Chapter 143

Chapter 143: Why speak in such a lofty manner?

Ming stared at the red dragon formed from blood energy approaching him.

To be honest,

Ming truly didn’t believe he could withstand this red dragon.

Under the assault of this red dragon, he would surely face near-certain death.

But Ming knew he couldn’t retreat.

Because Qingwan was behind him.

He might “probably” not be able to block this blood energy red dragon, but Qin Qingwan definitely couldn’t.

Facing this red dragon, his survival chances were slim, but if he took even a single step back, Qingwan would die without question.

Ming threw a punch with all his might, unleashing his peak power under his current state and level.

The Martial True Qi clashed with the blood energy swirling around the red dragon like two colliding air currents.

Indeed, Ming managed to withstand the red dragon for about a moment.

But that was all.

Ming was swallowed by the red dragon.

He felt every inch of his skin being destroyed, as though enveloped by magma—more painful than any torment he endured during Body Tempering.

It wasn’t just his body; his Divine Soul felt like it had “Heng Ha Generals” humming incessantly in his ears, almost dispersing.

Even Ming’s vision blurred, as if he were already seeing life flash before his eyes.

Just as Ming hovered on the brink of annihilation, his soul about to dissipate,

Suddenly, a pendant resembling a water droplet pierced through the blood-red dragon energy.

Instinctively, Ming reached out to catch it.

However, the water-droplet pendant directly sank into Ming’s palm and vanished without a trace.

Ming even doubted whether he’d imagined it.

But the next moment, his body confirmed everything was real.

After the water-droplet pendant merged with Ming, his eyes became somewhat vacant. He seemed to be staring at the red dragon before him, yet there was no sign of the blood energy dragon in his gaze.

The oppressive aura from the blood energy dragon gradually transformed into a sense of affinity.

All rejection disappeared, replaced instead by the feeling of encountering an old friend.

The blood energy, once like magma, now felt as gentle as spring breeze.

His Divine Soul was refreshed as though bathed in the warm waters of the Jade Pool.

Ming’s injuries and condition began to rapidly recover.

Guided by some inexplicable force, Ming extended his hand toward the blood energy dragon.

In everyone’s sight, the red blood energy surrounding Ming gradually condensed toward the blood-red bead.

Until finally, all the blood energy gathered onto that bead.

The treasure bead spat out by the toad floated before Ming, glowing like a blood moon in the sky.

Then, this blood-red bead spontaneously fell into Ming’s palm.

The magic array on the mountaintop also dimmed, and the chains binding Qingwan disappeared.

When Ming accepted this mysterious bead, hundreds of human cultivators and demon cultivators flew over, surrounding him.

Ming calmly looked at the crowd.

From their gazes, Ming saw greed.

They had come with ill intentions.

They must have followed the treasure here.

“May I ask what brings you all here?” Ming asked, showing no fear even when faced with hundreds of cultivators.

After all, Ming entered the Blood Floating Pagoda at eight and experienced life-and-death situations before ten.

For him, such scenes were commonplace in his Blood Floating Pagoda journey.

Faced with Ming’s calm demeanor and unwavering composure, many cultivators were momentarily at a loss for words.

Especially the righteous aura emanating from him made them feel small and petty.

“What is Brother Xu doing here?” Donghua stepped forward and asked, glancing at Qingwan and others lying on the ground.

“What I’m doing here has nothing to do with you all, right?” Ming asked. “And you haven’t answered my question yet—why are you so aggressively surrounding me?”

She Yu suddenly opened his fan with a flick, fanning the wind. “Tonight, I went to the Toad Temple and found a rare treasure, which is the bead in Brother Xu’s hand. Kindly return it to me.”

Ming weighed the bead in his hand and smiled. “Why should I give it to you? Is it yours?”

Donghua hurriedly said, “Xu Ming, we risked our lives to obtain this thing. You didn’t contribute anything, so it has nothing to do with you. Isn’t it unfair for you to claim it for yourself?”

Ming looked at Donghua as if looking at an idiot. “I nearly died because of this bead earlier, and now it’s in my hands. And you’re telling me it has absolutely nothing to do with me?”

Donghua’s tone immediately turned sour, even carrying a threatening undertone. “Young Master Xu, holding onto this item isn’t a good idea.”

“I’d like to see what bad things will happen.”

Ming smirked, his expression still perfectly calm.

Ming didn’t know what this blood-red bead was, but if so many people were fighting over it, it definitely wasn’t something ordinary.

“Why waste time talking to him?” A one-eyed cultivator stepped forward. “There’s definitely something suspicious about this guy!”

“That’s right!” Another cultivator chimed in. “The bead suddenly flew toward him, and then he got it. He must have used some trickery.”

“This man undoubtedly knows some secrets of Baiwa City!”

“Look at the magic array on the mountaintop! Its energy closely resembles the bead’s blood energy!”

“It’s possible this man is the mastermind behind everything!”

“The missing cultivators might have been killed by him!”

“Kill him!”

More and more people pointed fingers at Ming.

Actually, Donghua knew Ming wouldn’t hand over the item.

Others also understood that the magic array alone wasn’t enough to prove this man was the mastermind behind Baiwa City or that Ming had killed the missing cultivators.

It was more likely that Ming discovered some clues in Baiwa City, constructed this array, and somehow triggered the resonance of the bead.

After all, everyone witnessed his fearless expression when facing the blood energy dragon.

Who would’ve guessed the toad would spit out a bead?

If he could predict that, he wouldn’t have exposed himself, drawing everyone’s attack.

But meaningless words still needed to be spoken.

First, to test whether Ming would back down, and second, to make their treasure-grabbing seem more justified.

Donghua frowned. “Brother Xu, don’t you need to explain yourself properly?”

“You all just want to seize the treasure, right? We all know this, so why put on such a pretentious act?”

Ming smiled and stood tall.

“If you want it, come and get it.”