Chapter 175: Forces Gather, a Challenge Outside the City

At noon the next day, Chen Shunyi arrived outside Tianyi City with a group of people.

Other forces might be able to skirt the rules, demarcating the area around the Heavenly Clothes Pavilion as a combat zone and launching a direct assault, but he could not. He was an official of the Heavenly Dynasty, and even in a private capacity, he could not attack a city; he could not bend the rules at all.

“Qin Xiao, get out here.”

Chen Shunyi amplified his voice with Spiritual Qi. Everyone in Tianyi City could hear him.

“Damn, this old geezer came so fast? He was still searching for people yesterday, and he’s already here today?”

Qin Xiao naturally heard it too, not expecting them to arrive so quickly.

Chen Shunyi’s helpers could not be government officials; they were friends from other provinces. Qin Xiao had expected them to need a few more days, not arrive so soon.

Soon after, Ye Qiuyue brought Qin Xiao and the others to the city gate.

This time, Chen Shunyi only named Qin Xiao. The Heavenly Clothes Pavilion naturally could not easily mobilize, and even if they did, it would be useless-the strength gap was far too vast.

Only five people had come out on Qin Xiao’s side: Ye Qiuyue, Qin Xiao, Zhang Zuo, Li You, and Yun Man.

“Ye Qiuyue, this matter has nothing to do with your Heavenly Clothes Pavilion. You’d better think this through.”

Seeing Ye Qiuyue, Chen Shunyi spoke directly to her.

Chen Shunyi’s meaning was crystal clear: previously, you favored Qin Xiao because he stood with your Heavenly Clothes Pavilion. Now I am only coming for Qin Xiao. If you interfere, you are dragging the Heavenly Clothes Pavilion into the fire.

“I have thought it through completely. Today, I am not the Great Elder of the Heavenly Clothes Pavilion, but the wife of Qin Xiao’s master. This matter has nothing to do with the Heavenly Clothes Pavilion.”

Ye Qiuyue bluntly cast aside her public identity. Don’t think you can threaten me with the Heavenly Clothes Pavilion; do you think you’re the only one who can play that card?

“So it seems you’re willing to risk perishing just to protect Qin Xiao?”

Chen Shunyi was extremely perplexed.

Qin Xiao and you, Ye Qiuyue, have no blood relation whatsoever. The only connection you could possibly claim is Qin Changqing, who has been dead for over three years-not to mention the two of you parted on bad terms back then. For what reason would you risk perishing just to protect him to the death?

“Die? If you can kill me, come and try. Let’s see which of us dies, and how many I take with me if it’s me.” This story is hosted at novelping dot com.

Ye Qiuyue was unconcerned. Die? Was he trying to scare her? Even if she died, they would have to go with her.

An ordinary person might have been intimidated, but Ye Qiuyue was rebellious by nature. A few Body Integration cultivators? She would talk back even to a Great Ascension cultivator.

She might seem rash, but she cared deeply about loyalty and affection. If she were truly heartless, she would not have stayed at the Heavenly Clothes Pavilion. Her talent was far from weak: she had once been a rare prodigy, courted by sects in Qingzhou and even other provinces.

Yet she considered herself a member of the Ye Family, meaning she had to dedicate herself entirely to the family and refuse other allegiances.

Joining a sect meant putting family second and the sect first in everything. The sect would offer the family some protection, but if that family threatened its interests, it would abandon them.

That single distinction had caused Ye Qiuyue to reject numerous invitations. Perhaps elsewhere she could have obtained greater resources, but the Ye Family had not been weak back then, and she was content. Born a member of the Ye Family, she would die a ghost of the Ye Family.

That was why, when the Heavenly Clothes Pavilion went to war with the Clear Wind Sect, she told the Ye Family to stay out of it.

It was also because of this deep sense of loyalty that she had transferred all her unresolved regrets regarding Qin Changqing onto Qin Xiao. She had already lost Qin Changqing; she had to protect Qin Xiao. Otherwise, how could she ever face the departed Changqing?

