"I hear you have some distinguished guests here. Why not invite them to join us?"
Liu Shan, who had been bowing his head slightly, paused for a moment and then recovered quickly. "I'll send someone to inform them."
He turned to the two elders beside him. "First Elder, please find Xiao Tian and the others and ask whether they are willing to come." As he spoke, he gave a subtle, knowing look.
"Yes, Patriarch." Liu Yang, the Liu Family's First Elder, answered and set off toward the guest rooms.
"Everyone, let us go in first." Liu Shan invited the Burning Flame Valley party, and they walked into the reception hall.
Everything the Burning Flame Valley party and Liu Shan's group said was under Xiao Tian's watch. He and Xuan Yi had heard every word.
After telling Xiao Ling and Xiao Meng to cultivate diligently, they walked out of the guest courtyard. Just outside, they met Liu Yang coming toward them. He was about to speak when Xiao Tian cut him off. "I already know everything. I'll go and handle it now."
"Your Excellency Xiao Tian, please be careful. They clearly investigated beforehand this time," Liu Yang whispered.
Xiao Tian nodded to show that he understood. Seeing that, Liu Yang said no more and led them toward the reception hall.
Xuan Yi walked beside Xiao Tian, a little behind Liu Yang. "Leave today's matter to me," she said. "We may even make them bleed a little."
Xiao Tian glanced at her with a smile. "Why do I feel like I'm being protected? Does this mean I'm living off a woman?"
The tips of Xuan Yi's ears reddened slightly. She huffed softly and turned her face away, though she could not help glancing at him from the corner of her eye. "I have no intention of protecting you or letting you live off a woman. Don't get such pretty ideas."
"Is that so? What a pity. I was planning to use a honey trap and sacrifice my good looks," Xiao Tian said, pretending to sigh.
Xuan Yi snorted coldly, but she secretly pinched him with her fingertips inside her sleeve and whispered, "You're going to die, you. There are other people here. Behave, and don't talk nonsense."
"So it's all right when no one's around?" Xiao Tian caught her small, gloved hand and spoke teasingly.
"No, it isn't. Throw out all the filthy garbage in your head." Xuan Yi glared at him in annoyance, using a phrase she had recently learned.
Liu Yang, walking ahead, immediately wore a pained expression. Was this something he ought to be hearing? He was so old, and still he was being force-fed other people's lovey-dovey scenes. There was no respect for the elderly at all.
When Xiao Tian and the others reached the reception hall, they saw Liu Shan and another Dou Zong of the Liu Family looking somewhat displeased. Earlier, he had already spoken to the Burning Flame Valley party and had even exaggerated the Cheng Family's crimes and how they had been in the wrong first. From Elder Chihuo's expression, he had confirmed what the earlier intelligence said: the Cheng Family had been bribing Elder Chihuo continuously.
As Xiao Tian and his two companions walked in, everyone in the hall stopped what they were doing and turned to look at them. Several young men who had come with Elder Chihuo looked at Xiao Tian's refined features, and a flicker of jealousy crossed their eyes. When they saw Xuan Yi beside him, with her full, striking figure, a fervent desire lit their eyes.
One of the young men seated beside Elder Chihuo narrowed his eyes and glanced at Xuan Yi standing with Xiao Tian, and grew even more jealous. He stood up and spoke to Xiao Tian in an arrogant tone.
"You're Xiao Tian? You're the ones who killed the Cheng Family's Patriarch, aren't you?"
"That's right. What of it? Is there a problem?" Xiao Tian said calmly.
"Good that you admit it. Do you know he was a subordinate of our Burning Flame Valley? Do you know that your actions provoke the Valley and make you its enemy? Today you will come back with me to Burning Flame Valley to face punishment, and the woman beside you will come back with us as well."
As he spoke, his gaze rested on Xuan Yi with a lewd gleam, his intentions plain. He thought that although the man could kill the Cheng Family's Patriarch, he was far too young. He must have used some scheme and colluded with the Liu Family's Patriarch to succeed. Besides, his teacher was right beside him. His teacher was a peak Nine-Star Dou Zong, and he was the teacher's favorite disciple. Elder Chihuo did not stop him. The young man was his beloved young disciple, his future successor.
Slap!
A crisp slapping sound rang out. The arrogant young man was struck across the face by an invisible force. His body flew backward, several teeth spraying from his mouth along with blood, and he crashed into the wall and fell unconscious.
The room was utterly silent.
"What are you? Some people are not yours to scheme against." Xiao Tian stood with his hands behind his back and looked indifferently at the fallen man. He had not killed him outright, but had silently crippled him below the waist. If the young man ever wished to take up certain notorious manuals that demand such a sacrifice, he could begin cultivating them at once. First, he could taste the pain of being unable to be a man. Xiao Tian had also left a bolt of lightning in his Dou Qi sea, which would burst whenever he became too happy. There was nothing for it. Xiao Tian was simply too kind. Even after seeing the look in that man's eyes, he still meant to let him die happily later.
"Presumptuous!" Elder Chihuo, seeing his beloved disciple sent flying, slammed the table and rose, roaring. "Junior, how dare you strike a disciple of my Burning Flame Valley? So young, and so ruthless! Let this old man discipline you on behalf of your elders!"
Though Elder Chihuo was furious, he did not forget to stand on the moral high ground and invoke his background, so that no one could accuse him of bullying the weak. His Dou Qi surged around him, scorching flames condensed in his palm, and he was about to strike Xiao Tian.
But in that instant, a powerful aura pressed down on everyone. Even Elder Chihuo, who had been gathering his Dou Qi, saw his flames snuffed out at once. He swallowed hard and struggled to look up toward the source of the pressure. It came from the woman beside Xiao Tian. Feeling Xuan Yi's aura, he cried out in horror. "Dou... Dou Zun!"
Xuan Yi looked at him coldly. "Presumptuous? Your whole family is presumptuous! What are you? Is he someone you can curse, and want to discipline?"
She waved a hand gently, and Elder Chihuo flew backward, spitting blood, and crashed into the wall beside the fallen young man. His face turned deathly pale. She had held back. Otherwise, a single palm would have killed him without a doubt. But if he died, there would be no one to negotiate with.
Xiao Tian glanced at Xuan Yi in mild surprise. He had not expected that Xuan Yi, who was usually so gentle with him, would curse at a moment like this. Silently, he sighed to himself. Being handsome was such a bother. Wherever he went, there was a soft rice bowl waiting, and the protective kind at that. It was truly sweet and soft, unlike his other brothers, who got only the prickly bouquet of a steel-wool brush.
By the wall, Elder Chihuo struggled to get up. Suddenly the sound of air being torn rang out. His pupils shrank, and he instinctively reached out and circulated his Dou Qi to block...