"Little girl, although that bastard is a damned lolicon, he isn't doing this now for some messy reason."
"Yes, I'm telling you all, just listen to Ji Yuan."
Tingyun also voiced her agreement to everyone.
Among those present, the only two who spoke up to dissuade them were Tail and Tingyun.
The Cloud Knights, Sushang, and Yanqing all turned to look at Tingyun.
We know you like Ji Yuan, but don't spoil him like this. He was clearly making a mistake, yet you were still going to help him?
Foxes were indeed canines, but there was no need to lick boots this hard!
Seeing everyone's confusion, Tingyun could not help but smile.
Like everyone else, she had been puzzled and hurt when Ji Yuan gave that order. But after only a few seconds, she realized that Ji Yuan would never do something so pointless. Then she remembered the earlier modification of the Buli Ren, and immediately understood Ji Yuan's purpose.
"Don't react so strongly. At least listen to my explanation."
Seeing that everyone still had not moved, Ji Yuan helplessly drew his weapon again and stabbed directly at the female warrior.
The Cloud Knights were instantly shocked. Had Lord Ji Yuan flown into a rage from embarrassment and decided to kill her?
However, just as the weapon pierced the combat suit on the female warrior's body, the suit instantly changed. The entire outfit began to twist and deform, eventually turning into a short, grotesquely shaped Buli Ren.
The Buli Ren let out a shriek and pounced directly at Ji Yuan.
But Ji Yuan had long been prepared. With a light flick of his weapon, it changed from a longsword back into a flexible whip. It coiled around behind the Buli Ren, binding its hands. The weapon hardened again and directly severed both of the Buli Ren's arms.
As for its falling body, Baiye dodged to the side and pinned it firmly down.
"Escort this Buli Ren away."
Ji Yuan ordered the Cloud Knights.
"Y-Yes, understood."
The Cloud Knights snapped out of Dream's Awakening, hurriedly nodding as they seized the armless Buli Ren and dragged it away.
"As for this person..." Ji Yuan looked at the female warrior, who was trembling with only her underwear left, and ordered the Cloud Knights, "Take her away and interrogate her thoroughly."
"Yes." This time, the Cloud Knights did not hesitate. They immediately pulled the female warrior up and took her away for a careful interrogation.
Ji Yuan then turned his gaze to Yanqing, Sushang, and Huohuo.
All three of their faces had turned an embarrassed crimson.
"B-Big Brother, I was wrong. I actually misunderstood you just now."
Yanqing spoke softly.
He immediately lowered his head and admitted his mistake.
"Ahahaha, bro, why didn't you explain it clearly?"
Sushang immediately laughed awkwardly.
"Waaah... Teacher, I'm sorry. Please punish me."
Huohuo immediately walked over with both hands clutching her head, tears welling in her eyes as she assumed the posture of someone awaiting punishment.
"It's fine." Ji Yuan first met Tail's fierce glare and patted Huohuo on the head. Then he flicked Yanqing on the forehead.
"Then come be my sparring partner more often over the next few days. How about that as compensation?"
"Of course!" The moment he heard that, Yanqing instantly perked up.
Big Brother's talent with the sword surpassed almost everyone Yanqing had ever seen. As long as he practiced with him more often, his strength would grow by leaps and bounds. By then, Ji Yuan would surely become someone capable of fighting him—or even surpassing him.
The thought of having another person to spar with made Yanqing excited.
Seeing Yanqing in his excited state, Ji Yuan gave his own younger sister a hard chop on the head.
Giving your little sister a proper beating was something every older brother should do.
"Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing?!"
Sushang clutched her head.
"Who told you to misunderstand your brother?"
"Who told you not to explain yourself clearly? If you had explained it, I definitely would've been the first to strip that woman's clothes off."
Sushang immediately retorted.
It would have been fine if she had not said that, but as soon as she did, Ji Yuan glared fiercely at her. "I only said one sentence. Before I could even say a second one, you all rushed in. What was I supposed to do?"
"Then don't blame us for misunderstanding you. Look, everyone..."
Just as she was about to say that everyone had misunderstood him, she remembered that someone present had directly understood Ji Yuan's intentions.
Sushang's gaze turned to Tingyun.
Tingyun opened her fan, covering her face as she smiled faintly.
She walked over to Sushang and gently stroked the spot where she had just been chopped.
"Your big sister would never doubt Ji Yuan."
Sushang lowered her head and allowed Tingyun to stroke her.
Then Tingyun walked up to Ji Yuan and said in a voice only he could hear, "Knowing how absurdly afraid of death you are, you definitely wouldn't do anything improper to a female captive. After all, that would be the most likely time for someone to assassinate you."
As she spoke, she looked at Ji Yuan, wanting to see his embarrassed and indignant expression.
Then,
She saw Ji Yuan nod vigorously.
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. You're absolutely right. Safety always comes first."
Ji Yuan said with complete sincerity.
Tingyun: "..."
Fake Tingyun Prepared to Act
Ji Yuan was good in every way, except his fear of death was simply outrageous. Even if someone called him a coward to his face, Ji Yuan would probably smile and agree.
