Recently, various secrets about the Deathly Desolation Land have caused a great stir in the city. Even ordinary people have heard the legends of that terrifying place deep in the mountains hundreds of miles away. The various evil deeds of Chen Nan, this "devil," have spread throughout the streets and alleys, and the city of sin is almost universally known.
Chen Nan did not enter the city. Instead, he cautiously circled the City of Sin, examining the terrain around this bustling metropolis in such detail for the first time. He was preparing for a possible battle; he had to be absolutely certain of success and avoid any unforeseen circumstances.
It wasn't until darkness enveloped the land again that Chen Nan crossed the moat from a secluded spot and entered the City of Sin. Fortunately, the City of Freedom had no walls and no soldiers guarding it, which reduced a lot of trouble.
Chen Nan's figure appeared in every street and alley. There were no wanted posters for him on the streets. Things hadn't gotten to the point of no return. Chen Nan breathed a sigh of relief. This made things much easier.
In fact, Ling Yun had suggested to the vice dean of Shenfeng Academy that Chen Nan be apprehended, but the vice dean suppressed the suggestion and did not adopt it.
At night, Chen Nan climbed over the wall into a remote and struggling inn. He didn't register "legally" but simply found an empty room and slipped in. He stayed there temporarily, and before clearing his name, he was extremely careful in everything he did.
For several days in a row, Chen Nan stayed at night and hid during the day. At night, he wandered like a ghost among various casinos and brothels. Wherever there was a bustling place, his figure could be seen. He was secretly investigating the recent turmoil surrounding him in the City of Sin. Now, he dared not trust anyone and could only investigate in secret.
Recently, Ling Yun has been restless and uneasy. He doesn't know what happened deep in the mountains. After contacting him once, the Ling family's assassins stopped communicating with him, leaving him feeling uneasy.
He secretly sent people to inquire at various mercenary guilds and assassin organizations, and received the same news: the people in the mountains seemed to have vanished into thin air and had completely lost contact with the outside world.
A sense of foreboding welled up in Ling Yun's heart. Based on his intuition, he felt that something unexpected had happened to the many experts in the mountains, and that a shocking change had occurred.
"Could it be that Chen Nan caused this accident? Impossible! Facing the pursuit of hundreds of experts, even a fifth-level expert would probably not dare to confront them. A third-level martial artist like him couldn't possibly pose the slightest threat to those people. So what exactly happened?"
Ling Yun knew that giant dragons and other monsters roamed the forests deep in the mountains. At first, he kept reassuring himself that if anything happened to the many experts, Chen Nan would also have a hard time surviving. After all, how could the power of one person be as strong as the power of hundreds of people working together?
But as time went on, he began to feel uneasy, and a sense of fear inexplicably rose in his heart. He secretly deployed many experts to the inn where he was staying, and at the same time sent people to guard every corner of the city of sin and search for Chen Nan's whereabouts.
Over the past five days, Chen Nan has finally figured out the situation in the City of Sin. When he learned about Ling Yun's series of actions, he was so angry he almost gritted his teeth.
If he were to be exposed to the world now, he would surely become a rat crossing the street, hated by everyone. Ling Yun's previous reputation would be completely ruined in a short period of time.
"Awoo... You're too passive. That kid is too insidious. Now you probably don't have the ability to turn the tide. If I hadn't lost my Dragon Essence, dealing with this would have been a piece of cake. I could have easily salvaged the situation by simply controlling his mind..." The Purple-Gold Divine Dragon muttered as it ate the stolen delicacies, drool flying everywhere.
Chen Nan stood by the window, lost in thought, remaining silent for a long time.
"What are you thinking, kid? I advise you to get out of here quickly and wait until things calm down. Awoo... I heard you say the people of the Western Continent are more open-minded, how about we go there for a stroll? Beautiful women and delicious food... Awoo..."
To stop it from talking nonsense, Chen Nan grabbed it and threw it out the window.
"Awoo..." The purple-gold dragon immediately flew back and shouted, "You brat, you've been disrespectful to your Dragon Lord again! Be careful, I'll go outside and yell, and you'll be surrounded and killed immediately." The purple-gold dragon threatened, baring its fangs and claws.
"If you don't want to be arrested and used for alchemy, then go ahead and scream." Chen Nan ignored it and muttered to himself, "If you want to clear my name, Meng Ke'er has to step in, but how could that woman possibly speak up for me? She'd rather I die immediately..."
