"He dares to target my woman?!" Mu Ran roared, slapping himself in the chest like an enraged ape. "I'll flay that bastard alive and use his skin as a doormat!"
He jumped to his feet while spouting every profanity known to man, eyes blazing. Seeing him getting so worked up over a threat to Qing Ya made Han Xuhan recall Mu Ran's own plans for her...which weren't exactly pure either, from what Lady Caizhi had revealed to him so far.
"Martial brother, calm yourself. This isn't the appropriate response against an enemy whose cultivation level is leagues beyond yours," Yuen Zhou said from behind, her countenance serene.
"...Yeah, Brother Ran," Xiao Wu chipped in. "I don't know what realm this Dao Integration is, but I'm betting it's at least a stage above the Soul Reformation Realm. The name itself makes that clear. You cannot integrate a dao with anything without comprehending the essence of that dao. And comprehending a dao should be the stage above the Soul Reformation Realm, at least that's my understanding from the secret discussions of the elders of my family. An enemy in those stages could go toe to toe with our elders easily."
Chest heaving, Mu Ran grudgingly sat back on the porch and asked through gritted teeth, "Is that Leng Qing guy another of his targets?"
Han Xuhan nodded, both to himself and as an answer to the question.
"So Leng Qing was the informant, huh? He told you I would be attacking him?"
"Yes," Mu Ran said with a nod. "Not only did he predict that you would attack him, he also showed us the whole process through an artifact. This morning, when you entered his cabin, we saw how you knocked him out and ran off. But the artifact stopped working after that."
Han Xuhan gulped nervously. That had been a close call!
If he had lied and tried to sidestep their enquiries about the whole situation, Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou, his two golden thighs would lose all of their trust that he had painstakingly built up over the last few months.
"So you obeyed the orders of this powerful cultivator who wishes to gather puppets from every sect. You ambushed Leng Qing. But how did you sustain these injuries?" Xiao Wu asked.
Yuen Zhou's eyes suddenly narrowed.
"Did you try to...go against the orders of this cultivator, brother Xuhan?"
Han Xuhan was pretty impressed by her ability to analyze the situation where she hadn't even been present. Having a golden thigh so perceptive, on the other hand, wasn't exactly a good thing though.
But this question from her was just the situation he had been waiting for.
Just like Mu Ran, Han Xuhan slapped himself in the chest and shouted, "Of course I did! Do you think I would be willing to harm my sister-in-law? How would I ever face martial brother Ran if I caved in to that senior's unreasonable demands and made sister Ya his puppet? Impossible!"
"...." Yuen Zhou looked flabbergasted. The same look was mirrored by Xiao Wu, who had just finished lecturing Mu Ran about how dangerous Fang Xie was based on his cultivation level.
Mu Ran, on the other hand, froze for a moment, his mouth open and gasping for breath. Han Xuhan could see a storm of emotions behind his gaze. A single tear threatened to come out of one of his eyes as he raised a hand to reach over and clasp Xuhan's shoulder, his grip unsteady.
"....."
"....."
"... Xuhan, I-"
"It's okay, boss. Anyone would have done what I did. Although it was an insanely risky thing to do, I managed to resolve the matter, luckily. Sister Ya should be safe for now, unless that senior takes it up on himself to ambush her while she's traveling around the archipelago, visiting foreign sects to challenge them."
"...How did you even reason with someone that powerful, Brother Xuhan? These injuries on your body...could they be his handiwork?" Yuen Zhou asked in a tone laced with disbelief.
Han Xuhan nodded, which seemed to shock them further.
"I told you it's mostly luck. That senior is weaker than his actual realm of cultivation because of an injury. Of course, I didn't know much about his current state. I gathered some clues and assumed from them that he was at the Soul Reformation Realm, practically. That's why I dared to trap him using the disciples of Stardust Sect and forced him to rescind the contractual obligations he had forced on me. He still managed to injure me while I was baiting him. But the injuries aren't too serious since he wasn't looking to inflict anything fatal on me, a valuable pawn.
"Normally, I wouldn't have taken such a massive risk. It isn't really difficult for me to ambush those targeted disciples and be done with the forced contract. But I knew all of it is useless when Sister Ya is one of the targets. I had two choices; to obey his orders and ambush her, or to value your friendship with me and rebel against that senior. In the end, these choices are a mere illusion. Any decent human would only ever choose the latter. And the heavens assisted me in saving Sister Ya from that man's clutch!"
