Chapter Seven: The Dawn of the Extraordinary

Ouyang Zheng’s smile froze, and his tone hardened. “Captain Zhang, I advise you not to obstruct the City Guard in our investigation… Your hunting team may belong to the Martial Association and is not directly under Yuanjiang Prefecture’s jurisdiction, but since you operate within the city, you must abide by laws and regulations. Being unreasonable won’t do.”

If he were to show no reaction to this threat, wouldn’t it be a loss of face for the City Guard? It would reflect poorly in front of the Prefect.

Swish—

More than ten men behind him all turned their guns, encircling them. A few wore mocking expressions in their eyes. Though they said nothing, it was clear to anyone what was on their minds.

“Is that so?” Zhang Yi grinned broadly. “If you were this tough when facing beastmen, I’d respect you…”

The word “you” had barely left his mouth when a roaring gust burst out right where he stood.

Xiao Nan saw the towering giant before him sway, and a white blast of air erupted before his eyes.

“How dare you?”

Ouyang Zheng shouted furiously, his face twisted with rage. He hunched his shoulders, pulled back his chest, stepped sharply backward, and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Bang—

A dull thud shook the ground ever so slightly.

In the next instant, he flew out like a kite for more than ten meters, crashing onto an artificial rock formation.

The rocks shattered, debris raining down…

Upon landing, another deep pit was gouged out.

Ouyang Zheng struggled to his feet, blood trickling from his lips, a slight depression on his chest—clearly a few broken bones.

His voice was icy with anger. “Zhang Yi, do you dare provoke the City Lord’s Mansion?”

“What’s done is done. What can you do about it? If you’ve got the guts, try locking onto me with the City’s Divine Light and see if you can hit me!”

His words dripped with mockery. If the Divine Light were truly as swift as its name suggested, there wouldn’t be beast attacks on the city, nor talk of otherworldly invasions.

If a hidden interdimensional expert caused trouble, one strike from the Divine Light would wipe them out—what need would there be for the city’s hunting teams?

But, in practice, they rarely hit. By the time the weapon was aimed and fired, the expert had already slaughtered and vanished without a trace.

Thus, the Divine Light was a strategic weapon, not a conventional one. Only with someone holding the target in place, unable to escape, could modern technology reach its full potential. Or, through ambush, lying in wait, it could be effective.

That was precisely what had happened earlier—the blood-sacrifice beast appeared and was immediately slain.

But this meant that after his daughter was captured as a sacrifice, they had waited in ambush for a long time, watching without intervening to rescue her.

Treating innocent people as bait—such hearts deserve condemnation!

If not for the need to save some face for Prefect Ouyang Ming, Zhang Yi would have wiped them out in moments.

Several uniformed guards, shocked by the sudden turn of events, raised their hands to pull the trigger, only to cry out in agony.

Sharp whistles echoed from afar; a flash of light, and their wrists exploded—

Thunk, thunk, thunk—the arrows lodged obliquely into broken bricks, their fletching still trembling.

…

Xiao Nan secretly clicked his tongue.

“So the brute didn’t come alone.”

He looked up to see, on a distant rooftop, someone standing tall, bow drawn, arrow ready.

In the whistling wind, that figure’s long hair flowed over her shoulders—a woman, graceful and slender.

The speed of the arrows was astonishing; three arrows loosed in one draw, the twang of the bowstring barely sounded before three guards aiming their guns had their wrists severed, dropping their weapons and clutching their arms in pain.

Besides the woman on the distant high-rise, another figure darted in like a flea, dragging a long blade, quickly leaping to the ruins of the villa.

This newcomer was not very old, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, short and thin, with a sharp, cunning face.

He held the long blade in reverse and radiated a fierce aura, grinning as he asked, “Captain, are we really going to war with the City Lord’s Mansion? These guys are useless, all they do is fight among themselves. Killing them all would be cleaner.”

He bared his teeth viciously. “Just a third-tier muscle-refining level, and he dares use my little niece as bait. He must be tired of living.”

