novellhall Chapter 165 A Deadly Situation
Chapter 165 A Deadly Situation
Chapter 165 A Deadly Situation
Lu Ren typed rapidly. After graduation, he was a management trainee, meaning he worked in various departments, including the sales department.
Although she was a bit withdrawn during her student days, the sales department honed her silver tongue in three months, making it easy for her to coax even the oldest and most aunties into smiling.
Jiang Yueying clung to his arm, standing on tiptoe to look at his phone, like a little animal trying to climb onto him.
As he typed, he said, "It's not really an illness, but as people get older, their health doesn't improve, and they feel uncomfortable from time to time."
Grandma Jiang Yueying is almost 80 years old. Actually, 80 isn't particularly old, but... "Grandma, her health is... really not very good—could...could you ask one of the young lady's relatives to take a look?"
"This isn't an illness; it's just old age. Even sorcerers can't cure it. Even those at the Burning Sun Realm can't help when they reach a certain age, let alone Grandma, who is just an ordinary person."
"And besides, Jiang Ke isn't married yet. Shouldn't she be the one urging her to get married?!"
"Oh, she said she's an idol now, and her career is currently on the rise, so it's not convenient for her to date."
"What, what idol? She's just a nobody, nobody cares if she even has a boyfriend!"
"It's obvious you haven't been following your sister's career. She recently appeared on a dating reality show and seems to have gained some popularity for a while."
"Kuku, Ren, Ren Zong, so funny --- By the way, why do you call me 'older sister' so naturally?"
""
Jiang Yueying felt a little awkward. Lu Ren was just Lu Ren, but now he seemed to have become something extraordinary.
"What did you say to them? Let me see—"
Her phone had just been burned, but luckily her game console and other belongings were in Lu Youhe's storage gourd.
"Here you are."
Lu Ren handed her his phone, and she took it and quickly checked the chat history, only to find that Lu Ren had indeed chatted a lot with her family.
Especially seeing him chatting with his parents, I felt a strange feeling in my heart.
And Jiang Ke, shouldn't this nearly thirty-year-old single woman be the one to shoulder the responsibility for her grandmother's request to see her granddaughter get married?
What's the point of giving her a 17-year-old beautiful high school girl the task?
It's worth mentioning that the legal marriage age in Dayu is 18 for men and 16 for women, so Jiang Yueying is actually a legal loli, while Lu Ren is not.
Most professionals get married around the age of 18, especially those from aristocratic families, because after 18, their upward mobility ends and their ability to improve plateaus.
Longyou previously mentioned that most people go back to school to catch up on their education after turning 18, but a large portion of them go back to get married and have children, usually before the second growth spurt, which is before the age of 22.
Just like the team of the dark-skinned girl who temporarily formed a group in Dongtian Mountain, they were looking for a new divine cultivator because the sorcerer went home to have a baby, or to see Long You and Yu Zaomian. They were so enthusiastic that it wouldn't be surprising if Sister Xiaoyu said she would retire for a while to go back to take care of her pregnancy.
This is especially true for professionals with exceptional talent, because in this perilous world, no one knows whether they will return from their next adventure in the Void Realm or on a mission.
The urge to have offspring is an instinct etched into our DNA. Humans are no different from other animals in this respect. Coupled with the pressure from elders to have children, the marriage age in this world is much earlier than in Lu Ren's previous life.
Jiang Yueying was somewhat troubled, "Although it was Grandma's request, getting married and all that—"
"Older people are all like that. She knows it's a bit early for you to say you want to get married now, so she wants to see you get engaged to me first. But this is all a lie, so we can't really pretend to get engaged."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yueying looked up at him, seemingly lost in thought.
"Hey, what's with that expression? You don't actually want me to keep acting like this, do you?"
What do you mean by "he was just pretending to be your boyfriend, but ended up pretending to want to go back and marry you"?
Jiang Yueying blushed and said, "Who, who wants to get engaged to you? It was you who, back then, took it upon yourself to make the decision."
"Xiaoying is immature for shifting all the blame onto others right now."
"I...I understand, you nagging Lu Ren!"
"So, should I tell Grandma and the others that we've actually broken up?"
"Speak, speak—"
Jiang Yueying had seen the chat history in that family group chat. Without her knowledge, Lu Ren had actually talked to her family so much.
