Realms In The Firmament

[xianxiaworld]

Chapter 20 – You want to kill me? I will kill you!

People on the street started gossiping. A crowd had gathered around the fighters and were talking about the fight. Ye Xiao had been quite quickly identified as the foppish lord by some and they quickly disclosed his identity to those near them. After a while, everyone had learnt about Ye Xiao and they kept on spicing up the gossip.

“Whoop! I had thought that I knew who that is. It turns out to be the young lord Ye, the General Ye’s son.”

“No wonder he acts brutally. He just rode the man and didn’t stop punching.”

“He is Ye Xiao. You know, the young lord. For him this is so ordinary, just like any other day, like a routine…”

“That’s right. It would be very uncommon, very strange, and very unearthly that he doesn’t beat someone… But who is that punching bag?”

“… I have no idea. This must be his unlucky day…”

Finally, the two guards of Mu Cheng-Bai arrived on the scene with furious howls. They burst in through the crowd and launched their fists towards Ye Xiao. Ye Xiao calmly looked over his shoulders for a bit and stood up without any particular hurry. He then firmly stamped his foot and leapt up in the air. He turned his waist in the air and a large snap of breaking bones was heard when his right foot connected with one of the two guards.

Aaahhhhh! A scream of misery was heard from the mouth of the guard who had been ruthlessly kicked.

Whether Ye Xiao did it on purpose or not, when his foot landed on the ground, he managed to stamp it right on Mu Cheng-Bai’s crotch.

The piteous cries of Mu Cheng Bai were world-shaking and one could imagine how painful it would be to get kicked in the crotch!

Mu Cheng-Bai curled his body while holding his crotch like a prawn. Tears were rolling out of his eyes, snot was dripping out of his nose and a look of extreme pain was clearly visible on his twisted face.

On the other side, Ye Xiao and the two guards had already begun fighting.

There were many expert cultivators in the clan of Mu. No one would doubt that. But Mu Cheng-Bai had been a tyrant in the capital for many years, so he wouldn’t need to use any martial force to solve problems.

And for this reason, he had only brought two guards with him who were only good at bootlicking. And while they were at the Grade of Renyuan, they were still at a lower level than Mu Cheng-Bai. He had planned to just hang around on the street, so he had anticipated that he wouldn’t need any heavy protection. Besides, the three of them were all at the Grade of Renyuan. That was enough for any common situations…

But he didn’t know he would come across Ye Xiao – an unreasonable foppish young lord with ridiculous strength!

Due to this miscalculation, Mu Cheng-Bai took a real beating this time.

However, Ye Xiao was not aware of all these details. He was simply wondering why the guards were so lame, though they looked like some expert cultivators – steady steps, sharp eyes and strong bodies.

“What is going on? Why are they so… weak?”

While Ye Xiao’s curiosity was piqued, he suddenly heard an exhausted scream from behind him, “Go get him! Beat him up! If he dies, I will take the blame!”

The voice was no longer calm and deep. Instead it was utterly abashed.

Mu Cheng-Bai was the young generation of the well-known clan of Mu. Although he was not a direct descendant, he had never suffered through any difficulties. In the Kingdom of Chen, he was the older cousin of the crown prince, so he always got what he wanted. A powerful clan was behind him. Who would dare to mess with him?

How could he bare to suffer such disgrace?

Today Ye Xiao had beaten him as easily as a father would beat his son. Even though he was usually shrewd, at this moment an immense rage had taken over his rationality.

Even more so, knowing that Ye Xiao was a foppish fool, had increased his feeling of humiliation. “When eventually the news of today's event spreads throughout the capital… The whole kingdom will come to know that I, the famous young lord Mu, had got beaten by one of the three foppish lords, Ye Xiao … How can I live through the shame which comes from this?!”

When the order was given, the guards instantly turned ferocious.

Honestly, they too were very upset about what had just happened. In their eyes Ye Xiao was just a fool with impractical steps, some useless punches and no spunk, but they just couldn’t seem to touch him. In fact, these two experienced guards were pushed towards the limits of their abilities time and time again!

They were feeling exceedingly gloomy.

However, now that they had received the order form their master, they would naturally go to any lengths to beat Ye Xiao up.

Shiiiing! They both quickly drew their swords, which gave of a resplendent reflections, showing their beauty, in the sun. They then quickly aimed their swords and swung at Ye Xiao.

The first sword was aimed at Ye Xiao’s throat after it had deceptively changed its direction thrice! Meanwhile, the other sword was aimed at Ye Xiao’s waist to make sure that dodging was not an option for this foppish lord!

The two swords were in unison as they slashed towards Ye Xiao. They really didn’t care that Ye Xiao was from the General’s House. They just wanted to chop this foppish lord apart!

In the eyes of the Mu clan members, to kill the son of a mere general in a kingdom of the mortal world was just a casual monday morning.

His status meant absolutely nothing to them!

They had gotten the order, but even if no one would have ordered them to kill this foppish lord it wouldn’t have changed a thing. Killing someone just didn’t mean anything to them, with the backing of the royal forces, they would always be in the right!

Meanwhile, at a corner of the street, Wang Xiao Nian was still hiding. If one would look at him closely, they would see beads of sweat rolling down his forehead as an immense fear was plastered on his face! “WTF! You aren’t seriously going to chop him apart, are you?!” He panicked, “I… I… I couldn’t take the guilt.”

...

A cold light flashed in Ye Xiao’s eyes.

“In this crowded market place, there are too many onlookers. Many of them have actually surrounded us to enjoy the show. Those three can ignore all this because they have the royal force behind them, but… I can’t.” He thought, “But I really want to kill them…”

As he was pondering over this issue, he suddenly made his move. He flexibly turned his waist and slipped away like a fish in the ocean. He then started to loudly scream, “MURDER!!! HELP!!!” as he quickly ran away!

Ye Xiao ran away with tottering steps, all the while acting like he was scared. At this point he wasn’t interested the slightest about something as trivial as embarrassment. He reached the first corner in the street and quickly darted into it, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

It seemed like he was too scared to tell right from left as he took the wrong turn and ran westwards even though the General’s House was to the east.

He had chosen to run in the opposite direction from his house and was getting further and further away from this safe haven…

“You two are truly useless! Go get him! Go!” Mu Cheng-Bai furiously repeated his command.

While he had finally managed to stand up, his hands were still tightly enveloping his crotch area as the pain had not subsided by the slightest amount. The muscles in his face were twitching heavily and he was gasping for air.

He really had suffered a huge loss of face and he was determined to catch Ye Xiao no matter what!

He had never been humiliated like this in public before.

The guards were also infuriated by this foppish lord, so they rushed after Ye Xiao without further ado.

Mu Cheng-Bai was so resentful, that he beared with the pain smouldering in his crotch, and followed after his two guards.

Within a space of a few seconds, all the action had disappeared, both the assailant and the assaulted had ran off and the spectators were left speechlessly looking at each other.

Only after a while did the spectators regain their wits and quickly started chatting, “He truly is one of those ‘three foppish lords’… Fighting on the street in front of the public, he did it like it was for his glory…”

“That man who was beaten up didn’t seem like a good guy either. He actually wanted to kill someone in the middle of the street in broad daylight.”

“He wasn’t just thinking it, he was actually going for it. If the lord Ye didn’t run fast enough, he would already have been chopped into many pieces…”

“I have seen enough for a year. The world of these lords is really something beyond our comprehension…”

…

Wang Xiao-Nian had joined the crowd to look at the spectacle with a foxy smile on his face.

He thought disdainfully, “Humph, Ye Xiao. You have neither realised the trouble you have put yourself in nor the person you’re messing with, but all in all, you are definitely dead meat now! Even if your father came back, he wouldn’t be able to save you! For these men, killing you means nothing at all!”

Showing a sinister smile, he turned around and quietly left.

He was definitely not going to follow these four men and watch the slaughter of Ye Xiao. Firstly, he simply wasn’t able to do so and secondly, he didn’t want to get involved in Ye Xiao’s murder…

The General Ye might not be able to deal with Mu Cheng-Bai, but he certainly could deal with Wang Xiao-Nian.

Therefore, although Wang Xiao-Nian was happy in his heart, he wouldn’t dare say anything.

He was already worrying about how he would confirm that Mu Cheng Bai wouldn’t mention his involvement in this ordeal.

….

Ye Xiao went along the streets and alleys. It looked like he was fleeing through any path he could find. In fact, he was choosing these routes on purpose. The surroundings got more and more dilapidated as he ran further and further. Ahead of him there was the city slum.

All he could see were ruins.

Beyond the ruins in the city slum there was a rather large hill. After one went over the hill they would arrive in a forest and on the far side of the forest there was a lake.

These were created by mankind in the Chen-Xing City – ‘a hill, a forest and a lake’.

The three men were chasing after him!

They showed an attitude like ‘we will chase you up to the highest point in heaven and down to the lowest level of hell’!

But what they didn’t know, was that the closer they got to Ye Xiao, the closer they got to their own death!

Ye Xiao was slowly building up his killing killing intent as he ran!
…

Ye Xiao knew that the guy he had just beaten up, must be someone special. He might not have recognized the guy, but his guts told him that he shouldn’t act rashly against him. He wasn’t interested in looking for useless trouble, so even though he had punched mercilessly, he had never had the intented to kill him.

But Mu Cheng-Bai definitely wanted to kill him!

The two guards had already made a killing move!

Usually Ye Xiao would exterminate his enemies; Especially those who tried to kill him.

‘You want to kill me? I will kill you!’

That’s why he had chosen such a complicated route – he had wanted to draw them to this isolated place.

Ye Xiao had pretended to be extremely exhausted for a while. He had arrived at the top of the hill while breathing heavily. It looked like he was about to fall down at any moment. The three men felt their desire to kill this foppish lord rise to an even higher level!

“Bastard, you finally have nowhere to go!”

“We can even kill you in the middle of a busy street and now you brought us in such a desolate place? How could we not dare to kill you? Bastard! You really made a mistake in coming this way! This is your way to the hell!”

Ye Xiao ran off the hill and looked around. He happily noticed that those three were right and that there were indeed no signs of people anywhere near him. “This really is a perfect place to get rid of their bodies without anyone noticing…” He thought.

Dusk had settled in by the time Ye Xiao arrived at this desolate place!

Ye Xiao finally stopped with the totter and suddenly increased his speed, he was like an arrow, shooting through the air. Whoosh! The leaves on the trees shook as he rushed into the forest!

The two guards followed Ye Xiao with great urgency. However, as they enter deeper into the forest, uneasiness slowly crept inside their hearts. They felt something was wrong and when they looked in the direction where Ye Xia run off to, they were instantly stunned.

The foppish lord, who had seemed like a stray cur, was now standing in front of them with a calm and composed demeanor. He looked completely at ease and that fact made them uneasy!

Ye Xiao was standing there with both his hands clasped behind his back. He disdainfully smiled and calmly looked at the approaching guards. He deviously nodded his head and said with a chilling smile, “Well done guys. You have fulfilled your responsibilities and you have obediently chased me all the way here on your master’s command. However… The road of life is long and boring. You burn in the sun and freeze in the snow. You have to overcome the bumps and survive the thorns of the brambles. To Live like the two of you is true suffering. Why don’t you let me ease the pain that is your life and let me end it?”


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[xianxiaworld]

Chapter 21 – The Monarch Holds His Sword!

The two guards were pissed. However, they felt extremely pressured under Ye Xiao’s unyielding gaze! They wanted to curse and scream, yet under this pressure, their voices never managed to leave their throats!

To them, Ye Xiao seemed to be a god from the heavens. They felt that he was invincible!

After a prolonged period of silence, they finally caved in and shouted out in panic,”Ye Xiao you fool! You dare to speak with such arrogance while standing on death's doorstep!”

Ye Xiao nodded and smiled gently, “Well. Well. Then could you please send me to my death?”

Meanwhile, a completely out of breath Mu Cheng-Bai finally managed to catch up with these three. His eyes turned red out of anger when he caught the sight of Ye Xiao, and he yelled his orders to the guards, “What in the bloody hell are you waiting for? Go kill him!”

The guards could no longer stand the stress from this stand off and now they, having received the order from their master, decided to take the initiative. If they didn’t make any actions soon, they would certainly go insane. Therefore, they shouted in unison and swung their bright steel swords!

Ye Xiao laughed, casually stepped forward while facing the swords and said, “Never speak of the hardships in life. It doesn’t take a thousand bottles of wine to relieve your sorrow. It is your destiny that we have met in this narrow path. With my laughter you will be sent to your death.”

The swords had started to emit flashy rays of sword lights after being infused with the guards qi.

The guards had obviously gone all out with these attacks as they had felt a life-and-death crisis originating from Ye Xiao’s smile. Every inch of his smile gave them an ominous sense of death!

But even after going all out, they continued to feel intimidated!

Ye Xiao slightly spun around while smiling, and just barely managed to slip away from the two attacking swords. Whoops!

One of his fair and delicate hands hit the wrist of a guard!

His actions had seemed so slow that even an ordinary person would have been able to follow the movement of his arm as he attacked.

However, the guard remained absolutely powerless to defend against it!

While the guard was screaming and let go of his sword, which shone brightly as it continued on its path.

It almost managed to slash Ye Xiao’s hand!

Ye Xiao used one hand to stop the blade and tossed it to his other hand and he used this newly acquired weapon to attack the guards. A sword light burst out causing the sword slash to look like a galaxy of stars in the night sky.

He looked like a master calligrapher with a hand folded behind his back and gripping a brush pen with the other hand to write on a snow white paper.

It was both elegant and enjoyable.

The sword flashed and all observers would only see a streak of light illuminating the path travelled by the sword! But the two guards who were fighting against it showed horror-struck looks!

Moreover, they felt admiration towards a foe who was skilled to such a degree!

They worshipped his talent deep within their hearts.It felt like a paramount god from the heavens was smiting them! The slashing sword seemed to represent the will of heaven and hell!

It was inviolable and overwhelming!

They felt like that it was their destiny to die under this sword!

While the sword lights were quickly losing their splendor, blood sprayed out of the guards and painted the sky, trees and ground red.

The murderous looks that had been on the guards’ faces had been replaced by the fearful looks – like they had desecrated a god. Then they slowly fell down on the floor.

PUFF! When their bodies hit the ground, a small cloud of dust to rose from the ground.

…

The swordplay that Ye Xiao was using was The Monarch’s Sword that he depended on to rule the Qing-Yun Realm!

The Monarch holds the sword and he takes away all lives! Thousands of dead bodies fall. Beacons are lit for millions of miles! The sword of the Monarch kills with absolute certainty. It rarely shows up but it will kill when it does!

There was no one who had survived after facing The Monarch’s Sword.

…

A single sword strike had actually caused two instantaneous deaths!

Mu Cheng-Bai’s eyes were wide open as he was utterly shocked. He looked at Ye Xiao and felt that his heart had suddenly stopped beating!

At this moment, he wasn’t thinking of slipping away, nor was he feeling frightened! He felt endless astonishment and bursting rage!

“Didn’t Wang Xiao-Nian say… that this Ye Xiao was just a foppish idiot and was even too weak to hold a chicken? How come… he possesses such superior martial skills? He actually easily killed my two guards, who were both at the Grade of Renyuan, with one strike of his sword! How could a foppish idiot ever do this? Are you kidding me? Wang Xiao-Nian you are trying to get me killed, aren’t you?” A lot of thoughts kept spinning inside Mu Cheng-Bai’s head.

At this moment, the thing he wanted to do most was to find Wang Xiao-Nian and rip him to shreds! Though he was convinced that even by doing that, his anger wouldn’t be relieved!

Ye Xiao held the sword with only two fingers and casually looked at a drop of blood dripping down along the edge of the blade. He then looked straight at Mu Cheng-Bai and spoke, “You’ve had a rough day.”

Mu Cheng-Bai started panting and felt a chilling coldness in his heart. He couldn’t even utter a single word.

Ye Xiao shook his head and sighed, “This…This is my first time killing in this life.”

He stopped and slowly shook his head before continuing, “I didn’t expect the first time would come this soon.”

Mu Cheng-Bai said hoarsely, “Soon?”

Ye Xiao smiled and explained patiently, “Yes, you are right. I didn’t expect that I would start this kind of life again this soon…” One could see an extreme yearning and desire being born deep within his eyes.

Mu Cheng-Bai felt a deep sense of fear when he saw the yearning and desire in Ye Xiao’s eyes.

Ye Xiao smiled and spoke gently, “You must be exhausted after chasing me all this way, but isn’t living as long as you have done much more exhausting?”

Mu Cheng-Bai’s legs started trembling. He took a deep breath and said, “Ye Xiao! I know you don’t have the guts to kill me!”

Ye Xiao spoke with half-closed eyes, “You mean you have distinguished blood?”

Then he followed, “Or special status?”

He didn’t stop, “Or powerful backgrounds?”

At last he said, “None of that will work on me.” He pointed at the sharp and bloodstained blade, “and neither on this.”

Mu Cheng-Bai gnashed his teeth, “I am from the Mu clan! I am Mu Cheng-Bai! I am Mu Cheng-Bai…”

Ye Xiao moved his ear forward, “Never heard of them.” He held the sword and stepped forward.

“I am the brother-in-law of the crown prince! I am the older brother of his wife!” Mu Cheng-Bai was sweating. As Ye Xiao stepped closer to him, he couldn’t help but step back and say, “If you kill me, the Ye clan will suffer repercussion for your actions. But if you let me go today, I promise you, Ye Xiao, I will make you rich and powerful in the government!”

Ye Xiao straightened his back and said after thinking, “Did you know me before today?”

“No, I didn’t.” Mu Cheng-Bai shook his head and answered, “We have nothing against each other. You can’t just kill me.”

“Nothing?” Ye Xiao frowned, “Then… what did you do all this for?”

He was truly confused about this.

“Wang Xiao-Nian! It was Wang Xiao-Nian!” Mu Cheng-Bai nearly shouted out, “That bastard, he… he… He was angry because you had robbed something from him. He asked to come along with me today and happened to see you there… So he encouraged me… Then I… I…”

“Oh…” Ye Xiao narrated, “It was Wang Xiao-Nian… Hmm, so you went after me? You bullied me and then tried to kill me… Right?”

Mu Cheng-Bai was scared to death, “NO! NO! NO! Noooo…”

Ye Xiao ignored him and said softly, “Several days ago, I got poisoned… You know of it, don’t you?”

Mu Cheng-Bai was confused, “Poison? No please… It wasn’t me.”

Ye Xiao looked right into his eyes and frowned, “It wasn’t you? You know nothing?”

If the brother-in-law of the crown prince didn’t know… Then who did it? Wang Da-Nian was surely a suspect and he was with the crown prince… But now Mu Cheng-Bai said that he didn’t know anything about it…

This case was getting extremely complicated and confusing.

“I don’t know. Please. It truly wasn’t me…”Mu Cheng-Bai was willing to take out his fresh heart to show his honesty.

“It wasn’t you… and you know nothing… then what should I keep you alive for…” Ye Xiao frowned.

“I am useful! Please! I truly am… Lord Ye, listen to me please… I… I can help you in anyway… The government businesses, the wealth, the martial world…” At the moment, if there were pills for regret, Mu Cheng-Bai would spend every penny he had to buy them all. But there was no such thing in existence.

He now had to beg for his life, and had started promising one beautiful thing after the other.

Ye Xiao was too vicious at that moment! He was making Mu Cheng-Bai feel so stressed that he felt unable to control his bowels – he was almost certainly going to suffer from incontinence.

“If I can get through this alive, I swear I will figure out ten thousand ways to torture Ye Xiao and and that father of his, Ye Nan-Tian, to death!”

Mu Cheng-Bai was already planning his revenge, but even so, he kept on making promises to Ye Xiao in hopes to get him to change his mind. He was hoping that Ye Xiao would let him go.

But he also knew that his chance of survival was truly too small…

If Ye Xiao hadn’t kill the guards, he might have considered sparing Mu Cheng-Bai. But since he had already killed the guards, he couldn’t stop anymore.

