Petty, Jealous, and a Simp!

Li Yun saw a young man in brocade robes stride in with great sweeping steps as soon as the voice fell.

It was none other than Zhang Ruohan's fiancé, Zhao Chuanfeng.

The moment Li Yun saw him, he had a bad feeling.

The man was tall, handsome, and as elegant as a jade tree in the wind, yet an indelible shadow lingered between his brows. One look was enough to tell that he was the sort of person with a rather dark heart.

People like that shared a common flaw: petty, jealous, fond of keeping score, and prone to taking things to extremes.

They were both hard to get along with and hard to offend.

Li Yun had encountered several such people in his previous life's workplace. They had made him suffer bitterly, and in the end, all he could do was keep them at a respectful distance.

However, keeping his distance was not an option here.

This was a world of Martial Dao.

Even with strict sect rules on the surface, they could not fully conceal the bloody stench of the ironblood laws of the jungle lurking beneath that calm facade.

If he offended someone in his previous life, at worst he would suffer a little, perhaps get sabotaged behind his back. Under normal circumstances, it rarely cost him his life directly.

But here, if he truly provoked the wrong person, the odds of losing his life increased at least tenfold.

Although Li Yun believed that, with the system at his side, the future would be his, the system could not possibly let him ascend to the heavens in a single step and become the strongest invincible expert under heaven.

He was still in his growth phase. He needed to keep a low profile whenever possible.

Thus—

Li Yun immediately made up his mind. Leaving first was best. If possible, he would avoid dealing with Zhang Ruohan's fiancé, Zhao Chuanfeng, as much as he could.

"Um, Senior Sister Zhang, since you have a guest, we'll be leaving first."

Li Yun cupped his hands toward Zhang Ruohan while quickly signaling Zhang Chu with his eyes. Zhang Chu immediately caught on. "Ah, right, right... Since my future brother-in-law is here, you must have things to discuss. Sis, we'll head back first."

"Oh... so it's Zhang Chu!"

"What's this? The moment I arrive, you want to leave. Do you take me for some flood beast?"

Before Zhang Ruohan could nod, Zhao Chuanfeng had already arrived before them. He spoke in a joking tone, but he was far too gloomy. Though he claimed to be joking, he gave off a dark, insincere feeling, smiling without warmth in his eyes.

It made one's hair stand on end.

Li Yun finally understood why Zhang Chu had become so nervous upon hearing that Zhao Chuanfeng had arrived.

Truthfully, if he were Zhang Chu, he would not want anything to do with Zhao Chuanfeng either. Forget a future brother-in-law—even if he were already a real brother-in-law, he would still stay as far away as possible.

Still, Li Yun could not understand something.

After their brief interaction, he had gained some sense of Zhang Ruohan's character. She might not be deeply calculating, but she was certainly not some simple-minded ordinary woman who lived only for romance.

Why would she be willing to form an engagement with Zhao Chuanfeng?

Moreover, when she had heard Zhao Chuanfeng's voice earlier, Li Yun had seen it clearly: Zhang Ruohan had looked somewhat displeased, even faintly disgusted.

If she found him disgusting, why enter into a marriage alliance with him?

Could there be some hidden trick behind this?

While Li Yun pondered in secret, Zhang Chu had already become extremely nervous after hearing Zhao Chuanfeng's words. Trembling, he said, "Zhao... Senior Brother Zhao, that's not what I meant. We've been here for quite a while, and..."

Before he could finish.

Zhao Chuanfeng's face darkened. "Why call me Senior Brother Zhao? Call me Brother Feng!"

"Ah, y-yes... Brother Feng!"

"Enough!"

Zhang Ruohan spoke with some displeasure. She shot Zhang Chu a fierce glare, clearly dissatisfied with how terrified he was acting in front of Zhao Chuanfeng.

"Xiao Chu, you and your fellow student have been here for quite some time. It's time to leave. Go back to the Outer Sect yourselves. I won't see you off."

"Yes..."

