"Asura Infernal Prison?"
The name sounded oddly familiar. Jian Xiaolou mulled it over for a moment and was left speechless. Wasn't the Asura Infernal Prison the hidden battleground of the Zhan family, where Zhan Tianming and Mu Ruyi planned to engage in dual cultivation to form their Golden Cores?
Who on earth had dragged her here?
Moreover, those two wouldn't show up for another three months.
Jian Xiaolou found the situation a bit strange. After hesitating briefly, she decided not to venture into the tunnel. Who knew what horrors lurked inside? Now that she had achieved the Foundation Establishment stage, starvation was no longer a threat. Worst-case scenario, she'd wait three months and use the time to stabilize her cultivation level.
By the time Zhan Tianming and Mu Ruyi arrived, the barrier would surely open.
So, she sat down and waited.
Jian Xiaolou had gone missing again.
"She wouldn't have run off with Erhu, would she?" Yuanwei speculated nervously.
"Unlikely," Baili Xi dismissed the idea. "Didn't Crazy Chu say a cultivator intentionally distracted him? And this cultivator was stronger than him. This is already the second time—last time, it was the Zhan family. It's likely them again."
Yuanwei was even more alarmed. "The Zhan family wants to take Erhu?"
Baili Xi rubbed the storage ring on her finger. "Last time, she came back on her own, which means the other party bore no ill intentions. It was probably just a reunion."
Yuanwei sighed. "If you already knew she had ties to the Zhan family, why give her Erhu in the first place?"
"She has no real connection to the Zhan family, just some acquaintance with their reclusive second son." Baili Xi walked to the window and glanced outside at Chu Fengchen, who was standing there with his head bowed. For a servant who had lost his master, coming to her to admit fault was almost amusing.
Even with her keen insight into people, Baili Xi couldn't fathom how Chu Fengchen's mind worked.
Reckless and foolish, he never followed convention.
Baili Xi unconsciously touched her abdomen and, for the umpteenth time, worried about the child she was carrying. If the child inherited his father's incompetence despite a healthy constitution, wouldn't it be better for it to live a weak life and pass away after a few years?
Just thinking about it gave her a splitting headache.
Pressing her temples, she said, "The person who captured Xiaolou this time may very well be Zhan Tianming. Didn't the information suggest the two Zhan brothers are at odds?"
"What should we do?" Yuanwei asked.
"Demand Xiaolou's return from Zhan Tianming."
"But we don't have any evidence..."
"Tell Crazy Chu this matter is definitely tied to the Zhan family and push him to go demand answers from Zhan Tianming." Baili Xi sneered coldly. "Dare to touch my people? Let them taste the consequences. Whether they hand her over or not, at least let their second son know about it."
Yuanwei's eyes sparkled. "Brilliant idea!"
Upon hearing this, Chu Fengchen grabbed his sword and immediately headed for the Zhan family estate to demand Xiaolou's release from Zhan Tianming.
Naturally, Zhan Tianming had no one to give him.
So Chu Fengchen stuck to Zhan Tianming like glue, following him everywhere, day and night, chanting nonstop about releasing Xiaolou. Anyone who tried to intervene was met with his blade. The Zhan family descended into chaos.
At first, the Zhan family refrained from outright confrontation with Chu Fengchen. However, Zhan Tianming was on the verge of entering seclusion to form his Golden Core and was nearly driven to a mental breakdown by Chu Fengchen's incessant badgering. Eventually, the Zhan family sent several late-stage Golden Core cultivators to drive him out of the estate.
Normally, Chu Fengchen was the one bullying others. Who dared to bully him?
Feeling deeply wronged, Chu Fengchen sat cross-legged at the Zhan family's gates, waving his sleeve to release his sect's distress signal.
This stirred up a hornet's nest.
Within ten days, nearly the entire First Sword Sect, located not far from Tianyi City, mobilized in response.
Led by Guiyuan Daojun, the sect master of First Sword Sect and a renowned Nascent Soul stage cultivator infamous for his overprotectiveness and unreasonable demeanor, a contingent of over thirty sword cultivators, including sixteen at the Golden Core stage, marched to the Zhan family estate. They surrounded the estate, hurling curses day and night without respite.
The uproar even startled the Alliance Leader of Tianyi, prompting him to emerge from seclusion.
The Alliance Leader offered a single piece of advice to the Zhan family: whoever they captured, release them.
Do not expect the ruckus to subside in three or five days.
Zhan Tianming, unjustly bearing the blame, was left utterly frustrated. Besides dealing with Chu Fengchen's harassment and the First Sword Sect's siege, he also had to contend with Zhan Tianxiang's fury. His younger brother nearly flipped tables during arguments in front of their mother.
Was this the conduct of someone about to enter seclusion to form a Golden Core?
For the first time, Zhan Tianming felt that life was unbearable. Determined to escape this nightmare, he decided to advance the date of his Golden Core formation. Quietly, he took Mu Ruyi through a hidden passage to the Asura Infernal Prison, sneaking away like a thief.