A Match Made in Heaven

Outside the thatched hut lay a muddy clearing, with pig manure that reeked of rot scattered everywhere.

Su Yuexi was surrounded by several people. Their leader was a beautiful woman dressed in luxurious silk, though her eyes and brows were full of spite, and her face radiated arrogance.

Su Yuexi trembled slightly, speaking with fear and humiliation. "Su Yun, Aunt Dou was the one who falsely accused me of stealing a pig from the Pig Farm first. She hit and cursed me, so I only fought back."

Sikong Jing stopped in his tracks and stared in stunned silence.

He had clearly been the one to hack off the shrew's hands and feet, yet Su Yuexi claimed she had done it herself?

Aunt Dou was the shrew from just moments ago. She was still unconscious on the ground, while someone tended to her wounds to stop the bleeding.

"Well, well, so it really was you."

Su Yun, the spiteful woman opposite Su Yuexi, cried out with a twisted expression, "You ugly freak, a disgrace to the Su Clan, and you dare lay such a vicious hand on my servant?"

"Someone, give her ten slaps across the face, then drag her to the Su Clan Enforcement Hall to be punished!"

At Su Yun's command, a woman who looked like a maid strode forward.

She swung hard at Su Yuexi's face.

Su Yuexi tried to dodge, but then seemed to remember something and abruptly shut her eyes, submitting to her fate.

Slap!

Suddenly, a sharp crack rang beside her. Su Yuexi felt no pain on her face, but heard a scream—and it came from Su Yun's maid.

When Su Yuexi opened her eyes, a tall, straight figure had appeared in front of her. It was, of course, Sikong Jing.

Her expression changed drastically. Why had her husband come out? He had even struck Su Yun's maid.

Su Yun was just as stunned to see Sikong Jing appear out of nowhere. But when she saw her own maid get hit, she flared up in anger and snapped, "Who are you? How dare you hit my people?"

Sikong Jing's gaze turned icy. He answered quietly, "I'm Su Yuexi's husband, Sikong Jing."

"Hmm?"

Su Yun looked him up and down, then sneered. "So you're the sickly criminal husband the Lord of Yun Province personally betrothed to Su Yuexi five days ago?"

Sikong Jing raised an eyebrow. He should have been betrothed to her personally by the Great Shang emperor, Yan Tianmo. And it should have been Ninth Princess Yan Ruyu's idea to make him marry the ugliest woman in Yun Province.

The whole point had been to humiliate him thoroughly.

Since when had the puny Lord of Yun Province arranged the betrothal?

Still, Sikong Jing didn't care about such trivial details. He said coldly, "That's right. I chopped off that shrew's hands and feet. If you've got a problem with it, come at me."

As soon as he finished speaking, Su Yuexi grabbed his arm and hurriedly said, "No, I chopped off Aunt Dou's hands and feet. He didn't do it."

Though her face was covered, her anxiousness was still clear. She kept signaling to Sikong Jing with her eyes.

Sikong Jing understood at once. Su Yuexi was trying to take the blame for him. Warmth stirred in his heart, and he shook his head at her. "There's no need. If I did it, I did it."

"You..."

When Sikong Jing continued to own up to it, Su Yuexi was so anxious she could barely speak.

Just then, Su Yun shouted, "Enough! Are you two putting on a lovey-dovey show in front of me? A sickly convict in exile and an ugly freak—you really are a match made in heaven."

"Whoever did the chopping, you're husband and wife, so neither of you can escape punishment!"

"Especially you, you sickly wretch. You actually dared to hit my maid... Get him! Teach him a lesson!"

At her order, several thugs around them grinned viciously and rushed at Sikong Jing without a word.

Su Yun's maid clutched her face where Sikong Jing had struck her and snarled, "Beat this pair of dogs to death!"

Then the maid attacked Su Yuexi too.

The instant everyone charged, Sikong Jing glared at them and said coldly, "A bunch of pitiful weaklings."

He swung his massive fist. Though he was only at the second level of the Bright Realm, he was now cultivating the Emperor-Slaying Prison-Breaking Art—and he had once been the Invincible Divine General.

His aura surged skyward. He threw several punches, without even needing to use a single martial technique.

Thud, thud, thud, thud...

Every one of the small-time thugs Su Yun had brought along took a punch and screamed as they were sent flying.

In the next instant, Sikong Jing darted in front of Su Yuexi to shield her, then slapped Su Yun's charging maid across the face.

Slap!

The maid was struck again. With a wretched scream, her whole body twisted in midair before she crashed heavily to the ground, splashing pig manure all over herself.

The scene froze the instant Sikong Jing lowered his hand.

The supposedly sickly Sikong Jing stood before Su Yuexi, his figure as sharp as a blade, like an impassable barrier.