In truth, even after stepping onto the immortal path and reaching the Body Integration stage, cultivators remained human. And as long as they were human, they were complex, contradictory creatures; it all came down to how one weighed their priorities.

“Brother Chen, this isn’t what we agreed on. We only came to back you up. You never said we might die!”

Ye Qiuyue’s words might not have frightened Chen Shunyi, but those helpers were forced to reconsider.

They had only come to help, not die here. Their friendship with Chen Shunyi wasn’t close enough for them to risk their lives for him.

“Everyone, rest assured. I will deal with Ye Qiuyue. You need only capture this Qin Xiao. Once he is in hand, we will retreat immediately. There is zero danger.”

Chen Shunyi knew these men would never risk their lives for him, meaning he would have to handle Ye Qiuyue alone.

“Very well. For a mere Body Refinement cultivator to have several of us come after him, he should count himself fortunate.”

Hearing that their only task was to seize Qin Xiao, the group’s concerns vanished.

“You old dogs, I’ve marked every single one of you. If you dare lay a hand on Qin Xiao, the disciples of your respective sects will pay a thousandfold, ten thousandfold price in blood. I mean it. If you don’t believe me, feel free to try.”

Ye Qiuyue knew that if these four Body Integration cultivators attacked together, Qin Xiao probably couldn’t escape. But she could still get away herself. At worst, she would hunt down disciples of these old men’s factions afterward. Follow the newest chapters on novelping(.)com.

The four grew uneasy. Why wasn’t she playing by the rules?

Usually, grievances had clear targets; who went after helpers’ disciples for revenge? This completely ignored the unwritten conventions of the cultivation world.

Yet, recalling that the speaker was Ye Qiuyue, it didn’t seem entirely out of character. She was someone who defied all normal logic; she genuinely might carry out such a threat.

“Of course, if you can surround and kill me here, you needn’t worry. But of the five of you, I can take at least two with me. Will you protect yourselves or your juniors?”

Ye Qiuyue knew these old men wouldn’t risk dying to help Chen Shunyi. It was only a matter of interests and favors.

Someone with nothing to lose need not fear those who have plenty to protect. Ye Qiuyue demonstrated that perfectly.

“Brother Chen, we shouldn’t capture Qin Xiao ourselves. We are seniors, after all. Attacking a junior would sound bad if word got out. Let your disciples take him. Rest assured, we’ll provide support and stop them from escaping.”

The old foxes thought it over and decided the risk was too great. They couldn’t do the dirty work, but they could provide support and block escape routes. That wouldn’t make them mortal enemies. Even if Ye Qiuyue escaped, surely she wouldn’t seek revenge over that?

“Very well. This is my personal affair to begin with; having everyone guard the perimeter is quite enough. I will send my own disciples to take Qin Xiao.”

Seeing their firm stance, Chen Shunyi had no room to argue.

Senior dignity, my ass. You’re just afraid of Ye Qiuyue’s revenge. I never counted on you anyway. As long as you help hold her back, surrounding her might still give us a chance to kill her.

Qin Xiao had never been the real problem; Ye Qiuyue was. Once she died, a mere Qin Xiao was no different from an ant.

Qin Xiao had close ties to other factions, but those people wouldn’t fall out with Chen Shunyi over a dead man. There was only one Ye Qiuyue. If everyone behaved like her, what chaos the world would be in!

Capturing Qin Xiao for revenge was only one of Chen Shunyi’s aims. Another was to use this chance to eliminate Ye Qiuyue. Once she was dead, Qin Xiao, the Heavenly Clothes Pavilion, and Ye Tianyi would all be in his grasp, his to deal with as he pleased.

After the five discussed matters for a while, they spread out. The Soul Formation cultivators did the same.

Several Soul Formation cultivators stood behind each Body Integration cultivator. From their positions, it looked as though they intended to block every escape route.