12: Never mind. Let me do it.

The car drove into the mist, and visibility gradually decreased as they went deeper, as if falling into chaos.

“Screech—”

Su Chen slammed on the brakes; several cars with their hazard lights on were blocking the road ahead, completely cutting off passage.

Presumably, these were vehicles that had previously strayed into the misty area; their owners were long gone, leaving only empty shells silent in the fog.

Several people got out to investigate, and when they looked up, they all froze—through the pervasive mist, a giant rock, over ten meters high, stood in the middle of the road, like an ancient beast dormant.

The rock body was covered with honeycomb-like holes, and at its top, a swaying black flower glowed faintly, appearing and disappearing in the mist, exuding a strange beauty.

By then, some people had gathered at the base of the giant rock, some taking photos with their phones, others live-streaming with selfie sticks, clearly treating it as a new trendy spot for internet celebrities.

“It doesn’t look like a monster, more like a strange rock,” someone exclaimed in wonder.

With over fifty years since the resurgence of spiritual energy, various anomalies emerged endlessly, and people had long grown accustomed to them; many even became internet celebrities by tracking strange occurrences.

Nan Yafu, however, stared at the black flower at the top of the giant rock, her delicate brows tightly furrowed, her expression gradually becoming serious: “This is a Stone Demon, at least Ning Yuan Realm cultivation… How could it appear in a small misty area… Quickly, evacuate the crowd!”

Upon hearing the words “Stone Demon,” Tieshan’s face instantly changed.

Before he could even open his mouth to warn, a sudden change occurred—

Dozens of dark purple vines suddenly tore through the asphalt road, and amidst flying debris, a JK girl holding a selfie stick was entangled by her ankle and hoisted upside down.

As her skirt billowed, she shrieked in terror, trying to cover her hem, but in the next second, the tiny spikes protruding from the vine’s surface pierced her skin, instantly sucking her into a shriveled husk.

“Splat!”

Her phone fell to the ground, its bright screen still frozen on the selfie she had taken a second ago, where she was smiling radiantly.

“Ah! Someone died!”

“Run!”

Piercing screams tore through the mist, and the crowd instantly scattered, cries and trampling sounds mixing into a chaotic din.

Just then, a clear voice cut through the chaos: “Everyone, fall back! Xiang Feng of Yunshu Taoist Temple is here!”

Everyone saw a short, thin young man leap onto the roof of a bus, with a slicked-back hairstyle, and the metal chains on his leather jacket jingled.

He held up a bronze badge, and as it flickered with light, he struck out with a palm, sending out a misty aura that actually repelled several attacking vines by several meters.

“It’s a Demon Hunter!” someone recognized the badge and exclaimed, “And an E-rank one! We’re saved!”

“I’ve seen him on the news, he’s handled several monster attacks!”

The crowd seemed to grasp at a life-saving straw, retreating into the distance, many climbing onto car roofs to watch.

Seeing the vines temporarily retreat, everyone breathed a slight sigh of relief, but then fell into new anxiety.

“We can’t just keep waiting, can we?”

“Let’s wait for rescue; it’s good enough if we can survive.”

Xiang Feng scanned the crowd, his gaze suddenly falling on Nan Yafu.

He pushed off the ground, leaping several meters, and politely cupped his hands: “Miss Yafu, what a coincidence.

I convey my eldest Senior Brother’s regards.”

Then, he looked at Su Chen with a hint of hostility: “And this is? He looks unfamiliar.”

Su Chen’s face was expressionless, understanding in his heart—this was He Xing Tian’s junior brother, whom he had mentioned on the phone earlier.

“Su Chen, you’re here too!”

A clear female voice rang out.

Su Chen looked in the direction of the voice; it was a girl with a ponytail, wearing amber glasses, with a baby face—it was Xiao Yiyi, the class secretary from his university class.

“You haven’t been to class for several days, and the counselor said they’ll fail you if this continues,” Xiao Yiyi jogged over, her tone filled with concern.

For Su Chen, university life was already dispensable, and attending classes was out of the question.

Xiang Feng curled his lip, scoffing: “So he’s just a university student, a nobody.”

He completely ignored Su Chen, showing disdain.

The short-haired girl next to Xiao Yiyi leaned into her ear: “Your class has such a handsome guy? He’s almost as good as my idol He Xing Tian.

Is he the one you said you had a crush on before?”

“Hahan! Don’t talk nonsense, he has a girlfriend.”

Xiao Yiyi shrank her neck, her cheeks flushed.

“Wow, did I really guess right? You rejected those guys who confessed to you at school, just waiting for him?”

Hahan clicked her tongue, “What a pity, he doesn’t look like a cultivator.

Even an E-rank hunter can’t be bothered to give him a proper look.”

...

Nan Yafu’s gaze remained fixed on the black flower at the top of the giant rock, and suddenly remembering something, a hint of longing flashed in her eyes: “This Stone Demon’s companion flower is said to enhance cultivation aptitude; it’s a rare sacred medicine.”

Greed also flickered in Xiang Feng’s eyes: “That’s right! For those with Earth-grade aptitude or lower, it can open an additional pseudo-hidden meridian, practically a treasure that defies fate!”