Seeing the Cloud Knights about to leave, Ji Yuan suddenly remembered that he had only punched them in the face earlier. What if someone else's clothes had the same issue as that female warrior's?
"Bring those people from earlier back here."
He ordered the Cloud Knights.
After the series of events just now, the Cloud Knights trusted Ji Yuan even more, and they promptly brought the captives back.
Seeing the captives, Ji Yuan continued smiling as he walked up to the burly captive from before.
"We meet again."
Ji Yuan said with a smile, then delivered another fierce punch to the man's stomach.
Take that!
After taking the blow, the burly man immediately bent over like a giant shrimp.
The captives behind him were instantly filled with fear at the sight.
They had already been beaten once. Were they going to do it again?
Fear filled their faces, but with Cloud Knights guarding them from behind, they could only let Ji Yuan punch each of them once.
After punching everyone again and confirming that neither they nor their clothes had anything to do with the Buli Ren, he had the Cloud Knights take them away again.
Ji Yuan was somewhat tired as well. Seeing a chair behind him, he sat down to rest properly.
Sushang leaned closer and asked curiously, "Bro, how exactly do you tell whether those people are Buli Ren?"
"That's my exclusive secret. I can't tell you."
Ji Yuan spread his hands, putting on an expression that said he absolutely would not reveal it.
How was he supposed to explain that he had a system?
Seeing Ji Yuan like that, Sushang touched the sword in her hand several times, wanting to show him what "brotherly affection and sisterly respect" really meant.
After the people here had left for a while, the Cloud Knights brought another group of captives to this satellite.
The two groups of captives passed each other. Seeing the second group being escorted over in confusion, the first group could not help but show sympathetic expressions.
The later captives became puzzled when they saw the expressions on the faces of the earlier captives.
Didn't they say the Celestial Ark Alliance never mistreated prisoners? Had they changed their ways?
Fear showed on the faces of the second group of captives.
When they were dragged over in fear, they saw Ji Yuan wearing a smile.
Ji Yuan's smile was bright. His smiles had always been exceptionally approachable.
The captives felt as if they were bathed in a spring breeze.
They all began to wonder whether there was something wrong with the earlier captives.
Then, while wearing that radiant smile, Ji Yuan slowly clenched his fist and punched the first captive in the lower abdomen.
The captives from the trading company had truly suffered today.
But since they had been willing to collude with the Abundance Fiends, what did this little grievance amount to? If the Abundance Fiends caused destruction, the resulting harm would be countless times greater.
After punching through five or six groups of captives in a row and checking a huge pile of spoils as well, the Cloud Knights brought them good news.
"The commander has ordered us to take you to the trading company's headquarters planet. The company headquarters there has already been cleared out. Once you verify it, we can station ourselves there."
"Alright."
Ji Yuan agreed, then turned to Tingyun and the others. "Let's go. We'll spend the night there."
The others saw the excitement on his face.
Sushang could not help rubbing her forehead, while helplessness flashed through Tingyun's eyes.
Ji Yuan was definitely not happy because the living conditions would improve. He had to be excited because it would be safer.
If Ji Yuan could hear their thoughts, he would definitely nod vigorously in agreement.
That's right,
I'm just that cautious.
This planet was still somewhat dangerous. What if, while they were staying here, a meteor suddenly flew in from outer space?
Ji Yuan did not have the ability to withstand a meteor head-on.
But over there, they would have the protection of the entire Cloud Knights.
The safety level would rise exponentially.
Taking Tingyun and the others with him, Ji Yuan followed the Cloud Knights aboard a Star Skiff toward the Orion Trading Company headquarters.
The battle in outer space had already ended. Every region of outer space had been completely occupied by the Celestial Ark Alliance's forces. Then, as the Star Skiff descended through the atmosphere in a series of rapid drops, Ji Yuan and the others arrived on the trading company's planet.
The fighting on the planet had not yet ended. The Cloud Knights had only occupied the trading company headquarters. Outside, there were still vast urban districts and other buildings where they needed to fight street battles.
Explosions rang out from the city from time to time. From midair, Ji Yuan could clearly see the Cloud Knights launching a one-sided assault against the stubbornly resisting soldiers.
The Cloud Knights' armor looked like armor from the age of cold weapons, but in reality, it was all black technology from the Artificer's Workshop. Its defensive capabilities were far tighter than the sci-fi-styled armor of the Orion Trading Company. At the same time, the trading company guards' firearms and laser weapons were vastly inferior in offensive power to the Cloud Knights' "long blades."
When the two sides fought, it was like an unarmored hunter from the age of cold weapons, holding arrows without iron tips, trying to fight a warrior clad head to toe in armor.
They could not even break through the defense.
Of course,
The Cloud Knights did not suffer no casualties at all. During the assault, Buli Ren would occasionally reveal themselves and engage the Cloud Knights in battle.
However, those matters were beyond Ji Yuan's control. They should hurry to the headquarters first.
The Star Skiff flew swiftly toward the planet's headquarters, the tallest building there.
Before you continue