Chapter 62

The voice of the middle-aged man from the Sun family cracked completely.

Anyone unaware would have thought he had just seen a ghost.

Well? Perhaps the current scene was no different from encountering a ghost.

Amidst such a harsh sound, Yu Youyou could not help humming twice, turning her gaze toward the youthful beauty whom the Sun family members treated like a ghost.

That truly was an exceptionally exquisite beauty, roughly around the same age as Senior Sister Ruan Ling, who always took care of her, possessing a beauty that made it impossible to look away.

However, not a single person surrounding her wore a pleasant expression.

Including herself.

At this moment, a murderous and biting cold sneer lingered at the corners of her lips, while her eyes emitted a faint bloody hue, her aura chaotic and manic.

Chu Xingyun glanced at the beauty, first pressing his hand over the ears of the little cub in his arms to shield her from the piercing screams, then slightly furrowing his brow as he looked at the beauty and asked softly, "Are you... Ah-rong?"

Having some contact with the Sun family's young prodigy, he naturally knew that among the two siblings of the Sun family, the elder sister was named Qingyi, and the younger brother was named Qingrong.

Moreover, although this beauty was dressed in colorful robes, it was unmistakably the countenance of Sun Qingrong. Well-traveled and knowledgeable, Chu Xingyun understood what had happened in an instant.

The corners of his mouth twitched slightly, yet his gaze toward Sun Qingrong carried a hint of gentleness as he spoke soothingly, "Ah-rong, you need no longer worry about the safety of you and your sister. Now that I am here, your sister no longer needs to hide."

By this point, what was there left that could not be understood?

Was it not merely the Sun family forcing Sun Qingyi to marry Wen Shi, while the two siblings were unwilling, leading the younger brother to hide his sister away first while waiting to be "married off"?

Presumably, the arrival of the Supreme Ancient Sect's flying boat today had caused a massive commotion, and knowing his backing had arrived, he had simply burned his bridges, casting aside his forbearance and directly striking Wen Shi with a sword.

Yet, while Chu Xingyun thoroughly approved of this action, seeing Sun Qingrong's eyes faintly reddish and his spiritual energy fluctuating wildly told him that the young man had likely been at the critical juncture of closed-door seclusion when he learned of his elder sister being coerced, forcing his way out at the cost of his cultivation realm dropping and his dantian collapsing.

Right now, both his realm and spiritual energy were unstable; if he continued to push himself without resting immediately, he risked a reversal of spiritual energy and serious cultivation problems.

Or perhaps even falling into deviation.

Compared to the entanglements of the Wen family, Sun Qingrong's future cultivation and prospects were far more important.

Thus, seeing the beauty look over, Chu Xingyun gave a slight nod and said, "Rest assured, since I have come, I will naturally uphold justice for you."

As the premier disciple of the Supreme Ancient Sect's sect master and a Mahayana cultivator, his words carried the weight of nine tripods, and none dared to refute him.

Yet the middle-aged man from the Sun family, who had just escorted Wen Shi to the embroidered pavilion and hurried over upon hearing that something terrible had happened, turned completely pale upon hearing this.

He had not expected Chu Xingyun's arrival today to be for the purpose of seeking justice for the two siblings rather than attending a wedding banquet.

Furthermore, it appeared that these two siblings had somehow bypassed their surveillance and successfully appealed to the Supreme Ancient Sect for help.

"Daojun, please, listen to my explanation." The plump middle-aged man from the Sun family immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

While Chu Xingyun ignored this person entirely, Wen Shi was already seeing stars from the intense pain.

Hailing from the Wen clan as its heir, he had lived a life of pampered luxury since childhood; even when injured, he had never suffered such a severe wound.

To make matters worse, if the one who injured him had been a beauty, he could have comforted himself with the saying, "Death beneath a peony blossom, still a romantic ghost," but the one who wounded him turned out to be a male... Just the thought of how he had poured out his tender affections in the embroidered pavilion to comfort a beauty, only to have the person turn around and reveal the face of Sun Qingrong, made Wen Shi's body sway.

