Chapter 20: News of Bai Zhi's Marriage
Yuan Jue walked slowly forward, with the leader leading the way. Feng Fei and the other two followed closely behind Yuan Jue, while the large group of men brought by the leader followed behind them.
"Oh? What's the big deal?"
"The king's sister, Princess Baizhi, is about to get married, and the king, overjoyed, has promised to extend the free stay for ten years for all registered residents who have stayed in Tiger Roar City for more than a year."
It may sound like an extremely ordinary benefit, but only those who have lived in Tiger Roar City for a long time can know just how great it is!
Tiger Roar City is shrouded in mystery, filled with danger and treasure. Anyone with courage and a keen eye, coupled with a bit of luck, is sure to reap immense rewards! Tiger Roar City seems to be a breeding ground for all sorts of treasures: elixirs, magical artifacts, divine beasts… There's nothing you can't find, but you certainly can't imagine what you'll find! And that's why, despite the extremely stringent requirements for entering Tiger Roar City, it remains a place everyone on the continent flocks to!
Yuan Jue wasn't particularly surprised by Bai Zhi's impending marriage; he simply nodded upon hearing it. Seeing that Yuan Jue remained silent, the leader also wisely kept quiet and led the four of them to their lodgings.
Upon hearing the news of Bai Zhi's impending marriage, Feng Fei's eyes flashed with surprise. She vividly remembered the white-clad girl who had harassed Yuan Jue years ago, the girl who had conspired with others to poison her out of jealousy, and the girl who had tried to kill her in Mochou City. A hint of murderous intent flickered in Feng Fei's heart, but Yuan Jue keenly noticed it.
Yuan Jue grasped Feng Fei's right hand, signaling Feng Fei not to act rashly for the time being.
Feng Fei knew that now was definitely not the best time for her to punish Bai Zhi, but she would not easily give up the idea of punishing Bai Zhi.
Yuan Jue and the other three were quickly taken to a luxurious inn. The inn was practically an anomaly in Tiger Roar City; it was the only one in the entire city. Aside from staying at the inn, everyone else had to build their own houses or even sleep in the open air within Tiger Roar City.
This inn has no signboard, but it is definitely the safest place in Tiger Roar City.
In Tiger Roar City, the only places where humans can freely and safely enter and exit, besides the long-established safe zones, are this inn. Even houses built by others cannot be considered sufficiently safe.
These absolutely safe places are controlled by the combined forces of several major powers on the Four Continents. Feng Fei even saw the Jin Family Medical Clinic on his way to the Nameless Inn.
However, none of this mattered to Feng Fei. All Feng Fei wanted to know was why Yuan Jue had stopped him earlier.
After everyone else had left, only Feng Fei and Yuan Jue remained in the room.
"What did you promise me back then?" Feng Fei asked coldly, his words and expression carrying an unusual sharpness.
Yuan Jue hesitated for a moment, but then calmly replied, "Of course I remember. I won't interfere with your actions, but could you please listen to what I have to say before you decide what to do?"
"good!"
Yuan Jue seemed to have anticipated Feng Fei's prompt agreement. He gently pulled Feng Fei to sit at the table, his gaze drifting into some unknown distance. "Feng Fei, Bai Zhi's father, my master, has passed away! He died saving me!"
"Back then, you mysteriously disappeared in the Demon Cave. I, on the other hand, was trapped in an illusion from which I could not extricate myself. Although the illusion eventually dissipated on its own, it damaged my very core. The worst thing was that a seed of inner demons was planted in my heart. This seed of inner demons was planted when I was trapped in the illusion, and it sprouted after I discovered your disappearance. Although on the surface I am still the same as always, I find myself increasingly unable to control the sorrow in my heart. I even want to use killing to offset this sorrow."
"The killing methods are effective. The sorrow in my heart is decreasing, but I am becoming more and more bloodthirsty. I can even disregard the lives of ordinary people. No matter who appears in front of me, as long as there is any sign of life, I will not wait to destroy them! I want to stop my actions, but I find that my behavior is becoming more and more crazy! I can't control myself at all!"
"And at that moment, my master, Bai Zhi's father, Bai Shuqing, appeared before me. I can't remember what he said when he stood in front of me. But I do know how gentle and kind his eyes were when he looked at me. In that instant, my killing intent and bloodlust were suppressed. But just when I thought everything was about to get better, I found that the spiritual power in my body was once again running wildly out of control."
