Inside the main hall, Patriarch Xie Tianlong was drinking tea calmly. Then the doors slammed open.
Xie Ming entered carrying Xie Cang like a sack of potatoes and dumped him on the floor.
Thud !
The teacup shattered in Xie Tianlong's hand.
"WHO TURNED MY SON INTO A PIG'S HEAD?!"
The whole hall shook. His Galaxy emperor aura exploded, blowing over three tea tables and one unlucky elder's wig...
Xie Cang lifted his mangled face, tears streaming, and tried to complain: "Fader... he... he funshed my fase... he took my teef..."
Xie Tianlong stood up so fast his chair broke. "YOUR TEETH?! You're worried about your teeth?" He gritted his own teeth and kicked him hard in the bosom...
Xie Cang winced in pain again...
"You damn rascal, he took our dignity and you're talking about teeth."
An elder whispered, "Patriarch... Xie Jue is also dead."
Xie Tianlong froze. "...Jue is dead too?"
Xie Ming nodded vigorously. "His head rolled right to Young Master's feet..."
Saying up to this, his whole body shuddered. Even when he remembered that scene, his blood turned cold instantly.
Xie Tianlong's vein popped up in his head, "He killed my elder, beat my son into a dumpling... and even humiliated my clan in public?!"
He kicked the ancestral incense burner across the room, "I will skin him alive! I will grind his every bone into pills..."
Xie Cang, encouraged by his father's rage, tried to look fierce and pointed a shaky finger. "Yesh! Kill him! And bwing dat preddy boy!"
The hall went quiet.
Xie Tianlong slowly turned. "...pretty boy?"
Xie Ming quickly explained, "The one next to the black-clothed demon! He laughed at Young Master the loudest! Young Master wants him... for revenge, of course!"
Xie Cang nodded frantically, drooling a little. "For wevenge! Yesh!"
Xie Tianlong slammed the table, which immediately cracked in half, "Elder Mo!"
From the shadows, Elder Mo appeared. He is 90 years old, back bent like a shrimp, but his eyes sharp.
"Kill the black-clothed one. And bring me that laughing brat. I want to hear him laugh when we pull out his tongue."
Elder Mo bowed. "Understood."
Qingfeng walked in front alongside the fatty. But now at a distance. He doesn't want to create a confusion for his young master... after his master, he was the only one who showed him genuine care.
The fatty was still munching on melon seeds and sometimes pointed towards a direction, telling about the place...
The fatty was from a 2nd-tier force. And he often came here. So he knows this Floating Pagoda more than anyone...
Zhao Tie in the back looking at the thing in his hand, it was the ring he brought for Qingfeng. But just thinking about giving it to him made his ears turn red. His heart started beating loudly...
Qingfeng suddenly turned, "Young master! See that stall... they are selling candied animals... can I have one?" He looked at him with pitiful eyes...
Zhao Tie melted at the moment, then he remembered the thing in his hand. He immediately hid it inside his robe...
"How old are you? Do you still want to get candies..."
Qingfeng frowned then pouted, "If you don't want to buy me one... then just tell me directly. Why are you spouting these harsh words..."
Just by saying this he grabbed the fatty's hand and started walking at a fast pace...
Zhao Tie sighed. He silently disappeared behind them and then came towards the candy shop...
"Give me one of those..." He pointed towards a candy bunny.
The candy seller was a young man, "Good choice, young master... that one was made of spirit liquid added to the recipe... it'll even nourish your soul."
Zhao Tie took out a high-grade spirit stone from his space ring, and then handed it to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper just wanted to say, "My lord... I... I... don't have..."
But when he saw in front, he saw no one. Zhao Tie was long gone after taking that candied bunny...
His eyes filled with tears as he bowed towards the distance.
Zhao Tie reappeared behind them like a ghost, the candied bunny hidden in his sleeve.
Qingfeng was still stomping ahead, holding the fatty's hand tightly, muttering under his breath, "Stingy young master... heartless young master... won't even buy a candy..."
The fatty, caught in the middle, was sweating. He could feel the cold killing intent from behind, but he didn't dare let go . Qingfeng's grip was too tight.
"Brother Qingfeng," the fatty whispered, "I think... your young master is behind us..."
Qingfeng huffed, "Let him be. He doesn't care anyway."
At that exact moment, something tapped his shoulder.
He turned and froze.
Zhao Tie was standing there, face cold as usual, but his ears were still faintly red. Without a word, he held out his hand.
