Chronicles of Heaven's Chosen - Chapter 5

Yuan Yao remained immersed in cultivation, ravenously drawing in the spiritual energy around her.

Even through his astonishment, Song Yan remembered to warn her. “Little Junior Sister, slow down. Your body won’t be able to withstand it.”

His junior sister answered, “A body that can’t withstand power doesn’t deserve to be my body.”

Song Yan stared at her in horror.

Was this really his habitually lazy Little Junior Sister?

Had some wandering ghost possessed her?

She shocked him again and again throughout the journey. By the time they reached Wuduan Forest, Song Yan was still deeply unsettled.

He pulled his junior sister close and studied her for a long moment. He even swept his spiritual sense through her body. Only after confirming that nothing was wrong did he withdraw his hand, his expression complicated.

Watching the two of them stand so close together, Lu Xiangxiang felt a faint sourness rise in her heart. She put away her sword and approached Song Yan. “Eldest Senior Brother, let’s go inside.”

Song Yan looked toward Yuan Yao instead.

Yuan Yao was studying the forest before them.

Wuduan Forest was no ordinary woodland. Every spiritual plant in sight was silver-gray. In the sunlight, they reflected a faint gleam, shrouding the entire forest in a hazy, dreamlike beauty.

Yet it also looked as if all life had been drained from it.

A breeze whispered past, carrying the faint scent of blood.

It was far too quiet.

Unease prickled at Yuan Yao.

When Song Yan ignored her, Lu Xiangxiang bit her lip. A touch of grievance rose in her, only to be swiftly replaced by hatred—and a hint of vicious delight.

In her previous life, Song Yan and the others had nearly been wiped out in the Wuduan Secret Realm.

If Qian Jueshan had not sensed the danger in time and forced his way inside to rescue them, they would all have died there.

Lu Xiangxiang lowered her eyes.

This time, she would make certain Song Yan and the others died in the Wuduan Secret Realm—along with Yuan Yao, the precious white-moonlight junior sister they loved so much.

Pleasure curled at the corner of her mouth.

The smile froze an instant later.

“Junior Sister, what’s so funny?”

Lu Xiangxiang smoothed away her expression and looked up into Yuan Yao’s bright, guileless eyes. Regaining her composure, she shook her head. “Nothing.”

Yuan Yao smiled. “Have you been here before, Junior Sister?”

“No.” Lu Xiangxiang truly had never visited Wuduan Forest. In her previous life, however, Song Yan and the others had told her a great deal about it.

Something seemed to occur to Yuan Yao. “Oh, that’s right. Where did you live before you became Master’s disciple?”

“Merely some remote backwater,” Lu Xiangxiang answered coolly.

“I see.”

System 250’s voice sounded again in Yuan Yao’s sea of consciousness.

【Target Song Yan’s Awakening Value has reached 18.】

Song Yan’s face was cold, and the gaze he directed at Lu Xiangxiang held nothing but distance. There was something faintly condescending in the way she spoke to Yaoyao.

Lu Xiangxiang was the junior sister. She ought to show Yaoyao some respect.

She did not.

Song Yan’s impression of Lu Xiangxiang was poor indeed.

Yuan Yao said, “Eldest Senior Brother, should we message Second Senior Sister and the others and ask where they are?”

“All right.” Song Yan nodded and did so.

No one answered.

“They’ve probably entered the secret realm already,” he guessed. “Let’s go in and look for them.”

“All right.”

The three of them entered Wuduan Forest together. Lu Xiangxiang deliberately slowed until she had fallen behind Yuan Yao and Song Yan.

Yuan Yao noticed. With a lift of her brow and an easy smile, she moved to Lu Xiangxiang’s side and slung an arm around her shoulders.

Lu Xiangxiang flinched in surprise.

“Junior Sister,” Yuan Yao said, “I’m your senior sister now, so of course I’ll protect you properly. Stay beside me. We can get to know each other along the way.”

“There’s no need—” Lu Xiangxiang’s face chilled, but Yuan Yao cut her off before she could finish.

“Eldest Senior Brother, walk behind us and protect our junior sister!”

Song Yan hesitated, about to object, when Yuan Yao shot him a meaningful look.

He fell silent.

Then he obediently moved behind them.

Lu Xiangxiang’s expression shifted several times. She looked at Yuan Yao, suspicion and alarm churning inside her.

Could Yuan Yao know what she was thinking?

But no matter how closely Lu Xiangxiang studied her, she found nothing amiss.

Gritting her teeth, she said, “We don’t know the way. Eldest Senior Brother should lead.”

“Eldest Senior Brother doesn’t know the way either,” Yuan Yao replied.

Song Yan, who had just opened his mouth, quietly closed it again.

Lu Xiangxiang swallowed her anger. She could not turn on them now.

As they ventured deeper into Wuduan Forest, her expression tightened. She knew that a terrifying monster would appear here.

At her present cultivation, she stood no chance against it. That was precisely why she had wanted to walk behind Song Yan and Yuan Yao.

All at once, Yuan Yao sensed a violent surge of power.

She instinctively looked up.

“Watch out!” Song Yan sensed it too. His face changed sharply as he cast out spiritual power, wrapped it around Yuan Yao and Lu Xiangxiang, and yanked them backward.

Boom!

A violent detonation tore through the forest. Silver trees shattered in an instant. With a deafening crack, a sword scar deep as a fissure ripped across the earth nearby.

A gale erupted. Silver-gray leaves whirled through clouds of sand and stone.

“Xie Yan, you will not escape!” A middle-aged man’s deep voice crashed through the forest like thunder.

Shielded behind Song Yan, Yuan Yao and Lu Xiangxiang looked up at the same time.

High above them, a white-robed youth held a sword horizontally before him in his left hand. Killing intent chilled his eyes. A black ghost mask concealed his face, making him seem both mysterious and dangerous, while a smooth jade-green gourd hung at his waist.

The wind tossed the ends of his hair, revealing several strands of red among the black.

“Xie Yan?!” Lu Xiangxiang exclaimed.

What was he doing on the Ninth Continent?

Memories of her previous life quickened her breathing. She stared at Xie Yan in undisguised fear.

He was a deviant. A madman!

Hearing her voice, the white-robed youth glanced toward the three of them.

Song Yan tensed warily.

Lu Xiangxiang could not hide her terror.

【Target Xie Yan’s Awakening Value: -100.】

Yuan Yao stared.

It could go below zero?

The youth’s gaze came to rest almost unconsciously on the white-robed girl with the high ponytail. The look she gave him was strange, subtle—and somehow full of distaste.

Xie Yan’s lips flattened. “Tch. Ninth-level Qi Refining trash.”

His cool voice carried a lazy edge.

“Get lost.”

With that, he raised his sword to meet the middle-aged man’s attack.

Boom!

The terrifying spiritual pressure of a Nascent Soul cultivator exploded through the forest. Trees cracked, tore apart, and toppled all around them.

Before Yuan Yao and the others could react, the force of the collision hurled all three to the ground.