Chapter 5 – The threat

Second day, dawn.

Flying at a fast speed, a 30 meters long refined black ship shot through the skies amongst the cloud towards Water Rites Town.

Xiang Pan Yung along with five other experts stood atop the flying-ship. Two servants directed the ship as it sped along the skies.

Xiang Pang Yun sat idly on the deck of the flying-ship, looking at the floating clouds around him and at times, gazing at the vast land beneath him.

“Dong Bo Xue Ying, 22 years?” Xiang Pang Yun lightly smiled, “If you really are a Legend ranker, then such a young Legend ranker would be a rare plaything for me.”

Snowrock Castle.

At the peak of Snowrock Mountain, outside the castle near a cliff, a teenager wearing a black outfit with black hair stood by himself, overlooking the mountain. Just by standing, any ordinary soldiers passing by could feel a mild pressure on them. Usually, Xue Ying would deliberately keep his killing intent to himself. Currently, he was not in a good mood. Thus, naturally, he subconsciously released an oppressive trace of breath, creating a palpable pressure that even any ordinary man could feel.

Da! Da! Da!

The horses quickly galloped, and three riders approached him.

“You’ve come,” Xue Ying turned his head in their direction.

The three riders noticed their lord waiting for them outside the castle. The leading commander amongst the riders immediately dismounted from his horse, passing its reins to his partner, before rushing towards Xue Ying.

“My Lord,” The rider said respectfully.

“Manor Lord Si An has news?” Xue Ying asked.

“Manor Lord Si An said, there is no news regarding the death of that young master amongst the nobles in the entire Water Rites Town. He has passed on the message up the chain towards the Dragon Mountain Manor of Azure River County, and I believe within three days, there would be results,”The rider replied.

Xue Ying frowned.

He had expected as much. The Manor Lord Si An was, after all, only in charge of everything within Water Rites Town. Xue Ying had sent his men out last night to immediately relate the request in the fastest manner possible with an appeal for investigations to be done as quickly as feasible. They had been waiting for a response from the Manor Lord from that time until now! Yet… the Manor Lord Si An’s investigation did not have any conclusive result. Si An still needed to request information from sources up the chain from his!

“Three days,” Xue Ying said to himself, “Let’s hope that there won’t be too many twists and turns. Humph. Regardless of who it is, I will not let them hurt Qing Shi.”

He had been caring for Qing Shi ever since his brother had been a baby.

Their brotherly relationship between them was so deep that it penetrated through their marrows already! For his little brother, Xue Ying would not hesitate to enter the Mountain Range of Desolation.

He had sometimes wondered why some people would sacrifice themselves for others! But having brought up his brother, having cared for him, and recalling when his brother would shout ‘Big Brother’ ‘Big Brother’ on his back, remembering when his little brother would hug his leg while shouting ‘Brother hug’, recollecting when his little brother would obediently lower his head to listen to his reprimand…

Xue Ying now finally understood that once a relationship was deep enough, it could transcend both life and death!

And this was exactly the relationship he had with his little brother.

“My Lord, this was given by the Manor Lord Si An for you,” The rider respectfully took out a scroll from his robe.

Xue Ying went back into the castle after receiving it.

At the entrance, many soldiers saluted respectfully.

“Send down the orders, for the next three days, Qing Shi is not allowed to step out of the castle!” Xue Ying commanded.

“Yes, my Lord.”

All the soldiers respectfully acknowledged.

As for whether Xue Ying would let his little brother out after three days passed, he would have to see if he found a solution to this matter.

Walking inside the castle, Xue Ying examined the scroll in his hands.

“En?”Xue Ying frowned, “This scroll is regarding little brother’s girlfriend Ji Rong?”

Before this, Xue Ying had sent a request asking Dragon Mountain Manor to investigate everything regarding Ji Rong. While the identity of that young master was as of yet unknown, the Manor Lord Si An still sent Xue Ying information regarding Ji Rong.

“Oh…”

Xue Ying closely scrutinised the information contained in the scroll.

Ji Rong’s father, Ji Wu Hai, struggled hard for his family when he was young. Having worked for 20 years, he successfully built the family’s business. After building a successful business, Ji Wu Hai married and had a daughter named Ji Rong! When she was young, Ji Rong had led a wealthy life. Later on, her uncle, who was in charge of the family business, had a falling out with Ji Rong’s family, taking their wealth and kicking them out the door.

With nowhere else to go, Ji Rong’s parents could only stay with her mother’s Clan, the Yan Clan. The financial fall and subsequent need to stay with the Yan Clan caused Ji Rong and her parents significant embarrassment.

The Yan Clan members were not kind to Ji Rong and her family and discriminated against them. As a result, Ji Rong led a poor and miserable childhood. Her father often drank to escape the misery.

When Ji Rong was nine…

Her father, Ji Wu Hai, awoke from his stupor and started another business. He achieved success within a year! After returning to Water Rites Town, her family once again grew in status. Her uncle’s lost all control of the Ji Clan’s family business and he became completely broke.

