It was nearing the end of the shen hour.
"Everyone, come watch! Uncle Baoyu, come watch the excitement!"
Jia Rong rushed about in a fluster, raising his voice.
"What are you shouting about?" Jia Baoyu walked out of the courtyard, with Sheyue, Xiren, and the other maids following behind.
Jia Rong deliberately put on a worried expression:
"Something terrible has happened! Someone is standing on Ningrong Street with his sword planted before him. He says he's waiting for Jia Huan to finish work so they can settle who's stronger. He also says he can't stand Jia Huan's arrogant, overbearing ways and wants him to kneel and beg for mercy!"
Jia Baoyu knew perfectly well what was happening. They had already informed each other half an hour earlier.
"Why haven't you reported it to the authorities?" he shouted angrily.
Jia Rong sighed. "They say it's a Jianghu feud. Jia Huan is an official himself, so let's see how he handles it when he comes home. Oh, what a mess!"
Jia Baoyu spoke with bitter loathing:
"That bastard throws his weight around all day, and now someone's come right to our door for revenge! Tell Sister Lin, Sister Xiangyun, and Sister Baochai-no, I'll tell them myself. Everyone should go watch outside the mansion. We can't let anything really happen to him!"
With that, he strode toward the Grand View Garden with slow, measured steps.
"Who exactly dares provoke Brother Huan?" Hearing all the shouting, Xue Pan hurried over.
Jia Rong said quietly, "He introduced himself as something called the White-Haired Killing Demon. He sounded pretty frightening."
"The White-Haired Killing Demon?" Xue Pan frowned. Could someone with that nickname be on the Dragon-Tiger Ranking?
He hurried back to the Xue Mansion to ask a martial arts instructor.
Meanwhile, Jia Baoyu was eager to tell everyone individually. Even the old women who washed clothes in the mansion heard about it, let alone the girls in the Grand View Garden. One after another, they headed toward the main entrance of Rongguo Mansion.
"Sister Lin, that bastard has stirred up trouble! An enemy has come to our door to challenge him and says he'll make him kneel in public!"
Outside Xiaoxiang Hall, Jia Baoyu shouted at the top of his lungs, scarcely able to contain his excitement.
This time, everyone will see your true, ugly face!
You think becoming some damned official and draping yourself in that skin can hide your cowardly nature?
You, Jia Huan, have no guts in your bones, yet you spend all day chasing wild dreams, trying to get close to Sister Lin and attach yourself to Sister Baochai. Why don't you piss yourself a puddle and take a good look at your reflection?
The false can never become true!
I, Jia Baoyu, am Rongguo Mansion's true man-open and honorable, never resorting to deception!
Servants and pages crowded both sides of the eastern and western side gates. The girls arrived one after another, and even Madam Wang came to the entrance surrounded by maids. Jia Zhen and Jia Rong were already standing on Ningrong Street, watching coldly.
Just twenty paces away.
A man stood with his sword planted before him.
His appearance alone was enough to make their hair stand on end.
White hair hung loose over his head, half his face was a bloody ruin, and his crimson eyes held no emotion.
One glance at him felt like staring at a murderous fiend!
Concubine Zhao had been unconcerned at first. Who would dare challenge a seventh-rank court official? But once she saw how vicious he looked, like a malevolent ghost, she could not help clutching Qingwen's wrist, terrified for her son.
"Report this to the authorities at once!" Frost covered Wang Xifeng's beautiful face as she ordered a nearby page to go first to the Patrol Office, then to the Shenjing Prefectural Court.
Hearing this, Jia Zhen deliberately sought to display his courage before the family. He walked alone up to the White-Haired Killing Demon and said angrily:
"Beneath the Son of Heaven's feet, under this bright and lawful sky, how dare you swagger and threaten us? If you don't leave, one order from the authorities will have you arrested and thrown into prison!"
The White-Haired Killing Demon was running short on patience, but he still had a favor to repay. He sneered:
"Why fear the authorities when I've committed no crime? If I don't see Jia Huan today, I'll return tomorrow-unless he can hide for the rest of his life."
Just then.
"This is bad!"
"This is really bad!"
Xue Pan galloped back to the mansion and entered the side gate, panting for breath.
"What's bad?" Xue Baochai stared at him.
