Xie Shuci felt incredibly unlucky.

He didn't have time to check if Xie An had fallen anywhere. He saw Li Xiao Shaxing rushing over aggressively, so he took off running.

"Brother! Elder brother! Young hero! Great hero! I was wrong! I know I was wrong! Please... you can't kill me! You really can't kill me! I was talking nonsense, I overestimated myself..."

Xie Shuci was on the verge of tears, having been chased around several times by Li Xiaoshaxing. Fortunately, there were still many ordinary people in the inn watching the commotion, and Li Xiaoshaxing did not want to involve others, so he did not dare to kill Xie Shuci, which gave Xie Shuci the opportunity to wail and beg for mercy.

Seeing his spinelessness, Li Xiaoshaxing's face grew increasingly sour. "Xie Shuci, have you no shame? You're supposed to be a cultivator, how can you have no backbone at all? If you're a man, don't hide, fight me face to face!"

Xie Shuci hid behind a tilted wooden table, took a short breath, and replied, "What do you know? In the face of life, face and courage are all meaningless! If you have the guts, put down your sword and let's arm wrestle. If I win, you'll never bother me again; if you win, I suggest you stay far away from me whenever you see me for your own comfort, and we'll keep to ourselves."

Li Xiao Shaxing was so angry at his nonsense that his whole body trembled. For a moment, he forgot to control his strength. With a swing of his longsword, the sharp sword wind was unstoppable, leaving nothing intact in its wake.

"My goodness!"

Xie Shuci almost had his buttocks sliced ​​off with a knife. He quickly covered his buttocks and continued to jump around.

Xie An stood against the wall amidst the mess. The shopkeeper, worried that he would be caught in the crossfire, stepped forward to pull him away, but the moment his fingers touched Xie An's clothes, he was thrown to the ground by a gust of wind.

He cried out in pain and looked up to see Xie An facing him with a gloomy and cold expression. Xie An even shook his robes as if the innkeeper had something dirty on his hands that had soiled his robes.

The shopkeeper stared at him in astonishment, never expecting that a cripple would have such strength, and for a moment he didn't know how to react.

At this moment, everyone's attention was focused on Xie Shuci and Li Xiaoshaxing, and no one noticed Xie An and the shopkeeper.

"Don't run!"

"If I don't run, you'll kill me?"

"Halt! Today, I, the young master, will rid the people of this scourge!"

"Do you think I'm stupid? Standing still and letting you chop me?"

"Xie Shuci!" Li Xiaoshaxing had probably never met anyone like this before. One moment he was as stubborn as a rock, and the next he was begging for mercy. Whenever he had the chance, he would mock him. Li Xiaoshaxing didn't know whether Xie Shuci was looking for death or not. He was so angry that he almost lost his mind!

His longsword, imbued with a menacing aura, swung towards Xie Shuci with the force of thunder. His mind was a jumbled mess; all he wanted was to quickly deal with this troublesome Xie Shuci. This strike used almost all his strength; if Xie Shuci were hit by the sword wind, he would be crippled, if not killed.

Xie Shuci sensed that the sword strike was exceptionally sharp. Fortunately, he was prepared and rolled on the wood-shaving ground. His back ached from the hard wood. He barely managed to dodge the sword's edge and hadn't even had a chance to catch his breath when he heard several screams from the side.

"Brother Xiaoci..."

“Ah Dong—”

"careful!"

The shopkeeper's heart-wrenching screams overlapped with Li Xiao Shaxing's voice.

Xie Shuci was startled. He turned around abruptly and found that A Dong had run out at some point. He was standing where the sword wind was striking, holding a windmill in his small hand, looking blankly at the transparent water light formed by the sword energy flying towards him.

Xie An stood three steps away from A Dong. His nostrils twitched slightly, and his lifeless eyes instantly and accurately looked at A Dong's location. Whether he was aware that A Dong's life was hanging by a thread or not, his expression was extremely calm, as if he knew nothing and did not care about A Dong's life or death. He did not make any move.

