His breathing grew increasingly ragged, and his hands began to relish that astonishing touch.
In order to preserve her own life, Lin Qinyi had no choice but to endure it. The more she looked at Chu Hao's face, the more uncomfortable she felt in her heart, as an endless sense of grievance welled up within her. She closed her eyes, and tears streamed down the corners of her eyes.
All of this was clearly taken in by Chu Hao.
Having originally lost his senses, at that very moment he gave a slight shudder, and the movement of his hands came to a halt.
He saw the disgust in Lin Qinyi's eyes, as well as her pain.
This fleeting moment also gave Chu Hao a chance to catch his breath.
Seizing this instant, he quickly scrambled off Lin Qinyi's body.
Immediately afterward, he opened the silver needle pouch in his pocket, pulled out a needle nearly twenty centimeters long, and with a flick of one hand, drove the silver needle straight into the point between Chu Hao's eyebrows!
The Yintang acupoint could cause a person to snap back to clarity instantly.
In a fraction of a second, Chu Hao felt a violent wave of pain. His body gave a sharp jerk, and he regained a good deal of his sobriety.
Daring not look at Lin Qinyi on the sofa, he strode to one side, grabbed an air-conditioning quilt from the sofa, and tossed it forward.
The quilt unfolded and landed squarely on Lin Qinyi, completely covering her from head to toe.
With her eyes closed, Lin Qinyi felt a sense of perplexity.
She suddenly realized that Chu Hao had left her body. At first, she thought Chu Hao was taking off his clothes or something, but after waiting a moment, she found that Chu Hao had neither returned nor made any sound of undressing.
Feeling something draped over her body, she could not help opening her eyes to see Chu Hao standing beside the sofa. His face was flushed crimson, a long silver needle was stuck right between his eyebrows, and he was standing there gasping heavily for breath.
"What are you doing?" Lin Qinyi asked through clenched teeth.
"You don't want to be with me at all!" Chu Hao said.
Though her body was somewhat weak, Lin Qinyi's tongue remained as stubborn as ever. Gritting her teeth, she retorted, "I got along well with you when we were kids, but that was just because we were too young to know any better. Now, the gap between you and me is as vast as heaven and earth. If not for my illness, you wouldn't even get to touch a single finger of mine."
"I never force anyone to do anything they're unwilling to do," Chu Hao said through gritted teeth, turning his head to look at Lin Qinyi.
With the quilt covering Lin Qinyi's body, the visual impact on Chu Hao was much diminished.
"What do you mean?" Lin Qinyi asked.
"Don't you look down on me? The look of disgust in your eyes just now was what brought me back to my senses!" Chu Hao snarled. "In one more day, you'll be twenty-eight. Once you turn twenty-eight, you will surely die, and in this entire world, I am the only one who can save you!"
"Yet you... you still put on airs, looking down on me. If you're going to despise me, then don't bloody beg me to save you, and your family shouldn't pull such cheap stunts either." Chu Hao added, "And furthermore..."
With a cold laugh, he said, "You think I give you the high-regard? I have a wife now, and when it comes to looks, temperament, and appearance, you aren't even fit to carry her shoes!"
"Lin Qinyi, put away your haughtiness. Your Lin family's money has not a single damn thing to do with me," Chu Hao said at a rapid-fire pace. "If your grandfather hadn't engineered this trap, and if you hadn't walked down here without any clothes on and made me lose my mind, I wouldn't spare you a second glance even if you stood stark naked in front of me!"
He sneered, "Go ahead and reap what you've sown. The only thing waiting for you is death. Give it a little while longer, and you'll probably come crawling to me on your knees, begging me to sleep with you, but... you won't get the chance!"
"I am... a man you will never, ever be able to have!"
Having said this, Chu Hao felt the burning heat coursing through his entire body grow even more intense.
He knew the effect of the needle was wearing off. He could not afford to stay here any longer; staying a moment longer might cause him to lose his mind again.
He rushed toward the door, only to find that the main door had been double-bolted.
It was a bronze door, and the lock was exceptionally sturdy.
Yet Chu Hao paid none of that any mind. True elemental force surged within his body, gathering in his hand, and then he slammed his right hand forward with all his might!
"Bang!"
A tremendous crash rang out. To Lin Qinyi's stunned and horrified gaze, Chu Hao wrenched the massive bronze door open with a single pull and bolted straight out of the apartment.
***
Chapter 26: Visitors at the Hostel
Chu Hao charged out of the room, true elemental force coating the soles of his feet. Unable to spare a thought for anything else now, he drove his speed to the absolute limit, shooting across the vast front courtyard of the villa like a residual shadow and vanishing from sight!
