Heaven’s Shadow

The newcomer was a young man, about sixteen or seventeen years old, seemingly of similar age to Yi Xin. However, his demeanor was quite different from Yi Xin’s cheerful and lively nature.

The young man had a pale face, and though he was handsome, there was an oddly feminine quality to his features. Even his walking style had a subtle swaying that was reminiscent of a girl’s, which momentarily stunned Lu Chen and made him forget what he had intended to say.

The young man noticed Lu Chen blocking the path and, frowning slightly, stopped and asked, “Who are you?”

The moment he spoke, Lu Chen was struck by the softness of his voice, which was distinctly effeminate and sounded almost like a woman’s. This only added to Lu Chen’s discomfort.

“You… I’m Lu Chen. Are you also here to see Su Qingjun, the Senior Sister?” Lu Chen quickly regained his composure, cleared his throat, and asked.

“Indeed,” the young man, Su Tong, frowned and stared at Lu Chen. “What do you mean by ‘also’? Has someone been here before me?”

“Yes, a young man from the Su family named Su Wen was here earlier,” Lu Chen replied.

“Su Wen?” Su Tong snorted, showing a hint of disdain. He then stepped forward and said, “I am also from the Su family, named Su Tong, the eighth brother of Sister Jun. Step aside, I need to see her.”

Su Tong took a few steps forward but suddenly stopped when he saw that Lu Chen was still blocking the way and had no intention of moving.

Su Tong’s expression darkened, showing signs of anger. However, his delicate and handsome face, which looked almost feminine, made his anger appear more like a girl’s sulking, causing Lu Chen to feel a bit unnerved.

“What are you doing? Why are you blocking me?”

Lu Chen forced a smile and explained Su Qingjun’s situation again, patiently advising, “Su Tong, as you are her brother, you should understand her current situation. She needs to concentrate on her cultivation and consume the Eagle Fruits. It would be best if you could wait a little while. Once she is available…”

“No!” Su Tong suddenly interrupted Lu Chen, speaking abruptly and somewhat rudely. 

Lu Chen was startled. “Ah? Why is that?”

Su Tong seemed to clench his teeth but did not provide a reason. Instead, he shouted again, “I have urgent business! I need to see Sister Jun right now!”

“She is currently in seclusion and cannot be disturbed,” Lu Chen said earnestly. “If you have something to discuss, you can tell me. Once she has free time, I will certainly pass on your message and will not delay…”

“I don’t care! I don’t care! I don’t care…” Su Tong suddenly began to shout loudly, his eyes filling with tears as if he was about to cry.

Lu Chen was stunned, momentarily forgetting what he should say. He thought to himself that the Su family truly had a peculiar set of people. Could it be that all the good fortune of the family was taken by Su Qingjun, leaving only such unmanageable individuals?

No wonder that old man looked so disgusted with the Su family; it seemed he had also been deeply troubled by them before. Despite such a family, Su Qingjun still took care of them all patiently. Lu Chen suddenly felt a drastic change in his perception of Su Qingjun, realizing that her nature was far from the cold and proud demeanor he had thought; instead, it was truly compassionate.

While Lu Chen was dazed by this revelation, Su Tong managed to slip past him and quickly rushed toward the cave entrance.

Lu Chen was startled and hurried after him. He tried to catch him but found that Su Tong’s graceful and swaying figure made it impossible to hold him. He could only smile wryly and make a detour, eventually intercepting him at the cave entrance. He said, “Miss Su, please don’t…”

“What!” Su Tong suddenly glared at Lu Chen, his brows furrowed, and shouted, “What did you just call me?”

Lu Chen was taken aback and quickly realized his mistake. He responded, “My apologies, Su Tong! Su Tong, I misspoke. Please don’t be angry.”

Su Tong glared at him with a look full of anger.

Lu Chen felt helpless and thought that Su Tong might be even more troublesome than all the other Su family members combined. He sighed and said with a weary expression, “Sigh… Fine, fine. I’ve done my best. Even if Senior Sister Su faces consequences for this, it can’t be blamed on me.”

With that, he shook his head, stepped aside, and opened the stone door of the cave.

**Chapter 153: Innocent Words**

Su Tong snorted, reaching out to slap the stone door. Just as his hand was about to touch the door, he suddenly pulled it back, furrowing his brows and looking at Lu Chen with a suspicious expression. “You’d better explain clearly why Sister Jun would be punished.”