One must know, even their exceptionally talented eldest Senior Brother He Xing Tian only possessed Spirit-grade aptitude with five hidden meridians; if he could obtain this flower, he might even touch the edge of Earth-grade.

“But this Stone Demon is extremely troublesome,” Tieshan sighed, “This one here looks like a juvenile, yet it already possesses Ning Yuan Realm strength.

Once approached, countless vines will entangle and kill, making it difficult even for Solid Spirit Realm cultivators to handle.”

Nan Yafu’s long eyelashes trembled slightly, clearly struggling.

She knew the danger involved, but she also understood the preciousness of this opportunity—as a genius in Jiangcheng, she would pale in comparison when placed in the province, and to advance further, she absolutely could not miss such a chance.

Moreover, this Stone Demon flower might even cure her chronic illness.

“I’ll try.”

The girl’s toes touched the ground, and she shot out like an arrow from a bowstring, reaching the giant rock in an instant.

In that split second, dozens of dark purple vines burst from the ground, twisting and killing like living pythons.

“Condense!”

Nan Yafu’s palms flew, and water-blue spiritual energy condensed into ripples, shredding the first three attacking vines.

However, the dark green sap seeping from the broken ends corroded the ground into smoke upon contact.

Her pupils contracted slightly, and just as she was about to retreat, hundreds of holes on the surface of the stone monster suddenly emitted a sharp buzzing sound.

“Be careful!”

Tieshan’s warning had barely finished when countless rhomboid stone cones shot out from the honeycomb-like holes.

Nan Yafu hastily raised a water curtain to block, barely fending off the first wave of attacks, but subsequent stone cones came relentlessly, and the water curtain quickly became precarious.

Tieshan had already rushed forward, shielding the girl behind him.

His muscles bulged, gleaming with a bronze luster, and the stone cones striking his body made crisp clanging sounds, yet also left red marks.

A few seconds later, the two took the opportunity to retreat, both looking somewhat grim.

“Too dangerous,” Nan Yafu said with lingering fear, “Forget it, the strength gap is too wide.”

Xiang Feng wiped a cold sweat, secretly glad he hadn’t acted impulsively—with his strength, he would likely be the Stone Demon’s nourishment by now.

“Miss Nan is already a top genius in Jiangcheng, and even you returned in defeat; it seems we can only wait for Eldest Senior Brother.

He’s on his way and will definitely have no problem dealing with this monster!”

The onlookers, seeing the cultivators helpless, also calmed down from their initial excitement.

“It was quite lively, but also useless.”

“Let’s wait for rescue; anyway, this monster hasn’t attacked again.”

“It’s just that there’s no signal in the mist, so we can’t contact the outside world.”

As everyone chatted, a young man holding a camera suddenly frowned: “Do you guys feel like the mist is getting thicker and thicker?”

Everyone looked around at his words and indeed found that visibility was even lower than before.

The instrument on Nan Yafu suddenly emitted a piercing alarm:

“Beep beep beep!”

“Mist concentration detected to be rising, current turbidity 43.”

“Danger level S! You may have encountered a highly growing General-rank Mist Lord; please evacuate as quickly as possible!”

“Please evacuate as quickly as possible!”

The cold, mechanical alert made everyone’s faces change dramatically.

Tieshan’s face was stiff: “It is said that some growth-type monsters will increase the mist concentration over time… It’s not attacking now because it hasn’t fully grown yet!”

“What does that mean? We’re all going to die?!”

Fear spread like a plague, and people’s faces were filled with terror and despair.

“We can only save ourselves,” Nan Yafu sighed, “Waiting for rescue, it’s ten to one it’ll be too late.”

“How can we save ourselves?” Xiang Feng’s refined face twisted, “All of us combined aren’t even enough to fill this monster’s teeth, let alone the fact that it’s still getting stronger!”

“I can’t die here!” He suddenly grabbed Nan Yafu’s arm, his eyes bloodshot, “You’re the Miss of the Nan Family; you must have a way, right?”

“My life-saving magic treasure can only take two people,” Nan Yafu struggled free from his hand, her tone helpless.

As her words fell, the surrounding gazes instantly became complex and greedy, like a pack of beasts staring at their prey.

“Tieshan is just a bodyguard.

Eldest Senior Brother has been so good to you; can you really bear to leave me to die?”

“Save me, my daughter is only one year old!” a woman cried out.

“If you don’t take us, you won’t leave either!” a tattooed man roared fiercely.

Nan Yafu was stunned; she had never imagined that the seemingly peaceful crowd would reveal such ferocious faces in despair.

A hothouse flower, too well protected, ultimately did not understand the cruelty of the apocalypse.

Tieshan sighed, silently shielding the girl.

“We don’t want to die!”

“We’ll just have to fight for it!”

Xiang Feng watched with cold eyes, already calculating how to seize Nan Yafu’s magic treasure in the chaos—currying favor with the Nan Family was important, but saving his life came first.

Just as the atmosphere grew tense, a calm voice spoke.

“Forget it, I’ll do it.”