As a result, the old master summoned Xie Fu for questioning and immediately gave him a lecture without asking any questions. This only aroused Xie Fu's inherent arrogance, so he simply went with the flow and insisted on setting up this arena.

The experts from Xiliang who came on the day of his birthday were all listed on the Xiliang Ranking. They had received "guidance" from the Grand Master and were determined to teach the young master of the Xie family a small lesson.

To the Xie family patriarch's utter surprise, Xie Fu, with his long spear in hand, possessed martial arts skills far surpassing those of the former Xie Fu. He single-handedly defeated numerous Xiliang masters on the arena, thus gaining widespread fame.

Many of those experts from Xiliang were already well-known, but given Xie Fu's habit of rarely leaving his home and occasionally hanging out with Wan Ming, he certainly didn't have that kind of influence.

Therefore, many prominent families still believe that the Xie family patriarch specially selected some people to promote the reputation of the Xie family's young master as being both literate and martial.

The assassins who came with an attitude of underestimating Xie Fu quickly suffered a loss at his hands.

The assassination mission, if successful, means survival; if it fails, the price is certain death.

With lightning speed, Xie Fu dislocated the jawbones of the remaining two assassins and used his hidden sword to remove the poison they had concealed between their teeth.

The two bound assassins looked on in despair. If they didn't die now, they would face endless torture until they revealed who was behind it all.

Just as the street had finally calmed down, footsteps sounded again in the distance.

The guards escorting the assassin tensed up again, their eyes fixed on the direction from which the footsteps were coming.

The footsteps grew closer. Xie Fu flicked the blood beads off the sword in his sleeve, then casually wiped the remaining blood with the clothes of the two assassins. As he did these things, he was also keeping an eye on the footsteps.

The footsteps were lighter and more casual than those of the men, sounding more like a young girl taking a leisurely stroll than a man.

The owner of the footsteps in the darkness finally revealed herself—a woman in a white dress. Just by looking at her figure, one could tell that she must be a stunning beauty.

Unfortunately, she wore a white veil hat, which concealed her true face, so it's unknown whether she had a beautiful face that matched her figure.

The guard pointed his sword at the unidentified woman in front of him and shouted, "Who goes there!"

Large patches of freshly spilled blood flowed and meandered along the uneven ground of the street. Armored guards held two men dressed in black in their hands, while a young man in front of them played with a hidden sword, his expression indifferent.

Any ordinary woman would be terrified and beg for mercy or run away at the sight of such a person.

But the woman in the white dress stood quietly not far away, ignoring the blood winding past her feet, seemingly oblivious to the guards' raised iron swords, gleaming with a chilling light, silently watching them.

One of the guards frowned. "Could he have been scared out of his wits?"

After hesitating for a moment, someone shouted, "Hey, it's already curfew! Why are you still wandering around?"

This time, the woman in the white dress did not remain silent. Her voice was clear and melodious, like cold jade falling into a clear spring, "What's your name?"

"ha?"

The guard looked bewildered.

Xie Fu looked at her coldly, the small sword hidden in his sleeve twirling gracefully in his hand.

She glanced at the blood at her feet, lifted her skirt, and carefully tried not to get her shoes dirty as she slowly walked over.

"Stop your behavior, or you will face the consequences."

The guards surrounded Xie Fu, their swords pointed directly at the woman of unknown origin who gave irrelevant answers to their questions.

The woman in the white dress was shielded by the sword tips, her gaze passing over the guards, as if she wasn't worried at all that the swords might pierce her at any moment.

She asked softly again, "What's your name?"

Xie Fu patted the hidden sword in his palm, thought for a moment, and then asked, "And what's your name?"

“Shu Yun,” she replied.

Then she added, "The 'Shuyun' in 'clouds rolling and unrolling'."

Xie Fu looked at her through the veil, and after a long while, a smile appeared on his lips. "Interesting."

The guards began to shoo people away, shouting, "Go away, go away, get out of the way!"

Where did this random person come from, asking for our young master's name right away? I don't know if they genuinely don't know, or if they're just using asking for his name to strike up a conversation with our young master.

To be honest, having served their young master, they've seen all sorts of women. To get close to the heir of the Xie family in Xiliang Royal City, the future Marquis of the Xie family, those women would come up with any tricks.

Shu Yun was pushed by the guard's sword, and staggered to the side. She didn't insist on asking any more questions, but chose to quietly step aside and watch Xie Fu lead a group of people past her and back to the Xie residence.

The moonlight was bright, and the otherwise dark streets seemed to be favored by the moonlight, allowing people to see clearly around them without needing to light lanterns to illuminate the way.

The woman in the white dress watched the group leave. It was clear that the two of them had been together not long ago, but in such a short time, Jiang Yan was already a stranger in his life.

His guards stood between them, swords raised, and his eyes held a look she had never seen before—strange, doubtful, wary… a mix of everything, but none of the gentleness and obedience she knew.

Shu Yun felt a tightness in her chest, probably because her injury was starting to hurt again. The veil blocked out the air, making it hard for her to breathe.

She raised her hand and removed her veil, revealing a stunningly beautiful face in the bright moonlight. Her skin was snow-white, her lips were slightly red, and her eyes were bright, clean, and clear like those of a deer in the forest, only lacking the red camellia at the corner of her eye.

It wasn't the veil that was the problem; it was her own distress. Even after taking off the veil, she still felt short of breath, and her eyes started to sting.

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