Volume 1, Chapter 89 – Warning

The one knocking at the door was Wang Ning, his expression a little strange.

“Centurion, someone is asking for you.”

“What kind of person?”

“This subordinate doesn’t know him, but he said he knows you.”

Shi Lan’s brows knitted slightly. She turned, closed the door, and went downstairs along the staircase.

As soon as she reached the inn’s main hall, Shi Lan saw the Zhao fellow she had run into in the shop yesterday.

He was sitting at a table, still followed by a group of guards, and those guards were holding quite a few things in their hands.

Seeing Shi Lan come down, that young man’s eyes lit up. He hurriedly rose and came over to greet her.

Shi Lan’s brows pinched tighter, her mood far from pleasant. She didn’t even need to think to know what this man was up to. After all, she had once been a man herself. As a man, when you ran into a beauty and couldn’t hold yourself back, that was only human nature.

But understanding it was one thing. Whether she could accept it was another matter entirely.

Noticing the obvious displeasure on Shi Lan’s face, the man did not seem to mind. He smiled and cupped his fists. “I left in such a hurry yesterday that I didn’t have time to introduce myself. How discourteous of me. I am Zhao Jin Heng. My family deals in weapons.”

“Young Master Zhao… if I remember correctly, I already told you yesterday that I’m not interested in you. If you keep pestering me, I won’t be polite. Things might get very ugly then.” Shi Lan simply decided to be blunt.

The atmosphere grew a little tense. Wang Ning and the others rolled their sleeves high, one by one cracking their knuckles. Just one look and you could tell this was some spoiled dandy. He even thought he was worthy of making a move on their Centurion.

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“Miss Shi, don’t be upset. I brought some gifts today. You’re sure to like them.” Zhao Jin Heng’s expression didn’t change as he waved to the guards behind him.

“How do you know my surname is Shi?”

Shi Lan didn’t even glance at those gifts. Her expression tightened slightly as she fixed her gaze on Zhao Jin Heng. She had only arrived in Purple Flame City yesterday. Although she had made her presence known all over the city, she had never said what her name was.

The only ones who knew her name, apart from Wang Ning and the others, should be Lin Yusheng alone.

Wang Ning and the others naturally wouldn’t go blabbing, and judging from Lin Yusheng’s attitude, he might not be willing to mention her to others either.

“This was… something I learned by chance. Miss, why don’t you first look at the gifts I brought you? I’m sure you’ll find them interesting.” Zhao Jin Heng quickly shifted the topic back to the gifts.

“First is this map covering nearly two hundred thousand li in all directions. This is one of my father’s treasured collections. Ordinary people would never have the chance to see it.”

Zhao Jin Heng pointed at an enormous scroll over half a zhang long and smiled in satisfaction.

“These are partial records of the major powers in the Chengtian Domain, as well as the latest volume of the Eminent Figures Register and the Heaven’s Pride Ranking issued by the Heaven’s Mystery Pavilion, and…”

“Young Master Zhao, take all of this back. I don’t need it.” Shi Lan shook her head. Zhao Jin Heng had clearly done his homework before sending gifts. These were indeed things she wanted, but she was not going to accept them.

When you take someone’s gifts, you owe them. If she accepted these and Zhao Jin Heng kept clinging to her, she would find it hard to really lay into him. That would only make things even more troublesome.

“Miss Shi, why keep people at arm’s length like this? I only want to be friends with you, nothing more.” Zhao Jin Heng looked very sincere, as though speaking from the bottom of his heart.

Shi Lan shook her head. Pure friendship between a man and a woman? Yeah, right…

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“I heard that last month Young Master Zhao took in his twenty-seventh concubine, didn’t you?”

Zhao Jin Heng’s face stiffened slightly. He let out an awkward laugh. “You really are well-informed, Miss.”

Shi Lan shook her head. “Young Master Zhao, please leave.” With that, she turned and started up the stairs.

“Miss, wait!”