“En?” Xue Ying continued reading.

The information contained on the scroll went into detail describing the events of Ji Rong’s life along with all related matters she was involved with.

“After thorough investigations.”

“Several clues lead to the suspicion that Ji Wu Hai is a believer of a Demon! His wife and daughter are likely fellow believers as well!”

“Further investigations are still required.”

Seeing this, Xue Ying’s pupil contracted.

A believer of a Demon?

Dragon Mountain Manor had spent much effort in chasing after matters regarding the Demonic God, and if certain matters were affirmed to be true, they would immediately act on those matters! Actually, prior to Xue Ying’s information request, Dragon Mountain Manor had not known about Ji Wu Hai being a suspected Demon follower. It was only after Xue Ying’s request to investigate the background behind his brother’s little girlfriend that Dragon Mountain Manor decided to use its best investigative agents in discovering the background behind Ji Wu Hai’s entire family!

This kind of investigation was extremely detailed and was performed using various methodologies covering all aspects. Only after this thorough background check did Dragon Mountain Manor discover this ‘problem’ with the Rong family’s background.

However, to date, the information regarding the family’s Demon worshipping was just a suspicion with a need for more evidence.

“En?” Xue Ying continued to carefully read the scroll.

On the back side of the scroll, the researchers had inscribed many additional facts. These facts all supported the speculations by providing supplementary evidences gathered by Dragon Mountain Manor.

“Even if he is not a believer of Demon, this Ji Wu Hai belongs to an extremely savage generation,” Xue Ying was secretly surprised. That year, not only had Ji Wu Hai suffered by his big brother kicking his family out on the streets, but his wife’s clan had also sneered at him. After regaining his wealth and standing, Ji Wu Hai had inflicted excessively savage revenge on those who had caused his suffering. Because he had covered up his vengeful actions quite well, the Dragon Mountain Manor investigators were unable to uncover much — even after thorough research. They still could not get much information on the topic. It was only after several attempts at deep investigation did they find out anything at all about such happenings.

“A small beggar child was killed under Ji Rong’s orders for the offense of bumping into her?”

All these investigated results implied something insidious.

Proving that… it was not just Ji Wu Hai who was brutal. Even both his wife and daughter had a vicious side to them. They just happened to be able to hide their ferocious natures well. Yet Dragon Mountain Manor investigators were able to even uncover the death of a beggar child by intense research and detailed scrutiny.

“This cannot go on.”

“I’ll not allow Qing Shi to be with this kind of woman,” Xue Ying immediately made his decision.

A scheming woman, adept at lying, was rather savage at her core… compared to her, his little brother was too innocent and naive. Even when the someone schemed with the intention of killing Qing Shi, his innocent younger brother would still not dare to act.

That afternoon.

Xue Ying sat on the roof of the castle. His spirit and the nature were being united as one, allowing him to feel the profoundness of nature.

“En?” Xue Ying suddenly opened his eyes, looking upon the gates at the outer section of the castle.

“It’s Miss Ji Rong?”

“Please come in.”

The soldiers moved aside, allowing Ji Rong to enter the castle.

Ji Rong smiled sweetly as she entered, though she felt a rising uneasiness in her heart. Usually, Qing Shi would come and find her during the day, yet today, he did not come and look for her at all? Was it because of the matter regarding the clash with that noble young master? Ji Rong decided to come and find out what exactly had happened in order to let Qing Shi know she cared for him.

“Ji Rong,” At one of the corridors, a black-robed Xue Ying stood.

Ji Rong was startled, though she recovered quickly, “Big brother Xue Ying.”

“Do you still remember the beggar who died tragically six years ago?” Xue Ying coldly said.

Ji Rong’s heart trembled.

How did he know? Only a very few knew about this matter.

“Big brother Xue Ying,” Ji Rong looked up at Xue Ying., The cold-piercing eyes of his made her fluster nervously.

One with the World gave the user a powerful spiritual strength. Being stared at by him was akin to an ant being stared at by a gigantic dragon.

This was an instinctive level terror.

Ji Rong became even more alarmed.

“I will not care about your matters, but regarding my brother, you best leave his side,” Xue Ying said, “I’ll give you three days to do this. With your scheming ability, I believe this could be done easily, ending this affair of yours with my brother on a good note.

“You better listen to my words, otherwise, I’ll do something that is much worse than whatever you can imagine.” Xue Ying coldly stated.

Under the spiritual power’s pressure.

Under the threat of Xue Ying who now knew of some of the hidden matters behind her past, she felt an immense terror.

If Qing Shi was an innocent little brat, then his brother was someone too frightening. If she did not accept, he would kill her! One must know she now stood in the presence of a Spear Arts fanatic who had actually exterminated the entire Bent Blade Union with a long spear when he was a year younger than Qing Shi – at 15.