Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Li Qingluo, dressed like a wealthy matron, had gone into Gusu City for an outing as she usually did, and was returning today.
As her boat crossed the lake, she seemed to hear her daughter's voice.
"It seems I'd better bring Yuyan along next time. I haven't seen her for two days, and I'm already hearing things."
Amused, Li Qingluo picked up her teacup and took a sip, dismissing the voice as an illusion.
She had practiced martial arts since childhood. Though she was no expert, she could still count herself among the third-rate.
If she had heard her daughter's voice on the road or on the island, she would certainly have given it some thought and gone looking.
But how could her daughter be out here on the vast expanse of Lake Tai?
It wasn't as if her daughter could fly, was it?
But sometimes things were just that unexpected.
Li Qingluo had barely set down her teacup when a commotion came from the deck.
"Who are you people? Miss!"
Splash.
A servant shouted outside, followed by the sound of something heavy falling into the water.
Bandits!
Li Qingluo immediately drew her sword, then summoned her Internal Energy and shouted, "Who dares offend my Wang Clan? Give me your name!"
"Heh, what an imposing display, Wang Clan."
It was an unfamiliar man's voice.
Li Qingluo thought, This is bad. The two servant women attending her also tightened their grips on their weapons, ready to fight to the death.
Anyone who dared ambush them on Lake Tai must have come fully prepared.
But the next second, a clear, melodious female voice rang out. "Mother, Mother, please come save me!"
"Yuyan!"
Li Qingluo recognized her daughter's voice and could no longer sit still.
Gripping her longsword, she rushed out of the cabin and onto the deck under the cover of the two servant women.
As soon as she emerged, she saw her daughter in a strange man's arms, tears brimming in her eyes as she cried toward the cabin.
"Yan'er!" Li Qingluo shouted anxiously. She swept up her longsword and pointed it straight at Xu Xiao.
"Whatever you want, come at me. What kind of hero takes my daughter hostage?"
The two servant women beside her also gripped their weapons and glared fiercely, while several escort boats, seeing their mistress in trouble, closed in.
The Wang Clan's sailors and servants aboard them all glared furiously, their eyes showing that they wanted to leap onto the bow and kill Xu Xiao.
"Bandit, release the young miss!"
"This is the water. If you don't release the young miss, don't even think about getting away yourself."
The sailors and servants hurled threats one after another, each displaying his loyalty before his mistress.
The Wang Clan that Li Qingluo had married into was no ordinary family. It was a branch of the aristocratic Wang Clan of Jiangnan.
Murong Bo was wholly devoted to his grand plan of restoring his kingdom. The Murongs had formed a marriage alliance with the Wang Clan because of its status as an aristocratic family, so it could lend them support when they rose in revolt.
Li Qingluo's ill-fated husband, who had worn a green hat, had died young, leaving all the Wang Clan's affairs, great and small, on her shoulders alone.
So, although Li Qingluo was a widow, servants accompanied her whenever she traveled. The Wang Clan's assets were ample enough for her to keep a large number of guards and idle retainers.
Such a show of force was useful against ordinary wandering heroes, but to Xu Xiao, numbers were the most useless thing of all.
"Madam Wang, what an imposing reception. I merely brought your daughter to say goodbye to you, yet you're all so aggressive."
"Or do you think you're formidable because you have numbers on your side?"
As Xu Xiao spoke, he took stock of Li Qingluo.
She truly was worthy of being the mother of a kingdom-toppling beauty like Wang Yuyan. Li Qingluo really was quite a looker.
By rights, Li Qingluo should have been nearing forty. No matter how well she took care of herself, the years should have left some trace on her.
Yet Xu Xiao looked her over and saw that, apart from her figure being fuller than that of an ordinary woman, neither her features nor her skin were any less fine than those of a twenty-year-old maiden.
The pair of assets before her chest were especially striking.
That old fellow Duan Zhengchun really does have good taste.
Xu Xiao's appraising gaze lingered a few seconds too long, and Li Qingluo immediately noticed.
"Ruffian, keep those dog eyes of yours to yourself! If you know what's good for you, release my daughter at once, and I'll give you a way out. Otherwise-"
"Otherwise? Otherwise, what will you do? Are you threatening me?"
Xu Xiao paid her no heed. The more she spoke, the more brazen he became.
His eyes roamed over her with increasing boldness, his gaze seeming to strip away the silk robes on Li Qingluo's body, leaving her both ashamed and furious.
"You ruffian, face my sword!"
Li Qingluo really was fierce-or perhaps she was simply big-breasted and brainless.
Without any regard for her daughter, who was still a hostage in Xu Xiao's hands, she attacked him with her longsword.
"Kill him! Help Madam capture this bandit!" The two servant women beside her shouted and charged forward side by side with their weapons.
They cared only for their mistress. As for the young miss, since Madam had attacked, it would be no great matter even if she were accidentally injured.
Seeing that a fight was about to break out aboard their mistress's tower boat, the servants on the smaller boats alongside immediately drew closer, preparing to board her.
Unfortunately, every one of them assumed that Xu Xiao was merely a man of the martial world who had taken Wang Yuyan hostage. They had no idea what he was capable of.
"You really don't know whether to live or die. I might as well use you for some practice."
As he spoke, Xu Xiao raised his left hand and pointed lightly. Li Qingluo and the two women charging forward froze in place. Immediately afterward, he waved his hand at the boats around him.
The water churned abruptly, and the several servant boats approaching the main vessel suddenly gave an ear-grating creak.
Several servants standing by the rails, ready to board, sensed that something was wrong. It was as though they had run into a wall of bronze and iron; they could not cross the forbidden boundary by so much as a step.
Ever since Xu Xiao's Internal Energy had begun nourishing his body, his Telekinesis had grown stronger with every passing moment. By now, he did not know how much power it held.
Xu Xiao had never used his Telekinesis at full strength from beginning to end, and he did not know how powerful it was.
This was the perfect chance for him to try it.
Five covered servant boats, each over ten meters long, surrounded them. Everyone aboard was restrained by invisible Telekinesis, which held not only the people but also enveloped all five boats.
The next second, as though a giant hand had suddenly clenched around them, the boats and everyone aboard were crushed into a single mass.
"Ah!!!"
The screams aboard the boats stopped halfway, and splinters and chunks of flesh flew everywhere.
Squeezed by the immense force, the flesh and blood of dozens of servants burst out over the lake, forming a thin mist of blood.
A gust of wind immediately carried it into the noses and mouths of everyone present.
Dead silence!
Everyone was stunned, including A Zhu and A Bi, who had seen Xu Xiao's methods before.
The cruel, brutal sight unfolding before them was far more shocking than Bao Butong's death the day before.
"All right, the nuisances have been dealt with. Now then..."
Smiling, Xu Xiao took two steps forward and stopped one step away from the immobilized Li Qingluo.
"I am Xu Xiao. Greetings, Madam Wang."
"I'm here to formally inform you that I've taken a liking to your daughter. From now on, she'll be my woman. I came today to greet you and let you get acquainted with my face."
"That way, when you go to cling to your son-in-law's thigh in the future, you won't mistake someone else for me."
Arrogant and overbearing!
This was the power and attitude Xu Xiao wanted to display, not only for Wang Yuyan to see, but also for Li Qingluo and even A Zhu and A Bi.
A gentleman revered virtue rather than fearing danger; a petty person feared power rather than revering virtue.
And in this world, petty people were often in the majority.