Chapter 70: A Rival in Love Appears!!!

Chapter 70: A Love Rival Appears!!!

"Inside are some food. You wanna try some? They're all made by... by my mom."

Shen Lian directly refused, "Thanks for the thought, but I'm not holding this morning against you."

He couldn't figure out what Xu Yanzhou had done wrong just by looking at him.

"I won't accept these, please leave." Before, Shen Lian might have greeted him with a smile, but now he'd rather not stir up any more trouble.

Xu Yanzhou watched the door close, feeling a pang of disappointment.

He headed back to his own place.

The door creaked open, and a timid woman peeked out at him, "Husband?"

Xu Yanzhou's expression turned ugly, "You useless piece of trash, you can't even do a simple task right. They didn't even want it!"

He raised his hand and backhanded her. The woman let out a sharp scream, shaking like a leaf as she hit the floor.

Xu Yanzhou was irritated just looking at her sickly, skinny appearance.

Yet in his mind, what lingered were Shen Lian's cold, beautiful eyes.

Shen Lian, knowing that the paper figurine had been chased, had been planning to move somewhere else. But then he heard this commotion.

He turned to look at the house across the way, a flicker of disgust crossing his face.

After a moment's thought, he raised his hand and tapped the paper figurine's head.

The paper figurine immediately puffed up all proud and bold, squeezed through the window, and plastered itself onto Xu Yanzhou's back.

Xu Yanzhou's foot was just about to land on the woman when the next moment he let out a muffled groan, then fell flat on the ground, frozen stiff, unable to move a muscle.

His eyes darted around, filled with terror, "What the hell are you looking at, you useless woman? Come help me up!"

The woman was stunned. Seeing this scene, without a second thought, she picked up the food basket and smashed it over Xu Yanzhou's head.

Xu Yanzhou let out a muffled groan, blood streaming down. After who knows how long, he went quiet.

Only then did the little paper figure come back. Shen Lian patted its head and let it sit on his shoulder.

But unexpectedly, not far away, a cultivator's eyes snapped open, a Water Mirror appearing in his hand.

"So you're a demon cultivator, hiding out here! And you dare possess people and kill innocents!"

Shen Lian was about to leave when he felt something off.

He turned around and locked eyes with a handsome young man with refined features.

The paper figurine immediately hid under Shen Lian's collar, muttering in his ear, "It's him, it's him! He's the one who's been after me this whole time!"

Shen Lian narrowed his eyes, but before he could speak, the young man let out a cold laugh.

"So you're the demon cultivator raising hell around here?"

Shen Lian said coldly, "That has nothing to do with me. I suggest you get out of my way."

The young man scoffed, sword in hand, "Evil cultivator, you still dare to talk back? Your demonic cultivation leaves a talisman on every corpse, and I saw you use that talisman to kill that man with my own eyes!"

"Still dare to say you're not a demon cultivator?"

Shen Lian gave a faint, mocking smile, "Kill that man? Do you even know what that guy did?"

The young man was taken aback. He truly didn't know—he'd only opened the Water Mirror because he'd sensed the paper figure's energy.

He followed Shen Lian's gaze and saw the woman slumped on the ground, covered in old scars.

The young man was startled, "Are you saying this guy used to beat that woman?"

Shen Lian was already done with this nonsense. He curled his lip and turned to go.

But the guy wouldn't drop it, "Stop right there! Even if that guy was a piece of trash, you're still an evil cultivator."

Shen Lian could tell the guy was at the peak of Spirit Transformation, while he himself was at the mid-stage of Tribulation Transcendence. If they fought, it'd definitely attract attention.

But the last thing Shen Lian wanted right now was to be noticed.

He turned around, expressionless, "You idiot. If I were really an evil cultivator, you'd be dead already, got it?"

The moment he said that, Shen Lian's aura exploded with mid-stage Tribulation Transcendence power.

The young man's eyes narrowed in shock, and he took a step back, "Mid-stage Tribulation Transcendence?"

Shen Lian shot him a cold look and turned away.

But just as he blinked away, the guy actually chased after him again.

"So what if you're strong? I'm a cultivator—it's my duty to slay demons and wipe out evil."

Shen Lian took a deep breath, "You asked for this."

The young man turned out to be a Sword Cultivator, swinging a blade bigger than his own body as he charged at Shen Lian.

The blade was razor-sharp, radiating a fierce killing intent.

But unexpectedly, before it even reached Shen Lian, Shen Lian crushed it with a single, effortless grip.

The young man's eyes went wide with disbelief. The moment the blade shattered, he coughed up blood.

Shen Lian loomed over him but ultimately didn't kill him.

But the guy still wouldn't back off. Seeing Shen Lian about to leave, he whipped out another long blade from his storage ring.

"If I don't drag you back to the sect today, I can't show my face to the people of Floating Cloud City! I won't let you keep running wild in this city!"

"Pure idiocy," This time, Shen Lian drew Chen Xue without hesitation.

"You're the one asking for death. Don't blame me for what happens next."

"Who said I was asking for death? Can't I call for help?" He Ci chuckled, then fired a dazzling blast of spiritual energy into the sky.

The spiritual energy burst open in the sky, and in that instant—

A booming voice rang out.

"Uncles, aunties, senior brothers, senior sisters—I can't take him, save meee!"

Shen Lian: "..."

He Ci was just about to flash a smug grin, but unexpectedly, the spiritual energy lit up the whole sky overhead, also lighting up a haystack nearby.

There was someone else in the haystack—or more precisely, a demon clan member.

It was completely wrapped in black mist, covered in talisman papers, and clutching a corpse in its hands.

The corpse had already been drained halfway dry.

When their eyes met, the talisman-covered demon cultivator went quiet for a moment.

He Ci looked at the corpse in the demon cultivator's hands, then at Shen Lian, his gaze shifting reluctantly.

Shen Lian sneered, "Now you understand?"

He Ci gave an awkward laugh. "Haha."

But the talisman demon let out an enraged roar and charged straight at them.

It was a major demon at the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence stage!

In an instant, countless talismans on its body linked together into chains, surging fiercely at Shen Lian and He Ci's chests.

Shen Lian drew Chen Xue out.

But to his surprise, He Ci stepped in front of him, "Run! I misjudged you earlier—I'll take this on alone."

Shen Lian shut his eyes for a moment, "Your blade is broken. How do you plan to fight it?"

Even he, at mid-stage Tribulation Transcendence, could be one-shot—let alone trying to kill a peak-stage talisman demon.

But He Ci charged in with his bare hands, "Don't worry about me, just go."

The little paper figure perched on Shen Lian's shoulder mumbled, "He's so dumb, so dumb."

Shen Lian watched. Yeah, he really was an idiot.

He thought about just walking away, since spiritual power was already gathering fast nearby—probably the reinforcements that kid had called for.

But in a blink, the talisman demon beat the young man half to death, yet he still clung desperately to its leg.

"You won't harm anyone else!"

Shen Lian stopped mid-step. What an idiot.