173: Chapter 173 Shock

As Chen Zilong watched her face instantly turn ashen and the silent tears roll down, something inside him felt as if it had been twisted.

It wasn't painful, but it was very uncomfortable.

He suddenly remembered a long time ago, when another woman had looked at him with such despair before her figure shattered within a spatial storm.

He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, a flash of resolve flickered deep within his gaze.

"Forget it."

He let out a soft breath, as if making a compromise. "I will go to the battle in three days. As for what happens after... which path you take will ultimately depend on you."

He looked at Zhou Xiao, leaving his words open-ended.

But the meaning had been conveyed.

He would help, but he wouldn't look after her forever.

This was likely the most realistic promise he could offer.

Zhou Xiao raised her tearful eyes and stared at him blankly, as if she hadn't understood, or perhaps she had but didn't dare believe it.

"But... but that Wang Bufan is already a Nascent Soul Cultivator!"

Her voice trembled. "Senior... Senior Chen, you look to be about my age. Even if your cultivation... is also at the Nascent Soul Stage, your combat experience..."

She didn't continue, but her meaning was clear.

She was worried that Chen Zilong was no match for a Nascent Soul like Wang Bufan, who had cultivated for centuries and possessed seasoned combat experience.

"Rest assured."

Chen Zilong's tone was flat, yet it carried an indisputable certainty. "My true cultivation is not the Nascent Soul Realm. I simply suffered some injuries, causing my cultivation to temporarily drop."

"At my true realm, I have no reason to fear a Nascent Soul Early Stage like him, who was built up by pills and his sect."

The information revealed in these words sent another shock through the three people present.

"Injured?"

Zhou Xiao was stunned, then suddenly recalled ten years ago.

On the edge of the Western Desolate Desert, that figure lying in the scorching sand, with every bone and tendon shattered, his aura as weak as a flickering candle in the wind...

At the time, she had only thought him a resilient mortal martial artist and figured picking him up might gain her a decent Guard...

So, that wasn't just a mishap, but a heavy injury?

What kind of heavy injury could cause a cultivator who was at least at the Nascent Soul Stage to fall to such a state?

"You... back then, your physical body could already withstand a Nascent Soul Tiger Demon. What kind of injury could have..."

Zhou Xiao asked subconsciously, but stopped halfway, feeling it was too abrupt.

Chen Zilong didn't mind. Since things had come to this, there was no need to hide certain matters.

"I am not a cultivator from the Central Region,"

He said slowly, his gaze seemingly looking toward a more distant place. "I come from the Heaven Realm."

"I originally intended to travel through a spatial wormhole to the Pill Mansion... to try my luck."

"However, I encountered a rare spatial storm and rift along the way."

"Heaven Realm? spatial wormhole! Pill Mansion!" Zhou Yi and Su Ling were shocked by what they heard!

These terms were far too distant for them.

But they knew about "spatial storms and rifts"!

Those were forbidden lands that even the legendary Nascent Soul Cultivators dared not lightly set foot in!

To touch them was to die; to encounter them was to perish!

"A spatial storm... and rift?"

Zhou Xiao sucked in a breath of cold air, her beautiful eyes wide. "You... you encountered that and were... only heavily injured?"

She simply couldn't imagine it.

If it were her, or even her father in his prime, they would likely have been instantly torn into the finest dust, with not even their Nascent Soul escaping!

Just what had this person before her experienced?

And to what terrifying level must his true cultivation have reached?

After the shock came a deeper sense of awe, and...

A faint but stubbornly flickering flame of hope.

If Chen Zilong truly survived such a desperate situation, then his strength was likely far beyond their imagination!

Dealing with a Wang Bufan might...

Truly be nothing to him!

"Then... for the match in three days, I... I'll leave everything to Senior Chen."

Zhou Xiao's voice still carried a sob.

But the deathly ashen look in her eyes seemed to have been partially dispelled by that small flame of hope, regaining a bit of light.