“Fine, fine. I hope you can always be this tough,” Ouyang Zheng gritted his teeth.

Outmatched, he realized the divine bloodline was beyond retrieval. He muttered a threat, struggled to his feet… his men supported the injured, ignoring the aftermath, and hurriedly left without a backward glance.

…

“Heh, using Prefect Ouyang to scare me? The Qin and Li families have been waiting for a chance to catch him out,” Zhang Yi scoffed, watching their retreat without a care.

He was completely unaware of the misunderstandings involved, turning to scoop up his daughter to head to the hospital.

Zhang Xiaorou, still sobbing and clutching Zhang Yi’s muscular arm, was visibly shaken.

Seeing that she was about to be taken away, she hurriedly came to her senses. Through her tears, she whispered, “Bring Xiao Nan too. He saved me and was badly hurt.”

As she spoke, she lowered her head, her cheeks reddening.

Xiao Nan sighed inwardly. Girl, you’ve finally remembered me.

He finally raised his arm from the rubble and crawled out. He’d suffered some shock injuries, but nothing serious.

“Alright, alright. Is he your classmate? I must thank him properly. Let’s go to the hospital together.”

“Mm,” Zhang Xiaorou’s voice was barely audible.

…

Zhang Yi turned and smiled. “Can you walk? The car’s outside, I’ll take you both to the hospital.”

Xiao Nan took a deep breath, suppressing the pain threatening to tear his body apart, nodded, and followed him out of the villa ruins.

“Luckily Ouyang Zheng misunderstood and didn’t focus on me… That’s reasonable. From his perspective, I was too far away and lacked ability, no chance at the treasure. Zhang Yi was the most likely, and only he could have gotten it.”

How could these people have such freakishly strong bodies? This was beyond the limits of human physiology—the divine body-forging arts in my memory must be extraordinary.

That short, wiry guy said Ouyang Zheng was only third-tier—yet he was much tougher than the burly brute, smashed into huge artificial rocks and still relatively unscathed. His body was astonishingly resilient.

And Zhang Yi, who sent him flying ten meters in a single blow—Xiao Nan couldn’t even fathom his level.

Just the sound of blood coursing through his veins was like the rushing of a river, almost tangible.

If this were Earth in his previous life, such masters would only exist in ancient legends.

Yet here, he’d met one so casually.

The thought stirred a quiet fire within him.

In his last life, he’d been beset until death, never glimpsing transcendence… Daily electric shock training only made his body a bit tougher.

But this world was different now—perhaps hope was finally within sight.

…

“What an audacious Zhang Yi, growing ever more reckless. Does he not know who truly rules Yuanjiang Prefecture? How dare he lay hands on my property?”

High above, in a towering building, more than ten screens froze on the displayed images. Only the suppressed roar of Prefect Ouyang Ming could be heard.

He had schemed for half a year, watching the Longevity Society’s moves from the sidelines. He hadn’t expected that, at the final moment, things would go awry.

The evil beast was summoned, and the harvest was at hand, but things became too chaotic—yet he still returned empty-handed.

Ouyang Zheng had led the team poorly and would surely be punished.

Prefect Ouyang Ming was furious but helpless. He couldn’t intervene personally—on what grounds would he demand the treasure from Zhang Yi?

After all, this was a shady matter and could only be handled covertly.

“How infuriating!”

If he’d never glimpsed hope, it would be easier to bear. But having seen hope and then instantly losing it—such disappointment was hard to stomach.

It was like his predicament in Yuanjiang Prefecture these years—nothing ever accomplished.

If he could obtain a trace of the divine bloodline from the evil beast and break through in seclusion, he could act freely in the prefecture, never needing to bow to anyone.

Then, he would be a true Prefect.

“He hasn’t absorbed the divine power yet. There’s still a chance.”

Gu Junshi, expression calm, spoke in a light, understated tone, his gaze lingering on Zhang Yi’s formidable figure, a hint of doubt in his eyes.

That brute got the divine power as soon as he arrived—it seemed too fortunate…