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Chapter 125 - Killing with Flattery
“Young Lord Su Yi has arrived!”
When they heard this shout, everyone glanced outside the military drill ground gates. A carriage had stopped outside, and a tall, lean figure emerged from within. He was clad in blue robes, his hands behind his back, his bearing transcendent and aloof.
This was none other than Su Yi.
Huang Qianjun trailed silently after him.
“He’s Su Yi? It doesn’t look like there’s anything special about him. If I didn’t know better, I’d assume he was a frail and gentle scholar,” said a girl in an ornate dress. She pursed her lips.
The elder beside her said gravely, “Lass, you mustn’t speak such nonsense. Last night’s battle has already proved that Su Yi is in no way comparable with a normal person. Even someone as strong as the Bluepeak Sword Elder, Zhou Huaiqiu, couldn’t take so much as a single swing of his sword. The power of his Martial Dao is such that even the city’s older generation can only lower their heads in shame before him. How could you underestimate someone like that?”
“Yes, Grandpa.” The girl in the ornate dress lowered her head in shame.
By now, who knew how many eyes had focused their attention on the young man in blue? Who knew how many prominent figures of the prior generation watched him in displeasure?
A year ago, Su Yi was merely Blueriver Sword Manor’s outer sect sword chief.
Yet now, he dared openly commit murder on the ninth floor of the House of Prosperity.
More than that, his sword had suppressed Zhou Huaiqiu, the man ranked fourth amongst Blueriver Sword Manor’s elders!
No one else in the younger generation of the Cloudriver Prefectural Capital could match this feat!
“It really is that guy
.” When he saw Su Yi’s familiar silhouette, Zhang Yuanxing’s expression changed dramatically.
He’d heard about yesterday’s massacre in the House of Prosperity too. At first, he dared not believe it. But when he finally saw Su Yi again, his last lingering hope that this was all just some misunderstanding shattered.
I told Su Yi that I’d help him rise to prominence, and that I could send him soaring into the clouds. I’m afraid he must have thought me some kind of idiot
. Indescribable, wordless shame rose in Zhang Yuanxing’s heart.
And when he recalled how he and Uncle Xiong almost crossed blows with Su Yi back at the Apricot Cottage, he broke out in cold sweats.
If Yuan Luoxi hadn’t shown up, would that guy have killed Uncle Xiong too? Zhang Yuanxing’s expression shifted erratically.
“What is it?” Zhang Zhiyan furrowed his brow.
“Nothing.” Zhang Yuanxing shook his head. How could he explain something so embarrassing?
“This Su Yi is as imposing as the rising sun and as solemn as a windswept pine. There’s no trace of a young man’s impatience or pompousness. A temperament like this is hard to find, but the scariest thing about him is his fearlessness. Given the opportunity, I’m afraid he might very well become a second Mountain-Subduing King!” sighed Zhang Zhiyan.
The Mountain-Subduing King, Mu Xi!
Of the Zhou Dynasty’s nine non-Zhou kings, he was the most peerless genius of the Martial Dao. At just twenty years old, he stepped into the Grandmaster Realm. Eight years ago, at twenty-three, he became the youngest of the Great Zhou’s foreign-surnamed kings!
And the Emperor of the Great Zhou personally bequeathed him the title “Subduer of Mountains”, “the Mountain-Subduing King!”
When they heard Zhang Zhiyan use the Mountain-Subduing King’s name to praise Su Yi, the surrounding major powers burst into uproar. Unspeakable jealousy coursed through their hearts.
They’d cultivated bitterly for years, yet most of them had stagnated in the Qi Accumulation Realm.
Su Yi was just seventeen, yet he’d won such high praise from the lofty head of the Zhang Family. Of course they were jealous!
Only Yuan Wutong furrowed his brow. “Brother Zhang, are you trying to flatter him to death? Don’t you think that’s unbecoming of a man of your status?”
