Chapter 453: The Furious Scapegoat

Inside Tucheng.

A coarse dirt-and-stone long street, wind whipping up dust and sand, both sides lined with crowds of people.

They stared in silence at the few figures striding toward them, their gazes involuntarily falling upon that ink-black robe.

A sudden surge of complexity and gratitude welled up in their eyes.

The Xiao Family Fortress's misery in recent years could not compare to those clans that had been slaughtered to the last, but for the common folk and cultivators who had survived, it was an unceasing, day-and-night torment.

"Eh."

Bao Hua Xianzi had already prepared herself to cup her hands in greeting.

But after seeing the expressions on these people's faces—

She suddenly lost all interest.

She dazedly lowered her palms and quietly followed beside Shen Yi.

She glanced sideways and saw that, under everyone's gaze, Shen Yi still wore that same calm expression, showing no trace of pity, as if he had no interest in these matters at all.

But in the instant that giant wave-palm had appeared earlier, that sudden blaze of golden-sea fire-wings—

The other party had clearly guessed that her identity was no ordinary one.

But in the end, they still did not place all their hope on that mere guess.

"Hey."

Bao Hua Xianzi quietly nudged Shen Yi's arm, and the moment he lowered his gaze toward her, she stared into those pitch-black eyes and suddenly bit her lip: "I think you actually look quite like a knight-errant."

Shen Yi raised an eyebrow and wordlessly looked away.

He turned his gaze toward another direction in Tucheng.

He saw a figure flash swiftly over from that end of the city, then stop before the group, gnashing his teeth: "Are you fucking insane?"

This burly man in coarse cloth strode forward, reaching to grab Shen Yi by the collar.

But someone clamped a hand on his head and slammed him violently into the ground.

Bao Hua Xianzi gripped his hair: "Stop cursing at me, watch your filthy mouth, take me to see your Fortress Lord! I'm a friend of your Fortress Lord's Lady!"

Upon hearing the words "Fortress Lord's Lady"—

The man's struggling suddenly froze, and even his eyes reddened as he choked out: "The Fortress Lord's Lady doesn't see visitors! Get out!"

"Hah! This old aunt's fiery temper."

Bao Hua Xianzi rolled up her sleeves, preparing to show this stubborn mule a taste of her strength.

But she saw that Shen Yi had already stepped past the man and was walking forward.

"Dao Brother Shen, wait for me!"

Bao Hua Xianzi released the man, glared at him and said: "Consider yourself lucky."

"You must not intrude upon Xiao Family Fortress…"

The man had just scrambled up from the ground when he scrambled after Shen Yi in panic, trying to grab him: "Listen to me, the Fortress Lord's Lady truly isn't available to see visitors. If you are her old friends, you should be even less inclined to trouble her."

"Huff."

Bao Hua Xianzi sighed, pulled a token from her sleeve, and waved it before the man's eyes at a speed barely visible to the naked eye.

She immediately tucked it away again.

She truly wanted to know now just what was so "unavailable" about her junior sister.

"Pretend you didn't see it, got it? Talk fast."

"……"

The man froze on the spot, then his voice actually began to choke, and he said through a secret transmission technique: "The Lady… the Lady is already dead. Could you please save the Fortress Lord."

Upon hearing this, Bao Hua Xianzi suddenly froze, and turned her head blankly to look back.

Then, within those clear eyes, fury suddenly blazed skyward.

Spiritual light flickered at her brow, as if some extraordinary divine object were about to leap forth.

She abruptly clenched her five fingers tight.

Silently, she flashed toward Xiao Family Fortress ahead!

"This…"

Zhang Ye saw the situation turning bad and looked toward Shen Yi—this single deal seemed about to fall through.

Shen Yi quietly watched Bao Hua Xianzi's back and said nothing more, merely unhurriedly following along.

……

Drip, drip.

Inside the gloomy fortress, a coral soft couch, beaded curtains tinged with red.

A delicate woman reclined lazily on the couch, idly twirling a strand of hair around her fingertip, her eyes slightly distant: "When can we go back?"

Beside the couch, a hunchbacked old man waited calmly: "Master, Dragon Lord is troubled—give him some time to appease the Dragon Consort. If we stay a while longer, we'll eventually be able to return."

"Dragon Consort…"

The woman suddenly gave a cold laugh: "What's so great about her. One day, I too shall become a Dragon Consort, and step into the Long Gong with full legitimacy."

"Naturally."

The hunchbacked old man nodded, looking at this Miss he had accompanied since she was small, a hint of helplessness surfacing in his murky eyes.

A water-snake—how could she possibly enter the Long Gong?

To have won Dragon Lord's favor was already an exceedingly difficult feat. The other party was a Western Palace imperial grandson; within the aquatic race, who knew how many beauties were willing to climb into his bed.