Lu Chen nodded and said, “Senior Sister Su is an exceptionally talented individual. At a young age, her cultivation has surpassed everyone else, advancing to the Golden Core stage faster than anyone in history. You should be aware of this, right?”

Su Tong’s face showed pride. “Of course, Sister Jun is naturally outstanding!”

Lu Chen’s gaze shifted, and he noticed the gray-haired old man in the distance, hiding behind trees and rocks near the spiritual field. The old man was watching them with a smile, drinking his wine. Lu Chen continued, “However, despite her exceptional talent, Senior Sister Su works incredibly hard in her cultivation, to the point of being almost harsh on herself. Just the slightest instability in her aura after advancing to the Golden Core stage requires her to find ways to correct it. Who can understand the hardship involved?”

Su Tong’s expression darkened, seemingly realizing something, and he snorted coldly.

Lu Chen sighed and said, “Actually, you should have some idea by now. The reason Senior Sister Su works so hard is because her master, the venerable Mu Yuan, is extremely strict and meticulous in his teachings. If you disturb her now, you would be violating Master Mu Yuan’s order for her to focus on her cultivation. She might be punished for it… how could you bear to do that?”

Su Tong’s expression changed, and he suddenly erupted in anger, shouting, “That old bastard Mu Yuan! Perverted and shameless, always hanging around Sister Jun with his lecherous eyes…”

In the distance, the gray-haired old man trembled, and the wine he was drinking splashed out of his mouth.

Lu Chen was also shocked and waved his hands, trying to stop Su Tong from continuing. 

However, Su Tong, who was in a fit of rage, ignored him and continued shouting, “…Everyone in Kunwu City knows that Sister Jun has been blessed with extraordinary talent since childhood, destined to achieve great things. At that time, how many true monarchs from the Kunlun Sect were interested in her? It was that shameless old man, pretending to be a pitiful old man, begging and crying in front of Sister Jun, which made her soft-hearted and mistakenly enter his sect, ending up in such a wretched situation.”

Lu Chen gasped, looking at Su Tong, who had a feminine appearance but a temper fiercer than most men. He was truly astonished, realizing how true the saying “Don’t judge a person by their appearance” was.

He also took a sneaky glance towards the thatched cottage and saw the gray-haired old man, clutching his wine jar, shaking with anger. The surrounding light seemed to warp, with an aura resembling lightning swirling around him.

Lu Chen stepped back discreetly, distancing himself from the spitting Su Tong, and looked at him with a mix of reverence and pity. He coughed and forced a smile, saying, “Well… it can’t really be that exaggerated, right? How about this—why don’t you go back for now, and we can discuss it another day?”

Su Tong stared at the stone door of the cave, and suddenly, a look of grief and indignation crossed his face. Moments later, tears began to flow from his eyes.

Lu Chen was once again dumbfounded. Just as he was about to ask what was going on, Su Tong threw himself at the door, slapping it and crying out, “Sister Jun, Sister Jun, it’s all the fault of us Su family men!”

“If any of us Su family men were capable, how could we let you suffer like this? If you weren’t in the Iron Branch but in the Kun Branch, your achievements would be far beyond just the Golden Core stage. Your status in the sect would not be limited to this!”

“Sister Jun, we’re so sorry!”

“We’ve wronged you…”

Lu Chen rolled his eyes and watched Su Tong cry for a while, seemingly lost in his own world and unable to pay attention to anything else.

Meanwhile, the gray-haired old man in the distance also looked astonished, then shook his head vigorously with a look of disbelief.

Lu Chen waited for a while, then went up to Su Tong and tried to persuade him patiently. Finally, he managed to convince him, primarily by emphasizing how much Su Qingjun had already sacrificed and pleading not to burden her further. Let her have a bit of peace in the cave, as a small respite from her painful life…

Su Tong cried even more upon hearing this and left reluctantly, glancing back several times.

After seeing off the extremely peculiar young man, Lu Chen slowly returned to the empty Feiyan Terrace and sighed deeply, feeling that dealing with Su Tong was more exhausting than dealing with someone ten times more formidable than him in his past assassination missions.

Shaking his head, Lu Chen made his way to the thatched cottage, where the gray-haired old man stood on the ridge, looking at him with a cold and piercing gaze.

Lu Chen forced a smile and said, “Senior, we’re all reasonable people. Could you listen to me for a moment?”

“No way!” The gray-haired old man shouted sharply. With a “crash,” the large wine jar under his arm shattered into countless pieces, spilling onto the ridge.

On Feiyan Terrace, silence fell immediately.