Naturally, that loud bang drew the attention of quite a few people.
Lin Kefu and the others were quickly wheeled over.
A crowd soon gathered at the front of the villa.
"Screech!"
"Screech!"
"Screech!"
A grating sound issued from the broken door lock.
Seated in his wheelchair, Lin Kefu stared at the shattered lock and murmured, "The bronze door was double-bolted. How on earth... did he manage to break the lock and get out?"
"Older sister!" Lin Shuyu's expression shifted slightly!
At the same time, a middle-aged woman hurried over.
"You two go inside and see what's going on," Lin Kefu instructed them both.
The two nodded and hurried into the room.
They saw Lin Qinyi lying there on the sofa, her eyes fixed blankly on the ceiling, her mind replaying every single word Chu Hao had just said.
"Why should he look down on me?"
"Why would I ever need to beg him, let alone beg him to sleep with me?"
"And yet, if I don't beg him, I might... truly die."
"Moreover, under circumstances like that—when I had stripped entirely bare—he actually... managed to hold back. Does he really look down on me that much?"
...
Endless thoughts swirled through her mind.
At that moment, Lin Shuyu and her mother walked in.
"Yiyi, how are you feeling?"
"Sis!" Lin Shuyu looked around and asked, "Where's that guy Chu Hao? Are you done? I've heard men are always fast the first time, but this speed is a bit much. How are you holding up?"
Lin Qinyi turned her head, looked at the two of them, and said, "He... held back. He didn't touch me."
"Huh?" Lin Shuyu and the middle-aged woman froze. Lin Shuyu looked around and asked, "Then where is he?"
"He tore the bronze door right off its hinges and ran away!" Lin Qinyi said. "He said that unless I beg him, otherwise..."
Her eyes losing their focus, she whispered, "Mom, what am... what am I going to do? I really might die."
Mid-sentence, a sweet taste rose in her throat, accompanied by a stifling heat in her chest. The next instant, she could no longer suppress it, and fresh blood slowly spilled from the corners of her mouth.
"Sis! Sis!"
...
Meanwhile, Chu Hao ran like a madman, feeling the burning heat within his body grow increasingly fierce.
Moving at high speed, he caught sight of quite a few women along the way!
At that moment, Chu Hao found every single woman he laid eyes on to be delicate and pretty.
He exerted every ounce of his willpower to restrain himself, and a few minutes later, he burst onto the edge of Binjiang Road.
It was already dusk, and there was no shortage of pedestrians coming and going along Binjiang Road.
Yet Chu Hao could no longer care about such things. He sprinted straight toward the riverbank. Fortunately, his speed was so extreme that in the eyes of ordinary people, he seemed like nothing more than a blur.
"Plop!"
At a certain moment, he vaulted directly over the edge and into the river.
By the riverbank, two fishermen were angling. One of them rubbed his eyes and said, "Old Huang, did my eyes play tricks on me just now? I thought I saw someone fall in."
"I... think I saw it too," the other said doubtfully. "Visibility might be poor at night, let's just leave it alone."
The two men lay back down, waiting for a bite.
What they failed to notice was that on a flight of steps behind them stood a woman wearing a face mask and a white dress, watching the spot where Chu Hao had jumped in, a hint of a smile playing in her eyes.
An endless wave of icy coolness assailed him from all directions, slowly dissipating the searing heat in Chu Hao's body.
Chu Hao was not afraid of drowning.
On the path of immortal cultivation, the first stage was Qi Refining.
During Qi Refining, all the pores in one's body would open completely, allowing one to stay underwater for days on end.
As the freezing sensation washed into his body, Chu Hao grew much clearer-headed. He maintained a cross-legged posture underwater and began to circulate his cultivation technique.
There was no antidote for the Spring-Welcoming Powder; one simply had to endure it through sheer willpower and ride out the medicinal effect.
Time slipped away as the river current carried Chu Hao floating downstream.
...
While Chu Hao was cooling off in the water, night gradually descended.Mu QingQing sat behind the front desk, playing with her mobile phone.
Business at the hostel was terrible, with only an occasional guest dropping by.
For instance, during the entire time Chu Hao had stayed here, only one or two people had come to the hostel.
Yet Mu Qingqing still had to keep watch.
"Excuse me, do you have any rooms available?" Suddenly, a voice rang out.
Mu Qingqing looked up, and she froze slightly!
She saw an incomparably beautiful woman carrying a small backpack and wearing a white dress. Every glance and every smile she made was exuding pure femininity.
Upon seeing this woman, three words instantly popped into Mu Qingqing's mind:
"Vixen!"
