"We meet again, 'cousin's husband'."
Mu Yuan's spotless white robes clung to her slender figure, exuding a captivating charm. Bai Yan was slightly taken aback, wondering when such a stunningly beautiful person had appeared. Bai Mo was also quite surprised, and could only smile and return the greeting, saying, "Young Master Mu Yuan."
Now that his identity is clear, calling him "cousin's son-in-law" sounds really awkward.
He introduced to Mu Yuan, "This is my younger brother, Bai Yan..." Before Mu Yuan could introduce Bai Yan, she had already walked past Bai Mo and headed towards Bai Yan and Ning Xian.
At this moment, everyone's eyes were on Mu Yuan, and no one noticed the glint in Yue Ji's eyes when she saw Mu Yuan.
Mu Yuan walked up to them, a seductive smile playing on her lips. She used her fan to brush away Bai Yan's hand, which was gripping Ning Xian's arm. "Second Young Master Bai, isn't this a bit too impolite of you to be so handsy?" She reached out and pulled Ning Xian into her arms. Ning Xian looked up, she looked down, their eyes met, and Ning Xian, with a flirtatious glint in her eye, whimpered, "Little Mumu~~" before burying her face in Mu Yuan's chest. Anyone who knew them at that moment would likely have gotten goosebumps, but Mu Yuan, unfazed, replied, "Xianxian~~ I'm late, were you upset?"
"What's going on?" Bai Yan and Yue Ji stared in surprise, while Bai Mo's face darkened again.
Ning Xian secretly peeked at Bai Mo's face from the "adulterer's" arms. This person's face was turning from dark to light, and with this change, wouldn't he get sick?
"And who is this—?" Bai Yan had already come to her senses, seemingly quite displeased that Mu Yuan had snatched Ning Xian away from her. Mu Yuan didn't care, putting her hand on Ning Xian's shoulder and shamelessly declaring, "I'm her lover—"
"Young Master Mu Yuan!" Bai Mo interrupted him, saying in a cold voice, "Young Master Mu Yuan has come from afar, why don't you rest for a while? I will arrange a guest room for you."
Mu Yuan shrugged indifferently, while Bai Mo half-supported Yue Ji and said, "Come along too, I'll help you arrange accommodations."
Yue Ji nodded and obediently followed Bai Mo.
She wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she seemed to see Yue Ji's gaze constantly following Mu Yuan. However, upon closer inspection, she still stood obediently beside Bai Mo, raising her eyebrows and smiling, like a willow branch, fresh and pleasant.
—So this is the kind of vibe Bai Momo likes… Visually, they do match quite well, but they really don’t resemble me at all.
"Mu Yuan..." she called out to him as if remembering something. Mu Yuan turned around, hesitated for a moment, and didn't know how to start the conversation. "Um... did you come alone?"
Mu Yuan raised an eyebrow. "Who do you want to come?"
"That's it! Hey, don't you have the antidote?"
"What antidote?" Mu Yuan feigned ignorance.
"—The Gandharva's drug?" Ning Xian gave him a knowing look. Mu Yuan smiled, glanced at her twice, and said, "Isn't it good that you're like this now? I've come all this way to fulfill my duties as a lover...you should at least give me some benefits, right?" It was indeed unexpected to arrive only to find this splendid four-way affair. If she was going to leave, she had to stir things up first—Mu Yuan wouldn't want to cause trouble. As for Ning Xian... he naturally preferred to see her beautiful, innocent appearance. Consider it a benefit to him; it was good to feast his eyes on her.
"I must have been out of my mind to rely on you! Go now!"
"How can I manage by myself? Of course you have to come along, huh? Xianxian?" He casually tugged Ning Xian along as well, completely disregarding everyone else's expressions, and smiled at Bai Mo, "What's wrong, cousin-in-law, aren't you coming?"
"Young Master Mu Yuan, please." These words always sounded like they were squeezed out from between clenched teeth. Mu Yuan smiled, seemingly unconcerned, and followed. He appeared to be in an exceptionally good mood today. And this good mood made Ning Xian instinctively know that there must be something she didn't know…
Suddenly, the sound of horses neighing came from somewhere in the distance. Mu Yuan casually waved his folding fan, but Ning Xian noticed that the corners of his mouth slowly deepened into a smile.
