Ye Wen Ni looked up, her face tear-streaked, yet she gave Ling Xiao a radiant smile. "From now on, I only have you!"
A dull ache throbbed in Ling Xiao’s heart. ’She said that... which ans Ye Zi has no family left.’ He understood the feeling of having no family... all too well.
He reached out, placing a hand on Ye Zi’s waist and pulling her close. Ye Zi’s face flushed crimson. She could even feel Ling Xiao’s heartbeat.
"Tell about it."
Ling Xiao spoke softly, his eyes glancing at the clown circling in the sky. Its recent landing had startled quite a few people in the base, and many were now aiming powerful crossbows at it, their faces guarded.
But the clown had already sensed their intentions. It let out a clear cry as it soared high into the air, beating its wings and flying away until it beca a black dot, gradually disappearing from view.
There was no one else for a hundred ters around Ling Xiao and the other three. Uncle Fu and Li Tianluo were chatting idly so distance away.
Ling Xiao and Ye Wen Ni sat on a stone block that was over two ters long and half a ter wide, likely sothing used for training.
Ye Wen Ni wiped her eyes and said in a low voice, "I’m an orphan. When I was little, a man adopted , along with many other children of all ages. I wasn’t one of the first to be adopted; there were more than twenty others before , all of them older. After , or around my age, there were several hundred more! Both boys and girls. When I was young, I felt very happy because I had so many companions to play with, and we were all carefree. The man would often disappear for ten days or half a month at a ti, and he would always get drunk and beat and curse us, but... we were still happy!"
A genuine smile lit up Ye Wen Ni’s face as she spoke of the other children, but it quickly faded. "But all of that changed the year I turned five. That man... the father I had always respected and revered... I saw him with my own eyes. He got drunk and forced himself on Sister Xiangcao, who was seventeen at the ti. Sister Xiangcao cried out and struggled desperately, and then he threatened her. He said, ’If you resist again, I’ll kill every single child here!’"
A mocking expression appeared on Ye Wen Ni’s face. "Sister Xiangcao had always acted as a mother to all of us children. She loved us dearly, so... she gave in. At the ti, I didn’t understand what they... what they were doing, but I knew it wasn’t anything good. Afterward, Sister Xiangcao told I had to find a way to get away from that man. She told he had taken from my real ho, and that everyone there, including herself, was the sa! But that man... he said we were all abandoned children that he had kindly rescued. Heh. The next day, Sister Xiangcao talked to for the entire day. She said that when I arrived, I didn’t look like a child from an ordinary family; I was fair and pretty. Even the swaddling clothes I was wrapped in... were made of an exquisite, high-quality fabric she had never seen before! She also told to never, ever follow that man’s arrangents. She said that once you entered the Noble Academy, you... would never be free again in your life. You might even suffer the sa fate as her."
Tears stread down Ye Wen Ni’s face again. "On the third day, Sister Xiangcao disappeared. She never ca back. Later, I heard soone say they saw my ’honorable adoptive father’ carrying soone on his back in the middle of the night. It was him! He killed her because Sister Xiangcao exposed his conspiracy! That’s why he killed her!"
As Ling Xiao listened, his eyes grew increasingly calm, but his heart was churning like boiling water. ’To think... there are people in this world worse than animals!’
"That man... is... he... here?" Ling Xiao asked, looking at Ye Wen Ni and enunciating every word.
Ye Wen Ni nodded. A sudden emptiness blood in her heart, as if she had been living in an illusion all these years. Now that the illusion was about to be shattered, she felt completely lost and uncertain.
Then she said, "But... Ling Xiao, can we please not cause any trouble here? This is the Southern King’s territory!"
A smile touched Ling Xiao’s lips as he said softly, "A mont ago, the Southern King gifted four magic crystal cannons and five hundred Tier Two Magic Crystals."
"Ah? Really?!"
An excited smile instantly blood on Ye Wen Ni’s face. "That’s wonderful! We can finally have a stronger defense force! Hmph, if anyone cos looking for trouble again, we’ll just blast them to bits with one shot!"
Ling Xiao chuckled, reaching out to gently stroke Ye Wen Ni’s smooth, flawless cheek. Then he said, "Now, I don’t want them anymore."
"Wh—" Ye Wen Ni’s head snapped up, her expression resolute. "Don’t... Ling Xiao, don’t do this. That man... he’s not worth us paying such a price! I believe he’ll get his retribution one day!"
"No."
Ling Xiao chuckled and shook his head. "Ye Zi, you don’t understand. This is a world without faith, so there is no karma, and there will be no retribution. Here, I don’t believe in retribution. I only believe... in strength! I have the power to kill him now, so why should I let a man like that live? Let him continue to threaten you? Even if he can’t threaten you, can’t he threaten others? Those children... I’m taking them."
