Chapter 231

"Damn, this woman really isn't a pushover."

Seeing Jiang Chuxue's cold gaze land directly on Jiang Ye, Huang Gang's brows immediately knotted into a lump.

He had dealt with all kinds of people in this Forging Hall for most of his life and was quite familiar with this True Transmission Jiang's style of conduct.

High talent, noble status, and a temper that was domineering to the highest degree; she would cause trouble on the spot at the slightest sign of defiance.

He hurriedly gave Jiang Ye a look and transmitted his voice via true qi:

"Old Sir, you should leave quickly."

"This woman is a True Transmission disciple of the Upper Sect and is quite difficult to provoke."

"Don't worry, I will forge your weapon as usual; just come back to pick it up in seven days, and the quality will definitely not be discounted."

Jiang Ye sized Jiang Chuxue up casually, not taking her words to heart at all.

So what if she was an Upper Sect True Transmission?

He had even killed a Primordial martial artist; was he afraid of a mere Mid-Realm Divine Qi Realm True Transmission shouting at him?

It was Zheng Feng's performance at this moment that made him more concerned.

He saw Zheng Feng's breathing almost stall, the muscles on his cheeks trembling slightly, his teeth clenched so hard that his jaw bulged, and bloodshot threads appeared in those usually gentle and peaceful eyes; he stared fixedly at Jiang Chuxue, the hatred surging in that gaze almost solidifying.

"So he really does know her..."

A flash of understanding crossed Jiang Ye's eyes.

When Lü Ming mentioned the name Jiang Chuxue earlier, Zheng Feng's reaction had been quite abnormal; at the time, he had vaguely guessed that the two should know each other.

Now it seemed, it was more than just knowing each other...

This expression of wishing to bite the other person to pieces and swallow them clearly indicated some deep hatred and grievance.

"How bold!"

Seeing that the gray-clothed old man actually dared to ignore her words, a stinging cold light flashed in Jiang Chuxue's eyes, and she was about to act.

However, the moment she stepped forward, her peripheral vision inadvertently swept over the young man standing beside Jiang Ye who had been keeping his head down, and her feet stopped abruptly.

Her cold, pretty face suddenly froze.

Her expression changed repeatedly in a very short time.

First surprise, then shock, and finally settling into a more sharp, more pointed look of resentment.

"Zheng Feng?!"

A cold smile of unknown meaning slowly curled at the corner of Jiang Chuxue's mouth, her voice carrying a complex emotion that was unclear whether it was sarcasm or satisfaction:

"I really never thought I would see you again in this lifetime!"

"I thought you would hide like a turtle for the rest of your life!"

She stepped forward quickly, her sharp eyes sizing up the robes on Zheng Feng's body, and then she sneered:

"This is the Tianqing Sect's clothing..."

"So you've been hiding in those small sects in the prefecture cities below all these years."

"However, you should have just kept hiding..."

"Why did you have to pop out again!"

With the last sentence, she was almost gritting her teeth, popping the words out one by one.

"Zheng Feng... so this kid is from the Zheng family; no wonder he looked a bit familiar..."

Huang Gang rubbed his stubbly chin thoughtfully.

Then, as if remembering some old story, a flash of pity couldn't help but cross his eyes as he looked at Zheng Feng, and he muttered in his heart:

"It seems the rumors from back then were true..."

"That kid is the victim whose wife was snatched away by his older brother..."

Zheng Feng's eyes were blood-red as he stared fixedly at the woman before him who was both familiar and strange; his teeth were clenched so hard they rattled, and his lips moved several times, but he couldn't spit out a single word.

"Hah... hah..."

His breathing was suppressed with extreme anger, the veins on his clenched fists bulging, his fingernails digging deep into his palms, and bright red blood threads already seeping out from between his fingers.

For a moment, Jiang Ye, standing beside him, could even feel a scorching Fire-element true qi uncontrollably overflowing from Zheng Feng's body, as if it would erupt at any moment.

However, in the end, Zheng Feng took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the surging anger.

He loosened his fists, shifted his gaze away from Jiang Chuxue, and said to Jiang Ye in a hoarse, low voice:

"Elder Jiang, let's go."

Having said that, he turned and walked past Jiang Chuxue, heading toward the outside of the hall without looking back.

Jiang Ye was slightly startled.

Seeing Zheng Feng's sky-high hatred just now, he thought this kid was going to have a big fight with Jiang Chuxue.

He had even prepared to "intervene at the right time."

He didn't expect Zheng Feng to swallow this anger alive and just leave like that.

He shook his head slightly, didn't stay long, told Huang Gang to pick up the weapon in seven days, and paced out of the hall unhurriedly with his hands behind his back.

From beginning to end, he didn't look at Jiang Chuxue again.

Jiang Chuxue stood in place, watching Zheng Feng's receding back, that sharp, cold smile still hanging on her face:

"He really doesn't look like a man; he's as cowardly as ever."

"Tianqing Sect..."

"That's the sect that entered Tianyun Peak a while ago, right."

Not until the two left the eastern region of the city and returned to the foot of the Three Spirits Mountain was the mountain path sparsely populated, with only the clear wind passing through the pine forest, emitting a low, wailing sound.