He had no idea how he would be mocked throughout the realm of cultivation in the future.

"Ah-rong, how could you injure your Uncle Wen?" Seeing Chu Xingyun not sparing him even a single glance, the middle-aged man from the Sun family hurriedly wiped the sweat from his brow and turned to scold the person he could actually afford to provoke.

However, the youthful beauty named Sun Qingrong only sneered coldly, demanding of Wen Shi, "What is this? Didn't you say you wanted to take a concubine? Why are you unwilling now?! Didn't you say in the embroidered pavilion today that your heart was set only on me, calling out 'my darling' to my back, and claiming you only resorted to this desperate measure out of love—that you were willing to be killed or beaten just so I could vent my anger?"

Ah, a man's sweet words were far more cloying than a cub's doting nonsense.

Looking at the slender beauty with her back turned at that moment in the embroidered pavilion, what oaths wouldn't one utter when blinded by lust?

Wen Shi wished he could carve out his heart to show his prospective concubine, naturally spinning tales as grand as the heavens.

Yet Wen Shi also suffered in his heart.

Those words were meant for Sun Qingyi, the elder of the Sun siblings, whose whereabouts were currently unknown.

"You—how dare you!"

"What is there that I wouldn't dare? You were acting like you wanted to live or die, and what now—you don't want to die anymore? Using my life to threaten my sister into marrying you? Bah! Despicable wretch."

It was only now that Yu Youyou figured out that the slender and delicate beauty dressed in colorful robes was actually a youthful male. She widened her eyes in surprise for a moment, then decided it was quite normal... Her Ancestor Sun was also born exceedingly delicate, with a face like a beauty.

Therefore, it was naturally nothing out of the ordinary for a junior to possess such a striking appearance.

Moreover, though this youth's eyes were faintly reddish and betrayed a hint of wildness, his bearing was exceptionally vivid and bright, which she thought was extremely lovely.

A cub loves beauty, and considering he was Ancestor Sun's beloved grandson, she vigorously nodded her little head while digging into her pouch, chiming in as a supporting voice, "Right!"

The tense and bloody atmosphere of the scene fell silent for a fraction of a second because of the cub's shout.

Chu Xingyun pressed a hand against the corner of his lips and let out a light laugh.

His little junior sister was simply this cute and upright.

So straightforward and sincere, how could anyone help but adore her?

Ao Xin, on the other hand, muttered softly under his breath, "Such a little pervert..." With so many people around, he decided to spare the little demon lord some face and refrained from exposing this little imp who lost her bearings the moment she laid eyes on a pretty face.

As a heartless demonic dragon, he felt not a shred of pity for how others suffered oppression... The law of the jungle was deeply engraved in a dragon's heart.

He merely gazed deeply at Sun Qingrong's pretty face, feeling a flicker of anxiety that the little demon lord's heart might wander off again, and stood fiercely guard behind the cub without moving an inch, terrified that the moment he looked away, she would bestow her fickle affections on someone else.

...Why was it so difficult for a black dragon to find a playmate to kick balls with every day?

Just as he was agonizing over the little demon lord's wavering affections, the beauty named Sun Qingrong also paused, pursing his lips as he looked at the little tot who had been rummaging through her pouch and flashing him a bucktoothed grin.

A strange child.

Yet as he looked over, he saw that she had finished rummaging through her pouch and was extending her hand toward him.

A verdant green pill was spinning in the palm of her hand.

"This is the Concentric Pill, used to stabilize cultivation realms and calm the mind and spirit." Seeing Sun Qingrong's realm and state of mind so unstable, anyone could tell that instead of brawling for pride, his top priority was entering closed-door seclusion immediately.

Thus, Chu Xingyun spoke gently to the approaching beautiful youth, "This is my junior sister, Yu Youyou. Daojun Sun has grown closest to her during his recent time within the sect. Knowing what happened to you, she specifically came along wanting to help you."

