The Master and His Wealthy Fiancée

On a high mountain with a wide-open view at the edge of the Southern Border, the Zhang Family had gathered. They wanted to see if the earthquake Chen Dong spoke of would actually happen. On his word alone, they had worked tirelessly for two days and nights, completely clearing an area with a radius of over one hundred and fifty li. They had mobilized numerous factions to do so; if there were no earthquake, they would have a lot to answer for.

The young and beautiful Zhang Baikou supported the Ancestor and said, ”Ancestor, you trust Chen Dong too much. How could he possibly predict something like an earthquake!”

Zhang Kongqing gently stroked her hair with one hand and said, ”Ah, Bai Kou, your sister has been heartbroken. The future of the Zhang Family can only depend on you now. I know you’re proud and have your reservations about Chen Dong, but you must not underestimate him. I find this world harder and harder to understand, but I know one thing: Chen Dong is no simple man. Even if there’s no earthquake, this act repays the favor we owe him for the Mingxi Condensation Pill.”

Zhang Baikou listened, lost in thought.

At that moment, the ground began to shake violently. The Zhang Family cried out in alarm, ”An earthquake! It’s really an earthquake!”

”Holy shit, he actually predicted it! When I heard there was going to be an earthquake in the Southern Border, I thought it was a joke!”

”Me too! There hasn’t been an earthquake in the Southern Border for over a thousand years. The Earth Veins were stable, so how could this happen?!”

”The Ancestor really had the foresight. If it weren’t for her, the people in the surrounding villages and counties would have been devastated!”

Zhang Baikou’s mouth hung open in shock. She never imagined a real earthquake would occur. In the distance, mountains crumbled and the earth split asunder, with new mountain ranges abruptly rising from the ground in an increasingly astonishing spectacle. Yet, while the ground here shook, the impact was minor. The earthquake was just as Chen Dong had described—its effects were precisely contained within the hundred-li radius he had specified.

Meanwhile, in the sky above the earthquake’s epicenter, Chen Dong hovered in the air.

At this moment, his expression was completely numb. It wasn’t just because of the stunning sight before him, but more so because of the Saint’s Dao Light Pillar in his sea of consciousness. It had been growing since yesterday, and at an astonishing rate. The moment the earthquake began, the pillar had instantly erupted with a blinding light that grew increasingly intense.

Inside his sea of consciousness, the Saint Dao was now completely dominant. Its white pillar of light shone like a lighthouse, illuminating everything around it. Next was the pink pillar of the Red Dust Dao, which resembled a large searchlight. After that came the dim pillar of the Yellow Springs Dao, like a skyscraper lit by old, dim tungsten bulbs. The blood-red pillar of the Asura Dao, however, had become incredibly faint, with only a weak glimmer remaining.

The light of the Saint Dao continued to intensify, reaching a point where it could manifest in reality. Chen Dong’s entire body began to glow with a sacred white light.

This wondrous state brought him an epiphany. ’Saints are the epitome of goodness; by practicing virtue, they comprehend the righteous principles of heaven and earth.’ The light of the Saint Dao came from two sources. One part was from the people in Jiangzhou who had been revived by the Blood Storage Array. Because You had only deployed the array due to his agreement with Chen Dong, the vast majority of the positive karma had been returned to Chen Dong himself. The other part came from the people saved during the Southern Border earthquake. Because they were saved by Chen Dong’s actions, the karmic reward was even more direct—and it came in a single, explosive burst, plunging Chen Dong into this state of sudden enlightenment.

This change caught You’s attention, and he looked at Chen Dong with confusion. However, Chen Dong’s ”human lightbulb” state faded as the earthquake subsided, returning to normal. This led You to assume it was merely a side effect of the lightning cultivation techniques Chen Dong practiced, so he didn’t dwell on it.

Once Chen Dong’s mind was clear again, You spoke. ”Let’s go. On to the next place.”

He casually tore open a black rift and stepped through. The Corpse Dove followed with a GAK GAK, and Chen Dong followed suit.

Things in the Jiangzhou region were slowly returning to normal. It had been three days since the earthquake. The effects of the red light were now understood by the public, and its terrifyingly potent healing abilities drove countless people into a frenzy. Scholars and experts of all kinds once again flooded into Jiangzhou.

Because of a chaotic battle involving over a dozen Outer Appearance martial artists and the appearance of an Inner Scenery expert unaffiliated with the six great clans or the Military Suppression Department, Changyi—one of the four heads of the Divine Department—personally took charge of Jiangzhou. For a time, the city’s Martial Artist Circle stabilized.

Inside the Li Family Manor, the Li Family members had long since returned after their fruitless search for Li Wang.

Today’s lunch was far more frugal than usual, consisting of only a few simple vegetarian dishes. The Li Family members sat at the table, their faces etched with worry, none of them having any appetite. Their mood had nothing to do with the food; it was mainly because Li Huiran had been unconscious ever since Murong Qing brought her back that day. Her black hair had turned snow-white and showed no signs of returning to its original color. Murong Qing, as if dealt a heavy blow herself, had explained what happened before shutting herself in a guest room to cultivate intensely.

The Li Family had invited Xue Tianxiang over to diagnose her. His conclusion was severe spiritual exhaustion. For such a condition, Xue Tianxiang could only prescribe some nerve-calming medicine and soothing incense; he had no better solution.

As time went on, the red light in Jiangzhou grew fainter and fainter, disappearing completely after the seventh day. It took less time and energy to heal ordinary people than it did Martial Artists. The experts who had come to Jiangzhou failed to produce any research findings, but the red light did manage to cure many rare and difficult diseases.

Because of the red light, the official death toll from the earthquake was zero. Not a single person had died in a magnitude-12 earthquake, a fact that became the world’s hottest new mystery. It dominated headlines everywhere, for a time even overshadowing the three other earthquakes that had occurred consecutively within the country.

Tucked away in the corners of this news cycle, an article titled ’The Child of Calamity’ caught the attention of many people.

It told of a mysterious man who would appear wherever a disaster was about to strike, urging people to flee. And without fail, disaster would befall that very place.

At first, anyone who saw the article simply laughed it off as a fabrication. But as more and more accounts surfaced, they were forced to believe in the existence of the ’Child of Calamity’.