With You Yun gone, Chu Qingyun felt as if a piece of him was missing.
Over the past few months, when You Yun had been by his side, Chu Qingyun had only felt a hazy, indescribable emotion.
But now that she was gone, he was struck by the realization that this girl, whose face he had never even seen, had already left an indelible mark on his heart.
Her maturity, her curiosity, her assertiveness, her playfulness—every facet of her had left a clear and lingering impression.
'Perhaps it's true that you don't know what you have until it's gone...'
The two most important won in his life.
For the cold and proud Ning Xue, what Chu Qingyun felt was mostly the desire to conquer a lofty goddess, a sense of possession over a woman he had already won.
But You Yun, that girl with a pitiful fate, had silently taken root in his heart.
"You Yun, Huo Wu'Er, I will beco a Martial Spirit, a Martial King, a Martial Emperor... One day, I swear I'll make it so you can live as yourself, under your own na! I will bring you back to your family, openly and with honor!"
The mountain wind howled. Chu Qingyun sat alone atop the peak all night, only descending at dawn the next day.
As he returned to the entrance of the Golden Lion Martial Arts Hall in Fla City, he happened to run into Sun Daxiong and Xia He.
"Chu, where'd you go yesterday? Xia He and I waited for you all afternoon at the Golden Lion Martial Arts Hall," Sun Daxiong called out from a distance.
To maintain secrecy, no one knew the complete plan for dealing with the Zhao Family except for Chu Qingyun, Grand Commander Chu Yu, and two special agents.
Sun Daxiong and Xia He had been staying in the City Lord's Mansion. They heard the commotion coming from the Zhao Family's estate and only learned the details after asking around.
When they heard that Chu Qingyun had personally killed a Half-Step Martial Spirit expert, they were both so shocked their jaws almost hit the floor.
Even though they knew Chu Qingyun was incredibly strong and had easily killed a Great Xia Dragon Guard Captain, they never imagined he could take on a Half-Step Martial Spirit expert.
Even Xia He, a Prince of Great Xia, was utterly horrified.
A Level-Eight Martial Artist killing a Half-Step Martial Spirit head-on? Forget Lianshan County—even in the imperial capital of Great Xia, that would mark him as a top-tier genius!
So they had imdiately gone to the Golden Lion Martial Arts Hall to find Chu Qingyun, only to find he wasn't there.
"Sothing ca up yesterday, so I was out..." Chu Qingyun sighed, then forced a smile.
You Yun being forced to leave had left him feeling utterly dejected.
But it also made him understand the importance of strength even more acutely. Without power, everything was just so... helpless!
'From now on, I have to face everything head-on, train harder, and beco stronger!'
Sun Daxiong and Xia He had co to find him because they were about to leave Fla City for Lianshan County City.
With the situation in Fla City resolved, the Zhao Family was in shambles. It was doubtful they would even survive, so they certainly wouldn't be able to spare any thought for Zhao Yishui.
Chu Qingyun nodded in agreent. He went to the Golden Lion Martial Arts Hall to pack his things and say his goodbyes to Chen Jinshi and the others.
After all, he had been staying there for two or three months; it was only proper to say farewell before leaving.
Hearing that Chu Qingyun was leaving, many people from the Golden Lion Martial Arts Hall, including Chen Jinshi and Chen Lengyu, escorted him to the entrance to see him off.
Chu Qingyun smiled, waved, and departed with Sun Daxiong and Xia He.
In the crowd, Chen Lengyu opened her mouth as if to speak, but ultimately said nothing. She let out a silent sigh, her eyes growing moist.
Noticing his daughter's reaction, Chen Jinshi patted her on the shoulder, sighed softly, and whispered, "Leng Yu, don't dwell on it. Chu Qingyun... he's destined to be in a different world from us."
Chen Jinshi, too, was filled with deep emotion.
Who could have imagined that the young man they had found lost in the Mist Forest would, in just over two months, cause such a storm in Fla City? Even the once-unassailable Zhao Family had fallen at his hands!
A person like that was destined to be different from people like them.
Fla City was destined to be just a single stop on Chu Qingyun's path of the Martial Dao.
"Chu, that girl's obviously into you! I bet if you asked her to co with us, she wouldn't refuse!"
Sun Daxiong said with certainty on the way to the Ten Thousand Treasures Tower, looking like a seasoned expert on the matter.
Beside him, Xia He nodded as well. "That's right. It's just one woman. It's perfectly normal for a man to have several wives and concubines."
Hearing their banter, Chu Qingyun could only shake his head in resignation.
'With You Yun having just left, how could I possibly be in the mood for that?'
When they arrived at the Fla City Ten Thousand Treasures Tower, Qin Ya quickly had everything ready, having learned they were departing today.
She had learned about the incident with the Zhao Family the day before and guessed Chu Qingyun wouldn't be staying in Fla City much longer, so she had started preparations early.
Upon seeing Qin Ya, both Sun Daxiong's and Xia He's eyes lit up.
The look they gave Chu Qingyun was filled with insinuation. "No wonder you didn't bring the other one. So, Chu likes the mature, charming type..."
Listening to their muttering, Chu Qingyun was left completely speechless...
In the south of the Northern Domain lies a forbidden land known as the Black Abyss.
For thousands of years, be it human or beast, whether entering by choice or by chance, none who have gone into the Black Abyss have ever returned.
In the very center of the Black Abyss Forbidden Land stood a tall, black tower.
On the highest floor of the tower, a black-robed figure stood with his hands clasped behind his back. Behind him, another person knelt on one knee.
"Black Scythe, has there been any major news in the Northern Domain these past few days?" the black-robed man asked coolly.
The kneeling man, Black Scythe, lowered his head, his expression growing even more deferential. "Reporting to the Hall Master, there has been no major news. The great sects are behaving as usual, and there's no change among the dynasties... Oh, right. There was a minor incident in the nation of Great Xia. Four of our people from the Small Spirit Realm were captured, but it was just a minor skirmish. Things like this have happened before in other places."
"The nation of Great Xia... that's not one of the Ten Great Dynasties, is it?"
"It is not. Among the hundreds of dynasties in the Northern Domain, Great Xia is ranked in the lower-middle tier in terms of strength."
"Very well... Then let's begin with the nation of Great Xia."
Hearing this, the kneeling Black Scythe was visibly stunned. He looked up in surprise. "Hall Master, what did you just say? What do you an... 'begin'?"
"Relay the order. Have the Martial Soul Hall in the nation of Great Xia make a move. They are to start in the very place where the incident occurred. Let this be... a test from my Martial Soul North Hall, to probe the Three Major Sects..."
As the black-robed man spoke, he gazed far into the distance, in the direction of the Northern Domain's three sects.
"Hall Master, it was only a few people in the Spirit Realm who were captured. Surely that's not worth our attention? Making such a high-profile move goes against the Martial Soul Hall's long-standing thods," Black Scythe urged.
"Alas... I am rely following orders from above. The higher-ups feel that the Martial Soul Hall has remained in the shadows long enough. And that... *personage*... has been silent for far too long..."
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