"At that time, I had used the last bit of control I had left to lead myself into the deep mountains and forests. I thought I would become a humanoid beast who only knew how to kill, and no one in the world would know who I was or remember a person named Yuanjue. Just when I was about to give up completely, my master found me again. He said, 'You must live well, my disciple!' At that moment, I felt an endless will to survive."
"My master used the most powerful secret technique to completely draw out the seed of inner demon within me, and at that moment I lost all consciousness. When I woke up again, all I saw was devastation, and my master, who had lost his life but was smiling. In that instant, I suddenly remembered everything that had happened! To help me overcome my inner demon, after drawing out the seed of inner demon, my master fought against me, who had fallen into madness. No, the only one truly fighting was me! My master did his best to help me disperse the violent power within me, while he only dodged and did not attack."
"In the end, I gradually exhausted myself, and the power of my inner demons was completely depleted. I actually survived the extremely dangerous tribulation of inner demons in a very strange way. But the price I paid was my master's life. When I was collecting my master's body, I found his last letter in his storage ring. He hoped that I would take good care of Baizhi. I could hardly refuse..."
At this point, Yuan Jue fell into an extremely long silence.
Feng Fei didn't know how to respond to Yuan Jue's long explanation. Letting Bai Zhi go easily was definitely not what Feng Fei wanted. But she also found it difficult to disregard Yuan Jue's wishes and harm Bai Zhi's life.
After a long while, Feng Fei sighed and said in a low voice, "If she stops trying to violate me and doesn't try to take advantage of you, I won't go looking for trouble with her."
Feng Fei's almost teasing words nearly made Yuan Jue jump for joy. Although he knew that Feng Fei would make things difficult for herself and accommodate him, he did not expect that Feng Fei would agree so quickly and easily.
Yuan Jue hugged Feng Fei tightly and grinned as he leaned close to her, saying, "I knew it, Feng Fei is the best person."
If outsiders were to see the tall, serious, rigid, and terrifying Mr. Yue in their minds, they would be astonished to see him with such a playful and joking demeanor. Some imaginative people might even point at Yuan Jue and shout that he is possessed by a demon!
Feng Fei was both amused and exasperated by Yuan Jue's appearance. Although she found it hilarious, she maintained a stern and serious expression, emphasizing, "I'm not a good person! Remember, tell Bai Zhi not to mess with me!"
"Of course she wouldn't bother you! She's getting married soon!"
"Hasn't she always liked you? How could she suddenly give up so easily? Something's not right!"
“I’m not entirely clear about what happened before, but after I saw how Bai Zhi and that man interacted, based on my understanding of Bai Zhi, she must have been completely entangled in that man’s love affair.” After saying this, Yuan Jue suddenly noticed that Feng Fei was looking at him with a strange and unpredictable gaze. With just one glance, Yuan Jue guessed what Feng Fei was thinking at that moment, and couldn’t help but chuckle and pat Feng Fei on the head.
Feng Fei slapped Yuan Jue's hand away in dissatisfaction, but still looked at Yuan Jue with bright eyes and asked, "Aren't you very disappointed that Bai Zhi ran away with someone else?"
"Ha! Why should I be disappointed?"
"Don't you men just like the feeling of being pursued? Even if you don't like it yourself, you absolutely don't want to see someone who admires you run off to love someone else?"
"Who instilled such ideas in you? How could we men be so pathetic?"
"Why not? What proof can you provide?"
“Of course I can prove it. But what proof do you have for your accusation against all men?”
"Are you trying to reason with me?" Feng Fei suddenly became unreasonable, pinching Yuan Jue's waist hard and asking angrily, "You want to reason with me, is that it!"
Yuan Jue pretended to grimace in pain and cried out, "Great King Fengfei, spare me! Everything Great King Fengfei said is correct!"
"Don't call me King, call me Your Majesty!"
“Yes, Your Majesty! Yes, Your Majesty!” Yuan Jue readily agreed. Feng Fei released his hands with satisfaction, and it took him a while to realize that Yuan Jue had still said “Your Majesty”.
…………
Before dawn, someone came looking for the power belonging to Bai Zhi.
The person in charge was the same one who brought Feng Feiyuan and the other three to the Nameless Inn yesterday.
