Roaring Dragon-Chapter 32: A Familiar Sight

Throwing the Dragon’s Mother was a life-risking kill move. At the cost of tossing away his weapon, after piercing through two enemies at extreme range, the Tiangang Mace, carrying its remaining force, finally reached the end of its strength, bouncing up once before clattering to the ground with several crisp sounds: Clang, clang, clatter...

After unleashing his full-force strike, Xie Jinhuan figured the two frail witch-practitioners were dead for sure. He originally intended to check on Lin Wanyi's situation.

But unexpectedly, the ghost master who had fled first seemed to have some kind of life-saving artifact. After crashing into the slope's thickets, he immediately sprang back up, his entire body wrapped in thick black mist. From afar, he looked like a drifting black cloud, darting through the wilderness at an absurd speed—already fleeing nearly half a li.

?

That movement...

Seeing that mass of black mist, Xie Jinhuan’s pupils shrank sharply. He immediately thought back to an unknown monster he had encountered three years ago—although the creature back then had a much greater presence, the traces were eerily similar!

Realizing it might be linked to that event from the past, Xie Jinhuan's heart sank. Seeing it would be hard to catch up by foot, he whistled sharply:

Whew~

Meiqiu, who had been circling above, immediately dove toward the drifting black mist.

Meanwhile, Xie Jinhuan leaped to Lin Wanyi’s side to check her condition:

"How do I get this net off?"

Lin Wanyi was leaning against the tree trunk, tightly bound by the rope net. No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn’t break free. The ropes had left marks on her chest, waist, and legs, making her look like she was wearing a fishnet bodysuit. Her expression was extremely awkward:

"It’s an Immortal Binding Rope made by the Armament Academy. It melts when exposed to fire—you have to burn it."

"Fire?"

Xie Jinhuan patted his waist, realizing he hadn’t brought any fire starters, and began patting around Lin Wanyi’s slender waist instead.

The ghost wife who had been AFK during the fight suddenly popped out again, standing there with her red umbrella and pointing:

"Stop taking advantage to feel her up. Lightning and fire come from the same source—use the Thunder-Binding Sword."

Xie Jinhuan had genuinely been looking for a fire starter. Hearing that, he lifted the Zhenglun Sword, gathering qi into it. Instantly, blue-white lightning flared across the dark green blade.

Crackle—

Lin Wanyi, who had already been suspicious about the sword’s power, couldn’t help asking:

"This sword... seems like a demon-suppressing artifact of extremely high grade. Where did you get it from f-f-f—"

Before she could finish, her whole body started trembling, her voice stuttering uncontrollably.

Xie Jinhuan couldn't sustain it long—he moved closer while gathering power, and quickly realized something was wrong, hurriedly moving the sword away. The lightning vanished instantly.

Lin Wanyi, lacking any insulation, had been lightly zapped just from a touch, and her eyes were filled with terror:

"What are you doing?!"

"Uh... lightning and fire come from the same source. I was helping you melt the ropes."

"And you do it like that?! If you keep going, will I even be alive afterward?"

Xie Jinhuan belatedly realized the problem. Lightning was electricity. Lin Wanyi, tied up tightly like this, and then shocked with lightning arts—wasn’t that basically a bondage electric torture?

Starting off that intense—with Lin Wanyi’s petite body, she’d probably roll her eyes after two zaps and wet herself after three...

After a moment’s thought, Xie Jinhuan put down the Zhenglun Sword and instead inserted his hand into the ropes, gathering his internal power to cast Palm Lightning.

Da-da~ Da-da~

Surprisingly, this method worked, but the effect was... underwhelming.

After all, casting spells barehanded was like fighting barehanded—you might have strength, but you couldn’t fully unleash it.

Using an artifact was like wielding a proper weapon—the higher its grade, the less energy lost, and the more concentrated the force. Your own cultivation didn't change, but the might increased enormously.

The Zhenglun Sword was a celestial artifact—very special. It could draw matching elemental qi directly from heaven and earth when casting spells, achieving a terrifying "doubling" effect.

If Mo Mo wielded it, she could kill enemies far beyond her level with a single lightning strike—utterly unreasonable.

But Xie Jinhuan’s self-invented miscellaneous Palm Lightning was essentially a low-grade spell, with only about 30% efficiency at best.

Combined with the "reverse wax drip" effect causing an 80% loss ahead of time... the final qi efficiency was a staggering six percent—so weak even a dog would shake its head!

Thus, without the Zhenglun Sword's blessing, Xie Jinhuan’s palm could only emit small flickering arcs—and even those came in bursts.

Fortunately, although slow, the rope did indeed start melting.

Lin Wanyi, realizing she wasn’t getting electrocuted, secretly sighed in relief and kept asking:

"Where did you find this sword? Its power is incredible. Why do I feel like it’s that one from Zihui Mountain..."

Xie Jinhuan himself felt how terrifying its power was. At this moment, he answered evasively:

"Heaven’s secrets must not be revealed. I’m from the Hidden Immortal Sect—don’t ask about the rest."

"Oh..."

