Chapter 87

Chapter 87

In just a few short sentences, Lord Xiao had revealed something horrifying.

Judging from their conversation, Lord Xiao had come for the thing I had brought back from Wangting Mountain.

That thing was probably the key to opening the Sword Array.

Inside the Sword Array, within the bronze cauldron, it wasn’t only Liu Junyan’s mother who was trapped. The woman Lord Xiao loved was in there too?

So Lord Xiao had guarded the Forbidden Zone, yet turned a blind eye to Li Qingying’s monthly visits because he simply didn’t care.

All he cared about was the lover trapped inside the Sword Array.

Year after year, more than a hundred years had passed in the blink of an eye.

I thought back to the night we left, to his lonely figure standing at the edge of the cliff.

He had waited far too long. The moment a ray of hope shone in, he couldn’t hold himself back.

He lost his reason.

He pressed Liu Junyan hard, even attacked him, but Liu Junyan’s answer never changed. Three words: “Not possible!”

One move in this matter would affect everything. Liu Junyan wouldn’t get a second chance.

His firm refusal earned him another heavy punch. Lord Xiao had suppressed himself for too long, and today, he really was on the verge of losing his mind. “Give it to me!”

“Not possible!”

“Liu Junyan, you’re nothing but a coward! You couldn’t protect your mother. You didn’t dare pursue the one you loved. And now, have you even lost the courage to resist this much?!”

“Ao Xiao, get a hold of yourself!”

“I can’t! How am I supposed to get a hold of myself? Susu is trapped in that Soul Cauldron, suffering day and night. Liu Junyan, tell me-how am I supposed to stay calm?”

“Are you certain that opening the Sword Array will let Zhong Susu escape from the Soul Cauldron? You wouldn’t be saving her. You’d be sending her a death warrant!”

Those words struck Lord Xiao hard.

After a brief silence, I heard Lord Xiao’s voice, sounding as if he were falling apart. “A hundred years. A full hundred years!”

“Every night, the moment I close my eyes, I see Susu’s pained, helpless gaze. She’s begging me. Begging me to help her find release.”

“Seventh Master, if she’s destined never to be saved, maybe letting her be released sooner would be better.”

“And this release you speak of means letting her soul scatter into nothing, never to be reincarnated for all eternity?”

Lord Xiao froze.

“Have you forgotten how you advised me more than a hundred years ago, when Little Fire Fox disappeared? Now that it’s happened to you, why can’t you see through it?”

“Ao Xiao, if I could wait until Little Fire Fox came back, then you can save Zhong Susu too. I will help you, but not now. I never fight a battle I have no confidence in winning.”

Lord Xiao finally seemed to calm down. The Main Hall fell into a long silence.

After quite some time, the front door was suddenly pulled open, and Lord Xiao walked out from inside.

Maybe because they had fought in there just now, the hood of his black robe had fallen back. This was the first time I had ever seen Lord Xiao’s face.

He had a striking, heroic face, with thick brows, large eyes, a high nose bridge, and full lips. In terms of Facial Features, it was the face of a loyal and deeply devoted man.

But at the corner of his right eye was a deep sword scar that nearly crossed his right temple, adding a faintly roguish edge to his entire presence.

He stepped over the threshold and saw Li Qingying and me huddled in the corner, but he said nothing. He pulled his hood back on and strode away.

Li Qingying hissed softly and whispered, “The corner of Lord Xiao’s mouth was bruised purple. Seventh Master is probably in even worse shape. Xiao Jiu, hurry and go check on Seventh Master.”

With that, she shoved me inside and even closed the door behind me.

Liu Junyan was leaning against the Black Coffin, head lowered, his thumb wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.

Hearing the movement, he looked up at me.

The entire right side of his face was swollen, and there were traces of blood at his lips. Lord Xiao had been even more ruthless.

These two brothers really were… beyond words.

I turned and ran to the front to get some ice, wrapped it in gauze, then returned to the Main Hall. The door to the East Room was open, and Liu Junyan was sitting by the table, lost in thought.
I walked over and pressed an ice pack to his swelling while scolding him. “Why are you so honest? When Lord Xiao’s fist came down, couldn’t you have dodged?”

