BVAHEDLA[W Chapter 55

Chapter 55 Ancient 29 “Perhaps I should call you—Ji Yan-ning…”

Lu Mo-chen sprawled on the ground, completely disregarding his image, his face streaked with the soot from the flames.

He struggled to regulate his breathing, but his throat was filled with a strong, lingering metallic taste of blood. With such heavy gasps, he felt the cold wind rush into his lungs, making even breathing painful, as if knives were scraping across them.

Despite this, he wiped the sweat from his chin and laboriously widened his eyes to look towards the exit of the Rainbow Light Pavilion—the last possible escape route for Chu Li-fei.

As the fire spread, the sound of collapsing buildings echoed from all around, accompanied by rising smoke and scorching heat.

Lu Mo-chen waited for a long time but still didn’t see that familiar figure. Instead, a growing sense of unease welled up in his heart, and his heartbeat remained stubbornly erratic.

The sound of people scattering and fleeing, and their panicked screams, filled his ears. But Lu Mo-chen paid no attention, stubbornly remaining where he was.

With a “boom,” something else seemed to have collapsed.

Lu Mo-chen looked around and realized that the fire had already climbed up the buildings. Flames soared into the sky, and in front of him, the exit he had just escaped from, was now swallowed by billowing smoke.

Another “boom” sounded as the buildings on the ground began to collapse.

Lu Mo-chen barely avoided a falling window frame. The dust kicked up by its fall invaded his lungs, causing him to cough heavily. But after the dust settled, he suddenly widened his eyes, his gaze filled with disbelief.

“Wait… wait a minute!”

He muttered, his expression dazed, his eyes reddening as he stood up and stumbled forward, looking as if his soul had left his body.

He saw that the debris from the fallen window frame had completely blocked the exit of the passage, and it was engulfed in raging flames.

Lu Mo-chen continued to run forward, but perhaps due to exhaustion, or perhaps tripped by a small stone on the ground, he fell heavily to the ground, like a broken-winged bird falling from the sky.

The dusty figure remained motionless for a long time after the fall. Only after a while did he stumble to his feet again, but he no longer had the strength to stand up straight.

“Royal Uncle…” Lu Mo-chen’s lips moved, the words he uttered already blurred, barely distinguishable as “Royal Uncle” from the shape of his mouth.

Only a meter separated him from the exit of the passage. Lu Mo-chen crawled forward on his hands and knees. But that one meter seemed to exhaust the last of his strength, and even time seemed to stretch infinitely.

He tremblingly raised his hand and reached forward, disregarding the flames burning in front of him. It seemed he intended to tear apart the broken window frame with his bare hands to unblock the exit!

Lu Mo-chen was already completely drained. The young man’s body simply couldn’t bear such intense exertion, but his tired eyes shone with determination and persistence.

No matter what, he wouldn’t let Chu Li-fei die in front of him again!

Just then, another loud crash came from the upper floor.

But it didn’t sound like something collapsing. Instead, it sounded like a wooden structure being deliberately smashed, the sound of something breaking apart.

The crisp sound seemed to freeze time. Lu Mo-chen looked up and saw a figure cutting through the dark sky before landing steadily on the ground.

“Royal Uncle!” Lu Mo-chen knelt on the ground, overjoyed to see the familiar figure, his eyes filled with tears.

Hearing the sound, Chu Li-fei’s gaze cut through the dim night and heavy smoke, finally finding the person he was looking for.

While fighting the man in dark green inside the Rainbow Light Pavilion, he had noticed the unnaturalness in the man’s expression and movements.

The fire blocked their retreat, but the man didn’t seem afraid at all. It wasn’t fearlessness in the face of death, but rather a confidence that he could escape.

He was confident that he could emerge unscathed from this raging inferno.

Was he confident in his own skills? Or did he have some kind of item? Anyway, he couldn’t possibly withstand it with just his mortal body, right? If this was the cultivation world, then there would be a few possibilities.

Or… were there more exits than the few floors of the Rainbow Light Pavilion?

Thinking of this, a flash of inspiration struck Chu Li-fei’s mind, and he thoughtfully looked at the door blocked by the sturdy body of the man in dark green—the room where he and Lu Mo-chen had found the account book not long ago.

That’s right, even a cunning rabbit has three burrows. People as audacious as those in the Rainbow Light Pavilion wouldn’t fail to leave themselves a way out, would they?

Looking at the man in dark green again, Chu Li-fei could clearly see him glancing behind him from time to time.

After defeating him, the entire building became precarious, and he didn’t have much time left.

Chu Li-fei made a decisive decision, not sparing a single glance at the sea of ​​fire behind him. He returned to the previous room, closed the door, and tried to delay the spread of the fire.

He searched carefully and, as expected, found a secret passage in the ceiling.

The secret passage was extremely narrow, leading upwards, and completely dark. It could only accommodate one person.

Flames still burned in through the cracks in the door, and black smoke billowed up, leaving Chu Li-fei no time to think.