What possible help could an uninitiated toddler without a shred of spiritual energy offer?

Yet, looking at the little tot smiling foolishly at him, Sun Qingrong's face, frosty with murderous intent a moment before, slowly softened into a trace of tenderness.

He hesitated for a moment, then heard the tot say, "...Good!"

"She means it's wonderful that you stood up for your sister," Chu Xingyun said gently.

Sun Qingrong gripped his spiritual sword tightly, walking over slowly to accept the spiritual pill from the cub's hand.

Though the fierce aura had not entirely faded from his face, the biting chill in his gaze toward Yu Youyou had diminished.

"...Many thanks to Daojun for coming, and also many thanks..." He looked at the tot who had reportedly been keeping their ancestor company at the Supreme Ancient Sect of late, and said softly, "Many thanks, Junior Sister Yu."

When facing those he did not loathe, his temperament lacked violent anger and instead turned somewhat quiet and shy.

Seeing that he was good-looking, the cub bashfully flushed her chubby cheeks, waved her hands, and said, "Ancestor... good!" Her speech was toddler-gibberish; though Sun Qingrong could not quite understand it, he felt that every word she uttered was filled with goodwill.

He smiled faintly once more.

The cub secretly drew in a breath.

Come to think of it, a frost-cold beauty was stunning, but the scenery of such a smile was even more breathtaking.

She could not help rubbing her little paws together.

Seeing her treat Sun Qingrong with such intimacy because of Daojun Sun, Chu Xingyun raised an eyebrow imperceptibly, maintaining a calm and composed smile.

While introductions were being made here, across the way, Elder Wen anxiously applied various medicinal pills to reattach and heal Wen Shi's arm.

Yet although the surface was healed, an injury inflicted by such a flying sword was bound to damage one's vitality, making a full recovery impossible without several years of quiet recuperation.

Agitated and wishing to vent his anger, yet feeling an uneasy premonition in his heart, Elder Wen slapped Wen Shi across the face and cursed, "Scoundrel, look at what you've done!"

"Father, he is the one who launched a vicious attack and injured me," Wen Shi said with utmost grievance.

"Had the Wen family not coerced him, Ah-rong would not have been provoked into lashing out in a moment of righteous indignation; his actions are entirely excusable."

Having come today precisely for this matter, Chu Xingyun spoke with flat indifference upon seeing that Wen Shi still had the audacity to feel aggrieved, "When Elder Wen and Fellow Daoist honored the Supreme Ancient Sect with your presence earlier, speaking of a marital alliance between the Wen and Sun families, my master remained silent simply because he assumed it was a mutual agreement where outsiders had no right to interfere. But today reveals that is not the case at all. Fellow Daoist, from what I gather of Ah-rong's words, it seems someone resorted to forceful coercion?"

"There was no coercion; it was entirely voluntary on the part of our Sun family." Seeing Elder Wen and his son at a loss for how to explain themselves before Chu Xingyun, the middle-aged man from the Sun family panicked, terrified of offending the Wen family.

Breaking out in a cold sweat, he hurried over with a flattering smile and said, "With our ancestor missing, our Sun family is left without support; truly, what is wrong with marrying into the Wen clan?"

He sighed and continued, "To be able to enjoy a life of stability and leisure, accompanied by an outstanding husband, and valued by one's marital family—is this not a fulfilling destiny for a woman? Ah-rong, stop being so willful."

"Bulls*t!" Sun Qingrong cursed outright. "Our ancestor is missing and his whereabouts are unknown; it's one thing if you temporarily have no clue where to look. But to say the Sun family is without support... Could it be that the Supreme Ancient Sect would simply stand by and watch the Sun family fold? Immortal Qingwu is an old friend of our ancestor and would never sit idly by. What on earth is the Wen family supposed to be, that they are fit to act as the Sun family's backing?! Just relying on a single aging Mahayana cultivator?! Can he even compare to a single finger of our ancestor?!"

Having already torn down all pretense, there was nothing he dared not say.