Bad People

Li Yunxin sighed. After taking a few more steps forward, he saw "Qiao Jiaxin."

This room had probably once belonged to the real Qiao Jiaxin. But the door now stood open, leaving everything inside plainly visible.

Li Yunxin had already seen the people in the room when they brought Qiao Duanhong and "Qiao Jiaxin" back earlier. The middle-aged woman in a dark green sleeveless jacket and lake-blue blouse was likely Qiao Duanhong's principal wife, Qiao Wangshi. The other, wearing a foot-long pearl-set hairpin, was likely his concubine, Qiao Liushi.

The two women were supporting each other by the doorway. Their faces showed both worry and fear as they watched Qiao Jiaxin.

Li Yunxin was seeing the other young man for the first time. He wore brown clothes, had narrow brows and small eyes, two wisps of mustache by his lips, and a pair of dry, thin lips. Liu Laodao had said he was Qiao Duanhong's maternal cousin's nephew, named Qiao Jiaming, who had come to help after hearing something had happened.

They said he was an idle wastrel from the city, loafing about all day. He knew a little medicine but had never been good at it. Whenever he had nothing to do, he came to his uncle's house to sponge off them for spending money, and no one thought much of him. But this time, nearly all the men of the Qiao Household had fallen... so he had become the pillar holding up the roof.

When Qiao Jiaming saw Li Yunxin and Liu Laodao, he pointed at them and shouted, "They're here! They're here!"

Li Yunxin did not look at him. He looked at "Qiao Jiaxin."

She was currently sitting cross-legged atop the table in the middle of the room, still wearing her bloodstained clothes. Her left hand rested on her knee, while her right was raised in the air, pinching an utterly botched hand seal. With her eyes shut, she swayed her head back and forth, radiating demonic energy.

Li Yunxin shouted low, "Qiao Jiaxin!"

Hearing that familiar voice, the cat demon jolted all over and hurriedly opened her eyes. When she saw Li Yunxin, she scrambled off the table in a panic. She seemed to want to burrow beneath the table or into some corner, but then remembered what Li Yunxin had told her before: "Once you get to the Qiao Household, behave yourself. Otherwise, I won't care what happens to you later." She immediately floundered in confusion.

She truly looked like a cat that had jumped onto a table, knocked over a cup of water, and been caught red-handed by its owner.

Li Yunxin did not know why the cat demon had been so obedient on the road, only to revert to her old ways now. But he guessed that after arriving at the Qiao Household and finding Li Yunxin gone, her simple mind had decided that no one was there to control her anymore.

Then, seeing how cautiously the Qiao family treated her, and how they gave her good food and drink, she had run wild.

Now that she saw Li Yunxin, she naturally looked like a child who had done something wrong.

The three people were all greatly surprised that a single low shout from Li Yunxin could have such an effect.

When they saw him take another step forward, and Qiao Jiaxin meekly lower her head and press close to his side, they were even more astonished. Everyone knew that the Qiao family's eldest daughter had a quick tongue and a lively, restless temperament. Only before her father, Qiao Duanhong, had she ever been so docile.

Each of the three had their own thoughts. The two women found it difficult to speak—after all, their household had long been acquainted with Liu Laodao. They lived nearby, and on holidays they would ask Liu Laodao to paint a few festive pictures. They knew he was an "expert." Liu Laodao had also said that this youth named Li Yunxin was his newly accepted disciple, so the two women's thoughts lagged a beat behind.

But Qiao Jiaming had no friendship with Liu Laodao. And when he saw Li Yunxin's appearance—sword-like brows, starry eyes, red lips, white teeth, a truly handsome youth—he felt even more displeased.

He had not been eyeing his cousin for merely a day or two. He had long thought that one day he would make the relationship even closer by marrying her. The Qiao Household's main branch had no male heir; he would gain both a beauty and wealth. Would that not be splendid?

But now, this cousin of his, mad and seemingly possessed by some strange creature, was acting so close to Li Yunxin. Qiao Jiaming had always been a shameless rascal by nature, and a blaze of anger sprang up within him.

He immediately rolled up his sleeves and grabbed Li Yunxin's arm from behind. "Boy!"

Li Yunxin turned his head, and Qiao Jiaming threw a punch straight at his face.

But it struck nothing.

With Li Yunxin's skill, even though his Qi Sea was sealed and he could not contend with a direct disciple of the Voidsoar Sword Sect's sect master, dealing with an ordinary man was like playing with a child. In his eyes, Qiao Jiaming's vicious punch moved in slow motion.

Li Yunxin kept a cold face and tilted his head slightly. The other man's fist brushed past the tip of his nose.

Then he shifted aside, borrowed a little force, and gave a light push. Qiao Jiaming staggered bodily into the table where the little cat demon had been sitting—his forehead smashing right into the corner.

The pain brought tears to his eyes at once.

Qiao Jiaming stomped his feet from the pain, clutching his forehead with one hand as he pointed at Li Yunxin and cursed, "You little bastard! You seduced my cousin and did all sorts of improper things, and now you're beating people too? Huh? You're not leaving the Qiao Household today!"

