Overdraw the future and become a peerless martial god

Chapter 70 Hope
"Wang Lin... is he dead?" Chu Ning asked in a low voice, his eyes vacant, as if searching for an answer that could not be confirmed.

Li Jing'an shook his head slightly, his tone suppressed: "It's been suppressed for now."

He lifted the wound beneath his tattered battle robe, his gaze fixed on the still-warm sealing talisman, and said coldly, "Complete destruction still depends on you."

Chu Ning did not respond. She lowered her head, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the fox head pendant around her neck. The pendant was cold, its entire body shimmering with a pale blue crystalline light, exquisitely carved, as if a phantom fox might leap out at any moment.

He pressed the pendant against his palm, and icy crystal patterns quietly emerged. Suddenly, a faint touch brushed against his wrist, like a familiar little snow fox gently nuzzling his skin with its forehead.

My mind went blank for a moment.

"Ugh...!" He coughed suddenly, his body swaying and staggering half a step. From the crack at the bottom of the pool, a wisp of dark red fire quietly entered his feet, like a snake or a leech, burning upwards.

A sudden tightness gripped my chest, as if thousands of fire ants were gnawing at my meridians, and my soul trembled.

"Chu Ning!" Li Jing'an sensed something was wrong and quickly threw over a jade pill. "Don't move, circulate your energy to suppress it—this is a blood curse."

Chu Ning endured the excruciating pain, circulating his true energy to temporarily suppress the burning sensation. He swallowed the pill in one gulp, and felt an icy chill instantly rush into his limbs and bones, crushing the intense heat into ashes.

He was panting heavily as he looked at Li Jing'an, a hint of murderous intent creeping into his eyes.

Li Jing'an squatted down and picked out a broken piece of copper from the split ground. On the copper surface, the character "Yuan" was faintly visible, and there were ancient evil patterns winding around it, with the aura of Wang Lin still lingering.

“This is the blood curse he left behind before he died. You severed his physical body and destroyed the blood pool, but you haven’t erased his last breath of soul.” Li Jing’an threw the copper piece into the fire and burned it to ashes, his tone cold. “He wanted to sink into the blood abyss with you… He would rather die than let you go down with him.”

Chu Ning lowered his eyes, a flash of lightning disappearing from them.

"To be submerged in the Blood Abyss together?" He sneered. "Then let's see if it can swallow my Frost Lightning."

He stood up, his body swaying, but his eyes were cold and clear as frost, and he walked eastward step by step.

The night was not yet over, but the east was already showing a hint of dawn.

In the shattered world, the wind rises—swirling away charred bones and blood, and also scattering the murderous aura that fills the sky.

The first rays of dawn cleaved through the clouds like a sword, illuminating Chu Ning's figure as he walked step by step through the ruins.

He walked slowly, but with unwavering determination.

This battle should have ended, but all he felt was sorrow and silence.

He knew that Wang Lin was not dead; he had simply transformed into a curse and was lurking within him.

Qingli was still asleep, her remnant soul had already departed, leaving only a wisp of ice mark on his chest.

He cannot fall. He cannot stop.

Covered in dust, Li Jing'an staggered to his feet and leaned against the broken wall, closing his eyes to regulate his breathing. The morning light shone on his tattered clothes, like a layer of tarnished gold, his aged appearance still radiant.

He slowly opened his eyes, gazing at the pale dawn light on the horizon, his voice low and hoarse: "This ordeal... is finally halfway over."

Chu Ning stood quietly, the wind on his shoulders, the coldness in his palms. The blood mist had dissipated, but the shackles on his heart had not truly broken. He looked at the broken blood pool, his expression as hard as iron, his heart as cold as an abyss.

The flames of war had died down all around, leaving only the lingering warmth of scorched earth and blood rain.

Suddenly, Li Jing'an spoke in a low voice, a seemingly casual remark that fell like snowflakes silently into the wilderness:

"In the far north there is a mountain called 'Cangque'."

Chu Ning was slightly taken aback and turned to look at him.

Li Jing'an gazed at the fox head pendant in his hand, his withered finger tapping lightly. "This is the ancestral land of the Azure-Eyed Snow Fox. Legend has it that the soul of the Holy Son, though scattered, could not be extinguished. His remnant spirit could return to the coffin of the Holy Land, and with the guidance of the 'New Moon Ice Soul,' there was a glimmer of hope for revival."

