Ambush

Mighty Far Hall!

The Inner Court disciples gathered in twos and threes.

With Qiu Wenjie joining them, Xu Yang's little group had grown to five, and they always practiced their boxing together.

"Do you know why Lu Ren didn't come today?" Zhang Hong asked quietly.

Qiu Wenjie asked curiously, "Why?"

Xu Yang swept his gaze across the Inner Court. Only then did he realize that Lu Ren was indeed nowhere to be seen, and curiosity rose in him as well.

If Zhang Hong had brought it up specifically, something must have happened to Lu Ren.

"Come to think of it, Lu Ren should be marrying that young lady from the Huang Family soon, shouldn't he? Is the wedding today?" Wu Yongfeng asked.

But as soon as he said it, he felt that couldn't be right.

If Lu Ren were getting married, even if he didn't invite them, he would invite others from the Inner Court. Yet the senior brothers and sisters close to him were all here.

Zhang Hong shook his head. "That young lady from the Huang Family was defiled by Jade Butterfly. How could Lu Ren possibly marry her? But this does have something to do with that."

He lowered his voice. "Because Lu Ren flatly refused to marry her, the Huang Family's young lady hanged herself a few days ago. Then the Huang Family started fighting with him."

For a moment, Zhang Yong and Xu Yang, who had received the Huang Family's support alongside Lu Ren, didn't know what to say.

They couldn't call Lu Ren an ungrateful wretch over this. If they were in his shoes, they probably couldn't accept marrying someone like that either.

There was no point talking about affection. It was only a bond of mutual interest-where would affection come from?

Zhang Hong continued, "The Huang Family accused Lu Ren of ingratitude, while Lu Ren accused them of disregarding his reputation. They argued for several days, and yesterday they finally broke with each other completely. Lu Ren announced that he was no longer an Attendant of the Huang Family and moved out of the courtyard residence they'd given him."

Xu Yang couldn't help sighing.

Back then, the Huang Family had wanted only Lu Ren. Even though the talent Xu Yang displayed was scarcely inferior to Lu Ren's, they had turned a blind eye to him. Who would have thought it would end like this?

Their quarrel had left both sides battered.

Whatever the reason, Lu Ren would inevitably be branded ungrateful, while the Huang Family had lost a genius who might one day achieve dragon ascension through the Martial Examination.

"So this is the genius you treasured like a precious jewel? All that water you scooped up with your bamboo basket has drained away now, hasn't it?"

Zhang Yong still resented the Huang Family's unfair treatment and immediately took some pleasure in their misfortune.

Xu Yang frowned. "The Huang Family just let him leave?"

The great clans of Qingyuan County weren't merely wealthy suckers relying entirely on the Martial Artists they retained. If they were, those Martial Artists would have devoured them down to the last scrap long ago. They had powerful fighters within their own families too.

As far as he knew, the head of the Huang Family was an expert at great accomplishment of qi gathering. The Liu Family, whom he served, also had quite a few experts of their own.

They retained Martial Artists partly because they didn't have enough fighters, and partly because money could buy other people's lives. Wouldn't they be fools to risk their own?

The wealthy cared about appearances. Everyone else sent mud-legged peasants out to risk their lives, while your family sent its own members into the fray. No one would even bother with you when you went out to discuss business.

Lu Ren might be talented, but he had yet to reach great accomplishment of qi gathering. If he wanted to lick the plate clean and leave, the Huang Family was hardly a benevolent household.

Zhang Hong said, "He found himself a backer beforehand and joined Senior Sister Gu Fang's Gu Family. The Gu Family sent an expert at great accomplishment of qi gathering to negotiate with the Huang Family. The Huang Family has only just begun to rise. However unwilling they were, they had no choice but to let Lu Ren leave.

"But apparently, they were compensated twice the value of the resources he'd received from the Huang Family, so at least the falling-out wasn't too ugly."

Xu Yang finally understood why Zhang Hong knew so much. When Jade Butterfly had visited the Gu Family, their experts had surrounded and attacked him. Although he had eventually escaped with serious injuries, he had also killed some of their Martial Artists.