Zhang Zhiyan burst into laughter. “Flatter him to death? Surely not. Besides, Brother Yuan, if you fail to protect the boy tonight, it won’t matter how much I say.”
The crowd’s hearts shook. Their keen senses told them that Yuan Wutong and Zhang Zhiyan, these two long-established top powerhouses of the prefectural capital, were verbally at each other’s throats!
Is the head of the Yuan Family really going to stick out his neck for Su Yi? Many people’s hearts shook.
He’s here! He’s finally here
.! Qin Feng inwardly signed in relief. He’d been worried that Su Yi would be too afraid to show up. But now, seeing Su Yi here now, all of his worries transformed into excitement.
Over the past few days, he’d had no appetite. All he could think about was revenge!
“Go find a safe place to wait.” As he walked into the military drill ground, Su Yi ignored the crowd’s gazes and casually gave his orders. Huang Qianjun hurriedly agreed.
But it was then that Qin Wenyuan snorted from up on the platform. “Huang Qianjun, you’ve truly disappointed me!”
Huang Qianjun went rigid, and his expression changed erratically. Finally, he took a deep breath and said, “Uncle, you
”
But before he could finish, Qin Wenyuan waved and cut him off. “Don’t call me ‘Uncle’ ever again. I, Qin Wenyuan, don’t have a backstabbing, treasonous nephew like you!”
The entire crowd was stunned. Only now did they realize that the boy who’d come here with Su Yi had a relationship like that with Qin Wenyuan.
But it was obvious that the young man’s decision to side with Su Yi had already infuriated Qin Wenyuan.
Huang Qianjun was red-faced with anger. Dammit, I didn’t even say anything, and you’re already calling me ‘backstabbing’ and ‘treasonous’? Is that how an uncle is supposed to behave?
“Step aside,” said Su Yi. Then, he turned his cool gaze toward Qin Wenyuan. “You’re the lofty prefectural governor, yet here you are, insulting the people around me? What, are you trying to intimidate me?”
The entire venue fell silent, and quite a few people gasped.
This was the Qingding Military Drill Ground, Qin Wenyuan’s territory. Who would have thought Su Yi wouldn’t restrain himself even here? He was still as domineering as could be!
“Brazen! Su Yi, take a look around you! Don’t you understand your situation? How dare you be so arrogant? Aren't you afraid of getting chopped to pieces?” Qin Feng pointed at Su Yi and shouted.
Qin Wenyuan frowned. He wanted to silence his son, because he knew full well that in this sort of verbal clash, his son was at a disadvantage. He’d already lost to Su Yi before; shouting like this was just inviting his own humiliation.
But it was too late. Just as Qin Wenyuan feared, Huang Qianjun, who’d already walked over to a safe corner, immediately lost his temper. He laughed coldly, “Qin Feng, who was it who knelt that day? Who was it who slapped himself in the face and apologized? That incident shook the entire city! Who’d have thought that you of all people still had the gall to call others arrogant? I’m embarrassed on your behalf!”
“You
” Qin Feng’s face was practically green.
“Shut your mouth,” said Qin Wenyuan flatly. It was just one sentence, but Qin Feng shuddered, too terrified to say any more.
Even so, throughout the venue, the onlookers’ expressions were strange. So this was a tiger with a dog for a son.
Qin Wenyuan could naturally sense what they were thinking, and his expression turned even colder and more indifferent.
If he didn’t dispose of Su Yi today, going forward, no matter where his son went, people would bring this up to humiliate him!
Even as he thought this, his tone remained even. “Su Yi, I invited you here of my own volition, but also at Blueriver Sword Manor’s request.”
He paused, and his expression instantly grew terrifying and imposing. “You humiliated my son. I could perhaps let that go; after all, he was weaker than you. He has no one to blame but himself for that. But I cannot simply allow six of my guards to die in vain!”
His words reverberated throughout the military drill ground.
