The next day.
The main doors of Kongshan Prison slowly opened.
"Kiddo, don"t look back once you leave this place."
The elderly prison guard at the doors reminded Chu Xun, repeating his advice to every prisoner who left this place. Even so, there would always be people who would find themselves imprisoned again.
Chu Xun nodded. He was wearing the same clothes from when he entered the prison three years ago. It was obvious that they were one size too small for him now and even the style looked dated.
He walked away with light, quick steps. He knew no one would be here to receive him.
To be honest, there was something that he couldn"t quite understand even now. Why have his parents never visited him throughout his three years in prison?
When he reached the bottom of the Broken Soul Mountain, he saw no one for 50 kilometers, but he didn"t mind.
He saw a forest up ahead and stepped inside, where he swiftly took off the T-shirt that he was wearing.
Whoever saw him now would surely be dumbstruck.
That was because the scars on Chu Xun"s body were healing and then falling off at a speed observable by the naked eye. Before long, his skin looked so dewy and glossy that it looked like jade...
Minutes later, Chu Xun walked out of the forest.
His straight, well-defined eyebrows were raised. His long, narrow eyes seemed to be shining. His thin lips formed a beautiful arc, lending him a languid and aloof temperament.
No one would have thought that this good-looking young man was the same skinny Chu Xun who was tormented in the prison.
Stepping into the Qi Refinement Stage equaled being rebirth and reaching Nirvana. His figure and appearance would be restructured along with it.
Chu Xun didn"t alter his appearance inside the prison out of fear of unnecessary trouble. Out here, he didn"t have anything to worry about.
There were a hundred kilometers away from Gujiang City. Even at his current state, walking there would take him an entire day.
But he wasn"t worried. He began strolling as if he was taking a walk.
Wherever he walked, it felt as if a large, intangible hand was stirring the airflow around him.
Chu Xun was cultivating while he was walking. Even though there was little spiritual energy here, it was better than nothing.
"Boom!"
It was the roaring of an engine! A black, off-road vehicle appeared in Chu Xun"s vision.
The vehicle closed the distance of more than a hundred meters in the blink of an eye.
The engine once again emitted a thundering noise. The vehicle, like a bull going berserk, charged in Chu Xun"s direction.
Chu Xun could see clearly through the windshield the middle-aged driver with a crew cut and dark skin. The man was laughing, flashing him a set of white teeth.
The off-road vehicle zoomed past Chu Xun before drifting beautifully with an ear-piercing screech and stopping ten meters away from him.
The middle-aged man jumped out of the car. The stainless steel dagger in his hand glinted. He looked wary.
That was because the target that he wanted to run down earlier had vanished.
The middle-aged man looked around, his guard raised.
"Looking for me?"
Chu Xun"s voice drifted from the top of the car. The middle-aged man"s head snapped up, as if he was just bitten by a snake.
"Bit arrogant, don"t you think? To try and kill me in broad daylight?" Chu Xun looked cold and detached. To think that someone would a.s.sa.s.sinate him as soon as he left the prison. Who was so desperate for his death?
The middle-aged man tightened his grip around his dagger and looked at Chu Xun, fully cautious. He cursed in his mind, "D*mn it. Didn"t they say he"s a weak student? How was that stunt earlier something a student could do?"
"What do you mean, kill you? You must have misunderstood. I didn"t expect to see people on this road, so I nearly hit you out of carelessness. I"m sorry… It"s a misunderstanding…" The middle-aged man was all smiles.
His senses were very sharp and they had saved his life countless times. He could tell that Chu Xun was no ordinary person. A moment of carelessness and he might end up dying here. He was planning to retreat.
Chu Xun looked at the middle-aged man, his gaze overbearing.
"How do you explain the dagger in your hand? Please don"t tell me that you"re using that to peel your fruits."
The middle-aged man"s expression changed. He looked at Chu Xun and said, "What do you want?"
"Shouldn"t I be the one asking you that?" Chu Xun jumped off the car roof and slowly walked up to the middle-aged man. "Who sent you to kill me?"
The middle-aged man"s pupils shifted uneasily as he watched Chu Xun coming closer to him. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes and in the following moment, the dagger left his hand and ferociously flew toward Chu Xun"s chest.
"Go to h.e.l.l!"
The middle-aged roared fiercely.
Chu Xun looked at the oncoming dagger with cold eyes and then thrust his fist. Though he made his move later than his opponent, it was his attack that struck first.
"Thump!"
His punch sent the middle-aged man flying and left an obvious fist mark on the latter"s chest cavity.
"Since you won"t answer me, then you can answer to Yama!"
Chu Xun looked at the middle-aged man lying more than ten meters away, who no longer showed the sign of living.
To an Immortal Emperor, human lives were as insignificant as insects!
"Want my life? Come at me! I, Chu Xun, am waiting!"
Chu Xun"s tone was light, but the murderous aura that seeped from him was enough to strike fear in anyone.
