"You dare to scold the princess?"
The court lady was angry.
She extended her hand and was about to make a move.
However, she swallowed her rage instead.
Clan Zhao had the backing of the Xuan Sect at the moment. If she were to make a move and injure any of them, it might actually cause a war between Clan Zhao and the royal family.
She simply couldn't afford to get on their bad side.
"You're only a princess if Clan Zhao acknowledges it. You're nothing otherwise."
Pfftt~
The fat woman couldn't help making another comment.
Then her head exploded all of a sudden.
Red-and-white matter splattered everywhere, staining all the women around her.
They were all silent.
Everyone was baffled, looking at that headless body.
Eueeekk~
"Murder!" The woman behind the fat woman shouted after she'd processed what had just happened.
Li Mu dusted off his hands and left.
The court lady dared not kill someone, but he did.
The warriors of Clan Zhao came to the compound quite a while after Li Mu had left.
"Her brain was busted by a piece of stone. Definitely the work of a warrior," the inspector examined the scene and said.
"Someone dared to kill someone in an estate of our clan? We can't possibly let them leave."
The person who said this shook his head and gazed at Liu Rui.
It was like he was asking if one of her men had done that.
Ruirui turned around and left.
"What do you mean? A woman of Clan Zhao died in your compound. You should be held responsible."
Pfftt~
The one who said that also had his brains blown apart.
It became clear that anyone who showed disrespect to Liu Rui was going to have their brains blown up.
Immediately, no one in the compound dared to say anything.
None of them were that stupid.
"Who did this?"
The warriors of Clan Zhao looked around them.
They intended to find the murderer.
Yet, they were unable to find any clues despite having searched for quite a while.
They eventually came to a conclusion.
The one who did this was so powerful that no one from Clan Zhao was able to detect the culprit.
And now, no one even knew when would that person might show up.
"Did someone from Clan Liu make a move?"
Many of the people in charge of Clan Zhao held a meeting in a secret room in the estate that night.
"Who could it be? There are only so many formidable ones in the world. It happened twice, and it was done in defense of Liu Rui."
"They're too much! This means that they see Clan Zhao to be utterly beneath them. If it hadn't been for our help all those years ago, they wouldn't have been able to unite the country so quickly," one of the elders said angrily.
"Quit it, already. It was thanks to us knowing that there was a Saint-level warrior in the royal family's ranks, seeing them defeat the forces of Clan Dugu, that we saw that the tables had been turned and chose to side with them just to save our skins. In the battles that followed, Clan Zhao did little more than sponsor some funds. Clan Liu has no sentimental attachments to us whatsoever."
The leader of the clan said all this in a calm and collected tone, sounding as if he was looking at the affairs of the clan as an outsider.
The raging elder became immediately tongue-tied and had nothing to say.
All the other elders who had been at the verge of bursting with anger calmed down immediately.
"Leader, Clan Liu is probably doing this to test our patience. On the surface, they just married a princess to Clan Zhao, but the way I see it, she was sent here to monitor our clan instead."
"I second that. So long as Liu Rui stays in Clan Zhao, we will always be under surveillance."
"Keep a close eye on Liu Rui and don't stir up trouble with her. Don't let her stir up any trouble with us either. We'll get along just fine. Look at you all. All of you are at such an age, yet none of you are half as mature as the seventh son," the leader lamented.
"I...It's not like we deliberately went to mess with her. What happened today was because Liu Rui was playi…"
"Ninth elder, drop the subject, please."
The leader waved his hand.
The ninth elder shut up right away.
"Leader, we should have a sect meeting right away and get ourselves prepared. If Clan Liu were to test us again, we'll at least be able to fight back."
"I can tell you all this much. Regardless of what happens, there's no need for us to fear. As long as Zhao Wu is still in the Xuan Sect, we will all be fine," the leader of Clan Zhao stood up straight and said.
"Indeed. Zhao Wu's talents are superb, and he has a bright future ahead of him. If Clan Liu dares to do more to us, we'll just wait for Zhao Wu to come back and deal with them."
"There's nothing to fear with Liu Rui or whoever is behind her."
The meeting was over and the elders left.
The leader then opened another door at the side of the secret room.
There was a man sitting in there.
"Sir Huo," the leader bowed at the man and said.
The man was no other than Huo Fei.
"Everything's fine. I'm here on this trip to look into certain matters, as well as to hand a letter over from Brother Zhao to you."
Huo Fei took out a letter and handed it over to the leader.
"Thank you, sir."
"Zhao Wu is a brother-in-training of mine. As such, it would be best for us to speak as equals. By the way, Brother Zhao also gave me some of the pills that he'd saved as well."
Huo Fei recalled something all of a sudden and took some bottles from his bag.
The pills were of no use to him. He had almost forgotten all about them.
"Si… Brother, if you're not in a hurry, perhaps we can be a better host than we were just now."
The leader wasn't proud and addressed Huo Fei as a brother.
Huo Fei gave a surprised look at the leader.
"Sure."
The leader was elated and said, "Brother, could Clan Zhao be of any service?"
"Help me locate a person."
...
Two months later...
At the southern corner of Baiyun City...
Old Demon Han was lying by a wall, squinting as he basked in the sun.
Such a leisurely time was hard to come by.
A time when he didn't need to teach his disciples or run around searching for heirs.
Just basking in the sun and recuperating from his injuries...
It was just like how it was with old people in the street, enjoying their time as old people.
A shadow loomed over him all of a sudden.
He frowned for a bit when he wasn't able to feel the warmth of the sun, and he moved a little.
The shadow then blocked out the sun altogether.
Old Demon Han was feeling rather irked, and he slowly opened his eyes, glowering at the man before him, saying, "Get lost!"
"You have quite a temper. Old Demon Han, who managed to get something from that lair, I presume."
Huo Fei sat down beside Old Demon Han.
Whoosh~
Old Demon Han sat up right away.
"Relax. I'm only here to ask about the whereabouts of some people."
"I know nothing."
Old Demon Han was breaking out in a cold sweat.
"I haven't asked anything yet."
"I know who you are. You're from the Xuan Sect. I really know nothing. They just kept chasing me and then suddenly I just didn't see them anymore," Old Demon Han said with a dejected look on his face.
"They just kept chasing you and then they just disappeared, eh? Don't try to lie to me. I'm going to look into it."
"I…"
...
In the depths of the dungeon of the Ceremony Directorate...
"Brother Zhai, I can't take it anymore. I guess the sect hasn't realized that Bo Wei died. I hope someone will realize that I'm dead then."
Thump~
The sound of a skull cracking against the stone wall could be heard.
Back in the hall at the Xuan Sect, yet another soul flicker billowed with black smoke.
"Brother!"
Zhai Tianfang shouted, "This is all my fault. I was the one who brought this on all of you. If we were able to get out, we'd raze the State of Xia."
Crack~
The lock of the cell was opened, making a noise that resounded throughout the place.
Creeaaakk~
A sharp, screeching noise of a door opening could be heard.