A silence fell amidst the four martial siblings as they exchanged complex looks among themselves. Mu Ran, however, did not move his gaze away from Xuhan's injuries.
"Underli-...No, I can't keep calling you an underling anymore, Xuhan. You've done way too much for me. How can I even repay you...Brother?" He said in a low tone, his words coming intermittently.
Han Xuhan did his best to suppress the smile of victory. The little prodding he had just given the young man had guided him towards the exact path Xuhan wanted him to take.
After seven months of servitude, he, Han Xuhan, was no longer the protagonist's underling!
He had been promoted to the most beneficial position around a protagonist-level character.
"Repayment is a term used between strangers...Brother Ran. I consider you and Sister Ya family, just as I consider sister Zhou and Brother Wu my siblings. What's there to repay? I did what every brother should!"
A drop of tear made its way down Mu Ran's face. Even Xiao Wu looked touched. Meanwhile, Yuen Zhou looked somewhat disgusted for some reason as she scrutinized his joy-filled face.
"Brother Xuhan?" Yuen Zhou suddenly called while he was silently congratulating himself.
"Yes?" he responded, somewhat alarmed by the sharpness in her tone.
"Aside from your... loyalty and familial love, what's the other angle? What else led you to take the risk?" she said in a tone barely suppressing ridicule.
"Is this really necessary, sister Zhou? Stop interrogating him like he's some criminal scum." Mu Ran snapped at her.
Xiao Wu tried to mediate between the two, saying, "Brother Xuhan clearly doesn't wish to hide the answer to that question, martial brother. Let him just clarify everything so that no new misunderstanding comes into play later. It's not like we're going to ask him how he exactly managed to manipulate and trap someone at the Soul Reformation Realm. Everyone has their secrets, and Xuhan knows that we respect his privacy. He can just share the parts he's comfortable with sharing."
"Well said, Brother Wu," Han Xuhan quickly intervened. The next bit of his little plan would fail if Mu Ran didn't let him explain the other angle by respecting his privacy! Xuhan would rather be interrogated fiercely!
"The other angle is actually not related to any secret of mine. The only reservation I have about saying it here is that it might have something to do with Brother Ran's personal life."
"...?!" Mu Ran stared at him in confusion.
Yuen Zhou, however, looked even more skeptical.
She had managed to catch onto the fact that Han Xuhan was just using some twisted explanations to make Mu Ran feel indebted to him. Having seen such tactics often whenever Han Xuhan interacted with Mu Ran, she wasn't surprised at all.
The first factor being related to Mu Ran through Qing Ya was not an outrageous angle to justify Han Xuhan's 'great sacrifice' for family. However, even the second factor being a tool to affect Mu Ran's relationship with Han Xuhan was a bit too much of a coincidence to be true.
But she could also sense that Han Xuhan was more than happy to ride along the wave and reveal how much he had sacrificed for Mu Ran. So instead of trying to find gaps in his story, she gave him the simple push he was trying to find.
"Since that's the case, Xiao Wu and I will leave the two of you to talk it out. Call us after it's been explained."
With a considerable amount of force, Yuen Zhou pushed Xiao Wu out of the yard, leaving the hearing range.
"Bo-...I mean, Brother Ran," Xuhan began by correcting himself, hammering in that mental suggestion. "Do you remember when I went into the flying ship of the Abyss Guild as a representative of our sect? Remember that Lady Caizhi I spoke of?"
Mu Ran nodded emphatically. "Of course! Wasn't she the woman who had tried to seduce you?"
"...Not quite how I explained it, Brother Ran. I had revealed to everybody at that time that she was trying to tempt me into betraying the sect, as well as aiming to harm you personally. Actually, she even gave me a precious technique that may offer me a way out of my destined doom."
"Oh, for real?!" Mu Ran's eyes lit up. "Does that mean you have a hope of continuing on your journey as a cultivator? That's amazing news!"
Annoyed, Han Xuhan shook his head. "You're focusing on the wrong thing here, Brother! That part about her aim to harm you, that's more important than my cultivation!"
Once again, Mu Ran was rendered voiceless by his good brother's care and concern for him.
