Chapter 492: Chapter 455: Night Shadow

It didn’t take long for Li Qian to return to Yunlan City via the Teleportation Array at the Transmission Center.

After all, Lingshui City was just a Tier Three Small City and didn’t have a Transmission Center, so Li Qian had to transfer through Yunlan City.

After arriving in Yunlan City, Li Qian thought for a moment and decided not to look for Mu Qianqian.

His trip back this time was top secret.

To avoid the Cult Organization finding out and causing him unnecessary trouble, Li Qian did his best to avoid contact with too many people.

More importantly, he didn’t yet have the ability to resolve the crisis in the Mysterious Forest Secret Realm.

Contacting Mu Qianqian, or even the Mu Family behind her, was not a good idea at this time.

Upon reaching Yunlan City, Li Qian immediately took a taxi to the high-speed rail station.

A little after ten in the morning, he finally returned to Lingshui City.

"I’m finally back!" He had been away for nearly four months attending school in Shazhou City. Li Qian couldn’t help but feel a little emotional now that he had finally returned to Lingshui City, to his hometown.

To avoid attracting attention, especially from those with ill intentions, Li Qian remained in disguise for the entire trip back to Lingshui City.

And his disguise wasn’t as simple as just wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses.

That would have actually drawn more attention.

He wore a realistic mask given to him by Duankong.

Once he put on the mask, his entire demeanor and appearance changed drastically.

He didn’t look like a young student at all, but more like a middle-aged man.

Without a moment’s delay, Li Qian took a taxi directly to the Jiaoyang Cultivation Base.

Unsure if his Cultivation Base was being watched, he kept the mask on even after getting out of the taxi.

He walked straight ahead and saw Uncle Zhang at the guardhouse.

Uncle Zhang hadn’t changed a bit compared to a few months ago.

He was sitting inside the guardroom, looking as dutiful as ever.

Li Qian walked up and greeted him. "Hello, could you please inform Manager An that I’m here to see him?"

Before his return, while still in Yunlan City, he had already sent a message to An Hou Nian explaining the purpose of his trip and asking for his cooperation.

The latter, overjoyed, had readily agreed.

Of course, Li Qian had also informed his parents.

So, it wasn’t long before the disguised Li Qian was welcomed into the Cultivation Base.

The Cultivation Base.

Inside Building One.

Everyone was gathered here—mainly Li Qian’s parents, Manager An Hou Nian, and Elder An.

"Haha, Dad, Mom, Uncle An, Grandpa An, it’s been a while. How have you all been?" After entering Building One and closing the door, Li Qian spoke in his familiar voice, though he still wore the face of a middle-aged man.

As he spoke, he pulled off the mask, revealing his true face.

His mother, Han Yuqing, heard the familiar voice and saw her son’s face. She was the first to speak, her tone a bit reproachful. "What, you have to sneak around just to come back to your own home now?"

"Honey, didn’t I tell you? Our son is a big deal now. There are a lot of people out there keeping an eye on him."

Li Chengyang glanced at his wife and explained, "It wouldn’t be so bad if they were good people. The most crucial thing is that those villains from the Cult Organization are also watching him. How can he not be careful!"

"Dad, Mom, I’m fine. But this trip back was a spur-of-the-moment decision, and I didn’t bring any guards, so I figured it would be better to be discreet," Li Qian explained casually.

He quickly sat down in the chair next to his mother.

"How long are you staying this time?" his mother, Han Yuqing, asked with concern.

Li Qian smiled and replied, "Just for two days. I have to leave the day after tomorrow. I still have a lot to do at school."

Seeing the disappointed look on his mother’s face, he continued, "But winter break is coming soon. Once it starts, I can stay home for longer."

"Sigh, you go away to school and stay gone for so long... It’s like you’ve flown the nest for good," his mother, Han Yuqing, said helplessly.

Hearing this, Li Qian could only shake his head with a wry smile.

Over the next half hour or so, Li Qian listened as his parents, An Hou Nian, and Elder An briefly described the base’s development over the past few months.

The biggest change at the base was that its area had expanded considerably.

A Cultivation Room had been built.

The number of Pet Beasts being raised had also increased significantly.

In addition, the abandoned amusement park had been expanded into a sub-base.

A rather large Cultivation Room had been built there as well.

With two Cultivation Rooms, evolving a Pet Beast at the base would be less conspicuous.

Otherwise, the frequent flashes of the Light of Evolution might lead someone to guess his whereabouts.

After meeting up with his parents, An Hou Nian, and Elder An, they didn’t stay in Building One for very long.

