Brother, to Me!

Unbound long hair drifted in the night wind, gold thread adorning the ornate black-and-red robe. After staring for several breaths at the uninvited guest standing in midair, Orenli patted the tin can holding her in his arms. Huron took the cue and leaned down, gently setting the princess down. Her waist slender as a willow branch, Orenli straightened up while studying the handsome, smiling face of the young man. "Is this man the guardian of that Great Yan imperial scion?" Amid the screech of scraping metal, the tower-like Huron rested his hand on the sword at his hip. "No, Your Highness." Surprise flickered through Orenli's eyes at his reply, and she gave a soft laugh. "He isn't? Yet he understands our speech and stalked us all this way. He must have been watching me for quite a while. Heh... looks like the Third Prince isn't the only one in Great Yan interested in me, Sedis." Huron's gaze locked firmly onto Xu Yuan through the slit of his iron helmet. "This man is not particularly strong, but there is something eerie about him, Your Highness." "No rush. Let's see what he came for first." "..." Standing aloft in the void, Xu Yuan listened to the two exchanging voice transmissions below, a thoughtful look in his eyes. The Heavenly Yan divine soul could see through the vast majority of voice transmission arts within the borders of Great Yan. Now it seemed the Heaven-Deducing Art worked not only on native Great Yan cultivators, but on these outsiders as well. Still, the method these two used for voice transmission was rather strange. Under the gaze of his gold-flecked crimson pupils, whenever Orenli and Huron spoke, an imperceptible faint-blue array pattern flickered at their necks. Yet these secret arts from the Sien Empire were unimportant right now. What mattered was that neither of them seemed to recognize him. Perhaps he could exploit this information gap. At that thought, Xu Yuan laughed aloud. "Princess, ignoring a guest to exchange private voice transmissions—surely that counts as poor manners in the Sien Empire as well?" As he spoke, Xu Yuan circulated a levitation technique and began descending slowly toward the ground. After a long chase, they had arrived amidst endless sprawling paddies spanning thousands of acres. Narrow ridges of mud divided the fields neatly, and the fertile soil bore no crops in the winter cold. The water in the paddies was crystal clear, reflecting the sky full of stars and the high-hanging full moon. Watching him land on a field ridge a hundred meters away, Orenli replied with a beaming smile: "Indeed it is rather impolite. But stalking a lady like this can hardly be considered the conduct of a gentleman, can it?" Xu Yuan arched an eyebrow, stepped off the ridge, and began treading across the water. "In that case, let's call it even, how about it?" As Xu Yuan walked, ripples spread across the tranquil paddy water. "I saw everything that happened back there. I came here today wanting to make a deal with you, Princess. What do you—" *Clang!* Before he could finish, the crisp rasp of an unsheathed blade rang out. Looking over, Huron had drawn the blade at his hip three inches, the silver steel radiating a chilling frost. A calm, steady voice emerged from the sealed helmet: "Halt." "..." Xu Yuan did not stop. He frowned, fixing his gaze on Orenli. Orenli gave a slight smile. Lifting the elaborate hem of her gown, she offered a dignified curtsy and said with a gentle smile: "Since you know the situation, sir, you ought to know even better that now is hardly the time for negotiations." Xu Yuan pondered briefly and said, "I can offer you a safe hiding—" "Put yourself in my shoes, sir. Do you think you would agree to such a proposal?" Orenli cut Xu Yuan off, her eyes narrowing slightly. "If you truly come with good intentions, then I must ask you to step aside right now." Xu Yuan shook his head gently and smiled. "Great Yan has an old saying: adding flowers to brocade is nowhere near as valuable as sending charcoal in a snowstorm. With the princess in distress, how could I pass up such a debt of gratitude? What I said earlier was no joke. Why not let me be Your Highness's knight, and we travel together?" Orenli blinked her lovely eyes at his words. Her elegant gaze drifted back and forth across Xu Yuan's handsome face as she thought for a moment. "If so, sir, wouldn't you end up offending the Third Prince?" Xu Yuan was about to reply when he suddenly caught a flash of blue light beneath Orenli's fair neck. And then, he heard a voice utterly devoid of her earlier warmth, chillingly cold: "Sedis, kill him. Immediately." "..." Xu Yuan stopped in his tracks instantly. Seeing this, Orenli's crimson lips curved into a sneer, her azure eyes darkening. "It seems you can hear our transmissions, sir." At the same time, the massive tin can vanished from Xu Yuan's vision, leaving behind only shallow ripples swaying on the water. His speed was so terrifyingly fast that Xu Yuan could not track