"He dares to target my woman?!" Mu Ran roared, slapping himself in the chest like an enraged ape. "I'll flay that bastard alive and use his skin as a doormat!"
He jumped to his feet while spouting every profanity known to man, eyes blazing. Seeing him getting so worked up over a threat to Qing Ya made Han Xuhan recall Mu Ran's own plans for her...which weren't exactly pure either, from what Lady Caizhi had revealed to him so far.
"Martial brother, calm yourself. This isn't the appropriate response against an enemy whose cultivation level is leagues beyond yours," Yuen Zhou said from behind, her countenance serene.
"...Yeah, Brother Ran," Xiao Wu chipped in. "I don't know what realm this Dao Integration is, but I'm betting it's at least a stage above the Soul Reformation Realm. The name itself makes that clear. You cannot integrate a dao with anything without comprehending the essence of that dao. And comprehending a dao should be the stage above the Soul Reformation Realm, at least that's my understanding from the secret discussions of the elders of my family. An enemy in those stages could go toe to toe with our elders easily."
Chest heaving, Mu Ran grudgingly sat back on the porch and asked through gritted teeth, "Is that Leng Qing guy another of his targets?"
Han Xuhan nodded, both to himself and as an answer to the question.
"So Leng Qing was the informant, huh? He told you I would be attacking him?"
"Yes," Mu Ran said with a nod. "Not only did he predict that you would attack him, he also showed us the whole process through an artifact. This morning, when you entered his cabin, we saw how you knocked him out and ran off. But the artifact stopped working after that."
Han Xuhan gulped nervously. That had been a close call!
If he had lied and tried to sidestep their enquiries about the whole situation, Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou, his two golden thighs would lose all of their trust that he had painstakingly built up over the last few months.
"So you obeyed the orders of this powerful cultivator who wishes to gather puppets from every sect. You ambushed Leng Qing. But how did you sustain these injuries?" Xiao Wu asked.
Yuen Zhou's eyes suddenly narrowed.
"Did you try to...go against the orders of this cultivator, brother Xuhan?"
Han Xuhan was pretty impressed by her ability to analyze the situation where she hadn't even been present. Having a golden thigh so perceptive, on the other hand, wasn't exactly a good thing though.
But this question from her was just the situation he had been waiting for.
Just like Mu Ran, Han Xuhan slapped himself in the chest and shouted, "Of course I did! Do you think I would be willing to harm my sister-in-law? How would I ever face martial brother Ran if I caved in to that senior's unreasonable demands and made sister Ya his puppet? Impossible!"
"...." Yuen Zhou looked flabbergasted. The same look was mirrored by Xiao Wu, who had just finished lecturing Mu Ran about how dangerous Fang Xie was based on his cultivation level.
Mu Ran, on the other hand, froze for a moment, his mouth open and gasping for breath. Han Xuhan could see a storm of emotions behind his gaze. A single tear threatened to come out of one of his eyes as he raised a hand to reach over and clasp Xuhan's shoulder, his grip unsteady.
"....."
"....."
"... Xuhan, I-"
"It's okay, boss. Anyone would have done what I did. Although it was an insanely risky thing to do, I managed to resolve the matter, luckily. Sister Ya should be safe for now, unless that senior takes it up on himself to ambush her while she's traveling around the archipelago, visiting foreign sects to challenge them."
"...How did you even reason with someone that powerful, Brother Xuhan? These injuries on your body...could they be his handiwork?" Yuen Zhou asked in a tone laced with disbelief.
Han Xuhan nodded, which seemed to shock them further.
"I told you it's mostly luck. That senior is weaker than his actual realm of cultivation because of an injury. Of course, I didn't know much about his current state. I gathered some clues and assumed from them that he was at the Soul Reformation Realm, practically. That's why I dared to trap him using the disciples of Stardust Sect and forced him to rescind the contractual obligations he had forced on me. He still managed to injure me while I was baiting him. But the injuries aren't too serious since he wasn't looking to inflict anything fatal on me, a valuable pawn.
"Normally, I wouldn't have taken such a massive risk. It isn't really difficult for me to ambush those targeted disciples and be done with the forced contract. But I knew all of it is useless when Sister Ya is one of the targets. I had two choices; to obey his orders and ambush her, or to value your friendship with me and rebel against that senior. In the end, these choices are a mere illusion. Any decent human would only ever choose the latter. And the heavens assisted me in saving Sister Ya from that man's clutch!"
