"Sister Qingwen, who upset you?"
At suppertime, Xiangling walked to the corner of the veranda and found Qingwen biting her lip, lost in thought.
"None of your business." At the thought of that wicked fellow tasting her rouge like that and ruining her innocence, Qingwen's eyes filled with resentment.
"Xiangling, how are your studies coming along?"
Jia Huan strode over with a swagger.
"Master, Teacher Daiyu has such a gift for poetry. I've learned some novel turns of phrase and begun to appreciate the flavor of seven-character regulated verse."
Xiangling smiled softly, dimples forming at the corners of her lips.
Jia Huan nodded. While Xiangling was still with Aunt Xue, she had taken Lin Daiyu as her teacher to study poetry. Now she had made some modest progress.
"So I've become a stone lion getting in your way!" Qingwen snorted and strode off.
"What are you sulking about now?" Jia Huan caught up with her.
"Leave me alone." Qingwen hid in her room again.
Jia Huan could not be bothered to puzzle out her thoughts. He was about to chat with Xiangling when he noticed a servant in black beckoning outside the courtyard.
He seemed to be He Pan, the gatekeeper recently adopted by Zhou Rui's wife.
"Third Master Huan!"
"What is it?"
"Someone outside is asking for you." He Pan's gaze was respectful.
Jia Huan nodded.
Outside the Rongguo Mansion, a youth carrying a sword case waited quietly. When he saw Jia Huan, he said softly:
"Young master, there's still time to change your mind."
Jia Huan said calmly:
"If I have to detour around two vicious dogs, I might as well hang myself from a crooked tree when I reach a mountain full of tigers."
The youth shook his head with a chuckle, sparing his words like gold:
"Midnight. The Misty Rain Tower."
Then he turned and left.
In the still of night, Jia Huan opened his eyes, got up, changed into his Flying Fish Uniform, and slipped out on tiptoe.
In the next room, Qingwen had been unable to sleep all night. She was embarrassed over his tasting her rouge that afternoon and worried that her master would put himself in danger. Unable to settle her mind, she had decided to embroider clothes by the moonlight from the window.
She sat on the bed, needle and thread in hand, her fair feet, whiter than frost and snow, swaying gently. Hearing a rustle, Qingwen knitted her delicate brows and said angrily:
"Master, you lied to me!"
Jia Huan entered her little chamber. "Why aren't you asleep?"
"You promised me you would withdraw from this case." Qingwen stared straight at him.
Jia Huan sighed helplessly. "Don't listen to that fellow Xue exaggerating everything. They're just two beasts. Killing them will be as easy as swatting two ants."
No wonder the ancients said a tender embrace was a hero's grave. Seeing pretty Qingwen so frightened and anxious made his heart ache with tenderness.
"He said you'd die!" Qingwen's eyes reddened.
Jia Huan walked to her side and said gently:
"Don't worry. I still have to taste the rouge on your lips later. Three hours at most."
"You... we'll talk when you get back." Qingwen turned her face away, her voice barely audible.
"It's a promise." Jia Huan smiled silently.
All was hushed outside the Misty Rain Tower, where the sweet osmanthus filled the air with fragrance.
"Where are they? Let's make this quick!" Jia Huan arrived at the appointed time.
"This way." The sword-bearing youth pointed to a carriage. He had never seen anyone so eager to rush to his death.
Jia Huan boarded the carriage and closed his eyes to rest.
"You can still change your mind," the youth said again.
For one thing, the other man was an official, and the Misty Rain Tower did not want to provoke a public uproar.
For another, his intention to root out violence and protect the innocent, hating evil as a mortal enemy, truly deserved admiration.
He did not want Jia Huan to die with bitterness in his heart.
"You're getting rather tiresome." Jia Huan was growing impatient. He said heavily:
"I have something important to do at home."
The youth felt a little regretful and remained silent the rest of the way.
The carriage raced along a winding route for half an hour before stopping at a secluded temple. Dozens of Jianghu figures stood in the distance, their lanterns swaying gently in the breeze.