Zhao Jin Heng stepped forward, raising a hand to stop her, but just as his hand lifted, he suddenly heard the whistle of wind. A chill ran across his neck.

“Gulp…”

Zhao Jin Heng froze on the spot, staring at the bone-white halberd blade resting across his neck. He swallowed hard and looked up at Shi Lan, who was holding the battle halberd with an indifferent face. Cold sweat seeped out from his forehead.

“Let go of our Young Master!”

The faces of Zhao Jin Heng’s guards all changed drastically. They were anxious to the point of panic, yet none of them dared step forward.

The innkeeper and the waiter were both crouched behind the counter, peeking out in terror.

“Young Master Zhao, my patience is limited. This is the last warning. Understood?” Shi Lan said calmly.

Zhao Jin Heng nodded carefully. “U-understood.”

Shi Lan withdrew her battle halberd and went upstairs.

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Zhao Jin Heng took a step back, gently rubbing his neck, still shaken.

“Young Master, are you alright?”

“Young Master, are you hurt?”

The guards crowded around him, all talking at once, yet not one of them dared move to stop Shi Lan from going upstairs.

They had seen it clearly from the side. That halberd was so long, yet it had appeared out of thin air. Only martial artists at the Innate Realm and above could pull off a trick like that. With just a handful of them, even if they all attacked together, they wouldn’t last a single move against that woman.

And that woman wasn’t alone. Behind her was a group of burly men who all looked like fierce fiends. She clearly wasn’t someone they could afford to provoke. Playing dumb was the safest choice.

Impatiently, Zhao Jin Heng pushed aside the guards who were putting on a show of concern. He glanced up at the second floor, then went over and sat down at a table.

Across from him sat another young man around his age, dressed in white robes, his eyes bright as stars.

Zhao Jin Heng forced a smile at the man. “I’ve made a fool of myself in front of you, Young City Lord.”

The man ignored Zhao Jin Heng. He stared blankly toward the stairs, lost in thought.

“Jin Heng, what do you think of that young lady?” The man came back to himself and looked at Zhao Jin Heng.

Zhao Jin Heng glanced at Wang Ning and the others, who had already dispersed, then lowered his voice and said resentfully, “Rough manners, no sense of people’s feelings. Marry her home and the whole inner courtyard will be in chaos.”

“Then you should stay far away from her.” The man’s eyes shone. “That girl is really something. I like her.”

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“Young City Lord, are you serious?” Zhao Jin Heng’s expression changed slightly.

“What else? You think I’m joking with you?” The man’s brows lifted.

“Young City Lord, think it over. That girl is not easy to deal with. Look at me, I’ve already been completely snubbed.”

When it came to women, Zhao Jin Heng had always been very confident. His back courtyard was full of wives and concubines as numerous as the clouds. It was the thing he was most proud of.

He had never resorted to threats or coercion. Those women had all married him of their own free will.

With such extensive experience, he didn’t dare claim he understood women’s thoughts completely, but he could at least grasp seventy or eighty percent. Yet when it came to what was going on in Shi Lan’s mind, he couldn’t figure out the slightest clue.

This Shi Lan was definitely not a normal woman.

“How could I be the same as you? You’ve already married twenty-seven wives and concubines. What decent family’s daughter could possibly fancy a skirt-chaser like you? I told you long ago, those little tricks of yours that can’t see the light of day only work on sheltered little girls.” The man spoke with open disdain.

Zhao Jin Heng’s face flushed red, his chest tight as if he almost couldn’t catch his breath. He said angrily, “How can something mutual like that be called tricking them? Besides, I’ve never had a change of heart. How can you call me a skirt-chaser?”

“Oh-ho, marrying twenty-seven wives and concubines doesn’t count as being a skirt-chaser?” The man looked genuinely surprised, stunned by Zhao Jin Heng’s shamelessness.

“My heart is different from other people’s. It’s divided into twenty-seven parts, and each part has fallen in love with only one person. How can that be called being a skirt-chaser?” Zhao Jin Heng said as if it were perfectly natural.