The Master and His Wealthy Fiancée

Just as the broken sword touched her skin, which was still visibly fair despite being stained with blood, Chen Dong's voice rang out.

"Martial Uncle Meng, what a wretched state you're in!"

Meng Yingluo's hand froze, and she stared into the mist in disbelief.

'I just heard that voice yesterday afternoon. And that form of address, "Martial Uncle"... there's no mistaking it. It's definitely Chen Dong!'

A flicker of joyful surprise ignited in Meng Yingluo's heart. 'Have people from the sect arrived?' But amidst the mist, there was nothing but a vast, terrifying demonic aura.

The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

In that instant, Meng Yingluo's despair deepened. So many members of the Human Race had already died, including several of her own close friends—all to protect her. 'And now this martial nephew has been captured by the great demon, too. Just another restless spirit, another soul lost in vain!'

"Martial Nephew Chen Dong, to think we would die here together. This must be some kind of fate!"

With those words, she began to raise the broken sword again...

Chen Dong's figure instantly appeared before her, a single Silver Needle stopping the broken sword in its path.

'What an unreasonable woman!' Chen Dong, who hated getting into troublesome situations, had stumbled right into one. He had no choice but to intervene.

Kui Wu and Ao Jun were stunned the moment they saw Chen Dong. 'Isn't that the member of the Human Race that the Elder (Uncle Kui) was chasing? How did he get here?'

Chen Dong had no time to waste. They weren't far from the Fire Pine Mountain Range; attracting the attention of a Nascent Soul Great Demon would be a catastrophe.

"You're uninjured. Go keep Ao Jun busy. I'll deal with this black-robed one!" Chen Dong commanded directly.

Meng Yingluo thought Chen Dong was speaking to her. She shook her head listlessly. "It's no use... If it's just the two of us, we'll never escape..."

Chen Dong paid her no mind, vanishing on the spot like a flash of lightning.

This was his first battle since reaching the Golden Core Stage. He would have liked to take the time to properly test his new strength, but the situation didn't permit it. He had to strike with his full power and end this fight quickly, before anyone from Fire Pine Mountain noticed.

'Is this...? This is the fluctuation of Golden Core Spiritual Power!' Meng Yingluo's hollow eyes flew wide open. 'This martial nephew... he's at the Golden Core Realm!'

Kui Wu and Ao Jun were just as stunned. 'To think this member of the Human Race was hiding his true strength!'

Kui Wu swiped his Jiao Claw. "Even a Golden Core is useless! You will die here!"

The words had barely left his mouth when, in a flash of lightning, he choked on a mouthful of blood.

The speed was simply too great; even as a late-stage Golden Core cultivator, he hadn't had time to react.

Chen Dong's figure materialized within a distant flash of lightning. He frowned. 'He's not dead?' In that instant, he gained a new appreciation for the sturdiness of the Demon Race's physique. He had hoped to avoid a major disturbance by finishing him in a single blow, channeling enough lightning to obliterate a Golden Core Stage expert into the black-robed figure's body. Instead, the demon had withstood the attack with his already heavily injured flesh.

Chen Dong couldn't be blamed. This was his first battle at the Golden Core Stage, and he was still somewhat lacking in experience.

But if one strike wasn't enough, he would simply strike again. With another flash of lightning, Chen Dong's figure vanished once more.

Seeing this, Ao Jun was about to use a secret treasure to help Kui Wu, but he was suddenly enveloped in Liu Ling's mist. At the same moment, the protective golden light around his body vanished, and Liu Ling's cold voice echoed in his ears.

"Young Master Golden Flood Dragon, I advise you not to make any rash moves. We are both of the Demon Race. I have no desire to kill you."

Ao Jun, who had just produced a golden scale, could only put it away again.

After that single blow from Chen Dong, Kui Wu knew he couldn't treat his opponent as an ordinary Golden Core cultivator. His aura was merely that of the early-stage Golden Core, yet his speed was so immense that even a late-stage Golden Core like himself couldn't keep up.

Sensing the lightning of Chen Dong's next attack, Kui Wu instantly teleported away, soaring into mid-air. With a deafening roar—AWOOO!—he instantly transformed into his true form, a massive black Flood Dragon, to face the assault.

Lightning crisscrossed through the air, but Kui Wu's Jiao Claw once again swiped at nothing. Another ghastly wound appeared on his hundred-foot-long draconic body.

He had been fighting injured from the beginning, and his speed was no match for Chen Dong's. Distracted with concern for Ao Jun, he was now at a major disadvantage.

"Still not dead?" Chen Dong muttered in slight surprise, then called out softly, "Qingzhu!"

Instantly, Chen Dong's left eye flared with light as Mu Qingzhu's Divine Technique, the Grand Divine Calculation, activated!

Chen Dong instantly understood. The Black Flood Dragon clan was naturally resistant to lightning. 'No wonder.' He recalled his earlier assumption about this so-called "Black Jelly Water Affinity Technique"—that a lightning technique would be more effective than a Fire Technique. Turns out he'd been completely naive.

Reeling from the pain, Kui Wu spun around and spat a mouthful of his Innate Divine Technique at Chen Dong—the Water Evil Divine Light.

But with his Grand Divine Calculation active, Chen Dong's form flickered repeatedly, allowing him to evade the Divine Light while simultaneously closing in on the wounded Flood Dragon. This time, the lightning in his hand did not form a Thunder Spear, but instead coalesced into a Thunder Sword.

Dubhe Sharp Sword Technique!

An enormous amount of Spiritual Power surged from the supreme-grade Golden Core in Chen Dong's Dantian. Following the path of the Sword Technique, it formed a blade of sharp light that coated the Thunder Sword. With the unstoppable momentum of a blade that could cleave mountains and shatter stone, it swung around the Flood Dragon's neck. The hundred-foot-long black dragon crashed to the ground with a deafening thud, its body and head landing in two separate places.

'No wonder the Cyan Sky Sect is the one guarding this region of the Demon Realm,' Chen Dong thought. 'Against the Demon Race, Sword Techniques are far more effective than other arts.'

The Dubhe Sharp Sword Technique was the primary Cultivation Technique of Sharp Sword Peak, but its Foundation Establishment Stage chapters were available for any Inner Sect Disciple of the Cyan Sky Sect to borrow. Chen Dong had checked it out from the City Lord's Mansion and practiced it a couple of times without delving too deeply. Now that he'd used it, he found it was actually quite effective.

Given the circumstances, Chen Dong didn't overthink it. He used the Beast Taming Contract to order Liu Ling to keep Ao Jun under control, then hoisted Meng Yingluo onto his shoulder and made a hasty retreat.

Ao Jun seemed to be stunned by the Liuling High Priest's status, or perhaps by how quickly Kui Wu had been slain. He didn't even resist as Liu Ling's mist wrapped around him.

As for Meng Yingluo, she was simply dumbstruck. She never imagined Chen Dong possessed such power. Already a spent force, the sudden release of tension was too much for her, and she fainted.