It was already past ten o’clock at night, yet in the bustling city of Tianjing, the crowds showed no sign of thinning. In a metropolis, most people are busy working during the day and only have time to stroll around at night.

Emily Carter and Lily Morgan walked ahead, whispering to each other, while the unfortunate William Parker followed behind, silently carrying a large pile of clothing bags, his gaze constantly scanning his surroundings.

Although Emily Carter and Lily Morgan spoke in low voices, their words were still clearly heard by William Parker. William Parker swore it wasn’t intentional—his hearing was just that good, and he couldn’t exactly cover his ears, could he? A faint smile appeared on his face.

But at that moment, William Parker suddenly stopped in his tracks, his mind alert, ears pricked up.

“Killing intent, extremely strong killing intent!” The source of the killing intent was not far from Emily Carter’s left side up ahead. William Parker moved instantly, darting forward like a phantom, arriving at Emily Carter and Lily Morgan’s side in a flash. Without hesitation, he grabbed Lily Morgan and dove forward, while his left hand reached back to push Emily Carter away.

A shrill, tragic scream startled the crowd. On William Parker’s right, someone was killed on the spot—a dagger, gleaming brightly, was plunged into his chest, shockingly conspicuous.

“Murder!” someone screamed. The bustling crowd instantly descended into chaos. William Parker, still holding Lily Morgan, rolled on the ground twice, then dashed into the crowd, his figure flickering as he sprinted. The still-shaken Lily Morgan remained in William Parker’s arms, her heart pounding wildly. She knew that if not for William Parker, she would have been the one killed.

A cold wind howled past them. Feeling the masculine presence of William Parker, Lily Morgan actually felt a sense of security—solid and reliable.

The murderous intent locked tightly onto William Parker. Behind him, a figure chased after him at full speed. He hadn’t expected William Parker to intervene, preventing him from killing Lily Morgan in one blow. Behind this figure, several others also rushed after him, though their speed was a bit slower.

“Patriarch, someone has attacked the young miss.” One shadow, realizing he couldn’t catch up, simply stopped, took out his phone, and directly dialed the number of Head of the Morgan Family, the patriarch of the Morgan family and Lily Morgan’s father.

“What?” The voice on the other end was shocked, then quickly calmed down: “How is the young miss now?”

“She was saved by someone else. Right now, the young miss is still with that person.”

“Saved by someone else? What are you people doing?” Chief Morgan roared in anger.

“Patriarch, the one who attacked the young miss is a professional killer, and very likely a gold-ranked assassin.” Cold sweat broke out on the shadow’s forehead as he hurriedly explained.

“A gold-ranked assassin!” Chief Morgan muttered to himself. He didn’t have time to say anything more, not even to ask who had saved his daughter. He hung up immediately to arrange manpower. As for Lily Morgan’s current location, that would be easy to confirm.

William Parker moved like the wind, constantly heading toward a secluded area. He was deeply shocked—the person behind him was extremely fast, and from the force of the dagger strike, William Parker judged the opponent’s strength to be equivalent to the third level of the acquired realm. However, it probably wasn’t as strong as he himself had been at that level. After all, the third level of the acquired realm meant having strength between one thousand and five thousand jin. Depending on the cultivation method, there could be differences in power. In the secular world, many people hadn’t even started true cultivation and only relied on various means to train their strength and potential. Such people could never advance to the innate realm.

But William Parker had cultivated using orthodox entry-level body-tempering techniques, supplemented by various methods to enhance his training. As soon as he reached the third level of the acquired realm, he immediately possessed a tremendous strength of four thousand jin.

It didn’t take long for William Parker to bring Lily Morgan to a narrow alley. He set Lily Morgan down and said to her, “Wait here for me!”

Lily Morgan stared blankly at William Parker. His handsome face and calm, confident tone, the glint in his deep eyes—there was no trace of the simple, honest look from earlier, making Lily Morgan unable to see through him at all. Yet she nodded firmly, feeling an inexplicable trust in William Parker’s words.

William Parker turned his gaze, a cold glint instantly appearing in his eyes. At that moment, his left hand was stained with a patch of crimson. Under the faint light, it looked shocking. This was left when he pushed Emily Carter away, but the innate energy flowing in William Parker’s body instantly coagulated the blood, and the wound healed rapidly.

Sensing that the killing intent was aimed at Lily Morgan, William Parker could have directly blocked the dagger, but if he had done so, the dagger would have landed near Emily Carter. If a violent collision occurred, Emily Carter would inevitably have been injured.

Looking at the dried patch of crimson, Lily Morgan opened her mouth, a strange feeling rising in her heart.