Ye Xiao sighed, “I really want to trust you, but… I can’t. I know that if I let you go, it will bring me unending troubles. You are begging. That’s true. But I can also feel that you’ve already started planning your revenge… People like you, they are always standing high and never get humiliated. What happened today must have already created a seedling of burning shame deep inside your heart. If I were to let you go, your revenge would arrive at my doorsteps shortly, right?”

Mu Cheng-Bai shook his head fearfully, “No! No… Absolutely not… You must trust me. Please, trust me…”

Ye Xiao was nonchalant, “Besides, I always do things cleanly… In many situations, things will just change when I speak one word extra…”

“Ahhh… Ahhh…” Mu Cheng-Bai gasped weirdly and strange sounds were coming out of his throat, even he didn’t know why. His eyes turned wider and wider in fear as he stared at Ye Xiao. Then he suddenly screamed and started running away, as if the devil himself was chasing after him.

Ye Xiao’s eyes flashed as he slightly flicked his wrist. The steel sword flew out of his hand straight for Mu Cheng-Bai. PUFF! It managed to penetrate his back and quickly cut through his heart!

Mu Cheng-Bai’s body still ran for several steps before falling down.

His eyes were inanimate but still seemed to be looking forward. There was no hate in his eyes, only fear and regret.

He had messed with the wrong guy.

“The brother-in-law of the crown prince?” Ye Xiao looked down at the dead body and shook his head, “How can a dead man be the brother-in-law to anybody… Dead men are sharing the same title… Dead bodies.”

“Don’t worry, I will avenge you.” Ye Xiao stared at the body, “I will punish Wang Xiao-Nian soon enough.”

After saying these words, he walked away steadily and did not spare a second look. He made his way out of the forest while stepping on the fallen leaves.

A calm man could be seen walking casually out of this forest, as if he had just enjoyed the sunset followed by the appearance of the moon and the stars.

From start to finish, not a single drop of blood nor a single speck of dust had stained his clothes.

Three bodies remained on the forest floor, silently waiting to be devoured by the hungry wildlife.

….

More Chap

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[xianxiaworld]

Chapter 22 - Extreme Joy is followed by extreme Sorrow

Wang Xiao-Nian arrived home, feeling absolutely euphoric. He had predicted that Ye Xiao would definitely die this time.

“Humph! How dare you extort me! I just played a little trick and now you’re dead meat!”

Wang Xiao-Nian was skipping away in a completely happy mood. Wang Da-Nian noticed that his son was unusually buoyant and felt dumfounded. He kept on pestering his son about his improved mood, but Wang Xiao-Nian remained tight lipped.

Wang Xiao-Nian knew the seriousness of this event. If Ye Xiao had truly died… the Northern General would definitely create a massive tempest!

He knew that it would be in his best interest to remain silent for now!

He had restlessly spent the next two days anticipating the arrival of this good news. He had frequently daydreamed about the sorry figure of Ye Xiao’s dead bodyand whether Ye Xiao had figured out the culprit responsible for his demise.

Hmm…

Another day had passed, and Wang Xiao-Nian was still waiting for the news…

And the news finally came.

A messenger had arrived from the crown Prince’s Palace, “Supervisor Wang. The crown prince sends for your son. There are some questions for him.”

Wang Da-Nian felt flattered that the crown prince had actually sent for his son. He thought, “This… this must be the start of my son’s bright future.”

“Go. Speak well.” Wang Da-Nian urged his son, “This is your best chance. Do keep that in mind.”

Wang Xiao-Nian looked confused. He was thinking, “Why is it the crown prince who is contacting me? Why is it not Mu Cheng-Bai? What? Something doesn’t feel right...”

…

On the other side of the city, after killing Mu Cheng-Bai and his two guards, Ye Xiao had stayed at home for three days!

He was not trying to cover the murders nor was he afraid that people would figure it out.

When he had finally arrived back at home that day, he immediately jumped into the sphere. He had spend 350 thousand silver bars on treasures, so he couldn’t wait to see the amount of qi that would fill the space inside the sphere!

Ye Xiao was truly unable to contain himself..

However, when he finally got into the space, he was stunned by what he saw.

The amount of qi in the space had actually remained the same and its color showed no changes.

Well, there was a tiny difference – which was the appearance of a small amount of fog-like qi. That was all.

Ye Xiao took in a lungfull of the unchanged qi in the space and was rendered totally speechless.

“It shouldn’t be! The space totally changed by just absorbing one blood ginseng… Today it has absorbed a great amount of qi from all those herbal medicines. It may not be enough to expect an improvement in the quality, but there should at least be a change in quantity. How come nothing has changed at all?”

He was totally bewildered by what he saw!

It was true that it shouldn’t be like this. But what could have gone wrong?

Blink! Ye Xiao suddenly thought of something and rushed to the egg. Once he arrived and saw the egg, he turned furious.

He had found out the reason for his confusion.

Endless white qi was flowing into the egg like a rapid river and it was slowly growing bigger.

Ye Xiao was not only angry, but also shocked.

He saw that the egg was blowing up like a balloon. It was getting bigger and had increased its size from that of a goose egg to that of a small melon. Then it finally stopped growing, but still continued to absorb all the qi that was flowing inside this space.

The egg’s need for the qi wasn’t limited by its size.

Although the egg had stopped growing, its dim surface was getting brighter and brighter. It could be seen indistinctly that some mystical patterns were appearing on its surface.

“Damn it!” Ye Xiao couldn’t help cursing.

“I spent 350 thousands and got through such a rough day and all I got for my troubles is some food for this god damn egg! This greedy bastard has left nothing for me! And… And it actually stopped growing! That is simply a waste of my bloody energy and money!” Just a short while ago, he was fantasizing about the huge improvement of his cultivation level, but now he was really upset.

“How much more is needed to quench your thirst?” Ye Xiao rubbed his chin and felt completely depressed.

However, at least he felt satisfied for what happened today. Actually he even felt a bit rapturous. It was because of the acquisition of the Heaven’s Cyan!

Ye Xiao took out the box and thought, “If the egg dares to absorb my Heaven’s Cyan too, I would not care about what creature’s egg it is any more and smash it into many pieces before I eat it!”

He couldn’t help smiling when thinking about it and he murmured, “Bad egg... Bad egg... Everybody is saying that I am a bad egg. Now what I have here is the real bad… No kidding…”

When he opened the box, he sensed some joyfulness spreading through the environment of the space. The next moment, a strong force attacked the box.

BANNG! The box was crushed into pieces at once and the Heaven’s Cyan burst out of the box and flew into the air.

The Heaven’s Cyan was intact!

It was actually entirely absorbed!

Ye Xiao was totally stunned to see what just happened. Then he widened his eyes!

The space was twisting and the purple qi was swaying. Suddenly the space expanded. The purple qi then spread over and there it was – a brand new cyan space had appeared!

The cyan space then slowly moved adjacent to the first temple.

The accessorial space was about a dozen meters wide surrounded by white mist. And standing at its center was the Heaven’s Cyan.

It looked like the Heaven’s Cyan had always been there and that it wasn’t brought from somewhere else.

Everything had blended into a harmonious whole!

The next moment, a lot of white qi flowed towards the cyan space like a storm. The space was quickly filled up! And yet, the qi did not stop flowing into the Heaven’s Cyan!

All Ye Xiao could see was that the Heaven’s Cyan was quivering and some new leaves were growing one by one on it. Suddenly his vision turned black and the very next moment, when it returned, he was already outside of the sphere and back in his own room!

For a while, he was still shocked and lost in amazement!

It looked like the space could feed the Heaven’s Cyan!

Also the Heaven’s Cyan could be planted in the space safely!

That was to say that in a short time, Ye Xiao could have an inconsumable Tree of Cultivating Tea forever and carry it around!

Thinking of this, Ye Xiao started feeling better and quickly got through his depression. Infact, he had even started to feel euphoric.

He sat cross-legged and started cultivating!

“The sun is shining upon the sky. The purple qi rises for me.”

Ye Xiao performed the basic cultivation task nine hundred times daily.

He knew that his cultivation was still at a low grade and was still far from the point where the qi would fluently circulate within his inner body channels, automatically performing his cultivation. The only way for him to improve himself was through hard work!

Ye Xiao sat quietly and meditated.

He had no idea that the crown Prince’s Palace was now in a mess.

But even if he knew, he wouldn’t care at all!

…

Wang Xiao-Nian was brought to the crown Prince’s Palace. He felt that something must be wrong and his legs started to quiver.

When he got into the main house, he felt like his heart had stopped beating!

He felt extremely cold in his heart!

In the yard of the main house, three dead bodies were placed on the ground, covered in white sheets.

One of them had a deep sword-stab wound in the chest. It went through the body, from the chest to the back and it had left a large hole. The hands were lying aside. The sleeves of the robe were uncovered and there was a golden flower embroidered in each of the sleeves.

The golden flowers were so eye-catching.

Wang Xiao-Nian looked at the shiny golden flowers and nearly passed out.

It was not some ordinary flower. To Wang Xiao-Nian, it was the symbol of… Mu Cheng-Bai!

The day when they hung out together, Wang Xiao-Nian had seen Mu Cheng-Bai wearing this robe! He recognized the golden flowers on the sleeves at once.

“Mu Cheng-Bai is dead?” Wang Xiao-Nian almost freaked out.

For him, Mu Cheng-Bai was someone who could not be killed by anyone!

The crown prince was sitting still and wore a bright yellow robe. He looked down at Wang Xiao-Nian with a serious look and a sharp gaze.

“Wang Xiao-Nian?”

“Yes, your highness.”

“The day before yesterday, was it you who had accompanied Mu Cheng-Bai?” The crown prince spoke with a calm voice. He didn’t look emotional at all.

Beside him was a girl wearing the royal clothes. She was currently staring at Wang Xiao-Nian. She had a slim body, white skin and a pretty face, but her eyes were swollen and red, showing traces of tears.

“Y… Yes.” Wang Xiao-Nian quivered.

“He is dead.” The crown prince spoke the three words in a peaceful voice, but to Wang Xiao-Nian it was like thunder to his ears.

Wang Xiao-Nian’s pupils suddenly expanded, as he felt his gallbladder breaking apart due to fear!

The crown prince looked at him, and spoke slowly, “Tell me every detail about the events from that day.”

“Y… Yes, your highness. Hmmm…” Wang Xiao-Nian was quivering and could hardly speak. He then licked his lips and bit his tongue heavily so that he calmed down, “That day, I hung out with lord Mu. He said that he wanted some herbs, so we went to the Hui-Tian Street… When we had only just arrived, we ran into this guy named Ye Xiao.”

“Ye Xiao?!” The girl sitting beside the crown prince suddenly looked up and stared at him with sharp eyes, “Son of the Northern General Ye Nan-Tian? One of the ‘three lords’ of the capital, Ye Xiao?”

“Yes, it was him.” Wang Xiao-Nian lowered his head hastily.

He lowered his head because he was too scared by the girl’s sharp eyes. He didn’t even dare to look her in the eyes at all.

“Go on.” The girl spoke, while the crown prince kept quiet.

Wang Xiao-Nian realised that this girl was most likely the sister of Mu Cheng-Bai, the crown prince’s wife.

“Coincidently Ye Xiao was there to buy some herbs too… and the thing he wanted to buy… was… was the one thing lord Mu had targeted. So… So they got into a fight…” Wang Xiao-Nian spoke haltingly.

“Wait! Mu Cheng-Bai didn’t know Ye Xiao. He would never know his name, as he hated the foppish-lord kind. How did he recognize Ye Xiao?” The crown prince interrupted.

Wang Xiao-Nian was stunned.

How did Mu Cheng-Bai recognize Ye Xiao? He felt that it was now impossible for him to get out of this!

More Chap

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[xianxiaworld]

Chapter 23 – A Lot Of Doubts Reveal The Chaos

“It was… urh… It was because of me… I told him about Ye Xiao…” Wang Xiao-Nian lowered his head and finally confessed.

“Hmm... I see. Mu Cheng-Bai didn’t know Ye Xiao at the beginning. You hate Ye Xiao because he had extorted you. When you saw him, you encouraged Mu Cheng-Bai to pick a quarrel with him. Is that right?” The crown prince said in a rather calm and peaceful voice.

But this calm and peaceful voice made Wang Xiao-Nian nervous. It almost made him pass out due to sheer fear.

“Y… Yes… Your highness…”

Wang Xiao-Nian spoke out these words with difficulty. He could clearly sense the much colder gaze from the crown princess. He couldn’t help quivering.

“Then what?”

“And then they had a wrangle… And then Ye Xiao suddenly h… hit lord Mu… He knocked lord Mu down to the floor… Then lord Mu ordered his guards to fight back… Then Ye Xiao ran away… Then lord Mu and his guards ran after him…”

Wang Xiao-Nian’s face turned pale. He was sweating profusely as he stutteringly narrated the events which had taken place.

“Ye Xiao hit lord Mu and knocked him down to the floor…” The crown prince frowned, “As far as I know, Ye Xiao is one of the ‘three foppish lords’. He is just a fool, living a meaningless life, only to eventually waste away… Lord Mu had reached the top of the Grade of Renyuan… And there were two guards with him!”

He looked at Wang Xiao-Nian doubtfully, “Did Ye Xiao really beat lord Mu and knock him down to the floor?”

“Y… Yes, your highness… Th… That’s true…” Wang Xiao-Nian stuttered. He was on the verge of fainting by the time he finished speaking. He couldn’t believe that he had drawn this much bad luck.

If it hadn’t been for his plans to take revenge on Ye Xiao, would lord Mu have been involved in this ordeal?

In his opinion, the useless trash, Ye Xiao, really deserved to die. But while Ye Xiao had managed to survive, the young lord Mu, who really didn’t deserve to die prematurely, had passed away instead!

Wang Xiao-Nian felt like he was being pranked by a god!

This… this is just absurd!

“Oh… Ok.” The crown prince nodded, “Go on.”

“Ye Xiao fled away and lord Mu chased after him with his guards… and… And then I w… went ho… home…” Wang Xiao-Nian finally couldn’t hold his tears any longer and started to cry loudly, “Please, your highness… I know nothing about what happened next…”

“You started all this… You forced my brother into this fight… And while he was fighting against Ye Xiao, you actually just went home? And now that my brother has been killed, you dare to tell me that you don’t even know how it happened?!” The crown princess stared bitterly at Wang Xiao-Nian. Her voice sounded like she wanted to tear him apart.

“I… I… Lord Mu wanted to kill Ye Xiao and he told me to hide from the public… I… There was nothing I could do, your highness…” Wang Xiao-Nian cried like a baby. He was so scared that it felt like his soul was trying to escape his body.

“Guards! Take this useless garbage out and chop his head off!” The crown princess was so angry that she immediately gave the order to the royal guards. Wang Xiao-Nian heard this and immediately lost consciousness.

The crown prince waved his hand and frowned, “Wang Xiao-Nian was just a remote cause. There’s no need to kill him. It may force Wang Da-Nian to betray us if we kill his son. After all he is leading the royal guards… Besides, I think there is still a lot of things we don’t know about, regarding Mu Cheng-Bai’s death.”

“Uncertainties?” The crown princess frowned angrily, “What bloody uncertainties could there be?”

“Ye Xiao is just a stupid foppish lad. He absolutely does not possess the abilities to kill Mu Cheng-Bai!” The crown prince clasped his hands behind his back, “There must be a third party… that we don’t know of… involved in this case.”

His eyes lit up, “This case needs a detailed investigation.”

“This Ye Xiao must definitely be involved!” The crown princess was emitting a strong killing intent, “I can not let my brother die in vain! Ye Xiao must be buried with him!”

The crown prince smiled bitterly, “Well we need to discuss it further. Ye Xiao is nothing, but his father, Ye Nan-Tian, holds a strong army and defends the north. He is the backbone of our kingdom. In the north, he is almost like a king. Besides, the world is currently in a great disturbance and other kingdoms are maniacal. Wars are aroused frequently and our princes are all constantly fighting to protect our kingdom… To kill the great general’s son in this period of time… is truly not a smart move!”

The crown princess turned offish, “Chen Bang-Guo! We can’t do this and we can’t do that! So are you saying that we should just let my brother die in vain?!”

The crown prince sighed, “First things first. We shouldn’t focus on just one or two aspects, we need to focus on the overall situation and find the real culprit… Fine... Let’s check on Ye Xiao first. If the murderer truly is someone else and we have killed Ye Xiao without giving him a chance to explain, we will have lost our only lead and let the actual murderer get away. That would really be the situation in which your brother would have died in vain

“Fine! I will wait for the news!” The crown princess humph and walked away with a beautiful scent trailing her. She turned her head around when she got to the door and yelled, “No mercy for this bastard Wang Xiao-Nian!”

“Eighty cudgel beatings!” The crown prince frowned, “Let the god judge whether he should die or live.”

Eighty cudgel beatings could kill a normal cultivator. Wang Xiao-Nian was just a normal young lord who was already weak because of immoderate debauchery. Even though he had cultivated, more or less, it was not worth mentioning.

If he really got the eighty cudgel beatings, he would absolutely die. So after thinking for a while, he said, “Let Wang Da-Nian carry out this!”

Let Wang Da-Nian carry out the punishment to his own son… How could the lad die if so?

“Humph!” The crown princess was pissed and left.

The crown prince made sure his wife was gone, clapped and asked, “How’s your investigation?”

A man in black came in humbly and answered, “The whole thing is generally the same with what Wang Xiao-Nian said. But there is something weird.”

The crown prince frowned and didn’t say anything.

The man went on, “First of all, the witnesses said that they had seen Ye Xiao knock down Mu Cheng-Bai. It is weird because it is impossible that Ye Xiao has the capability to do so.

So I checked the body of Mu Cheng-Bai and found that… his dantian was wounded. But we all know that it was the hit on his back that took his life; it is a very clean hit…

So what happened to his dantian is suspicious. It is obvious… that someone had blocked his dantian. That’s why Ye Xiao could knock him down… Whoever blocked his dantian is absolutely a world-class elite cultivator!”

“A world-class elite cultivator…” The crown prince murmured, he paced around and nodded, “What else?”

“Yes, your highness. When Mu Cheng-Bai was chasing after Ye Xiao,Ye Xiao didn’t get very far. He hid behind some street debris after he turned around a corner and, after he saw lord Mu and the two guards run by, he went home. There are a lot of witnesses to this occurrence…”

It seemed like Ye Xiao had somehow mislead the spectators to believe in his escape, which had clearly worked.

The crown prince frowned, feeling increasingly puzzled by these developments.

The man in black continued, “But lord Mu hadn’t noticed this. So he ran all the way to the ‘a hill, a forest and a lake’, which is where he and his two guards were killed. There are still a lot of unknown factors. I can’t quite figure it out yet.”

The crown prince nodded, “What?”

“The fatal wounds on the three of them are all very clean… The two guards were cut at the same time and the wrist of one guard was completely broken. From this, I concluded that the murderer seized the sword from one of the guards and killed both of the guards at the same time! It is absolutely not a move that could be performed by an ordinary cultivator. Even a man who has reached the top of the Grade of Diyuan is incapable of doing this. The murderer is more like…” The man in black hesitated for a second and said, “…like an actual swordmaster… A sword master of the Grade of Tianyuan!”

The man in black felt cold sweat dripping down his back as he spoke out the last few words.

The crown prince raised his eyebrows and looked up, “A swordmaster of the Grade of Tianyuan… Are you sure?”

“Yes, your highness.” The man in black lowered his head.

The crown prince was silent for a while, and then he spoke, “So… This all had nothing to do with Ye Xiao?”

The man in black hesitated slightly before he answered, “It is uncertain.”

“If there is a third force that got to Cheng-Bai, to whom does it belong? For what reason did they kill him?” The crown prince asked as he was absorbed in these thoughts, within his voice, a strong sense of horror could be discerned. The man in black quietly listened to the crown prince as he humbly stood aside.

The crown prince was just talking to himself. He didn’t want any answers for the question. And the man in black didn’t dare to answer it.