Ling Xiao’s tone was placid, but a boundless, chilling killing intent radiated from his every word.
Without waiting for Ye Wen Ni to reply, Ling Xiao waved Li Tianluo over. Not knowing what else to say to Uncle Fu, Li Tianluo hurried over and asked, "Brother Ling, is there sothing I can help you with?"
"It’s like this," Ling Xiao said. "There’s a man here who abducted Ye Zi from her parents when she was a child. He has committed countless evil acts and is a great scourge. I’m going to find him now and kill him."
Li Tianluo froze, the smile on his face stiffening. After a long mont, he said awkwardly, "Brother Ling, if this were any other matter... I could easily agree. But for sothing like this... sigh. Tianluo can only make a decision after consulting my father. Brother Ling, can you wait a mont?"
Ling Xiao nodded. "Then we’ll do as you say. I imagine the Southern King himself is unaware you have this kind of person in your midst."
Li Tianluo gave a bitter smile. ’Looks like this won’t be settled today unless I can give Ling Xiao a proper explanation,’ he thought. ’And the situation is definitely not as simple as he described. But... even if it is, it’s still an outrageous cri! Tearing flesh and blood apart... a man like that deserves to die!’
At the sa ti, Ling Xiao’s imnse Spiritual Power extended outward from his body. As it passed Uncle Fu, the old man trembled slightly. His expression quickly returned to neutral, but his gaze toward Ling Xiao was filled with horror. ’I can’t believe his Spiritual Power is so vast he can project it externally!’ When that seemingly peaceful yet destructive pressure had swept over him, it had made Uncle Fu feel a sense of utter despair. It was almost the exact sa feeling he’d had when facing that expert from the Sword Sect!
’No wonder the Young Master... repelled an expert of the Sword Sect’s level with a single strike! So, to so degree, he’s already reached the cultivation of a Sword Sect master! He can actually use Spiritual Power!’
Uncle Fu understood that Ling Xiao’s actual combat strength was not at the Sword Sect level, but he also believed that Ling Xiao’s control over Spiritual Power was certainly no weaker than a Sword Sect master’s!
Ling Xiao’s Spiritual Power extended out fifty ters before he felt a faint ntal fatigue. Sure enough, his power wouldn’t go any further. An image appeared in his mind! Inside a barracks so forty-odd ters away, a person’s Spiritual Power was fluctuating erratically, and their aura was relatively strong!
"That’s him."
Ling Xiao glanced at Uncle Fu, who understood tacitly and followed him. Ye Zi didn’t leave his side either.
Ling Xiao walked up to that barracks and said calmly, "Since you know I’ve found you, stop hiding. Co out."
"WHOOSH!"
A figure leaped out of the window. It was the middle-aged man. He stared at Ye Wen Ni with a venomous expression, then sneered, "Good. Very good. Excellent! Hahaha, to think that I, Xu Daoxuan, have been rciful my entire life, only to raise an ungrateful little wolf like you! Ye Wen Ni, I won’t even fight back. Go ahead, kill ! Let watch with my own two eyes... as you murder your adoptive father!"
Ye Wen Ni’s perfectly even teeth bit down hard on her lower lip, drawing a trickle of blood. Flas of rage blazed in her beautiful eyes. She was desperately trying to control her anger.
"Then tell , how did Sister Xiangcao die all those years ago? And ... what’s my real story? Answer those two things, and I promise I’ll have him let you go!"
"Xiangcao is dead? Haha, you ignorant little girl, who told you she’s dead? She’s living perfectly well in the mansion of a great noble in the Imperial Capital! Her life... is no worse than yours! Your origin? Girl... are you confused? You were abandoned! If I knew where you ca from, why would I have taken you in? Wouldn’t I have sent you back to your parents long ago? How could I, Xu Daoxuan, do such a monstrous thing!"
Xu Daoxuan put on a wronged and innocent expression, his face full of grief as he said, "So, you want to kill over this..."
"You’re not going to talk?"
Ling Xiao watched Xu Daoxuan with an amused expression. "I’ll give you one chance," he said. "If you don’t talk, I’ll kill you."
"I... What do you want to say? Don’t forget! This is the Second Prince’s territory! Even if you are the Lord of Penzes City, you can’t forget where you are..." Xu Daoxuan stretched out a hand, turning to gesture in a wide circle.
"This is all the Southern King’s domain!" He then shot Ling Xiao an arrogant glance before turning a pained expression to Ye Wen Ni and waving a hand feebly. "If you refuse to acknowledge as your adoptive father, then just leave. Just pretend... I never... AARGH!"
Xu Daoxuan’s face suddenly twisted into a savage mask, his body trembling violently, and his eyes bulged from their sockets!
In a shocking, broken voice, he stamred, "I killed Xiangcao... that bitch..."
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