Chapter 74: Xia Qingshuang

While the city garrison cleared the demon corpses outside the city, Song Yueyao also reported the situation in Heifeng Mountain to Yue Shuhong.

Yue Shuhong immediately dispatched scouts to verify.

When the scouts saw the hill piled high with demon corpses, they were utterly stunned.

The number of demon corpses here was no less than those piled outside the city.

Especially the square, neatly stacked platform of demon corpses—every single one was a great demon, totaling over twenty by rough count.

The scouts also saw the famed giant-force True God bear demon from outside the city, but now it too had turned into a slightly decayed, foul-smelling corpse, stacked beneath the meat platform.

The scouts’ legs trembled as they sprinted back to the city and reported everything in detail to Yue Shuhong.

After listening, Yue Shuhong stood frozen for a long while, then exhaled deeply.

Having held command in Cangyu City for decades, he knew full well that all the great demons lurking around Cangyu City had been utterly slaughtered by Li Hao! Had the Tan Palace Academy not just happened to assign this mission—and had Li Hao not just happened to accept it—Yue Shuhong could not bear to imagine what hell Cangyu City would be now.

He was both exhilarated and melancholy; a heavy stone that had weighed on his heart for decades finally fell away.

Two days later.

The demon corpses outside Cangyu City had been mostly cleared, and Li Hao’s academy mission was officially declared complete.

They had arrived in haste, but their return journey was calm and relaxed; Yue Shuhong provided them with a carriage.

He personally saw them off at the city gate.

“Young Master, I have already reported the Cangyu City matter to the provincial government.”

“Moreover, once everything here is settled and handled, I will travel to the imperial capital myself to plead for death.”

Outside the carriage, Yue Shuhong bowed solemnly.

Li Hao glanced at him and immediately understood—he intended to take all blame upon himself alone.

“Do you know that if all this guilt falls on you, it will implicate your nine clans?” Li Hao said.

Yue Shuhong’s expression remained unruffled. “I know. That’s why I severed ties with my nine clans twelve years ago—cut them off entirely. Under Great Yu law, severed ties lasting over ten years are treated as no relation whatsoever, and guilt does not extend.”

Li Hao studied him for a moment. “You’re clearly a skilled player of the game.”

“Young Master, you flatter me.”

Li Hao said no more, withdrew his hand, and lowered the carriage curtain.

“Pity—you won’t get to taste the liquor brewed from the Tiger Robe’s head.”

Yue Shuhong’s body trembled slightly. He fell silent for a moment, then raised his head, a faint smile spreading across his face: “If Young Master does not disdain it, should you ever pass through Cangyu City in the future, pour a cup of wine along this road—it will be as if we drink together.”

A breeze stirred the curtain, causing it to ripple gently.

From within came a single word:

“Fine.”

Yue Shuhong’s smile deepened.

The carriage began to move slowly, driven forward by the coachman’s whip, beneath the rising sun, along the official road lined with green cypresses.

The city, and the man at the gate, gradually shrank into the distance.

Yet one could still make out the man waving his arm toward the carriage, as if bidding farewell, then bowing deeply again.

Until they could no longer see each other.

……

……

Inside the carriage were only Li Hao, Ren Qianqian, Li Yuanzhao, and others.

The coachman was a soldier from Cangyu City; after delivering Li Hao and the others to Qingzhou, he would drive the carriage back alone.

Wei Feng had hastily bid farewell to the group yesterday; with Li Hao present, he no longer needed to secretly protect his young lady.

More than her safety, he now worried she had truly agreed to become Li Hao’s attendant.

Though Li Hao was of high status, Ren Qianqian was still the daughter of a Grand Master—becoming an attendant would brand her lineage for life.

He must return quickly to request reinforcements; only his Master could persuade her.

As for Li Fu, his injuries had not yet healed, so he remained in Cangyu City to recover.

Less than half a day after leaving Cangyu City, two swift horses suddenly approached from ahead on the official road.

