"Grasping the weakness of the girl, we had to sacrifice a few of our brothers to tie her down while the rest go on to take the la.s.s away. However, at this time, the Ling residence’s guards noticed our presence, and started to give chase. Only after the rest of our brothers pitted their lives to halt them did the three of us manage to escape the battle!" The youth had already lowered his head, guilt written all over his face.

"This doesn’t make sense!" As the saying went, ‘an old ginger is spicier compared to the young ginger’, the elders immediately found a flaw in the entire story, "If the lady was as strong as what you described, then how could you people even slip past her, after all the Ling residence’s guards spotted you guys? Where did she go after the guards came out?"

Xiao’wu furrowed his brows and thought for a long while, before he replied with some uncertainty, "From the looks of it, after the guards spotted us, the female expert never appeared again. The three of us were also exceedingly careful, following the set route and taking a large detour before slipping back here. We did not find out that we were being followed." Xiao’wu was no fool, and immediately guessed what the elders were worried about.

Hearing this, the group of people furrowed their brows once again, exchanging glances. They simultaneously came to the same conclusion, "Don’t tell me… the female was not part of the Xiao family nor the Ling family?" This was the only plausible reason! If it was not for the fact that she belonged to neither party, and only met them by chance, she would have definitely attempted to save Xiao YanXue!

At this point, the four of them heaved a sigh of relief. Thinking about how they had lost 17 good fighters in a single mission, the four of them could not help but feel heavy and hurt at the loss.

Gu XiYan looked at the gunny sack held by Xiao’wu, and her gaze sharpened, "Let her out. I want to see how the little princess of the Xiao family looks like."

With a grunt of acknowledgement, Xiao’wu opened the gunny sack, exposing the graceful and svelte body of a woman. Clothed in back, along with a face of peerless beauty, that was precisely Xiao YanXue! She resembled a bewitching begonia at this moment, her face filled with a charming flush. Her eyes were tightly shut, and her long lashes enchanted everyone present!

Examining this city-toppling beauty who men would go crazy for, the violence and hatred in Gu XiYan’s eyes grew all the more intense!

"Go! Bring her over to Mama Yang, and let her get a good lesson! Just for this little s.l.u.t, I actually lost seventeen of my brother-in-arms. If I don’t let the Xiao Family be completely humiliated, how can I answer to them? How can I answer to the various members of the ShangGuan Family, who have been plotted to death by the Xiao family!" A ferocious look appeared on Gu XiYan’s face. Riled up by her emotions, her chest heaved up and down violently, and a hint of blood appeared on the corners of her mouth, where she had forcefully bit down.

"Yes! Elder sister!" A cruel smile appeared on the face of the bloke named Xiao’wu, a sort of crazed l.u.s.t surfacing at his eyes. At this point, the death of his seventeen brothers — who had sacrificed their lives to save him — had long been thrown to the back of his mind!

No doubt, this was the nature of men!

Seeing his face, Gu XiYan seemed to have her reservations. In the end, she did not say anything, and only weakly dismissed him with a wave.

Xiao’wu bent his waist, grabbing onto Xiao YanXue’s dainty waist and prepared to carry her down; looks of envy appeared on the faces of the other two men standing guard.

At this point, the window of the tower suddenly exploded into smithereens, and a black shadow — that seemed to have come from the ninth level of h.e.l.l — appeared, carrying with him a wave of killing intent as he walked over leisurely. Even when stepping into an expert’s territory, the a.s.sailant’s att.i.tude was just as though he was taking a stroll in his own backyard, his entire presence exuding an elegant and relaxed aura of cruelty.

The movements of the black robed shadow seemed leisurely, but was immeasurably quick. Before anyone could react, he had already reached the side of the unconscious Xiao YanXue.

Everyone gaped at the scene! The three elders had the fastest reaction, and shouted threateningly as they threw themselves forward. Six palms from the trio were pushed out, aiming for the black shadow. All three of them had the same thought: this man cannot leave alive, or the ten-odd years of conserving the ShangGuan Family’s strength will go down the drain! In that moment, they unleashed their full strength!

The black robed figure merely spun on the spot, returning all their attacks with his own palms!

"Peng peng peng peng peng peng!" Six loud sounds were heard, as though six claps of thunder sounded in succession!

In this short instant, the black robed man actually exchanged two palm strikes from each of the elders! The resulting gale was so strong that the people in the surroundings could not remain stably standing! With her injury, Gu XiYan was even blown back onto her bed!

It was only after the gale subsided that the crowd noticed, in shock, that the three elders had all retreated; their faces pale like colour of milk, with similar expressions of shock. With a heave of their chests, the trio each spat out a mouth of blood!