There were too many variables and uncertainties in this whole ordeal.

With half closed eyes the crown prince calmly ordered, “Start from Ye Xiao. Move the investigation along from there…”

“Yes, your highness.”

“Anything else you might be working on… should be suspended.”

The crown prince turned around elegantly, flicked the sleeves of his bright yellow robe, and then he left calmly.

But the man in black was extremely nervous. He had been following the crown prince for many years now, so he knew better than anyone else that when the crown prince shows an unusually calm attitude, his heart would infact resemble a raging inferno!

He had already deeply etched this into his mind.

But he couldn’t understand why the crown prince had told him to suspend all his other cases.

The man in black felt cold sweat dripping on his back. He clearly understood that it was very possible that in the near future, endless amounts of blood would dye the sky and land of his beloved capital dark red!

There were also words that he didn’t dare to tell the crown prince – Even though Ye Xiao might not be the one to have taken Mu Cheng-Bai’s life, this didn’t make the investigation any easier. Besides the other princes, there were also another eight noble clans that’d be very happy to see Mu Cheng-Bai’s early demise.

But all the man in black could do, was to keep these words deep inside his heart.

…

At this moment, Ye Xiao was sitting cross-legged and carefully started to feel the change and increase of the qi in his dantian. This was something he enjoyed very much, because it gave him an intense feeling of getting stronger. As a matter of fact, this was a feeling every cultivator would crave for!

While Ye Xiao was enjoying this wonderful feeling, the steward entered his room quietly and made a gentle cough.

Ye Xiao opened his eyes at once and asked, “What is it?”

The steward was very surprised when he saw Ye Xiao sitting in a cultivating pose. He then said, “My lord, there is one thing that needs your affirmance.”

“What?” Ye Xiao frowned.

“Was it you who killed Mu Cheng-Bai?” The steward looked at Ye Xiao as he asked directly.

This question, that was asked with such a peaceful tone really stunned Ye Xiao.

Every time Ye Xiao met this steward, he found him more and more mysterious, he was truly an interesting fellow. He was definitely not a simple man!.


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[xianxiaworld]

Chapter 24 – You just wouldn’t stop getting in trouble, huh?

“What Mu Cheng-Bai? Who is Mu Cheng-Bai?” Ye Xiao had opened his eyes really wide and they were filled with curiosity as he looked at the steward.

It was only reasonable that Ye Xiao would play innocent. After all, the man he had killed was not only the brother-in-law of the crown prince, but was also from the Mu clan – one of the eight noble clans! There were things that could be done in the shadows, but one should never openly talk about it.

“Mu Cheng-Bai, the young master of the Mu clan, the older brother of the crown princess, and brother-in-law of the crown prince.” The steward spoke slowly and stared deeply into Ye Xiao’s eyes, “Three days ago, you got into a disagreement with him, which turned violent, young master… Eventually you ran away and he quickly chased after you… What happened after that… Nobody knows.”

He stopped for a second trying to spot some kind of change in Ye Xiao’s behavior, but shortly after, he continued, “What everybody knows is that you came back safely and Mu Cheng-Bai died.”

Ye Xiao smiled deviously, “Well if no one knows what happens, then it certainly doesn’t have to be me who killed him, right? If I were to be blamed for the deaths of everyone who got killed secretly, then I would be a mass murderer! Besides… Do you really think I actually have the capabilities to kill anyone?”

The steward stood calmly with a straight back and said in an almost inaudible whisper, “A perfect defense, young master… However, I know that it was you.”

Hearing these words Ye Xiao couldn’t help but frown.

This steward was acting too calmly and seemed too certain of his words.

Before Ye Xiao could clearly think it over, the steward continued, “Let’s put aside the topic of who made the killing blows, you’re definitely going to be investigated, so we should make proper preparations for when this investigation happens. If something unexpected happens, you’ll only be able to feel regret in your afterlife.

“Even though your defense is perfect, you’re still the prime suspect in this case. Mu Cheng-Bai isn’t just some random farmer’s son, he’s the young master from the Mu clan and the older brother of the crown princess. And at the end of the day, they’ll have to catch someone. If they fail to find a scapegoat, that someone might just as well be you.”

Ye Xiao was collecting his thoughts and could only reply with an, “Oh?”

“That’s why I wish to discuss this with you, young master. I suggest that we order the 36 blood-robe guards to send you to your father in the north.” The steward spoke calmly, “You are the only son of the general! You are the heir! You can’t die!”

Ye Xiao smiled and asked, “To the north? To hide from trouble by using my father’s might?”

“Yes.” The steward answered humbly, “It is currently too dangerous to linger around here any longer. I am afraid that everyone in this house might meet an early demise if we stay.” The steward sighed.

He felt completely speechless and inconsolable about this situation. This brat had promised him not even two days ago that he would definitely ‘never make any trouble’. But almost before this sentence had left Ye Xiao’s mouth, he had already gone ahead and slaughtered the brother-in-law of the crown prince… If this couldn’t be considered ‘making trouble’, then what could?

Even in a scenario where Ye Xiao didn’t kill anybody, he’d still be the most obvious suspect. This fact alone was unbearable for his family. If the crown prince actually wanted to kill him, he would only have to lift a finger and there’d be nothing anyone could do about it.

Besides, there was also an extremely powerful force behind all this – the Mu clan!

The steward really didn’t know what to say and thought, “What is there I can say… For god’s sake... Was it that hard to behave well for a couple of days? And here I actually believed that you had reformed yourself and that you had prepared to be a good lad for once... I even proudly send a letter to the general about this, but even before this letter will reach him, you’ve brought such a calamity upon yourself!”

“Nah...” Said Ye Xiao.

As these words reached the steward he kept himself composed on the outside, but in his mind, he was actually seriously complaining,”This whole thing is already a huge trouble for us and if that wasn’t enough, you actually dare to speak these words without a care in the world” He almost fell over, completely gobsmacked, “No?!”

“Nope, not going...” Ye Xiao spoke peacefully, “If I were to run off to my father every time a little problem came my way, then how could I possible call myself a man?”

The steward’s eyes lit up, as he stared incredulously at Ye Xiao.

“What is going on?! Is this really my young master? At what point in time did he grow a pair?” He thought.

“Urgh… It is good to have a strong sense of responsibility…” This was the first time that the steward had seen this young lord act like a man, so he wanted to give him a word or two of praise. However, he then quickly turned solemn, “But you have to know which battles to pick and this one right now, is not the right fight. We should start by preparing countermeasures for all possible situations which may occur.”

He looked at Ye Xiao wishfully and thought, “Well… If you’ve actually grown up just a little bit… Then please figure out a plan as perfect as your defense and share it with me.”

The steward still kept himself composed on the outside, but there was a raging storm of worry brewing in his heart. However, he had already made his decision long ago: To sacrifice the lives of the 36 blood robe guards alongside his own to safely escort his young master to his father in the north!

“Hmm... There isn’t anything special that should be prepared. Just let things run their own course...” Ye Xiao humphed and continued, “It really isn’t all that big of a deal really... Firstly, there is no evidence whatsoever. Secondly, I am nothing more than an unlikely suspect at the moment. Thirdly, the crown prince can’t afford to start a brawl with one of the great generals of the kingdom if he wishes to become king one day. And lastly…”

The steward’s eyes immediately lit up as he felt Ye Xiao was really growing up to the point where he even started to speak wisely, so he eagerly asked, “What is this last reason?”

“Lastly…” Ye Xiao humphed and rolled his eyes, “If they are really going to mess around with me and manage to piss me off, I’ll just kill the crown prince too. One kill will then bring peace and everything will then be solved as well!”

As the last few words left Ye Xiao’s mouth the steward felt like he was going to faint.

“What is wrong with this guy???!!!!”

The first three reasons had made sense and made Ye Xiao seem like he had actually grown up, but when the last reason finally left his the mouth, all the steward wanted to do was to curse loudly at this foppish lord!

“What a bastard! If this can be called a plan, then jumping off a hill completely naked would be a good plan to learn to fly. If these words of yours were to be spread to the public, it wouldn’t even matter if you actually killed Mu Cheng-Ba… You’d have your head chopped off and sliced in eight hundred pieces anyway! You fxxking little shit! Fxxk! Fxxk! Fxxk!” The steward’s mind at the moment was in complete panic and disarray.

“Ohh… Noo… Ohhhhh…” The usual calm and composed steward now felt extremely depressed and was actually stomping his feet on the floor. After hearing the last few words of Ye Xiao, he had quickly cast aside the idea that this young master would actually come up with a good plan, so he depressingly said, “Just forget it… I’ll go arrange the guards to escort you right away!”

“No. I don’t need that. Really.” Ye Xiao looked very confident as he said these words, “Three days of protection from some guards will be enough to ensure our safety…”

He paced around a bit and eventually said, “Arrange for some people to spread around some gossip. Just let them say… That I actually killed the crown prince’s brother-in-law and that the crown prince has gone crazy, looking to chop me into a million pieces! …That should do the trick. Do make sure that this will be the leading story in the capital within the shortest possible time!”

Shock filled the steward’s face, before he quickly praised his young master, “Nice! Good plan…” But as these words left his mouth he frowned, “If we do it like this, then the crown prince will not dare to act boldly in bright daylight, but the possible stealthy attacks will be hard to defend against... Besides… even if we survive the actions taken by the crown prince, the Mu clan is also looking for the murderer and they’re much more ferocious and dangerous than the crown prince.”

Ye Xiao looked at the steward and said carelessly, “Well, nothing that can be done about that right now... People will do their best to slaughter us, we either move our heads forward and face them like men, or we move our heads back and hide in the shadows, like little chickens... Why are you still so anxious? Who could have possibly predicted Mu Cheng-Bai would have this kind of luck and died just like that? Misfortune loves me!”

The steward was completely gobsmacked and thought, “Oh… You’re trying to say that Mu Cheng-Bai is actually luckier than you are? His body has been partly eaten by wild animals before it was found and who knows how much it has rotten by now… At the very least, you are still alive...”

A while ago the steward had looked completely confident that his young master was the killer of Mu Cheng-Bai. This was, however, only a show, as he truly couldn’t believe that his young ‘foppish’ master actually had the capabilities to kill Mu Cheng-Bai.

Mu Cheng-Bai might not be anything special, but for the steward, the strength of Mu Cheng-Bai couldn’t be mentioned in the same sentence as Ye Xiao’s strength – Ye Xiao was just a foppish black sheep who enjoyed women more than he enjoyed cultivation, his strength was absolutely rubbish!

The steward was confident in his knowledge concerning Ye Xiao. He was of the opinion that if Ye Xiao could actually kill Mu Cheng-Bai, with a single attack – the heir of the Mu clan… then the Mu clan should just disband already…

He was trying to collect his thoughts as he heard his young master murmur a few words, “If the Mu clan dares to piss me off, then watch me annihilate them…”

If the earlier dialogues weren’t reason enough for the steward to faint, then the line spoken right now it definitely was! In his long life, he had met all kinds of people, but never had he met someone who could gloat like his young master was doing right now.

“Do you even know how powerful the Mu clan is? If you did… You wouldn’t dare to murmur those words, or even think about them for that matter?! You won’t die if you stop boasting…” The steward was thinking.

Sadly, the steward would never come to know, that Ye Xiao would not hesitate to deal with the Mu Clan if they came looking for trouble.

…

As the plan was pretty straightforward, the steward immediately went into action. He quickly formed a team to spread the rumor that Ye Xiao had killed Mu Cheng-Bai. The story they were to spread was purposely exaggerated and consisted about eighty percent truth, with some lies hidden in between. Whoever heard this rumor dismissed it quickly with words like, “Ye Xiao? The foppish lord Ye Xiao? The crown prince believes that guy can actually kill Mu Cheng Bai, like really… is he stupid?”

“What the fxxk! Can’t you come up with better jokes?!”

“Ha ha, that dude? Really? How is that even possible?”

“Pah hah ha. How highly can some people think of that foppish lord?!”

“I’d already find it hard to believe if you told me that he killed a chicken, but you are actually claiming that he somehow managed to kill an expert cultivator… Seriously dude.... Go home. Even if a donkey would’ve hit my head and knocked all sense out of it, even then I wouldn’t believe you…”

With these reactions, the public was actually defending Ye Xiao from the crown prince. If the crown prince would still make a move on him, then he would become the laughingstock of the capital!

Once he’d become the laughingstock of the capital… his authority would be questioned: ‘how could such a dumb lad become our king?’ ‘If he couldn’t even spot the vivid truth in front of him, then how many people would find an unjust end by his hands?’ ‘Today the crown prince can’t see the simple truth that is right in front of him and actually killed the son of one of our great generals… When he becomes king one day.... Is he going to kill a minister if he farts?’

Even though the rumors were doing their job, the steward still went ahead and secretly arranged for the 36 blood robe guards to protect his young master – having them ready to defend Ye Xiao at a moment's notice. And if all else failed, he could also use these guards to lead Ye Xiao out of the capital and towards General Ye’s army in the north!

The sun hadn’t even reached its highest point, yet the rumor was spreading like wildfire. People were discussing it throughout the entire capital!

“Hey, have you heard? The Lord Ye, one of the ‘three lords’, has really outdone himself this time!”

“What did he do this time?...”

“It is said that he slaughtered the crown prince’s brother-in-law…”

“Wait… Seriously?! What exactly happened? Quickly! Tell me everything!”

“It is said that…”

“Aha… Hmm? Wait a minute... No… You just said that Ye Xiao has killed the crown prince’s brother-in-law… Isn’t that fellow from the Mu clan?? Isn’t he even their heir? An expert cultivator?”

“Well… Yes…”

“You bloody fool! Even a donkey isn’t as stupid as you are... Don’t you know what Ye Xiao is like? I might believe you if you told me Ye Xiao killed a beggar, but you actually claim he killed an expert cultivator from a noble clan... I will never believe this. Not even if lightning would kill you right now…”

“Hey dude! Seriously? Mind your language! Why do I have to die…”

“You bloody deserve it, you fool! Someone tells you something impossible happened… And you just believe it like that... Not only that… You’re actually spreading it! If I ever feel the need to punch someone, I will definitely look for you… You really leave me speechless dude... Did you get your brain kicked in by a donkey or something?”

“Yeahh… It is odd…”

...

“This is most likely the worst scam in history…”

“Possibly...”

“Ye Xiao is pure garbage. Perhaps if the claim was that he raped Mu Cheng-Bai I would believe it... But this… Hehehehehe…” The man let out a disdainful laughter.

“Absolutely true…”

“Hey, perhaps the crown prince is looking to mess around with our northern military forces? So he’s just finding some excuse to do so…”

“Hm! Well… That’d really be something. Heh heh…”

“Silence!”

“Hush…”

…

More Chapters

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[xianxiaworld]

Chapter 25 – The Blue Gelid Qi

“Well… I don’t believe in this fake information anyway. But why does everybody keep talking about it?”

“You bloody know nothing! That is the imperial’s trick to go against Ye Xiao”

“Oh wow… This young lord is truly unlucky. I am sure he doesn’t dare to kill a chicken. Now he has actually been set up for killing an expert cultivator. He becomes a murderer… heh heh… I really have no words to say about this obvious trap…”

“You know nothing! To kill someone, only an excuse is sufficient…”

“That’s right…”

“But what our prince is doing is truly a little bit over the top”

“Ya, I know…”

…

“Stop spreading nonsense! You mean Ye Xiao could actually kill Mu Cheng-Bai? How ridiculous!”

“That’s what people are saying…”

“A rumor is a rumor. Is your brain located in your ***? If we trust the ‘rumor’, what should we do about the ‘truth’? …You pig!”

…

“Did this ridiculous thing… actually happen? Ye Xiao killing Mu Cheng-Bai... You actually believe that? Hahahahahahaha…”

…

The rumor was spreading as fast as lightning all over the Chen-Xing City, and it kept on spreading further and further at an unimaginable pace!

This event suddenly became a joke everywhere in the capital.

The Crown Prince’s Palace had been preparing to take actions, but then they suddenly became muddled because of this unforeseen and overwhelming rumor!

“At the moment this rumor has caused quite a stir in the capital… If we insist on going for Ye Xiao at present, it will be difficult. I have a lot of misgivings about this.” A middle-aged counselor was sitting opposite the crown prince. He smiled bitterly, “Besides, I heard that the king is also paying attention to this event.”

The counselor’s words seemed to purposely hint towards a certain direction.

“My father is also paying attention…” The crown prince smiled and said lightly, “It seems that… there is a tricky and capable person in the General’s House who is pulling the strings. They stir up the public opinions and let us be trapped in the scruples… Interesting. Heh…”

“So, we have only two options.” The counselor calmly said.

“Go with the second one.” The crown prince didn’t even ask what the two options were and spoke decisively, “Follow the normal procedure. Let the ministry of penalty do the investigation… Try to reduce a big trouble into a small one, and a small one into nothing. At least make it look good at the official level… After all, we need to consider the reaction of General Ye. The first option is too uncompromising and we can’t do that!”

The counselor nodded, “Yes, your highness. I got it.”

That was right. The crown prince only ordered everything to look nice from the government’s perspective, but he didn’t mention anything about the involvement of clans or about the common folk.

Of course he didn’t need to consider about those two yet.

The counselor had left for a while and the crown prince was still sitting there quietly.

His eyes were flashing as he was murmuring, “Mortal? Mortal world? …”

And then he suddenly let out a chilling laugh, “The glory, splendor, wealth and rank in the mortal world are wonderful things that those boring guys will never understand! They only run after the so-called ultimate goal! Even if the mortal life is just an experience spanning a limited time, at least I will taste every bit of it. If you are not a fish, then how do you know what constitutes the enjoyment of fishes… How dare you talk such nonsense that we are nonentities…”

He stopped laughing and stood up, and then left with long strides.

…

Ye Xiao was sitting cross-legged and was feeling the East-rising Purple Qi silently circulate inside his body. It was a wonderful feeling that comforted him with each passing second, and he was truly enjoying it so much that he completely forgot about the passage of time and neglected to wake up.

One after another, strands of qi were entering his body through his skin.

When he thought about the time he killed Mu Cheng-Bai, he had mixed feelings.

He understood that under the present circumstances, killing Mu Cheng-Bai was really a stupid move, because a lot of people had seen him fight against Mu Cheng-Bai that day. They had witnessed it personally. It was absolutely impossible to wipe out the witnesses. He knew that he shouldn’t do it but he did it anyway. That meant that he had also put himself into a very dangerous situation.

But he had to do it. Even though he knew it was a bad idea, he still went for it!

Because he could feet that after being reborn in this body, the former owner’s personality and instincts was still influencing him.

And former Ye Xiao’s personality showed irresoluteness and cowardice.

He had no determination nor any sense of responsibility! All these foppish stupid young lords were in the same situation.

Ye Xiao even felt that, as of this moment, he was way inferior to his previous invincible self.

Occasionally, he even feels that, he is no longer a true cultivator.

He knew that he couldn’t let this situation escalate any further, so he used this opportunity to bring about a great danger for himself so as to arouse the instincts of his prior life.

He wanted to completely get rid of the impact of the former Ye Xiao!

So, although he knew that it wouldn’t do him any good, he still did it with decisiveness.

That was to revive his survival instincts in the face of extreme danger and to sharpen himself by overcoming these perilous situations!

While he was collecting his thoughts, the qi in his body suddenly started to boil, and then it gradually pulsed along towards his Jing and Mai. Ye Xiao didn’t dare to be careless, so he calmed his mind and restrained the pulses step by step. However the amount of qi going haywire was too much for him to possibly regulate, and he started to feel sick. Ye Xiao still worked very hard to perform the supreme spiritual method [2], but the longer he cultivated, the worse he felt. The qi in his body was refusing to calm down.

Ye Xiao was experienced in cultivating, and so, he remained calm in such a situation. The boiling qi, although hazardous, was also a fantastic opportunity. If he stopped the East-rising Purple Qi from rampaging, it would gradually slow down, would eventually clear away and the danger would pass. If he decided to bear with it, the possible benefits would definitely be tremendous. But if he succumbed to the boiling qi, his Jing and Mai would definitely be damaged.