Li Yunxin tilted his head and looked at him calmly, without responding.

He turned to face the two ladies and spread his hands. "What is this? Have you called me here to answer for my crimes?"

The two women froze for a moment, only for Qiao Jiaming to shout again, "First Aunt, Second Aunt, don't let this brat leave! Look at my cousin—she's like this now, her body isn't injured, but she's covered in blood! Her mind's gone muddled too! Think about what could have happened, huh? Just now, when you wanted to change her clothes, didn't she clutch them tight and refuse to take them off? Then didn't she go mad?"

"Let me tell you two aunts, this is hysteria! She's been frightened! My cousin doesn't dare take off her clothes now! What kind of fright do you think she suffered, huh? This little bastard spent a night in the wilderness with my cousin—who knows what they did? The whole of Weicheng knows about it now. How will my cousin ever marry in the future?"

"As her cousin, I don't mind it. Huh, I don't mind her..." Qiao Jiaming repeated himself, then continued shouting at the top of his lungs. "But other people won't want her! Ah! Look at her now—has she ever acted like this with any other man? Huh? She's clutching his clothes! Something happened! This is a family scandal, Aunts!"

Li Yunxin spread his hands toward Liu Laodao again. "Master, what do you think we should do?"

Sweat seeped from Liu Laodao's forehead. He had never expected that lowlife Qiao Jiaming to pull something like this. He only knew that Li Yunxin had killed quite a few people last night, and that he had backing—perhaps greater backing than everyone in the Qiao Household combined.

With a bitter expression, he cupped his hands toward the two ladies. "My two ladies, we have been neighbors for so many years. You know what kind of man I, Hunyuanzi, am. This old Daoist neither steals nor robs, neither cheats nor swindles. I do not engage in lowly deeds either."

He raised his clasped hands high. "My late master was a successor of the Dongxuan Sect. I, Hunyuanzi—"

Qiao Jiaming, leaning against the table and sitting on the floor, began yelling, "What Dongxuan Sect, huh? If the great masters of the Dongxuan Sect heard you, wouldn't they break your legs, you old fraud?"

Even Liu Laodao's good temper could not bear it now.

The old man might have been greedy for money and lacking in backbone, but he took matters concerning his "late master" extremely seriously. No matter where one went, how could a disloyal and unfilial person get by?

Today, this lowlife had insulted his "late master"—and several servants were watching nearby. He, Hunyuanzi, was also a painter of some standing in Weicheng. If word spread, how would he ever hold his head up again?

Thus, his old face turned cold and he flicked his sleeve. "My two ladies, it is not that this old Daoist refuses to give face. Ever since I returned to Weicheng, I have been running about everywhere out of regard for my friendship with Escort Chief Qiao. Yet now I encounter something like this. Hmph!"

He glared at Qiao Jiaming and said nothing more.

The two women still stammered, unable to speak, while Qiao Jiaming's voice became mere background noise again.

Li Yunxin smiled, stroked Qiao Jiaxin's head, and said softly, "Then stay here for now. I'll be living in the back. Remember what I told you before: behave yourself. If you bring up Three-Flower Madam again, I truly won't help you anymore. But aside from that... well, play however you like."

Then he looked up at the two women. "Jiaxin was frightened. While we were fleeing, we were chased into a ruined temple—the Three-Flower Madam Temple. She was not attacked by any wild beast. We encountered bandits, and demons too. If your master survives, he'll know once he wakes up. It was my master here who drove off the demon, and he barely managed to preserve the lives of two people."

"You think I'm a three-year-old child, huh? What demon? I'm telling you, you're not getting away—"

Qiao Jiaming started yelling again from over there. Li Yunxin ignored him. "We will not interfere in your family affairs anymore. Take care of yourselves. Master, let's go."

After saying that, he walked to Liu Laodao's side. The old Daoist shifted slightly aside, gave another humph, and swept his sleeves as he left.

Seeing that they truly meant to go, Qiao Jiaming glared. "What are you standing around for? Stop them!"

But the servants belonged to the Qiao Household, not to him. They only looked toward the two ladies. The two women seemed to want to speak but held back. They exchanged a glance and said nothing.

Qiao Jiaming did not dare stop them himself either—after that last exchange, he knew Li Yunxin had martial skill. Though he was four or five years older than Li Yunxin, if he had truly possessed any blood and spirit, he would not have become an idle rogue.

Once outside, Liu Laodao began apologizing.

Li Yunxin smiled. "First, help me get my lodging sorted out."

He truly did not take the matter to heart. He had seen countless people whose moral integrity and intelligence were in arrears; someone like Qiao Jiaming was not worth rousing his genuine anger.

In truth, leaving Qiao Jiaxin there was only a temporary measure. The wounds on her body could not heal, and if people saw them, it would be frightening. Li Yunxin had originally planned to use the pretext of exorcising demons or something similar to bring her over to his side. But that would need to be considered carefully.

Let that little cat demon make trouble. As long as she did not go too far or alert people from the Dao Tradition and the Sword Sect, they would eventually have to come begging him—after all, the Qiao family all knew that she now listened to him.