Lu Ren speaks in a very mature manner, handling her parents, uncles, and aunts with ease.
Moreover, they talked a lot about themselves. She scrolled through the chat history and saw a photo he had secretly taken of her during a battle.
That was during the last battle. She had angered several silver-level Void Beasts and was running around in a very disheveled state, calling for Lu Ren to help her. This guy even chuckled and took out his phone to record her.
When her family saw the video, her sister and cousin were heartless and said she was embarrassing herself. Her grandmother was a little worried about her and told Xiaolu not to tease her. Her grandfather said that it was a good thing for her to have more experience and that Xiaolu would keep an eye on her so nothing would happen.
She was really angry back then, but now, looking at her embarrassing moments that were recorded, she couldn't help but laugh.
There are many photos, some of her embarrassing moments and some of her looking very cool. He meticulously records her every day, as if she were some kind of treasure.
All the things he said about taking care of me were true. Just looking at these chat logs, it felt like I was really dating Lu Ren.
However, the identity is fake, and the affection is fake too.
"Give me back my phone, let me see how to phrase it better."
"Um, that—"
She suddenly seemed a little lost, holding Lu Ren's phone, constantly tiptoeing, her small insteps, constricted by stiletto sandals, straightening and then falling back down.
She suddenly said, "Well, maybe we shouldn't say anything yet."
"Aren't you going to tell me?"
"Wait, wait for me to come and tell me, shall we?"
Are you coming?
"I... I'll be better at it."
Hearing her say that, Lu Ren felt it was better for her to say it. He shrugged and said, "Okay, then don't forget, or you'll really have to attend the engagement banquet when you get back. Maybe you'll have to marry Yueying then. Maybe next year when I turn 18, Yueying will marry me."
Jiang Yueying knew that this guy was deliberately teasing her. If it were the old her, she would only stammer and blush with embarrassment when faced with the teasing of the scoundrel Lu Ren, and then weakly say some embarrassing and angry words. But the current Jiang Yueying is no longer the Jiang Yueying of the past.
"Marry me? Marry you... or whatever? I'll be asking for a super, super large dowry. You're still a long way from marrying me!"
"Oh! So Yueying is a money-grubber after all. I really underestimated you."
She was very proud of herself, puffing out her small chest and saying, "I, I'm the daughter of a capitalist!"
"How much dowry would it take to marry Xiaoying?"
'
"One, one million?"
Lu Ren thought for a moment: "One million? I think I have that much here."
Jiang Yueying had forgotten that he was now a professional at the Fire Realm, not the poor kid she met in the Linjiang Void Realm three months ago who could be hired for just a few thousand or ten thousand. He had unknowingly accumulated millions in savings.
She quickly said, "I... I misspoke, ten million! I want ten million!"
"You need ten million? Then I'll borrow some from Miss."
"Holy crap—" Jiang Yueying was shocked. She said angrily, "How can you be so good at finding money? Borrowing money from other women to marry me? You bastard, you scoundrel! Earn your own money!"
But when she looked at Lu Ren, she found that Lu Ren was also looking down at her, as if he was smiling. Jiang Yueying suddenly felt very strange. Why was he looking at her and smiling? She wasn't funny.
"Laughing? What are you laughing at?"
"I couldn't help but laugh because Xiaoying is so cute."
"But, cute and all that————"
Jiang Yueying's face flushed slightly. She wanted to say something in retaliation, but suddenly felt a large hand press down on her head.
It's always like this. Why does this guy always say such strange things, then presumptuously call her cute, and like to touch his own head like he's a little kid.
"What did I just hear? Dowry, marriage and all that stuff—"
Just then, Jiang Yanyan, who had changed her clothes, came out. When she saw the two of them, she asked, "Are you getting married?"
Congratulations!
"Is it just a congratulatory message? I thought I would receive a gift from Her Highness the Princess."
Jiang Yanyan was taken aback for a moment, then said generously, "A gift? Sure, I'll have someone prepare one later."
"Her Highness is so approachable."
"You're pretty strong. Let's have another match if we get the chance."
"Your Highness, shall we take another photo?"
'
""
She wore a light purple short-sleeved blouse with a pair of white jade buttons at the collar, and a moon-white horse-face skirt. A white magnolia hairpin was inserted diagonally into her hair, and two strands of hair by her ears were gently blown by the wind. She was clearly a fire demon when she was fighting, like an empress of the fiery hell. At this moment, she reminded people of the ladies in the paintings of the Song Dynasty, who were elegant and serene.
