Volume 3: Chaotic Times

The bracelet that Zhou Chen had given him initially could be used three times. He had used it once before when he first arrived at Tianyan Sect and fought against Xiao Chengjun. There were still two uses left, and Zhou Yin didn't want to use it lightly.

However, at this moment, after he avoided Shangguan Han's attack and the backlash of his own sword energy, he was already exhausted. Seeing Xiao Chengjun's palm strike that used all his strength and was about to kill him on the spot, he thought of using the power of the bracelet.

But for some reason, he was slightly distracted and an indescribable subtle feeling flashed through his mind, causing his reaction to be half a beat slower.

In a high-level confrontation, how could there be a moment of negligence! In just this instant, Xiao Chengjun's palm wind had arrived, carrying the fierce energy of a Nascent Soul stage cultivator.

Xiao Chengjun was one of the few people who knew about the demon beasts. He also knew that he must kill the two today. Moreover, because of the previous rift with Zhou Yin, he used almost all his strength in this palm strike, showing no mercy.

Seeing that his first strike failed and Zhou Yin seemed to still have the strength to resist, Xiao Chengjun couldn't help but grit his teeth. Just as he was about to follow up with another palm strike, he suddenly saw a surge of golden light in front of his eyes, stabbing his eyes and making them swell with pain. He had to close his eyes while retreating, and immediately a scorching heat wave came at him, almost burning him to ashes.

At this time, he vaguely heard someone say, "Don't transform..."

The suffocating feeling of being scorched suddenly disappeared. Xiao Chengjun was knocked to the ground by the heat wave and spat out a mouthful of blood. In a daze, he opened his eyes and saw that Zhou Yin seemed to be caught around the waist by a white-clothed person and gently landed on the ground.

Zhou Chen had originally planned to transform into a furball, secretly hide in Zhou Yin's room, and suddenly jump out to surprise him when he returned. Who knew that while he was imagining various scenarios of their meeting and giggling while rolling dozens of circles on the bed, leaving the bed full of paw prints and chicken feathers, still no one came in.

Putting aside his resentful mood, he followed the aura all the way to the back mountain and saw the previous scene.

The person he couldn't even bear to say a harsh word to, since when did it become someone else's turn to bully him!

Zhou Chen instantly exploded with rage.

On the other side, Shangguan Han was about to make a move on Yun Zong when someone unexpectedly intervened. Seeing the situation was unfavorable, he turned and fled, not even caring about Xiao Chengjun who had fallen to the ground. Zhou Chen was still holding Zhou Yin in his arms and had to take care of his injuries, so with this delay, the person had already disappeared.

Xiao Chengjun was knocked unconscious by the Nine Heavens Divine Fire just now and was unaware of what was happening.

Zhou Chen laughed coldly and raised his palm, ready to kill.

A hand pressed down on his.

"No need to bother with him... Break the formation, release the women inside first, then release the demon beasts."

Because of his injuries, his originally pale white face became even more pale. Zhou Yin frowned, his words sounding a bit breathless, but with Zhou Chen continuously pouring spiritual power into his body, he actually didn't feel as uncomfortable as before.

Just now, he didn't let Zhou Chen transform, naturally not wanting him to expose his identity and needlessly attract suspicion.

Moreover, now that Shangguan Han had run away, it was very likely that he planned to go find reinforcements. He definitely wouldn't let them leave Tianyan Sect alive. The most important thing was that Tianyan Sect currently had ties with the upper realm. With Zhou Chen's current cultivation level, facing the upper realm alone, he didn't have much chance of winning.

Since that was the case, he might as well make a big fuss and take the initiative, letting Shangguan Han deal with the mess.

Zhou Chen softly agreed and carefully put him down.

"Bear with it for a bit."

Zhou Yin nodded almost imperceptibly and leaned against a tree to rest with his eyes closed.

On the other side, Yun Zong, who had been hit by Shangguan Han, was also heavily injured. Without a word, he took out a few medicinal pills to eat, then sat cross-legged to meditate.

Zhou Chen walked to an open area, his hands dancing as he formed a seal. Closing his eyes, he mobilized the surrounding spiritual energy.

The Vermilion Bird was an ancient divine beast, born of heaven and earth, naturally able to sense all things, summon the wind and beckon the rain. Although Zhou Chen was only at the middle stage of Nascent Soul now, if he mobilized the divine power of the Vermilion Bird itself, it was definitely not limited to this.

