Xia Kong and Ya Fei stood facing each other before the gates of the Spring Breeze Pavilion. With swordlike brows and star-bright eyes, Xia Kong wore plain blue-green robes, his bearing as extraordinary as an immortal's. Ya Fei was stunningly beautiful, her tight black qipao accentuating her graceful figure.
Standing together, they looked like a match made in heaven, surrounded by a quiet, peaceful atmosphere.
Yet not far from them lay a scene of utter devastation, rivers of blood, and the Spring Breeze Pavilion engulfed in roaring flames.
The two scenes formed a stark contrast, yet fit together with an eerie harmony.
"I've dealt with all the guards. I'll leave the rest to you, Sister Ya Fei."
Xia Kong's expression was calm, his tone utterly composed. As he spoke, he vaguely felt as though his soul had been elevated, while his body felt light and weightless. It was as if someone else had carried out the slaughter inside the building.
Even Xia Kong felt a faint sense of unfamiliarity with himself. Before acting, he had repeatedly prepared himself mentally, constantly reassuring himself. Yet once the killing began, his heart had been as still as an ancient well.
He could not help reflecting inwardly. Was I always this coldhearted by nature?
A moment later, he suppressed that stray thought with an inward sneer. I only got rid of a pack of evil beasts. What is there to agonize over?
"Don't worry. I'll handle everything properly. Those girls will be moved somewhere else, too, where they can start their lives anew."
Ya Fei agreed softly, her beautiful eyes resting on Xia Kong, filled with pity and a measure of tenderness.
In her eyes, the young man before her was deeply kindhearted because of his humble origins. He sympathized with everyone and treasured every life.
But this world had forced him to take up a sword.
Tonight was the first time he had personally ended the lives he held so dear. He must have been suffering terribly inside. His outward composure was merely a facade he had forced himself to maintain.
He was only acting this way because he did not want her to worry about him. He was still as considerate as ever.
"Cry if you want to! Your big sister won't laugh at you!"
At that thought, Ya Fei grew even gentler. She took Xia Kong's slightly chilly hand, passing the warmth of her own body to him.
"Those people all deserved to die. Bullying the weak and forcing decent women into prostitution were among the least of their crimes. By killing them, you weren't just avenging your mother. You were avenging countless others, and indirectly saving countless people as well."
Xia Kong did not know when Ya Fei had become so sentimental, but he could genuinely feel her care for him.
Though her words fit his feelings about as well as a donkey's lips fit a horse's mouth, he accepted them. Still, he could not let Ya Fei keep misunderstanding and overthinking things, so he offered a suggestion.
"Thanks, but I don't think I'm that fragile. Sister Ya Fei, now that everything here is taken care of, let's go for a walk somewhere else."
"Mm."
The two figures walked side by side, slowly fading into the deep night that shrouded Wutan City's streets and alleys.
Not long after they left, the entire Spring Breeze Pavilion was engulfed in flames. Crimson fire soared skyward, staining half the night sky red.
By the time Oba Pa, head of the Ao Ba Family, received the urgent report and hurried over, the raging flames had already reduced the entire den of extravagance to charred ashes. Not a single clue at the scene pointed to the culprit.
Although quite a few people had seen Xia Kong's face and described him in convincing detail, once the portraits on the wanted notices were posted, practically no one could recognize him.
That night, word that a young man in blue-green robes had single-handedly destroyed the Ao Ba Family's Spring Breeze Pavilion spread swiftly throughout Wutan City, carried by the mercenaries and wealthy merchants who had fled in panic.
The people of the city reacted in different ways.
Some were delighted.
Over the years, the Spring Breeze Pavilion had victimized countless decent women and left many families shattered and ruined. Its destruction was a cause for widespread celebration.
Others sighed repeatedly with regret. This had been Wutan City's largest and most luxurious Pleasure Houses, a fine destination for countless mercenaries seeking amusement. It was truly a shame to see it go up in flames.
Quite a few factions also gloated over the disaster. The Ao Ba Family had always behaved with arrogant impunity, and now they had finally tasted the bitter fruit of their actions.
But all that clamor no longer had anything to do with Xia Kong.
By now, he had already left Wutan City and was walking along an old dirt-and-stone road toward Qingshan Town, in the direction of the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
Qingshan Town stood on the northeastern frontier of the Jia Ma Empire. Most of its residents were mercenaries who made their living through adventure, and most of the town's shops, large and small, traded in magic beast materials, medicinal plants, and herbs.
Xia Kong had chosen to go there partly because it bordered the Magical Beast Mountain Range, making it ideal for heading into the mountains to seek out magic beasts, train, and hone his combat skills. His other, more important purpose was to meet Xiao Yi Xian, who possessed the woeful poison body.
As for the woeful poison body, besides the method Yao Lao knew for suppressing it with a Poison Pill, Xia Kong had other ideas tucked away in his mind.
For instance, potatoes that could strengthen the body and meridians, strawberries that could enhance soul power, tier three cucumbers that could detoxify and increase poison resistance, and other crops with powerful effects he might obtain in the future...
To fully stabilize the woeful poison body, the Poison Pill Method Yao Lao provided in the original story required three heavenly flames to compress and refine poison Dou Qi, the magic core of a seventh-rank Heavenly Poison Scorpion Dragon Beast to serve as a vessel, and Bodhi Body-Transforming Saliva to cleanse the violent, harmful toxins within the poison Dou Qi.
As long as Xiao Yi Xian's soul power was strong enough, and her body and meridians could withstand it, she should have been able to compress and refine the poison Dou Qi herself with ease.
The seventh-rank Heavenly Poison Scorpion Dragon Beast was in the Central Plains, so there was no need to find a replacement.
The most crucial point was that tier three cucumbers naturally possessed the wondrous ability to detoxify and increase poison resistance. Could they serve a role similar to Bodhi Body-Transforming Saliva?
The woeful poison body's defining trait was that it allowed its bearer to consume poisonous substances and convert them into poison-attribute Dou Qi, rapidly increasing her cultivation.
If Xiao Yi Xian ate a tier three cucumber after consuming poison, what would happen?
Could it cancel out the backlash and side effects caused by ingesting poison?
If he used the Farm's crops to build up all three foundations-her body, soul, and poison resistance-would Xiao Yi Xian have a chance to bring the woeful poison body firmly under control through her own strength alone, without relying on external aids?
For now, Xia Kong had no answers to these questions.
As he traveled, countless thoughts continued to swirl through Xia Kong's mind. His feet never stopped as he advanced steadily toward Qingshan Town.
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