After leaving Dingfeng Slope, Chu Fan had raced here without stopping.
He had considered countless possibilities and devised numerous plans to salvage the situation along the way, but he didn’t know what day it was, much less what had befallen the Sect.
That was why he hadn’t used the main gate. Instead, he’d come via the back of the mountain, first making a trip to Chen Xiao’s residence to ask him what was going on.
But the place was deserted, so he came straight to the Fifth Elder’s residence.
Upon arriving, he found Chen Xiao collapsed by the entrance, cursing incessantly. After learning the reason, the rage in his heart was unimaginable.
’What the hell is wrong with Ji Ling? Has he completely lost his mind?’
’Whatever his position in the Sect, Shui Yuntian is still an outsider. Injuring a fellow disciple in front of one of our own Elder’s residences, right in front of that outsider... was he trying to disgrace us all?’
’Besides, today is only the fifth day of the seventh month. There are still twenty-two days left before the three-month deadline he’d agreed to with Yu Zongding!’
He had long suspected the Sect might proceed with the marriage negotiations with the Celestial Derivation Sect after he went to Dingfeng Slope, but seeing it actually happen filled him with an incandescent rage.
As he helped Chen Xiao into the courtyard, he overheard Shui Yuntian speaking to Wu Xiuzhen, and his anger flared even hotter.
’Two years ago, at the Tengxing Grand Assembly in the Eastern Domain, I beat him until his face was swollen like a pig’s head. To think he’d still dare to covet Yun Xi.’
"Who said Yun Xi agreed to marry you?" Chu Fan said coldly.
Hearing his voice, Wu Xiuzhen looked up to see him, her eyes filled with utter disbelief.
When Ji Ling and Shui Yuntian turned around and saw him, Ji Ling looked as if he’d seen a ghost.
Shui Yuntian was startled for a moment, but then he remembered Chu Fan’s cultivation was supposedly crippled, and he immediately broke into laughter. "Well, if it isn’t the Eastern Domain’s number one prodigy, Brother Chu Fan? I’d have thought, with your cultivation crippled, you’d be busy finding a nice burial plot to live out your pathetic final days. What are you doing here, trying to act tough?"
Chu Fan paid his words no mind, instead turning his gaze to Ji Ling. "You are the Saint Heir of the Lingyun Sect. Do you have any idea how you’ve utterly shamed your grandfather, and even the entire Lingyun Sect?"
"What’s it to you? As if I, the Saint Heir, need a lecture from you!" Ji Ling spat angrily.
"You’re right. It really isn’t my business," Chu Fan nodded.
He then turned his gaze to Shui Yuntian and said, "Shui the Saint Child, I don’t care why you’re here. You can leave now."
"Leave? I haven’t even seen my fiancée. Why should I leave? Besides, who do you think you are? You tell me to leave, and I’m just supposed to leave? Your Lingyun Sect’s own Saint Heir hasn’t even spoken up!"
"Exactly! Chu Fan, you—"
Perhaps because Shui Yuntian was there, Ji Ling felt a surge of courage. He started to taunt Chu Fan, but before he was even halfway through his sentence, Chu Fan conjured a sword out of thin air. Quick as a flash, the point of the blade was already at his brow.
It forced the rest of his words back down his throat.
"Think carefully before you speak again," Chu Fan sneered.
The speed of Chu Fan’s draw once again stunned everyone present.
They couldn’t believe it. ’Isn’t Chu Fan supposed to be crippled?’
Ji Ling once again felt the icy chill from two months ago on Cuimei Peak, when Chu Fan’s sword had sheared off a lock of his hair.
He stammered, "Ch-Chu Fan, Shui the Saint Child... is... is Yun Xi’s fiancé... by the Sect’s... decree... I..."
"And so you dare to bring him here, trespassing in an Elder’s residence?" As Chu Fan spoke, the sword in his hand edged forward half an inch, the tip pressing firmly against Ji Ling’s brow. The slightest bit of force would be enough to kill Ji Ling on the spot.
Chu Fan ignored him, instead saying to Wu Xiuzhen, "Wu Xiuzhen, go and summon the Sect Leader and the Elders. Report every single detail of what has happened here. I want to see if the Lingyun Sect has any rules or discipline left at all."