In his palm was the crystal-clear candied bunny, shining like amber under the floating lanterns.
Qingfeng's eyes went wide. "...for me?"
Zhao Tie looked away. "You said you wanted it."
Qingfeng immediately let go of the fatty's hand and grabbed the candy with both hands like it was a treasure. "Young master! You're the best!"
The fatty exhaled in relief and silently thanked all his ancestors.
Zhao Tie's mouth twitched. He wanted to say something cool, but his heart was beating too fast. So he just flicked Qingfeng's forehead lightly.
"Ow!" Qingfeng covered his head, pouting, then immediately took a big bite of the bunny. "So sweet!"
Zhao Tie watched him eat, and for the first time in years, his cold eyes softened completely. The ring was still hidden in his robe, burning a hole in his chest.
' Not yet ! Not yet ! ' he thought.
The fatty, munching his own seeds, leaned over and whispered to Qingfeng, "Your young master... he really spoils you, huh?"
Qingfeng, cheeks puffed with candy, grinned foolishly, "Of course! He's my young master!"
Zhao Tie heard it. He didn't reply. He just walked half a step closer to Qingfeng, so close that their shoulders brushed and this time, he was the one who subtly pushed the fatty a little further away.
The fatty stumbled, looked at Zhao Tie's icy glare, and immediately understood. He raised both hands in surrender and walked three steps to the side.
At this beautiful moment,
shing!
Someone threw a knife towards them.
It came from the crowd, fast as a black line, aimed straight for Qingfeng's back while he was happily licking his candied bunny.
Zhao Tie immediately sensed the danger and in the next second he met the dagger with his blade.
CLANG!
Sparks flew. The dagger which is dark, poison-coated shattered in mid-air against Zhao Tie's unsheathed blade. The broken pieces fell to the stone floor with a sharp clatter.
The whole street went silent.
Qingfeng froze, the candy still in his mouth. The fatty choked on a melon seed.
Zhao Tie didn't even look at the knife. His eyes were already locked onto the direction it came from . A rooftop three buildings away.
His aura, which had been soft just a second ago, turned freezing cold...
He stepped in front of Qingfeng, shielding him completely with his back, his blade still humming from the impact.
"Who," he said quietly, so quietly the fatty felt his spine go cold, "dares?"
From the rooftop, a figure in a grey Xie Family robe sneered and jumped down. It was just assasin, a Galaxy Grandmaster Level 5.
"Xie Family business," the man spat. "The Patriarch orders us to kill the black-clothed boy , and take that pretty boy to him !"
He pointed his sword at Qingfeng. "Hand him over, and we'll give you a quick death."
Qingfeng, still holding his bunny, blinked. "...me?" He pointed a finger to himself.
' heh ! Someone wants me ? But why ? And who the hell is preety..... I'm handsome and ferocious! 'he thought in his head...
Zhao Tie didn't answer. He just slowly raised his left hand and gently took the half-eaten candied bunny from Qingfeng's hand.
Qingfeng: "Eh? Young master?"
Zhao Tie carefully wrapped the candy in a clean silk handkerchief and put it back into Qingfeng's robe pocket. "Don't drop it," he murmured. "It's expensive."
Then he turned his head.
His eyes were no longer human.
BOOM!
His Galaxy Master Level 7 aura exploded outwards but it felt heavier than a Grandmaster's. The street stones cracked under his feet.
The Xie scout laughed, " Galaxy master Level 7? You think you can...q"
He didn't finish.
Zhao Tie vanished.
In the next instant, he was already behind the assasin. His blade was still in its sheath, he hadn't even drawn it properly.
He just used the sheath.
WHAM!
He slammed the assasin's face with the blunt end so hard the man's teeth flew out in a perfect arc, just like Xie Cang's.
The scout screamed and flew ten meters, crashing into a candy stall. Candied animals rained everywhere.
Zhao Tie walked forward slowly, each step making the crowd step back.
"You aimed for him," he said, his voice flat with rage. "While he was eating."
He picked the man up by the throat with one hand.
"Do you know how much that candy cost?"
The assasin gurgled, eyes bulging.
"That's more than your entire life."
The fatty whispered to Qingfeng, horrified, "Your young master... is he angry about the assassination or the candy?"
Yes, he has many of those little high-grade spirit stones... but that doesn't mean he'd waste that much money without any reason.
He gave the candy to the owner because he was in a hurry and he didn't have any change at all at that moment...and the most important thing , they attacked his qingfeng and even wanted to take him back....'how dare they '