Life-saving grace
"Ahh, Miss Liang, there you are!" A sleazy voice sliced through the tranquility of the garden. Xing Jue and Liang Shanshan turned to see a man sauntering towards them. He was dressed in fine white robes, a folding fan in one hand, his face handsome in a predatory sort of way…
He was flanked by an older man, dressed in equally expensive silks… Master Liang, the head of the Liang Clan, and a man who clearly did not approve of his daughter's houseguest…
"Father," Liang Shanshan acknowledged her father with a curtsey, choosing to ignore the smirking interloper.
"My, my, trying to avoid me, Miss Liang?" Young Master Zhu chuckled, unfazed by her icy demeanor. He moved closer… until his gaze fell on Xing Jue.
"And who might you be?" he drawled, turning to Master Liang. He didn't even bother to hide the displeasure in his voice…
Master Liang froze. If he told the truth—that this young man was his daughter's guest, the man she was spending far too much time with…- there would be trouble… And he was in no position to displease Young Master Zhu, not with the power of the Zhu Clan behind him.
" Xing Jue," Xing Jue said calmly, meeting Young Master Zhu's gaze head-on. "A friend of Miss Liang."
Master Liang winced. He could practically hear his ancestors revolving in their graves…
"Friend?!" Young Master Zhu exploded, his face turning an interesting shade of purple. He rounded on Xing Jue, spittle flying as he roared, " Friend, he says! My wife's friend?!"
Liang Shanshan gasped, shocked at his audacity…
Everyone else took a collective step back, instinct telling them that this… this was not going to end well…
As Young Master Zhu, fueled by jealousy and rage, lunged, Liang Shanshan instinctively stepped forward… to do what, she did not know … but Xing Jue stopped her.
He pulled her behind him, placing himself between her and the incensed young master. Looking at Zhu, he said, "I've met a lot of shameless people in my time, but you, sir, take the cake. Since when did Miss Liang become your wife?"
Silence descended upon the garden—the kind of silence that precedes a violent storm…
"You're dead!" Young Master Zhu howled.
He threw a punch—a Martial King's punch, aimed at Xing Jue's head.
It was over before it began.
Xing Jue didn't even flinch.
He caught the fist in his hand—effortlessly—stopping it inches away from his face.
"Crack!"
The air rippled as their energies collided. Liang Shanshan stumbled backward, barely able to stay on her feet from the force of it…
Young Master Zhu stared at him, eyes wide with incredulity. No one… no one had ever blocked that punch!
"You…" he sputtered, "You little…!"
He recovered quickly, spinning on his heel and launching a vicious roundhouse kick at Xing Jue's temple. This time, there was no mistaking the lethal intent… or the surge of martial qi that empowered the attack…
Xing Jue didn't move.
He simply raised his arm…
"Bang!"
The impact almost knocked Young Master Zhu off his feet…
Rage, hot and burning, erased all reason.
He attacked relentlessly, a whirlwind of punches and kicks, each one aimed at bringing the arrogant bastard down.
But Xing Jue was unmoved.
He blocked every attack… easily…his expression never changing…
And then, as the realization of what they were witnessing set in, silence fell once again…
Young Master Zhu was an Early-Rank Martial King!
This… this boy… this nobody… was toying with him…
Master Liang stared, his face a mask of shock… A wave of shame washed over him… He'd dismissed this Xing Jue… treated him with barely concealed contempt…
His daughter clearly had better taste than he did…
Liang Shanshan though, was thrilled. Her Xing Jue… He was even more amazing than she'd thought…
His calmness… His strength…
"You… you're dead!" Young Master Zhu screamed, his pride shattered… He'd been humiliated…and it was this… this insect that had done it!
He drew on his martial qi… This time… this time, he would show them all…
Young Master Zhu's body flickered, a whirlwind of motion… His hand crackled with a rapidly condensing aura of martial qi, glowing with an ominous crimson light.
