Chapter 158 - 155: A Touch of Red Attire

Immediately after, a figure bolted toward Mo Qianqian with the speed of lightning. A thin sword thrust at his back. The attacker’s aura was perfectly concealed, but the lethal power behind the strike was undeniably terrifying.

In a split second, Mo Qianqian spun and dodged to the side, but he was too late. He could only watch as a middle-aged man drove a sword toward him.

Mo Qianqian recognized the man’s face. It was the same middle-aged man who had accompanied Nangong Ling into the Hongyan Building. His features bore a striking resemblance to hers. Dressed in the festive attire of a family elder today, it was highly likely that he was one of Nangong Ling’s elder relatives.

The man’s explosive speed and power bore the unmistakable hallmarks of an assassin’s strike. His eruptive force was tremendously powerful, far exceeding that of an ordinary cultivator at the Seventh Level of Tongyou Realm. In the blink of an eye, Mo Qianqian felt the chilling threat of death.

"No!"

In that very instant, Mo Qianqian suddenly saw a petite figure in a crimson wedding dress rush in from the side, throwing herself in front of him. It was the bride, Nangong Ling. Her speed was just as sudden as an assassin’s, appearing in a flash before Mo Qianqian could even react.

SQUELCH!

The middle-aged man’s thin sword pierced right through Nangong Ling, impaling her entire body. Blood sprayed from her wound and poured from her mouth. Turned sideways toward Mo Qianqian, she slowly shifted her gaze to meet his.

"Ling’Er..." The middle-aged man froze before letting out a devastating, heartbroken scream. He dropped the sword, his entire body trembling violently.

BAM!

Mo Qianqian immediately threw a punch, blasting the middle-aged man away. With one arm, he caught the falling Nangong Ling.

Around them, several Elders of the Tai Xuan Academy at the Seventh Level of Tongyou Realm who had been preparing to ambush Mo Qianqian skidded to a halt. The others about to attack also stopped in their tracks.

"Why?" Mo Qianqian’s heart trembled violently. He looked at Nangong Ling in sheer disbelief, suddenly at a loss.

Nangong Ling had taken a fatal strike for him. With her body completely impaled, there was no way she could survive.

He wondered why she had done this. He barely had any connection to Nangong Ling. Today, he had come specifically to crash her wedding. He had injured Ling Lang, killed Ling Qingxue, and turned the entire ceremony into a massive bloodbath. Yet, she had suddenly thrown herself in harm’s way, sacrificing her own life to shield him from a fatal blow? If his guess was right, the attacker was her father, wasn’t he? She had taken a killing blow from her own father to save him?

Nangong Ling’s delicate face was pale with a fading flush. A poignant smile surfaced on her lips as tears rolled down from the corners of her eyes. Her lips trembled slowly, but no sound came out.

"Why?!" Mo Qianqian couldn’t help but roar.

"Asura, I know you like me, which is why you came to ruin the wedding." Nangong Ling pouted with great difficulty, yet with a hint of contentment. She spoke in a joking tone, her voice incredibly weak. Clad in a crimson dress stained with fresh blood, her blood-dyed lips gave her an air of tragic beauty mingled with an endearing charm.

"From beginning to end, this was a misunderstanding. I never..." Mo Qianqian shook his head frantically, but he forcefully swallowed the words "had any feelings for you."

"Choosing love over future prospects... doesn’t... seem too bad..." Nangong Ling murmured faintly before her eyes slowly fluttered shut.

Her body went limp as the last trace of life left her.

"Ahhhhh!"

Mo Qianqian threw his head back and roared at the sky. The aura erupting from him began to surge wildly. Astoundingly, his physical cultivation broke through from the Second Realm Seventh Layer to the Eighth Layer. And it didn’t stop there; it was still climbing.

"Mo Qianqian!!!" Ling Lang bellowed furiously, the power of his Sun Profound Body blazing to life once more.

"Nangong Ling!!!" the Dean of the Tai Xuan Academy cried out in shock. His aura exploded, carrying a momentum that seemed on the verge of shattering the bottleneck of the Ninth Level of Tongyou Realm.