If Ye Xiao followed the conventional knowledge about the principles of cultivation, he should have stopped cultivating the moment the qi in his body started to boil. However, at that moment, he suddenly felt inspired – actually, it was his intuition, that if he stopped now, he would miss out on a golden opportunity!

He had to choose between experience and intuition, and the Xiao Monarch decided to go with the latter!

He grinded his teeth and continued cultivating!

But it didn’t get better at all. Instead, he felt his dantian bulging, and was on the verge of exploding. If the continuous accumulation of qi inside his Jing and Mai continued, it would certainly explode!

Ye Xiao was terrified.

The current situation was beyond his knowledge. The result of this gamble was uncertain!

Did this mean that his intuition was wrong?!

But, just when he was about to consider stopping, the boiling qi in his dantian calmed down!

After a while, the boiling qi that settled suddenly flowed back towards his dantian. At the same time, an unbearable piercing pain coursed throughout his body. Ye Xia instantly blacked out after spitting out a mouthful of blood!

In an instant, everything in front of him was dyed red with blood!

The next moment, the rolling qi in his dantian oddly separated into two parts; one was red while the other was blue!

Ye Xiao realized that these were two types of qi with different attributes.

The red qi contained the power of scorching hot flames; it felt like it could incinerate everything. And the blue qi contained a power of intense coldness; it felt like it could freeze anything.

Were these two options for him to choose from?

One stayed while the other disappeared?

Or could they both coexist within him; one representing yin and the other, yang [1]?

Ye Xiao frowned; it was really a tough choice.

The power of the scorching red scorching qi was surely good, but the power of the blue gelid qi also had its own advantages.

Ye Xiao didn’t want to give up on either of them.

He thought about it for a while longer and finally decided to mainly cultivate the power of the blue gelid qi.

He was still in one of the realms under the same firmament as in his previous world. He was known for his scorching hot attacks in his previous life and he had even reincarnated in a body which shared the same name.

If he managed to draw the attention of the three factions and was identified as the Xiao Monarch, it would certainly result in his death, because he would never be able to resist them in his present condition. He should do everything in his power to prevent them from finding out about his identity as the late Xiao Monarch before he became strong enough to oppose them.

Basically, if a cultivator lost all his cultivation and had to rebuild it, he would choose to cultivate the method and attribute that he was familiar with; he would never choose to cultivate in another attribute, let alone a conflicting one.

Therefore, the ultra cold attribute was a perfect mask for Ye Xiao.

In fact, there was another reason why Ye Xiao chose to cultivate the gelid qi.

The East-rising Purple Qi actually held a pure yang attribute, but at the moment, it showed a completely contrary attribute. Due to the profoundness of the East-rising Purple Qi, Ye Xiao thought that this gelid qi must be something extraordinarily powerful.

With that, the decision was made. Ye Xiao tried transferring the power of the gelid qi. He had only just started to guide it, before it suddenly moved quickly to fill up his dantian!

Simultaneously, the red scorching qi also started to disappear from his body.

And then a wave of gelid qi rushed out from the dantian and ran through every inch of the Jing and Mai. Wherever this gelid qi spread, the originally mild qi was immediately replaced by the gelid qi!

While the attribute of the qi was switching, Ye Xiao actually felt his mind clear up like it never had before!

There were streams of the clear power running around each and every inch of his body.

Ye Xiao tried reaching a finger to tap on the chair nearby lightly.

A wave of frost suddenly burst out from his fingers and froze the chair until it cracked!

The power of the finger tap didn’t stop and the chill rapidly spread in the air.

Within the blink of an eye, the entire room turned into his own little ice cave.

However, the coldness brought by the gelid qi brought an incredible comfort to Ye Xiao. He didn’t feel cold; rather, he felt an endless pleasure surrounding him.


……………………………

[1]Yin and Yang : In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang describes how opposite or contrary forces are actually complementary. In this context, Yin represents the blue gelid qi, and Yang is used for the red scorching qi.

[2]Supreme spiritual method : method used to cultivate the East-rising Purple Qi.


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[xianxiaworld]

Chapter 26 – The Investigation begins

Retracting his finger, Ye Xiao stared at the cracks which he had just created and felt that it was unbelievable.

He couldn’t believe that he had caused such significant damage with just a tap of his finger!

He had just casually used the power of the gelid qi a little bit. That was all!

He stayed silent for a while and let out a sigh.

“This power of the gelid qi could be a nice protection for me.” Ye Xiao realized this and got lost in thoughts, “But… what should I do next…”

Meanwhile, he vaguely heard some noises coming from outside the front door.

The next moment the steward ran over in a hurry, “My lord, the government office of Chen-Xing City has sent some people. They want to ask you to cooperate with them to investigate a case. I think it must be the case of Mu Cheng-Bai’s death.”

Ye Xiao remained calm as he spoke, “Let them in. Lead them to the antechamber and bring them some tea.”

The steward nodded his head and hurried off.

Ye Xiao preened himself a bit and then walked to the antechamber. As he stepped into the antechamber, he saw three men in official uniforms sitting there and drinking tea. The three of them gave off an uncomfortable feeling, as if they were a little restrained and nervous.

After all this is the house of the Northern General and they were about to make an investigation against the young lord of this place…

Every man who served in the house was an experienced ex-soldier. When they learnt about the purpose of these three officers, their normal gaze naturally turned into something more intimidating, as they quickly started emitting a strong sense of killing intent.

The expressions in their eyes were… unfriendly.

The three officers were terrified. They felt like they had come across a bunch of hungry tigers. They were very uncomfortable and nearly started to shiver. It was truly not easy for them to sit there instead of rushing out.

Beads of sweat had started to appear on their foreheads unknowingly and they really felt like they would lose the control of their bladder at any moment.

When Ye Xiao leisurely arrived, they felt extremely relieved and thanked the gods!

“Lord Ye!” One of the officers stood up instantly, but as he did he felt his knees go weak, so he immediately sat back down on the chair. He had been resisting the killing intent released by those ex-soldiers and had nearly used up all of his energy, so when he suddenly stood up, he had become completely powerless.

“What is it?” Ye Xiao paced over lightly as if floating in the air and then sat on the chair. He sat down, semi-lying like he had no spine and raised one of his legs up. While everybody thought that he would cross his legs, he just laid the leg right on the armrest and let it dangle.

Apparently he looked perfectly abhorrent without any presence. His eyes were dim and spiritless and he had a voluptuary look.

The officer sighed in his mind and thought, “Look at this brat… I really don’t know what to say. It was truly a disaster for the general to have a son like him.”

“Yes, lord Ye. We are just following orders and have absolutely no intention of offending you.” The officer said meekly, “There is a case that we need to ask you about.”

“Fine. Say it.” Ye Xiao tilted his head lazily and started to dig the dirt from under his nails.

“Well… Mu Cheng-Bai… Young lord Mu was murdered. I think you should know about this…”

“Mu Cheng-Bai? Who is that? Do I know him?” Ye Xiao raised his head and looked confused.

He actually was audacious enough to ask who Mu Cheng-Bai was… Everyone felt like Ye Xiao was trying to tell a bad joke.

“Eh-hem…” The officer, who turned out to be the leader of the three, showed a stunned look on his face and coughed, “Well I’d like to tell you… Mu Cheng-Bai was the man with whom you fought several days ago… It is said that you were very brave that day and that you had actually beat him up. Very admirable…”

Ye Xiao pretended that he took a tumble, “Oh that bastard! He was trying to steal from me. He deserved to be punched… Hmm? What? He’s dead? Nice! Who killed him? I would like to reward the killer…”

Then he showed an interested look, “Hmmm wait. You are here to ask me about it now… Aha, did I kill the bastard? Oh I see... That day after I beat him up, he got home and his internal injury turned heavier, and then he died, right? That means… I am the one who killed him? Ahahahaha, I have improved again! I am so strong…”

He sounded completely narcissistic and showed no trace of nervousness.

The officer was left speechless and coughed again, “You are mistaken… That afternoon somebody found him dead in the forest… That’s all…”

“What? I did not kill him?” Ye Xiao sighed disappointedly and then got angry, “Fxxk it! Why wasn’t it me? That bastard had seriously pissed me off and I really wanted to arrange a group of mercenaries to go and kill him! Humph! How dare he! He should know who is taking charge here in Chen-Xing City! He should know how great I am and what a mistake it is to mess with me! He was digging over the king’s head and dragging teeth from a tiger’s mouth! It is really too easy for him to die like this!”

The officer was stunned and thought, “You really dare talking! That was the heir of the Mu clan and the brother-in-law of the crown prince! Who’s the wrong guy to mess with? You actually talk so big… If he was alive, you would be the one to get killed. Now you are actually saying that… it is too easy for him to die like this…”

He then licked his lips and was preparing to speak, but Ye Xiao continued to say angrily, “Nice kill! Do you know who did it? Have you found him? I will reward him. He did help me a lot! He has saved my precious time. How could I not reward him?”

The three officers were all speechless and thought, “Why are we here with you if we have already found the murderer?”

“Please, my lord, tell me about the fight from that day in details. We will need to report it to the upper office.” The officer smiled bitterly and finally told him of their purpose.

“Report? What report? You don’t think I killed the guy, do you?” Ye Xiao squinted his eyes, “I did want to kill him badly, but somebody took it over… Humph, if the bastard wasn’t dead yet, I must kill him myself!”

The officers were left speechless again.

Then they tried very hard to persuade him and the steward helped them a little bit, so Ye Xiao reluctantly described the details of what had happened that day. When he was describing how he punched Mu Cheng-Bai, he was in such high spirits that he actually stood up and started reliving the fight. He vividly showed them how he punched, kicked, dodged, jumped and landed on Mu Cheng-Bai…

He represented the story like it was an extremely wonderful duel between two supreme masters.

All in all, he tried to depict a tale where he, lord Ye, had been fighting doggedly and unyieldingly and he was a super powerful, handsome and elegant world-class expert cultivator… while Mu Cheng-Bai had been beaten up like a drowning dog, and finally the great lord Ye had showed mercy to him and let him keep his pathetic little life…

Everyone felt like sweating when hearing his story!

Who didn’t know that he escaped, like a dog with his tail between his legs, from that fight?

He was so shameless that he described himself like a great hero… They completely looked down on him within their hearts!

“I see… We understand it all now. We will report this to the upper office right now.” The officer was so awkward that he asked to leave right away.

“Hold on! What are you in a hurry for? I am not done yet…” Lord Ye was just on a roll. How could he let them get away?

“We already have a clear picture about this whole ordeal… Lord Ye you are a diligent man, I think it is better for you to go and get some rest…” The officers then rushed out of the General’s House, like escaping from death, while shouting, “We will have to bother you another time, young lord Ye…”

“Urh… Fine. Take care.” Ye Xiao didn’t move at all and was still lying on the chair.

The servants let the three officers out and then everyone left the antechamber except for the steward.

“It is so weird.” The steward frowned, “I thought that they would at least take you away for the investigation, but they actually just asked some questions here, in your house. Why would they operate like this…”

Ye Xiao humphed and said peacefully, “It is just the balance of political powers. Now the other princes are all grown up and every of them is eyeing the throne… There are two of them who are holding and developing powerful forces already in both the government and the martial clans… The crown prince is at the risk of losing his crown. How could he possibly mess with such a powerful military force like us, just for a dead brother-in-law?”

“Furthermore, we have the kick-*** rumor spreading out there.” The steward added and smiled.

Ye Xiao nodded, “True. For the crown prince… Mu Cheng-Bai was a brother-in-law when he was alive, but he is just a dead body now that he is dead. That’s all… Hiahia, hiahiahia…”

He sneered and said no more, instead he went straight back to his backyard to continue his cultivation.

“Something still doesn’t feel right though…” The steward stopped smiling and murmured, “The crown prince surely wouldn’t let this go so easily… Could there be another strike coming from him?”

He spoke nervously with his hands clasped behind his back, “The message to the general should’ve gotten through Huang-Long Guan and reached the desert by now. The message will get to the general in two days tops. And it will take at least another six days to get his reply… If anything goes wrong during these eight days…”

He sighed deeply and got out the room hurriedly. He told the guards to increase the security, especially at night, and to stay vigilant…

“Those from the government may be restrained and scrupulous, but those from the martial clans… they are truly impossible to defend against effectively…” His eyes showed anxiety.

“The next few months should be filled with chaotic events.”

The steward who always showed a calm demeanor now felt his hands full of cold sweat. He truly felt insecure about keeping his young master safe.




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[xianxiaworld]

Chapter 27 – The Mystery In White

The rumor was still causing unrest within the capital.

But while all this was happening, an oddly isolated courtyard house seemed to be completely unaffected by the chaos outside.

This courtyard house was located at the central area of the capital. It wouldn’t be a lie if one was to say that in here an inch of land was worth a bar of gold.

This courtyard house was built within a pervasive bamboo forest, which was surrounded by a small continuous mountain range on three sides. This meant that the house could only be approached from a single direction.

People who could purchase such land must have very powerful background and an infinite amount of wealth. The person who did purchase it had actually turned twenty percent of the land into small mountains and seventy percent into a bamboo forest. And he had only used the remaining ten percent to build a sequestered courtyard house.

The extravagant spending done by this person was really shocking!

But using a fortune wisely almost always brings about a considerable return!

In the courtyard, the wind was blowing gently causing the bamboo forest to peacefully rustle. Bringing about a sense of serenity, like a poetic illusion.

At the moment, along with the wind in the forest, there was a distinct ringing sound from a string instrument; it was as if the sound was coming from from the heavens.

The sound should have been contained within the heavens, but it was actually being heard in the mortal world!

In the courtyard, there stood a zither on its stand. A man in a white robe was sitting in a wheelchair, and his fingers were dancing on the strings of the zither. The melodious sound of the zither was floating around like a gentle stream.

A stick of incense was alight in front of the zither stand. Continuous caesious smoke was rising slowly and then circling in the air until it scattered.

There were two girls in white standing behind the man.

It looked like a wonderful painting, the three of them; one was sitting while two were standing in this beautiful scenery.

Even if a large group of enemies came over right now, they would not have the heart to break this scene.

The breeze was gently caressing their soft robes.

Suddenly a figure in black with blue stripes flashed in the forest. A man crossed the forest like the wind and stepped on the floor ever so lightly. Although the man was moving peacefully, he must be in extreme haste, as he had moved very fast. However, when he saw the scene in front of him, he said nothing and stood aside silently. He didn’t even make a sound when he breathed.

He didn’t dare to take deep breaths because he was afraid to disturb the peace of this scene.

Although an unexpected individual had arrived, the man in white kept his calm demeanor. His face was fair like white jade. He looked lost in the music. His fingers were moving really fast but they seemed extremely comfortable on the zither. His eyes were nearly closed and his pretty eyebrows were naturally stretching to his sideburns. It looked like he hadn’t noticed the man who had rushed through his forest and into his courtyard and was now standing in front of him.

- Zeng! - Finally, the last note was heard, as the old man stopped playing the zither. Meanwhile, the magical music from the zither was still lingering around in the air.

The man in white put his hand down slowly and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and looked up, letting his long black hair sweep down naturally.

The man in black stepped forward preparing to talk, but the man in white stretched his hand forward and waved lightly.

The man in black humbly stepped back.

After a long silence, the man in white opened his eyes and spoke peacefully, “Everything in the universe has a soul. My zither stopped; it means that the soul of the song I was playing is gone. To feel the sound’s soul connect with our souls… is respecting all livings… and is also respecting ourselves greatly.”

“It should not be interrupted at that moment.” The man in white smiled peacefully, “So, no matter what emergent problems you have, you shall wait.”

“Yes, my lord.” The man in black looked humbled as he lowered his head admiringly.

This man in black had actually reached the peak of the Grade of Diyuan. Counting out the top-class cultivators in the superior martial sects, no cultivators in the mortal world could beat him, but he was actually acting like an inferior servant in front of the man in white.

He acted so humble, but he looked to be in high spirits, sincere, and even honored!

It seemed like, being a servant to this man in white, was the best thing and the biggest achievement of his life!

“Now you can talk.” The man in white sat still and retracted his hand to his side with a smile, and then one of the girls handed him a white silk napkin. The man in white took the napkin and rubbed his hands before he handed it back.

He didn’t even look at the girl, but the girl was acting very humble as she took the napkin with both of her hands.

“It is about Mu Cheng-Bai from the Mu clan. He has died in the capital and it is said that Ye Xiao did this. This case is still causing disturbances in the capital. The Mu clan has even sent out their strongest forces to Chen-Xing City for an investigation.” The man in black said with his head low.

“Hmm?” The man in white put his hands on his belly and nodded.

“There are many doubts in the case of Mu Cheng-Bai’s death, but it is certain that the murderer can not be Ye Xiao! So… I am afraid that the Mu clan has fallen into a trap this time. Normally, the Mu clan are not outwitted to this extent…” The man in black reported, “First of all, Ye Xiao is only a foppish fool who would never have the capability to kill Mu Cheng-Bai; let alone that there were two superior guards. It was impossible for him to kill three guys who were at the Grade of Renyuan… Secondly…”

He stated eight doubts along with his analysis, and every single one of them seemed very clear and reasonable.

The man in white was listening silently the whole time until the man in black finished. And then he said, “They all sound reasonable…”

The man in black showed excitement in his face, and his face even turned a little red, “Thank you for your praise, my lord!”

“But…” The man in white curled his mouth and smiled, “Everything you said was based on one assumption. It is… that the murderer can not be Ye Xiao.”

“If the murderer really turns out to be Ye Xiao, everything you have said will become nonsense. And we may fall into the trap of taking endless risk because of this little mistake you may have made… You know why? Because if we don’t consider Ye Xiao to be a suspect and he would actually turn out to be the murderer, then we would have investigated others for sure... Then we would never be able to find out who it was... And then what? Then we would keep suspecting one expert cultivator after another and make more and more enemies. We might insist that this was the logical thing to do, but even so, everyone we would offend would turn out to be innocent… That means that we would have created endless mortal enmities!”

The man in white gazed at the man in black peacefully.

“But…” The man in black was sweating, “This Ye Xiao is truly lame… Everyone knows it… It is a common opinion…”

“Oh? Everyone knows it?” The man in white smiled again, “Does a common opinion make it the truth? Do you really know about Ye Xiao’s capabilities? Did you watch him grow up? Or have you tested him on your own?”

“I… I... No… I haven’t.” The man in black was stunned.

“So, when Mu Cheng-Bai died, were you there and did you see the real murderer?” The man in white was still smiling.

“Well… No…” The man in black was starting to feel small.

“Well then, how do you know Ye Xiao can or can not kill Mu Cheng-Bai and did or did not kill him?” The man in white frowned.

“…” The man in black was left speechless.

“There are only things which you haven’t thought of; there is nothing you can’t deal with. There are so many things you don’t know about, and yet you have already made your judgment…” The man in white spoke peacefully, “Unwise.”

“Yes, my lord.” The man in black was completely drenched in sweat, “You are right, my lord.”

“Why couldn’t Ye Xiao kill Mu Cheng-Bai? Why didn’t he kill Mu Cheng-Bai? Why could Mu Cheng-Bai not die in a foppish fool’s hand?” The man in white raised his eyelids and spoke peacefully, “There is no absolute in our world. Even if the chance of him killing Mu Cheng-Bai is one percent or lower, that still doesn't make it impossible and it simply means, that he could actually be the murderer!”

It was a little bit cryptic, but the man in black got the point.

“Well then… about this case, what should I do? Please, show me the right direction.” The man in black kept his head low as he asked respectfully.

“Add fuel to the fire.” The man in white smiled softly, “The more people that die, the better. People from the Mu clan, people from the Crown Prince’s Palace and people from the government… It doesn’t matter how many of them die. But, Ye Xiao should stay alive.”

“What… Why?” The man in black was totally confused.