“Mr. Yue, the princess requests that you bring your friend to the dense forest outside Tiger Roar City to meet her.”
Yuan Jue greeted him without changing his expression, while Feng Fei behind him raised an eyebrow and silently pinched the soft flesh of Yuan Jue's waist with his right hand.
Chapter 21: A Suspected Old Friend
Feng Fei and Yuan Jue followed Bai Zhi's people to the dense forest outside Hu Xiao City, while Ming Feng and Xue Tuan did not follow.
There was no conversation along the way; it seemed as if everyone was just focused on getting on their way.
In secret, Feng Fei and Yuan Jue exchanged a conversation: "Hmph, Bai Zhi has already come to you so quickly, I don't believe she's no longer interested in you!"
Although Yuan Jue's face was expressionless, his reply to Feng Fei revealed his playful and joking demeanor: "Haha, Little Fei Fei still loves to joke around."
Feng Fei naturally knew that Bai Zhi's elaborate search for her and Yuan Jue wasn't about romantic love, but she couldn't help but grimace upon hearing Yuan Jue's words.
Seeing Feng Fei's expression, Yuan Jue secretly winked at Feng Fei, but the next moment he was back to being the serious and stern Mr. Yue.
Feng Fei found it amusing, but instead began to observe the scenery along the way.
Driving within Tiger Roar City is extremely difficult, and only certain special vehicles are permitted to operate there. Clearly, Bai Zhi's invitation to Feng Fei and Yuan Jue hasn't yet escalated to the point of requiring them to use those vehicles, indicating that Bai Zhi's upcoming request isn't yet too thorny.
Since they did not drive a carriage along the way, Feng Fei and his party walked towards the outskirts of Tiger Roar City.
Fortunately, they were all skilled in martial arts, so this distance was not difficult for Feng Fei and his group.
Before long, Feng Fei and his group arrived at the dense forest outside Tiger Roar City.
In the center of the dense forest stood a luxurious carriage, surrounded by eight masked women in white, while on the outermost perimeter stood imposing black-clad guards in full armor.
After they saw Feng Fei and Yuan Jue arrive, a woman in white approached the luxurious carriage and whispered a few words to them. As Feng Fei and Yuan Jue approached, two people got off the carriage.
One was a beautiful woman still dressed in flowing white robes, and the other was a man dressed in luxurious purple brocade.
The woman was Bai Zhi. And this man was likely Bai Zhi's future husband.
Feng Fei's gaze flickered as she looked at the man. Although he was smiling gently and his eyes were always following Bai Zhi, Feng Fei felt that the man in purple brocade was somewhat familiar—not in appearance, but in spirit.
This feeling of familiarity was very strange, but Feng Fei did not show it.
Bai Zhi walked towards Feng Fei and Yuan Jue with a gentle smile. When she got closer, she nodded slightly to Feng Fei and then turned to Yuan Jue, saying, "You've come."
Her words were as gentle as ever, but Feng Fei noticed that Bai Zhi's voice no longer carried the same infatuation she once had for Yuan Jue.
Yuan Jue returned Bai Zhi's smile with a slight smile, then looked at the man in purple brocade standing behind Bai Zhi and said, "Aren't you going to introduce him to us?"
"I almost forgot." Bai Zhi smiled sweetly, her body slightly turned towards the man, Yuan Jue, and Feng Fei, and said, "This is Yang Mu, the man I am about to marry."
Yang Mu? Feng Fei was immediately startled. She finally understood why she felt a strange sense of familiarity with the man in purple brocade before her. Although this man did not resemble Yang Mu of the Celestial Dynasty in any way, Feng Fei sensed the aura of Yang Mu from the Celestial Dynasty in his eyes.
Feng Fei watched Yang Mu's self-introduction without showing any emotion.
"Hello, I am Yang Mu. I know you two. One is the man Bai Zhi once loved, named Yuan Jue." At this point, Yang Mu couldn't help but glance at Bai Zhi, who was giving him a coquettish look. He couldn't help but chuckle mischievously, and then looked at Feng Fei: "The other one is Bai Zhi's former rival. [] is named Feng Fei."
Feng Fei and Yuan Jue both nodded slightly to Yang Mu.
When Yuan Jue saw the peculiar glint in Yang Mu's eyes when he called Feng Fei by his name, he became somewhat wary, but his face remained completely expressionless.
