Chapter 265: Jade Broken

Lin Wei was in high spirits!

Yesterday she found Xiao Chen again; after a painful struggle, Xiao Chen agreed to get back together with her, but he asked her not to reveal this for now to avoid Xiao Hua finding out and breaking them up.

Once Xiao Chen completes his bone marrow purification, Xiao Hua will be unable to oppose them; meanwhile, he urged her to cultivate diligently so that both of them could strive to earn Xiao Hua's approval.

"I will definitely work hard!" Lin Wei thought.

Xiao Hua opposed her and Xiao Chen only because her talent was insufficient; as long as she achieves mastery of Gang Qi and Xiao Chen completes his bone marrow purification, Xiao Hua will not oppose their union.

"Lin Wei, someone is looking for you."

Just as she was about to enter her room to cultivate, a person living in the same courtyard suddenly shouted.

Lin Wei walked out of the courtyard and saw an unfamiliar person outside.

"Are you Lin Wei? Someone asked me to deliver this to you."

Just as she showed confusion, the person handed her a note and then left.

Lin Wei opened the note and saw four large characters written on it: "Meet at the old place."

Although there was no signature, she recognized the familiar handwriting at a glance as belonging to her lover, Xiao Chen.

"Chen Lang is too cautious; to see me, he even had to send someone with a letter, but it's good to be careful; if Uncle Xiao finds out, he will punish Chen Lang again."

Lin Wei wore a sweet expression, shattered the note with her Gang Qi, returned to her room to put on makeup, and immediately went out.

The so-called old place was a valley five kilometers outside the Ziyang Sect Shanmen, the place where she and Xiao Chen had pledged their love.

Rushing all the way to the valley, she saw flowers blooming in clusters, butterflies and bees fluttering about, and a figure standing with hands clasped behind his back amidst the flowers, his back exuding an indescribable elegance and charm.

Lin Wei's eyes seemed to be dyed with honey as she softly called out, "Chen Lang!"

Already moved by affection, she spread her arms and ran toward him.

Ahead, the figure in the flowers slowly turned, revealing the face of a middle-aged man.

Lin Wei's delicate body trembled as if struck by lightning, and she cried out in shock, "Uncle... Uncle Xiao?"

Panic surged in her heart; why was it not Xiao Chen, but Uncle Xiao? Had they been discovered?

Xiao Hua narrowed his eyes slightly and sighed, "Niece Lin, is it not good to live well? Why must you persist in this entanglement?"

Lin Wei's pretty face turned deathly pale as she realized something, and she stammered, "Did... did Xiao Chen deliberately lure me out?"

Killing intent in Xiao Hua's eyes gradually intensified: "My son was just playing with you, yet you took it seriously; the woman he will marry is a noble lady from the Su family, not a fallen family girl from a small county town like you.

Do not blame us for being ruthless; blame only yourself for coveting what you should not have coveted, thinking that sleeping with my son would make you my Xiao family's daughter-in-law.

In your next life, remember: if you wish to climb the dragon and attach yourself to the phoenix, you must first see whether you have the capital and whether your families are of equal status."

Boom!

A mighty aura surged from his body, shattering the surrounding flowers and grass.

"Uncle Xiao, please don't!"

Lin Wei's face changed drastically; she turned to flee.

But before she could even turn, Xiao Hua had already slashed a palm strike through the air.

A flash of red light appeared; a stream of Gang Qi obliterated Lin Wei's protective Gang Qi as if destroying withered wood, then crashed heavily into her back.

Crack!

Accompanied by the crisp sound of bones breaking, Lin Wei's pretty face turned pale; she spat out large mouthfuls of blood and was sent flying.

By the time she landed, there was little vitality left in her eyes, her face filled with venom and regret.

Before her eyes, scenes from the past replayed; she recalled the moment she first met Xiao Chen, with his graceful bearing and charming demeanor, plus his father being an executive and his family background being respectable, and she had fallen for Xiao Chen at first sight.

She then recalled Xu Yang's subsequent warning to her, which she had retorted with the self-important line, "A graceful and virtuous lady is sought by a gentleman."

Before her eyes, Xu Yang's expressions during his many attempts to persuade her surfaced; among these expressions were both helplessness and mockery.

"So he knew all along that I would end up this way; I regret not listening to my father, I regret not heeding Junior Brother Xu's warning..."

Lin Wei regretted the past bitterly; she regretted not listening to her father's instructions, not obeying Xu Yang, and misjudging the pig-and-dog heart hidden beneath Xiao Chen's graceful and charming exterior.

