The day before the last battle was Zhengming City’s famous Lantern Festival. Only at this festival would the strict and fierce Zhengming City become more amiable.

The entire city was lit up with different colors, as countless special flames hung on the street sides, creating a pattern of stars across the city!

The city was bustling, with pedestrians crammed nearly shoulder to shoulder. Many people were crowded in front of small shops playing traditional lantern riddles.

These lantern riddles usually prompted people to guess soul pets using short and cryptic descriptions. Those that guessed correctly naturally would earn a prize from the shop. These games were always interesting and fun, especially for younger kids who were striving to learn all sorts of soul pet knowledge.

Of course, these festivals couldn’t go without beautiful performances. Even Divine Sect would send beautiful women to ride their pure soul pets in a dance through the skies of a plaza. Their alluring figures would cause countless men to be obsessed.

“Sister Pang Yue, this is so fun!” This was the first time the lively Ning Maner had ever seen such a festival. The entire night she was wearing a dazzling smile.

After Ning Maner grew up, she had become more shy and reserved but, deep down, she hadn’t changed one bit, and this was shown on this festival day.

“En, let’s go see the dances, there"re so many handsome men.” Pang Yue laughed.

Ning Maner nodded and subconsciously looked around, wanting to find Chu Mu and Ye Qingzi’s figures.

“Don’t worry about them, they definitely went somewhere to speak to each other quietly.” Pang Yue pulled Ning Maner to the side.

Ning Maner remembered Chu Mu’s warning of going off by herself, so she called along Mu Qingyi as well.

The men walked over to watch the women dance and naturally didn’t care about where they went either.

The three women walked through the crowd, and saw at the center of a crossroad a group of white clothed men that were using dance to mimic an intense battle. This was a culture that had existed for a long time.

The men had many performances, even including soul pets in some of their performances. Though they knew these soul pets had rehea.r.s.ed all their moves beforehand, seeing the high difficulty dodges and seemingly sharp instincts of each soul pet still raised many applauses.

Ning Maner and Pang Yue watched very closely. Mu Qingyi watched, while thinking of her own matters, using the performance as a means to waste time.

There were many people behind them. Maybe because the three of them were all beauties, there were always many people that tried to get closer to them, especially the men.

“What are you pus.h.i.+ng around for!” A young man near them yelled backwards in annoyance.

As he spoke, he looked around to see which clueless idiot was stopping him from nearing these beauties.

The moment he turned around, two icy cold eyes stared at him with killing intent, making him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave!

The young man was dazed and no longer dared to speak out loud, quickly backing off.

This man was emotionless with cold eyes and a sharp chin, looking dangerously like a poisonous snake!

He wore a straw hat that covered his face.

He slowly neared Ning Maner. The other men near the three women unconsciously moved aside for him.

“Sisisi~~~~~~~”

A poisonous snake came out of the man’s sleeve, showing half a head!

This shadow snake was impossible to see in the dark.

The dangerous man stood behind the three women like any random pedestrian while his shadow snake slowly snaked out of his sleeve and neared Ning Maner.

The three women were all watching the dance and were completely oblivious.

Under the hat, the poisonous snake man smiled coldly. The snake was less than half a meter away. With one small bite, the three women would all faint, making it easy for him to take them away later.

The snake was getting nearer and nearer. It opened its poisonous mouth and bared its fangs!

Suddenly, the shadow snake attacked. It darted straight for Nign Maner’s jade-like neck.

At this distance, it was unavoidable!

The instant the shadow snake pounced for her, Ning Maner finally felt the coldness approaching her neck. She instinctively tried to dodge, but she could already feel the cold fangs closing in on her neck!

Ning Maner panicked. She remembered clearly that Chu Mu had warned her against a.s.saults, yet she never expected them to attack in the middle of a large crowd like this.

Ning Maner knew that she couldn’t dodge and warned Mu Qingyi in the last moment.

Mu Qingyi’s gaze sharpened and suddenly turned around, staring full of hostility at the man behind them.

The man smiled, not fearing Mu Qingzi at all.

At this range, no matter how powerful Mu QIngyi was, his shadow snake could bite her the instant she started any incantation, and his mission would be complete.

“Bad guy!” Ning Maner yelled out.

Ning Maner also turned around. She originally thought that she was. .h.i.t already, but for some reason, the cold danger at her neck disappeared just as suddenly as it appeared.

Pang Yue jumped from fright. When she turned around, she found that a cold man had appeared behind them without them realizing, and she took a few steps back in fear.

The poisonous man was shocked, and stared at Ning Maner in confusion.