"An Earth-Rank technique," Xing Jue murmured, analyzing the telltale signs. His enhanced soul perception, honed by the Soul Devouring Codex, allowed him to instantly gauge the level of his opponent's attack…
And then, before Zhu could fully unleash it, Xing Jue moved…
He was a blur—a phantom.
One moment he was standing a respectable distance away, the next… he was right there, beside Young Master Zhu, his hand closing around the other man's wrist with deceptive ease…
"What… how…" Young Master Zhu gaped at him, his words jammed in his throat… It was as if the brat had… teleported…
He caught a glimpse of something strange… wisps of wind… writhing around Xing Jue like living things…
"We don't use martial techniques here," Xing Jue said mildly, a chillingly serene smile on his face. "Things tend to… break."
Rage, raw and burning… returned with a vengeance…
"Get your filthy hands off me!" Young Master Zhu roared. He reared back with his free hand, aiming for a gut punch…
Xing Jue's grip tightened.
"Crack!"
A sickening snap echoed through the sudden silence…
Young Master Zhu stared at his wrist, now dangling at an unnatural angle… Pain, white hot and blinding, shot up his arm…
"My hand!" he screamed, his voice high-pitched and wild…
Xing Jue didn't let go. He shifted his grip, martial qi flaring around his fist…
He struck… fast… precise… aiming for a spot just below Young Master Zhu's ribs.
"*Thump!*"
The sound was deceptively quiet… almost intimate…
Young Master Zhu doubled over, a gurgling scream trapped in his throat… Then he crumpled, a broken doll, blood staining his expensive robes…
Xing Jue's attack had been aimed with surgical precision—at Young Master Zhu's qi sea. The source of a martial artist's strength…
And now… it was gone.
He stepped back, his expression devoid of emotion…
"But… you…!" Young Master Zhu gasped, his voice a barely audible rasp. He could feel it… ebbing away… his strength… his future…
"You're a dead man!" he croaked, but the threat held no heat… only fear…
Xing Jue smiled. It was not a pleasant expression.
"Run along," he said softly. "While you still can."
Young Master Zhu, his face ashen, didn't need to be told twice. He scrambled to his feet, ignoring the searing pain in his arm… He ran…
Liang Shanshan stared at Xing Jue, her eyes wide, heart pounding against her ribs. She barely recognized this… this warrior…
He turned to her, his smile softening as he met her gaze. "Don't worry," he said. "He won't bother you again."
"But… but how?"
Xiao Qing, despite her earlier contempt, was now thoroughly terrified. What if he came back? What then?
Master Liang, however, understood…
"The young…Master Zhu is no longer a threat to the Liang Clan," he said, his voice laced with awe. "Young Master Xing, your… strength…" He bowed, his earlier disdain forgotten.
His own cultivation, though respectable, was nowhere near… this. The speed, the precision… He had crippled Young Master Zhu… And an Early-Rank Martial King did not lose his qi sea easily…unless….
Unless someone far, far stronger had…taken it.
His gaze swept over Xing Jue, a mixture of admiration and a healthy dose of fear in his eyes…
"Thank you," Liang Shanshan whispered, her voice thick with emotion. She understood now… He hadn't just beaten Zhu… he'd destroyed him…
"You've saved us all…"
Xing Jue shook his head, embarrassed by her gratitude.
"You saved me, Miss Liang," he said. "Both of us. Without your kindness… I… we would have drowned in that river."
He meant every word…
A commotion at the edge of the garden interrupted them... Old Zhang, the healer, came hurrying towards them, his face flushed, his eyes bright with excitement…
Xing Jue felt a jolt of alarm…
"Master Zhang! What is it?!"
He had a bad feeling…
Old Zhang stopped before him, catching his breath.
And then…he smiled…
"Young Master Xing," he said, his voice trembling with unshed tears… "It's…It's a miracle! Xiao Qian… she's awake…"