Martial King's Retired Life

Tang Ye, sitting beside the creek, emitted smoke from his body as he used his Yang Blood True Qi to dry his clothes. Unlike the clear moon he gazed at, his mind was steeped in a mess of thoughts. For starters, there was what Mo Yubai said before she left.

Why Feng Jiutian was mentioned was perplexing enough. Numerous inexplainable occurrences had taken place recently, but the connection to each other was unclear. In saying that, Feng Clan seemed to be linked.

Tang Ye was aware that Feng Jiutian had been interacting a lot with Ming Feizhen as of late. His impression of Feng Jiutian was that of a cordial young man with a lot of money on his hands. Ming Feizhen had been eating out with Feng Jiutian often and returned drunk in a good mood. Tang Ye believed Ming Feizhen was capable enough to tell apart good people from the bad, so he couldn’t understand why Ming Feizhen hung around Feng Jiutian. As thinking only spawned more questions, Tang Ye quit.

Tang Ye was straightlaced, responsible, motivated, and had plenty of reasons to believe that the matter wasn’t simple. After all, how could it have been simple when over a dozen big names in the underworld and a Prince were involved? He also believed Mo Yubai’s statement that there was more than what met the eye in regards to Feng Jiutian. Nevertheless, the combined mess wasn’t enough to disturb his peace when Ming Feizhen was the target.

Assuming Ming Feizhen was wrong about Feng Jiutian, assuming the gravity of the matter was ten times what it was at present, Tang Ye saw no reason to worry if someone was trying to harm Ming Feizhen. He believed that it’d take someone awfully stupid to try scheming against Ming Feizhen if they had ever seen Ming Feizhen fight seriously. If he could’ve illustrated what he saw the situation as, he would’ve drawn a group of people holding shovels, giving each other smirks, as they prepared to excavate a mountain. What could’ve been scarier? Sure, there were plenty of idiots in the world, but surely Feng Clan wouldn’t have chosen an idiot to lead the clan, and Mo Yubai wouldn’t have said what she said if he was an idiot, right? In any case, Tang Ye felt he only had to give his condolences to whoever it was who was picking a fight with Ming Feizhen.

It was very late by this point, and Tang Ye’s clothes were nearly dry. He needed to sort out the conflicts in logic before he had time and energy for her. He was the sort of man who was able to set aside his feelings to take care of work before his personal matters first. Now that he had come to a conclusion for work, he moved on to Mo Yubai.

Did she show herself just to tell me that?

As someone who had reached an exceptional level in qinggong, not even Ye Yun was able to apprehend Mo Yubai using the formation he deployed, yet Tang Ye was able to stay on her tracks, which led to him suspecting something amiss long ago. However, he chose to tail her, and they accomplished their own respective tasks without any communication. That being said, the journey ended too soon.

Tang Ye couldn’t fathom why he wished the tailing mission lasted for a while longer when he was a strong advocate of efficiency. He was not her match in combat or speed, and their clash would’ve ended the same way as tonight no matter which day of the month it was. As he thought about it, he reactively touched his lips and froze.

“Did she spread poison on her lips? Why were her lips so hot?”

Tang Ye shook his head.

I need to stop thinking about it. I’ve lost her once already. If I keep this up, I’m going to run Liu Shan Men’s reputation into the ground.

“What’s that smell?”

Tang Ye looked down to discover that his clothing was burning, which was the result of him letting his mind roam.

Still wondering how to explain why he resembled someone who had been lost in the wild for a while, Tang Ye arrived back at the shrine and overheard the conversation taking place inside.

“Where do you think Brother Tang went?” questioned Li Zizi.

“Hehe, isn’t it obvious? Where else could he have gone besides searching for the masked lady? Didn’t you see how pretty she is? He’s completely besotted.”

“No way.” Ling Jialan got up to join the conversation. “Wouldn’t that mean he’ll be my brother-in-law? Wait, Sister Bai and I are sisters, but I should be calling her Sister Mo now, right? Ah, I’m so confused how to address her now.”

“Stop speaking mindlessly, Bu. How do you even know that?”

“I have eyes. Don’t you notice how he looks as if he’s talking about dead people unless Bronze Mask is the subject? Whenever he talks about Bronze Mask, he comes to life. If you’re asking me, it’s not a one-sided affair from his side, either.” Bu shrugged. “Why else do you think Bronze Mask came here?”

Ling Jialan and Li Zizi: “Ooooh!”

Unable to stand listening to any more, Tang Ye opened the door, prompting the trio to stop talking straight away. Whatever spurred Tang Ye on, he walked in and sat down right in the centre.

“She… did come to give me a warning.”

“… I told you so!”

“You really are going to be my brother-in-law?!”

“Brother Tang, she is a criminal! A wanted criminal! You are something else.”

“But don’t you think that all of your experiences can be connected?” asked Tang Ye.

They actually already had a suspicion that Bronze Mask, Orange Prince, and Bu Xusan were somehow all connected.

“Probably your shifu,” opined Bu. “The common factor in all of this is that your shifu is somehow involved with everyone. Even the monster you mentioned is targeting your shifu.”

Ling Jialan voiced, “In that case, Bu Xusan’s next target would be Ming Feizhen? We need to go protect him.”

Li Zizi started to feel worried after hearing that, but the other two were as cool as cucumbers.

“Bu, this is my shifu we’re talking about! Why aren’t you concerned?”

“Why should I be? There’s nothing more ridiculous than that, is there?”

“Why?”

Bu flapped his eyelids, then took out a shiny piece of jade from his shirt. “Because I’m Bu Xusan.”

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