The air seemed to freeze suddenly.

Chu Ning turned abruptly, his eyes blazing with fury: "Is this true?" Li Jing'an didn't answer immediately. He slowly tore open the seal on the wine flask, and the strong liquor spilled out, pungent and spicy, onto the deep, bone-revealing wound on his shoulder, emitting white smoke. He groaned, but his expression was clearer than ever before.

"I don't know if it's true or not." He paused, his tone low, "I've only heard about it."

“Cang Que…” he murmured softly, his gaze like the aurora borealis streaking across the night sky, sharp and persistent, with an undying hope amidst the shattering.

The wind whistled through the ruins, stirring up scorched earth and lingering smoke. He slowly raised his hand, and with a swift motion, his rusty knife pierced the ground with a clang. The blade sunk into the scorched earth, crackling with lightning patterns, and a streak of ice crystals spread along the blade, outlining the shape of a fox's tail, exuding a chilling aura.

"Now..." Chu Ning's voice was deep and thunderous, calm yet carrying a murderous intent, "The Wang family, I want them to understand what true ants are."

As the words fell, the night in the distance finally broke. The rising sun tore through the clouds, and golden rays poured down.

In Qingyang County, the first rays of dawn break.

The once powerful Wang family, who suffocated the people, was wiped out overnight. Their mansion was burned down, their strongholds destroyed, and their spies exposed. Flames soared into the sky, and blood mist rose, as if washing away years of accumulated gloom from the city.

"The Wang family is finished!"

"Chu Ning has destroyed Wang Lin!"

"Qingyang is finally peaceful!"

The news spread like wildfire, and the streets and alleys were filled with excitement. In Qingyang, laughter that had been dormant for many years resounded again, as if the winter snow had melted and the spring tide had just begun to rise.

In front of the cloth shop in the east of the city, the sounds of buying and selling were endless; outside the grain store in the north of the city, laughter and chatter filled the air, and an old man rubbed his hands and said with a smile, "I haven't seen such good days in twenty years!"

In the private school in the west of the city, children were reciting aloud, their voices echoing through the windowpanes and in the morning breeze.

And everyone knows that all of this is because of one person—Chu Ning.

After the Wang family's downfall, the Wuhou Mansion took over all of its businesses, land deeds, and secret agents. Chu Ning personally presided over the process, handing over all the wealth that the Wang family had amassed over the years to the county government and establishing the "Qingyang Relief Office" to provide disaster relief, poverty alleviation, road construction, and school building, returning the wealth to the people.

“Take it from Qingyang, and return it to Qingyang.”

When Chu Ning uttered these words, they quickly spread among the people, becoming a popular tale. Some even spontaneously erected wooden plaques at their doorsteps, inscribed with "May Lord Ning live a thousand years," and burned incense daily to express their respect.

But at this moment, Chu Ning, who brought all this light, had a solemn expression.

He stood on the high platform of the Benlei Martial Arts Hall, his white hair slightly damp, his battle robe still unchanged and stained with a trace of blood that had not yet dried.

When the wind rose, he did not move an inch, but simply gazed at the winding official road heading north. The morning sun pierced through the clouds and reflected on his cold and stern face.

He is still waiting.

Waiting for news.

Waiting for someone.

Elder Han Xu stood beside him, a hint of pity in his old eyes. "Master, this is the third time the Black Armor Guards have come to deliver the order. The opening of the Qingyun Arena cannot be delayed for too long."

Chu Ning nodded, but did not move.

He had promised Xie Mingli that he would return to the prefectural city to participate in the Qingyun Arena.

But he knew in his heart that what he couldn't let go of more than the Qingyun Arena, martial fame, and glory was his older sister.

Sister Chu Yun has been missing since the chaos in the Wang family.

He searched through the Wang family's land deeds and secret communication techniques, dispatched all the disciples of the Benlei Martial Arts School to scatter and inquire about information, and even personally asked someone to contact the intelligence department of the Wuhou Mansion, but still found no clues.

She and Lei Wanjun seemed to have vanished from the world.

(End of this chapter)