Li Xun's Unwillingness, Why Is He So Lucky

Lu Jiuyuan looked at the screen full of "shameless" and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

Three thousand? Two would be enough to make him suffer!

[Lu Jiuyuan: No more chatting, time to work.]

[Yan Lingji: ??? Working again???]

[Feng Qing'er: What kind of work are you doing in broad daylight?!]

[Mai Shiranui: Group Leader, didn't you just finish working?!]

[Zi Nu: Group Leader, please take care of your health...]

[Yun Yun: ...]

[Medusa: ...]

[Bibi Dong: ...]

Lu Jiuyuan did not reply again and logged off directly.

The group chat instantly boiled over.

[Yan Lingji: @Lu Jiuyuan, get back here!]

[Feng Qing'er: @Lu Jiuyuan, running away without making yourself clear?!]

[Mai Shiranui: Group Leader!!!]

[Zi Nu: He certainly runs fast...]

[Yun Yun: Forget it, he won't come back.]

[Medusa: Hmph! Men.]

[Bibi Dong: We must ask him clearly next time he logs on.]

[Yan Lingji: Right! Ask him clearly exactly how many women he has!]

[Feng Qing'er: This young lady wants to see what kind of woman could possibly fancy him!]

[Zi Nu: +1]

[Yun Yun: +2]

[Medusa: +3]

[Bibi Dong: +4]

The mountain breeze blew over, tangling their robes together until they were indistinguishable from one another.

From the distance came the voice of Wen Min, muffled and hazy, as if it were separated by several mountains.

"They are calling for us," Lu Xueqi said, her voice muffled.

"Let them call."

"Aren't you afraid they'll get impatient waiting?"

"Let them wait."

Lu Xueqi rubbed against his chest gently and said nothing more.

After another long while, she finally lifted her head from his embrace.

The tear stains on her face had already dried, and her eyes were still a bit red, but the light in them had returned, brighter and more resolute than before.

"Let's go." Lu Xueqi let go of him, stepped back, and smoothed out the collar he had wrinkled, her movements very slow, as if she were calming herself down.

"Xueqi."

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

Lu Xueqi's hand paused, and she looked up at him. "Thank you for what?"

"Thank you for being willing to forgive me."

Lu Xueqi looked at him, her lips moving as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she only sighed softly.

"Lu Jiuyuan, you!!!"

Lu Xueqi did not continue, turning around and walking toward the direction of the group.

After a few steps, she stopped without looking back.

"What are you still standing there for? Keep up."

Lu Jiuyuan chuckled, stepped forward to follow, and walked to her side.

Lu Xueqi did not look at him, but her hand reached out from her sleeve and gently hooked his finger.

The two walked side by side down the mountain.

On the mountain path in the distance, Wen Min was craning her neck to look out, and upon seeing their figures emerge from the woods, she let out a long sigh of relief.

"Thank heavens, you're finally back."

Jin Ping'er leaned against a rock by the roadside, toying with her Purple Glow Blade, a faint, elusive smile playing on her lips.

Her gaze lingered for a moment on Lu Xueqi's slightly reddened eyes, then drifted to their clasped hands before shifting away with practiced indifference.

When Lu Jiuyuan walked over, Jin Ping'er winked at him, said nothing, and turned to lead the way at the front of the group.

Wen Min looked from one to the other, then followed in silence.

The group continued their journey.

Lu Xueqi walked on his left, while Jin Ping'er walked slightly ahead on his right, maintaining a distance of one arm's length between them—neither too far nor too close, as if they had reached some unspoken understanding.

Lu Jiuyuan walked in the middle, holding one hand on his left and followed by the other on his right.

On a mountain cliff.

Li Xun smashed a large tree with a single palm strike.

The trunk snapped with a thunderous crack, crashing toward the cliffside in a spray of wood chips and startling a flock of resting birds.

He stood before the broken tree, his chest heaving violently, his face as dark as the sky before a storm.

That usually handsome face was now twisted, the veins on his forehead throbbing, his eyes bloodshot.

Another failure.

In his heart, he cursed Lu Jiuyuan's ancestors to the eighteenth generation.

The beast tide had been blocked by one man, and his Beast-Attracting Powder had been destroyed without a sound.

When the four disciples he had sent to scout returned, their legs were weak, and they stammered for a long time before getting the story straight: "Lu Jiuyuan discovered us, but he didn't attack; he just took the copper bell."

He didn't attack—not because he didn't dare, but because he didn't care.

It was like a person seeing an ant by their foot; they couldn't be bothered to step on it, so they simply walked over it.

This feeling of being ignored was even more unbearable than being beaten.

"Senior Brother Li!!!"

"Shut up."

The Fenxiang Valley disciple who had just run over to report was startled by his expression, shrinking his neck and stepping back two paces, his voice as faint as a mosquito's hum: "It... it was the Valley Master who ordered this disciple to report..."

Li Xun took a deep breath, suppressing his surging rage, and turned around. "Speak."

The disciple hurriedly stepped forward, took a sound-transmission talisman from his sleeve, and offered it with both hands.

Li Xun took it and channeled his spiritual power into it. Yun Yilan's voice emerged, as calm as if he were discussing a trivial matter.

"Xun'er, Black Stone City, a hundred miles away, is under attack by a beast tide. There is a Fenxiang Valley property in the city; handle it as you see fit."

The sound-transmission talisman turned to ash in his hand. Li Xun stood in place, his brow furrowed into a deep frown.

Black Stone City, that small town wedged between the Southern Border wilderness and the Central Plains trade routes—it was remote, sparsely populated, and dilapidated; it was not a place of any real importance.

But there was a Fenxiang Valley property in that city. It wasn't a mine or a spirit field; it was a brothel.

Fenxiang Valley had operated in the Southern Border for many years; while they were a righteous sect on the surface, their secret businesses were vast.

Brothels, gambling dens, smuggling spirit minerals—they did whatever made money.

The brothel in Black Stone City wasn't large, but it was well-situated, right at the intersection of the Southern Border and Central Plains trade routes. With many merchants passing through, business had always been good.

While the monthly income couldn't compare to a mine, it was stable, and it also served as one of Fenxiang Valley's intelligence nodes in the Southern Border.

If it fell, the loss wouldn't be significant, but it would be a blow to their reputation. If Fenxiang Valley couldn't protect its own property on its own turf, it would be a laughingstock.

As Li Xun was calculating, the disciple spoke up cautiously: "Senior Brother Li, there is one more thing..."

"Speak."

"People from the Qingyun Sect have already headed toward Black Stone City. It seems they received word that civilians are trapped in the city and are going to provide support."

Li Xun's eyes narrowed slightly.

The Qingyun Sect had gone.

Lu Jiuyuan had gone.

His fingers tapped lightly against his sleeve, his mind racing.

A thought sprouted from his anger and resentment, like a venomous snake emerging from a swamp.

Li Xun suddenly smiled.

The smile was cold and sharp, like the glint reflecting off a blade. Seeing this expression, the disciple felt a chill run down his back and involuntarily took another half-step back.

"Black Stone City..." Li Xun muttered to himself, the curve of his lips widening, "A beast tide attacking the city, and the Qingyun Sect acting with such righteousness—truly moving."

He turned around, his gaze crossing the cliff to look toward the churning black clouds on the distant horizon.

The direction of those black clouds was exactly where Black Stone City lay.

The beast tide was pouring in from that direction, endless and continuous, as if driven by some unseen force.