She was clearly bitten by his poisonous snake, why hadn’t she fainted yet?

The man lowered his head, and suddenly realized his Shadow Snake had somehow landed on the ground and was getting heavily stepped on by something!

“Sisisisi~~~~~~~~” Shadow Snake rolled around on the floor painfully, its body slightly squashed as it leaked more blood.

The man was dazed. In the next moment, a pair of menacing eyes appeared in front of him!

It was a pair of eyes like an abyss. The hostility and intimidation caused the man to go numb all over!

“What a strong aura!!” The man was utterly in shock as he made eye contact.

A hand slowly extended towards the man’s neck.

The man realized he was in mortal danger and swept his coat aside, morphing his body into a black mist that disappeared in place.

The palm that went for his neck suddenly switched into a claw that slashed at the air, leaving a spray of blood where the man left.

Mu Qingyi, Ning Maner, and Pang Yue all stared entranced by the strange scene.

After a while, Ning Maner finally came back to her senses, and looked down at her shadow.

Ning Maner’s shadow was moving, going from its original attack position to its original form as her shadow.

“Dark Emperor!” Ning Maner was both surprised and happy.

When she couldn"t dodge anymore, the Dark Emperor had protected her.

Dark Emperor was He Cang’s soul pet. After they buried He Cang under Messiah Tree, Ning Maner had been looking around for the wounded dark emperor.

It didn’t head off on its own, but instead became her shadow to protect her from the dark…...

The Dark Emperor hadn’t appeared and remained in its shadow form. No matter how Ning Maner called for it, it didn’t come out.

“It’s dangerous here. Let’s go meet up with the others first.” Mu Qingyi knew that she had just avoided danger, so she didn’t dare drop her guard again.

“En.” Pang Yue was also scared pretty bad. Who would expect someone to attack them in such a situation?

……

Pa.s.sing through the bustling streets, Ning Maner used her soul pact to find Chu Mu and Ye Qingzi under an arch bridge near the river.

“Brother.” Ning Maner ran over to Chu Mu and hugged his arm, still slightly scared.

“What’s wrong?” Chu Mu saw Ning Maner look anxious and quickly asked.

Mu Qingyi walked over and said to Chu Mu, “We were just attacked.”

“Yes, that person was so terrifying, I thought I was going to die right there.” Pang Yue said with lingering trepidation.

Chu Mu’s heart instantly sank. He never expected Han Erxing’s actions to be this swift. Was the man crazy?

“Are you all alright?” Chu Mu knew that this was his responsibility. If any accident happened, Chu Mu would kill Han Erxing, even if it meant fighting his way through Divine Sect.

“No worries, Dark Emperor saved us.” ning Maner lowered her head to look at her shadow.

“Dark Emperor?” Chu Mu stared.

Wasn’t Dark Emperor He Cang’s soul pet?

Chu Mu glanced at Ning Maner’s shadow with his soul remembrance and suddenly felt a powerful aura of an organism!

“So he’s been here with you all this time,” Chu Mu said.

Its master had already left this world and the soul pact broke, yet it continued to protect Ning Maner.

Seeing Dark Emperor like so, Chu Mu gained even more respect for He Cang and his Dark Emperor!

Dark Emperor was very powerful. If not for He Cang blocking the advances of seven immortal rank experts with his Dark Emperor, Chu Mu would never have had the chance of becoming a Black and White Devil.

With Dark Emperor constantly by Ning Maner’s side, her safety was guaranteed.

However, them being fine didn’t mean Chu Mu wasn’t angry!

Han Erxing didn’t dare to do anything to him, yet he instead pointed his target at the people he cared for. Chu Mu’s greatest taboo was having people he cared about harmed, like Ning Maner.

This time, Dark Emperor was protecting Ning Maner. If it wasn’t, she would have been taken by Han Erxing. How could he then hold a sound conscience knowing countless protectors had died for her, including a respectful expert like He Cang!

“Mo Xie, Dead Dream, protect them back home.” Chu Mu said.

“And you?” Ye Qingzi felt the anger well up in Chu Mu and said worriedly.

Chu Mu said nothing and walked away with a dark face.

……

On the bustling streets, the flames nearby all started dancing strangely, starting to release an icy temperature that s.h.i.+fted between black and white…...

Chu Mu followed the streets and, as he walked, a veiled woman appeared behind him suddenly.

“Do you know where Han Erxing is tonight?” Chu Mu asked lightly.

“I do.” Yu Suo replied.

Chu Mu nodded and didn’t go further.

At this time, his pupils changed strangely, turning his left eye black, and his right eye silver!