Lin Wanyi nodded half-trustingly, half-doubtfully. Perhaps feeling the atmosphere was too awkward, she fumbled for conversation:

"You acted too soon just now. You should’ve waited for the puppets to rush in before showing yourself."

Xie Jinhuan focused on heating the ropes and retorted casually:

"You’re teaching me how to do things now? If I hadn’t popped out early and the puppets reached you first—with your skill of getting tied up like some turtle-shell bondage—how were you planning to fight?"

Lin Wanyi blinked, confused:

"Turtle-shell bondage... what’s that?"

"It’s when you’re tied up like a turtle."

"Uh..."

Lin Wanyi’s expression stiffened. She felt Xie Jinhuan was genuinely a good guy—but absolutely hopeless at talking to girls—so she decided not to reply.

Da-da-da~

Under the pine tree, tiny sparks kept flashing, and the rope nets loosened one by one.

Although the commotion wasn’t loud, the true qi consumption already exceeded the earlier battle.

Luckily, Xie Jinhuan’s qi sea was practically bottomless—he could still sustain it.

Lin Wanyi had been obediently waiting at first—but as Xie Jinhuan’s hand slowly moved upward, she started to feel something was wrong. When his hand brushed up to her chest, her whole body stiffened.

Xie Jinhuan, rushing to free her, also froze mid-motion, glancing at the marks on her rope-squeezed collar:

"What’s going on with you?"

Lin Wanyi’s face visibly flushed red, spreading all the way to her ears. Her gaze darted around in panic, words caught in her throat.

As for the reason—it was, of course, because she was wearing soft armor underneath.

With Xie Jinhuan using Palm Lightning, the circulating true qi stimulated the special chest armor...

Lin Wanyi’s body froze, eyes skittering everywhere.

Xie Jinhuan hadn’t realized at first—but after a moment, looking through the thin dress fabric, his expression turned strange. He stared at the shame-faced girl before him:

"You’re wearing soft armor?"

"You!"

The saying goes, "if you realize it, don’t say it." Lin Wanyi had hoped to bluff her way through. But the moment Xie Jinhuan called it out directly, she wanted to find a hole to crawl into. She wanted to deny it—but how could she, with the evidence so obvious?

Tied up like this, she couldn’t even cover her chest—she could only bite the bullet and stammer:

"You tricked me into buying it! It ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) cost thirty taels of silver! I couldn’t waste it, so I... I..."

Her voice trembled on the verge of crying.

Xie Jinhuan, having never dealt with such artifacts before, instinctively tried to withdraw his energy. Sure enough, once the stimulation ceased, the chest armor retracted naturally.

He circulated his qi again—and the lotus bloomed once more...

"Xie Jinhuan!"

After being teased twice, Lin Wanyi was trembling all over, nearly melting. Furious and humiliated, she wanted to punch the evil man in front of her—but she was still tied up and could do nothing.

Xie Jinhuan quickly stopped and resumed burning the ropes:

"Alright, alright, I was just testing. I didn’t actually touch you. Urgent situations call for special measures."

Lin Wanyi was so embarrassed she wished she could dive into a lake—but she could only grit her teeth and force herself to act calm, secretly chanting:

Urgent situations call for special measures... nothing can be done...

He saved me, after all.

Just brushing a little over my clothes...

Nothing happened...

Pah, pah, pah!

Fortunately, the torment didn’t last long.

Xie Jinhuan, wary of the Witch Sect enemies circling back, didn’t linger on Lin Wanyi’s peach-like figure. In a few swift motions, he snapped enough of the ropes and tore the net away.

Lin Wanyi, gasping from shame, longed to rip off the small, cursed armor underneath immediately—but obviously, she couldn’t do that in front of Xie Jinhuan. She could only hug her chest tightly, trying to calm herself.

Confirming that Lin Wanyi was unharmed, Xie Jinhuan originally planned to chase after the ghost master—only to see the useless hawk companion flapping back overhead.

?

Seeing this, Xie Jinhuan’s entire body stiffened:

"You lost him?!"

"Coo coo—"

Meiqiu circled overhead, looking a little aggrieved.

Lin Wanyi, after barely calming her wildly beating heart, saw Xie Jinhuan blaming Meiqiu for failing to catch the target. She quickly reassured him:

"Don’t worry, he can’t get far. The Witch Sect excels at marking enemies. That ghost master was tainted by the poisonous mist earlier—even if he detoxifies himself, the scent will linger for quite a while. I can track him."

"Really?"

Xie Jinhuan’s eyes lit up immediately and grabbed Lin Wanyi, pulling her along.

Caught off guard, Lin Wanyi stumbled forward, her robes flaring twice—forced to run behind him:

"Slow down a bit! How can I track like this? I don’t have a dog’s nose..."

Xie Jinhuan skidded to a halt and let go of her wrist:

"Hurry up! Don’t let him get away—I want that guy alive."

Lin Wanyi didn’t argue. She stood where she was, intertwining her hands, gathering a green flame between her palms—wild and irregular.

After observing for a few seconds, she quickly strode out of the hollow...