Once they had all briefly gone over the base’s recent situation, An Hou Nian and Elder An left.

Thus, only Li Qian and his parents were left in Building One.

The family of three chatted for a while before his mother finally went to the dining hall.

She said she was going to instruct the kitchen to prepare a few extra special dishes.

The Cultivation Base had expanded, and the number of employees had also increased.

As a result, the base’s dining hall had become quite respectable.

Li Qian was rather looking forward to it. ’I wonder how the food will taste.’

Soon, as it neared noon, his mother, Han Yuqing, had someone bring over a sumptuous lunch.

Including the soup, there were ten dishes in total. Li Qian tried them and found they tasted quite good.

The preparation of a few of the dishes had a distinctly familiar taste.

Li Qian smiled, picked up a piece of braised pork belly with his chopsticks, and put it in his mouth. "Mom, this braised pork belly... you made this, right?"

"Yes."

Seeing Li Qian eating with such relish, his mother, Han Yuqing, said proudly, "The chef here made the braised pork too soft, with no springiness to it at all. I figured you probably wouldn’t like it, so I shared a little trick with him. Now, his braised pork is not only tender but also has a nice chewiness."

The family of three was full of warmth and happiness.

And so, the lunch lasted until almost two in the afternoon.

After the meal, Li Qian returned to his room and took a nice long nap.

He didn’t wake up until nearly four-thirty in the afternoon.

After waking up, he started to wander around the base.

Thanks to him, the base now had two signature Pet Beasts—the Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon and the Frostfire Salamander—in addition to some evolution methods he had subsequently provided.

After reaching a cooperation agreement with the Public Security Bureau’s main office, the Jiaoyang Cultivation Base’s reputation had skyrocketed.

And with a solid foundation of funding and technology, its scale had more than doubled.

The current Jiaoyang Cultivation Base was already showing signs of becoming the number one cultivation base in Lingshui City.

If you included the sub-base at the abandoned amusement park, it was already, in effect, the top cultivation base in Lingshui City.

Li Qian was quite pleased to see this.

At the very least, it proved that the An Family had put a lot of thought and effort into building the base.

Although, given the current circumstances, Li Qian didn’t really need the An Family’s power anymore. However, they had been partners for a long time, and he had his connection with Fatty An. So, as long as nothing unusual happened, he planned to continue this partnership indefinitely.

After strolling around, he returned to Building One just as it was getting close to dinnertime again.

At his mother Han Yuqing’s arrangement, Li Qian once again came to the small dining room in Building One, and the family of three enjoyed another wonderful dinner together.

After dinner, Li Qian curled up on the sofa and read through some materials for a while.

Around nine o’clock, he got ready for bed.

’It’s a rare trip home, a chance to relax. I don’t want to exhaust myself.’

’The events in the Dimension Plane had given me a strong sense of crisis, but I know better than anyone that at my current stage, I need to maintain a balance. If I keep my nerves stretched taut all the time, I’ll eventually break down.’

At nine o’clock, Li Qian got into bed, pulled up the covers, and prepared for a good night’s sleep.

Since it was a rare return to the Cultivation Base, Li Qian released all his Pet Beasts that night, letting them enjoy some rare freedom within the base as well.

However, perhaps out of habit, the Six-tailed Cat didn’t dart out into the base. Instead, it curled up peacefully in a corner of Li Qian’s room, just like a normal house cat, and fell asleep.

Li Qian didn’t mind this at all.

’It’s just like having a pet cat at home.’

And just like that, Li Qian drifted deep into sleep.

Just as Li Qian was sound asleep, around twelve o’clock at night...

...a figure appeared silently outside the bedroom window.

In a corner of the room, the Six-tailed Cat saw this and silently opened its eyes.

Soon, with a faint CREAK, the bedroom door was opened.

It was obvious the door hadn’t been damaged in any way.

The figure must have used a key to open it directly.

Li Qian was fast asleep.

Having returned home, his guard was down, and he didn’t wake up immediately to notice the anomaly.

The figure slowly approached. She didn’t notice the Six-tailed Cat huddled in the corner.

Of course, this was largely because the Six-tailed Cat had shrunk itself to the size of a normal house cat.

The figure was a familiar one.

She approached slowly and suddenly reached out her hand.

In her hand, a kitchen cleaver had appeared at some point, glinting with a cold, sinister light.

The figure stared coldly at Li Qian, who was sleeping peacefully in his bed. Without any hesitation, she violently raised the cleaver in her hand and swung it straight down...

In the nick of time, a faint glimmer of light suddenly flashed...

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