"A Dong!" Xie Shuci shouted. Seeing that A Dong was about to die on the spot, he didn't know where the strength came from. He unconsciously covered his legs with a layer of spiritual energy. In an instant, without having time to think, he pushed off the ground and his body rushed towards A Dong like an arrow.

Xie Shuci had a brief moment to think while his body was in mid-air. Damn it! I'm doomed!

Li Xiao Shaxing, sword in hand, was deathly pale when he suddenly saw Xie Shuci rush forward and hug the little boy. His eyes widened in disbelief, and he cried out, "Xie Shuci—!"

Just then, Xie An, who had been motionless, grabbed a wooden table and threw it at the two of them. A gust of wind from his sword struck the wooden table, shattering it into pieces. The pieces of wood protected Xie Shuci and A Dong. The wood fragments rained down on Xie Shuci's head and back, making him wince in pain. He then shielded the stunned A Dong even more tightly.

At the same time, everyone came to their senses.

The shopkeeper was so frightened that his legs went weak. He had already forgotten Xie An's unusual behavior and scrambled to Xie Shuci's side. "A-Dong? A-Dong, are you alright? Young Master Xie, thank you so much! You saved A-Dong's life!"

The shopkeeper looked at Xie Shuci with tears of gratitude. Xie Shuci brushed the wood chips off his head and grinned at the shopkeeper, "You're welcome, you're welcome. It was nothing."

Ah Dong, unaware of what had happened, stared at the two of them curiously.

Xie Shuci rubbed his head. "What are you looking at? You little brat."

Ah Dong pouted and rolled his eyes at him.

Li Xiao Shaxing also approached the two of them, anxiously asking, "Is the child hurt? I'm so sorry, I lost control for a moment..."

The shopkeeper, holding Ah Dong, glared at him and said, "If anything happens to my son, I'll fight you to the death! What kind of cultivator are you? You think you can kill someone in public?"

Seeing this, onlookers began to criticize Li Xiao Shaxing.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Li Xiaoshaxing blushed and dared not refute. Only after seeing that the child in the shopkeeper's arms was unharmed did he breathe a heavy sigh of relief.

Seeing Li Xiao Shaxing get his comeuppance, Xie Shuci felt incredibly pleased and forgot all about the pain; his mouth was practically stretched to the sky in a grin.

But he still had some conscience and felt that this matter was somewhat related to him, so he acted as a peacemaker and said to everyone, "Young Master Li is young and impetuous, so it's normal for him to be reckless. Anyway, A Dong wasn't injured, so Young Master Li can just compensate for the things that were smashed in the store."

Xie Shuci's act of leaping to protect A Dong had slightly changed everyone's opinion of him. Seeing that he had taken the initiative to defend Young Master Li, the others didn't say anything more and gradually dispersed.

Li Xiao Shaxing hurriedly bowed to the shopkeeper and said, "Don't worry, I'll compensate you double for the things you broke. I'll also give this child two health-strengthening pills as compensation."

A single pill is extremely precious to ordinary people. The shopkeeper's expression remained grim, but he did not make things difficult for him further.

Xie Shuci had no intention of going against Li Xiao Shaxing. After all, it was the original owner of this body who provoked him first, and now that he had taken over the identity of the original owner, he should naturally take responsibility for what he had done.

Xie Shuci felt that he and Li Xiaoshaxing were even this time. He turned around and saw Xie An standing against the wall. He immediately went over to support Xie An's arm, put one of Xie An's hands to his lips, and asked, "Did you fall?"

As he spoke, he glanced at Li Xiao Shaxing, who was scooping out pills for the shopkeeper.

Xie An pursed his lips and shook his head.

"That's good." Xie Shuci put his hand down and couldn't help but gasp. He leaned against the wall and rubbed his neck. It hurt when he touched it lightly, so it was probably swollen.

In his panic, he didn't know what had happened. He looked around the crowd, wondering which kind person had saved his life, but he couldn't see it. Maybe it was some anonymous Good Samaritan.

