Chapter 7

Liang Da Zhuang entered the room on this side, while Tang Tiehan and Tang Tiecheng brothers had already brought people to Hu Xiaotian's front. Seeing Hu Xiaotian wearing big underpants, half-naked, standing imposingly in the sunlight, the Tang brothers' tiger eyes widened, fury burning.

Tang Tiehan pointed his knife at Hu Xiaotian and said: "Hu Xiaotian, what did you do to my sister?"

Hu Xiaotian smiled and said: "What do you want me to do to her?"

"Uh..." Tang Tiehan was left speechless by his question, scratched his head and turned to his younger brother Tang Tiecheng, whispering: "Second brother, what do we want to do to him?"

Tang Tiecheng shouted: "Bah! That brat, if you dare to move a single hair of my sister, we brothers will burn your Secretary's residence to the ground, not leaving a single tile."

Tang Tiehan poked his younger brother and said: "Second brother, he's already moved, he's already moved!" Just now Hu Xiaotian, right in front of him, cut off a lock of his sister's hair. Tang Tiehan is an honest person; he says what he thinks.

Tang Tiecheng, panting with anger, said: "Why didn't you say so earlier! If you dare to move a single finger of my sister..."

Hu Xiaotian interrupted: "Cut the nonsense, I've messed with your sister from head to toe, what about it?"

"You..."

Liang Da Zhuang pressed his waist knife against Tang Qingxuan and escorted her out of the room. This guy entered hoping to take a look, but upon entering the room and seeing Tang Qingxuan dressed neatly and properly, he felt disappointed. This young master is really too gloomy; he eats meat himself and doesn't leave a drop of soup for the servants. You've finished your business, why put on clothes so quickly? And you've wrapped yourself up so tightly—letting me feast my eyes would be nice. Liang Da Zhuang cursed in his heart, but his expression was fierce and menacing. He held his waist knife to Tang Qingxuan's neck, walked up to Hu Xiaotian. By now he had completely calmed down, felt confident, and his words carried great force: "All of you, retreat! All of you, get out! Believe it or not, I'll cut her down with one knife!"

Tang Tiehan clutched his head in great pain and said: "Here we go again..." The other side's move left him with no options, and Tang Tiecheng was also a bit dumbfounded, his sister being in someone else's hands—he's caught between a rock and a hard place.

Liang Da Zhuang saw that the crowd was intimidated by him and felt pleased; he was about to say a couple more cool, badass lines when he felt someone lightly tap his shoulder.

Hu Xiaotian nodded at him and said: "Make way, make way, you're blocking my shot!"

Liang Da Zhuang didn't know what a "shot" was, but he knew blocking the young master was wrong; he thought he was acting with good intentions, wanting to protect the young master—like Dog Bites Lü Dongbin, not recognizing good intentions. Liang Da Zhuang muttered to himself, yet he honestly pulled Tang Qingxuan back a step.

Tang Qingxuan's beautiful eyes fiercely stared at Hu Xiaotian, as if she wanted to eat his heart.

Hu Xiaotian then realized her mouth was stuffed with a cloth ball, obviously Liang Da Zhuang's doing; no wonder she'd been silent all this time. That damned Liang Da Zhuang, maybe he took the opportunity to grope her? Just looking at this guy, he's no good.

Hu Xiaotian stepped forward: "Just now who said they'd burn the Secretary's residence?"

Tang Tiehan looked at his brothers, Tang Tiecheng slapped his chest: "I said it—if you dare to move a single finger of my sister, I'll burn your Secretary's residence to the ground, not leaving a single tile."

Hu Xiaotian reached out, first touching Tang Qingxuan's small hand, then lifting her beautifully curved jaw, hehe laughing: "I've touched you, go ahead and burn!"

"Uh... you think I don't dare... bring the fire!"

Among the hundred-plus people, there was indeed someone eager for excitement; one person passed over a torch, and Tang Tiecheng raised the torch, looking for a suitable spot to set fire.

Hu Xiaotian said: "Lighting a fire is easy, putting it out is hard. If you light it now, fire and water are merciless. Leaving aside whether we, such a large group, can escape alive, if the court finds out that you burned the Secretary's residence, your Tang family will surely face extermination."

Tang Tiecheng's heart jolted, the torch paused in his hand: "You're trying to scare me?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "You brought over a hundred people, forcibly stormed the Secretary's residence, smashed my family's gate, injured my servants, caused chaos in the residence, and now you want to burn our home—how is this any different from banditry?"

"You're the bandit, you kidnapped my sister..."

Hu Xiaotian gave a hehe cold laugh: "Now this is my turf; I have witnesses and evidence. I say you brought over a hundred people to illegally enter my home with intent to rob—do you think the authorities will believe you or me?"

Tang Tiehan said: "It's clearly you who kidnapped my sister, and now you've tied her up as a hostage—don't spout nonsense."

Tang Tiecheng said: "Big brother, don't bother with him; he has witnesses, we have witnesses too, we outnumber them..."

"So what if there are many?" Hu Xiaotian realized this bunch's intelligence is truly worrying; he stepped forward: "Over a hundred people wielding knives, spears, and sticks, illegally entering the Secretary's residence—if that's not robbery, what is it? Could it be rebellion?"

"You..."

"What do you mean 'you'? Dakang law: as soon as the charge of rebellion is substantiated, you and your hundred-plus people will all face extermination of the entire clan."

Clamor! The crowd behind the Tang brothers simultaneously stepped back two paces, all frightened by Hu Xiaotian's words—if they were truly accused of rebellion, that would be a capital crime punishable by extermination of the entire clan.

