Whoosh!
His fist was as quick as the wind, and Zhang Xinxiong's sudden attack startled all of the spectators around.
There was no way that Su Qianqian, who was at Upper Spiritual Level as well, wouldn't see that attack coming. Yet, she unexpectedly didn't do anything about it, looking as if she really didn't notice that an ambush was coming for her.
"Zhang Xinxiong, you're so dead!"
All of a sudden, Zhao Xidong's voice was heard from the side. Zhang Xinxiong was startled, and he turned around.
The man, who should've still been on the ground, giggling lecherously, had actually gotten to his feet somehow and was now throwing a fist at him.
Zhang Xinxiong immediately opened his hand and swatted at Zhao Xidong like a beast swatting at a fly.
Zhao Xidong didn't take the attack and instead parried it, sliding off of Zhang Xinxiong's wrist.
Boom!
A rumble was heard, and it was like Zhang Xinxiong was oblivious of everything else as he turned around and closed his hands, which he then cleaved downward.
That attack would send Zhao Xidong's head flying if it were to hit his neck.
"You dare?" Zhao Xidong only glared at him. "I'm the law enforcer!"
Zhang Xinxiong finally came to his senses after hearing this, and his hands stopped right before the man's black clothes.
There was the sound of clothes billowing, and then there was utter silence.
Everyone was relieved to see that a fight with a law enforcer wasn't going to break out.
Yet, they found it to be a pity all the same, and the mood became rather sullen after the fight was abruptly halted.
Su Qianqian snickered and said, "Brother Xidong, he's about to beat me up."
"Why you!"
"You really thought I didn't see what you did just because I dropped to the ground?" Zhao Xidong thought.
He was extremely furious, yet he glared at Rao Yinyin instead, who was outside the battlefield.
He'd never thought that this girl, who had pretty much just kept to herself when she first joined the Inner Yard, would actually able to mesmerize him like that.
Rao Yinyin shrugged, and then explained, "I didn't do anything."
"Yeah, sure!" Zhao Xidong rolled his eyes, and then glared at Su Qianqian, feeling extremely furious. "Return your master's token at once!'
"Alright." Su Qianqian immediately ran off.
"You still wanna fight?" He turned to look at Zhang Xinxiong again.
Fight, you say?
Zhang Xinxiong undoubtedly wanted to continue fighting. There was no way he wouldn't want to after having his Black Shark snapped just like that.
"Could I, though?" he thought.
Zhao Xidong or not, the presence of any law enforcer alone would make it impossible for a fight to be had.
"So, what about my Black Shark, then?" he thought.
"What about that sixth-grade spiritual weapon of mine that was just snapped like that, then?"
Zhang Xinxiong's eyes narrowed to slits, and were full of extreme anger. Yet, when he took a look at that woman in the red dress, he simply swallowed it down.
He picked up the broken sections of his staff and dusted them off before casting a glance at Su Qianqian.
"You did what you did, and that was the price," Su Qianqian said.
Rao Yinyin came over and put herself in front of her to block her. Zhang Xinxiong took a deep breath and said, "Alright, you win."
This line was actually directed at Rao Yinyin.
Rao Yinyin didn't reply. She simply patted Su Qianqian's head, and Zhang Xinxiong looked behind him.
His place had been cleaved in half by the attack before.
"No need to worry about that. I've given an order to the Spiritual Affairs Division, and they're going to send someone to fix this."
Su Qianqian jerked her head out, paused, and then added, "I've paid the required Spirit Crystals."
Zhang Xinxiong looked like he was shuddering.
The spectators were all baffled.
"My gosh. He actually just swallowed it like that? Boy, Master Zhang really, really has a thing for Sister Rao, then."
"You can say that again. 'He-Lan-Zhang-Rao-Su', everyone knew that winding line of infatuation after all. You think Sister Rao would spare anyone who did anything to Su Qianqian, eh?"
"Tsk, tsk, you have a point."