Sensing the danger, Li Haoran instantly unleashed his power as well, activating the second stance of the Vast Spear Technique to attack the Dean of the Tai Xuan Academy.

"Kill him! Kill Mo Qianqian!" the crowd from the Tai Xuan Academy roared in absolute fury. An Elder at the Seventh Level of Tongyou Realm bellowed angrily and lunged at Mo Qianqian, prompting the others to follow suit and charge toward him with murderous intent.

"Nangong Ling was killed..."

"Out of the two getting married, Ling Lang survived, but Nangong Ling died instead."

"Now, it’s not just the Ling Family; the entire Tai Xuan Academy has gone berserk."

"Didn’t they say Asura had feelings for Nangong Ling? Why is it the other way around? Nangong Ling actually liked Asura and even took a fatal blow for him?"

"The ones suffering the most right now have to be Nangong Ling’s father and Ling Lang, right? One accidentally killed his own daughter, and the other just watched his wife sacrifice her life to save his enemy."

The crowd erupted into a flurry of shocked murmurs and frantic discussions.

The members of the Yuwen Family and the Lie Family were entirely dumbfounded. Even the Eldest Prince and his royal entourage were filled with astonishment. They had considered eliminating Ling Lang to end the political marriage. At the very least, removing him would officially sever the union and strike a heavy blow to the prestige of both factions. However, they had never once thought about killing Nangong Ling.

The Ling Family was a subject of the Great Xia Dynasty, but the Tai Xuan Academy was not. Killing Nangong Ling would mean thoroughly offending the Tai Xuan Academy, which would lead to endless trouble in the future. On the other hand, the Ling Family was merely a major clan under imperial jurisdiction; if they openly rebelled, the royals could justify wiping out as many of them as possible.

Yet against all expectations, Nangong Ling was the one who died. And she hadn’t died at the hands of Mo Qianqian, but by the sword of her own kin. It was a catastrophic mix-up.

SPURT!

At that moment, Ling Lang, who had overexerted the tremendous power of his Sun Profound Body, violently coughed up a large mouthful of blood. Blood also burst from his existing wounds. Before he could even charge into the fray, he collapsed unconscious.

"Ling Lang!" Patriarch Ling furrowed his brows. An Elder of the Ling Family immediately grabbed Ling Lang and retreated outward to safety.

"Ling’Er..." Acting like a madman, Nangong Ling’s father lunged desperately toward her corpse.

Mo Qianqian tossed Nangong Ling’s body toward the man. Her father hastily caught her, hugging her lifeless form as his body shook uncontrollably. "Ling’Er..."

SWISH!

Mo Qianqian instantly activated his Spirit Body, launching an assault at an elderly expert at the Seventh Level of Tongyou Realm who was charging at him. Simultaneously, he shifted his stance, swinging his long spear with devastating force at another Elder at the Seventh Level of Tongyou Realm.

CLANG!

With a deafening metallic crash, that Elder was astonishingly sent flying backward by the sheer force of Mo Qianqian’s spear strike.

"Mo Qianqian’s combat prowess has grown even stronger! Even without activating his Spirit Body, he can directly blast away an expert at the Seventh Level of Tongyou Realm!" someone cried out in shock.

"To break through under these circumstances... Mo Qianqian is truly a monstrous genius! And his momentum hasn’t diminished at all; it’s still rising."

"This is known as ’Situational Resonance.’ When one enters a specific extreme state—such as profound rage, agonizing pain, devastating grief, or absolute enlightenment—it can trigger a breakthrough in cultivation. And it might not just be a single layer, either. Mo Qianqian is clearly in the midst of a complex Situational Resonance right now. The Dean of the Tai Xuan Academy seems to be experiencing it as well, although his high cultivation base prevented an immediate breakthrough. Li Haoran is suppressing him now, but if he fails to keep him down, the Dean might just advance to the Void Spirit Realm."

"A breakthrough via ’Situational Resonance’ is that powerful?"

"It’s no lesser than an epiphany, and arguably even rarer. How could it not be powerful?"

WHOOSH!

Amidst the ongoing chatter of the crowd, Mo Qianqian’s cultivation broke through yet another layer, surging from the Second Realm Eighth Layer straight into the Second Realm Ninth Layer.