The Eve of the Grand Wedding

"Quick, over here..."

"Lift the left side a little higher. Yes, good, just like that."

Nearly a year had passed since then. During that time, the Langya Pavilion had arranged almost all of its affairs, and was now carrying out the final preparations for the venue.

The Langya Pavilion's Pavilion Master and Deputy Pavilion Master would be married in three days. Naturally, not the slightest carelessness could be allowed.

Many representatives of distant forces had already been invited in advance to the specially reserved restaurant in Langya Pavilion.

Everything was ready. All that remained was to wait for the east wind.

However, just as the disciples were rushing about preparing for the wedding, the Langya Pavilion Elder Council was burning with anxiety. Their Pavilion Master had actually disappeared again.

This time, though, he had not vanished completely. At least he had left behind a letter explaining that he would return on the day of his Grand Wedding.

"What's wrong with that fellow again?" Ye Jianxin paced around the room and said anxiously.

"Aren't you afraid something might happen to him again?"

However, Yi Huang was extremely calm in the face of Xiao Han's disappearance.

"Don't worry. He'll definitely come back."

"You know where he went?" Seeing Yi Huang like this, Ye Jianxin naturally knew that she had everything under control. Otherwise, she would not have been so calm.

After all, this concerned her lifelong happiness. If Xiao Han really disappeared, or failed to return before the wedding, Yi Huang would become the laughingstock of the entire continent.

"Of course. How could I joke about something like this?"

"What on earth did he leave to do? He actually left at a time like this." Ye Jianxin's face was full of confusion. "What could be so important?"

Yi Huang merely smiled at that. When Xiao Han had told her about it two days earlier, she had learned that the once spirited young man had actually experienced something so unforgettable.

Jia Ma Empire, at the foot of the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

A dilapidated, decaying village was overgrown with weeds, which had almost concealed its original appearance.

The broken stone stele at the village entrance still faintly displayed the two characters "Shan Qian"... Shan Qian Village, an utterly ordinary name.

A young man in white walked over with heavy steps, one step at a time.

It was Xiao Han.

At this moment, he no longer possessed the spirited bearing he showed before others. He was neither the Ice Saint, invincible among his peers in the Central Plains, nor the peerless genius of the Jia Ma Empire.

He was merely a weak young man overcome with trepidation at returning to his homeland.

Yes, his homeland. Wherever my heart finds peace is my home.

In Xiao Han's life of more than a century, this had merely been an ordinary mountain village where he had lived for several months. Yet it had given him the most peaceful period of his life.

The villagers here were kind, simple, warm, and hospitable. Although the strongest among them had only reached Dou Zhi Qi, and they could barely scrape by, they still faced everything with smiles.

The murderous intent and danger that filled the Dou Qi Continent at every moment seemed completely out of place here... Perhaps it was this place that seemed completely out of place on the Dou Qi Continent.

Back then, Xiao Han had been drawn in by the village's peaceful atmosphere and settled here for half a year.

This was the only place he had encountered in all those years whose atmosphere resembled that of his previous life.

However, his presence was precisely what shattered the tranquility of this mountain village.

At the time, he had been only sixteen years old. This was also the first place he had reached after emerging from the Magical Beast Mountain Range at the beginning of his travels across the continent.

After half a year of peril in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, endless loneliness, and ambushes from the shadows that he had to guard against at every moment, he had sometimes endured dozens of battles in a single day.

After who knew how much slaughter, his white robes had been stained with blood, and his entire body had radiated a vicious aura.

Back then, he had truly been capable of frightening a first-tier Magical Beast to death with his killing intent alone.

Every muscle in his body had been taut, his Dou Qi circulating without pause, ready to face battle at any moment.

Because of those six months of experience, Xiao Han's mental state had also become extremely dangerous. His bloodlust had grown too strong, and he had even nearly been affected by the baleful energy within him. Even his eyes had turned blood-red.

It was at this point that he arrived at the village. When they first saw him, the villagers were all terrified of this murderous young man.

They stayed far away from him. Xiao Han was happy to have it that way. From what he sensed, the people here were all incredibly weak and posed no threat whatsoever.

He had no dangerous intentions either. He merely wanted to rest here for a while before beginning the next part of his adventure.

Thus, he and the village lived in peace, neither interfering with the other, for half a month. Xiao Han would occasionally use Dou Qi to put on little performances for the children.

Gradually, the villagers grew accustomed to seeing the young man in white, while Xiao Han also became used to the village children's playful noise.

Finally, one villager summoned up the courage to have his own child invite Xiao Han to dinner.

And so, after going back and forth like this, Xiao Han became much more familiar with the villagers. He had originally thought that staying for a month would be enough, but he ended up remaining for half a year.

Xiao Han ate at one household after another, occasionally helping the villagers hunt game and improve their lives.

That had been the most relaxing period of Xiao Han's life. Who knew how he had survived after transmigrating to the Dou Qi Continent?

Cultivation had posed no challenge, and the novelty had worn off within less than half a month, replaced by boredom.

He had also had to deal with the troubles caused by the Xiao Clan Elders constantly urging him to cultivate. After finally managing to relax, he had then had to face a group of peers pestering him. They were just a bunch of young children, yet they had quite a few ulterior thoughts.

That was also why he had set out to roam the continent as soon as he came of age.

The atmosphere here suited him perfectly. Although the villagers knew that he was powerful, none of them cared about it.

It had to be said that Xiao Han's lingering trauma could be resolved so easily only because of these villagers.

However, the change in circumstances occurred during the only journey Xiao Han made away from the village in those six months.

At the time, that experience had seemed completely unworthy of his attention, yet it left him with a lifelong regret.

On that occasion, Xiao Han had gone on a whim with the village's purchasing party to a small town called Qingfeng, located some fifty kilometers from the village.

He saw a mercenary preparing to rape a woman with an obscene grin on his face. His chuunibyou spirit flared up, and without hesitation, he acted out a scene of saving a damsel in distress.

With a casual strike, he killed that piece of trash, who was merely a Three-Star Dou Zhe. Then he left the scene without giving it another thought. What he had not expected was that members of the same Mercenary Group had witnessed everything.

In truth, it would not have mattered even if they had seen it. With Xiao Han's powerful Dou Ling Peak cultivation, only the so-called Ten Great Experts of the Jia Ma Empire could possibly deal with him.

But obviously, this small Mercenary Group did not possess such an expert. Xiao Han had overlooked one other point, however—he was not alone in this world.

That scum of a mercenary was the Mercenary Group leader's biological younger brother, and the two depended on each other for survival. Upon learning of his brother's death, the leader became furious and immediately launched a full investigation into the whereabouts of the person who had killed him.

After realizing that confronting Xiao Han with his own strength would be nothing more than throwing an egg against a rock, he decisively changed his strategy. He intended to take revenge on other people to vent the hatred in his heart.

If that was the case, then the mountain village where Xiao Han had once stayed was the perfect target.

And that was the incident that taught Xiao Han what it meant to bear the consequences of one's actions.