"Awoo... you idiot, grab her against the wall a hundred times, a hundred times! Then she'll listen to you obediently, hehe... good idea, right? Awoo..."
The purple-gold dragon flew out of the window a second time, but this time it crashed directly to the ground.
"Killing Ling Yun is easy, but clearing my name is difficult. It seems I need to take a risk..." Chen Nan made a decision and whispered to the Purple-Gold Divine Dragon.
That night, a ghostly black shadow appeared at a printing workshop...
That night, a ghostly figure appeared at the inn where Ling Yun was staying...
Three days later at midnight, Chen Nan floated like a ghost on the streets of the City of Sin, with countless papers scattered on the main roads.
Not long after, a faint figure appeared outside Lingyun's inn. The indistinct shadow seemed to blend into the night, making it difficult for even a top expert to detect it with their keen senses...
Chen Nan had been here many times. In the past, he might not have been able to sit there unnoticed, but after his cultivation reached the fourth level, everything changed. After several days of secret observation, he knew the layout of Ling Yun's residence like the back of his hand.
A gentle night breeze stirred as Chen Nan moved through the inn like a ghost. He pushed his fourth-tier cultivation to its limit, concealing all his aura as if he had merged with the world around him. Several experts who had been dozing in the corners collapsed to the ground...
After finishing all this, Chen Nan stopped. The eight experts on the outer perimeter had been successfully taken down, and there were still eight experts at the initial stage of the realm in various corners inside. He did not continue rashly, but quietly observed like a hunter until he was sure there were no hidden dangers before floating in.
This time, Chen Nan shamelessly used an odorless, top-grade aphrodisiac on each of the eight people. He had personally prepared the incense after obtaining the materials from the pharmacy.
He felt no shame. Since the enemy had shamelessly plotted against him, he began to use any means necessary, as long as it was effective.
They attacked one by one, defeating them individually. To avoid making a sound, Chen Nan took a full quarter of an hour to silently take down the eight people inside. By the time he finished, he was covered in sweat; although they hadn't actually fought, it had taken a lot of his effort.
Night fell, and the dark inn was utterly quiet.
This was a secluded courtyard, inhabited by only two people: Ling Yun and an elder master of the Ling family. Based on his observations over the past few days, Chen Nan realized that the old man's cultivation had at least reached the Great Perfection of the Third Rank. Their rooms were adjacent; if he wanted to deal with Ling Yun, he would inevitably have to clash with that terrifyingly powerful master.
Chen Nan arrived silently outside the old man's door. He waved his hand, and the purple-gold dragon flew down from the sky and then went inside through the ventilation hole outside the room.
At the same time, Chen Nan silently broke open Ling Yun's door with a long knife in hand. He had already reduced his physical functions to the limit and was in a state of suspended animation. He walked into the room like a ghost.
As he drifted to the bedside and swung his knife down, with a "plop," blood splattered as he pierced Lingyun's Qi Sea and simultaneously sealed several major acupoints on his body with his knife energy.
Chen Nan secretly cried out, "This is bad." This person was definitely not Ling Yun. If it really was him, he would not be so easy to deal with. Even if a third-level expert was sleeping soundly, he could not be completely unaware of anything.
"This bastard is so cautious..."
At the same time, a voice came from the next room: "Who? Ah! A dragon! My God! What did I just see?!"
Without a second thought, Chen Nan raised his gleaming longsword and cleaved the wall in two. With a deafening boom, dust billowed as golden protective energy surged around Chen Nan, enveloping his body. He strode into the master's room, sword in hand, and brought his blade down in a powerful strike.
Like a bolt of lightning striking the darkness, it instantly illuminated everything inside the room. This elder master of the Ling family was wearing a bathrobe, his beard smeared with sleeping pills, holding a purple-gold dragon in his hand, his face full of disbelief.
"Awooo... Let go of your dragon grandpa..."
Chen Nan's fierce slash instantly woke the old man. He threw away the Purple-Gold Divine Dragon, quickly rolled off the bed, and tumbled away. The sleeping potion had no effect on him! The dazzling blade energy instantly destroyed the large bed, and at the same time, it opened a terrifying bloody groove on the old man's back, from which blood gushed out.
"Ah..." The old man cried out in agony, and at the same time, a sword light rose up as he drew his longsword and slashed backward.