his silhouette at all. By the time Xu Yuan spotted the iron-helmeted knight again, the man was already right in front of him, the gem-encrusted blade from his waist carving a flawless arc through the air. Unfortunately, this virtually unavoidable strike sliced through empty air. Seeing the young man vanish on the spot only to reappear right before her, Orenli arched an eyebrow slightly, her lovely eyes reflecting glowing magic rings filled with astonishment. "An instant-cast spatial magic ring?" "What's a spatial magic ring?" Xu Yuan grinned, the willow ghost blade in his hand slashing out in an instant. The bloody glow trailing the blade carried endless madness as it swept toward the blonde woman's slender waist. Though Xu Yuan had initially envisioned himself as a mage, after going through so much, he had long since turned into a battlemage. Slipping into melee range to cut down Orenli—a woman who was obviously a traditional spellcaster—did not seem difficult at all. As long as the blade struck her, the boundless negative emotions on the willow ghost blade would crush her in an instant. Yet watching the blade draw nearer and nearer, Orenli simply reined in the surprise in her eyes, devoid of any panic. Then, *Clang—!* There was no sensation of steel parting flesh; instead came the unexpected ring of metal against metal. When the willow ghost blade held tightly in Xu Yuan's grip came within an inch of Orenli's gown-wrapped slender waist, an intricate array centered on a thirteen-pointed star suddenly materialized in midair. It parried the ghost blade's strike. In that moment of deadlock, confusion flickered through Xu Yuan's narrow eyes. Just like when he had previously probed this Sien princess, he had not sensed any fluctuation of qi dynamic whatsoever. Standing gracefully where she was, Orenli gazed down at the half-crouched Xu Yuan, her lips curving with amusement. "Sir, this is a magic ring." "..." Xu Yuan opened his mouth, but before he could speak, the magic ring generated a shield of ice crystals, chilling white frost rapidly spreading from it toward the willow ghost blade. The traditional spellcasters of this world actually had close-combat abilities too. Xu Yuan grinned and remarked, "Impressive." With those words, Xu Yuan vanished. When he reappeared dozens of zhang away, Xu Yuan sighed inwardly at the two standing not far off. Now that the ambush had failed, it was impossible for him to handle both of them on his own. Thinking this, Xu Yuan called out in a half-joking tone: "Looks like I'm no match for you two. How about we just go our separate ways?" Orenli smiled faintly, an eerie light shimmering in her azure eyes. "Didn't you want to travel together earlier, sir? I agree to it now." "I was kidding," Xu Yuan chuckled. "You jest. I am quite intrigued by that spatial magic ring of yours, sir." As she spoke, Orenli's crisp voice sank: "Sedis, take him alive!" Hearing this, Xu Yuan chuckled and cursed under his breath: "Li Junqing, you really are a piece of work." The intel that brat Li Junqing gave him had turned out wrong. Leaving Orenli's strength aside for the moment, just from the speed Huron the tin knight displayed, Xu Yuan could tell his power was far beyond Grandmaster. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for Xu Yuan to fail even to track his silhouette. At that thought, Xu Yuan met the cold gaze shooting from beneath Huron's iron helmet and silently tightened his grip on the willow ghost blade. Motherfucker, another high-tier lobby. "..." After a moment of silence, the Sien knight's second strike was already upon him. A white glow enveloped Huron's entire body, and arcs of lightning danced across that Western-style sword. Only, for this strike, Huron angled the flat of the blade. He seemed intent on following Orenli's orders to take him alive. Having zero desire to parry, Xu Yuan vanished once more with the willow ghost blade in hand. Blocking was completely out of the question. If he tried to take it head-on, even with his current hardware fully maxed out, he would be instantly one-shot by this tin can. *Swish! Swish! Swish!* Within several breaths, Xu Yuan used Void-Stepping Slash over a dozen times in succession to dodge Huron, yet the knight stuck to him like a shadow, clinging like a maggot on bone. The instant Xu Yuan reappeared, Huron was always right on him, launching an attack. In this brief exchange, Xu Yuan realized the Sien knight possessed microscopic control over his force. Across these endless paddies stretching for tens of thousands of li, every strike of his was like a sword dance beneath the moon. Far from damaging the terrain, he did not even stir the faintest ripple on the surface of the water. Blades silent, two figures pursued and fled. In less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, a quarter of the Source Qi in Xu Yuan's dantian—which far exceeded the Body Integration realm—had already burned away. Under such an absolute disparity in strength, he