When Lu Ren saw Jiang Yanyan's face, he could vaguely see what the princess looked like when she was a child. Actually, seeing the past made him nostalgic, not because he missed the scene itself, but because it made him miss himself at that time. Then he sighed, realizing that the princess had grown up so much, and that he and Youhe were no longer children.
After taking the photo, he remarked with a sigh, "Your Highness has grown up so much."
Jiang Yanyan: "————" Why does this person sound like they watched me grow up?
Then she looked at Jiang Yueying, a girl who was a little shy and stayed close to the boy, perhaps she could be considered her cousin.
In fact, while she was changing clothes, she had already had someone check Jiang Yueying's identity information and confirmed that the other party was indeed a distant relative of the imperial clan, a fallen member of the clan.
It's not fair to say she's fallen on hard times. Jiang Yueying's grandfather was a county magistrate in Dayu before he retired, and her father is now a merchant, so she is still a young lady from a wealthy family, unlike Liu Bei who fell on hard times and ended up selling straw sandals.
For professionals who are distant relatives of the royal family, the royal family would usually immediately consult the imperial genealogy to publicly confirm the member's royal lineage. However, perhaps this little girl has only awakened the "fire magic user" ability, not the "demon-slaying fire master" of the Jiang family, which is why they did not immediately acknowledge her as a relative.
But who knew that this little girl's talent was so amazing? She had already learned from her master that the black flames she had just manipulated were not actually hers, but belonged to the little girl from the fallen clan in front of her.
Jiang Yanyan is indeed incredibly talented, but she doesn't have the aptitude to control black flames. On the contrary, this distant little girl, whose blood relation to her is so thin as to be negligible, actually has black flames in her bloodline.
"You don't need to underestimate yourself. Black flame is the power in your bloodline. Your master has already used this little girl's power to ignite it for you. After that, as long as you remember that feeling, you can also extract black flame from your own bloodline."
Her master's voice echoed in her heart. Jiang Yan Yan didn't have many thoughts about it, nor did she feel any resentment or jealousy towards this distant cousin. In fact, it was all thanks to herself that she now had the opportunity to master the Black Flame.
She asked herself, "By the way, Master, why didn't my black flames hurt him? Why does this person seem so unafraid of black flames?"
"Oh, you can ask your second uncle when you get back. He'll tell you."
"Can't you just say it directly?"
Thousands of miles away, in a dimly lit bookstore, the young woman at the front desk is looking at the illustrations in a book.
The image features three stick figures, one of whom is constantly emitting black smoke, a mark she made using the power of black flames, invisible to the naked eye.
The reason why the Jiang family's Demon-Slaying Divine Fire, especially the Black Flame, has such a powerful deterrent effect on the Void Beasts is that the Void Beasts are the power of the Void Realm, while the Black Flame is the judgment left behind by that person on the Void Realm.
"The mark has been made; erase this mistake—my past self."
At that very moment, the winds and clouds in Yanzhou changed dramatically!
Just as Lu Ren was about to take Jiang Yueying back, his master's urgent shout suddenly echoed in his mind: "Not good, run!"
"What do you mean, 'run fast'?"
"Get out of here!"
Lu Ren looked up and quickly understood what his master meant by telling him to run, but that kind of thing, he could run away on his own—
Where to?
A large shadow fell from the horizon, not because it was dark, but because someone had dropped a drop of ink there, which spread and formed a human shape.
The shadow was enormous, pressing down from the clouds until it stopped halfway down. The face was obscured, only the outline of the shoulders, neck, head, and two arms hanging at the sides with fingers spread apart, one by one, as if about to be raised at any moment.
"What, what is that?"
"Look over there!"
"That thing, it's fake, isn't it?"
Almost everyone in the entire Yan State could see that the thing was not real, but rather a projection from the past, yet the pressure it brought was so real.
Judging from the outline, it was a woman. The woman was standing on the ground, and her upper body was already at the height of outer space. The people of Yanzhou were so afraid of that thing that their legs went weak just by realizing its existence.
The thing on the horizon was still pressing down. It wasn't that it wanted to come down, but that the sky couldn't hold it anymore. Lu Ren saw that she was holding something in her hand and was slamming it down heavily in their direction.