Zhang Chu was overjoyed. Tugging at Li Yun's sleeve, he was about to run out as though granted a pardon.

"Stop!"

Zhao Chuanfeng suddenly shouted.

Li Yun and Zhang Chu could not leave Clear Reflection Residence after all and could only halt.

Zhao Chuanfeng glanced at them, then turned his gaze back to Zhang Ruohan. With extreme dissatisfaction, he snorted. "What's going on? The moment I heard you'd brought Outer Sect Disciples here, I came over to take a look. Yet as soon as I arrived, Zhang Chu wanted to leave, and you wanted to send them away too. What does that mean?"

"Are you avoiding me?"

"Zhang Ruohan, you've always treated me like an outsider!"

Zhang Ruohan's expression changed slightly. "No, you're overthinking it. We have an engagement; how could I treat you as an outsider? I simply do not wish to stir up unnecessary trouble."

"Stir up unnecessary trouble?"

The instant Zhao Chuanfeng heard those four words, his face flushed crimson, and fury surged in his eyes. "My coming here is stirring up unnecessary trouble? Zhang Ruohan, and you still say you don't treat me as an outsider?"

"You not only treat me as an outsider—you treat me like some flood beast."

Zhang Ruohan said coldly, "Zhao Chuanfeng, can't you speak properly? Why are you shouting in front of two Outer Sect Disciples?"

"Don't think I don't know why you came."

"Didn't you deliberately rush over here after that Liu Ningkong fellow wagged his tongue at you?"

"I..."

Zhao Chuanfeng's expression froze at once.

Zhang Ruohan said, "What kind of dog-shit thing Liu Ningkong is, don't you know? Yet because he wagged his tongue a few times, you ran all the way from Azure Dragon Courtyard. Tell me yourself—do you have even the slightest bit of trust in me?"

"I, Zhang Ruohan, am at least an Inner Sect Disciple of Vermilion Bird Courtyard. Even if Xiao Chu were not my blood brother, what would be wrong with me bringing two Outer Sect Disciples around for a visit?"

"Ah... yes, yes, yes... I was wrong."

Zhao Chuanfeng was left speechless by Zhang Ruohan's rebuke. He hurriedly put away his anger and began speaking softly, flattering her like a simp.

Li Yun was rendered speechless for quite a while.

He understood now. Zhao Chuanfeng looked dignified and impressive on the surface, but in truth, he was a petty, jealous simp.

And Liu Ningkong, whom they had encountered at the entrance to Vermilion Bird Courtyard earlier, was a sinister and crafty bastard. He had said nothing at the time, yet behind the scenes, he had deliberately gone to Zhao Chuanfeng to stir up trouble.

Wasn't his purpose obvious at a glance?

It was not enough that he had stolen Huang Yiyi—he had even deliberately tried to use Zhao Chuanfeng's hand to deal with Li Yun. That Liu Ningkong was unquestionably a piece of scum rotten to the core.

Sooner or later, Li Yun would take him out!

As for Liu Ningkong having a powerful background, what the hell did that have to do with him?

Whether in his previous life or this one, Li Yun had always followed one principle: if others did not offend him, he would not offend them; but if anyone offended him, even if they were the Heavenly King himself, Li Yun would take them out when the chance came!

As long as he was strong enough, he would find an opportunity to kill Liu Ningkong. Once the man was dead, what use would a powerful background be?

Still, that was all for later.

One could act as one pleased only with powerful strength as the foundation.

For now, Li Yun felt it was better to keep a low profile and quietly harvest more Cognition Points.

At present, Cognition Points were everything to him.

Everything else was empty.

Therefore, Li Yun remained silent.

After Zhao Chuanfeng showered her with flattering words, Zhang Ruohan's expression improved slightly.

Taking advantage of the moment, Zhao Chuanfeng suggested, "How about this? It's rare for Xiao Chu to come to the Inner Sect. Why not let me take Xiao Chu and his friend around Azure Dragon Courtyard?"