Indeed, although it wasn't a particularly nice term, she felt as though these three words had been custom-made for the woman standing before her.
"We do!" Mu Qingqing said. "What kind of room would you like?"
"A single room, please," the woman said with a charming smile.
"A single room is fifty!" Mu Qingqing said. "Your ID card, please."
After the woman paid and completed her check-in procedures, Mu Qingqing led her up to her room. As she came back downstairs, she froze once more.
She noticed a man and a woman standing at the entrance.
Both were wearing face masks and sunglasses. Despite the sweltering weather, they were dressed head-to-toe in leather jackets.
The man was leaning against the wall, a deck of cards in one hand. His fingers seemed remarkably nimble, playing with the cards until they fluttered like blossoms in a single hand.
In his other hand, he spun a dagger-like object round and round.
"Excuse me... does Chu Hao live here?" At that moment, the woman asked.
Mu Qingqing nodded and said, "Yes, but... older brother isn't in his room."
"Older brother?" The woman looked at Mu Qingqing in surprise and asked, "Are you his sister?"
"No, he's been staying here a long time, so I call him that," Mu Qingqing said with a smile. "And you are?"
"We're his friends," the woman smiled. "Since he's here, let's take a room too!"
Mu Qingqing was slightly surprised. She hadn't expected business to be so good tonight, with three people arriving back-to-back!
After opening a room for the two of them and completing their check-in, the pair turned and headed upstairs. As they reached the doorway, the woman suddenly turned back and said, "Oh right, little sister, remember not to open your door tonight, okay?"
"Ah!" Mu Qingqing blinked in surprise. "Why?"
"Because... the night is dangerous, especially for... a pretty little sister like you." The woman's voice drifted in from outside the doorway.
***
Chapter 27: Yuanyang Pill? Isn't this just fried meatballs?
Mu Qingqing didn't pay too much attention to the woman's warning. She returned to the bed beside the front desk and lay down, playing on her phone while waiting to see if anyone else would come by tonight.
Time passed, and the night grew deeper.
No one else showed up afterwards.
Growing somewhat sleepy, Mu Qingqing lay down on the bed inside the front desk enclosure and drifted off into a hazy slumber.
Upstairs, faint sounds drifted down from time to time.
Yet Mu Qingqing didn't pay them much mind.
...
Meanwhile, quite a distance away from Jiangcheng, an off-road vehicle was parked on a patch of sandy ground. In the night, the headlights cut through the dark as two men stood out in front.
One of them was dressed in a sleek business suit; if Chu Hao had heard this man's voice, he undoubtedly would have recognized him as Jiangcheng's wealthiest man, Jiang Shan!
Standing beside him was a man dressed in a black hoodie and casual athletic wear.
Late at night as it was, he still wore a black pair of sunglasses and a face mask. If not for the illumination of the headlights, one wouldn't even have noticed he was there.
"In the blink of an eye, you've stayed in Jiangcheng for thirty years, and you've aged quite a bit," the man in sunglasses said, looking at Jiang Shan with a long sigh.
"Indeed," Jiang Shan replied. "In the blink of an eye, I've spent thirty years in Jiangcheng."
"Have you heard any news about Luo Qing?" the man in sunglasses asked.
Jiang Shan shook his head. "Not a word in thirty years. Could this old bastard have reached the end of his lifespan?"
"Back then, he had already entered the Qi Refining Stage; living another two or three hundred years wouldn't be a problem," the man in sunglasses said, shaking his head. "In any case, if you get any news, remember to contact me immediately."
Fumbling in his pocket, he continued, "Ah right, this is something I brought for Ranran."
With that, he pulled a small box from his pocket and tossed it to Jiang Shan!
Jiang Shan hurriedly caught the box, and a wave of warmth radiated outward from within it.
"This is a Yuanyang Pill!" the man in sunglasses declared. "It has reached the tier of a first-grade pill. Although it can't completely cure Ranran's ALS, it's more than enough to alleviate her condition and buy her some time."
The sunglasses-wearing man cursed bitterly, "Damn it! First-grade alchemists are becoming scarcer and scarcer in the cultivation world. Ever since Senior Chu Tianlan went into seclusion, graded pills have grown harder to find by the day. This single Yuanyang Pill nearly cost me my entire fortune at the auction."
"This Yuanyang Pill consolidates one's foundation and nurtures vitality, making it most suitable for those in the Qi Refining Stage. It'll be of great use to you—you should keep it for yourself," Jiang Shan said, tossing the pill back to the man in sunglasses.
"Ranran..."
"Ranran's illness is cured!" Jiang Shan announced.
"Huh?" The man in sunglasses shifted slightly, his expression changing. "Are you certain?"
