Chapter 244: A Meeting Gift (2)

Xu Yuan’s pupils contracted. He instantly leaned to the side and stole a glance at her feet. Her lotus-patterned cloud boots were fitted neatly and properly.

Not Tian Yan… He quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

The breathtaking woman in red showed remarkable tolerance toward his impudent behavior. She merely smiled and asked, “What was that about?”

Xu Yuan looked slightly embarrassed and cleared his throat. “The color of your eyes when you use your art resembles a friend of mine.”

The woman’s eyes curved as she nodded. “What a coincidence. Though cultivation arts that produce golden light in the eyes are actually quite common.”

The enormous hall was utterly still, with only Xu Yuan and the woman in red seated across from one another.

The woman gazed through the window toward the sky, seemingly lost in thought.

Xu Yuan hesitated inwardly. He was beginning to believe that she truly meant him no harm, but she did not seem to be someone from the Chancellor's Manor either.

After more than a dozen breaths of silence, Xu Yuan cautiously tested the waters once again. “Then... may I ask why you came looking for me?”

The woman rested her chin on her hand and lowered her eyes. Her long, slender fingers tapped lightly against the tabletop.

After thinking for several breaths, a meaningful smile appeared at the corner of her lips. “I suppose I am waiting for someone. I have been watching outside this city for more than a month, but that person refuses to come out. So I had no choice but to watch the people nearby who might be able to draw him out.”

Xu Yuan froze for a moment before asking, “Then why not enter the capital?”

A strange look flashed through the woman’s eyes, but she quickly smiled and explained, “It is only natural that you would not know. This secret regulation was established a little over ten years ago. All sect cultivators of the third rank or above must register with the imperial court, and any sect member of the third rank or above who holds no official position must give advance notice before entering the capital. The person I am waiting for would never approve my request, so I cannot enter the capital.”

I see… Xu Yuan instantly grasped what she meant and realized whom she had been waiting for.

The woman in red turned her beautiful eyes back toward him. “Put them away. They are my meeting gift to you.”

After a brief hesitation, Xu Yuan silently stored the three jade boxes in his Sumeru Ring.

Seeing this, the woman smiled and gave him a playful wink.

And so, time passed one second at a time amid the wreckage of Phoenix Roost Pavilion.

After an unknown length of time, the woman in red suddenly raised her eyes.

Then a man appeared in the hall without warning. He drifted gracefully to the floor, his azure robes spotless and immaculate.

Golden dawn spilled into the ruined hall.

For a moment, time itself seemed to stop.

The woman in red looked at the newly arrived man and straightened slightly in her seat. A trace of mockery appeared in her phoenix eyes. “I thought you would not dare leave the capital.”

She was speaking to Xu Changge, but Xu Changge did not even look at her.

He glanced at Xu Yuan and said softly, “What are you standing there for? We’re going home.”

Xu Yuan did not move. He looked at Xu Changge beside him, then cautiously glanced at the woman seated across from him. Clearing his throat, he ventured, “Ahem... I think that if there has been some misunderstanding, the two of you could always talk it out.”

He had accepted her gifts. Now he had to earn them. But the moment he said that, the temperature around Xu Changge seemed to drop several degrees.

After a moment, Xu Changge exhaled, still refusing to look at the woman in red. “What did she give you?”

Xu Yuan’s expression remained perfectly innocent. “Xu Changge, what are you talking about? Give me—”

BANG! The table in front of him shattered into dust without warning and scattered into the wind.

Xu Yuan swallowed and glanced at the woman across from him.

After a moment’s consideration, he very naturally… or rather, very obediently, began circulating his cultivation art, preparing to take the three pills back out of his Sumeru Ring and return them to her.

“That is enough.” The woman in red stopped him.

The instant her voice rang out, the source qi flowing through Xu Yuan’s body suddenly froze. His hand halted before it could reach the jade boxes.

It was a strange sensation, somewhat similar to Tian Yan’s Heaven Mantra.

The woman in red frowned and enunciated each word clearly. “I gave those things to Changtian. What business is it of yours?”

At that, Xu Changge finally turned his eyes toward her. “You think there is anything you can give him that I cannot?”

The woman in red fired back without yielding an inch. “Are we even talking about the same thing? I asked what business it is of yours if I give Changtian something.”

A cold glint appeared in Xu Changge’s narrow eyes. “He is my younger brother.”

At last, genuine amusement surfaced in the woman’s phoenix eyes. “After all these years, you have not changed one bit. That personality of yours still makes people want to twist your head off.”

The corner of Xu Changge’s lips curled upward as he glanced at her. “You are welcome to try.”

The moment those words fell, the wind rose.

As the two stared silently at one another, the strange gale sent all three of their robes snapping violently.

Rampaging source qi spread from Xu Changge and the woman in red. It looked as though they were about to fight.

Caught directly between them, Xu Yuan sat ramrod straight without moving a muscle. He figured that if these two really started fighting, they would probably both make a point of avoiding him.

In other words, there was a chance he might survive, probably…

Amid the murderous tension, the woman in red stared at Xu Changge and spoke one word at a time. “Xu Changge, I need an explanation.”

Xu Changge’s voice remained calm and gentle. “You traveled all the way from Windfall Province and waited outside the Imperial Capital for a month and a half, all because of something so trivial?”

“It was reason enough for me.” The woman narrowed her phoenix eyes and tightened her grip on the supple sword.

Listening to their exchange, Xu Yuan began to piece together what had happened.

It took roughly half a month to travel from Windfall Province to the Imperial Capital. And two months ago was right around the time Xu Changge had gone to Marquis Wucheng’s estate to propose marriage.

The woman in red probably did not know the full story.

After all, the marriage agreement involving Xu Yuan had not yet been announced to the world.

With that thought, Xu Yuan looked toward his eldest brother.

Xu Changge remained standing there without expression, showing no intention of drawing his sword. “Put your sword away. I do not want to fight you.”

The woman in red laughed, her eyes never leaving him. “You do not want to fight me because you feel guilty?”

“Because I have no reason to.” Xu Changge’s voice remained perfectly even as he enunciated each word. “If you do not believe me, you may enter the Imperial Capital and see for yourself.”

His sleeve fluttered. He cast a cold glance at Xu Yuan, who had been sitting there enjoying the spectacle, then turned and walked toward the entrance of the hall.

This time, Xu Yuan did not hesitate. He took out the three jade boxes, placed them apologetically on the ground, then rose and hurried after Xu Changge.

This was not something he could afford to meddle in yet. If these two truly fought, they would probably shave half the mountain away.

The woman in red trembled. Her eyes reddened as she stared fixedly at the retreating figure in azure.

Just as that figure reached the entrance of the hall, however, he stopped. His distant voice drifted back. “Tang Weijun, return to your Heavenly Master Sect. I will give you an explanation in the future.”

With that, Xu Changge swept his sleeve. The three jade boxes left behind among the rubble flew back into his hand. He tossed them to Xu Yuan, then soared into the air and departed.