The Cover of Darkness

After the party, a few of the families in Dragon City decided to form an expedition team to explore the Celestial Fox Immortal Cave in five days.

The day after the party, an angelic girl appeared on the Dragon City Chu Holdings doorstep.

At the same time, the Chu Holdings management got a separate email informing them of Xiao Yue’s employment.

The Dragon City Chu Holdings now had another secretary.

Many people began to speculate about this lady’s origins and standing. However, Xiao Yue’s personal file was blank and no one knew where this beauty came from.

However, they received news that Xiao Yue had arrived with Chu Yu. Now that she was a secretary, they suspected that these incidents were connected.

However, there wasn’t much commotion within the Chu Holdings. They were a family run business and all the vital departments were controlled by the people from the Chu Clan.

They had received prior news that Chu Yu was coming to take over the business. As a result, they were rather composed when they received news of Xiao Yue’s arrival.

As a large corporation, it could run on its own healthily. It did not really matter who was the Chief Executive Officer.

If Chu Yu started to run the business into the ground and stick his hands into everything, someone would report this to the Chu Elders immediately.

Xiao Yue reported to work at the corporation, yet Chu Yu was hospitalised due to a ‘sickness’. As such, he did not report to the corporation.

The hospital that Chu Yu stayed in was a private hospital owned by the Chu Clan.

Chu Tianxiong even brought Chu Xiaoxiao over there to check on him a few times.

Very quickly, many employees at the hospital began to gossip, thinking that Chu Yu was sick as a result of anger.

"Do you know? Chu Yu tried to confront Boss Chu, and this resulted in him being hospitalised."

"Ah? He confronted Boss Chu? Why?"

"I heard that there was a party a few days ago and some people called Chu Yu 'trash', and Boss Chu didn’t stand up for him..."

"Who was so outrageous?"

"Exactly, Chu Yu was angered to tears, really, I saw it with my own eyes!"

"What happened next?"

"Chu Yu got angry with Boss Chu, and decided not to report to work, choosing instead to malinger and stay in the hospital..."

"Haha, you’re right, who’s the unethical one who called Chu Yu trash, that’s just exposing his flaws!"

"..."

These little snippets of gossips began to spread quickly.

Anyone who heard about this laughed disdainfully.

"He is an un-cultivable trash, why is he so sensitive towards gossip? He has quite a bit of pride, haha."

"In my opinion, that piece of trash obviously just doesn’t want to come to work."

"If he doesn’t come to work, what can he do?"

"I heard that he is supposed to work his way up from the bottom. He must spend some time at each position. Only when he is familiar with all the departments will he take over the business."

"Trash is trash, he can’t do anything, so he has to hide out in the hospital. Hahaha, I can’t believe he thought of such a way to malinger!"

Many of those who were at the party could not help but mock Chu Yu.

Even though they were afraid of the Chu Clan, they could not bring themselves to fear Chu Yu.

If they dared to mock Chu Yu in his face, it would not be past them to gossip behind his back.

Inside the private hospital, Chu Xiaoxiao looked extremely unhappy as she spoke to Chu Yu, "Those people outside are ridiculous. I really want to rip out all of their mouths!"

Chu Yu smiled and shook his head, "I need a reason to disappear for some time. Else, my disappearance will raise suspicion."

"But brother..." Chu Xiaoxiao looked at Chu Yu with concern, "Are you really going to look for Sister Lin?"

"Yes, I have a very good reason for going."

Chu Yu did not want to let Chu Tianxiong know what he was doing. Even Xiao Yue did not know what Chu Yu was up to.

He had hired her in Chu Holdings as a secretary, yet he ran off to the hospital to malinger.

Chu Xiaoxiao stayed around for a while before leaving. Chu Tianxiong came in shortly after.

He laughed bitterly as he looked at Chu Yu lying on the bed, "You have caused me so much pain. People in the Chu Clan just asked me if I had been ill-treating you."

Chu Yu looked extremely apologetic, "My apologies Uncle Xiong, I have caused you much trouble."

"Haish, don’t be so courteous, we are one family after all." Chu Tianxiong waved Chu Yu’s apology away. "However, are you really going to look for Lin Shimeng?"

"Yes, she left without saying goodbye previously, I think she may be in trouble." Chu Yu explained.

"The problem is... can you partake in whatever she is doing?" Chu Tianxiong looked worryingly at Chu Yu.

Chu Yu could was un-cultivable and had no cultivation stage. On the other hand, Lin Shimeng is one of the top 10 ladies on the Heaven’s Pride Board.

Can Chu Yu really join her in her mission?

Chu Tianxiong found this highly suspicious.

Yet he did not find Chu Yu’s request for his cooperation to hide his disappearance from the Dragon City suspicious.

He knew that the Xie Clan had influence in many areas, and they may send assassins after him if they got wind of his location.

As such, Chu Yu needed to exercise caution in his every move.