Yuan Jue looked at Bai Zhi and asked softly, "What day will you two get married?"
Bai Zhi glanced at Yang Mu shyly. Yang Mu nodded gently before saying softly, "It will be in five days. I hope you two can both go."
After speaking, Bai Zhi looked firmly at Yuan Jue. Seeing that Yuan Jue's gaze kept drifting towards Feng Fei, she knew that Feng Fei would be the one ultimately chosen. She walked up to Feng Fei and said sincerely, "Feng Fei, I know that some of the things I did in the past have wronged you and caused you a lot of trouble. But fortunately, I didn't cause you irreparable harm, and I don't dare to ask for your forgiveness—anyone else certainly couldn't do that either. But all I hope for is that you can attend my wedding with Yang Mu and Yuan Jue. I hope you... can agree."
Feng Fei waited quietly for Bai Zhi to finish speaking, his face remaining expressionless. Just as Bai Zhi was feeling uneasy, he suddenly smiled and said, "Yuan Jue and I will definitely go then."
Bai Zhi immediately smiled broadly, took Feng Fei's hand affectionately, her face flushed with shyness, and her eyes welled up with tears: "Thank you, thank you for forgiving me."
Feng Fei gently grasped Bai Zhi's hands, smiling silently.
The entire dense forest suddenly became quiet and warm.
After a long silence, Yuan Jue finally broke the silence: "Bai Zhi, I think you didn't just call us here to inform us about your wedding?"
Upon hearing this, Bai Zhi immediately frowned, and Yang Mu behind her also looked gloomy.
Feng Fei and Yuan Jue exchanged a glance, wondering why Bai Zhi and Yang Mu were behaving this way. However, neither of them was in a hurry to ask; they were waiting for Bai Zhi and Yang Mu to explain themselves.
After a long pause, Bai Zhi gritted her teeth and said in a resentful voice, "My wedding with Yang Mu was held in Tiger General City, but there were also people from the Black Tiger lineage in Tiger General City, besides our White Tiger lineage. They went too far. After I curbed my brother's power and controlled the White Tiger Kingdom's court, they suddenly jumped out and demanded that we reselect the true emperor of the White Tiger Kingdom. However, my brother did not abdicate and was the most powerful in the country, but he gradually lost control of his cruelty, so we had to use the Nebula Iron Chains to bind him in a secret place."
"If it were just that, it would be fine, but the Black Tiger lineage insists on challenging my brother and then choosing a new emperor. Knowing full well that my brother is currently unable to participate, their insistence is clearly malicious. However, we, the White Tiger lineage, cannot directly refuse. Refusing would damage the dignity of our White Tiger lineage. But we suffered many covert attacks in the past. If my father hadn't secretly eliminated some of our enemies, we would have suffered even greater losses." At this point, Bai Zhi felt a pang of sadness, because her father, Bai Shuqing, would never appear before her again. However, Bai Zhi was not a weak person and quickly suppressed her grief.
"In other words, there are almost no experts among our White Tiger lineage. Perhaps the most powerful expert is me. However, my subordinates have discovered that the Black Tiger lineage's overt strength is already astonishing, and there are many more hidden forces that can only be traced, and then their activities are suddenly cut off. After several such incidents, we realized that there must be extraordinary experts within the Black Tiger lineage, and our White Tiger's actions have long been discovered by them."
"Originally, all of this had nothing to do with my wedding with Yang Mu, but the Black Tiger lineage began making many arrangements after our White Tiger lineage agreed to the battle for the throne. Many of our White Tiger lineage's forces and businesses in Tiger General City were secretly wiped out by the Black Tiger lineage. By the time we discovered it, it was too late. What's even more infuriating is that the Black Tiger lineage actually made a lot of nonsense at the gate of our White Tiger headquarters. They said that it was not suitable for weak forces to exist in Tiger General City and gave us three days to leave. We naturally could not agree to such an unreasonable demand, but the Black Tiger lineage took matters into its own hands."
"Our White Tiger lineage has begun to die mysteriously. Every dead member has a black tiger hair beside them, a warning from our Black Tiger. Because of this, divisions have arisen within our White Tiger clan. Some believe we should leave, for as long as we live, we can always rebuild. Others, however, believe we should not back down. If we do, this matter will become a thorn in our side, and we will never have a chance to rise again."