Acting Versus Turning Hostile

The two quickly memorized it.

Lin Xiaotian put away the map and looked at Ouyang Nianci.

"You should head back. I need to make a trip to the Xiao Household with him."

Ouyang Nianci looked back at him, her eyes glimmering. Without a trace of shyness, she answered softly:

"All right!"

With that, she made to leap off the boat.

Though this was an underground stream with few places for an ordinary person to set foot, there were jutting rocks and narrow strips of bank.

Given her martial arts cultivation, making her way back would not be difficult.

"Did I say you could leave?" A thunderous voice rang out. It was Xiao Jingli.

Ouyang Nianci's expression changed. Lin Xiaotian was already on his feet, blocking her path from Xiao Jingli. He said quietly:

"Go, senior sister. I'll hold him off. He won't hurt me."

Ouyang Nianci leaped away without hesitation.

Xiao Jingli surged forward and leaped after her, reaching to seize her.

Bang!

Lin Xiaotian would never let him have his way. He rose to meet Xiao Jingli with a palm strike, and their palms collided with a tremendous crack.

Xiao Jingli faltered for an instant, surprise flashing in his eyes.

Lin Xiaotian, meanwhile, staggered back several steps and dropped off the boat. He tapped a stubborn rock in the stream and sprang back up.

"Heh. Don't tell me you're going back on your word, old brother."

Delayed by Lin Xiaotian's strike, Xiao Jingli could only watch Ouyang Nianci run farther and farther away. As she reached a bend, she glanced back once.

He knew that glance was meant for Lin Xiaotian. There was worry in her eyes, along with a thread of attachment the girl herself could not untangle.

In short, it was a complicated look.

Xiao Jingli sighed faintly. Knowing he had missed his chance, he let it go and turned his gaze back to the young man before him.

"Your martial arts seem to have improved."

Lin Xiaotian shook his head. "No. But sleeping with Ouyang Nianci seems to have helped my body recover from the strain I put on it earlier."

Xiao Jingli gave a wry smile:

"You stumbled into a benefit by sheer luck. Seeing how unsteady she is on her feet, I almost wonder if you practice some wicked art."

"If I did, I'd be better off than merely recovered."

"But I didn't expect you to break your word and try to capture her. Whatever else happens, she's my woman now. You can't touch her again."

"A real man, aren't you?" Xiao Jingli nodded. "But it was a delaying tactic from the start. I'd exhausted my blood and qi, and you'd kept me from recovering."

"I had no choice but to resort to that. While you two were busy together, I seized the chance to recover. Who could have guessed you'd have a stroke of fortune and recover too?"

"And I couldn't very well beat you half to death. That moment's hesitation let her escape."

Lin Xiaotian smiled faintly and offered no explanation.

He had no intention of telling Xiao Jingli that his blood and qi had never been exhausted. He had only been putting on an act the whole time.

Even if he could not defeat the older man, someone at Blood Tempering could still tie up an External Force practitioner by going all out. And against Lin Xiaotian's extraordinary recovery, External Force's deadliest power would have little effect.

As long as a blow did not kill him outright, he might even find a way to bring down an Internal Force practitioner through trickery.

Of course, that was only wishful thinking. The gap between them was enormous. If he truly faced someone at Internal Force, he would most likely be the one to die.

Still, sleeping with Ouyang Nianci really had brought him a benefit.

That strange Blood Qi did seem to want him to have more children. And while the two of them had been together, he had sensed another source of energy feeding it.

It was as though it connected to some boundless realm beyond time and space, continually drawing energy from the void into the Blood Qi.

The energy it absorbed was exceedingly faint. If being with Ouyang Nianci had not strengthened his Blood Qi a little, he would never have noticed it.

No wonder eating a little food was enough to nourish the medicinal pills. It all made sense now: besides food, his Blood Qi had other ways to obtain energy.

"All right. I'm taking a secret route from here. The waterways are a tangled maze, but one underground stream leads to the Xiao Household's mine."

With that, Xiao Jingli stopped talking to Lin Xiaotian, steered the boat, and headed into an exceptionally narrow channel.

Halfway through, the water dwindled to a trickle, and the boat could go no farther.

Xiao Jingli jumped off and pushed with all his strength, shoving the boat onto a dry shoal. He pushed it to the far end and into another trickle. After another hundred meters, the water gradually widened enough for them to travel normally.

"Jingli, your Xiao Household is impressive. Even if the Ouyang Household came looking, they'd never think this boat had to cross into another stream. No wonder they haven't caught on to your plan."

Xiao Jingli laughed.

"We were working in secret while they had no idea. We found the route by forcing our way through and testing it."

"The Ouyang Household was acting far too strangely. They even kept a special watch on a little fellow like you who'd only just entered the Martial Dao. Something had to be wrong... But who would have thought it had to do with the Ouyang Household's martial arts?"

"Oh? You managed to infiltrate the Ouyang Household deeply enough to learn their secrets?"

Xiao Jingli smiled.

"Not just the Ouyang Household. I'm sure there are parts of the Xiao Household that others have infiltrated too."

Lin Xiaotian's eyes brightened. "You see things clearly, old brother."

Xiao Jingli laughed.

"A Lineage is a large group bound by shared interests, with common goals and blood ties woven together like an invisible net."

"But every smaller household within it, and even every individual, has interests of their own."

"Offer the right reward, and some of them will do things that harm the greater Lineage."

"There's no avoiding it."

"Senior Dongli of the Ouyang Household has devoted himself to pursuing a path in the Martial Dao."

"Some of the techniques in our town can theoretically reach Hidden Force. In practice, though, advancing beyond Internal Force is extremely difficult."

"Senior Dongli has never stopped thinking about how to advance beyond Internal Force, perhaps even reach Hidden Force. So the answer is plain enough."

"What a pity. Only County Town has experts at Hidden Force, and how they cultivate to that level is a forbidden subject there. They never tell outsiders."

There was loneliness and resignation in Xiao Jingli's voice as he spoke. Then he abruptly changed the subject.

"With the strength you just showed, if you wanted to run, I might not be able to catch you. Why are you coming back to the Xiao Household with me?"

Lin Xiaotian smiled bitterly.

"At least you bear me some goodwill. If I went back there, the Ouyang Household might be furious enough to kill me."

"Don't forget, they were already pressuring me to reveal the location. It was obvious they meant to silence me afterward. If I walked straight back in after four of their promising young members died, of course they'd take it out on me."

"Better not to risk it. I'll go with you."

"And if things don't work out, I wouldn't mind if the Xiao Household found me a few more beautiful young ladies."

"Hahaha! You brat really do say whatever comes to mind. Aren't you afraid the Xiao Household will kill you just like the Ouyang Household would?"

"Jingli, you still haven't tried to kill me. What do I have to fear? At the very least, that means you think I'm worth keeping around."

"Besides, after the way the Ouyang Household treated me, I still didn't hurt their young lady. She became my woman, and I protected her. You must think I have some loyalty in me."

"At least I wouldn't scheme against my own woman. Why would the Xiao Household kill a promising man outright instead of trying to win him over?"

"You little scoundrel!" Xiao Jingli scolded with a laugh.

While the two were talking, Ouyang Zhentian and Master Huang arrived at the Ouyang Household's mine and medicinal-herb site.

They spotted the bodies of four young Household members at once.

Ouyang Zhentian's face filled with shock. He slammed both hands onto the ground, grief and anguish in his voice.

"They were the future pillars of the Ouyang Household! How could they have died here? And where's Nianci? Why isn't her body here..."