Jia Huan stepped down from the carriage, his voice icy:
"Get out here!"
At once.
"Hahahahaha! You've got guts!" Grating laughter rang out from the temple as the husband and wife slowly emerged.
Scarface Fiend held a heavy hammer, relying on sheer strength to overwhelm every trick.
Mother Yaksha wielded the Mother-and-Child Mandarin Duck Blades, their cold edges gleaming with murderous intent.
"I have to say, you're the boldest court lackey I've ever met. You could have enjoyed fine clothes and fine food, but instead you came looking for death. Whose hands do you want to die at? Take your pick."
Scarface Fiend was perfectly composed, his earlier worries gone without a trace. Never mind an ambush-the brat had not even brought a single attendant.
"Misty Rain Tower, here are twenty taels of silver. Have a coffin made for him later. Whatever's left can pay for his burial."
Mother Yaksha took out a silver ingot and tossed it to the sword-bearing youth, then said with a smile:
"The Embroidered Uniform Guard? A pack of wine sacks and rice bags! I'd advise you not to pick my husband. Once his hammer comes down, you'll be a sight too dreadful to behold. At least if you die by my hand, you'll leave an intact corpse."
Expressionless, Jia Huan advanced step by step. The Inner Qi in his dantian circulated through his meridians, filling his acupoints.
Five paces apart.
"The seventh level of the Postnatal Realm-but do you think that little bit of strength is enough?"
Sensing the fluctuations of the court lackey's Inner Qi, Scarface Fiend merely grinned more savagely.
Indeed, against an ordinary fighter at the Postnatal Realm Peak, this court dog might have had a fighting chance. Nobody on the Dragon-Tiger Ranking was mediocre.
But.
I'm number ninety-one on the Dragon-Tiger Ranking!
You think your martial talent compares with mine?
Scarface Fiend's Inner Qi surged into his wrist as he swung his heavy hammer with the force of roaring mountains and surging seas. Anyone it struck would be flattened into pulp.
Jia Huan's expression remained unruffled. He bent his left leg slightly, traced a small circle with his right palm, and pushed it straight forward.
The push was casual, without the slightest hint of imposing force.
Yet.
The instant it touched the heavy hammer, Regret of the Overbearing Dragon unleashed thirteen successive waves of follow-through force, each stronger than the last, layering one upon another!
No defense could withstand it, no strength could resist it!
This was the absolute tyranny of the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms!
Terror crossed Scarface Fiend's face. His arm shook violently, and the heavy hammer crashed to the ground. His breathing was blocked; drawing even a breath became agonizingly difficult, let alone mobilizing his Inner Qi.
Boom!
The layered palm forces struck in full. Scarface Fiend flew backward, his bones snapping in midair as blood sprayed.
He did not even have a chance to utter his last words.
"Husband!" Mother Yaksha stood as though struck by lightning. Before she could unleash the Mandarin Duck Blades Technique-
Whoosh!
Jia Huan stepped forward and flicked all ten fingers. Finger force streamed forth, every strike a fierce killing move of terrifying power.
Mother Yaksha held both blades across her chest, unprecedented terror showing in her eyes.
The finger force pierced the Mandarin Duck Blades and struck ten acupoints on her body. Burning heat filled Mother Yaksha as she watched blood pour all over her dress. In moments, she collapsed to the ground, barely alive.
Jia Huan remained utterly composed and said calmly:
"Wouldn't binding your own hands and coming to the Imperial Prison to confess have been much better than this?"
"And as for the Misty Rain Tower, if you'd revealed the Vicious Fiends' whereabouts, I would have owed you a favor. Instead, you insisted on making me handle it myself and wasting my time."
He then looked at the sword-bearing youth. "Help me drag these two mangy dogs into the carriage."
The youth stared blankly, storm-tossed waves surging through his heart.
The Jianghu spectators were even worse off. Every one of them felt dizzy, their eyes filled with shock they could not suppress.
Only two moves, fast to the extreme!
