Chapter 28 – The Inevitable Fight

Qin Yun’s sudden outburst stunned the crowd into silence. Watching someone so composed unravel so completely was shocking. His tantrum felt almost juvenile, a stark contrast to his earlier poise.

Even Yun Jingfei couldn’t believe her ears.

She had crafted a compromise, a solution everyone could accept. If only Qin Yun agreed to a fair contest with an elder as referee, they could all walk away, no grudges lingering.

Yet here he was, this fool, picking the absolute worst moment to lose control. She had never witnessed him behave like this before.

To her, Qin Yun had always been the picture of maturity and capability. Since their first meeting, he handled every situation with calm assurance. Seeing him unravel now was almost unthinkable.

She couldn’t wrap her head around it.

The jarring contrast pushed her over the edge.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” she blurted out, not mincing words. “Couldn’t you keep your mouth shut and just go along with it? What are you trying to pull?”

Qin Yun turned toward her, disappointment etched plainly across his features.

“And why should I play along with this ridiculous charade?” he shot back, his voice sharp. “His ego isn’t my concern. There’s nothing in this for me.”

Yun Jingfei’s lips parted in shock. Never before had her husband spoken to her like this. The sting of his words cut deeper than she anticipated.

Why was she the one bearing the brunt of his anger when all she wanted was to help?

“Stupid? The only thing stupid here is your attitude!” she shot back, her frustration boiling over. “We could have ended this ages ago if you’d just agreed. Now, thanks to your stubbornness, that petty man will haunt you forever!”

“I’ll never be rid of him, regardless!” Qin Yun said, his tone growing louder. “Do you know how long he’s been bothering me? Sure, I could kick his ass this time, but with his personality, he’ll just make up an excuse to downplay his loss, say I cheated on some shit. Then, he’ll sic his goons on my ass, and I’ll never hear the end of it. Who wants to live that way?”

Qin Yun’s language was growing crasser by the minute, revealing his heightened state of mind. How much did he despise Ma Zhurong?

“Then what? What’s your alternative?” Yun Jingfei asked, herself growing agitated by Qin Yun’s seemingly nonsensical stance. “What are you going to do? Keep running away? How is that going to solve anything?”

“It did until now!” Qin Yun said proudly. “I just don’t have the mental capacity to deal with that idiot, nor the will. How is that so hard to understand? His persistence makes my skin crawl. I’d want nothing more than to be a thousand miles away from him if I could, yet it just so happens that the fool is enamoured with my sister. I just can’t win!”

“You think I don’t know that?” Yun Jingfei snapped. “He creeps me out, too. I can’t imagine how your sister puts up with him. But you’re not a child anymore. Facing people like him is just part of life.”

“I tried! You think I didn’t? I tried to be gentle, but he never gets the hint. I’m losing my mind here!”

The crowd watched the couple’s meltdown unfold, torn between morbid fascination and secondhand embarrassment. Some found it entertaining, while others wished they could disappear.

Xiao Liuguang stood speechless, bewildered by how quickly things had spiralled into chaos. He never imagined his intervention would lead to this, and now he almost wished he’d stayed out of it.

Still, there was one thing they were all sure of: Ma Zhurong was to blame for it all. His attitude and persistence had been the catalysts for all this. Xiao Liuguang was sure of it.

Yet some in the crowd couldn’t help but pity him. Once hailed as a Ma Clan prodigy, his reputation was now tainted by today’s spectacle. To them, he was just a pitiful man, spurned by his crush and lashing out at her family.

His prestige couldn’t get any lower.

Sensing the crowd’s shifting judgment, Ma Zhurong’s temper flared once more.

“ENOUGH!” he snapped, waves of power crashing into the crowd.

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Fortunately, Xiao Liuguang acted in time, conjuring a thin barrier between the crowd and Ma Zhurong. The force never touched them, only a faint breeze stirring their clothes.

Still, Xiao Liuguang couldn’t help but frown. Had he not reacted first, the waves of power emanated from Ma Zhurong would have been strong enough to do lasting damage to some of those mortals. Their minds might not have been able to withstand the strain, and some might have collapsed.

For a peacekeeper, this lapse was inexcusable. Public safety should have been his top priority, but anger had clouded his judgment.

Yet Xiao Liuguang held back. Something about the situation gnawed at him, a puzzle piece that refused to fit.

“How much longer must I stand here and suffer your incessant insults!” Ma Zhurong added, his face flushed with rage. “Out of boundless mercy, I gave you a chance to atone for your mockery, yet this is how you repay me? No more chances. I should do away with you right here and now!”

Yun Jingfei’s anger drained away, replaced by a creeping dread. Ma Zhurong’s words carried real weight—and a hint of lethal intent.

She glanced toward the one known as the Flowing Light, yet the elder didn’t seem willing to intervene. If even she, with her crippled cultivation, could feel the barely veiled threat in Ma Zhurong’s words, how could the elder not?

He simply chose to ignore it!

She turned to her husband, their argument now a distant echo. She never imagined Ma Zhurong could be so ruthless, his power so deadly.

She couldn’t help but feel that, maybe, her idea of a fair and balanced match between the two was erroneous from the start.

Could Qin Yun even compete?

But when she looked at Qin Yun, her eyes widened in shock, pupils nearly swallowing the whites.

Qin Yun was smiling—not his usual gentle smile, but something fierce and vicious, a mirror to Ma Zhurong’s own.

A wild, unsettling thought crept into her mind. She tried to dismiss it, but it made too much sense for comfort.