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After that voice rang out, the curtains opened completely, revealing a clear, beautiful face. Its owner’s ink-black eyebrows were raised with a mix of delight, surprise, and disbelief.
Su Yi stopped in his tracks and turned to look. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “What are you doing here?”
The woman in the carriage was none other than Xiao Zijin, Lady Spiritjade.
They first met back in Cloudriver Prefecture, along the banks of the Great Azure not far from Guangling City. Zijin was with her grandfather, Xiao Tianque, when they happened upon Su Yi as he practiced the Pine and Crane Body Refining Technique.
During this chance encounter, Su Yi helped resolve the corpse poison afflicting Xiao Tianque, and he helped Xiao Tianque revise the clan’s legacy cultivation technique, the Golden Billows Incantation.
Su Yi wouldn’t have guessed that now, months later, he’d encounter Xiao Zijin here, at a remote, humble little teahouse not far from an official road.
Furthermore, it seemed there were people out to get her.
But then, this makes sense. The Lanling Xiao Family lives in the White Province; it’s not at all strange that she’d appear here
 It didn’t take Su Yi long to understand.
“Master Su, I didn’t expect I’d encounter you here,” said Zijin, her fair, goose-egg-shaped face lighting up with delight.
But then, her gaze inadvertently landed on the soon-to-be combatants staring daggers at each other over at the tea shop, and her expression changed dramatically. She cried out, “Master Su, hurry up and leave! Later on, when I get the chance, I’ll come looking for you and we can reminisce!”
When you encountered a good friend, you ought to welcome them joyously. However, her current plight left Zijin inwardly frantic, and she had no choice but to consider Su Yi’s safety. She worried she’d implicate him.
“Why wait until later?” Su Yi’s gaze swept across the group. He said calmly, “They’re nothing but a bunch of clay dogs and chickens. If we want to reminisce, they can’t stop us.”
Zi Jin was stunned.
So was the hulking carriage driver, Xie Yuanshan. He looks so young. Who would have thought he had such a mouth on him?
Xie Yuanshan sighed, then said gravely, “Young Lord, you don’t understand the situation. You’d best heed the young mistress’s advice and avoid getting involved. Please, leave as quickly as possible to avoid bringing disaster upon yourself.”
He'd already pegged Su Yi for a dandy nobleman ignorant of the world’s dangers.
“That’s right. Master Su, please leave right away. Later
 We’ll have a chance to meet again someday,” Zijin said hurriedly, concern written all over her face.
She’d heard about Su Yi making a name for himself in the Cloudriver Prefectural Capital, and that he was strong enough to slay a Grandmaster. She knew that even the mighty prefectural governor, Qin Wenyuan, had fallen beneath his sword.
But this was different. Without exception, all of their foes were long-famous Grandmasters renowned throughout the White Province!
Wen Qingju wasn’t far away, and he heard every word. “You want to leave now? Don’t even think about it!”
They’d witnessed Su Yi and Zijin’s entire exchange. Now, when they looked at Su Yi, their gazes brimmed with dense killing intent.
“I knew there was something fishy about that kid!” said the gray-robed youth, his expression dark. His companions—the pigtailed girl, the beautiful woman, and the old man in simple cloth robes—glowered murderously as well.
They’d almost been fooled!
Pei Yundu furrowed his brow and bellowed, “Old Xie, hurry and take the young mistress and that kid away! You cannot delay any further!”
“Attack!” Wen Qingju said coldly, then drew his spiritual sword with a clang. He immediately charged toward Pei Yundu.
Sword qi arced like a rainbow, intimidating to the extreme, and the battle began.
The gray-robed youth and his companions, meanwhile, shot straight toward the horse-drawn carriage.
“Young Mistress, take the young lord with you and run. Hurry!” Xie Yuanshan gnashed his teeth, charged, and stood protectively in front of the carriage. The aura of a third-level Grandmaster spread out around him.
“With me here, why rush to die in battle?” When he saw Xie Yuanshan’s determination, Su Yi couldn’t help but sigh. He reached out, grabbed the coarse, hulking man by the collar, and set him aside, as easily as if he were picking up a chicken.