A silence fell amidst the four martial siblings as they exchanged complex looks among themselves. Mu Ran, however, did not move his gaze away from Xuhan's injuries.
"Underli-...No, I can't keep calling you an underling anymore, Xuhan. You've done way too much for me. How can I even repay you...Brother?" He said in a low tone, his words coming intermittently.
Han Xuhan did his best to suppress the smile of victory. The little prodding he had just given the young man had guided him towards the exact path Xuhan wanted him to take.
After seven months of servitude, he, Han Xuhan, was no longer the protagonist's underling!
He had been promoted to the most beneficial position around a protagonist-level character.
"Repayment is a term used between strangers...Brother Ran. I consider you and Sister Ya family, just as I consider sister Zhou and Brother Wu my siblings. What's there to repay? I did what every brother should!"
A drop of tear made its way down Mu Ran's face. Even Xiao Wu looked touched. Meanwhile, Yuen Zhou looked somewhat disgusted for some reason as she scrutinized his joy-filled face.
"Brother Xuhan?" Yuen Zhou suddenly called while he was silently congratulating himself.
"Yes?" he responded, somewhat alarmed by the sharpness in her tone.
"Aside from your... loyalty and familial love, what's the other angle? What else led you to take the risk?" she said in a tone barely suppressing ridicule.
"Is this really necessary, sister Zhou? Stop interrogating him like he's some criminal scum." Mu Ran snapped at her.
Xiao Wu tried to mediate between the two, saying, "Brother Xuhan clearly doesn't wish to hide the answer to that question, martial brother. Let him just clarify everything so that no new misunderstanding comes into play later. It's not like we're going to ask him how he exactly managed to manipulate and trap someone at the Soul Reformation Realm. Everyone has their secrets, and Xuhan knows that we respect his privacy. He can just share the parts he's comfortable with sharing."
"Well said, Brother Wu," Han Xuhan quickly intervened. The next bit of his little plan would fail if Mu Ran didn't let him explain the other angle by respecting his privacy! Xuhan would rather be interrogated fiercely!
"The other angle is actually not related to any secret of mine. The only reservation I have about saying it here is that it might have something to do with Brother Ran's personal life."
"...?!" Mu Ran stared at him in confusion.
Yuen Zhou, however, looked even more skeptical.
She had managed to catch onto the fact that Han Xuhan was just using some twisted explanations to make Mu Ran feel indebted to him. Having seen such tactics often whenever Han Xuhan interacted with Mu Ran, she wasn't surprised at all.
The first factor being related to Mu Ran through Qing Ya was not an outrageous angle to justify Han Xuhan's 'great sacrifice' for family. However, even the second factor being a tool to affect Mu Ran's relationship with Han Xuhan was a bit too much of a coincidence to be true.
But she could also sense that Han Xuhan was more than happy to ride along the wave and reveal how much he had sacrificed for Mu Ran. So instead of trying to find gaps in his story, she gave him the simple push he was trying to find.
"Since that's the case, Xiao Wu and I will leave the two of you to talk it out. Call us after it's been explained."
With a considerable amount of force, Yuen Zhou pushed Xiao Wu out of the yard, leaving the hearing range.
"Bo-...I mean, Brother Ran," Xuhan began by correcting himself, hammering in that mental suggestion. "Do you remember when I went into the flying ship of the Abyss Guild as a representative of our sect? Remember that Lady Caizhi I spoke of?"
Mu Ran nodded emphatically. "Of course! Wasn't she the woman who had tried to seduce you?"
"...Not quite how I explained it, Brother Ran. I had revealed to everybody at that time that she was trying to tempt me into betraying the sect, as well as aiming to harm you personally. Actually, she even gave me a precious technique that may offer me a way out of my destined doom."
"Oh, for real?!" Mu Ran's eyes lit up. "Does that mean you have a hope of continuing on your journey as a cultivator? That's amazing news!"
Annoyed, Han Xuhan shook his head. "You're focusing on the wrong thing here, Brother! That part about her aim to harm you, that's more important than my cultivation!"
Once again, Mu Ran was rendered voiceless by his good brother's care and concern for him.
