"What a grand family drama!"
As the saying went, those caught up in the game were blind, while those watching from the sidelines saw clearly.
While the two sides involved were both struggling to make sense of things, Xu Xiao understood everything with a single glance.
Clearly, with the protagonist Duan Yu absent, the plot had veered in another direction.
Somehow, the Four Great Evils had captured Duan Zhengchun, leading to a fierce battle between the Dali Duan Clan and the Valley of Ten Thousand Calamities.
And judging by what Duan Zhengchun had shouted and the expression on the horse-faced man who appeared to be Zhong Wanchou, Zhong Ling's identity had been revealed ahead of time.
That was why Xu Xiao called it a grand family drama, and a tangled one at that.
As someone completely uninvolved, Xu Xiao naturally stood off to the side and joined the melon-eating crowd.
This was far more thrilling than watching television.
"Father, what did you say? Zhong Ling is my younger sister?"
Beside him, Duan Yu looked utterly incredulous.
To him, it was a bolt from the blue!
For over half a month, he and Zhong Ling had spent their days and nights together. They had long since developed feelings for each other in secret and pledged themselves to each other for life.
If Xu Xiao hadn't been in the Langhuan Blessed Land, the two of them might even have gone much further.
Hearing the news from his father, Duan Yu was utterly dumbfounded.
"Yu'er, it's a long story. You... sigh!"
Duan Zhengchun shook his head. He didn't want to tell his son about his romantic history in front of everyone.
But there were also ruthless men of few words, such as Yun Zhonghe.
When he saw Zhong Ling standing alone to the side, his eyes lit up.
When he heard that she was also Duan Zhengchun's daughter, a certain peculiar predilection deep in his heart was stirred.
With a movement of his feet, his long, slender figure shot straight toward Zhong Ling.
"Prince Duan, since this girl is your daughter, I'll take a little loss today and become your son-in-law."
Yun Zhonghe used his qinggong to dart forward, his whole body graceful and agile as a wisp of smoke.
Yun Zhonghe could be called the most disgusting of the Four Great Evils.
What he loved most was killing men and stealing their wives, even defiling them before their eyes.
He had followed his boss, Duan Yanqing, here to cooperate with the Valley of Ten Thousand Calamities in plotting against the Dali Duan Clan, and he had been holding himself back for who knew how long.
The servants and maids in the Valley of Ten Thousand Calamities were too ugly for him to lay a hand on. He had previously set his sights on Gan Baobao, but she was the wife of their partner, so he couldn't have his way.
Now that a youthful beauty had appeared before him, his lustful heart had long been itching to act, so he was the first to make a move.
"Ling'er!" "Sister Zhong!"
Duan Yu and his father shouted, while Zhong Ling was so frightened she didn't know what to do.
Fortunately, the girl was quick-witted at the critical moment. Instead of staying where she was, she turned and ran to the side.
At the same time, she shouted to Xu Xiao behind her, "Big Brother Xu, save me!"
"Hm?" Xu Xiao, who had been watching the show, hadn't expected the girl to call for him first when she ran into danger.
He had thought she would call for Duan Yu.
He couldn't say about anything else, but Duan Yu had mastered all thirty-six diagrams of the Northern Darkness Divine Art and should have been able to save Zhong Ling with Lingbo Weibu.
Still, considering how sweetly she spoke and how well they had gotten along during this time, Xu Xiao decided to intervene.
Whoosh!
Yun Zhonghe moved swiftly. He often boasted that his qinggong was the best under heaven.
In the blink of an eye, he had closed in behind Zhong Ling, needing only to reach out to seize her.
But no matter how fast he was, he couldn't outrun the iron shard propelled by Xu Xiao's Telekinesis.
As Xu Xiao's Telekinesis improved, the force he could exert grew greater as well.
As everyone knew, brute force worked miracles!
Buzz!
A humming filled the air, followed by an explosive crack.
The first was the sound of the air waves as the iron shard sliced through the air at high speed; the second was the sound of Yun Zhonghe's body bursting apart.
Enveloped and propelled from all sides by nearly a ton of force from Xu Xiao's Telekinesis, the little iron shard briefly flew faster than the speed of sound.
Steel forged with modern technology, mass and acceleration-the moment it struck, it unleashed terrifying kinetic energy.
Yun Zhonghe was severed at the waist, his upper body toppling to the ground.
"Ghh... ghh... so... so powerful..."
As expected of martial artists with internal energy, Yun Zhonghe was just like Zuo Zimu: before dying, he still had to find out how he had been killed.
The only difference was that Yun Zhonghe's injuries were too severe, and he breathed his last before he could finish a sentence.
Silence. The entire Valley of Ten Thousand Calamities was deathly quiet.
No one dared speak!
Yun Zhonghe wasn't a first-rate fighter in the jianghu, but he was unquestionably a second-rate expert.
For such a man to die so suddenly, and in such a gruesome fashion, left everyone stunned.
Only two people were exceptions: Zhong Ling and Duan Yu.
Zhong Ling, in particular, ran straight to Xu Xiao's side and hid behind him after seeing Yun Zhonghe die.
"Big Brother Xu, thank you. That bad man wanted to catch me, and you were still willing to save me."
"Heh, now you know how good your Big Brother Xu is to you?"
Throughout the Valley of Ten Thousand Calamities, only Zhong Ling's sweetly coaxing thanks could be heard. Both sides of the dispute turned their eyes to Xu Xiao.
A top expert had suddenly appeared on the scene, and none was more alarmed than Duan Yanqing, the leader of the Four Great Evils.
After all, his target was the Dali Duan Clan, and the newcomer had killed one of his men the moment he acted. He was an enemy, not a friend!
"May I ask your esteemed name, sir? Today's dispute is between us and the Dali Duan Clan. Do you intend to take part?"
Duan Yanqing projected his voice through ventriloquism while secretly mustering his power, ready to fight.
Even he hadn't been able to see through Xu Xiao's hidden-weapon technique just now. He had never heard of such a method in the jianghu.
Without finding out what such a formidable man intended, he didn't dare rashly continue pressing his attack.
"You don't need to know my name. I'm just a passerby."
"But just now, a fly that didn't know whether to live or die tried to defile this little sister of mine, so I swatted him dead in passing."
"What? Do you have a problem with that?"
Xu Xiao showed no sign of panic whatsoever. He was even a little arrogant.
So what if his opponent was Duan Yanqing, the leader of the Four Great Evils, whose name was known throughout the world?
He believed his Telekinesis could sweep through the jianghu. Apart from the mysterious sweeper monk, he didn't regard anyone else as a threat.
This wasn't arrogance, but the immense confidence his Telekinesis gave him.
Besides, even if he couldn't win, he could still run. Was there anyone in the jianghu who could catch him when he could fly?
Silence. Duan Yanqing didn't know how to respond, either.
Such an arrogant attitude, such bizarre martial arts, and an appearance even more frightening than his own left him unable to gauge the man's background for the moment.
Fight or retreat?
The appearance of a single person had made both sides start pondering that question.