She gave Chen Zilong a solemn bow.

"Mhm."

Chen Zilong accepted the bow calmly; it was part of the transaction, and he deserved it.

Then, as if remembering something, he took out a blank jade slip from his storage ring, pressed it to his forehead for a moment, and handed it to Zhou Xiao. "Right, I also need some medicinal ingredients to assist in my healing."

"This jade slip contains the list. If the residence has them in stock, This humble Chen is willing to purchase them with spirit stones at market price."

"If not, please help me keep an eye out in the city's pharmacies."

Zhou Xiao hurriedly took the jade slip with both hands and scanned it with her divine sense. Inside were listed over a dozen medicinal names and age requirements.

Some she recognized as precious items for healing and stabilizing one's essence.

Others she had never heard of, with very strange names.

She didn't dare be negligent and immediately said:

"Please rest assured, Senior. I will go to the storehouse to check right now. For those we don't have, I'll send people to scour the city immediately!"

After speaking, she bowed to her parents again and hurriedly turned to leave the hall, her back looking a bit more urgent and lively than before.

Only Chen Zilong and the Zhou Yi couple remained in the hall.

The atmosphere was somewhat subtle.

Zhou Yi struggled to stand up, but Chen Zilong raised a hand and made a slight downward pressing motion.

"Patriarch Zhou is injured; there is no need for such formalities."

"If there is nothing else, This humble Chen will return to my room to meditate and prepare for the match in three days."

"Please, Fellow Daoist Chen!"

Zhou Yi said hurriedly, his tone respectful. "If you need anything, just instruct the servants! I... am eternally grateful!"

He spoke those last few words with extreme gravity.

Chen Zilong nodded and said no more, rising to leave the hall.

Watching his upright yet distant figure disappear out the door, Zhou Yi felt as if all his strength had been drained. He slumped into his chair and began to cough violently.

Su Ling rubbed his back to help him breathe while whispering with worry:

"Husband, is this Fellow Daoist Chen... a blessing or a curse?"

"It's good that he's willing to help, but what he seeks... is likely not small either."

"Those medicinal ingredients... even I felt alarmed hearing them..."

Zhou Yi coughed for a long while before his breathing evened out, an unnatural flush appearing on his face.

He looked out at the heavy night darkness, his gaze complex and hard to read:

"Whether it's a blessing or a curse, what must come will come... Right now, our Zhou Family is like fish on a chopping block. To have one more variable is better than waiting for death... As for what he seeks..."

He paused, his voice getting lower. "As long as it's not Xiao'er's life or the foundation of the Zhou Family... let him be."

"This pool of water has long been too muddy to see the bottom... *cough cough cough*..."

The night grew deeper.

The Zhou Residence regained its surface tranquility.

But undercurrents were surging even more violently in corners unknown to anyone.

Having returned to his simple guest room, Chen Zilong closed the door and set up a simple soundproofing Restriction.

The calm, expressionless mask finally dropped from his face, and his brows furrowed slightly.

He took out the jade slip Zhou Xiao had just given him from his storage ring and examined it carefully once more.

Most of the ingredients on the list were indeed for compounding a 'Spirit Nourishing Soup' used to nurture the soul and accelerate recovery.

But a few of them had other uses.

"Xuan Yin Sect... Elder Yin Sha..."

He muttered to himself, his fingertips unconsciously tapping the tabletop with a soft rhythmic sound. "Wang Bufan is of no concern, but that old fellow behind him... is a bit of a nuisance. I need to make some preparations."

He turned his gaze to the pitch-black night sky outside the window, his eyes as sharp as blades.

The match in three days might not be as simple as a win or loss.

It could be a fuse that ignites the long-suppressed conflicts in Qingyan City.

It could also be a trap, waiting for an unexpected 'Crossing Dragon' like him to jump in.

But then again, so what?

The thing Chen Zilong feared least was trouble.