Jiang Shan nodded. "Yes, I met a miraculous doctor."
"An immortal cultivator?" the man in sunglasses asked in surprise.
"Doesn't seem like it. She was brought over by that young lady from the Su family in Yanjing," Jiang Shan said. "Oh right, speaking of which, that young lady seems to be running into some trouble. If you have the time, you might want to look out for her."
However, the man in sunglasses clearly had no interest in this topic; he was far more concerned with Jiang Ranran's condition, so he pressed on, "What method did he use to treat her?"
"I don't know the specifics of the treatment. Ranran said he used traditional Chinese medicine techniques!" Jiang Shan said.
"Traditional Chinese medicine... it is vast and profound. Perhaps some practitioners do master unorthodox methods capable of treating such afflictions," the man in sunglasses mused. "In that case, I'll hang onto this Yuanyang Pill. Maybe with its help, I can break through to the 7th Layer of Qi Refining!"
"By the way, what brings you to Jiangcheng?" Jiang Shan asked suspiciously.
The man in sunglasses fell silent for a moment.
Jiang Shan gave a hearty laugh. "If it's inconvenient to say, then don't."
He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one for the man in sunglasses.
The man in sunglasses let out a long sigh. "Back then, if not for me, you wouldn't have had to return to the mortal realm."
"It's all in the past, and I never officially entered Qi Refining anyway," Jiang Shan shook his head. "Besides, I'm now the richest man in Jiangcheng; life is treating me far better than it treats you."
Seeming still consumed by a measure of guilt, the man in sunglasses opened his mouth as if to say more!
Suddenly, he noticed something out on the river surface ahead—it looked as though someone was... swimming.
...
Down in the river, Chu Hao had no choice but to tough it out until the effects of the Spring-Welcoming Powder wore off.
The process was agonizingly difficult.
Several times in the middle, he came close to losing control, but fortunately, he managed to ride out the medicinal duration.
Yet due to the river current, he had no idea where he had been washed downstream.
Looking around, Chu Hao spotted a pair of lights in the distance and decided to swim toward that direction!
As he drew closer to the bank, he caught sight of two figures!
Having unlocked his eye apertures, his eyesight was astonishingly sharp; even in the dead of night, he could see clearly.
Joy surged in his heart!
Originally, he had figured he would likely have to spend the night out in the wilderness, but now that he saw people, perhaps he could catch a ride back into the city with them.
Accelerating his swimming speed, he quickly reached the riverbank.
As he looked at the two men, they looked back at him.
Jiang Shan's expression shifted slightly. "Oh? Dr. Chu?"
Hearing that voice, Chu Hao instantly recognized Jiang Shan as well, and asked in bewilderment, "President Jiang, what are you doing out here?"
Jiang Shan quickly explained, "I'm out here discussing some matters with a friend."
Looking him up and down with a strange expression, Jiang Shan asked, "On the other hand, Dr. Chu, how did you end up coming out of the river? Are you out for a midnight swim?"
The man wearing sunglasses furrowed his brows slightly.
Chu Hao dryly coughed and said, "Ah, yes! Swimming at night is good for the health!"
"Dr. Chu's eyes..." Jiang Shan frowned and asked, "Turns out they aren't blind after all!"
When Chu Hao had treated Jiang Ranran previously, he had made her strip completely bare; yet right now, Chu Hao's eyes were sharp and clear, looking nothing at all like those of a blind man.
Still, recalling that Chu Hao had saved his daughter's life, he didn't press the issue.
"Uh..." Chu Hao said with an awkward smile, "Well, you see, my eyes just recovered. They really were blind before."
Jiang Shan gave him an expression that screamed *not a single word of that is believable*.
At that moment, Chu Hao gave a dry cough and said, "Well, President Jiang, this place seems rather far from Jiangcheng. Would it be possible for me to hitch a ride?"
"Of course no problem!" Jiang Shan smiled faintly. "We were just planning on heading back anyway."
Right then, Chu Hao's gaze fell upon the box in the hands of the man in sunglasses, finding the aura emanating from it somewhat familiar.
Noticing Chu Hao's gaze, the man in sunglasses asked with rising interest, "What? Does the little brother recognize this item?"
"It looks a bit familiar, but I might need to look closer to be sure," Chu Hao said with a smile.
The man in sunglasses opened the box, revealing a round pill the size of a pinky finger.
"Isn't this just a fried meatball?" Chu Hao said in surprise.
"You must be mistaken!" the man in sunglasses frowned and asked.
"How could I be? I grew up eating this stuff—fry up a whole wok at a time," Chu Hao said. "Though the taste isn't all that great."