Tang Tiecheng roared: "You think I'm just all talk? Hu Xiaotian, today I will absolutely not spare you."

"Cut it out, thinking your loud voice makes you impressive? Damn! You're still holding the torch, still wanting to set fire—aren't you tired of holding it up? With all these brothers here cheering you on, waiting to see you set fire, you can't let them down? If you're going to set fire, do it quickly!"

Tang Tiecheng bit his lip; at that moment a black-clad man squeezed in from behind, bumping the person in front, who staggered and struck Tang Tiecheng's arm, causing the torch in his hand to slip and fly out with a whoosh.

Everyone's eyes were on the torch; seeing it fly high, it finally landed on the roof of the garden pavilion. The pavilion roof was all thatch, and after being baked by the sun all day, it caught fire at a spark, boom! igniting instantly, and in moments the pavilion was engulfed in a huge blaze.

The Tang entourage was instantly dumbfounded; Tang Tiecheng bellowed: "Which bastard hit me?"

The crowd behind all looked elsewhere, none daring to admit they had hit him.

Someone shouted: "The pavilion is on fire... the pavilion is on fire..."

Hu Xiaotian glared menacingly at Tang Tiecheng: "You really set it on fire?"

Tang Tiecheng said: "I didn't set it!" He glanced at his older brother, hoping his brother would vouch for him. Tang Tiehan misunderstood: "I didn't set it either—the torch is in your hand, it's got nothing to do with me!" Damn, even blood brothers can't be relied on.

Although the pavilion caught fire, being located beside the pond in the garden, the blaze should not spread to other buildings in the residence.

Tang Tiehan knew that setting fire to the Secretary's residence was no small matter; he quickly ordered his men to go put out the fire, lest it spread. Meanwhile, the Hu family's servants also rushed over upon hearing the news; the battered Hu Fu shouted loudly: "The Tangs set fire! The Tangs set fire!"

The scene descended into chaos; at that moment someone shouted: "Big brother... people from the Capital Prefecture have arrived..."

Liang Da Zhuang now felt no fear at all; he didn't think the young master was that impressive, but rather felt that the most imposing, badass person on the scene was himself—precisely because he held his knife to Tang Qingxuan's neck, which deterred those hundred-plus ruffians from acting rashly. Everyone has a desire for control and seeks self-gratification; Liang Da Zhuang, holding Tang Qingxuan, felt a bit smug again. This guy, brandishing his knife, roared: "Hurry up and surrender!"

Unfortunately, he again blocked half of Hu Xiaotian's body; Hu Xiaotian glared at him angrily, saying, "Again blocking my shot—can't you tell who's the main character and who's the extra? This kind of lackey who steals the spotlight really has no sense."

Fortunately, Liang Da Zhuang quickly reacted, pulling Tang Qingxuan back again. Just then, a black shadow shot down from the roof behind him. By the time he realized, the scabbard had already struck his wrist, causing Liang Da Zhuang to cry out in pain, and his knife clattered to the ground.

A slender figure swooped down from the roof, from a height of over three zhang, landing like a bird. She wore a black gauze hero's cap, a purple open-collar cloud-pattern brocade outer robe, a red warrior outfit underneath, black thin-soled boots, her skin fair and tender, her eyebrows slanted into her temples, her eyes clear and cold as autumn water, her bearing vigorous and graceful, like a startled dragon—she was the top female captain of the Capital Prefecture, Murong Feiyan, who rotated her body continuously in midair.

The surrounding spectators cheered in unison.

Hu Xiaotian admitted her flip was indeed impressive, but he couldn't help wondering: are all the women here trained in gymnastics? Almost everyone who appears does a few front flips plus a 360-degree spin, as if afraid others won't know they can flip—showing off, really too showy.

Murong Feiyan's movements may be showy, but her speed is no joke; before Liang Da Zhuang could react, she lifted her leg and kicked that guy away from Tang Qingxuan's side, with her left hand she pulled Tang Qingxuan to her side to protect her, and her right hand's long sword was already pointed at Hu Xiaotian. Although Hu Xiaotian should have had enough time to flee when she jumped down, he found Liang Da Zhuang such a coward, utterly unable to withstand a blow, so his first reaction wasn't to flee but to seize Tang Qingxuan; amid the chaos, only by controlling Tang Qingxuan could he intimidate these people, preventing the Tang clan from acting recklessly.

Hu Xiaotian's strategy was originally sound, but deviations occurred during execution: first, he overestimated Liang Da Cheng's strength; second, he thought this dashing, cross-dressing young lady was all show with little real strength; third, he believed he could steadily hold Tang Qingxuan in this time, but when he actually acted, he realized he was gravely mistaken—fundamentally, he had overestimated his own ability.

Liang Da Zhuang basically gave Murong Feiyan no obstacle; as soon as Hu Xiaotian's hand touched the corner of Tang Qingxuan's clothing, he was snatched away by Murong Feiyan, and then her bright long sword was pressed against Hu Xiaotian's throat, its chilling light making him instinctively close his eyes.

At this moment Liang Da Zhuang crawled up from the ground, bruised and swollen, seeing the young master restrained, he shouted and charged forward; Murong Feiyan didn't even look, she kicked backward, landing squarely on his chest, and Liang Da Zhuang let out a cry even more earth-shattering than before, sprawled on his back.

Murong Feiyan coldly stared at Hu Xiaotian; Hu Xiaotian's face showed no fear, he smiled and said to this cross-dressing, vigorous young lady: "Beautiful lady, who are you?"