Alas, there is no medicine for regret in this world.

Her spine and all her internal organs had been completely crushed by Xiao Hua's palm strike.

"I curse you, father and son with wolf hearts and dog guts, to meet a miserable death..." Lin Wei said with her last ounce of strength.

Having spoken, she died on the spot.

"Absurd; if curses worked, I would have died dozens of times already."

Xiao Hua's expression was indifferent, as if he had not killed a friend's daughter, but merely a cat or a dog.

He slashed another palm strike through the air, blasting Lin Wei's head to pieces; he then dug a large pit in the ground, pushed Lin Wei's corpse into it, buried her, and only then strode away.

"Letting you rest in peace is at least something I can do for you..."

After breaking into the Top Ten Heroes list, Xu Yang's fame grew significantly; more people greeted him on the street, and even people like Guo Huai invited him to eat and drink every few days to maintain their relationship.

However, as Su Zhe, who ranked ninth among the Ten Heroes, and the second and third-ranked members of the Top Ten successively achieved minor mastery of Gang Qi, Xu Yang still had made no breakthrough; people began to question whether he was truly worthy of his reputation and qualified to be one of the Ten Heroes.

Xu Yang was quite pleased by this; having doubts was good.

During this period, he went down the mountain once more to refine two hundred Blood-Coagulating Pills for the Zhu family.

The matter of the Xuelian Sect did not spread among the outer sect disciples, but Xu Yang still noticed that many more inner sect disciples had gone down the mountain and heard that several extremely terrifying battles had occurred in Qingyang City.

The Renwudian also had many more bounty missions.

Xu Yang did not touch any of these missions; he chose not to leave the Shanmen.

One day, after returning from practicing martial arts outside, having just finished his bath, he saw Sun Tao arriving with Jiang Ping and Zhang Yong, all looking anxious.

"Junior Brother Xu, something has happened; Junior Sister Lin Wei has been missing for two days."

His tone carried a note of panic, trembling slightly.

Being missing for two days basically meant something had happened; the person was likely already dead.

"The person who just shared a courtyard with Junior Sister Lin Wei came to tell me that Junior Sister Lin Wei has been out for two days and still hasn't returned. I went to Shanmen to inquire, and two days ago she left Shanmen alone and has never come back."

If something happened to Lin Wei, he truly did not know how to explain it to Lin Cheng.

Xu Yang's expression changed slightly; the thing he had foreseen seemed to have come true.

Xiao Hua, Xiao Chen!

The first thing he thought of was that this father and son had killed Lin Wei.

"But did you find out why Senior Sister Lin Wei left Shanmen?"

Sun Tao said, "It seems that after someone delivered a note to her, she left the courtyard and never returned."

After speaking, he urged, "Don't ask about these things for now. I have already asked Senior Brother Jiang Ping to find Junior Brother Zhang Yong. I have contacted some people to help search down the mountain."

"Senior Brother, wait a moment!"

Xu Yang returned to his room, grabbed the spiked wolf-tooth blade, and then went out with Sun Tao.

The two of them rushed to Shanmen together, and only then did Xu Yang realize that Sun Tao had invited quite a few people, more than a dozen.

Some were allies who had formed an alliance with Sun Tao, while the rest were disciples of Sunutang, those who had formed an alliance with Lin Wei.

"How does Brother Sun plan to search for Junior Sister Lin?" Liu Qian spoke up.

Sun Tao said, "Let's search Qingyang City first. If we still can't find her, we will search along the way."

The group consisted of either friends of Sun Tao or friends of Lin Wei; there were no objections, and they immediately left Shanmen to rush to Qingyang City.

In fact, everyone knew it was merely doing one's part and leaving the rest to fate; Lin Wei was likely already gone.

Without encountering any troubles along the way, they quickly arrived at Qingyang City. Sun Tao said, "Everyone, split up and search the city. Regardless of whether you find her, gather at the city gate at Mao hour."

Once inside the city, the dozen or so people separated.

By Mao hour, Xu Yang had found nothing. He returned to the city gate to meet with Sun Tao and the others, only to find everyone shaking their heads.

"Let's search along the way again."

Sun Tao sighed; deep in his heart, he had already concluded that something had happened to Lin Wei.

The dozen or so people basically walked through every street and alley of Qingyang City in a single day. If Lin Wei were in the city, it would be impossible not to encounter her.

The group searched along the way again, all the way back to Ziyang Sect, but still found nothing.