"Rest assured Uncle Xiong, I have a few experts by my side. Oh yes, there will be someone coming to look for you in two days. Please arrange for him to join in the expedition to the Celestial Fox Immortal Cave." Chu Yu continued, "He is one of my men, you can trust him!"

Chu Tianxiong nodded, "Ok then, you must be extra careful!"

Chu Yu smiled, "Rest assured Uncle Xiong."

...

Half an hour later, an ordinary sedan left from the Chu Clan’s private hospital’s basement car park. The driver was a youth unfamiliar to Chu Yu.

This was someone unknown to the masses, a confidant cultivated by Chu Tianxiong.

He sent Chu Yu to the outskirts of the Dragon City before driving off without a second word.

Chu Yu looked at the time and surmised that he had four days before the Celestial Fox Immortal Cave expedition. He planned to use these four days to do something.

Under the cover of darkness, Chu Yu took a deep breath and began using the Facebook technique.

Chu Yu’s muscles began to twitch, almost as if wave after wave was crashing through his body.

After which, an ordinary looking middle aged man of average build appeared in his place.

"This feeling isn’t half bad."

A raspy voice came from this middle aged man’s mouth as he broke out in a strange smile

Following which, he began to run in towards the South.

Chu Yu chose an untraceable route that ran through old, dense forests.

When he ran at full speed, he was almost like a phantom. He could hear faint sonic booms behind him.

When he ran at full speed, he could feel a strong wave of power surging through his meridians like a raging river.

This wave of power far exceeded that of any normal Acupoint Charging Stage Eight martial artist.

Under normal circumstances, an Acupoint Charging Stage Eight martial artist could only last an hour running at full speed.

After an hour, if he wasn’t exhausted, his body temperature would have risen to a ridiculously high number.

If one used such heat to fry an egg, the egg would burn immediately.

Yet, after an hour of running, Chu Yu could feel that his body temperature had not yet reached dangerous levels.

His power... also showed no signs of abating!

Even though he was breaking out in sweat everywhere, he was still full of focus and energy. 　

He will continue!

Chu Yu also wanted to know how different he was from a normal Acupoint Charging Stage Eight martial artist. He also wanted to know... what his limits were.

After two hours, Chu Yu entered the borders of Yu Province.

Only then did he start to feel slightly exhausted.

His temperature was also beginning to rise.

Yet, it was still nowhere near dangerous levels!

Such a result was extremely surprising, even to Chu Yu.

According to the ancient annals, it seemed that only those who had attained the highest levels of Acupoint Charging Stage Nine, or even martial artists who were at stage 10 and above were capable of sprinting over long distances without rest, and still have energy to battle after.

Chu Yu murmured, "Could it be that my true battle power now is already at the highest levels of Acupoint Charging Stage Nine... or even Stage 10?"

This was a very surprising discovery. However, he could not confirm this hypothesis until he had finally seen battle.

He had made this trip for the sole purpose of battle!

...

Yu Province in Luo Yang.

Home to the main camp of the Xie Clan.

Xie Tianyu’s injuries have been mostly healed through meticulous care. Even though he wasn’t back at full strength, on the surface, he appeared to be fine.

However, his internal injuries had not been fully healed. Despite the amount of superior medicine available to the Xie Clan, internal injuries required long term cultivation to heal completely.

What he could not accept was... from this day on, he had no chance of breaking through to a higher stage.

Lord Thief’s two slaps had completely ruined his essentials!

His plot to get hold of the Sutra of Internal Reflection was all for him to be able to advance to the next realm, and be above the rest.

However, this dream had just gone up in smoke.

His hatred towards Chu Yu, had reached a maximum!

This hatred burned inside him, and followed him, every waking moment of the day.

Even when...

"Ah!" the lady beneath him screamed in pain.

Xie Tianyu looked down at the beautiful face just inches below him, a wave of hatred building up inside him.

He let go of his hard grip on the women’s breast and got down from above her. "Leave." He said flatly.

"Ah?" The women’s face was stained with tears, her white skin bruised from Xie Tianyu’s grasp. Yet, she did not dare to protest.

She had not fought back, yet for some reason, he was chasing her away. She felt wronged.

She knew who he was. In an attempt to get into his good books, she had presented herself to him.

Yet, she was treated so inhumanely.

"Get out." Xie Tianyu said coldly.

"Young master Yu... what did I do wrong? I can change, I won’t call out anymore..." the girl said anxiously.

"Get out." Xie Tianyu replied icily.

The girl did not dare to reply, and she collected her clothes and limped out, clearly hurt.

Xie Tianyu leaned on the bed, and took out a cigarette from his bedside drawer. After a deep puff, he closed his eyes.

He did not smoke in the past as it would affect his cultivation.

But now... it did not matter anymore.

After another puff, Xie Tianyu murmured to himself icily, "Chu Yu, in four days, when the Dragon City is vacated, you shall meet your maker!"