He had been so relaxed that he might have simply stepped out for a midnight stroll, given two light pats, and sent two fairly renowned young Jianghu martial artists to the underworld.
Could Scarface Fiend and Mother Yaksha possibly have been weak?
The couple had committed countless atrocities, and their martial prowess alone had kept them alive until now. Their places among the top hundred of the Dragon-Tiger Ranking contained not a trace of padding; they were fully deserved.
Precisely because they were so strong, seeing their wretched deaths now raised the question: just how deeply had this court dog concealed his strength?
The greatest recluse hid in the court!
A truly gifted martial artist was not out in the Jianghu, but within the halls of government!
"Weren't you quite talkative earlier?" Jia Huan looked at the youth carrying the sword case.
The youth barely recovered his senses. With an awkward expression, he carried the two corpses into the carriage by himself.
"To the Imperial Prison." Finding the corpses inauspicious, Jia Huan sat at the front of the carriage.
Those two moves had drained all his strength, leaving him utterly exhausted.
After dumping the corpses in the Imperial Prison, Jia Huan rode home.
Portraits of Scarface Fiend and Mother Yaksha had appeared on the panel in his mind.
[Sin Value—Sixth Rank, Lower Grade, Sixth Rank, Lower Grade]
Sixth-grade sin!
The most inhuman atrocity these two Vicious Fiends had committed was slaughtering three villages in a single night. Their crimes reached the heavens!
[Participation-90%] [Reward-Bone-Melting Cotton Palm, proficiency-Pinnacle of perfection] [Experience Points--129/10000]
In an instant, an ineffably mysterious power flooded his dantian, then opened six of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. Inner Qi flowed through his organs, every bone in his body cracked, and his dantian expanded to more than twice its former size.
The first level of the Innate Realm!
"That feels good!"
Jia Huan urged his horse into a gallop, his black hair flying wildly.
He could root out violence and protect the innocent, do good and accumulate merit, all while strengthening himself. What could feel better than that?
"I finally caught a big haul! Evil and I cannot live beneath the same sky. Let the storm rage even harder!"
At the sight of the ten-thousand-point Experience Points requirement, Jia Huan's scalp prickled once his excitement subsided.
His most important task now was promotion to Hundred-Household Commander. Only then could he take on bigger cases and arrest Vicious Fiends with a Sin Value above the seventh grade, filling those ten thousand experience points as quickly as possible.
I need to move up!
In her warm chamber, Qingwen could neither sit nor stand still. As the promised time approached its end, her heart sank into an abyss. Her eyes reddened again, brimming with hot tears.
Was her master dead?
He was so young, so gentle and kind. Heaven had no eyes!
At the thought, Qingwen's heart twisted with pain. She buried her head in her pillow and sobbed softly.
Suddenly.
She heard familiar footsteps.
Qingwen sprang up and hurriedly wiped away her tears with a handkerchief.
Jia Huan came in, smiled at her, and lowered his voice:
"Someone promised to let me taste her rouge."
Qingwen's grief turned to anger. Her cheeks flushed as she scolded him:
"You filthy rogue! Have you no shame?"
Then she picked up the rouge box from her dressing table. "Go on, eat it! Eat yourself to death!"
Jia Huan refused to accept that. He advanced step by step, then slipped an arm around her slender waist.
"Master Huan, be good and let go! Stop fooling around!" Qingwen struggled hard, her voice trembling slightly.
Her delicate fragrance lingered around his nose. How could Jia Huan give up so easily? "Keep talking and you'll wake them up. You made the promise yourself, anyway."
"Caiyun, Xiangling! Master wants a bath. Hurry and prepare some hot water!"
Qingwen's heart nearly leaped into her throat. She could only shout toward the front room, then retreat beneath her covers.
"Master, taste the rouge tomorrow. I... I'm a little frightened." Her voice was as faint as a mosquito's hum, and she was almost too embarrassed to speak.
Jia Huan did not press her. Seeing that Xiangling and Caiyun were both awake, he returned to his room to change into his house clothes.
Before you continue