Vast dark clouds, desolate long winds, returning to the void and entering the mortal world, accumulating strength to become mighty, endlessly changing, never reaching an extreme.

In an instant, a fierce wind suddenly rose, shaking the heavens and earth!

The ground beneath his feet kept trembling and cracking inch by inch. The surrounding trees were uprooted, their branches and roots shattering section by section. The wind howled and swirled in the air with Zhou Chen as the center.

Standing in the middle, Zhou Chen's robe sleeves were blown up high by the wind, his hair unruffled, like a deity, indifferently watching the space in front of him slowly distort, revealing the stairs leading to the dungeon.

Zhou Chen formed a lotus seal with both hands and suddenly slapped them towards the ground. The complex and magnificent movements passed down from generations of Vermilion Birds were performed by him as smoothly as flowing clouds and water, pleasing to the eye.

The ground in front that had already cracked suddenly collapsed with a bang, fully revealing the scene inside the dungeon.

Zhou Chen leaped into the dungeon and opened the cells one by one, bringing the completely naked women to the surface.

Those whose minds had long gone mad, upon suddenly seeing the light, screamed incessantly. There was no need for Zhou Chen to throw them out. They had already staggered and ran out of the locust tree grove.

After a moment, he flew out from the collapsed opening of the dungeon and picked up Zhou Yin.

"I cast a dizziness spell on those demon beasts. After fifteen minutes, they will run out, enough time for those cultivators to arrive. As for the cultivators mating on the third floor, I didn't touch them. Let them stay there and see how Tianyan Sect will deal with it later. Let's go first!"

Zhou Yin's face was pale. He didn't even have the strength to nod, only his eyelashes trembling slightly.

Previously, he suddenly sensed Zhou Chen's aura, causing that momentary distraction that allowed Xiao Chengjun's full-strength strike to hit him. The fact that he could still barely maintain consciousness at this point showed his extremely determined will.

Hearing this, Yun Zong opened his eyes and followed them out from another direction.

As for Xiao Chengjun, he still hadn't woken up, lying in a sorry state to the side, his face and body covered in blood marks from the flying branches just now, long forgotten by everyone.

With Zhou Chen stirring up such an earth-shattering commotion, before Shangguan Han could even think of a countermeasure, it had already alarmed the cultivators from various sects in the square. Everyone stopped fighting and flew towards the source of the disturbance.

Putting aside the chaos on that side for now, Zhou Chen and the other two took another path. Just as they barely left the woods, Zhou Chen stopped. "I'm going to take him to heal. You go your own way."

Yun Zong glanced at Zhou Yin who had already fallen into semi-unconsciousness and didn't waste words. He just nodded. "Then I'll leave him to you."

He turned and left, returning to Shangxuan Sect's residence to heal.

Leave who to you, he's my wife, not your wife! Zhou Chen inwardly snorted, picked up Zhou Yin, and left.

He didn't go too far. When the white crane delivered the message earlier, Zhou Yin had given the jade token he used to enter and exit Tianyan Sect to the crane to bring back. That's how Zhou Chen was able to come and go freely before without alarming anyone. Now with the jade token and using an invisibility technique, he took Zhou Yin out of Tianyan Sect's territory and found a hidden cave in a nearby dense forest.

The cave was cold and damp, not suitable for living, but free from disturbance, the quietest place for healing.

He cleaned up the cave, took off his outer robe and gently laid Zhou Yin on it.

Bending down, he kissed away the traces of blood from the corners of Zhou Yin's mouth one by one. Taking Zhou Yin's wrist, he felt for his pulse and frowned slightly.

"Ah Yin, wake up."

"..." Zhou Yin's eyelids fluttered. He struggled to open his eyes and looked at Zhou Chen, his gaze not losing a bit of clarity despite his injuries.

Ever since he was still an unformed being, Zhou Chen had loved those eyes that seemed calm on the surface but carried a unique and distant spirit. Back then, he would often roll and act coy beside Zhou Yin in his furball form, just to get more of those eyes' attention on himself.

But now there was no time to gaze in detail. He stroked Zhou Yin's face and said softly: "Ah Yin, your injuries are severe. I took a look earlier, your golden core has shattered and is difficult to reconsolidate. You've lost most of your cultivation, it's not looking good."

Zhou Yin listened motionlessly, not a hint of agitation or shock in his eyes, as if he had expected it.