Xie Yuanshan was instantly stunned. From beginning to end, he didn’t even realize what was happening

Meanwhile, the gray-robed youth and his companions were already charging right toward them.
Boom!
The gray-robed youth held a bronze mace in each hand. He struck like lightning with terrifying momentum, swinging through the air. Each bronze mace left streaks of dazzling light in its wake.
“Watch out!” Zijin had only just emerged from the carriage when the look on her pretty face changed dramatically. She couldn’t help but cry out in alarm.
Su Yi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Every little thing is enough to startle them; they’re making this seem dangerous.
“Die!” The gray-robed youth’s eyes flashed with hideous light as he charged explosively over.
Only to see—
Su Yi gently waving his sleeves.
Boom!
The gray-robed youth was three feet away when his body suddenly burst apart. Both maces shattered into fragments, the pieces shooting in all four directions.
It was just one wave of his sleeves, yet it was as majestic as the descent of a deity. Even a Grandmaster like the gray-robed youth exploded into bits. Blood and gore scattered like rain.
When they witnessed this terrifying spectacle, his companions’ expressions changed.
However, when you rode a tiger, it was hard to get back off. They had no time to dodge, or else they’d inevitably reveal fatal openings.
“Die!”
The elder in simple cloth robes gnashed his teeth, clenched his knife, and stabbed with all his might.
Practically simultaneously, the beautiful woman attacked from the sides. Her weapon was highly distinctive—a nine-jointed steel whip. When she shook her wrists, the steel boomed and swept downward, stirring up terrifying winds. Even the air shrieked and burst beneath it.
Su Yi’s expression remained calm. He snapped his fingers in rapid succession.
Two streaks of radiant gold sword qi shot through the air in a flash.
Splurt!
The old man split open. Blood poured down like a waterfall, and his short knife clattered to the ground.
Splurt!
Both the woman and her nine-jointed whip snapped at the midline. A piteous, desperate shriek escaped the woman’s lips, then came to an abrupt halt.
In the blink of an eye, Su Yi swatted two Grandmasters as if they were flies!
That quick, smooth, effortless and understated bearing scared the little girl in pigtails so badly that she couldn’t help but shriek. She tried to escape, only for a long, slender white hand to seize her by the neck.
“When we met, I could tell at a glance that you weren’t human. You even offered me a jujube. Do you have any idea how disgusting a ghost in painted skin pretending to be a little girl is?” Su Yi’s indifferent gaze bore into her.
She shrieked, and the blood drained from her face. “Mystic Master, spare my life!”
Bang!
Su Yi exerted pressure through his fingers, and the little girl deflated like a popped ball, caving in on herself until only an empty human skin remained.
“You’d harm even such a young child? Qing Wan is adorable and kind, but you’re nothing like her. Your death is unworthy of pity.” Su Yi flicked his finger, and the hide burst into flame, burnt to ash, and scattered with the wind.
Then, he brushed off his clothes, as leisurely and calmly as if the people he’d killed were nothing but ants.
Xie Yuanshan stood there in a daze, his heart filled with utter astonishment. In just three blinks of an eye, Su Yi slew four Grandmasters as effortlessly as if he were tearing through paper!
How terrifying of a cultivation did one need to achieve such a feat?
Zijin was dumbstruck too, and she looked bewildered. The sight shook her to the core, and she suddenly realized that her understanding of Su Yi was far removed from reality!
Wen Qingju and Pei Yundu were locked in bitter combat off in the distance, but when they saw Su Yi take down all four assailants, both were so stunned that their scalps went numb and their souls practically left their bodies.
And here they’d thought Su Yi was just another perfectly ordinary youth. They figured that even if he were strong for his age, he couldn’t possibly be a match for a Grandmaster.
Who would have guessed
.?
This “ordinary youth” killed Grandmasters with casual ease! That was just too terrifying!
“Out of my way!” Wen Qingju suddenly bellowed, leaped back, turned, and fled.