Looking at the black robed person, they realized that he only took a step back in response. With the heavy impact, his feet broke the floorboards beneath with a ‘kacha’ sound, sending a wave through the pavilion! To think that he was actually able to divert the strength of the palm strikes through the soles of his feet; this was as good as the three elders attempting to attack the small pavilion!

Xiao’wu and the rest were actually waiting for the time where the elders struck, to take advantage of the situation. As such, they had also thrown themselves forward with knives raised. However, to think that the black robed man had not bothered with them at all. With the gale created from the palm strikes, he easily sent them flying backwards!

Suddenly, the three elders flicked their sleeves, and sent countless silvery bolts towards the a.s.sailant. At the same time, a few of the middle-aged women standing by the side raised their hands, and a pinkish fog started to pervade the entire room.

With a cold smile, the black robed man’s hands gestured in the empty air, and the tens of silver needles actually fell into his palms — like how rivers always led to the sea. Immediately flicking his sleeves, powerful internal strength was released, gathering the pink fog into a small ball. Casually sending it out of the window, the pink fog dissipated completely in the rain without a trace of it left!

In this short instance, the martial arts displayed by the black robed man had completely killed any intentions the crowd had of resistance! To engage in a frontal clash with the three elders who had decades of cultivation, to discern hidden weapons by sound alone and capture all of them, and to manipulate his internal strength to completely remove all traces of poison fog, throwing it out like one would throw a rubber ball!

This sort of strength, not to mention seeing it before, they had never heard of such a thing! The crowd could not help but cast worrying glances at him, all of them feeling a chill in their scalps!

This black robed man was precisely Ling Tian who had followed Gu XiYan back!

With two ‘ka’ sounds, Ling Tian extricated his feet like it was a normal occurrence. Stretching his neck, he lightly snubbed his nose. From his eyes, one could see an expression of delight at this Bruce Lee-esque way of showing off, very das.h.i.+ng, very….

"May I know the name of this honoured Sire? What purpose would you have, to come here deep in the night?" Having experienced Ling Tian’s unrivalled martial arts, the elders were, after all, no newbies and immediately realised that it was pointless trying to resist him! The three of them already ended up with injuries from their previous exchange. Even if they were to combine forces, they might not even be his match! Thus, they could only resort to polite tones to reason out with the man, albeit with much dread.

Ling Tian snorted once, before coldly replying, "ShangGuan Family. Hehehe. What a good Smoky Thea Tower! What a good Gu XiYan! Good! Good! Good!" He expressed his approval thrice, but it seemed so full of sarcasm and ridicule! Furthermore, there seemed to be some anger hidden inside, as though saying, ‘To hide under my eyelids for a good decade or so, what a good capability!’

Gu XiYan ignored the severe wounds on her body to seat upright on her bed as she replied indignantly, "What’s with that response, honoured sir? The ShangGuan Family had long turned into dust, and only the few of us, miserable stragglers, are left. We’re merely dragging out an ign.o.ble existence, so how can we easily reveal ourselves? Honoured sir, you might be matchless in your martial skill, but you do not even possess a shred of reason. If you insist on using your skills to bully us, while we may not be your opponent, we will definitely fight you to the bitter end!"

Ling Tian did not grant her any attention, instead callously spitting, "Reason?! The feud between the ShangGuan and Xiao Families is not an unknown matter; a feud must be settled, a debt must be paid! This is the way of heavens and none can refute! If you decide on an open fight, with providence deciding your fate, that would be acceptable. To think that the great ShangGuan Family would actually stoop so low as to kidnap a little girl. This, I can’t sit aside to watch!"

Gu XiYan replied sternly, "Life-Death battle? Head on collision? How can we even stand a chance against them! For enemies like them, any path that would grant us our revenge will be the right path, regardless the means necessary! Sir is an outsider, so why must you b.u.t.t your nose into other people’s problems?" Gu XiYan seemed to possess a staunch character. Even when faced with a peerless expert, and knowing that she was not his match, she still chose to confront his words. First, she tried to use reason. Then, she talked about compelling them to their deaths, all to gain Ling Tian’s sympathy! However, that glint in her eyes betrayed her true intentions.

"Peerless experts were usually people with status in the real world, so how could they stoop so low as to argue with a woman of low status?" this was what Gu XiYan thought. So long as she could ensnare him in her conversation, she could at least secure the lives of the people around her. Even if he were to walk away without doing anything, given his position as a peerless expert, he would definitely stay silent about them, which could give them a way to continue living! Thus, Gu XiYan was sure that, so long as the man even bothered to reply her, she could send him packing out of this place! When it came to debates, Gu XiYan was confident that there was no one her match in Sky Bearing!