His master had just said that Ye Xiao was a suspect, so he had no idea why Ye Xiao couldn’t die.

“If Ye Xiao died, this case would be over. What happened would be tossed aside and it’d be soon forgotten.” The man in white sneered weirdly, “It is truly not a good situation to be at peace.”

“Yes, my lord.” The man in black said.

“Well, no matter who the Mu clan has sent this time, I want them all to die!” The man in white smiled softly, “They can be killed by people from other clans, from the General’s House, from where the princes stays or even from the martial sects… Hei-Jiu [1], do you understand?”

“Yes, my lord!” The man in black – Hei-Jiu cupped his hands.

“By the way… About collecting information from the large clans and the missions about the other two kingdoms and the grassland, how are you getting along?” The man in white smiled softly and asked, “I have waited an extra day already. Are you trying to keep me waiting?!”

………………..


[1] Hei-Jiu : This name literally translates to Dark-nine. So this name should be something like a secret agent code name and is unlikely to be his actual name.


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[xianxiaworld]

Chapter 28 – You Will Never Escape My Hatred

“I have already received some information.” The man in black kept his head lowered and spoke nervously, “Our men have already reached some sources and they are now following your instructions. Your plan is truly brilliant. It is only a matter of time before we hear some good news,”

The man in white nodded, “Fair enough. I hope that you will not let me down.”

The man in black was sweating profusely and answered loudly, “We won’t let you down, my lord!”

The man in white laughed and made a gesture. The girls behind him stepped forward and started to push the man’s wheelchair to lead him away.

This mysterious white robed man turned out to be a disabled person.

“My lord, about Ye Xiao…” The man in black asked hurriedly.

The man in white, who was sitting on the wheelchair, didn’t even look back as he said, “When the violent disturbance comes, we won’t need Ye Xiao anymore, do we?”

“You are right.” The man in black felt inspired.

The man in white entered the house, which was located in the center of the courtyard house.

Suddenly, shadows appeared and started quivering, and then - Puff! - the courtyard house suddenly vanished. In fact, the bamboo trees suddenly started to move like they could actually walk, and the countless bamboo trees had quickly covered every open space where the courtyard was mere seconds ago.

Instantly, the open space, that was previously occupied by the courtyard house, became part of the bamboo forest. This place had actually fully integrated into the bamboo forest.

A faint voice appeared and sighed, “My Camouflage Array of Inversing Five Elements is still imperfect… If only it could be soundproof… and keep the sound, smell and spiritual energy inside from being detected from the outside… it becomes the perfect Anti-location Array…” These words must’ve originated from the mysterious man in white.

One of the girls, Wan-Er spoke softly, “Master, the auction of the supreme dan beads…”

“Go!” The man in white spoke gently, “At least get three beads back to me. Supreme dan beads with dan clouds is something that even I have never seen before.”

Wan-Er was astonished, “Master, maybe there are less than three beads at the auction… Maybe there is only one bead.”

“There must be over three.” The man in white said confidently.

Their voices had now completely disappeared.

The man in black crouched and then he flew up. He flew away and also disappeared.

…

Since the conversation with the three officers, it had been rather quiet around Ye Xiao. Everything was moving along peacefully.

Ye Xiao was free but he stayed at home. He was seizing every minute he had to cultivate with concentration. He was converting all the qi in his body into gelid qi to further improve his strength.

During this time, he had found a pleasant surprise. The scorching qi that had appeared alongside the gelid qi didn’t really disappear. Instead, it hid inside his Jing and Mai all over his body. Although it was weak, it still existed.

In other words, the two kinds of qi that were brought by cultivating the East-rising Purple Qi were working together; one showed on the outside, while the other was quietly working on the inside. That also meant that the present level of East-rising Purple Qi contained two skills. He needed to practice both of them.

Because of this, he worked even harder.

He used to have some spare time in a day to drink some tea, but now he didn’t want that anymore.

He was either reading or cultivating. He was like the creme a la creme of a group of good students.

The steward felt excited because of this. He thought that the young lord had finally grown up and had completely transformed. He felt that the general would be overjoyed if he were to see this…

The steward was right, but not in the way he had intended. His young master had indeed transformed, but in a different way!

Zuo Wu-Ji and Lan Lang-Lang had come to Ye Xiao twice, but Ye Xiao had driven them away multiple times, “Piss off! You foppish black sheep, don’t disturb me from becoming a supreme cultivator. Go on with your own businesses!”

Zuo Wu-Ji and Lan Lang-Lang felt speechless for his fanfaronade.

“Such a bastard. He actually called himself a supreme cultivator…”
“He must be daydreaming!”
“I say he never woke up!”
“I really want to punch him, but I fear that I can’t beat him. We are no match for him even though he isn’t a supreme cultivator, I am afraid…”
“He’ll beat the crap out of us!”
“It is fine that he daydreamed, but he actually dared to say we are foppish black sheep…”
“That’s true. Like he isn’t one of us...”
“We obviously are in the same boat. Wasn’t it the older one laughing at the younger?!”
“Of course! We are the ‘three lords’. We are even walking side by side.”
“Humph! The foppish fool, I will beat him up eventually.”
“Right! We can’t let him leave the glorious ‘three lords’.”
“Wait and see! Humph!”
“Humph!”

…

It was possible to kick the two of them out of the house, but there was someone else that couldn’t be driven away, no matter how hard Ye Xiao had tried.

Most importantly, this one had a whip in her hand, which was purposely given by Ye Xiao’s father to sexually discipline… Oh no, strictly discipline Ye Xiao.

That’s right! She was our adorable Princess Ye-Yue!

Su Ye-Yue.

Her dad was the only prince with a non-royal surname in the Kingdom of Chen. To be honored with the title of prince, he must have obtained great merits and should hold great power!

He was Prince Hua-Yang who had three sons and a daughter. He didn’t particularly care about his sons. Instead, his daughter Su Ye-Yue received all the care in his heart and was like an apple in his eye. Naturally the girl received special treatment, it seemed like her father feared that she was like something that would melt when he had it in his mouth and something that would drop when he held it in his hands. He truly spoiled her very much.

It was said that when he named the girl, he gathered every single great scholar in his house to help him think about her name. Finally he took the concept of ‘When the world revived, the moon shined in the night sky’ so that it represented the surname and the given name perfectly [1].

Thus, she got the name Su Ye-Yue.

It was lucky that, even though Princess Ye-Yue was spoiled a lot, she didn’t have an overbearing personality. It made it easier for Ye Xiao to accept her…

However, at the moment, all Ye Xiao could think of when she stared at him, was how he could quickly get as far away from her as possible.

It was the feeling of a guilty conscience.

This kind of guilt was technically from the experiences that he had obtained during his previous life.

During his previous life, the Xiao Monarch was very powerful and had an unfathomable cultivation base. He laughed and was considered to be the most elegant within the firmament. However, he was cultivating the Pure Yang Martial Arts, so he stayed single in order to retain the purity of a male virgin.

In his previous life, he had missed out on so many beautiful girls. And those girls had all deeply fallen in love with him…

But all that Ye Xiao could do was to watch them. So he always showed a cold-hearted and uninterested look in his eyes, which had hurt more girls than he could count.

When they left him despairingly, one after another, Ye Xiao could only turn his back on them and sigh deeply in his heart.

Now that Su Ye-Yue, his legal fiancée, was looking at him with her beautiful eyes, Ye Xiao felt his heart racing.

He nearly ran away because of his usual practices.

In fact, there was another girl’s face showing in his mind – a girl with beautiful and sad eyes. It was like her face popped up blocking his sight and looking at him with tears of love and mourning.

“You…”

Ye Xiao reached out his hand and murmured.

But he was only able to say one word before he recovered from the trance. He laughed at himself and showed a little loneliness on his face.

…

It was in the Qing-Yun Realm.

There was a palace with clouds and fog floating in the air. It was silent and solemn.

In the backyard of the grand palace, there was a grave that looked new.

An entire piece of Qing-Yun Purple Jade that was three-meters wide and ten meters high was used as a gravestone! A piece of Qing-Yun Purple Jade, which would make countless people fight for it was actually just being used as a simple gravestone!

A sword light suddenly flashed rapidly.

Purple sparks bursting out on the surface of the Qing-Yun Purple Jade!

Some broken tiny pieces of the jade fell on the floor.

Six words appeared, which were carved deeply on the gravestone.

“笑尽天下英雄!” (To laugh at all heroes in the firmament!)

That sword light stopped immediately. The owner of the sword sighed and turned around to leave for the room on the top floor of the palace, and as she moved, she quickly disappeared from view.

It was in this room.

A girl that had a perfect slim body and was wearing a silk veil on her face silently admired the calligraphy on the wall for a long time, until she eventually closed her beautiful eyes. Two lines of tears coursed down her cheeks.

“I will avenge you!”

“Even though you never admitted you were my husband, but… I have decided to be your wife! I would stick with you ceaselessly if you were still alive and I will avenge you if you die!”

“Now that you are dead, how do you say ‘no’ to me? Could you actually stop me widowing myself? Ye Xiao, you bastard! I hate you! I hate you! I will hate you in all of my next lives!”

She might have said something with hate, but more tears were quickly dropping down from her eyes to the floor. The sword that was stabbing in the floor was quivering, like it was going along with its master’s emotions of love and hate, like it was eager for a piquant killing!

On the wall, there was not only the sword, but also the calligraphy. The beautiful girl was looking at the calligraphy lovingly.

The writing on the calligraphy was like a flying dragon and dancing birds; it showed unrestraint.

The main lines were:

‘一生惧见红颜泪；谨慎莫伤美人心；待到飘然消失日，化作天边不羁云！’
(To escape from the tear of the beauty; to prevent hurting her heart. When the death comes one day, to turn into an unrestrained cloud!)

There was a smaller line below,

‘今生有悔，害你形单影只；若有来生，许你四海八荒。’
(I regret, that I let you be solitary; if there is a next life, I promise I will accompany you to travel the world.)

The name of the author inscribed was ‘叶笑’ (Ye Xiao).

The girl in white looked at the calligraphy with tears in her eyes, and felt inconsolable, “You liar! You promised me your next life! There is no such thing!”

“You didn’t want to hurt a girl’s heart, but you have already hurt me so much!”

“You wanted to become an unrestrained cloud when you died… Now that you are dead, where is my unrestrained cloud, huh?”

“Liar! Liar! Liar! You are a terrible liar!”

She turned around and laid her head and arms on the table, once again started to wail.

“Today is your first seven [2]. I will wear mourning attire for you for seventy-five days and stay here to keep your grave for a year.” The girl stood up slowly and wiped her tears, murmuring, “After a year, I will carry my sword to avenge you! With such hatred, I will never let them go unless I die!”

…

“What’s wrong? Are you unwell?” Su Ye-Yue saw that Ye Xiao was lost in his own world, so she reached her hand out and waved it in front of him, “Hey, don’t make such a terrible look. What are you doing?”

Ye Xiao hurriedly drew back his mind, struck a decent pose and coughed, “What are you doing here?”



-------
[1] About her name Su Ye-Yue, the surname is Su and the given name is Ye-Yue. Su (苏) can represent ‘revive’ (复苏), and Ye-Yue (夜月) means the moon (月) at night (夜).

[2] First seven: It is believed in China that when people die, the soul will come back at the seventh day after their death, and the family will prepare meals for them.


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[xianxiaworld]

Chapter 29 – Humph! You Are So Annoying~!


“Hmm? Can’t I come?” Su Ye-Yue got a little angry when she heard Ye Xiao. She wrinkled her little pretty nose and said, “Sooner or later, it will become my house too! I will be the vice-chairman here! I am here to check my residence in advance! Can’t I do that? Listen to you. You don’t want me to be here from deep within your heart, do you?”

She humphed and started to twist the whip in her hands. She squinted at Ye Xiao with a look like ‘I will whip you to death, if you ever dare to piss me off again’.

She intentionally showed a dark look to Ye Xiao, but it turned out to be so adorable that he didn’t even feel the least bit threatened.

He had not been in the mood, but she had actually amused him. The words she said, ‘will become my house too’, ‘the vice-chairman’, ‘check my residence in advance’… he found them really funny.

As she had behaved like this, maybe Su Ye-Yue actually didn’t feel any antipathy towards Ye Xiao. Maybe she had already given in to her fate, so she cared no more about it, but it revealed her true personality.

“Heyyy, what are you talking about?” Ye Xiao tried to comfort her, “How could I possibly not welcome you? I am super happy that you came to my house. Oh no, our house.”

“Humph!” Su Ye-Yue acted like the boss of the house and walked around Ye Xiao, holding her head high with her wrinkled nose, and then she snuffled a bit and asked interestedly, “Oh, Xiao-Xiao, how come you smell so good? What are you carrying with you?!”

“What are you talking about? I don’t have anything on me!” Ye Xiao contested her claims, but he knew clearly about the origin of his pleasant fragrance.

The reason why he smelled so good was quite simple. He had accomplished ablution of the muscles and bones twice with his body, so most of the impurities in his body had been cleared. His body was pure like a newborn child’s body, so it certainly smelled good.

“Yes! You definitely do!” Su Ye-Yue was quite certain about this fact, as she took a closer look at Ye Xiao and smelled him around. Then she murmured with confusion, “It is not the smell of perfumes for girls… And it is not the smell of a flower… and… Oh? Oh!!”

She found that she was too close to Ye Xiao, and then she looked up and saw Ye Xiao looking at her with a complacent smile. The pretty face and his soft eyes were really close to her. She could even feel his breath!

She was so shocked that she screamed. She immediately jumped away from him and felt her heart racing. Her pretty face turned red. She suddenly felt awkward and didn’t know what to do. She was flustered and embarrassed at the same time. She would have liked to turn around and run out of the house, but she found herself unable to move her legs. Instead, she realized that she would rather stay here than leave.

Ye Xiao felt warmth spreading in his heart, and said softly, “What an adorable little girl.”

Su Ye-Yue felt her face quickly heating up as her original beautiful pale white skin quickly obtained a deep shade of red. She managed to stutter out a few words, “Y… you… you… you are just slightly older than me! Humph, how dare you speak to me with a tone of seniority! I… If you… y… you speak like that again, I… I… I wi… will punch you down!”

Ye Xiao laughed out loud carelessly. He felt pleased from the bottom of his heart.

Hearing his voice and smelling his scent made Su Ye-Yue’s heart beat even faster. The blush on her face didn’t vanish; it became even more obvious and cute.

She suddenly came out with a thought that this guy was to become her husband in the future…

He was to become her husband…

This thought had appeared in her mind and was actually lingering around for a long time. She just couldn’t help but feel even more embarrassed.

Before now, Su Ye-Yue had simply regarded Ye Xiao as her playmate and a man she had been loathly engaged to. Their fates were intertwined because she couldn’t disobey her parents. That was it and that was all.

However, at this moment, the thought of him becoming her ‘husband’ that appeared in her mind had truly surprised this vivacious girl.

She lowered her head and stayed quiet for quite a while. When she finally raised her head, she found that Ye Xiao was now sitting on the chair across her and that he was actually focussing on reading a book.

She finally felt relaxed and felt lucky that he didn’t seem to notice her.

But she couldn’t help but be a little bit upset as well. She was wondering why he wasn’t looking at her at all.

Then she took a few steps ahead and softly sat in front of him, and observed his pretty face. A long time passed in the silence.

After reading the book for a while, Ye Xiao stopped to rest and only now realized that Su Ye-Yue actually hadn’t left. He looked up and saw that she was laying her elbows on the table and bracing her lower jaw. She was looking at him quietly and calmly.

He felt puzzled, and asked gently, “Are you ok?”

Maybe because Ye Xiao had spoken gently, she wasn’t startled. She was still calm, and a little bit absent-minded as she murmured, “Xiao-Xiao… You have changed a lot recently…”

“I have changed a lot? Have I?” Ye Xiao frowned.

“Yes… Yes, you have…” She tilted her head and thoughtfully said, “Your outer appearance hasn’t changed… But you used to be very annoying, which made me want to punch you down all the time… As for now… the annoying part is gone… Instead, you are…”

She frowned and tried to organize proper words to clearly describe her feelings. After a while she continued, “…like… You are composed and credible now… Why is that? And you look like you have many things hidden in your mind, like there are so many stories in your head... That is weird.”

Ye Xiao lifted his eyebrows and smiled.

Changed? Of course he had changed! It would be weird if he had not.

If this Ye Xiao was still the departed Ye Xiao, not the Xiao Monarch, that would be a massive problem!

Anyway, he had to admit that girls’ instincts are really frightful.

Su Ye-Yue was a princess, so things that usually happened to normal girls would never happen to her. However, the annoyance she had felt in the departed Ye Xiao was the natural reaction of every normal girl had towards the foppish fools.

Ye Xiao realized that sometimes even a tiny action could let people notice his changed personality. He felt that he really needed to seriously think about this.

He had always been free and alone in his previous life, traveling around the world with laughter.

However, everything was different now. If he showed the personality of the Xiao Monarch in this present life… people would wonder how he turned into a solitary man from a foppish teenage boy…

Even in this mortal world, there could be people who would regard him as a threat and were able to easily kill him.

Maybe he should show himself as a foppish fool in people’s faces, so that it could become his perfect disguise.

Besides, after living for such a long time, Ye Xiao clearly knew that he had mostly lived wrong in his previous life.

Every bit of affection he had received had actually made him understand, but he actually felt like he understood nothing.

He was always confused about it.

Could it be… that he had to go through all the troubles in heaven and hell before he could become successful?

So he was thinking, “Maybe I should try to get into a relationship?”

The reason he had stayed away from relationships till now was due to him practicing the Pure Yang Martial Arts.

“The disturbance you have caused this time is really serious. Although you didn’t kill Mu Cheng-Bai, but all of the existing evidences are pointing at you.” Su Ye-Yue expressed her anxiousness.

Su Ye-Yue had not cared about this case before, because she had not thought that it would matter whether Ye Xiao would die or not; she would have probably felt nothing more than a little pity. However, she cared for him now.

Even she herself didn’t know how and why her mind had changed.

Someone she hadn’t cared about before, had suddenly become important to her. How?!

“You’re in a truly dangerous situation.” She lovingly looked at Ye Xiao.

“Hmm. I know.” Ye Xiao nodded, “I am afraid I really am getting into a perilous position… The princes are fighting for the throne; the noble clans are interfering; the supreme dan beads have shown up; the reclusive martial sects are back to the world… The thing regarding me has happened during all these events, so maybe I will be the blasting fuse to the bursts of the battles…”

“That is true… What will you do next?” Su Ye-Yue asked worriedly, “I can ask my dad to send a team of guards to protect you and lead you out of the capital to the north. You can get away from this mess.”

Ye Xiao replied after thinking for a while, “A man should stand straight up in the world. How can I keep escaping from troubles. The more dangerous the situation is, the more I can get trained. If I can get through this, it will definitely be a reform of me. A danger is also an opportunity. If I can’t get through it… then there won’t be any big accomplishments in my life. I will be a useless fool who is unable to protect the one who he cares for and who cares for him.”

Ye Xiao smiled, “I am too young. I haven’t been through anything that will make me regret when I die. So if I die, I die.”

When he said so, he suddenly thought of a pair of eyes he had seen before, which looked exactly the same like the eyes that were looking at him right now.

He felt sad. Then he sighed.

Su Ye-Yue’s face suddenly turned red again.

She started to think,

“What… What does he mean? Of course, the ‘Get through this’ part is understandable. The ‘can’t get through’ part… The one who he cares for and who cares for him… Who is the one he was talking about? ‘Too young’, ‘haven’t been through anything that…’ What was he talking about? Could it be… Could it be me?”

She suddenly felt the accompaniment of gongs and drums in her mind that her heart nearly beat out from her chest. She felt shyness, happiness and sweetness at the same time. She tried her best to humph strongly, in case she got ludicrous, and then she spoke like a peevish child, “Oh, come on. This has nothing to do with me, I guess… Oh, you are just talking nonsense again… Come on! I am leaving. I won’t hear your balderdash. You are so annoying~!”

