

“Six-Yang Sword!”

Attack after attack thundered forth.

Cang Li spun the spear in his palm several times. Violet lightning flashed around it, bringing with it a crushing pressure.

He moved, swift as a bolt of lightning, and flicked the spear upward.

“Meteor Chases the Moon!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions sounded one after another. Yet for all their might, the attacks did little more than graze the black dragon’s hide.

This was the scene that greeted Yan Haonan when he arrived.

He narrowed his eyes, manifested a longsword in his hand, and was just about to join the fight when—

His heart suddenly lurched.

As though beyond his control, he looked in a certain direction and saw the white-robed girl standing in the corner. She was extraordinarily beautiful. Sensing his gaze, she looked back.

The moment their eyes met, Yan Haonan’s heart began to race.

Lu Xiangxiang recognized him as well.

In her previous life, Yan Haonan had also been one of her suitors.