Su Xuefeng

In the courtyard, only Sikong Jing and Su Yuexi remained.

A cold wind blew gently. Tonight, their wedding, though simple, had been warm, but it had devolved into this.

Sikong Jing felt a pang of self-reproach, not for crippling Su Yang – he would do the same again if given the chance.

His self-reproach was solely for causing Su Yuexi distress.

"Yuexi, the fact that I was granted a marriage by the Lord of Yun Province proves I'm no ordinary person. Trust me, I will win in ten days," Sikong Jing said, unsure how else to comfort her.

He actually wanted to say that he was the invincible divine general from the legends of the Great Shang Dynasty.

But the words caught in his throat, and he swallowed them back.

Knowing his true identity would benefit no one.

The enemies he had slain piled up like mountains, the bandits he had eliminated were countless, and the nobles he had offended were too many to count. If his identity were revealed, who knew how many enemies would descend upon him like ravenous wolves.

At this moment, he understood why Yan Tianmo hadn't publicly announced it was an imperial decree.

Only by attributing the marriage to the Lord of Yun Province would his identity not be suspected. Of course, it wasn't to protect him, but because the Ninth Princess, Yan Ruyu, wanted to see him married to an ugly bride and living a life of quiet desperation.

Su Yuexi reached out and took Sikong Jing's hand, saying softly, "I am now your rightful wife. No matter what happens, I will always be by your side."

She had already been living a life of quiet desperation, her only reason for living being her parents.

Now that she was a wife, her husband naturally came first.

Sikong Jing's eyes welled up, and he gently pulled Su Yuexi into his embrace, unable to speak.

"You... you really don't mind that I'm ugly?"

Nestled in Sikong Jing's broad chest, Su Yuexi whispered.

She recalled Sikong Jing tearing off her veil and wiping away the bloodstains with a handkerchief. His gaze at that moment had held no fluctuation or disgust, a scene she had never witnessed before.

Sikong Jing smiled. "Don't say such foolish things. Besides, in ten days, I might be able to give you a surprise."

In ten days, he should be able to reach the ninth level of the Bright Realm.

That night, following their mother-in-law Mei Xiaofang's advice, they slept in separate rooms, and Sikong Jing immediately entered a state of cultivation.

At the same time, Su Zhengtao was playing chess with an old man in his room.

The old man was his and Su Zhenglong's father, Su Xuefeng.

Ever since Su Zhenglong had been severely injured, Su Xuefeng, as the head of the Su Clan, had shifted his focus to his second son, Su Zhengtao. For ten years, he had doted on them endlessly.

Suddenly, Su Zhengtao asked, "Father, why only cripple that criminal? Why not just kill him?"

Su Xuefeng's face darkened as he replied, "The Lord of Yun Province bestowed this marriage, and I don't know the deeper meaning behind it. It's best not to let that criminal die too quickly. I'll gauge the situation first."

"But that criminal must have committed a grave offense or offended someone terrifying, otherwise, they wouldn't use that ugly monster to humiliate him." Su Xuefeng referred to his granddaughter, Su Yuexi, as an ugly monster.

Then, Su Xuefeng gritted his teeth. "How unlucky! How could I, Su Xuefeng, have the ugliest granddaughter in all of Yun Province?"

Panting, he thought that Su Yuexi was the greatest disgrace to the Su Clan.

It was precisely because she was the ugliest that she had been granted this marriage.

"Father, calm down. Su Yang crippling that criminal was an early birthday gift for you," Su Zhengtao advised.

Su Xuefeng's mood improved slightly at the thought of seeing the criminal with severed limbs soon, but he still said hatefully, "I really want to see with my own eyes the miserable state of that criminal."

"Second Master... something terrible has happened."

Suddenly, a servant's voice cried out desperately from outside the courtyard. The "Second Master" he referred to was naturally Su Zhengtao.

The servant rushed in, his face pale. "Young Master Su Yang, he... he..."

Slap!

Su Zhengtao slapped the servant across the face. "What's the hurry? Speak properly. Don't you see the Old Master is here?"

Hearing this, Su Xuefeng said indifferently, "What happened to Xiao Yang? Did he accidentally kill that criminal? Or did he kill that ugly monster? It's all fine. If they're dead, they're dead."

"No, it's not... Young Master's hands and feet are all broken!" the servant said, his face blank.

Boom!

As these words fell, Su Xuefeng and Su Zhengtao, father and son, felt as if they had been struck by lightning, their blood surging backward!

"What did you say?"

The father and son roared almost simultaneously, rushing madly out of the room.

They then saw Su Yang lying on a stretcher, his hands and feet completely crippled, even the bones in his joints shattered.

Su Yun knelt on the stretcher, weeping.

Su Xuefeng's black and white beard and hair flew wildly as he glared at Su Yun and asked, "Who did this? Was it that dog, Su Zhenglong?"

His old eyes were red, his fists clenched. Besides Su Zhenglong, no one would dare cripple Su Yang.

"It was that damned criminal. He ambushed Second Brother..."

Su Yun said through gritted teeth, recounting the events. However, she twisted the fact that Sikong Jing had defeated Su Yang into an ambush.

Otherwise, Su Yang, the second brother, definitely would not have lost.

"That criminal, I'm going to kill him." Su Zhengtao's true energy surged violently throughout his body, and he prepared to charge out.

"Stop." Su Xuefeng barked a sharp command, growling, "Even if it was a sneak attack, this nominal contest between juniors was a loss for Su Yang. Su Zhenglong has the excuse to fight to the death."

Su Zhengtao's footsteps stiffened; he was terrified of Su Zhenglong fighting to the death.

One had to know that even their father would not be able to gain any advantage against a Su Zhenglong who was fighting for his life.

However, staring at Su Yang's miserable state, Su Zhengtao roared with bloodshot eyes, "Father, are we just going to swallow this insult?"

Su Xuefeng's gaze was icy, "Of course not. In ten days, Xiaoshan will return to celebrate my birthday. We will let Xiaoshan kill him then."

We have to endure for another ten days? Su Zhengtao was extremely displeased.

Suddenly, Su Xuefeng shouted a heavy command, "Pass on my order: from this moment on, cut off all financial support to Su Zhenglong's family. They won't get a single copper coin from the Su Mansion."

After issuing the order, he hurried out to seek medical help for Su Yang.

Su Zhengtao's chest heaved continuously as he said with a sinister, terrifying tone, "Ten days from now, not only will I make that criminal die, but I will also make Su Zhenglong die of rage. Father's birthday banquet will be his funeral."

Daylight broke. Sikong Jing had practiced without sleep all night, and he had reached the fifth level of the Bright Realm.

"What are you doing? Don't grab that, don't grab it!"

Suddenly, the shrill scream of his mother-in-law, Mei Xiaofang, came from outside the room.

At that moment, his door was kicked open with a bang, and he saw Su Yuexi panting heavily as she said, "Sikong Jing, the servants in the house are looting Mother's belongings."

Sikong Jing was stunned for a moment before he quickly pulled Su Yuexi toward the center of the courtyard.

He saw six or seven people dressed as servants surrounding his mother-in-law, Mei Xiaofang. Among them, a middle-aged man and woman were tugging at a bolt of silk in Mei Xiaofang's hands.

Mei Xiaofang was exasperated, "Have you all gone mad? Let go!"

"Hmph, you haven't paid us our wages for the last half-month. Do you want us to starve to death?" the middle-aged servant snatching the silk said viciously.