The thousands of soldiers stationed around the area, as well as the higher-ups of the prefectural governor’s estate, all wore unfriendly expressions as they glowered coldly at Su Yi.
The atmosphere was so stifled and oppressive that many of the gathered experts tensed up, and their expressions shifted.
But it was as if Su Yi didn’t even notice. His gaze swept across the area, and he said flatly, “You refuse to let them die in vain? Bring it on, then. I wanted to eliminate latent threats anyway; that’s why I came here in the first place.”
The crowd was stunned.
Su Yi was obviously standing there all by himself, yet it was as if he were a deity looking down on the world below. This wasn’t just “domineering.” He was simply arrogant to the extreme!
Qin Wenyuan’s eyes narrowed in response. Then, out of nowhere, he said, “Brother Yuan, are you sure you want to stick out your neck for this boy?”
Su Yi was far too calm. Qin Wenyuan found it difficult to determine the source of Su Yi’s confidence.
Yuan Wutong laughed. “First, we’ll have to wait and see whether or not Young Lord Su needs my help. If he doesn’t and I intervene anyway, that’d be as unnecessary as drawing legs on a snake.”
Old fox! Zhang Zhiyan cursed inwardly.
He could naturally tell that Qin Wenyuan was trying to get Yuan Wutong to make his position clear, but Yuan Wutong wasn’t falling for it.
But it didn’t matter. This exchange still made it clear to everyone present that Yuan Wutong, and by extension the Yuan Family, stood with Su Yi!
Qin Wenyuan fell briefly silent. Then, he turned to the seats at his right. “Everyone, Su Yi is the one who killed your families’ disciples last night. Now, he’s standing right in front of you. How do you propose we resolve this?”
The ones seated in those seats were Qian Yunjiu, Huo Long, Liu Ying, and the others’ seniors.
In response, a white-haired elder rose and shouted, both furious and aggrieved, “A fiend like him deserves death by a thousand cuts!”
The others shouted their agreement. “That’s right! Death by a thousand cuts!”
In an instant, Su Yi became the joint target of over a thousand men.
But his eyelids didn’t so much as twitch. He directly ignored them. He couldn’t be bothered to say so much as a single word.
If shouting were all it took to resolve worldly problems, what would be the point of cultivating?
Qin Wenyuan was watching Su Yi this whole time, and when he saw the young man’s calm composure and his complete lack of emotional ripples, he couldn’t help but frown.
He growled, “Su Yi, don’t you feel any regret at all? Aren’t you even the least bit ashamed of yourself?”
This time, Su Yi frowned too, and he said impatiently, “I’m here to resolve latent threats, not to listen to your nonsense. But then, you’re doing this to stall for time, aren’t you? You want to wait for Blueriver Sword Manor to get here before you attack, right?”
His questions weren’t the least bit polite. In response, Qin Wenyuan’s eyes flashed with cold light.
He was the prefectural governor, a Grandmaster renowned throughout the Imperatorial Province. When had anyone ever treated him this disdainfully before?
If not for the fact that, even now, he didn’t understand the source of Su Yi’s confidence, he would have attacked and killed Su Yi a long time ago.
Even the other influential figures couldn’t help but cluck their tongues. For the vast majority of them, this was their first time seeing Su Yi. He was just a young man, yet he was this domineering? Who wouldn’t have been surprised?
Only Yuan Wutong inwardly sighed with admiration. Only someone like this could create such peerless calligraphy!
He’d stayed up all night admiring that life of text, as if intoxicated. He not only didn’t think it boring; on the contrary, he felt a vague sense of enlightenment, as if his cultivation were showing signs of improvement!
This shook him to the core, but more than that, it made him keenly aware of just how extraordinary the “Master Su” his daughter spoke of really was.
Suddenly, another shout echoed throughout the military drill grounds. “Sect Master Mu Cangtu of Blueriver Sword Manor has arrived!”
Everyone was stunned, and all of them looked over at the gate.