Pei Yundu was just about to give chase when

A streak of golden sword light shot forth, tearing through the air. Wen Qingju was over a thousand feet away, but it slashed right into his body.
Splurt!
He was a fifth-level Grandmaster and the leader of the White Provincial Capital’s number-one underground organization, the Bluelake Gang, but he died on the spot. Blood sprayed the air.
Boom!
That sharp, seemingly unblockable streak of sword qi tore a perfectly-straight rift in the dirt, stirring up a cloud of dust.
Pei Yundu was so stunned, he broke out in cold sweats. He instinctively turned to look, and saw that the blue-robed youth was just as calm and composed as before.
He hadn’t changed, but to Pei Yundu, he now resembled a deity!
“Young Lord, thank you for lending us your aid!” He rushed over and bowed in greeting, awe and admiration written all over his face.
He was a long-established Grandmaster of the White Province, but it seemed Su Yi’s display of power had left him thoroughly convinced.
Xie Yuanshan was standing there in a daze, but when he heard this, he reacted as if awakening from a dream. He suddenly took a deep breath and bowed. “Earlier, I was blind. If I offended you, I humbly request your magnanimity.”
When he thought back to how he mistook Su Yi for some ignorant young dandy, he felt deeply awkward and ashamed.
“No need to be so polite. It was no trouble,” said Su Yi offhandedly. At his current cultivation, killing Grandmasters was indeed effortless, and he felt no sense of accomplishment afterward.
As he spoke, his gaze turned toward Zi Jin. “Why did they intercept you?”
She was the lofty young mistress of the Lanling Xiao Family, someone the current emperor had personally bequeathed the title "Lady Spiritjade." Despite this, a group had intercepted and attacked her out in the wilderness. Something strange was afoot here.
Zijin steadied her nerves, sighed, then explained from beginning to end.
It turned out that, not long ago, her grandfather, Xiao Tianque, had learned from an old friend that the Su Family was rallying its forces, and that they planned to send them to the Imperatorial Provincial Capital to deal with a young man named Su Yi.
Xiao Tianque instantly realized that the young man the Su Family was targeting was none other than the “Master Su” who’d once saved his life.
Thus, Xiao Tianque immediately sought out his son, Xiao Hengqiu, to discuss the matter.
Xiao Hengqiu was the head of the Xiao Family, and when he heard the news, he too realized how serious the problem was. He immediately decided to dispatch the Xiao Family’s forces. They were to proceed to the Imperatorial Province and rescue Su Yi in secret.
Who’d have thought that, shortly after Xiao Hengqiu and Xiao Tianque reached this decision, word of their plan somehow got out?
The Xiao Family’s grand elder, Xiao Zhongying, led an entire group of the family’s higher-ups to stop them, saying that if Xiao Hengqiu dared attempt to rescue Su Yi, they’d strip him of his position as family head.
Xiao Hengqiu naturally refused to back down. However, against all expectations, Xiao Zhongying came prepared. He didn’t just bring a large army; he even invited the White Province’s Cloud-Scraping King, Shi Lanshan, to reinforce him!
A chaotic battle ensued.
Xiao Hengqiu was ousted from power, and Xiao Tianque was taken captive. Before long, Xiao Hengqiu and practically all of his followers were taken into custody and imprisoned as well.
And the former grand elder, Xiao Zhongying, took over the precious seat of head of the Lanling Xiao Family with the Cloud-Scraping King’s support.
Even Zijin was placed under house arrest in her own residence, no different from a prisoner.
It was only last night that she finally found an opportunity to escape and successfully fled the clan with Xie Yuanshan’s assistance.
Theft is never good, try looking at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.
Who’d have thought that so soon after escaping the White Provincial Capital, she’d encounter forces dispatched to pursue them?
She met Su Yi almost immediately after.
When Su Yi heard the entire tale, he couldn’t help but frown. He would never have guessed that the Lanling Xiao Family’s inner conflict and Xiao Zijin’s predicament were all connected to him!