Zhang Hong had happened to achieve qi gathering around that time, and through Sun Tao's arrangements, he had become a Martial Artist retained by the Gu Family.

Xu Yang couldn't really judge the affair between Lu Ren and the Huang Family. He knew only the outcome, not how events had unfolded.

But regardless, Lu Ren had been nurtured by the Huang Family. Others would only see him as the one who had wronged them, and his reputation would inevitably suffer.

Lu Ren had probably wanted to leave the Huang Family for some time. This incident had likely only lit the fuse.

Even with Xu Yang's bone root, which nobody thought much of, the Liu Family had been willing to offer such terms to entice him into marrying into their household. The Huang Family paid Lu Ren only fifteen taels. He must have been dissatisfied long before this.

Some of Lu Ren's behavior had already shown signs of it.

Although Luo Dehu had failed and left long ago, his influence on Lu Ren remained.

Xu Yang had thought this affair had nothing to do with him. Yet near nightfall, his cousin Zhou Xia came to fetch him to his uncle Zhou Shunchang's house, where the subject of the Huang Family marrying a daughter to him was brought up again.

Unlike last time, however, the Huang Family wasn't hoping to get something for nothing. As long as he agreed to marry her, they would provide ten taels of silver every month to support his martial training.

Zhou Shunchang took deep pulls on his pipe. After thinking for a while, Xu Yang said to him, "Uncle, please tell the Huang Family that I'm unwilling to enter a marriage alliance, and I have no wish to marry at present.

"If the Huang Family needs me, I can leave the Liu Family and become their Attendant."

He more or less understood what the Huang Family was thinking. Now that Lu Ren was gone, they had turned around and wanted to place their bet on him.

But he had already become an Attendant of the Liu Family. The Huang Family couldn't afford to offend a great clan like the Liu Family by openly poaching him, so they could only establish a connection through marriage first.

That way, even if he left the Liu Family in the future, they would have trouble using it as an excuse to make things difficult for the Huang Family. He might as well kick the ball back to them and see whether they dared offend the Liu Family.

Zhou Shunchang nodded. "All right!"

Xu Yang stayed and chatted with Zhou Shunchang a little longer before heading home through the night.

Not long after he left, Huang Jin emerged from the next room.

"Fifth Master, you heard what A Yang said, didn't you?" Zhou Shunchang asked in a muffled voice, continuing to smoke his pipe.

Huang Jin sighed. "From the beginning, I felt that Lu Ren was too wild and proud, and feared our Huang Family would struggle to make use of him in the future. Unfortunately, my second brother wouldn't listen to my advice, and we let A Yang slip through our fingers for nothing."

Xu Yang was unwilling to enter a marriage alliance, and the Huang Family didn't dare poach someone from the Liu Family now.

He had thought highly of Xu Yang from the start, but after hearing Huang Ping's analysis, he had still given up on him.

"Let this matter end here. Please tell A Yang that our Huang Family has wronged him."

With that, he turned and walked into the wind and snow, his retreating figure looking somewhat forlorn.

"The heavy snow is going to seal off the mountains!"

Xu Yang walked through the wilderness. The snow falling between heaven and earth grew heavier and heavier, and the accumulation was already nearing his calves.

Although it was now late evening, almost nine o'clock, the heavy snow kept his surroundings faintly bright.

He set his blood and qi surging to withstand the bitter wind, heat rising from his entire body as though he were a steaming basket.

Despite wearing only a thin garment, he didn't feel cold. At his current level, he couldn't claim to be impervious to heat and cold, but enduring the wind and snow for a while was no problem.

"Hm?"

He suddenly sensed something amiss. There seemed to be a heartbeat reaching his ears.

Someone was nearby, and extremely close at that.

Otherwise, even with his minor accomplishment in qi gathering and his extraordinary senses, he would ordinarily have struggled to hear another person's heartbeat.

He could hear a heartbeat, but no breathing. This couldn't be someone who had collapsed in the snow and had their tracks buried by the snowfall. Someone was lying in ambush, holding their breath.

The instant that thought arose, Xu Yang's steps faltered slightly, and the snow beside him exploded with a bang.