Zheng Feng suddenly stopped, turned around, bowed deeply to Jiang Ye, his voice hoarse and heavy:

"I'm sorry, Elder Jiang, I might... have brought trouble to you all... that woman, she won't let it go."

Jiang Ye shook his head calmly, his gaze landing on Zheng Feng's bitter face, and asked with some curiosity:

"True Transmission Zheng, between you and that woman... is there some grievance?"

Hearing this, Zheng Feng fell silent all of a sudden.

The mountain wind blew the stray hair on his forehead into a mess; he lowered his head, his lips moving several times, as if repeatedly weighing how to speak.

After quite a while, he let out a long sigh, a self-deprecating smile that was uglier than crying appearing on his face: "That woman... can be considered my 'former fiancée'..."

"Former fiancée?!"

Jiang Ye's brows arched, and a rare look of strangeness appeared on that old face.

This identity...

It was truly unexpected to him.

He had originally thought the two were at most enemies or old acquaintances; he never imagined it was this kind of relationship...

Having reached this point, Zheng Feng had no intention of hiding it.

He raised his head to look at the clouds at the end of the mountain path dyed dark red by the setting sun, a look of half-crying, half-laughing appearing on his handsome, delicate face, and he spoke in a hoarse voice:

"I come from the Zheng family, one of the five great families in the giant city of Linzhou, and I could be considered to have enjoyed wealth since childhood."

"My father had quite a status in the Zheng family; when he was traveling in Lingchuan Prefecture in his early years, he discovered a very talented girl in a poor village—that was Jiang Chuxue."

"He felt this girl had rare aptitude and was a Metal-element body, so he brought her back to the Zheng family to cultivate carefully and even had her engaged to me."

"I was quite happy at the time..."

"I felt that although this girl came from a humble background, her talent was excellent and her heart was pure; marrying her could be considered finding a treasure."

"Later, I realized how ridiculous that thought was."

His voice paused, and his Adam's apple rolled up and down, as if he were swallowing something bitter.

"My parents went missing while traveling in Miaozhou."

"From then on, the status of Xiaohui and me in the Zheng family plummeted."

"Jiang Chuxue's ambition also began to be exposed, and she was no longer satisfied with me."

"After she got familiar with the Zheng family, she hooked up with one of my cousins."

"That cousin of mine..."

"Is the most talented martial artist the Zheng family has had in the last hundred years, with a bright future, indeed far from what I could compare to."

"At first she was still a bit avoidant, but later she simply showed her cards to me directly, wanting me to break off the engagement and fulfill them."

"I was so angry at the time, I refused to let go no matter what!"

"Why? My father fished her out of the mud and gave her everything she has today, and this is how she repays him!"

"And the result?" Jiang Ye's voice was as calm as water, yet carried a stillness that could not be refused.

"The result..." Zheng Feng gave a miserable laugh, the smile full of unspeakable desolation, "That cousin, and those elders in the family, all came to pressure me."

"Some persuaded me with soft words, saying I wasn't worthy of her and telling me to 'be sensible and let go'."

"Some spoke with cold words, saying I had no ability yet still occupied the latrine without doing anything."

"Even worse, some threatened directly, 'Your parents are dead; as a junior, what qualifications do you have to go against the future of the family?'"

"You tell me... how could I stay in such a family."

By the end, his voice was almost choking, and tears that had been suppressed for who knows how many years welled up in the corners of his eyes.

A man does not shed tears easily, only when he has not reached the point of heartbreak.

Jiang Ye looked at Zheng Feng in silence.

He had lived for seventy years and had seen too much of the unpredictability of human hearts and the coldness of the world.

But looking at this usually steady young man peeling back that old, unhealed scar bit by bit before him, he still couldn't help but sigh deeply in his heart.

This kid was also a bitter person.

Parents missing, fiancée betrayed, his own clansmen joining forces to pressure him for profit, forcibly driving him from the giant city of Linzhou to a remote small city like Yunling Prefecture.

Although he had long known there would be filth within powerful families, the matter of a fiancée being snatched away by a cousin was still more absurd and cruel than he had imagined.

He suddenly remembered Zheng Feng's face full of struggle when the Tianyun Peak quota was announced in the herb garden back then.

So he didn't not want to come; he was afraid of seeing these people again, afraid of being torn open alive by this past event again.

Zheng Feng reached out to wipe the tears from the corners of his eyes and smiled bitterly:

"In the Tianqing Sect, in order to prove myself, I also practiced the 'Great Sun Heavenly Flame Qi-Nourishing Method' and the 'True Fire Organ-Refining Technique'..."

"Unfortunately, none of them succeeded."

"I can be considered to have realized that compared to those people, I am indeed not a genius."

"However..."

"However, I am still not reconciled!"

"So, I finally came to this Upper Sect, wanting to fight one more time."

"The result..."

Zheng Feng's voice fell into silence.

Just at this moment.

A crisp, sharp sound of footsteps came from not far away.

Jiang Ye shifted his gaze.

It was actually Jiang Chuxue.