The one who spoke wasn't Zhao Ping'an, but a young man rushing over from nearby. He looked barely over twenty, yet his cultivation had already reached the Innate Realm, albeit only the second level.
As he spoke, two palm-sized true qi seals appeared over his hands, each a little larger than his palm. He slapped them toward the chests of the two City Guard soldiers.
The two instinctively raised the girl they were carrying to shield themselves, then quickly retreated.
Boom!
The young man clearly knew the girl. He swiftly slammed the true qi palm seals into the ground, shattering the flagstones, then immediately raised his arms and caught the girl as she fell.
"Little sister! Little sister! Wake up!"
"Wang Linzhao! Could that girl be Wang Linxue, the Wang Family's precious jewel?"
A bystander recognized the young man and cried out in surprise.
Wang Linzhao was the foremost of the Wang Family's third generation. He had broken through to the Innate Realm at just twenty-two. Now twenty-four, he was one of South Ridge City's Four Young Masters. The other three were Zhou Honghai, the City Lord's second son; Li Xingjian, the foremost of the Li Family's third generation, one of the three great families; and Wu Xingwen, the young escort chief of the Qingyuan Escort Agency.
All four had broken through to the Innate Realm in their early twenties. In South Ridge City, they were true men of the hour.
"I can't believe the people in that City Lord's Mansion carriage had set their sights on the Wang Family. Now this is going to get interesting."
"Yeah. The Wang Family and the City Lord's Mansion have a close relationship. And now something like this has happened..."
Once they learned the two young people's identities, the onlookers immediately began buzzing with discussion. Clearly, they were all the sort who wouldn't mind a little more trouble if it meant a better show.
As for abducting a woman in broad daylight, they seemed to take it in stride. Apparently, this wasn't the first time they'd seen it.
What a fallen age, with rites and music in ruins. Martial Artists cultivate their bodies but not their hearts. Their fragile minds can't control their great strength, so their desires swell without limit. I wonder if that's a blessing or a curse for this world.
Zhao Ping'an listened to the surrounding chatter, murmuring to himself.
If his guess about the man in the carriage—the one with the face of someone suffering from kidney deficiency—was right, then the Tianshui Dynasty's political affairs had already rotted to the core.
They'd actually appointed heretical Martial Artists to government posts, without imposing any restrictions on them.
"City Guard! How dare you abduct a woman of the Wang Family in broad daylight? I'm going to Uncle Zhou right now and find out who gave you the nerve!"
Wang Linzhao glared at the two City Guard soldiers nearby, his face dark as he shouted.
As a family of weapon-makers, the Wang Family had plenty of dealings with the authorities. They were practically an old family friend of the City Lord's Mansion—or, more accurately, the Wang Family was attached to the Prefectural Governor's Mansion behind it.
By then, he had managed to wake his younger sister. But she had been so badly frightened that she was hiding in his arms, weeping softly, a sight that tugged at the heartstrings.
Wang Linzhao cast a furious glance at the figure on the carriage, then picked up his sister, Wang Linxue, and turned to leave.
Anyone who dared ride openly in a City Lord's Mansion carriage and could command the City Guard had to be someone of no small standing. His strength was even harder to gauge, so Wang Linzhao didn't rush in recklessly.
Of course, the fact that his sister was still unharmed was also the most immediate reason.
"How interesting. Trying to leave? Did I say you could?"
Just as Wang Linzhao turned around, a soft, feminine voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.
He immediately turned to look. Somehow, the pale-faced middle-aged man who had been in the carriage more than ten meters away was now standing just over a meter behind him.
The crowd around them all stepped back several paces, frightened by what they'd seen.
Just seconds earlier, as Wang Linzhao had picked up his sister and turned around, a white-clad figure with a deathly pale face and a thin, lanky frame had darted out of the carriage like a ghost. In a single leap, he had crossed more than ten meters and appeared behind Wang Linzhao.
That terrifying speed, combined with his Black-and-White Impermanence-like appearance, made the onlookers feel as if they'd seen a ghost in broad daylight.
"Holy shit, what kind of getup is that? Dressing like a ghost in broad daylight to scare people!"
Watching the figure burst out so suddenly, Zhao Ping'an blurted out the curse, his voice clear and loud.
In an instant, everyone turned to look at him in unison, their expressions strange. Still, none of them recognized him.
The exception was the Black-and-White Impermanence-like figure, whose face darkened. He hated people commenting on his appearance more than anything.
But there was one person who was an exception: Wang Linzhao. As a direct descendant of a young master from a faction on the same level as the Blazing Blade Sect and the Zhao Family, he immediately widened his eyes when he saw Zhao Ping'an's face. Clearly, he recognized him.
"Kid, I hate people commenting on my appearance. And you actually dared to call me a ghost in front of everyone? I hope you learn to watch your mouth in your next life!"
The Black-and-White Impermanence-like figure looked at Zhao Ping'an, who stood out from the crowd, his expression twisted with rage and his voice icy.
At his gaze, everyone standing in front of Zhao Ping'an scattered like startled birds and beasts, quickly clearing a path several meters wide.
"Me, reckless? You're the one who—damn it!"
Although the way had cleared, the figure with the kidney-deficient look didn't waste another word. As Zhao Ping'an spoke, the man's right hand swelled several times over, forming a massive palm print with a radius of more than three feet. It came straight down toward Zhao Ping'an's chest.
"Die!"
At the same time, the white-clad man roared, clearly striking in a fit of fury. His Qi surged outward at full force.
Even without using any martial technique, that single palm strike would kill even someone at the Xiantian Peak level on the spot—and leave nothing but a mangled corpse.
"Reckless fool! Void Splitting Palm!"
Zhao Ping'an moved faster than his opponent. He raised his right hand, and a Qi palm print several times larger than the other man's shot from his hand, smashing straight toward the white-clad man.
The white-clad man had been wearing an expression of loathing and fury, but when he saw the enormous palm print, as large as his entire body, his eyes widened and his face turned to terror.
Only one thought crossed his mind: I'm done for!
He remembered someone the City Lord here had specifically told them about—someone their lord had personally instructed him to watch out for: the peak Grandmaster, Zhao Ping'an.
Unfortunately, he'd only taken a glance at the portrait and hadn't paid it much attention. Then the City Lord had sent over several alluring women to keep him blissfully ensconced in pleasure, and he'd completely forgotten the face in the portrait.
Boom!
With a thunderous crash, a figure flew away like a kite with its string cut, crashing to the ground beside the City Lord's Mansion carriage twenty meters away.
His right arm and half his torso had been reduced to a heap of broken flesh and bone. But the formidable vitality of the Grandmaster Realm meant he still hadn't quite breathed his last.
"I hate it when people interrupt me, too!"
Whoosh!
Zhao Ping'an sucked a piece of gravel off the ground and flung it. It sliced through the air with a sharp whistle.
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