In truth, this was a move born of desperation. Chu Fan had also considered simply taking Yun Xi and leaving.
But that would be detrimental to Yun Xi’s reputation. She would be branded as having "eloped." Even if Yun Xi didn’t care for his sake, he, Chu Fan, could not let her be put in a position where she would be scorned and gossiped about.
The Biyun Sword was in his hand. He wanted to demand of Yu Zongding whether the words of a Sect Leader were just farts, that he could go back on his promise so easily.
Of course, he also knew that when Yu Zongding and the others arrived, they might find other excuses even after seeing the Biyun Sword. They might even find a pretext to punish him.
At that point, he might not be able to take Yun Xi with him, but he was completely confident in his own ability to leave alone.
Besides, there were still five months until the eighth of the twelfth month. In three months, he would acquire the secret trove his master had left behind.
He was certain he could find an opportunity to take Yun Xi away before she was married into the Celestial Derivation Sect.
The most important thing right now was to make sure Yun Xi had faith in him, so that she wouldn’t do something foolish like harm or even kill herself.
"Chu Fan, I never thought that not only was your cultivation crippled, but your spine was broken as well. Crying to the Sect elders over such a trivial matter?"
"Elders? Shui Yuntian, have you forgotten something? The Sect Leader and the other Elders are my peers. Even when I see Shui Zebo, I call him Senior Brother Shui."
"Hah. I couldn’t care less about all that nonsense. When your Sect Leader and Elders arrive, I’ll have to ask them myself. They were the ones who proposed this marriage alliance. Are they trying to make a mockery of my Celestial Derivation Sect? Or is your Lingyun Sect truly confident enough to offend both the Red Blood Mansion and the Celestial Derivation Sect at the same time?"
It had to be said that Shui Yuntian was indeed a prominent figure among the younger generation of the Six Sects and Eight Gates, able to devise the most advantageous response for himself in an instant.
Unfortunately for him, did the Chu Fan of today care what became of the Lingyun Sect?
He did not. He was completely and utterly disappointed in the Lingyun Sect. When he had the power in the future, he might even be the one to tear the entire Sect down with his own hands.
’Could the deaths of his five senior brothers just be forgotten like this, without so much as a proper accounting?’
’Anyone could forget, but he, Chu Fan, would not!’
Chu Fan withdrew his sword. Ji Ling’s knees buckled, and he almost collapsed to the ground.
Chu Fan glanced at the two of them and warned, "Wait here. Before the Sect Leader arrives, if you dare take a single step out of this courtyard, I promise I’ll cripple you both."
Hearing this, Shui Yuntian laughed instead of growing angry. "Chu Fan, are you threatening me? Besides, you’re already crippled. Even if you have recovered a shred of your cultivation, do you think you’re still a match for me?"
Chu Fan walked toward the door of Yun Xi’s private chambers, saying without turning his head, "You’re welcome to try."
He then knocked on the door. "Qiu Yihan, open the door. It’s Chu Fan. I have something to say to Yun Xi."
"Junior Martial Uncle Chu, Yun Xi is asleep."
Chu Fan’s brow furrowed. ’No wonder Yun Xi hadn’t appeared, despite him being out here for so long!’
’But why would she be asleep at a time like this?’
"Then open the door and let me see her. Just for a moment."
"Junior Martial Uncle Chu, please don’t make this difficult for me!"
A surge of anger rose in Chu Fan. He secretly channeled his power, shattering the bolt behind the door with a single palm strike.
The instant he pushed open the door, he saw Yun Xi standing by the bed, facing the doorway with tears streaming down her face.
Fury instantly surged through him. "Qiu Yihan," he demanded, "what did you do to Yun Xi?"
"J-Junior Martial Uncle Chu, I..."
Chu Fan walked to Yun Xi’s side. He could see at a glance that her acupoints had been sealed. He tapped her a few times, and the moment she could move again, she threw her arms around him, pounding on his back with her fists.
The emotions she had suppressed for three months were unleashed all at once. She began to sob, crying out between choked breaths, "Why are you so foolish? Why are you so foolish? If you had died, what would I have done?"