Chapter 123: Big Brother to the Rescue

On the street, Bai Yunqi tossed a small, unremarkable stone in his hand, a bright grin on his face as he walked home with a spring in his step.

Tsk, tsk, tsk!

For a cultivator, sensing spiritual energy was as natural as eating or drinking.

Even though the black market wasn’t too crowded in broad daylight, with his ability to cheat using spiritual energy, he still managed to dig up a few treasures.

He had already quietly absorbed a bit of spiritual energy earlier. The little stone in his hand was surprisingly rich in it—there was a good chance it could yield a fine piece of jade.

He’d give it to his parents, help out with household expenses.

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Bai Yunqi really was such a good person.

“Hm?”

He stopped in his tracks, eyes narrowing as he spotted a familiar figure running in the distance.

That looked like his second brother.

Why was he running so fast, looking so flustered?

“Something happened at home?”

The thought sprang to Bai Yunqi’s mind instantly.

What else could make Bai Yunxing, who was always silent and composed, panic like this?

Bai Yunqi slipped the fist-sized stone into his cloth pouch and broke into a run toward home.

The noise, the unusually large crowd—his heart skipped a beat.

He squeezed through the people gathered around and was met with a shocking scene.

Blood splattered across the ground. Three men lay beaten and sprawled out.

His mother stood alone like a war goddess, blood dripping from the short blade in her hand, trailing down her arm. If that hand weren’t trembling, she’d look even more formidable.

Opposite her stood a man holding his little sister, a blade pressed against her neck.

The little one didn’t scream or cry, making it hard to tell if she was too scared to react. But at least that reduced the chance of her getting hurt.

His father… seemed to have fainted.

The onlookers kept their distance.

They were ordinary folk. If it were just a neighborhood scuffle, they might step in to break it up. But this—this was knives drawn, and clearly trained fighters. Who would dare intervene? A few kind souls had already gone to report it to the authorities.

Bai Yunqi rubbed the small jade stone in his pocket, the one he’d planned to give his parents.

Looks like he’d have to absorb it himself after all!

“He’s running! He’s running!”

Cries of alarm rose from the crowd.

The man holding Juanjuan had fled.

Bai Yunqi let out a cold laugh. Good. The farther he ran, the better—preferably to some deserted place where Bai Yunqi could really let loose.

Without another word, he rolled up his sleeves and took off in the direction the man had gone.

He’d already taken a quick peek at his parents. They weren’t dead, at least. But his kidnapped sister—that was a different story. She could easily die.

But it was fine. With him here, no one was dying today.

A faint smile tugged at Bai Yunqi’s lips. It felt like he’d returned to that world of blood and battle.

How wonderful.

…

Juanjuan felt awful. She wanted to throw up.

Half from fear, half from the jostling as the man carried her while running.

In a daze, she thought she heard her big brother’s voice.

【How wonderful!】

Juanjuan: ???

She must be dreaming. Wonderful? What was wonderful about this?

Nothing about this was wonderful!

The next second, the nauseating spinning sensation eased a little.

The man carrying her had stopped, seemingly startled by something.

Juanjuan fought through the discomfort and forced herself to look up.

A thick white mist was rapidly closing in, as if controlled by someone.

In an instant, her vision was swallowed by the fog—nothing but a blinding white.

“Ugh…”

A muffled groan of pain sounded right next to her.

Juanjuan felt herself being thrown down, her body lurching with the sensation of falling.

Surrounded by the eerie fog, her sudden descent made it feel like she couldn’t breathe. Her palms instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

Something seemed to choke her throat. So this was what it felt like—when you were so terrified you couldn’t even scream.

But the expected pain of hitting the ground never came. Instead, it felt like she’d landed on a soft, fluffy cushion.

Her mind went blank. She hadn’t even begun to process what had just happened when she heard her big brother’s voice, calm and lazy as ever.

【Tsk… Look how scared you made my little sister. You deserve a beating.】

【It’s been a while since I’ve stretched my limbs anyway.】

At that moment, the breath Juanjuan had been holding finally released. She gasped for air.

Maybe it was because she knew her big brother was here now. She had someone to rely on.

Within the fog, Bai Yunqi moved with practiced ease, grabbing a random stone and pinning the man to the ground, pummeling him without mercy.

As he beat the man, he started chanting strange, ominous phrases that sounded terrifying.

“This family is blessed by fate, protected by dragon fortune. And you mere mortals dare lay a hand on them?”

The cold, divine voice seemed to echo in everyone’s ears.

Bai Yunqi was fully in his element, putting on a show while enjoying the beatdown, when he suddenly sensed something off.

It was a wave of energy—familiar yet distant—rushing toward them.

He snapped his head up, eyes locking onto the direction the energy was coming from.

Before he could see anyone, a bolt of lightning tore through the mist, heading straight for the spiritual energy disturbance.

“Shit!”

Bai Yunqi cursed as he dodged the strike with a Sparrowhawk Flip¹, spiritual power surging out to block the lightning’s pursuit.

At the same time, he shoved his sister toward a safe corner.

Spiritual power flared from his hands. Bai Yunqi narrowed his eyes at the direction the lightning had come from, forming hand seals and manipulating his power.

The spiritual energy wrapped around the stone, turning it into dozens of deadly projectiles, like flying swords, and launched them forward with unstoppable force.

But before he could make his next move, he glanced behind him. His previously smug and arrogant expression twisted into a slight frown.

【Why is Mom here already?!】

【Can’t blow my cover! A cultivator must stay low-key!】

Bai Yunqi turned to the now-silent corner and sneered.

【Ran off fast, huh? If I had more spiritual power right now, I’d chase you down just to see what the hell you are.】

Seeing that his mother was about to arrive, Bai Yunqi quickly withdrew from the scene.

The fog dispersed.

Juanjuan sat alone on the ground, watching her mother rush toward her. Then she looked at the man lying on the ground—probably the one her big brother had beaten half to death—and felt like she was dreaming.

In just a few short moments, she had experienced things most people wouldn’t face in a lifetime.

Her current composure was already impressive.

“Juanjuan, are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

Jiang Dai asked anxiously, checking her daughter’s body for injuries.

Juanjuan snapped out of it, her wide eyes still dazed as she looked at her mother.

Her mother’s hair was a mess, her hands stained with blood, trembling as she checked her over—like Juanjuan was the most precious thing in her world.

Juanjuan reached out and hugged her mother, carefully avoiding her injured arm.

“Mom, I’m fine. I’m not scared…”

Jiang Dai finally let out a breath of relief. As she picked Juanjuan up, she realized just how much her arm hurt, how fast her heart was pounding.

This was the first time in her life she’d fought someone with real weapons.

The first time she’d been cut so deeply by a blade.

She held Juanjuan tightly, her tangled emotions slowly melting away in the warmth of their embrace.

But the more tense the situation, the clearer Jiang Dai’s mind became.

“Juanjuan, do you know who took down those men?”

Translator’s Notes