Xue Pan said worriedly:
"This man has slaughtered countless people, and his martial skill is terrifying. Once, alone, without armor or a horse, he faced twenty-three Tatar heavy cavalrymen sent to surround and kill him."
"And escaped unharmed?" Xue Baochai asked in horror.
"No."
Xue Pan's lips moved. "All twenty-three barbarians died horribly. He returned to camp alive."
Boom!
Concubine Zhao felt as though lightning had struck her and nearly fainted from fright.
Qingwen, Xiangling, and Caiyun all went deathly pale.
Wang Xifeng, Lin Daiyu, and the others began breathing rapidly too.
The women of the inner household knew nothing of the Jianghu, but the Jia ancestors had earned their noble titles through military achievements. Every noble family in the Capital knew how formidable the steppe Tatars were, let alone their well-equipped heavy cavalry.
One man, one sword, and he had killed twenty-three of them?
How could Brother Huan withstand even one stroke of his sword?
Xue Pan swallowed the words that had risen to his lips.
The martial arts instructor had said this was not even his most glorious battle. Later, by killing more than thirty Tatar warriors single-handedly, he had risen from complete obscurity to fifty-fourth on the Dragon-Tiger Ranking.
No matter how astonishing Brother Huan was, he could never be a match for the White-Haired Killing Demon.
This was a young prodigy who had walked out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood!
Madam Wang and Jia Zhen exchanged a glance, amusement lurking deep in both their eyes. That fellow Sun Shaozu had quite the network of connections-he could even summon a god of slaughter from the battlefield.
Let's see what a cowardly face you show us in a moment!
Xue Pan tried to steady everyone's nerves. "I already sent someone to the Embroidered Uniform Guard Office to notify Brother Huan. He'll decide what to do."
Jia Baoyu curled his lip. That stupid tyrant just had to get in the way!
As he was thinking this.
At the far end of the street, a silver-white figure came galloping toward them.
"He's here." The faces of Jia Zhen and his son twitched as they forced themselves not to laugh aloud.
Wang Xifeng clutched her handkerchief and suddenly said:
"Disperse, all of you! What sort of behavior is this, crowding outside the mansion? You're disgracing Rongguo Mansion!"
"Let's return to the garden." Xue Baochai also realized the danger and pulled at the sisters beside her.
With such a crowd watching, Brother Huan would be pushed onto a stage with no way to step down. That would truly bring disaster.
However.
Jia Huan rode up beside the white-haired man.
The White-Haired Killing Demon tossed out a Command Token from the Misty Rain Tower and said flatly:
"By Jianghu custom, when peers on the Dragon-Tiger Ranking challenge each other, anyone afraid to fight can settle it by kneeling once. After that, I'll never trouble you again."
Jia Huan looked down at him:
"Who sent you?"
The White-Haired Killing Demon said coldly:
"You think you deserve to be called the Little Butcher? You disgrace that name. That's all."
"Kneel or fight."
"My surname is Gao. I've earned military merits on the frontier battlefields; the Ministry of War Arsenal has the records. If you use your position as a Hundred-Household Commander to arrest me, I'll bind my own hands and follow you to the Imperial Prison."
"But from then on, your name will stink."
Hiding behind the side gate, Jia Baoyu poked out his head and suddenly spoke:
"Just kneel to him. He looks awfully frightening. Don't let him scare everyone in the mansion."
Jia Zhen looked displeased. Baoyu simply could not keep his composure. Why bother goading him? The little beast could only kneel to escape disaster or use his authority to bully the man. Either way, he would never escape the name of a turtle hiding its head!
Jia Huan's face remained expressionless.
The entire household was gathered at the side gates. With a stage like this set for him, the hand behind the curtain could only belong to someone named Jia.
He suddenly smiled:
"Fight."
The White-Haired Killing Demon nodded, slowly drew a sheet of red paper from his sleeve, and said without a ripple of emotion:
"The same old rules. Blades have no eyes. Sign the Life-and-Death Writ first."
Boom!
His words were like a massive rock plunging into a deep lake, stirring up towering, terrifying waves!
Everyone in the Jia household stared in shock. They had thought this was merely a provocation. Why did it require a Life-and-Death Writ?
Jia Zhen trembled all over with excitement. He had never expected the little beast to dare put on a brave front just to save face. Hurry up and sign it!
Before you continue