had no chance to counterattack whatsoever. He had managed to hold out until now entirely because he was predicting the tin can's strikes. The moment he saw the other vanish, he had to dodge immediately with Void-Stepping Slash. Xu Yuan tried to use Void-Stepping Slash to get close to Orenli again, but the knight Huron was exceptionally vigilant; the moment he detected the slightest hint of it, he would fall back to guard her, giving Xu Yuan no opportunity to get near Orenli. Just as Xu Yuan was mulling over whether to throw in the towel and summon Xu Changge, he suddenly heard Orenli's cold voice drift over: "Sedis." "..." At her call, Xu Yuan immediately swept his spiritual vision toward Orenli. Only to see a ring radiating faint blue light appear on her slender, jade-like hand at some point. As her voice fell, that blue magic ring shot like a beam of light straight into Huron's helmet. Sensing this, Xu Yuan's eye twitched involuntarily. The spellcasters of the Sien Empire can buff others too?! What happened next proved Xu Yuan's suspicion right. After another Void-Stepping Slash, Xu Yuan had barely materialized when the blade crackling with lightning arcs expanded rapidly in his pupils! He couldn't dodge. The moment he saw the blade, Xu Yuan realized he couldn't dodge. His hard-earned combat instincts also made him realize the function of the magic ring that had just entered Huron's helmet: It helped Huron see where his Void-Stepping Slash would land! At that thought, Xu Yuan slowly closed his eyes. Liked bullying people with superior cultivation, did they? Liked ganging up on people, did they? Damn it... Brother, to me!! "..." "..." "..." *HUMMMM!* A fierce gale whipped up by the clash of two mighty forces detonated abruptly. The instant he heard the sound, Xu Yuan snapped his eyes open. All he saw was moonlight cascading like a waterfall, robes and long hair dancing wildly in the wind, and splashed water droplets gleaming crystalline in the moonlight. Time seemed to freeze in this moment. A dark-patterned Cloud-Treading Boot descended from the sky, stamping down upon the sword that surged toward him wrapped in vast lightning arcs. As that green-robed back, resembling an immortal banished to the mortal realm, drifted down, the blade was stomped straight into the bottom of the paddy. And Huron's burly frame was dragged down by the tremendous force upon the Cloud-Treading Boot, sinking to one knee in the mud. "..." In that moment of silence, looking at this Great Yan man who had suddenly intervened in the battle, Huron's pupils shrank violently beneath his iron helmet. Without hesitation, he exerted explosive strength, trying to wrench his sword out from beneath the man's foot. *Rumble—* Mountainous force caused the entire paddy field to tremble and boil, but what met him was merely an indifferent glance from the green-robed man, followed by a whip kick expanding rapidly before his eyes... "..." Huron. *BANG!!* The sword pinned beneath the dark-patterned boot did not budge an inch. Huron's tower-like body was blasted backward like a kite with a severed string, skipping like a stone across the boundless paddy waters over a dozen times before crashing heavily into the field, throwing up a spray of muddy water! Having done this, Xu Changge turned halfway around, glancing back at his younger brother who had closed his eyes and already thrown in the towel. His voice was somewhat cold: "Gained a little strength and already you love showing off without measuring your own weight. When we get home, I'll teach you a lesson." "..." Hearing this, Xu Yuan did not care in the slightest. He had assumed Xu Changge would let him take the sword strike and get beaten half to death before stepping in. Meeting Xu Changge's gaze, Xu Yuan smiled sheepishly: "Cough... faulty intel. That kid Li Junqing claimed the tin can was only at the Grandmaster level." As he spoke, Xu Yuan backed away quietly. "Brother, I'll leave this to you then! Just remember, that woman has to be taken alive; do whatever you want with the man." "Did I say you could leave?" Xu Changge glanced at Xu Yuan's movements. Xu Yuan's feet froze immediately. After a brief silence, he asked tentatively: "Brother, do you need my help?" "Help?" Xu Changge cast an inscrutable glance at Xu Yuan, turned around, and lifted his dark-patterned Cloud-Treading Boot from the blade. Opening his hand, the sword was instantly drawn into his palm. Gripping the hilt, he gave it a couple of casual swings and let out a soft scoff: "Decent sword. The Sien Empire's forging techniques have some merit." With that, he tossed it casually. In an instant, the blade shot like a shooting star, piercing the void and streaking toward the spot where mist and water spray were rising! Having done this, Xu Changge slowly turned his gaze toward the Sien princess still standing in place, his voice soft: "Changtian, that woman is yours. If you're not completely useless, your strength should be enough to overcome her."