She then stood up and literally skipped to the door.

But in fact, she looked like she was… escaping!


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[xianxiaworld]

Chapter 30 – An Assassin At Night

“Erh?” Ye Xiao was shocked. When he opened his eyes, Su Ye-Yue was no longer around. He could only hear a shy voice, “Little Soya [1]! Let’s go! Let’s get out of the house of the man who speaks honeyed words…”

She had managed to escape from his clutches.

He heard the guards talk, but he couldn’t make out what they were talking about, and then they stopped.

“Yes of course… This has nothing to do with her... I never said that it did… (dialogue continued from chapter 29)” Ye Xiao rubbed his head and murmured, “Why did she suddenly become shy and run away… What’s wrong with her?”

He was confused and murmured, “Oh girls… Their thoughts are truly baffling…”

The steward came over in a hurry and noticed that Su Ye-Yue had left. He felt relieved and grabbed onto Ye Xiao’s arm, “My lord! People from the Mu clan have reached the entrance of the capital! They are now doing the blood sacrifice outside the south gate. It is said that… They are holding 77 white flags and 22 blood flags in total!”

Ye Xiao was confused, “Blood sacrifice? White flags? Blood flags? What the hell are those?”

The steward was in such a hurry that he stomped his foot out of frustration before answering, “You don’t know? It is a ‘ninety-nine’! The 77 white flags mean mourning and the 22 blood flags mean that they are unwilling to give up! There are 99 flags in total, and that means they will never consider any compromise! No matter how long it will take, they are unwilling to give up!”

Ye Xiao rolled his eyelids, “So what?”

Hearing Ye Xiao’s words, the steward became dumbfounded.

Ye Xiao stretched himself leisurely, “Time for bed… Words like ‘unwilling to give up’ sound really horrible. I am so scared and it makes me feel sleepy… I am so terrified… So I think I need to sleep so as to hide from reality.”

The steward was shocked as he watched his young master leave leisurely. He was rendered speechless and felt like there was a storm howling in his mind. When he was just considering forgetting about their relationship and beating Ye Xiao up, Ye Xiao had already closed the door in his face. After a while, snoring sounds resounded throughout the mansion…

“I am truly…” The steward couldn’t find words to complete this sentence. He was extremely worried but he couldn’t do a thing about it, so he finally stomped his feet on the floor and then left.

…

It was deep into the night.

The steward had stayed awake the entire time.

The capital was enshrouded in a tense atmosphere at this moment.

However, nobody knew that in a vast bamboo forest, there was a man with a clear sight quietly observing the capital.

It seemed that all the birds in the capital were arriving at this forest to set up their nests. The birds flew to the bamboo forest from all directions one after another. The silent bamboo forest had turned unusually noisy.

The man in white waved his hand quietly and those birds all gathered in the sky over his head.

They didn’t just keep flying. Instead, they stopped on his hand one after another. It was truly a marvelous spectacle. The birds left small wax beads in his hand one after another.

“Master, you should get some rest. Just let Xiu-Er and me do this job.” A girl in white walked over lightly and spoke softly.

“It’s better I do it myself when I am able to.” The man in white smiled softly, “Wan-Er, you two must be tired after all these years. You should relax sometimes. Don’t worry. Such an easy job won’t exhaust me. Besides, to do some works is a way for me to practice. It is good for me.”

Wan-Er smiled, “As long as you stay with us, we won’t feel tired. I understand that you want to practice more, but your legs… We are worried about you.”

The man in white smiled peacefully, “It is my unavoidable fate. Everything will be ok and I just need to get over it. This period of time is actually the perfect time for me to improve myself. It affects my ultimate mission which I have to complete in the future. Don’t worry. I will be fine. I have gotten over it long ago… really!”

“Ok.” Wan-Er replied with a sweet smile, and then she covered him in the pure white cotton cloak which she had brought.

As she was preparing to leave, the man in white spoke to her in a low voice, “Wan-Er, do you notice that the name ‘Ye Xiao’ sounds odd?”

“Odd?” Wan-Er frowned.

She thought that his question was weird. The word was especially weird – ‘odd’!

“You may not know about it. This name is very interesting.” The man in white smiled peacefully and spoke as if deep in his thoughts, “What a pity…”

His eyes slightly rolled up and he looked into the distant sky through the bamboo trees. After a long time, he sighed, “What a pity!”

“A pity?” Wan-Er was confused and her crystal-like eyes were wide-open.

But the man stopped his daydreaming so that he could read the information attentively.

“The first storm will soon reach the capital… And will also be the first storm of my life…” The man in white murmured, “Who could experience the storms of the world with me by my side?”

He looked really lonely, as if the loneliness was from extracted from the bottom of his heart. A sense of coldness had formed within him.

It was the kind of coldness felt when one was at the top of the world, a coldness that nobody else could withstand.

He said to Wan-Er, “Let the Nine Black-dressers [2] stay focussed on every movement in the General’s House. If something goes wrong, make sure they do any -and everything necessary!”

Wan-Er quickly agreed and left.

…

The city was meant to be bustling tonight.

A lot of people entered the Chen-Xing City through every entrance!

People from the martial sects, the unattached cultivators and the tyrants from everywhere were all quietly making their way to the city.

The security in the house of Ye was strengthened.

After the princess left, eight guards had arrived from the Palace of Hua-Yang. They’d joined the security group immediately after arrival.

The steward was well prepared. He had actually brought a bizarre knife with him.

The 36 blood guards felt surprised when they saw the knife. They looked at each other and found nothing to say. These guards, who usually expressed no emotions, were unexpectedly showing their excitement.

They hadn’t seen the God-Slayer’s Knife for so many years. This night… would certainly become an interesting night for them.

The night had fallen and the sky was at its darkest.

The whole capital was enshrouded by the darkness.

But the darkness tonight was different from the usual one. There was a depressing feeling contained inside it, which had quickly spread all over the capital.

Tonight, even the common people could sense the danger in the air. They all closed their windows and had gone to bed early.

The royal guards sensed it too, even though they had no idea what was actually going on. They paid more attentions tonight, like there were horrible enemies coming for them.

It was finally midnight.

It was silent in Ye Xiao’s room. The snoring had stopped. It seemed like he was deeply asleep.

The steward sighed and murmured, “He actually sleeps like he is dead. Oh my good lord. Should I say that you are unperturbed like an experienced general… or heartless like a hoodlum? Gosh…”

He truly felt that he was unable to see through this young lord’s heart.

The young lord was sometimes smart with personal control, but mostly he was just a foppish lad, a fool – a complete fool!

In the sky, the wind howled weirdly.

The steward stood on the roof of the house and saw some figures flying over.

The white belt on those figures’ waists were obvious, even dazzling in the dark.

The steward narrowed his eyes.

He felt the white color to be too dazzling.

The crown prince did stop the actions considering the fight for the throne, but he had allowed the Mu clan to deal with Ye Xiao independently. It actually became more troublesome for the Ye clan.

People from the Mu clan were obviously crazy. They didn’t care whether Ye Xiao was the true murderer or not. Neither did they care whether Ye Xiao had the capability to kill Mu Cheng-Bai or not.

They cared about nothing.

They simply wanted to kill Ye Xiao!

It was totally unreasonable.

What was even more unreasonable was that they were actually going through with it; they were actually trying to kill Ye Xiao tonight!

The steward was absolutely livid. And the people who were getting closer now had proven this fact. The Mu clan had been standing high above the masses for so long that they treated people like ants which they could kill freely without any consequences…

From each direction of the east, the south, the west and the north, there were two figures flying over, and they were about to step on the bounding wall of the General’s House.

The steward yelled, “Who are you? Halt, all of you! You are not allowed to violate the territory of the General’s House!”

A sneering laughter came from the west. A man in the west side said, “Where is the foppish lad? Tell him to come out and prepare for death! We will just think of this as a food taken at night.” Harsh laughter penetrated the General Ye’s house.

For the Mu clan, which was one of the eight noble clans, to fight against a general’s family was definitely an easy job. They didn’t have any respect for them at all.

These men might not be the main force of the Mu clan, because the Ye clan was not strong enough to warrant the use of their main force. But these men were more than strong enough to play the bullies in the capital.

The steward was furious and spoke with a cold voice, “You are here to have some food late at night, right? You have to know that the food in our place requires one to have strong teeth. It would be a shame if you guys get your teeth broken!”

The man replied with a sneer, “My teeth are steel-like. It is just a trivial Northern General’s House. What could be so tough that could break my teeth!” He waved his hand and shouted, “Go! Go get our food!”

“Yes!” The other seven men answered at the same time.

The next moment, the seven figures turned into seven sword lights. The lights suddenly flashed in the sky and flew fast into the house.

The steward’s pupils constricted at once and he shouted his orders, “Stop them!”

The 36 blood guards who had been waiting for a long time answered affirmatively to the steward and immediately prepared to fly up to start the sanguinary fight!

Their enemies were from the famous Mu clan. Although they were not the core force of the Mu clan, they were still extraordinary fighters. The steward and the guards really felt insecure about this battle, but none of them ever thought of backing off!

However, the next moment, everyone was stunned by what happened!


------
[1] Little Soya: It must be the name of Su Ye-Yue’s pet - it may be a dog or a cat.

[2] Nine Black-dressers: It seems there are nine men in black, and Hei-Jiu must be one of them.

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[xianxiaworld]

Chapter 31 – Eight Heads Off!

At this point of time, all of them, no matter which side they stood for, the General’s House or the Mu clan, were completely stunned!

When the steward waved his hand and said ‘stop them’, there were many people who had answered with a simple ‘yes’.

The voices were varied. However, there were more than the expected 36 voices which had sounded out.

When the 36 blood guards were preparing to take actions, seven figures popped up from different corners in the yard without any warning. The blood guards could not even react to their sudden appearance.

Sword lights flashed like lightning.

All the participants from both sides were stunned. The steward was the most shocked amongst them all.

The rage which had shown on his face had turned into extreme astonishment! His lower jaw had dropped to the floor. His mouth was hanging wide enough to swallow an entire rabbit!

Where did the seven men, who had suddenly shown up, come from?

They were definitely not the guards of the General’s House; neither were they the guards from the Palace of Hua-Yang!

However, they rushed out fearlessly right after the steward had shouted out the order!

Who were they?

The events that took place in the following moments had left everyone extremely astonished. There would be nothing more shocking than what they were witnessing!

They saw the sword lights flashing in the air as the seven masked men rushed toward the eight Mu clan assassins!

Swords rose up and then they slashed down in the blink of an eye!

- Chop chop chop …-

Seven heads were sent spinning in the air, decapitated!

The men from the Mu clan had come with fierceness and confidence, but in just a flash, seven of them had already died! And they had all died within a span of a few seconds!

Facing the seven masked men of unknown backgrounds, the so-called expert cultivators of the Mu clan had been unable to even raise their swords in defence.

The seven men who just died had flown over smartly, but ended up being chopped into halves. The entire ambush had taken less than a second to pan out!

Everyone had become petrified!

The 36 blood guards looked at the blood spraying in the air, completely clueless. They had no idea what was going on as they simply stood there like idiots. Even the most experienced of the lot, the steward, remained rooted to the spot.

Suddenly, he realized something, and this ‘something’ was not the joy obtained from the deaths of their enemies. He thought, “Damn it! We were framed!”

These men who came from nowhere had killed seven of the Mu clan men with a single strike and they truly had no good intentions.

What would have been seen by everyone would be that, after the steward had given the order, the seven masked men came out and killed the Mu clan men.

That meant that the seven men from the Mu clan were killed because of his order!

The Mu clan and the Ye clan would become foes after this, even if the suspicion for Mu Cheng-Bai’s death was to be lifted away from Ye Xiao!

As for now, nobody could do anything to stop the two clans from being foes!

The steward was absolutely livid.

When he looked at the blood guards, he found that they were actually looking at him with eyes filled with worship and shock!

“Super!” Someone shouted.

The steward nearly spit out blood… he thought, “‘Super’ your ***! Are things not bad enough for your? Can’t you use your brains? We were framed!”

In front of him, stood the leader of the seven dead guys. He was the only one left alive in his team. He was stunned and felt fear creep into his mind.

He was completely panicking, “What the hell! Is this really just a general’s house? Is it really a general’s house of the mortal world? Are you fxxking kidding me? My men wouldn’t just be killed so easily even if we were fighting the Royal Palace guards! Well even if they were killed, they would never get killed in an instant! They could have at least given a decent fight, right? They actually got chopped up like they were vegetables! They were killed so easily! This is impossible…”

It was a fabulous instant extermination!

“The house of Ye! I will remember this!” The man immediately flew back to escape after recovering from his initial shock.

Since the masked men could kill all his underlings so easily, he definitely would be unable to beat any of them!

He was afraid that, if he had decided to leave any later, he would lose his own life too.

So the only thing he wanted to do now was to get out of here as soon as possible; he wanted nothing more than keep his life!

One could only do something when one stayed alive; that’s what he believed!

He had already flown back several meters and had almost made his getaway, but at this moment, a sharp sword light suddenly flashed again. The shiny blade of the sword had pierced his back and had come out of his chest, skewering him. It was covered in blood.

A look of despair showed up in his eyes and he looked back.

Another masked man was standing behind him. Nobody could comprehend how he had reached there so quickly. His eyes were cold and he slowly drew his sword back. He then spoke peacefully, “You have already come all this way. Why leave so soon?”

The leader of the dead guys stared at him and blood flowed out of his mouth. His body feebly fell down on the roof.

The masked man swung his sword again, even before the escaping man had touched the floor and - chop -, the head was chopped off!

The masked man then raised his foot and kicked the dead body down to the ground and said chillingly, “One hit; two parts!”

The next moment, all of the eight masked men had jumped on the boundary wall.

The steward seemed to emerge from his reverie and ran forward shouting, “Who are you? Why do you frame us?!”

The eight masked men replied with silence and flew out of sight immediately.

They didn’t even want to speak to the steward.

Watching the eight of them disappear into the night, looking at the eight dead bodies and smelling the blood in the air, the steward was totally stunned speechless.

They really were framed this time, and no escape was in sight.

They wouldn’t even have a chance to explain.

The 36 blood guards showed up from the darkness and gathered around the steward. They were delighted.

“Hey boss, I admire you sincerely! So cool! So overwhelming! Eight bastard’s heads got chopped off just because of one simple order…”
“Yo boss! That was awesome…”
“Hey boss…”

“Shut the fxxk up! All of you!” The steward drew a long face and tried hard not to freak out, “We just got framed! You foolish lubbers! In your brains there is nothing but muscles, you morons… What was so delightful? Gosh…”

He stamped and went to find Ye Xiao.

The steward awkwardly realized that in this place, the only person he could actually talk to was the foppish young master of his, who actually was the one who had caused all this mess!

When he reached Ye Xiao’s room, he found it to be unoccupied.

He had noticed quite a while ago that the snoring had stopped, which had made him believe that the young master was just sleeping soundly. Had Ye Xiao already left by then?

The steward didn’t believe it to be true, so he looked all over the house to find him. However, even after searching every corner of the house, he didn’t find any trace of Ye Xiao.

There wasn’t any sign of a struggle , so the steward knew that Ye Xiao, at least, was not kidnapped.

But where could he have gone?

The steward was left wondering,”How a foppish young lord could leave without leaving a trace?”

Then he realized he had no time to think of such tough questions, so he just sighed.

“Oh my dear lord. Why are you still fooling around at this troubled time? Don’t you know people are all aiming for your life? Why are you still…”

It was so ridiculous!

Now the General’s House was in a big mess and they had been framed, and big trouble would head in their direction. Why did he still go out?

Was it not perilous enough for him?!

…

Well the steward was wrong about Ye Xiao!

In fact, Ye Xiao had been in the house all along and had watched everything that had happened in this weird fight.

When those men from the Mu clan arrived, Ye Xiao was preparing to take actions.

He did know that he might expose himself if he struck out, but he also knew that everyone in this house would die if he didn’t.

Oh of course, except this unfathomable steward.

However, when the masked guys showed up and killed seven of the Mu clan warriors in one strike, Ye Xiao stopped and stayed silent. His eyes lit up!

Why are they doing this?

Ye Xiao knew the answer clearly and he didn’t need to ask about it. It was quite obvious to him!

Ye Xiao only had one question – who were these men?

When he was thinking about it, he had already moved out of his room through the window. He sneaked to the yard and waited, hidden in a shadow.

He thought that those masked men would definitely go back to their base, so he decided to wait here, so as to follow them secretly when they left!

He was curious,“I wonder who else would want to mess with me in the capital!”

Ye Xiao was right. The eight masked men left quickly after they successfully framed the Ye clan, and then - swish! swish! swish!…- they flew over Ye Xiao’s head.

Ye Xiao held his breath and waited for some time to pass. He knew that it would be unwise to follow them right away.

He had noticed that there were still a lot of people who were hiding around the house. If he showed up rashly, he would definitely expose himself!

And he was right. After the eight masked men disappeared, dozens of figures flew out from around the house and left towards their own destinations. These guys were obviously people from other forces who had come to check the situation here.

“Some people just came to me directly while more people were just watching us fighting against each other.” Ye Xiao sighed.

After a while, from a dark corner inside the house, a figure rushed out and flew up. Puff! The figure disappeared from eyesight in just a blink.

Ye Xiao had noticed this figure as he had a pair of keen eyes. Then he decided to take action.He had decided to follow this person from the shadows, and while following him, Ye Xiao’s appearance had changed drastically.

Ye Xiao now had a much larger frame and was a head shorter than normal.
That’s right! He had decided that the appearance of Feng Zhi-Ling, who he had played when was selling the supreme dan beads to the salesroom, would serve him wonderfully on this occasion.

He flew in the night sky like a ghost. His speed seemed to be faster than a typhoon, but his posture wasn’t affected by the howling wind at all.

It was another one of his exclusive skills.

The Lunisolar Shadow!

Coming like a stream while leaving like the wind. Sneaking to the horizon and every tail is vain. [1]

…

------
[1] A poem-like line: 来如流水去如风，隐入天地无影踪。It means Ye Xiao moved so fast that he could not be traced if he did’t want to.

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XianxiaWorld Sincerely Recruiting Translators

[xianxiaworld]

Chapter 32 – The Mountain, The Bamboo Forest And The Maid

The Lunisolar Shadow!

It was a skill used to conceal oneself and become untraceable. Ye Xiao had obtained the scroll of Lunisolar Shadow after he had killed a one-footed robber in the Qing-Yun Realm. The robber had just reached the mystical Grade of Daoyuan. But it had actually taken Ye Xiao, who was at the peak of the Grade of Daoyuan at that time, an entire month to track him down!

If the robber had not eventually exhausted himself, Ye Xiao might not have been able to catch him.

After Ye Xiao took the scroll of Lunisolar Shadow from the robber’s dead body, he came to know that the Lunisolar Shadow was truly something outstanding!

The most wonderful thing about this skill was that he could use it to conceal himself instantly and then flee away as per his convenience!

Such a miraculous skill was truly something that could keep him safe under any circumstance. Moreover, using it only cost a tiny bit of his energy, which made it unreasonably powerful!

Ye Xiao had mastered this skill only after he had spent a lot of time to practice. But, in spite of all these benefits, this was the first time that he had been forced to use it.

The Xiao Monarch had been so powerful that he did not even have to hide from anyone. He had never been in a situation in which he had been forced to use this skill, that is, until now!

Ye Xiao had been diligently following this man. The man seemed very cautious and kept changing directions at unexpected intervals. Maybe, he had felt that something was wrong. In fact, he had changed no less than fifteen times.

When daybreak came, he actually stopped and stood still. He kept looking around for fifteen minutes until he finally chose a direction and shot off without any warning.

Ye Xiao was caught off guard.

The man’s cultivation level should be around the 6th rank of the Grade of Diyuan. Although Ye Xiao was not strong enough to perform the Lunisolar Shadow perfectly, he could still conceal himself to a satisfying extent. But the man really had a superior spiritual sense!

