Chapter 179 - A Slap (1)

A moonless night in the wild was black as ink. After the smoke and dust cleared, two figures, one man and one woman, appeared before the convoy.

The man wore blood red robes. A trace of weariness lingered in his narrow eyes.

The woman wore a veiled hat, making her face impossible to see. Yet the graceful curves half-hidden beneath it were enough to stir a man’s imagination. Unfortunately, the ink black sword in her hand killed any such thoughts before they could grow legs.

The instant Li Zhonghua saw them, his brows drew together.

Almost at once, he realized that these two uninvited guests were led by the man in blood red.

Though the man’s words were hardly friendly, he had not attacked right away. He was most likely an old acquaintance of Xu Xinyao’s.

But with Xu Xinyao’s personality, she did not seem like the sort to make enemies.

And this man’s aura was strange. He was clearly only seventh rank, yet the speed he had just shown was comparable to a Grandmaster’s. That sort of ability was peculiar.

As Li Zhonghua thought this, his gaze shifted to the woman beside the man.

Was she the one carrying him through the air?

These thoughts flashed through his mind in the span of a spark. In the next instant, Li Zhonghua steadied himself and cupped his fist toward the other party. “Brother, is there some misunderstanding between you and Xinyao?”

Xu Yuan glanced at Li Zhonghua.

“Xinyao? Heh. You two sound awfully close. But as I recall, I wasn’t asking you.”

With that, he fixed his eyes on the black carriage carved with coiling dragons at the rear and strode toward the convoy. His voice remained cold.

“Xu Xinyao, don’t play dead with me. Get out here!”

Ran Qingmo followed closely at his side, keeping about a meter from him.

Compared with the wariness in Li Zhonghua’s heart, Zhou Ziqing’s beautiful eyes held more confusion than anything else.

Because no matter how she looked at him, that familiar face looked exactly like the debauched villain she had once seen in the imperial capital. But the aura around him was so completely different that she did not dare be certain.

After a moment’s thought, Zhou Ziqing suddenly asked in a low voice, “Are you... Xu Changtian?”

Xu Yuan raised an eyebrow. He had not expected someone in his fourth sister’s group to recognize him. He glanced at Zhou Ziqing, and as he looked at that beautiful, heroic face, a few old memories surfaced in his mind.

To put it simply, the two of them had crossed paths once in the imperial capital.

Back then, he and a group of silk-pants young masters had gone to Phoenix Perch Pavilion to drink and make merry. By sheer coincidence, they had run into a group of sect disciples led by Zhou Ziqing.

Zhou Ziqing and her companions had just arrived in the imperial capital and did not yet know how dangerous this pack of top-tier wastrel heirs could be.

Because one of them had looked a little too long at the wrong person in the crowd, someone among the sect disciples had muttered a few choice words like good-for-nothing parasites, and Xu Yuan’s group happened to hear it.

Then, the two sides started going at each other.

The result was not pleasant for Zhou Ziqing’s group.

The reason those young masters could run wild without fear was not only because of their family backgrounds. A large part of it was also because the guards they brought with them were very strong.

Their group of silk-pants young masters might not have been able to win a fight themselves, but the guards beside them certainly were not going to stand there and watch their employers get beaten.

After a few exchanges, Zhou Ziqing and the other sect disciples were pressed to the ground and forced to kneel.

As for the original owner of this body, being the sort of lust-starved devil who dared try one dragon sporting with five phoenixes, he naturally would not let such a chance slip by. Faced with a beauty like Zhou Ziqing, the gap in cultivation meant he could not truly draw blade and spear for a proper battle, but taking a few liberties was, of course, unavoidable.

Thinking of this, Xu Yuan felt somewhat speechless. Then he smiled and said, “So it’s Zhou Ziqing. You’re already third rank? I really didn’t expect you to end up mixing with my fourth sister.”

Hearing this, Zhou Ziqing immediately confirmed that the man before her was indeed that debauched villain from back then. Her beautiful pupils shrank, and her fair cheeks gradually flushed red. The slender sword in her hand began to glow faintly.

“It’s... it really is you! You bastard!”

Although her emotions were starting to slip out of control, Zhou Ziqing still forced down the shame and anger in her heart and did not act rashly. She saw the woman in the black veiled hat behind him slowly drawing that ink black sword.

As the other woman’s blade slid free, the temperature of the surrounding air began to plunge. This woman was very strong.

And besides, the man was Xu Xinyao’s brother. If she attacked, it would put Xu Xinyao in a very difficult position.

For a time, the only sound left on the official road was the soft footfalls of those two people.

In the silence, a clear and gentle woman’s voice came from within the convoy.

“Third Brother, it’s been a long time.”

Xu Yuan stopped and looked toward the source of the voice.

Xu Xinyao wore a pale blue dress with a sable-fur coat draped over her shoulders. She slowly stepped down from the coiling-dragon carriage and looked at the blood-robed man not far away with a faint smile. “Third Brother, why are you here?”

Seeing the familiar fourth sister from his memories, Xu Yuan’s eyes curved slightly. “I had only just arrived at Yellow Dragon Market when I heard the Fourth Young Miss of the Chancellor’s Manor had come by, so I chased after you to have a look.”

As he spoke, Xu Yuan crooked a finger at her.

“Come here. I have something to say to you.”

Xu Xinyao hesitated for an instant, then stepped toward Xu Yuan. When she passed Zhou Ziqing, she said in a low voice, “Ziqing... I’m sorry.”

Though the conversation just now had only lasted a few words, when combined with the attitude Zhou Ziqing had shown before whenever this third brother was mentioned, she could roughly guess that Zhou Ziqing had once clashed with him. More than that, she had likely been bullied by him.

Zhou Ziqing drew two breaths, bit her lip, and shook her head. “This has nothing to do with you, Xinyao.”

Xu Xinyao fell silent for a brief moment, then walked up to Xu Yuan and stopped before him. She raised her eyes to look at this third brother whose bearing had become completely different from before and said softly, “Third Brother, about the conflict between you and Ziqing back in the imperial capital...”

Before she could finish, Xu Yuan suddenly raised his hand and struck toward Xu Xinyao’s soft, gentle face.

In that flash of an instant, a strange ripple of formation energy spread from Xu Xinyao’s body.

A mighty formation barrier appeared around her of its own accord.

Seeing this, Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes.

BANG! In the next moment, the slap still landed cleanly.

The crisp sound rang especially clear along the silent official road.

Xu Xinyao’s frail body was sent stumbling back two steps before she barely steadied herself.

She had been slapped for no reason at all, yet she did not speak at once.

Xu Yuan looked at his adopted sister and slowly drew his hand back. “Why did you stop the defensive formation?”

Xu Xinyao looked at Xu Yuan. There was no resentment in her beautiful eyes, and her voice was gentle. “The formation’s backlash would have hurt you, Third Brother. Your cultivation is weak.”

Even after being hit, she was still thinking about someone else. Xu Yuan bared his teeth in a grin. “You’re not going to ask me why I hit you?”

Xu Xinyao shook her head softly. She looked at him, her eyes curving in a gentle smile. “Third Brother, you’re different from before. Since you hit me now, you must have your reasons. But after you finish hitting me, could you apologize to Ziqing for what happened before?”

Xu Yuan looked at that same gentleness he remembered and lifted a hand to rub his brow. Then he let out two low laughs. “If I have my reasons, then stand properly. After I’m done hitting you, I’ll apologize to Zhou Ziqing.”