Chapter 16: Three Years Ago

"Husband, are you all right?"

Mu Rong Shu couldn't help but ask me, concerned, after I returned home from speaking to my mother. I nodded and gave her a smile.

"Yeah. Just…met someone I didn't want to meet today."

"How did the talk with mother-in-law go?"

I raised an eyebrow, surprised that Mu Rong Shu would recognize my mom as her mother-in-law. Well, why wouldn't she? Actually…a lot of reasons. For one thing, my family didn't recognize Mu Rong Shu as my wife. When grandma sent word to me, demanding that I return, one of her conditions was that I divorce Mu Rong Shu and marry another lady from a more…prestigious and influential family.

Grandma could go fuck right off.

Of course, I told the butler to relay that message back to her, word for word. My parents didn't say anything – dad couldn't, given his current condition. But even though mom had remained silent, I could tell that she didn't approve of my marriage. I knew her well enough to be sure that she would stand by grandma's side and go along with whatever the matriarch of the Zhao family would decide.

Another thing was that, not once had mom asked about Mu Rong Shu. It was almost as if, to her, my wife didn't exist. Well, she was aware – after all, she knew that I had married into the Mu Rong family. But she had never asked to meet my wife, not even once.

Why would she? I was just a tool to the Zhao family. And why would they care about the wife of a tool? Rather, Mu Rong Shu would be a hindrance to them. Not when they want to organize political marriages and the like, to strengthen the Zhao family's influence further.

"Nothing much," I replied with a shrug. "I told her to stop bothering me again. They already disowned me. They don't treat me like a person, they only think of me as a tool."

"I can't say it's all that different here in the Mu Rong family. I'm glad grandpa doesn't do that, but the rest of the relatives…"

Mu Rong Shu looked down. I reached out and clasped her hands.

"You're not a tool. You're my wife." I then smiled, recalling the Zhao family's demands. "And no matter what other people say, I will never leave you."

"Thanks." Mu Rong Shu smiled back, and then shook her head. "I still can't believe I ended up marrying you. The first time we met…three years ago, I was trying to kill you."

"Oh…yeah. I still remember that."

Three years ago, right before I was disowned by the Zhao family, I had been practicing summoning techniques by myself. Unlike my brother, I was banished to the most remote region of the Zhao family's villa, a vast property that spread across a couple of square kilometers. I was given the smallest and most decrepit residence, thrown to live by myself.

That was fine by me. I preferred to be alone. I could better focus on cultivation techniques and mastering my summoning skills.

However, that one night, when I was meditating and training my former spirit beast – the divine dragon – I had immediately detected a presence. A few presences, actually. First, an old man inn a hood emerged from the shadows, a dagger in his hand. He stopped when I glanced up at him.

"…I'm assuming you're not here for tea?"

"Oho…even though you're so young, you're still so composed." The old man chuckled, lowering his dagger. "I actually feel sorry for you. It's a pity to kill someone as talented as you."

"So you're an assassin." It wasn't a question. The golden dragon that I had been training coiled defensively around me, his whiskers bristling and his claws raised, but I restrained him. "I don't remember offending anyone, though. At least not to the point that they would want me dead."

"Ha ha! Oh, you're not being killed because you've offended anyone!" The old man laughed, and then he shook his head. "Ah, you're such a poor thing. I can't bear to let you die with your eyes wide open. Since you'll soon be dead anyway, I don't mind telling you. Your grandmother hired us to assassinate you."

"Us?" I wasn't surprised. "I thought you were both from different organizations, but it seems you're both working together."

"Heh, so you already detected the other assassin, huh?" The old man stared into the shadows behind me. "The person from the Mu Rong family, it's useless to hide now that we both know you're here. You might as well come out too."

A girl in a long, white dress – the skirt slit to allow freer movements of her legs – stepped out of the shadows, revealing herself. A single golden orb hovered above her right shoulder, glowing softly. Her blue eyes twinkled and she clasped her hands before inclining her head politely.

"I was found out, huh? Oh well. Good evening, both gentlemen."

"Mu Rong Shu?" The old man widened his eyes. "Seems like the old lady is taking no chances. To even hire the famous killers of the ancient Mu Rong family as well…"

Even I had heard of the Mu Rong family. They were Hua Xia's most famous clan of assassins. I felt a stab in my heart when I heard the old man's words. Looking at the beautiful girl in front of me – she was probably my age, which made it even more painful – I asked softly.

"Did my grandmother hire you too?"