Hours later, a black off-road vehicle sped into Gujiang City.
After three years, the city had only become more prosperous.
Chu Xun couldn"t care less now, however. He drove the car at lightning-fast speed toward a high-cla.s.s neighborhood.
He came from a well-off family. His father, Chu Tianhe, and mother, Liu Ran, were executives at the same company.
But after standing in front of his house and knocking the door with a hopeful heart, he was told that the owners had been changed a long time ago.
Chu Xun felt like someone had poured a basin of cold water over his head. He also felt somewhat uneasy.
Immediately, he drove toward Tianyuan Corporation. That was where his parents were working.
Chu Xun once followed his father to the company.
Relying on his memories, he made it to the place.
The twenty-two-story tower in front of him appeared to have been reconstructed. It was a lot grander than before.
Chu Xun parked the car and then got out. Just as he was about to enter the doors, his footsteps paused. Flabbergasted, he raised his head to look at the top of the tower.
"Such intense murderous aura."
To his surprise, there was a gigantic blade formed out of murderous aura hovering above the tower. It looked as if it was going to fall anytime.
Murderous aura was a discipline in Feng Shui or Chinese geomancy. Chu Xun didn"t know much about it, but during his free time in the alternate cultivation world, he would study a secret technique called Evocation of Heavenly Secrets.
Like Feng Shui, the Evocation of Heavenly Secrets could decipher Yin and Yang and discuss the Heavenly Secrets as well. However, it was even more profound. Following one"s growth in cultivation, one could peek into many Heavenly Secrets.
With his current cultivation, though, his Evocation of Heavenly Secrets technique was pitifully weak.
Of course, this was what Chu Xun thought.
He was just curious about something. Surely, they would have hired a Feng Shui master to examine the land before building a tower on it. So why was there such potent murderous aura here?
But this was none of his business.
Chu Xun walked into the tower and went straight to the reception.
A short distance away, two security guards looked at him cautiously.
"Who are you looking for?"
The beautiful receptionist flashed an occupational smile at him.
"Please put me in touch with your HR Manager, Chu Tianhe. If he"s not around, then get me Manager Liu Ran from your Marketing Department."
Chu Xun sounded rather urgent.
The receptionist looked at Chu Xun in surprise and said, "Manager Chu and Manager Liu resigned a year ago."
Chu Xun"s heart twisted painfully.
"Do you know why they resigned?"
The receptionist shook her head politely. Never mind the fact that she didn"t know. Even if she knew something, she would never reveal it to a person of unknown origins.
Right then, the escalator next to them dinged.
Two men and a woman stepped out.
"h.e.l.lo, Chairman Chen! h.e.l.lo, Director Bai!"
The receptionist and the two security guards subconsciously straightened their backs and greeted the three of them in unison.
"Hey! You can"t go there…"
Before the receptionist could finish her sentence, Chu Xun was already walking up to the three people and blocking their way.
The two security guards were alarmed. They gripped their rubber batons and ran up to Chu Xun.
The three people paused in their steps when they saw someone blocking their way. They looked at Chu Xun unhappily.
"Who are you?"
Chen Hanlong frowned at Chu Xun.
"I"m here to find someone. You look like you"re C-level executives in this company. I have some questions for you."
Chen Hanlong looked even more upset and barked, "Nonsense! You should talk to the receptionist if you"re looking for someone! What are you stopping us for?"
"We"re so sorry, Chairman Chen! This guy is mentally ill. We"ll remove him immediately."
The security guards rushed over, nodding their heads and bowing. Their job was to maintain the security of this place but now, this young man had offended the chairman. If the chairman was upset, they might very well get fired.
Chen Hanlong nodded. To think a person of his caliber would be stopped and questioned. This made him very unhappy.
The security guards reached for Chu Xun"s arms, wanting to drag him out.
With the little shake of his arms, Chu Xun sent the security guards flying.
"Answer my question and I"ll keep you safe. Other else, a fatal disaster will befall you the moment you step out the door," Chu Xun said coldly.
He wasn"t sure where the murderous aura atop the tower came from before, but he was now certain that it had something to do with the man in front of him. Out of the three people that he saw, only this man had a black line between his eyebrows. That was a sign of disaster.
Of course, outsiders wouldn"t be able to see the black line at all.
The moment the words left Chu Xun"s mouth, the three people became even more certain that the security guards were right. This young man was indeed mentally ill.
Chen Hanlong"s face was turning green. He built his fortune using illegal means and only whitewashed his finances later in life. The evil in him was still alive and well. It was upsetting for him to be suddenly cursed with a fatal disaster. Were it not for his status, he would have kicked Chu Xun out of the door long ago.
"Give the mental inst.i.tution a call," Chen Hanlong said, turning to address the receptionist. Then, he gave his orders to the security guards who had just climbed up from the floor. "Keep an eye on him, or you can forget about coming to work tomorrow."
The receptionist and security guards hastily nodded.