Like a high-yield bomb detonating inside the bar.

Choking dust and smoke billowed outward.

A dragon’s roar shook heaven and earth.

Lightning split the darkness, banishing every shadow, casting Chen Yanyu’s delicate face in a pale yet strangely endearing glow.

In this moment, the girl *was* the storm.

Patrons fleeing into the street felt the ground tremble beneath their feet. Screams erupted; many stumbled and fell.

Heads turned upward.

From the bar’s high wall, a geyser of brilliant lightning surged skyward—toward the dim autumn night, toward the faint, cold crescent moon—

a reverse-falling meteor blazing from mortal realm to heavens, radiating sacred light too dazzling to behold.

“Is this a movie?”

“Supernaturals fighting, idiot!”

“Call the police! Now!”

“Wait… were we just *saved*?”

“I can’t even see the boy’s face…”

The miraculously spared crowd fled in confusion, whispering anxiously to soothe their fear.

[Ding! Host prevented a horrific tragedy. Sage Points +5000. Alchemy Shop unlocked.]

[Ding! Host obstructed Peony’s advancement to Foundation Establishment. Fate Defiance Points +2000.]

No wonder it was the Fate Defiance System—always twisting events to profit itself.

What’s even *in* the Alchemy Shop?

But Luo Qingchuan had no time to dwell on it.

Blood clouded his vision. His body was torn open in countless places.

Through the blur,

he saw only the mighty lightning—like a sacred dragon—hurling Peony violently through the air!

The Dragon Clan’s Lightning Art: a power that oppressed all life, annihilating all in its path.

Rumbling echoed endlessly.

A massive hole gaped in the bar’s upper wall.

Dust, twisted rebar, shattered concrete rained down.

The tranquil night reemerged.

Starlight glittered like gentle lanterns, soft as a lover’s gaze.

Autumn wind swirled the haze.

Clear moonlight streamed into the dim bar, bathing Luo Qingchuan.

He was drenched in blood.

Yet Luo Qingchuan felt it was worth it. Sage Points aside, the Fate Defiance Points alone would let him achieve Foundation Establishment *tonight*.

Cultivating slowly with his meager talent? That would’ve taken over a decade.

Blood streaked his face, but he smiled faintly—a silent, childlike grin, as if unwrapping a Christmas gift.

Was this what they truly called a “bloody profit”?

“Luo Qingchuan!”

Through blood-flecked eyes, he saw the silver-haired girl rushing closer.

Chen Yanyu was crying.

Tears streamed freely down her cheeks.

“Are you okay? Please… please don’t die…”

Honestly. One moment a divine presence, the next—a weeping girl.

Not majestic at all.

He tried to reach for her head, but his torn, bloodied hand froze midair.

She was so beautiful.

Ethereal white light draped her slender frame like a pure bridal gown.

A beauty across the water. A second moon in the autumn night.

He couldn’t bear the thought of staining her.

Chen Yanyu knelt before his blood-soaked form, trembling helplessly, eyes red-rimmed and quivering.

“Luo Qingchuan… don’t die… don’t die…”

Her lips had gone pale, nearly colorless.

*Luo Qingchuan felt a pang of guilt. Her first day in the mortal world… met with this.*

He smiled faintly, voice soft:

“I’ll be fine. Just rest a moment. Miss Chen… one favor?”

Chen Yanyu bit her lip hard. “You—just say it! No, don’t talk! I’ll take you to the hospital, back to the hotel. I have my father’s healing pills. You’ll be okay.”

“No.”

Luo Qingchuan shook his head, gaze sharpening toward the shattered wall. “He’s not dead.”

“Huh?”

The Sage System hadn’t triggered *[Eliminated Evil]*.

Even an assist notification should’ve appeared.

Silence.

Luo Qingchuan forced out a weak whisper:

“Miss Chen… Peony fled. Badly wounded. He’ll hunt innocents for blood and flesh. Stop him.”

A vengeful man. Left unchecked, a ticking bomb. Luo Qingchuan refused to live with a shadow watching him.

Chen Yanyu froze.

Golden eyes flooded with tears.

Voice trembling, barely audible:

“And… what about *you*?”

She stared at him, dazed.

She’d doubted him. Suspected a demonic cultivator. Even tonight, she hadn’t fully trusted the “perpetrator” claim—

yet came anyway, drawn by curiosity… and something faint, tender.

But now…

now…

an indescribable ache tightened her chest.

*Luo Qingchuan was too good. So good it hurt.*

“Don’t worry about me,” he murmured, smile serene despite his wounds. “Go. Stop him, Miss Chen.”

“But how can I just—”

“I won’t let anyone die. Not after paying this price.”

A bitter smile touched his lips. “If people still fall tonight because of Peony… what was my suffering for?”

He meant it. No empty words.

*If I’m already like this… and others die anyway… why bother?*

He wouldn’t let his effort be wasted.

“Please.”

“I understand. I’ll go.”

Chen Yanyu wiped tears away, rose unsteadily. Blood speckled her slender calves.

She forced herself not to look back—and shot upward.

Electric arcs danced through her star-dusted silver hair. Two petite, jade-like dragon horns emerged.

She vanished through the breach, hunting Peony’s trail.

*“Rest a bit”? A lie. Sounds like a dying line in a drama…*

*Luo Qingchuan… you know people who say that end up in coffins…* Tears blurred her vision.

Her heart ached. Beneath the white knit sweater, her chest rose and fell rapidly.

*Find him. Fast. Then… bring him back.*

Fists clenched tight. Delicate blue veins traced her pale hands. Silver hair whipped wildly as her lithe form glided through the night like a dream.

“We haven’t watched that movie yet,” she whispered into the wind, biting her lip hard.

… … …

The Blood Demon Soul Refining Great Art relied little on flashy moves—Peony fought mostly with brute fists.

Yet his vitality was immense, wounds seemingly knitting shut mid-battle.

Inside the ruined bar, Luo Qingchuan slumped against debris, murmuring:

“Fate Defiance System. Convert 4000 Fate Defiance Points into experience for the Scripture of Calamitous Chaos.”

Pitch-black shadows ignited around him, writhing with sentient malice.

Chaotic. Twisted. Like eternal flames of calamity.

Cross-legged, he channeled pure spiritual energy through his meridians.

A black phoenix reborn in shadow-fire.

His cultivation surged to Foundation Establishment, second layer.

Seconds later, Luo Qingchuan opened weary, elongated eyes.

Agony lanced through him—like countless needles piercing flesh.

Power soared. Body broken. Spirit drained. He couldn’t stand.

He skimmed the Alchemy Shop:

[Snow Ginseng Pill: Tier 2. Heavenly Dao-crafted. Perfect quality. Rapid wound regeneration. Cost: 200.]

He crushed the pill. Warmth flooded his abdomen. Wounds sealed before his eyes.

“Can’t stay. Police and Evilbane will come.”

Staggering upright, he reined in the ominous black flames and levitated shakily.

*Find Chen Yanyu. Hide together.*

Too much blood. Must clean up—avoid attention.

If Evilbane tagged him as a demonic cultivator? Imprisonment. Surveillance.

He’d sworn never to rot in a steel cell.

Especially with *her* at Evilbane HQ—

Lu Chuning, the Crimson Night Moon Immortal.

Petite. Ageless. Terrifyingly powerful.

No victory. Not even at Foundation Establishment.

He recalled a secluded villa on the city’s edge—close to Qinggang Bar.

Perfect refuge. For both of them.