Ye Xiao kept following the man at a distance of about three hundred yards. He usually kept a distance of a hundred yards while shadowing people , but he wasn’t strong enough at the moment, so he kept a longer distance, so as to avoid being noticed. But he still had drawn the attention of this man, who had tried several times to shake him off.

It was not until Ye Xiao had drawn back another hundred yards, that the man finally relaxed.

Ye Xiao had realized that this man’s spiritual sense was superior to ordinary cultivators, so he didn’t dare get any closer.

The man finally reached the base of a mountain and quickly started to make his way to the peak. He kept on jumping, seemingly floating, to reach the top. Ye Xiao was just about to follow him before he sensed something and immediately backed off. Ye Xiao was scared half to death, and sweat started rolling down his back.

It turned out the man had suddenly turned around to check for followers, when he had just steadily landed on the mountain.

And then the man transformed into several ghost shadows which ran rapidly into different directions and then disappeared.

“This guy could really make one’s hackles rise with his unbelievable caution.” Ye Xiao thought and quietly came down from a tree, and then he gingerly moved along the grass.

He guessed that this place should be where the man’s base was located.

He was sure about it as he had seen the man acting with increased caution over here.

Whoever had been backing this man should be beyond this mountain. Ye Xiao might not be able to confirm it, but he could at least get to know something if he went ahead and investigated.

However, this place must be extremely dangerous!

What troubled Ye Xiao most was that this mountain wasn’t just any normal mountain. It was completely devoid of any vegetation!

Whoever crossed the mountain top would definitely get exposed!

Ye Xiao sneaked forward and only peaked his head above the mountaintop, and then he immediately drew back.

There was a bamboo forest in front of him, a sea of bamboo trees.

It wasn’t surprising that a bamboo forest existed among the mountains. But, it was a totally different situation when it was inside the capital. Ye Xiao thought that this bamboo forest must be under the protection of the government. Therefore, it was either something which belonged to the government like the Royal Garden or something which belonged to someone… Who even the government wouldn’t dare to mess with.

Ye Xiao had just taken a glance and had seen nothing but the forest.

Although he had just taken a single glance, he could confirm that there were no constructions within the forest.

“This bamboo forest is truly weird somehow.” Ye Xiao pondered.

He couldn’t believe that there actually was something in this mortal world that he couldn’t figure out…

Ye Xiao quickly analyzed what he had seen with that glance, and suddenly two words emerged in his mind.

‘Energy Arrays!’

As soon as he realised this, a feeling of danger invaded his senses.

The very next moment, Ye Xiao ran away at top speed.

Right after Ye Xiao left, about fifty men arrived from all over. They were obviously trying to quietly outflank Ye Xiao.

Every one of them was equally strong as the man Ye Xiao had been tracing; in fact some of them might even be stronger.

Anyway, each and every one of them was a lot stronger than the present Ye Xiao.

If Ye Xiao had left a bit later and fallen into their trap, then he would’ve definitely died; even if he had a thousand lives, it wouldn’t be enough to survive!

However, at least Ye Xiao had something in mind this time.

All the framing, the assaults and the disturbances… were originating from this place.

This mountain.

This forest.

…

Just before Ye Xiao had stumbled upon the bamboo forest, the man in white was sitting on his wheelchair that was being pushed by Wan-er. They were walking leisurely.

Dozens of men in black ran across the forest and gathered around him one after another, but none of them dared to make a single sound. They just stood silently.

“Did Hei-Yi come back?” The man in white spoke with half-closed eyes.

“No. But he wouldn’t get into any accidents with his strength in such a place.” One of the men answered humbly.

“Anything in the world could go wrong. Nothing is absolute.” The man in white took a deep breath and said, “It is always better to be cautious.”

The words just came out of his mouth right before another man in black wearing a mask arrived quietly.

The masked man was just about to speak, when the man in white suddenly opened his eyes looking to his left and said seriously, “Someone has tracked you here! Go get him!”

The masked man in black felt ashamed and his face immediately turned red.

The other men were all looking at him with an open-mouth.

The masked man couldn’t believe that he had just drawn an enemy home.

In fact he wouldn’t even have noticed the tracer if his master hadn’t said it!

He was extremely abashed.

With the order from their master, the men in black flew out to intercept the invader.

“Nobody’s here. What’s going on?” When they arrived at the barren mountaintop, they were surprised.

They thought their master could not have made such mistakes, so if he said there was a tracer, there must be a tracer.

But where was he?

A slender figure suddenly arrived at the mountaintop with a delightful scent. It was Wan-Er.

She took a deep breath and then looked into the distance. The path she was looking at was exactly the direction toward which Ye Xiao had fled.

The next moment, Wan-Er frowned and said softly, “It was an expert!”

“What do you mean, young lady?” Hei-Yi was a bit relaxed and felt lucky when he saw that nobody was here, but he turned nervous again when he heard Wan-Er.

“This man was hiding here and waiting for a chance to take action.” Wan-Er looked down at the grass on the mountaintop. The grass was pale green and was obviously ill.

Along the direction where Wan-Er was looking at, there were actually some bent blades of grass. It was not very obvious, but it couldn’t be hidden from her sight.

“Here. There is grass over here, but only three blades are broken. It means that this guy is very good at movement skills and is very cautious. The three broken grass blades are the result of his panic. He panicked because he noticed our presence. This guy has a perfect hiding skill.

The spot where I was standing is the best place to hide on the mountaintop. It is the only spot on the three mountains from which he could watch down on us and wouldn’t be detected… That means he is an attentive and experienced man.

A very short period of time had passed between the time Hei-Yi left this place and the time master noticed the tracer. Even if he had seen us, he could take no more than a glance.

We came here very quickly, but found nobody.

This guy must have a very good spiritual sense, so he noticed the danger and left after just a glance.

He is decisive. He has no hesitations. He had a very scary resolution. Most people will definitely watch us for a longer time, because it is impossible to figure out our array using a single glance. However, this man just left decisively…

This man must be very resolute! If a poisonous snake bit his arm, he would cut his arm off decisively!

Moreover, this guy has a particular smell. It was a pure smell of nature. He must have achieved the ablution of muscles and bones. Otherwise he won’t carry such smell.

The three broken grass blades are not in the same spot. One of his knees must have pressed on one of them; his hands must have pressed on the others. His other knee must be bent and he must’ve been preparing to move. Otherwise there would be four broken grass blades instead.

According to the three marks, he can’t be very tall… but he is big, well, unless he had changed his appearance with disguise skills…”

If Ye Xiao was to hear the analyses made by this girl, he would be astonished.

It was hard to believe that the girl actually had inferred so many details by only three marks of broken grasses.

It was very difficult to develop such skill – extremely difficult.

This girl, Wan-Er, was just a maid to the man in white!

If a maid was already this strong, what would her master be like?

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XianxiaWorld Sincerely Recruiting Translators

[xianxiaworld]

Chapter 33 – An Absolute Accident

Wan-Er frowned and thought for a while.

“However, there may be a small mistake in what I just said. This guy may not be as strong as we imagine. If he was really that strong, he wouldn’t have left marks on the grass. But if he really wasn’t that strong, it’s terrifying that our enemy has such decisiveness.”

They all understood that a stronger cultivator had a stronger determination, as he had experienced more, and it was truly terrifying that a cultivator who wasn’t strong actually had such a decisive attitude.

Wan-Er spoke slowly with a soft voice as her clothes were fluttering in the wind, “This guy is not very strong, but may cause some unpredictable troubles in the future. If he is from the Ye clan, then the unpredictable troubles are coming to us for sure.”

All the men in black lowered their heads with shame.

Then they all left.

There was only Wan-Er still standing there. She was lost in her thoughts.

The man in white didn’t show any response to what had happened. When Hei-Yi apologized, the man in white only replied, “Doesn’t such an enemy make the battle more interesting?”

And he continued, “About the Ye Clan, do what you have to do. Next time, if you are traced again, bring the culprit to me.”

There was actually a sense of longing in his eyes.

A nervous excitement had invaded his heart, ‘I have finally found someone to fight against and I hope he could be a formidable rival’.

What he was worried about was that he would be disappointed if Ye Xiao wasn’t good enough.

…

Ye Xiao ran off the mountain like a wild wind and then snuck back into the Ye Clan house. He found that his whole body was sweating!

The sense of crisis had really given him a huge shock!

He had never known that there was such a horrible place with such terrifying people so close to him!

He hadn’t calmed down in spite of reaching his home. He still felt scared. He felt that a poisonous snake had marked him.

He remembered the bamboo forest and its vastness.

He couldn’t forget that he had clearly sensed a sharp gaze looking and aiming at him!

The one who had noticed him was absolutely not a common expert cultivator.

An expert cultivator like this shouldn’t exist in the mortal world; instead, he should be in the Qing-Yun Realm!

Ye Xiao was very sure about that, because he knew that a mortal world would never be able to contain such a person!

However, it was the truth that this guy did exist here.

Why?

…

“My lord, we are framed. We are in huge trouble right now.” Right after Ye Xiao stepped inside the house, the steward spoke to him. The steward seemed very dissatisfied and worried.

“Trouble?” Ye Xiao frowned, “I don’t think so.”

“Errh?” The steward was surprised.

He couldn’t understand how killing eight expert cultivators of the Mu clan was not a huge trouble?

“Even if we weren’t framed… the Mu clan would never make peace with us. This time, there is obviously someone wanting to stir up a disturbance. No matter what they are up to, for now, such actions are actually good for us.”

Ye Xiao smiled.

The steward felt relieved and said, “Yes.” He increasingly felt that his young master was scheming something…

Ye Xiao stopped for a while and continued, “However, there is also something bad for us. Things are fine for us at the moment, but the force that wants to stir the mess up must not be a friend of ours.

It is a powerful enemy – an enemy that is impossible to deal with at the moment!”

When he was speaking, he thought of that mountain and that forest again.

“Well, sometimes enemies help us. As long as we keep being the secondary enemy of every force, we could actually remain safe if the cards are played right! We need to work with them and deal with their primary enemies together! That is an unchanged, useful strategy! In fact, we may not work with them, but instead, we could just use them!”

The steward lowered his head without saying a word.

Ye Xiao thought bitterly, “It turns out that to be regarded as a secondary enemy is also a self-perpetuating method.” He felt kind of sad about it.

The Xiao Monarch had never been looked down upon in his prior life. He had always been the primary target, no matter the enemy.

However, now he needed to make use of his enemies’ disdain to protect himself. It was a bitter pill to swallow.

“You can despise me today, but sooner or later, I will be too high for you to reach!” Ye Xiao took a deep breath and he thought, “Someday I will show you that it takes a huge amount of hard work to qualify to be my enemy!”

Ye Xiao stepped into the house, “I need to rest.”

“The Mu clan would never make peace with us…” The steward murmured and then was suddenly enlightened.

Ye Xiao was about to enter his room, but he turned around and asked, “Uncle Song, I just got to know that there is a bamboo forest in the center of the capital. Do you know anything about it?”

The steward was shocked.

The bamboo forest didn’t shock him; he was shocked because of the ‘Uncle Song’, which he hadn’t been called for a long time.

He was suddenly thrilled. His young master hadn’t called him uncle Song since he was six years old!

Now he was being called that again.

Instantly, the old times were recalled in his mind! He felt like the kid who often cuddled him and sweetly called him uncle was now hugging him again.

He felt like weeping.

He then came back to himself and calmed down, and then smiled, “There is this place in the capital. It is a restricted zone. No one is allowed to enter it, not even the people from the noble clans or royal clans.”

“Restricted zone? Is it really that important?” Ye Xiao was surprised, “I happened to see it when I was hanging around the other day. I didn’t expect such a quiet place in the capital. I was thinking about buying a piece of land so that we could build a villa on it. I wonder who made this place. It actually is a restricted zone!”

Steward Song remained thrilled for quite a while. If only he knew what Ye Xiao was thinking right now.

Who on earth could have the luck to be called uncle by the Xiao Monarch in this mortal world?

It was just that Ye Xiao had realized how he should live in this second life.

He was the Xiao Monarch but at the same time, he was also the foppish lord Ye Xiao. Since he was the foppish lord, he had to start over, to be the person who would eclipse what he once was.

He needed to go through all trifles and emotions of a mortal, so as to achieve ultimate success!

He had to experience everything in a mortal life, and most importantly, as Ye Xiao, the young lord.

He should especially change his mindset; he had to let go of the past and embrace the present.

The steward smiled and said, “I am not sure about the details. But I heard that the owner of that area is an exceptional man…”

“An exceptional man…” Ye Xiao thought for a while and nodded.

He then turned around to go into his room, but the steward spoke, “My lord, are you still thinking about doing something with that bamboo forest? You must not do that. Even the king doesn’t dare plan anything against that place…”

Ye Xiao was surprised, and then he replied, “Ok, I got it.”

…

It was in the Crown Prince’s Palace.

The envoy of the Mu Clan had settled here. Although there were about 45 of them, the Crown Prince’s Palace didn’t seem crowded at all.

The eight, who had perished after attacking the General’s House the other day, had been the vanguard of their forces.

The crown prince hadn’t shown his face since the start. In fact he had even gone to the Imperial Palace and hadn’t come out even once.

The crown princess and the Mu Clan knew clearly why the crown prince did so – he was unpleased because they had used their military force just to kill a brat, Ye Xiao!

The crown prince was fighting against the other princes under the table and none of them were easy to deal with.

He would be utterly isolated and would bite the dust if he wasn’t careful enough. If he lost the throne, his life would be more miserable than a civilian’s!

At this crucial moment for him, the others, including his wife, had actually shown little consideration for his situation.

Therefore, the crown prince was pissed; he was very angry. He had already told them his plan, but no one listened to him.

However, the current situation wasn’t just about him; it was about the whole clan. Hence, the crown prince could do nothing but hold his rage inside his mind.

So he hid away from home.

Since he had decided to hide, he surely needed to choose a secure location; the Imperial Palace was a really good place for him.

In fact, it was his only choice and it was the perfect choice.

To live with his father, the king, was not a comfortable thing to do for him and he might get into some trouble, but it allowed him to have some amount of control over everything!

After all, it did more good than harm to his ambition!

For the Mu clan, they didn’t care whether the crown prince was or wasn’t with them. It wouldn’t make any difference to what they had planned, because they had everything they needed for this battle.

The people from the Mu Clan were waiting for a long time for response from their vanguard. They kept waiting till the late hours.

“Why have they not yet returned?” Said the leader - an old man. When he just finished asking, information about the eight men was finally sent back to them.

A man in black, about 30 years old, entered the palace while scratching his head and he stuttered out a few words, “B-Bad news…” He was quivering and his face was pale and filled with fear.

“What is it? What happened?” Seeing the terrified look on this man’s face, people instantly felt nervous.

They stood up at the same time.

“The eight vanguards… who went to the house of Ye… died in the General’s House! None of them lived. It seems their heads were all cut off…” The man was quivering, “Furthermore, they were all killed by just one strike each; they were killed instantly!”

[xianxiaworld]

Chapter 34 – Here Comes Master Feng

“They didn’t even have the chance to strike back. Every single one of them! The Ye Clan has already contacted the government. They have told the officers that they had encountered assassins. The eight dead bodies were sent to the guardian’s department of the capital…”

“What! What did you say?” The old man slapped the table hard and stood up at once, “Unbelievable!”

The others looked at each other in speechless despair.

They felt shocked, as they couldn’t imagine that there was actually such a powerful force in a general’s family.

They knew clearly what strength the eight vanguards had; in fact, that was why they were shocked when they were told that the eight powerful men all got killed by a single strike!

The crown princess was sitting on her chair. She was shocked and her mouth was wide open when she heard the conversation.

They all felt that it was unimaginable! As if a ghost suddenly appeared right in front of them!

The crown princess even felt a bit dizzy at the moment.

“The Ye clan!!” The old man humphed heavily and his eyes were filled with coldness, “Tell me. How did it happen?”

“Well… At first they were in a quarrel. Then they started to rush into the house. At the same time, the steward of the house shouted ‘stop them’, and then many voices sounded from the house. Seven men of the Ye Clan showed up first and stopped our men beyond the ground. Each of them… took only one strike! And then…”

“One strike…” Everyone gasped fearfully.

“That’s right. One strike…”

“Tonight, I am going to experience myself the unfathomable power of the Ye clan!” The old man’s eyes were lit up with a sense of killing.

“Well… Tomorrow is the day when the auction of the supreme dan beads will be held…” A middle-aged scholar beside him spoke out, “Besides, if the Ye clan was truly that powerful, we might be defeated unexpectedly… First thing’s first. I think we should aim for the supreme dan beads… and take them back to our clan. We could avenge Cheng-Bai later, after the auction. If we hold up our clan’s mission because of some revenge, then we spoil the ship for a halfpennyworth of tar… No one wants to take such blame.”

Everyone was silent.

The next moment, a voice sounded outside the door, “Message from the king.”

It continued with the king's words, “The capital is involved in a great disturbance. All of you should stay dutiful. Do not make any arbitrary moves…”

And then messages from different forces came to the Prince’s Palace one by one.

“The prime chief of the Qing-Yun Sect has brought three disciples to the Chen-Xing City.”
“The second prime chief of the Cang-Shan sect has settled with their disciples in the Chen-Xing City, right beside the salesroom.”
“The prime dan-maker and the hierarch of Ling-Yun Sect has entered the Chen-Xing City with seven disciples.”
“The Wu-Liang Sect has entered the Chen-Xing City.”
“The Long clan has come to the capital!”
“The Nan-Gong clan has arrived in the capital…”
“The Gong-Sun clan…”
…

Messages were piling-up in front of them. Like it was said in the king’s message, the capital was caught in a great disturbance!

In fact, the disturbance was caused by the auction of those supreme dan beads.

If they continued messing with the Ye clan and caused another delay of the auction, then, all the sects and clans would definitely see them as the first target to hit.

And… the General’s House was not far from the salesroom, so it would be impossible for them to get away from those crazy people.

The old man’s face turned dark and he took a deep breath, “You are right. The clan comes first.”

He surely needed to say something obedient, but everyone knew about his reluctance to do so just by looking at his dark face.

“Let’s go collect the bodies of our men first!” The old man felt helpless when he said so.

When Mu Cheng-Bai died, they had made some plans to avenge him; now there were eight more of them who had died, but he could do nothing but wait for an opportunity!

It really was driving them crazy!

…

On the other side, Ye Xiao felt relieved when he saw the sun rising up.

It was finally the day of the auction!

He was certain that he would not be attacked today.

In fact, one day was all Ye Xiao needed to fill up the spiritual space and to feed the Heaven’s Cyan.

Besides, he needed to make a plan to ensure his family’s safety.

However, it would be better if he could get more time.

Anyway, at least he could get a day if he could hang on till the auction.

The steward felt relieved too. People who were sent to watch the Ye clan all felt relieved, as well as Su Ye-Yue, Lan Lang-Lang and Zuo Wu-Ji.

After the battle that happened the other night, everyone had been well prepared. At least they all knew about what the Ye clan was capable of…

Even the crown prince and the king, who were in the Imperial Palace, felt relieved at this moment.

Although what happened between the Mu clan and the Ye clan the other night was just a battle between two forces, it was something that had drawn everyone’s attention…

In a single day, things totally changed in the capital. Different forces settled in the capital but the whole situation was oddly kept in balance! At least it looked peaceful and gave the illusion that nothing was happening.

…

Early morning, before the sun rose, the Ling-Bao Hall was still sparsely occupied. However, everyone who passed the door could feel that a lot of eyes were inspecting the hall.

When the first sunlight shone, the colorful flag of the Ling-Bao Hall was finally raised. It was a seven-colored flag which was waving in the air and it showed the people that the auction taking place over here would be extraordinary.

People who saw the flag felt excited.

The seven-colored flag meant that this was a top-class auction!

There had only been three instances in the mortal world when the seven-colored flag had been raised, so everyone interested in this auction felt thrilled when they saw the flag.