"We are not allowed to divulge the information of our clients." Mu Rong Shu replied silently. "Unlike Du Wang, we of the Mu Rong family take pride in our professionalism as assassins."

"What arrogance!" Du Wang barked. He then stepped back and lowered his head in a mocking manner. "As an old man, I don't think I'll be able to do much, so I'll let the two of you youngsters fight each other first. Of course, if you succeed in killing him, you'll get the full reward from the Zhao hag, Ms. Mu Rong."

Mu Rong Shu didn't respond to that. The fact that she didn't deny his words or answer my question directly was already telling. Not that I was surprised. Given the way the Zhao family had treated me throughout my entire life, suppressing me and favoring my brother, relegating me to this broken down place, exiling me, starving me of resources and outright ignoring my existence…

Now that I had succeeded in cultivating the divine dragon, that old hag must have gotten scared that I would threaten my brother's position as heir. So she sought to kill me. Her own flesh and blood grandson.

I found that I wasn't as hurt as I thought I would be. I wanted revenge, yes, but more than that, I wanted to be free of this cold, cruel and uncaring family.

But first, I had to survive this encounter. Extending a hand, I gestured toward Mu Rong Shu.

"You heard Mr. Du Wang. Ladies first, please."

"My apologies. Then I won't be polite."

Mu Rong Shu held out a hand as well, the golden orb now fluttering over to her left shoulder. I nodded.

"Please go ahead…"

I had barely finished my sentence when Mu Rong Shu's foot lashed out at me, almost kicking me in the face. Fortunately, I had retreated back by half a step and her foot missed my cheek by a few millimeters. Dropping to a crouch, she tried to sweep my feet out from under me, but I jumped back.

"Don't allow yourself to get distracted," she warned me. Pivoting on her other foot, she kicked me in the head, only for me to evade by the barest of margins.

"Whoa!" I was taken aback by her speed. But then the stupid golden orb struck me from behind, almost knocking me over.

"I told you not to get distracted!" Mu Rong Shu snapped, throwing a punch at me. With the dumb golden orb at my back, I found myself no longer able to evade. So instead, I caught Mu Rong Shu's fist head-on. There was a huge explosion of qi and the ground beneath our feet shattered from the tremendous impact.

"Not bad…your strength is impressive."

"You must be joking," Mu Rong Shu said with a grin. "You haven't seen anything yet."

"Eh?"

My eyes widened when I saw that I was caught inside a formation. A yin-yang circle had materialized below us, golden streams of qi gathering around to form the Eight Trigrams. Scraping her feet against the white and black circle, Mu Rong Shu infused her arm with more qi despite me firmly gripping her fist.

"I will fight you with all my strength!"

Narrowing her eyes, Mu Rong Shu then twisted her wrist and dislodged my grip, pulling her arm back. She then struck me with a barrage of palm strikes, which I recognized was the Eight Trigrams Chained Palm Strikes. I retreated as best as I could, defending myself by parrying each and every of her palm strikes. Hitting the inside of her wrist, I deflected one palm strike to the side. Then I blocked a second palm with my forearm. We almost danced, with me withdrawing each time and countering her strikes with a series of defensive postures.

"Yikes, that hurts!" I grumbled.

"The Eight Trigrams of Yang!"

Whirling her hands about, Mu Rong Shu stamped her foot on the ground and slammed both palms against my crossed arms. She executed Eight Trigrams Pushing Hands with such force that I was blown several meters back, my forearms smoking.

"The Eight Trigrams of Yin!"

Mu Rong Shu continued hammering me with her hands, her movements almost too fast. I crouched, taking a blow on my shoulder and absorbing another attack on my side. Despite putting my guard up, I couldn't block all of her strikes. It was almost as if I was fighting eight people at the same time.

"It's over!"

Snapping her fingers, Mu Rong Shu finished her technique and unleashed a massive blast. The eight trigrams under us glowed brightly, transforming into a colossal conflagration that engulfed me. I stumbled back, but was unable to escape, finding myself hemmed in by eight trigrams.

"Seal of the Eight Trigrams…EXPLOSION!"

Did she just turn into Megumin or something?

I couldn't help but curse when my vision turned orange, exotic energies racing around to swallow me up in a destructive rage. Eight different elements crashed down onto me, each embodying one of the eight trigrams. Combined, they produced a result that was more than the sum of their parts, devastating the entire area.

The last thing I saw was Megumin…ahem, I mean Mu Rong Shu's triumphant expression before I found myself surrounded on all sides by the resultant inferno.