The riders on the horses seemed to recognize the Cangyu City banner on the carriage; after passing it by dozens of meters, they abruptly reined in, turned around, and blocked the carriage.

On the swift horse rode a man and a woman; the man was in his twenties, clad in purple battle armor, a saber at his waist, and a feathered cap on his head, radiating heroic vigor.

The riders were a man and a woman. The man, in his twenties, wore purple battle armor, carried a saber at his waist, and donned a feathered cap, radiating martial vigor.

The woman wore a fine purple battle suit, carried a bow on her back and a sword at her waist, no helmet—only her dark hair streamed behind her, mingling with the wind of her cloak.

“Are you a soldier from Cangyu City?”

After halting the carriage, the youth gripped his whip and pointed at the coachman with visible anger.

The coachman, Yue Ming, froze, then, recognizing their armor, scrambled to his knees in panic: “Cangyu City Garrison Sergeant Yue Ming, bowing before Your Honors.”

“Why are you here? Who is inside the carriage?”

The youth barked: “We heard demons attacked Cangyu City—are you deserters fleeing the city?!”

His eyes already glinted with lethal intent.

Yue Ming hurriedly replied: “Your Honors, the demon disturbance has been quelled. I was ordered by the City Warden to escort these Tan Palace students back to Qingzhou.”

Upon hearing this, their eyes flickered; the young man’s expression softened slightly and said, “Have them come out so I can see them.”

The two’s eyes flickered. The youth’s expression softened slightly. “Call them out. Let me see them.”

The Tan Palace Academy in Qingzhou was world-famous; they were aware of it, but for them, attending was unnecessary.

Inside the carriage, Li Hao and the others heard the commotion. Yu Wei sat by the door and immediately lifted the curtain to look out, wondering who this fool was—blocking him was one thing, but the carriage held two Li family members: Li Hao and Li Yuanzhao.

“It’s Xia family armor.”

Li Yuanzhao recognized their identities instantly through the curtain.

Though he rarely traveled far, as a member of the Divine General’s Mansion, he had studied the basics of top-tier noble families.

The riders on horseback, seeing the young faces and Tan Palace robes of Li Hao and the others, immediately knew the coachman spoke truth.

“You said the demon disturbance was resolved—what do you mean?” The martial woman fixed the coachman with a cold gaze.

The coachman, nervous, replied: “Your Honor, the demons caused chaos, but fortunately, the young master of the Li family intervened and quelled the disturbance.”

“The Li family young master?”

The youth frowned. “Which Li family young master?”

“The Li family of Qingzhou’s Divine General’s Mansion,” the coachman replied respectfully.

Xia Yong and Xia Qingshuang exchanged a glance—could it be them? Wait, Young Master? Only someone from the third generation of the Li family could be called that.

Xia Yong and Xia Qingshuang exchanged glances. Was it them? Wait—“young master”? That title implied the third generation.

The second generation of the Li family were all middle-aged men, and only three remained—all renowned across the land.

Yet no notable figures had emerged from the Li family’s third generation.

More than a decade ago, a few had stirred minor ripples across the land.

One, at age six, became a disciple of the Buddha Master of Wuliang Mountain; another became a direct disciple of the Daoist of Qianji Mountain.

A third was said to have been born with heavenly fortune, personally named by the Yu Emperor; all assumed his talent was extraordinary—but then he vanished, and rumors spread he was a cultivation failure. Truth remained unknown.

“Could it be the one from Wuliang Mountain has entered the world?”

The two exchanged glances. To be called “young master,” it could not be the Li family girl who stormed the Qian List a year ago.

“The Li family third-generation disciple from Wuliang Mountain should be eighteen now—eighteen and at the Fifteen Li Realm…?” Xia Yong’s eyes narrowed slightly, a spark of battle-lust igniting.

Beside him, Xia Qingshuang remained calm. “If so, we can rest easy.”

She turned to the coachman. “How many casualties were there in the city?”

“Your Honor, over two hundred city defenders were wounded, more than ten killed.”

Coachman Yue Ming bowed deeply.

(End of Chapter)