Chen Nan sneered, and his long sword slashed down again, the blinding light illuminating the room as if it were daytime.
The old man, having hastily drawn his sword, was sent flying, and the entire house collapsed in an instant.
"A fourth-tier expert!" At this moment, Chen Nan was shocked. This old man was actually a fourth-tier beginner expert, at the same level as him! If he hadn't been caught off guard, how could he have been injured so easily!
"Awooo... This old bastard has been drugged by my sleeping potion. He won't last much longer. Kill him quickly!" The purple-gold dragon roared in the air.
Chen Nan stepped over the rubble and pressed forward.
Suddenly, a dazzling sword light shot out from Ling Yun's room, bursting out from the broken wall and heading straight for his chest.
"Hey!" Chen Nan spun around, his blade flashing like a rainbow, sweeping across the room. The unparalleled blade light shattered the entire wall in an instant, and Ling Yun's room collapsed with a roar. A spurt of blood shot out as a Ling family assassin was cut in half at the waist by Chen Nan's blade light.
Without further delay, Chen Nan charged towards the fourth-tier expert, raising his blade to strike. The golden blade light, three or four zhang long, shone brilliantly in the darkness, its unparalleled energy surging and impacting the entire courtyard, causing the whole world to tremble.
The violent energy fluctuations caused nearby houses to collapse one after another with a rumble, and the walls melted away like ice and snow meeting the bright sun...
The fourth-level expert's face turned pale. Although the Purple-Gold Divine Dragon had failed to knock him out with the drug, the drug still had some effect. Moreover, he had been injured by Chen Nan in the rush earlier. So how could he not turn pale when he saw Chen Nan's extremely powerful slash?
The sword energy surged forth, and the clash between two fourth-level experts truly possessed the power to destroy the heavens and the earth. Not only were all the nearby houses instantly collapsing due to the impact of the energy, but even the stone slabs on the ground shook and eventually shattered.
After the blade's edge and the sword's energy collided, it was as if a thunderclap had struck in mid-air, and the dazzling light was like ten suns shining in the sky, making this small courtyard as bright as day.
Chen Nan stumbled back several steps, while the fourth-tier expert, as he retreated, planted his longsword in the ground and slid backward, leaving a long, deep trench in the ground, sparks flying everywhere. Blood trickled from the corner of the fourth-tier expert's mouth, and his face was even paler. The bewitching fragrance of the Purple-Gold Divine Dragon, along with his previous injuries, had caused him to suffer greatly in this great confrontation, making his injuries even more severe.
"Chen Nan...it's you...despicable!" After regaining his balance, the fourth-level expert glared fiercely at Chen Nan.
"Go to hell! Your Ling family doesn't deserve to say that!"
Chen Nan raised his sword and slashed down again, the dazzling light illuminating the night sky once more. However, at that moment, a blinding burst of light suddenly erupted from the ground beneath Ling Yun's original room, shooting straight towards Chen Nan. Chen Nan chuckled, twisted his longsword, and charged towards the dazzling sword energy that was attacking from the shadows.
The earth trembled, sand and stones flew in the courtyard, and a foot of soil was shaved off the ground. Ling Yun rushed out of the underground chamber with a long sword in his hand. As he appeared, six more figures rushed out from underground and quickly surrounded Chen Nan.
"A fourth-tier expert!" Chen Nan stared at Ling Yun, his eyes flashing with cold light. Tonight had given him too many surprises. He had originally thought that the older generation expert of the Ling family was only at the third-tier peak, but he never expected that he would actually be a fourth-tier beginner expert. And Ling Yun in front of him was undoubtedly also at the initial stage of the fourth tier.
The Ling family's strength exceeded Chen Nan's expectations. He wasn't sure if his plan could proceed smoothly. He thought to himself, "I must successfully escape this predicament and lure Meng Ke'er into this chaos. If I fail, I'll unleash a massacre and see who can stop me!"
He gripped his long sword and pressed towards Ling Yun step by step, his whole body shimmering with golden light. His protective true energy seemed to be boiling, and the entire courtyard trembled with each step he took. Immense pressure enveloped the surrounding area, and his powerful energy was overwhelming!
Chen Nan was like an ancient demon god resurrected. He chose to fight against two fourth-level experts alone. He exuded infinite killing intent, and his soaring murderous aura made the stars and moon in the sky pale in comparison. A bloody battle was destined to take place tonight!