Suddenly, a figure swooped down from the sky like a swan or a falcon—a flash of cold light, and a long sword, still sheathed, thrust directly at him from above. Mu Yuan merely dodged, already prepared, with ease. His movements were light and swift, like a feather slicing through the air for several feet, seemingly casual, yet unintentionally diverting the attack's direction, avoiding the attacks of Bai Mo and Yue Ji, who were unskilled in martial arts.
"Isn't this way of greeting a bit too barbaric? When did you regress from being a human butcher?" Mu Yuan smiled and stood up straight, looking at the red-clad man who had failed in his attack, flipped in the air, and landed steadily on the ground.
—Phoenix!? Ning Xian looked on in surprise as he suddenly arrived and attacked Mu Yuan without any mercy.
Feng held the sword, still sheathed, pointing it horizontally at Mu Yuan. "Did you deliberately tell me the wrong way to lure me away?"
"Huh?" Ning Xian turned to Mu Yuan in surprise again—"So shameless!? Look at what kind of character this is!"
Mu Yuan smiled alluringly without any shame, "I thought you would take a stroll along the Lanjiang River before coming back. Why did you come so quickly? Did you miss the souvenir? I heard that the river crabs in Lanjiang are very fresh."
Feng glanced at him coldly, "I ran into Du Cisheng on the way." With that brief explanation, he couldn't be bothered to pay any more attention to this boring person.
"Ci Sheng is here too?" Ning Xian blurted out, causing Feng, who was turning to walk towards her, to stop abruptly, staring at her expressionlessly and refusing to move forward.
—Uh…did she say something wrong?
Bai Yan watched from the side, unsure of the relationship between this martial arts master and his sister-in-law. He only noticed that Bai Mo's face had darkened even further than before.
—And here comes another one: Mu Yuan, the lover who raids others at night; Feng, who does it "in broad daylight"; and from what they just said, even Ci Sheng, "her person," is here? What's the point of him bringing Ning Xian out of the Demonic Sect? And... he might even have to add a younger brother-in-law whose intentions are anyone's guess.
The Yue Ji beside him seemed to be trembling very slightly, finally diverting Bai Mo's attention. "Are you feeling unwell?"
"No...no..." Her eyes darted around, never landing on Bai Mo's face. Bai Mo frowned slightly, but didn't know why.
While Bai Mo wasn't paying attention, Yue Ji's eyes swept over Mu Yuan and Feng. They only waited a moment before Ci Sheng calmly and politely led his horse in through the main gate.
—In the end, everyone arrived.
Despite his gloomy face, Bai Mo still politely welcomed him in, "Young Master Du."
"Young Master Bai, we apologize for disturbing you. We are here to take Ning Xian back."
"I'm sorry, Young Master Du, I don't think that's necessary. Ning Xian is a member of the Bai family, so naturally he will stay here."
Even though neither side was willing to back down, both of them remained calm and modest on the surface—it was the right thing to do to leave Bai Mo to Ci Sheng to handle.
As she turned her head, she saw Yue Ji's gaze sweep over Ci Sheng twice, showing little interest, before returning to Mu Yuan and Feng, her eyes sparkling... This woman...?
Noticing Ning Xian's gaze, Yue Ji turned her head. Her delicate face no longer showed the gentleness from before, but instead met Ning Xian's gaze without flinching, revealing a proud and defiant look.
Ning Xian curled the corners of her lips. This woman was not as fresh and obedient as she looked... However, compared to her previous delicate and frail appearance, she found Yue Ji much more pleasing to the eye.
Seeing that Ning Xian showed no surprise or anger, she snorted and turned her head away, not wanting to waste her precious time on this "official wife"—handsome men! How could there be such good men?! And two at once, ahhh, I'm going crazy!
Wow! Wow! Wow~~! Even just standing there, exchanging a few words, is enough to show how different they are from others! She thought Bai Mo was already a very good man—handsome and refined, with a perfect figure, and from a wealthy family. Although his personality was a bit old-fashioned, this kind of man was the easiest to fool; once you held on tight, you'd be worry-free for life—but then such beautiful men appeared, one aloof and the other devilishly handsome. How could she possibly tolerate this?!
She resisted the urge to pounce on them. No matter what, these two men were handsome, but before their identities were known, they might not have a brighter future than Bai Mo!
Just as she was feeling like her heart was being scratched by a cat, Bai Yan's incredibly cute voice rang out: "Are the three of you from the martial arts world?"