Soul Severing

"Yang Yuan is lost!"

Yang Huai frowned, a cold glint in his eyes.

Inside the room, Yang Huan stood before the family in a daze, utterly distraught.

"How did she get lost? Wasn't Yang Yuan outside playing with you?"

Yang Dayuan demanded harshly. Veins bulged across his dark face, and his eyes looked as though they could devour someone.

Yang Huan's face went pale at his words. Lowering his head, he said, "We were playing by the stream. Blackhead wanted to pick Qingqian willow tea, so everyone went together. Yang Yuan went too, but halfway there we ran into Yang Yu and the others. They went down to the riverbank..."

Qingqian willow tea referred to the tender leaves of the Qingqian willow. Once picked, those leaves could be dried and sold for a decent price.

Thus, during the busy farming season, the women and children in the village liked to go into the mountains to pick Qingqian willow leaves and help support their households.

Yang Huan often went into the mountains with the other village children to pick tea leaves. It was one of the few chances they had to earn some extra money.

Yang Huai had done the same when he was little, so he understood.

"And then?"

"Yang Yu and the others came back just now, but they said they hadn't seen my little sister. I looked around several times too, but I couldn't find her, so..."

Yang Huan looked aggrieved.

Yang Dayuan flew into a rage.

"You little bastard! I'll beat you to death! You knew Yang Yu's family is at odds with ours, yet you still dared to leave Yang Yuan behind!"

He grabbed a wooden stick from nearby and was about to give Yang Huan a vicious beating.

Yang Mother gritted her teeth at the side, furious that he had failed to live up to expectations.

Yang Huai frowned. Yang Yu was the village head's granddaughter. Children were inevitably influenced by their families' likes and dislikes, but if they truly dared target his sister and lay their hands on a little girl of seven or eight, he would never let them off.

Just then, a soft voice rang out, instantly changing everyone's expressions.

"Yang Yuan is back!"

Following Yuan Xiuxiu's voice, everyone looked through the ridges of the field before the door and saw, from afar, a tiny figure in a flowered padded jacket returning. She wiped away tears as she walked, crying her heart out.

"Yang Yuan!"

At the sight of the little girl, everyone hurried to greet her. Yang Huai also let out a breath of relief. It seemed to have been a false alarm.

As everyone surged forward, the atmosphere gradually eased.

"Yang Yuan, where on earth did you run off to? Why couldn't I find you?"

As everyone crowded around the little girl and fussed over her, Yang Huan looked deeply depressed. He had nearly received a sound beating just now, yet no one comforted him.

"They lied to me. They said you had all gone to the slope behind the mountain to pick mulberry leaves!"

Yang Yuan's little face was full of gloom.

"Good! No wonder I couldn't find you anywhere—you ran off to the mulberry grove behind the mountain! And Yang Yu and those girls actually dared lie to me. I'll beat them to death!"

Yang Huan waved his arms, his face filled with outrage.

Though he said that, his feet did not move an inch. Yang Yu had seven or eight brothers, many of them tall and well-fed, far stronger than the others. He simply could not beat them.

After sulking for a while, Yang Yuan spoke again.

"But I saw Sister Liu Five in the mountains!"

Yang Mother straightened her clothes and casually asked, "What happened to your Sister Liu Five?"

"I saw her walking into the mountains with the peddler brother!"

"What?"

Everyone was shocked.

Yang Huai frowned as well.

Liu Jingjing's wedding was only a day or two away. How could she dare slip into the woods with a stranger?

If word got out, would she still have any reputation left? Would she still be able to marry into that family?

Yang Huai immediately asked, "Were you the only one who saw them?"

Yang Yuan nodded.

"I was the only one in the mountains!"

Yang Dayuan frowned.

"Could Jingjing have been bewitched by that peddler? Has he done something foul to her?"

Among the common folk, it was said that lowly people such as peddlers knew child-snatching tricks. They used drugs or sinister arts to beguile people's hearts, abduct respectable women or young girls, and sell them to human traffickers.

Yang Huai knew of this as well. Frowning slightly, he asked Yang Yuan for the exact direction, then strode after them.

In such a situation, the Yang Family should have immediately informed the village head and organized the village's able-bodied men to search the mountain. But Liu Jingjing's reputation was involved, so they could not make a great fuss of it. Otherwise, a benefactor might become an enemy.

Yet he absolutely could not stand by and watch a companion be abducted.

So he could only head up the mountain himself, while having Yang Dayuan notify the Liu Family's four brothers and bring men after him.

"Yang Huai, be careful! That black-hearted peddler may not be someone easy to deal with!"

Yang Dayuan was somewhat worried and warned him aloud, but he could only hurry to the Liu Family's home to gather people.

Behind him, Yuan Xiuxiu was not worried at all. Yang Huai had mastered the Heavenly Circuit Heart Method; dealing with such a small matter would be no problem for him.

At noon, the depths of the forest were still somewhat dim. The towering canopy blocked out the sun overhead, making the woods dark and damp.

At that moment, two figures walked one after the other toward the depths of the forest, stumbling over uneven ground. The one in front wore a flowered cap, his face slick and powdered, carrying a peddler's load. It was the peddler, and he was complaining.

"Guess I'm just unlucky. All I managed to get was an ordinary piece like you, but you've got a big backside and a tall frame. You ought to be good for bearing children. Big Brother just happens to like sturdy little women like you!"

"What a pity about that young wife, though. She was truly enticing. Once my brothers all return, we'll definitely strip this place clean!"

By the end, a vicious gleam had appeared in his eyes.

Behind him, Liu Jingjing wore a numb expression, following him like a walking corpse. She only knew to keep moving forward. Her clothes were in disarray, yet even when thorns tore her skin and drew blood, she remained utterly unresponsive.

Just then, the peddler abruptly halted. His ears pricked slightly, and he looked back suspiciously. His exceptionally sharp hearing had caught faint sounds behind him, along with the rustling of disturbed grass and trees.

His expression suddenly changed. He leaped away with the agility of a rabbit, moving like a swimming dragon as he reached a large tree in an instant. A figure rushed toward him from not far away, carrying streaks of scorching wind through the air.

That figure was none other than Yang Huai.

He had leaped out from behind the tree to launch a sneak attack, but he had not expected the other man to evade his swift pounce so lightly.

"A trained fighter?"

He immediately frowned.

"It's you!"

The peddler recognized Yang Huai as well, though a hidden wariness lay deep in his eyes.

Yang Huai was now giving off an earth-shaking force of blood and vitality. Only then did the peddler realize how terrifying the man before him was. To his spiritual senses, Yang Huai was like a giant bear, like a giant tiger, nearly making his heart and soul tremble.

Yet although that earlier pounce had been incredibly fast, it had seemed without any real technique.

Could he be a greenhorn who merely got lucky and cultivated a body full of vigorous blood and vitality? If so...

He steadied himself slightly, a vicious glint flashing through his eyes. If that was the case, he might not be unable to handle Yang Huai.

Yang Huai's gaze fell upon Liu Jingjing beside him, her clothes in disarray. Seeing his companion suffer such misfortune, an invisible malice burst forth from the depths of his heart.

As that evil thought surged up, inspiration suddenly flashed through his mind. The Soul Carving Knife in the depths of his sea of consciousness took shape in an instant. Two faint white rays shot from his eyes and locked onto the peddler. With a single turn, the peddler's face froze in astonishment, and in the next instant he clutched his head and let out a scream that scarcely sounded human.

Yang Huai seized the opportunity and immediately closed in, his heavy fists raining down upon the peddler like raindrops.