Since the salesroom had already raised the seven-colored flag, there were going to be immensely valuable items for auction!

All the clans and sects would definitely want to participate in today’s auction!

They needed to take advantage of the auction to improve their strength, to break through the bottleneck of their cultivation, to train their successors…

There was a long way to go for all of them!

…

The sun was shining on the roof of the salesroom and the flag was gently waving in the air. A lot of instruments were creating music, which seemed to cover the entire auction hall. The door of the salesroom was suddenly opened and then two columns of girls in white came out. Their long dresses were fluttering as they walked. They stood still on each side of the door and a red carpet spread between the two columns from inside the salesroom to the street.

The wind was flowing. The white dresses were fluttering, their beautiful hair was waving in the air and an enchanting scent was spreading all over!

“It is the top standard!”

Some people couldn’t help staring at the girls while everyone realized the same problem – they didn’t know if they had brought enough money or not.

They didn’t want to be disgraced.

“The auction begins shortly inside the Ling-Bao Hall salesroom! All our honored guests please get in the salesroom!” A loud voice was sounding like a huge bell.

Some people started to enter the Ling-Bao Hall from different ways in front of the door.

They were all wearing robes and walked leisurely. They acted like sages.

Some other people had actually arrived for a long time, but they didn’t get into the salesroom with the crowd.

There was a latent rule for entering the salesroom at the auction that people should take turns to enter the salesroom – the stronger person entered first. He who broke the rule might get killed… If one was to mess with some powerful guy, his entire clan might get wiped out.

People in the martial world cared a lot about prestige.

A man would enter when it was his turn; if someone entered before him and he thought this ‘someone’ was inferior… then he would start a fight against the inferior fellow who had the audacity to enter before him!

And it was basically, a fight of life and death.

In front of the door, there was an emcee naming the list, in a singing voice.

“The prime master of the Qing-Yun Sect, Meng Wu-Fei. Mr. Meng, please!”
“The master of the Cang-Shan Sect, Li Chang-Qing. Mr. Li, Please!”
“The hierarch of the Ling-Yun Sect, Xiao Mo-Yan, Please!”
…

The names of the important persons in the martial world were read aloud one by one. People felt awed when they heard these names.

All of them were legendary people in this mortal world, and now they were all here.

They were all here for a simple auction!

As more and more big shots were called, about twenty of them had already entered. And there were still a lot of people crowded outside the door.

Everyone started to get excited. They wondered how many more great men would actually turn up.

There was more than one supreme dan bead for sure, but there were absolutely not enough dan beads for all of them!

A sign of a foreseeable battle was showing up silently!

Well in fact, it was a battle of financial might!

No matter who won, he was definitely going to pay through the nose this time.

Suddenly, a man with a strong body and a square face casually stepped to the door jumping the queue. He looked somewhat handsome.

People were surprised. They couldn’t believe that there was actually someone who dared to break the custom!

They thought that even though no one in the queue would stop him, people from the Ling-Bao Hall would definitely banish him at once!

Surprisingly, people from the Ling-Bao Hall didn’t do anything, except that the emcee spoke loudly, “Feng Zhi-Ling, Master Feng, Please!”

“Master Feng? Who the hell is Master Feng?”

The crowd was in an uproar.

They had never heard of this name before.

But this guy came and casually entered the salesroom…

Why? Was this unknown guy really that important?

Who was he?

Where was he from? What was his background? How could he enter before all the great men who were still standing outside?

There were too many questions lying inside everybody’s mind.

[xianxiaworld]

Chapter 35 – Two Tumbles

Master Feng was, of course, Ye Xiao in disguise.

The Xiao Monarch had once again changed his appearance into that of Feng Zhi-Ling. He casually walked into the salesroom and stood against the handrail on the second floor, looking down at the crowd.

He was acting high profile in everyone’s eyes.

All the people were giving him confused looks, but he remained indifferent and ignored them all.

He just stood there silently and carefully observed everyone who entered the salesroom.

The prime connoisseur of the salesroom, Guan Wan-Shan, walked over humbly and smiled, “Brother Feng. You are early. I apologize for not being at the entrance to personally greet you.”

In fact, Guan Wan-Shan was thinking, “Didn’t he say he wanted to stay low key? Why is he acting so strikingly in front of such a large crowd? Does he not know that he may expose himself?”

Ye Xiao spoke calmly, “It doesn’t matter. I just want to check and see whether my dan beads will be sold for a proper price.”

Guan Wan-Shan replied seriously, “No need to worry about that. Such a legendary treasure is certainly something people are willing to die for. In fact, we bought 5 beads from you for only 500 thousand silver bars. We truly have taken advantage of you.”

Ye Xiao said peacefully, “Well, I am sure that if you didn’t get this little advantage, you wouldn’t have been able to handle this job properly.”

Although he was experienced in reception, Guan Wan-Shan couldn’t give a reply. He thought, “This guy is too straight; he talks nothing like a business man. He knows nothing about confabulation and doesn’t care about my feelings at all.”

So he walked away after making a few more conventional remarks.

People from different sects were seated on the first floor and people from the royal families and the noble clans were taking their seats.

The eight noble clans were well known worldwide and all of them held unimaginable power. Although their positions were still lower than the royal families, everyone knew that this arrangement was only in name.

After all, it was the royal blood that ruled the land, not the noble clans.

Meanwhile, the names from the Mu clan sounded at the door. An old man and a middle-aged man entered. Both of them were wearing robes with serious and righteous looks. They casually entered the salesroom.

They acted nobly, like dragons and tigers, and showed an overbearing attitude!

They were showing exactly what a noble clan should be like!

Ye Xiao’s eyes were distant when he saw them. He tightly clenched his right fist, which was hidden underneath his sleeve.

The power of the gelid qi was aroused and was swarming in his fist.

It was traceless and silent.

“Of course they are one of the noble clans. Look at their distinguished manners.”
“Absolutely. That’s the spirit of a noble clan…”

People couldn’t stop praising these two men.

The two men from the Mu clan didn’t seem pleased at all; but in fact, they were delighted inside their minds. They were sure that after the auction, they would be promoted as they had rendered a great service to their clan…

They felt that they had already shown everyone the great image of their clan…

Meanwhile…

When the middle-aged Mu clan delegate was striding proudly ahead…

He suddenly felt his foot slip. He had been really complacent and vigorous, but he unexpectedly lost his balance and staggered ahead, nearly falling on the floor. But, he was an experienced cultivator and was able to use the spiritual energy in his body to forcefully steady himself. Otherwise, he would definitely have suffered an embarrassing tumble.

Even so, it still looked quite awkward. Such an accident suddenly came out from nowhere. He thought that it was ridiculous!

People’s praises immediately turned into silence. Everyone was stunned. They couldn’t believe that a delegate of the well-known Mu clan was actually acting in such a clumsy manner during this important occasion.

After a while, some people in the crowd started to laugh aloud.

The next moment, the middle-aged man stood straight, completely flustered. He looked down at his feet and saw nothing wrong. He continued walking ahead as he thought that it would be more embarrassing if he stopped now. So he braced himself up and took a step ahead cautiously. He acted like nothing had happened.

When he took the third step he finally felt relieved. However, the next moment he suddenly felt that his foot had slipped again!

Again, it was totally unexpected. It was even more embarrassing this time. – Poof – He staggered ahead with great momentum!

He almost rushed forward!

As he moved too fast, his hands uncontrollably rose up and he immediately fell down to the floor. He really couldn’t hold himself up, so he had to quickly draw back and put his hands on the floor. He finally prevented his head from crashing on the ground disgracefully.

He then used his flying skills to raise his body and stood straight. His face was totally flushed, like it was about to bleed.

He had just brought shame on himself and his clan in everyone’s eyes!

“Why is he acting like this… What the fxxk is wrong with him? He’s from one of the bloody noble clans… It may be just an accident to fall down the first time, but to fall down again is even worse, isn’t it just too stupid?”
“Hey you! He is from the Mu clan alright?! Don’t involve the others! Can you talk decently?”
“Urhh… Yes, you’re right… Haha ha…”

The crowd burst into a peal of laughter and it lasted a long time!

The old man – the other delegate of the Mu clan rebuked the middle-aged man in a low voice with embarrassment written all over his face, “What is wrong with you? How could you make such a stupid mistake at this important moment? You are really an unbecoming useless shit! You shouldn’t have come with me!”

The middle-aged man was so embarrassed that he had to bow and explain, “It felt like I stepped on some ice…”

The old man raged, “Bull-fxxking-shit! Ice in a hot summer?! It is in the Ling-Bao Hall! How could there possibly be ice on the floor? You could at least make up a better excuse! Moron! I should let your mother have an abortion if I knew you would bring me such shame!”

The middle-aged man had no words to argue against the old man so he just kept apologising, but he was thinking, “My mother was dead long ago… You beat her to death… How dare you mention her… Old bastard, I would kick you to death if you were not my bloody father!”

They both had suspected that someone was messing with them, but they quickly gave up on this idea, as they thought nobody would dare to do such a thing in front of all these people. Besides, they didn’t feel any trace of spiritual power, so they had no reason to make that presumption. As the old man had said, it was in the Ling-Bao Hall; even the eight noble clans, who were usually pretentious, didn’t dare declare themselves to be the most powerful.

The most important thing was that even though these two fellows had seen many things in the world, they could never have thought of a wonderful martial art called the East-rising Purple Qi!

On the second floor, Ye Xiao relaxed after assaulting the Mu clan delegates. He quickly loosened his fist when he felt a hint of coldness on his palm.

Minutes ago, he had used his gelid qi to make two pieces of ice that were thinner than cicada’s wings. He had been remotely controlling the ice and had set the ice under the poor middle-aged delegate’s feet. No one had noticed it!

In fact, it was a risky move.

But in the end, Ye Xiao had successfully played a trick on the Mu clan and most importantly, it had gone unnoticed!

People in this place might not be that powerful in the Xiao Monarch’s eyes, but right now, he was just Ye Xiao. These men here were all the top-class cultivators of this world. Ye Xiao might have the chance to overwhelm one or two of them, but it wouldn’t be easy!

There were some people from the sects that Ye Xiao was unable to see through. So he kept his mind completely alert.

The assault was just an inoffensive trick, but what it had resulted in was enough to satisfy Ye Xiao for now.

“The East-rising Purple Qi is truly wonderful. It must be the number 1 martial art in the world!” Ye Xiao was thinking, “If anything in the future with which I can not deal personally happened, I can totally use such skill to overcome it. No trace will be left! It is really a perfect skill for assassination and sneak raid…”

Ye Xiao kept looking at the red carpet on the first floor and found nothing. Only after this, did he show his satisfaction.

The ice vanished quietly after it had made the man’s feet slip. It left no marks of water or any other color. It was truly traceless and soundless.

Ye Xiao believed that even if it were on dry soil, the ice would leave no trace, especially in the battle field where everyone was fighting and sweating…

A smile appeared on Ye Xiao’s face.

The next moment, Ye Xiao saw Su Ye-Yue and some of her sisters enter the salesroom. Following her were two lads who were dressed decently and walked into the house side by side. They seemed personable from a distance, but they were actually Lan Lang-Lang and Zuo Wu-Ji.

One of them was walking like he had no spine and the other was looking around with his weirdly crossed eyes… They were somehow uncomely.

They were muttering to each other.
“Where is the little fxxker Ye Xiao? Doesn’t he know that today is a big day for the ‘three lords’? We should atleast show up together…”
“I wonder if I can get my jade ruyi… Damn it, is it really happening? These people are not all coming for my jade ruyi, are they…”
“Fxxk them all!”
“What? You dare…?”
“I don’t… but I know that you dare…”
“Of course I do, but I’m afraid I’d lose…”

…

http://www.xianxiaworld.net/Realms-In-The-Firmament/

[xianxiaworld]

Chapter 36 – The Girl And The Golden Hand


There were four groups of people who had come representing the royal families, about fifteen groups from the martial clans, and eight groups from the eight noble clans who were seated in the salesroom. There were also many people from the active sects while surprisingly, fifteen reclusive sects had actually sent their men here…

There were nearly four hundred people attending this auction, including those that were mentioned previously, and some unattached cultivators.

Everyone who had arrived here had high status in the mortal world…

Such an auction was the only thing that could gather all these men in the recent ten years!

It was time to close the door and begin the auction. No more people would be allowed into the salesroom.

Suddenly, just as the doors were closing, a carriage slowly pulled over.

The carriage had a strange appearance. It was made completely out of bamboos and it was small and exquisite. It looked upmarket and it was filled with the vivid scent of nature.

The carriage stopped in front of the door.

Two strong men bowed and opened the drapes. A beautiful foot reached out from the carriage slowly and stepped on the ground. It was an extreme eye catching scene.

At the moment, this beautiful foot drew everyone’s eyes immediately.

The next moment, a girl in white with a gorgeous body and dark hair got off the carriage and stood at the entrance.

She became the center of attention by simply standing there. Even though she was just wearing ordinary white clothes, its beauty surpassed thousands of glittering suits.

By now, the salesroom had turned completely silent.

People were all shocked by her elegance!

“So this is the well-known Ling-Bao Hall, right?” The girl in white entered through the doorway and smiled gently.

The two lines of ceremonial girls at the door were actually charming, but they became commonplace girls when compared to the smiling beauty in white.

Guan Wan-Shan hurried out and looked terrified. He was no longer his usual calm self. He stopped in front of the girl in white and gave a humble salute, “It is my honor to meet you here, my lady. How is the master?”

The girl in white looked at him and smiled. She slightly returned a salute and said, “Oh I am surprised that Master Guan still remembers me. Thanks for your concern. My master is fine.”

Guan Wan-Shan felt relaxed and kept bowing, “You have graced Ling-Bao Hall with your presence, my lady! Please! Come on in, my lady.”

The girl in white smiled, “I came without notifying you. I hope you don’t mind, Master Guan…”

Guan Wan-Shan had started sweating and kept bowing, “No. No. No… Your presence is our enormous honor…”

The girl in white, along with the humbled Guan Wan-Shan, entered the salesroom with a smile.

Following her were two men in black, completely expressionless, like two majestic pillars– one at her left while the other at her right.

Ye Xiao looked at the girl and her guards. He felt extremely curious.

Who was this girl?

Guan Wan-Shan was simply the connoisseur of the Ling-Bao Hall, not a supreme cultivator, but everyone knew that there was an extremely powerful force backing the Ling-Bao Hall. That was why even the eight noble clans dared not to make any trouble in the salesroom. Yet Guan Wan-Shan acted so humbly in front of the girl in white and was actually terrified of offending her! Why?

In addition, they mentioned a person when they were talking – the master!

Who was the master?

Ye Xiao’s face was peaceful, but he was thinking nervously, “Guan Wan-Shan called that guy ‘master’. That is nothing strange. But the noble girl also called that guy ‘master’. Now that is strange… Could it be…”

Ye Xiao gasped and thought about one possibility, “… Could it be that this noble girl who seems powerful is only a maid of that ‘master’?”

As Ye Xiao speculated, this girl was just a maid, but Guan Wan-Shan treated her respectfully – in fact, he was extremely humble. There must be a mystery behind their relationship!

The question was that who on earth could actually have such gorgeous beauty as his maid?

The girl was walking. She suddenly looked up at Ye Xiao with her charming eyes, and smiled, “Master Guan, the auction is still far from beginning and there is already a friend standing beside the handrail in the upper floor… I guess this friend is not an ordinary man.”

Guan Wan-Shan was an experienced man, so he understood that the girl was actually enquiring about Ye Xiao. It looked like the smart girl had already noticed that Ye Xiao was not an ordinary person.

People of the salesroom were all busy preparing for the auction, so she was sure Ye Xiao wasn’t a staff member. Everyone else was sitting and waiting for the auction to begin and wouldn’t leisurely stand there.

So when the girl noticed that Ye Xiao was different, she naturally felt curious about his identity.

Ye Xiao stood there away from the crowd, because firstly, he wanted to watch the outstanding cultivators among the crowd, so that he could be prepared for any possible situations; secondly, he was in disguise so he didn’t need to be cautious about getting into any trouble; thirdly, as a profound man, he was actually trying to attract the attention of elegant young ladies…

The girl in white had given her attention to Ye Xiao, and it was just what he had wished for. The girl was interested in Ye Xiao while Ye Xiao was interested in her as well. The girl had completely drawn his attention when she showed up. Ye Xiao felt her uniqueness which made him interested in both her and her master.

The girl and Ye Xiao held ‘affections’ towards each other and they looked like a couple on their first date, but nobody knew that Guan Wan-Shan was in an awkward situation.

The girl was asking him about Ye Xiao and he should have answered her without hesitation. However, Ye Xiao was the man who had provided the supreme dan beads, and he didn’t want her to know this fact.

If her master learnt this fact, the Ling-Bao Hall would lose the chance to get more supreme dan beads from Feng Zhi-Ling.

So he had to lie to the girl even though he knew he might offend the powerful master!

Guan Wan-Shan spoke bitterly, “I beg your forgiveness my lady. The guy is an old friend of mine. He has been in the wild for a long time so… he barely knows etiquettes. Please forgive him.”

“Oh.” The girl answered peacefully, “It is a man without etiquettes! A man like this may bring you huge trouble someday…”

She had a soft voice, but this sentence sounded scary.

She looked around for a bit before finally rested her gaze on Ye Xiao once again.

She decided to figure out who this guy was.

Ye Xiao sensed the sharpness of the girl’s gaze.

“Well? The girl is trying to mess with me! Does she want to check my background?” He thought.

Then Ye Xiao spoke gently, “You are so imposing, my lady. I am afraid you have no rights to poke your nose into other’s business, as you are just a little girl. A lady speaking like that, I am afraid it has showed your ignorance. In my opinion, your master should teach you more about manners.”

Guan Wan-Shan called her ‘my lady’ was because of his respect, but when Ye Xiao used it, it sounded sarcastic.

The girl in white frowned, “Sir, I am afraid you are overreacting. What? Is your name really that unpresentable?”

Ye Xiao glanced at her and replied, “You spoke bitingly first. I just stroke back. How am I overreacting? I don’t know if my name is unpresentable, but I am not. I am standing right here.”

Guan Wan-Shan was awfully anxious. The girl and Feng Zhi-Ling were having a standoff right in his face; they might start a fight if this continues. He felt bitter in his heart, as the situation right now was completely out of his control.

He didn’t understand how this Feng Zhi-Ling, who used to be so steady, could become so unreasonable at this moment. He actually got himself into a quarrel right as the auction was about to begin, and that too against somebody he should never mess with.

And he also didn’t understand how the smart and elegant lady could become so hot-headed.

However, what he truly didn’t know was that they were doing exactly what they intended to do.

Even though the girl and Ye Xiao didn’t know each other, they felt the importance of each other. Ye Xiao felt that the girl was someone important while the girl felt the same about Ye Xiao, so coincidentally, they produced this conflict together. It created the seed for future interaction between them.

They were both smart and insightful.

The girl in white spoke chillingly, “You talk wildly, so you must have some outstanding abilities, I assume.” She was challenging him.

Ye Xiao sneered, “Of course I have some specialties. It is a dangerous world after all. Do you dare to try me?” He faced the challenge head on!

The girl’s face turned gloomy and she spoke calmly, “Go get him!”

One of the men in black behind her suddenly jumped up high with a focused look in his eyes. He turned into a black whirlwind in the air making a cracking noise, and then he suddenly reached his hand out to whack Ye Xiao’s scalp.

It was a slapping move. If Ye Xiao was incautious, he would be killed instantly!

Ye Xiao glared down at the moving figure and shouted, “Nice move.”

When the man was about to reach the upper floor and get Ye Xiao, Ye Xiao had already rushed out from the handrail like a flying arrow. He was rushing toward the man in black, aiming for a direct confrontation!

– Puff! – His hand suddenly emerged from the sleeve and instantly turned golden!

It was one of Ye Xiao’s special martial skills. It allowed him to turn his hand solid, like gold; it was a hand that could crush mountains into pieces! It could crush everything!

It was the Golden Hand!

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