Chapter 27 – Xiao Liuguang, the Flowing Light

After the thunderous voice echoed, a crushing force swept over the crowd, rooting everyone in place. The frailest among them gasped for air, faces paling to a bluish hue as their lungs tightened and blood seemed to drain from their heads.

For a heartbeat, it seemed some might collapse, but the suffocating grip faded as quickly as it came.

Relief swept through the crowd as the pressure eased, letting most catch their breath. Only Qin Yun and Ma Zhurong remained trapped, held so tightly they could not even twitch.

Qin Yun’s eyes narrowed, catching a distant shimmer racing closer. In a blink, the very air quivered—not from sorcery, but from sheer, breathtaking speed.

A flash of light.

A man materialized, serene and composed, his robes billowing in the lingering breeze. He seemed in his mid-forties, with a neatly trimmed dark beard and slicked-back hair that lent him an air of seasoned authority.

Qin Yun knew too well how looks could be deceiving. The man was surely much older than he let on. His realm wasn’t something a man of his age should realistically be able to achieve.

Qin Yun judged him to be in the Nascent Soul Realm, in its early stages. The Divine Will, which he used to project his thoughts from afar, was a defining feature of this realm. It allowed a practitioner to project their consciousness, resonating with the Etra beyond oneself.

This was merely one of the many uses of a divine will.

“We greet the respected elder!” The crowd sang in unison, bowing to the man. Mortals even knelt in his presence, as if they had just witnessed the descent of a god.

Only Qin Yun and Ma Zhurong were forced to keep standing at attention, unable to even say anything. Qin Yun had no way to counteract a divine will, nor did he have any reason to.

This man had been spying on them from the moment Ma Zhurong made contact. He was neither friend nor foe, but an elder of the City Lord Manor charged with oversight over the Peacekeeper corps.

His job was to keep them in line.

“Ma Zhurong. My boy,” the man began. “Why must you do this to me? You know how much I hate bothersome matters. Why can’t you behave, for once?”

The man shook his head, his gaze full of the vicissitude of life, then turned to face Qin Yun.

“And you… Why must you egg him on? Learn to get along, why don’t you? Life is already hard enough as it is. Why make enemies?”

He paused, letting silence settle like a heavy shroud over the crowd. Though his demeanour was gentle, everyone knew better than to be deceived. With a mere gesture, he could erase them all.

Not that he would. There were quite a few among the four main clans that could rival him. He didn’t want to anger any of those old monsters that had faded from the public’s consciousness.

Which was why he was at an impasse on what to do. He couldn’t very well punish Ma Zhurong for something so minor, lest he attract the ire of the entire Ma Clan. This young man was their treasure, after all.

As for Qin Yun… well, the man could probably ignore him. He doubted anyone would be too bothered even if he were to punish him.

“What’s with those eyes?” the elder said, noticing the look in Ma Zhurong’s eyes. “Have something to say?”

However, try as he might, Ma Zhurong’s mouth was closed shut. He couldn’t even produce any sound. He could only glare his way.

Even while immobilized, Qin Yun found the scene amusing. If being restrained bruised Ma Zhurong’s ego, it was a small price to pay—one he felt was well deserved.

Dealing with Ma Zhurong was always a hassle, so Qin Yun savoured this rare moment of justice. The elder’s eyes suggested he noticed.

“What’s so funny?” he said before sighing. “This is why I don’t like your type. Too flexible. Even if I were to cripple you, it seems you wouldn’t even care. So, what am I supposed to do? I can’t very well cut off an arm. I feel you’d do it again regardless.”

The elder wasn’t wrong. No matter the punishment he would receive, Qin Yun would have acted in the same way if given the chance. There was no reason to shy away from bullies. They would only grow emboldened. Resistance was the only way, but Qin Yun preferred ridicule over violence if given the chance.

They lived in a city with rules, after all.

“What to do, what to do,” the elder mumbled as he paced back and forth while everyone kept quiet, reverence in their eyes. While this elder wasn’t quite what they were expecting, they knew better than to raise their head. They knew how fickle and unrestrained people with true power could be.

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Yun Jingfei, on the other hand, was used to dealing with people like this, her master being one of them.

“Elder, sir,” she said. “If I may be allowed to speak.”

Despite being, along with Qin Yun, among the ones responsible for this situation, the elder hadn’t seen fit to restrain her. He saw her as nothing but a mortal at the moment.

He turned to face her, a flicker in his eyes as he scanned her with his divine will. She felt something crawl over her, like an army of ants, but showed no outward repulsion. She was used to it, after all; her master often used her own divine will to mess with her.

“And, you are?” he asked, a slight knowing smile on his lips.

How could he not see? His divine will stripped away all pretense, her wounds as obvious as the cloudless sky. No amount of layers could shield her now.

This was why so many female cultivators wove protective wards into their clothing. Without them, standing before experts felt like standing unclothed.

Luckily, the garments Qin Yun had given her offered some protection. They could not fully block a Nascent Soul’s probing, but blurred the details enough to keep her safe—like a mystical privacy filter, as Qin Yun might put it.

“Yun Jingfei, sir,” she said, bowing slightly. “I belong to the Qin Clan… this one’s wife actually.”

She shot Qin Yun an awkward glance.

It was the first time she had called herself his wife. Marriage meant she could no longer claim her imperial title, nor did she wish to lean on her master’s reputation. It simply felt wrong.

“Ah, the new bride. I heard about you. Shame I couldn’t attend the wedding. These events usually have great food.”

Yun Jingfei managed an awkward smile. She barely remembered her own wedding, swept away by nerves and whisked off before she could take anything in. The whole event was a haze.