Without regard for anything else, Chu Li-fei stepped on a table for leverage, jumped high, barely avoided a suddenly rising tongue of flame, and squeezed into the secret passage.

He quickly climbed upwards, worried about Lu Mo-chen’s condition. He didn’t know how long it took before he felt something hit the top of his head.

Chu Li-fei carefully pushed at it, and a force of resistance came. It seemed he had reached the end. He used the scabbard of his soft sword to hold the exit, slammed it hard a few times, and finally, with a sudden burst of strength, he smashed the exit open.

After finally climbing up, he found himself on the second floor of the gambling house. By this time, the fire had spread upwards, and the stairs leading down were already engulfed in flames.

The hazy moonlight shone into the room, guiding him to the last escape route. Chu Li-fei smashed the window frame with his sword, and then, with flying wood chips and debris, he jumped down.

After that, he heard Lu Mo-chen’s voice.

He came to Lu Mo-chen’s side, carefully helped him up, and seeing that he seemed to have no strength, he softened his eyes and asked:

“Are you alright? Here, lean on me.”

Chu Li-fei held the soft sword in one hand and carefully wrapped his other arm around Lu Mo-chen, leaning him onto himself to reduce the burden on his body.

Chu Li-fei supported Lu Mo-chen while cautiously surveying his surroundings and walking forward.

In the next moment, he seemed to sense something. He quietly tightened his grip on the soft sword, and after a moment of hesitation, his pace changed. Although it looked no different from before, he was actually ready for battle at any moment.

A group of men in black, holding scimitars, emerged from the forest, slowly surrounding them. Judging by their attire, they were the same group of people who had attacked them at the Cheng residence that day!

Behind them was fire, and in front of them were endless enemies.

But both of them were already at the end of their ropes. If there were only one or two enemies, it would be fine, but with such a large group, even Chu Li-fei himself couldn’t guarantee that he could escape unscathed while carrying Lu Mo-chen.

He lowered his eyes, focusing his gaze on Lu Mo-chen, who was beside him and whose consciousness was already fading, and a complex wave of emotion rippled through his eyes.

Was he going to abandon him like this?

But in just a moment, Chu Li-fei tightened his embrace again, bringing Lu Mo-chen closer to himself, using his actions to give the answer.

Then, pointing his sword forward, his expression firm, a murderous intent rose in his eyes.

Lu Mo-chen seemed to sense the murderous aura emanating from Chu Li-fei, struggling to wake up a little.

Just then, several “call out——” sounds, carrying the pressure of breaking through the air, came towards them.

In the next second, the men in black fell to the ground. The few who survived also fell in the second round of arrow rain.

The silver arrow light was cold and sharp, the arrowhead reflecting silver light under the hazy moonlight, coated with deadly poison.

Suddenly, one of the men in black struggled to get up, raised his knife, and slashed at Chu Li-fei, but his movements stopped abruptly in mid-air.

He widened his eyes, his eyes full of confusion. Only when his massive body fell to the ground did they discover that a folding fan was stuck in the back of his neck. The folding fan was made of paper, but it had been inserted directly into the man’s blood vessels, severing an artery.

And a strand of bright red blood continued to spread upwards along the texture of the paper.

At this time, a figure in blue, holding a folding fan, led another group of men in black, slowly walking towards Chu Li-fei and Lu Mo-chen. Their faces were hidden in the shadows of the forest, appearing blurred and difficult to distinguish.

Chu Li-fei held his sword horizontally in front of him. Before clarifying the other party’s intentions, he did not dare to lower his guard.

Neither side made any rash moves, and a silence spread.

At this moment, a gust of cold wind suddenly blew, scattering the thick clouds, and the moonlight was able to shine down, dispelling the darkness and illuminating the group of men in black, allowing Chu Li-fei to see the face of the leader.

Lu Mo-chen came to his senses. He gently pushed Chu Li-fei away, retrieved his center of gravity, and then took out a dagger. Even though he had seen many great storms tonight, a look of astonishment appeared on his face when he saw the face of the leader.

Chu Li-fei couldn’t help but chuckle and walk forward:

“It is rumored that the Second Prince of the Ji Kingdom is skilled with the fan, wouldn’t you agree—”

Chu Li-fei walked towards the dark blue figure, the moonlight stretching his back extremely long, accompanied by the raging fire in the distance, it was half pale and half fiery red.

He called out the name of the man in blue:

“Ning Yan.”

Lu Mo-chen stood behind him, but after hearing Chu Li-fei’s words, his eyes suddenly widened.

At this moment, the fire completely engulfed the building, and the Rainbow Light Pavilion collapsed in the raging fire, accompanied by a huge noise.

And amidst the crackling of the flames and the sound of the building collapsing, Lu Mo-chen successfully caught the familiar voice.

Chu Li-fei stood in front of Ning Yan, lowered his voice:

“Perhaps I should call you by your other name—”

“Ji Yan-ning.”