They were all cultivators. No matter how angry Lord Xiao was, would he really strike to kill?

If Liu Junyan had wanted to dodge, he definitely could have.

Liu Junyan leaned his head against my waist, like a big wolfdog who’d been wronged. “I owed him that.”

I stroked his head. Then, thinking of something, I tentatively called, “Ah Yan…”

Liu Junyan looked up at me. “Mm?”

I stared into his eyes and asked, “What is the Crimson Dragon Scale Garment?”

Back then, to help me get Fengwu back, he had asked Li Qingying to request something from Lord Xiao, and in exchange he had gained one day to leave.

Li Qingying had said that using that thing would cause Liu Junyan to suffer an extremely powerful backlash.

And that thing was probably the Crimson Dragon Scale Garment Lord Xiao had mentioned.

Liu Junyan’s vertical pupils visibly contracted. Then he leaned his head back against my waist and shook it. “It’s all in the past. Don’t worry about it.”

“Liu Junyan,” I said seriously, “don’t ever do anything stupid for me again, understand?”

Liu Junyan chuckled softly, but he didn’t answer me.

Over the next few days, Liu Junyan focused on recovering from his injuries, while I spent every day practicing driving and memorizing the test material.

On the day of the driver’s license exam, everything went smoothly.

All that was left was to wait for the license to be issued.

I was in a great mood. On the way back, I bought a few tasty things, already calculating when I could go pick up my car.

But when I returned to the Pawnshop, I realized something was wrong the moment I reached the front gate.

The Hexagonal Palace Lantern beneath the west-side corridor was gone.

I immediately went inside to find Li Qingying. “Sister Qingying, did Liu Junyan go out?”

Li Qingying hurried over and lowered her voice. “He went to the Teahouse. Xiao Jiu, you should get over there too. It was an invitation from the Fox Lord, and it seems he brought that woman with him.”

My heart gave a heavy thud.

What had to come had come after all.

The other side really couldn’t wait.

Without thinking, I turned and headed toward the Teahouse.

Although Liu Junyan had chosen me, why exactly was the Fox Lord helping that girl so much?

Could it be… Liu Junyan really had mistaken me for someone else?

My thoughts were a chaotic mess, and before long, I was standing inside the Teahouse.

I was familiar with the proprietress, so after asking around a little, I found out which private room Liu Junyan was in and walked over.

To my surprise, the door to that room wasn’t fully closed. Through the crack, I looked inside and saw three people seated around the table.

Liu Junyan and the Fox Lord sat facing each other, while that girl sat on the inner side beside the Fox Lord.

The Fox Lord’s voice reached me first. “Ah Li has returned through reincarnation, so of course she’s different now. But you should at least recognize the feather mark between her brows and her Lifebound Artifact, shouldn’t you?”

Liu Junyan said flatly, “Of course.”

The Fox Lord let out a breath of relief. “That’s why I said you’ve mistaken her for someone else. Seventh Master, Xiao Jiu is Xiao Jiu, and Ah Li is Ah Li. Xiao Jiu can never replace Ah Li.”

The girl inside quickly said in an obedient tone, “I don’t blame her for impersonating me. As long as she leaves on her own, I don’t mind…”

“I mind,” Liu Junyan said coldly. “Xiao Jiu is the one I have chosen in this life. No one can replace her.”

The Fox Lord was somewhat angered. “Seventh Master, you’ve gone too far! After all the years of affection between you and Ah Li, you’re saying you can just let it go?”

“If I’ve let it go, isn’t that better for you?” Liu Junyan said mockingly. “Fox Lord, here’s a sincere suggestion: when you have time, go wash your eyes in the Rootless Spring. Don’t blame me for not warning you if you end up completely blind one day.”

Then he turned to the girl and said, “And miss, I’ll give you a piece of advice too. You can paint a tiger’s skin, but not its bones. If you’ve stolen someone else’s things, you’d better return them soon.”