Xie Anjing stood calmly beside Xie Shuci, seemingly oblivious to everything. But when his unfocused gaze settled on a certain spot, Li Xiaoshaxing, not far away, felt a chill rise from the soles of his feet. He subconsciously sensed danger, gripped the sword hanging at his waist tightly, and turned to look at the place emanating a dangerous aura.

Turning around, he saw Xie Shuci and Xie An, who was standing quietly beside him.

After paying the shopkeeper with silver and pills, Li Xiaoshaxing hesitated for a moment as he looked at Xie Shuci.

His gaze toward Xie Shuci was somewhat complicated.

His aptitude was far superior to Xie Shuci's. Normally, rescuing a child from under the sword wind would be a piece of cake for him. But just now, he was terrified. His mind went blank for a moment, and his limbs felt like they were weighed down by a thousand pounders, making it difficult for him to move.

He never expected that Xie Shuci, the scoundrel he despised the most, would risk his life to save that child, which made him feel very complicated.

On one hand, he thought Xie Shuci was a shameless and despicable scoundrel; on the other hand, he was genuinely grateful and admired Xie Shuci for protecting the child. Although in the end, it was a table that flew in from who-knows-where that saved them, it was enough to change Li Xiaoshaxing's opinion of Xie Shuci.

Moreover, Xie Shuci exchanged a few words with the boy beside him. It seemed that the boy was not only blind, but also unable to hear or speak. Xie Shuci had to communicate with him by writing or touching his palm. Although it was very troublesome, Xie Shuci did not feel impatient at all, and the boy did not reject him.

Looking at it this way, it seems that I did indeed misunderstand him.

Xie Shuci guessed that his back was also swollen and was groaning in pain when he noticed a figure in front of him. He looked up in surprise and saw Li Xiao Shaxing standing awkwardly in front of him.

"What are you doing? You want to fight? Let me tell you, fighting is fine, but risking your life is not. I value my life very much right now." Xie Shuci thought he was here to cause trouble, and his tone suddenly became tough.

Li Xiao Shaxing looked somewhat unwilling. Under Xie Shuci's wary gaze, he pouted, clasped his hands in a fist and bowed slightly to Xie Shuci, saying, "Thank you very much."

Xie Shuci quickly waved his hand and said, "Don't flatter yourself. I didn't do this for you."

Li Xiao Shaxing was furious and gritted his teeth: "No matter what your reason was, you did help me. Xie Shuci, although I still despise your methods, you were willing to risk your life to save someone, so you are not a bad person at heart. I hope you understand that liking someone requires mutual affection, and you should never use such despicable means."

He kept using despicable and vile language, and although Xie Shuci hadn't done it, he still felt a little uncomfortable. He frowned and said perfunctorily, "I know, I know. Didn't I already say that I was blind to have attacked you?"

Li Xiao Shaxing's expression turned somewhat unpleasant, but ultimately he didn't want to continue entangled with Xie Shuci, so he simply clasped his hands and said, "In any case, you helped me, so let's wipe the slate clean and from now on, we'll keep to ourselves."

Xie Shuci couldn't wait to raise his hand to return the greeting to Li Xiao Shaxing, but the movement aggravated the injury on his back, causing him to shudder in pain.

Seeing this, Li Xiaoshaxing remembered that the falling pieces of wood had all hit Xie Shuci. He felt a pang of guilt, took out a bottle of pills from his pocket, and said, "I'm sorry, I promised the Xie family head that I wouldn't pursue this matter further. This is compensation for you..."

Before he finished speaking, Xie An, who had been silent all along, suddenly made a move.

He took a step forward, seemingly wanting to get closer to Xie Shuci, but his foot accidentally kicked a broken chair leg. The hard piece of wood flew into the air and slammed hard into Li Xiaoshaxing's shinbone.

"ah!"

The incident happened suddenly. Li Xiaoshaxing cried out in pain, losing strength in half of his leg, and knelt down in front of Xie Shuci with a thud.

The porcelain bottle containing the elixir slipped from his hand and rolled to Xie An's feet.

Xie An was completely unaware of this and kicked the porcelain vase away as he stepped forward.

At the same time, he reached out and grabbed Xie Shuci.