Zhou Tianshen scratched his head, puzzled, being totally oblivious to what those people were talking about. The only thing he could say was that the Inner Yard was truly a messy place.
"Let's go, Sister Rao." Su Qianqian then walked off with the woman in red.
Zhao Xidong thought for a bit, but didn't stop the two of them from walking away.
"Alright," he thought. "Consider this a favor to Big Brother Xiao, then. Just pretend that I didn't see this."
His eyes narrowed as he savored the paradise that he was steeped in before turning around to look at He Yuxing, yet he found that the man was staring at the girl's massive sword instead.
That guy sure is crazy…
"Let's go."
He Yuxing withdrew his gaze, looking somewhat disappointed. Then he picked up his sword and caught up with Zhao Xidong.
"Alright, show's over."
The spectators packed up their benches, and all of them left before long.
While it was fine to catch a show, the thought of facing off against the 33 of the Inner Yard all alone when said show was over was rather harrowing.
Zhou Tianshen was about to leave when he heard someone called out from behind,
"You're from the Zhou family?"
He turned around to see Zhang Xinxiong looking at him, and he grinned and asked instead, "You're from the Zhang family?"
"Some guts you've got there. Powers need working though."
Zhang Xinxiong walked up to Zhou Tianshen and lowered his head to look at him.
Zhou Tianshen was already a very tall and stout man, yet when he was in front of Zhang Xinxiong, he was still an entire head shorter nonetheless. Yet, his head remained high, and he didn't balk at all.
"How is Old Man Zhou doing these days?"
"He's doing very fine. Thanks for the concern." Zhou Tianshen snickered and added, "So, you've got someone to look at that right arm of yours?"
Zhang Xinxiong glanced at him but didn't say anything. He then snickered and walked past Zhou Tianshen.
"Let's go."
Lan Xinzi immediately followed him.
All of a sudden, Zhou Tianshen felt like his feet were stuck to the ground. He shuddered, hardly able to move.
An aura that looked like some monster that was almost about to swallow him whole didn't recede after Zhang Xinxiong left. Instead, the aura seemed to grow even more terrifying, the pressure looming over him and almost choking him.
His knees bent, and he looked like he was about to fall on his knees.
Boom!
Zhou Tianshen's legs punched through the ground and started bleeding profusely.
His entire body became as straight as a javelin.
Huff…
The crowd had dispersed, and he was the only one left there. His back was drenched by sweat, and he deemed that he had finally made it through.
He then uprooted himself from the ground and looked in the direction the two had disappeared. He then clenched his fists.
"One year!"
…
It was a very cramped guest room.
Due to having overworked himself the night before, he was able to sleep on that hard wooden bed like a log.
His dreams got exciting.
He twisted around, his expression becoming increasingly lewd. His hands could be seen reaching out into the air.
Dum, dum, dum!
Slow and steady knocks on the door that sounded all too familiar.
Due to that ordeal that he had just gone through, he was frightened enough to bolt upright, not even noticing that his dream girl was now gone, and extended his [Sense] to cover his entire place.
"No one's inside yet."
Having rested well, his mental condition had returned to its peak. He sleazily walked to the door.
He focused and extended his [Sense] past the barrier to check out what was going on outside.
A petite, frail-looking girl wearing a white dress and carrying a massive sword. She was straightening out her skirts.
"Su Qianqian?"
Xu Xiaoshou was relieved, and silently noted that he'd been too on edge.
"What's she doing here though?" he thought.
He searched his memory as best as he could and recalled a favor that he had done for her.
He'd taken care of her as a brother-in-training for about a month, and the girl was accepted into the Inner Yard.
"Yeah, that's quite frustrating. Better not think about it," he thought.
"Well, she has the goods, though nowhere near huge."
The two of them had practically never met since. The Wind and Cloud Contest, when the little girl came to cheer for him, could be considered the last time he'd seen her.
"Heh, I guess you could say she's quite a friend."
These were the thoughts going through his head when he opened the door.