If Dragon Lord truly intended to go against the Dragon Consort—

Then the ones sent to garrison this place should not have been obscure, idle aquatic folk, but genuine Long Gong guards.

"This old servant will go and teach him some manners again. If this continues, it will be too abnormal, and I fear the Dragon Consort will detect traces of it."

Brushing past the topic, the hunchbacked old man turned and walked toward the wall on the other side of the couch.

The wall was covered in black chains, tightly suspending a bare-chested man.

Beneath a tangle of grey-white hair was a withered, lifeless face; a spike had been driven through the space between his brows, dried bloodstains spreading in vein-like patterns across his entire face, with fresh plasma layering on top.

"I'd trouble Castle Lord Xiao to do me a favor—don't misjudge your own situation."

The hunchbacked old man took out another spike and said gently, "Look after Guan Shu for Lord Long first—no need to do anything deliberate, just like before. Look at how many common folk of Xiao Family Castle you've gotten killed… Once matters are settled, Lord Long will surely reward you handsomely."

At the name Guan Shu—

Xiao Yuanlin suddenly raised his head, his eyes nearly bulging from their sockets.

His blood-streaked face looked incomparably ferocious.

She killed Lady, took on Lady's face, and now wants to seize Lady's name—even making me bow and scrape!

That was the Miss he, Xiao Yuanlin, had sworn an oath to and properly wed from Baohua Sect!

A feeble voice drifted through the room.

"Bastard whelp."

Those two simple words made the woman on the couch spring to her feet.

The thing she had most dreaded in her life was her identity as a water snake—how utterly humble it made her seem before the Purple-Whiskered White Dragon clan.

"Kill him!"

Accompanying the woman's shrill voice, the hunchbacked old man looked helpless. This Castle Lord Xiao was not only fiercely bent on seeking death, he also knew exactly how to provoke his master.

He couldn't be allowed to speak any more.

Thinking this, it suddenly drove that spike into Xiao Yuanlin's mouth.

Puchi—

The hunchbacked old man released his grip, looked at the man whose eyes seemed about to split from their sockets, and calmly wiped his palm.

Just then, his brows knit slightly as he looked out beyond the castle.

Boom!

In an instant, a figure smashed through the wall.

Through the dust, a slender, fair-featured Miss stepped forth in a belted long robe.

She stared fixedly at the figure on the bed, untied the longsword at her waist and tossed it aside, formed a sword hand-sign, and a blue luan suddenly trilled long within her brow.

At the sound of this—

The hunchbacked old man's expression suddenly grew far more solemn, and he said softly, "Immortal Palace? May I ask which honored personage you are?"

Baohua Xianzi paid it no heed.

Still staring at the woman, her voice chilled to the bone: "Are you Guan Shu?"

As she spoke, a vast, crushing aura swept across all of Xiao Family Castle; before this pressure that pierced the skies, every previous clash and exchange of arts seemed like nothing more than children at play.

She seemed, in an instant, to have become once more the immortal gazing down upon the mortal world.

Nothing remained in her eyes but indifference.

"She can be."

At that very moment, a figure slowly stepped out from the void.

Clad in intricately patterned fish-scale armor, gripping a domineering tiger-devouring great halberd, with a fierce dragon's head yet a calm expression: "This matter has nothing to do with Baohua Sect—let's not damage the harmony between us. What say you, Xianzi?"

Having her identity thus laid bare—

Baohua Xianzi slowly shifted her gaze over, meeting its eyes, then her face showed mockery: "My apologies, you carry no face with me."

This was no fun at all! She flipped the table and quit playing!

A person who can't even protect his own sect disciples—what right has he to be any future Sect Master?

"Is that so?"

The dragon-headed general glanced sidelong at the woman, then suddenly smiled: "Your recent performance has been quite impressive. Lord Long holds you in his heart; some matters left him uneasy, so he's had me keep watch all along—merely that it wasn't convenient to show myself."

Hearing this, the woman was instantly overjoyed, nearly crushing her own sleeve in her grip.

The dragon-headed general withdrew his gaze: "Since I carry no face, I'll find someone else to have a word with Xianzi."

He took out a jade slip and transmitted a few brief words.

"Tsk."

Baohua Xianzi watched in silence—she quite wanted to see just how big a piece the other side could summon today, and whether slaughtering it might dissolve the grievance in her heart.

However, the next moment—

The jade slip she carried at her waist trembled faintly.

"……"

Baohua Xianzi lowered her gaze to look, staring at the jade slip at her waist; her expression was neither sorrow nor joy—she simply suddenly felt it was all very pointless.

She truly had never imagined that the reinforcement the other side had called in—

Would actually be an elder of Baohua Sect.

(End of chapter)