Lian Li was anxious. Yun Huizhou was vowing not to participate now, but if he saw Miss Su at the Su Mansion later and fell in love at first sight, he would be slapping his own face until it was swollen.
“Hurry up and memorize them!” Lian Li said. “What if there are people like Feng Man or that disciple from the Five Seas Sect among them? You might not be afraid, but I am.”
Yun Huizhou rubbed his arm where he had been pinched and curled his lip.
His expression looked quite reluctant, but he still turned his head to look at the individuals who harbored the strongest hostility one by one.
When some met Yun Huizhou’s gaze, although the hostility in their eyes did not diminish, they were upright about it; they nodded to him, and those eating in the private rooms even raised their cups in a gesture of greeting.
Lian Li followed his gaze and observed the behavior of these people, nodding inwardly.
Although these people were hostile, their behavior suggested they were broad-minded. While they couldn’t be completely removed from the danger list, the level of threat could be slightly lowered.
However, there were a few who, when Yun Huizhou looked over, ducked away, sneered, or let out a cold huff.
When their eyes met, Lian Li felt as if fire was about to burst from the other party’s eyes.
Yet Yun Huizhou’s gaze remained very flat, as if he were looking at a mere extra on the side of the road.
Lian Li memorized the appearances of these people, marking them as primary targets to guard against.
Arriving before the Su Mansion, Yun Huizhou held the reins of the two horses while Lian Li stepped forward to knock on the main gate.
Soon, a gatekeeper opened the door.
Lian Li saw that although the gatekeeper had opened the door, he hadn’t opened it fully. Instead, he blocked the gap and stared at them.
Thinking that if he were to open a door and meet strangers, he wouldn’t just carelessly let them in either, Lian Li put on a kind smile and said, “Hello, we are disciples of Drunken Dream Island. Old Master Su invited us to come over.”
The gatekeeper gave Lian Li a wary look and then looked at Yun Huizhou. Not knowing what he was thinking, his brow furrowed slightly, and he looked quite unwelcoming.
“The martial arts marriage competition is in five days. Go wait at an inn; the Su Mansion is not receiving guests.” After saying that, the gatekeeper slammed the door shut with a bang.
Lian Li was stunned. He turned to look at Yun Huizhou and asked, “Didn’t you say we were invited?”
Before Yun Huizhou could reply, a passerby let out a sneer.
“Another two trying to get straight into the Su Mansion. How many does that make now? Is the Su Mansion a place you can just enter whenever you want? And is Miss Su someone you can just see whenever you please?”
“Invited? What a thick skin.”
“It’s not wrong to say they were invited. For the Su Mansion’s martial arts marriage competition, any young man of the right age who knows martial arts can participate. In that sense, any young man who knows martial arts counts as being invited. It’s just that most aren’t as shameless as these two, actually taking it seriously and trying to enter the Su Mansion directly.”
“It’s a waste that the two of them look so decent. Instead of thinking about making proper moves in the competition, they only want to use tricks that rely on their faces.”
“They have good-looking faces. If they sneak into the Su Mansion and catch Miss Su’s eye, wouldn’t they be taking a shortcut?”
“Hehe, if you ask me, since they have two faces that can take shortcuts, it doesn’t matter which path they take, hehe…”
Seeing that the words were becoming increasingly out of line, Lian Li’s expression turned cold. He said, “It sounds like you know a lot of ways to take shortcuts. Is it because your face is too ugly that you couldn’t take one, so you have to act sour when you see two handsome and dashing men on the road? No wonder I could smell a stench of sourness from far away. Yue~”
“You pretty boy, what did you say?” The man roared in anger. “Looking like a catamite, you’re probably… Ah!”
A stone flew into the man’s mouth, and his lip was cut and bleeding.
“Did you eat filth? Your mouth stinks to high heaven.” Knowing what the man was likely to say next, Lian Li had directly kicked a stone over.
This person couldn’t even dodge a stone he kicked; he probably didn’t even reach the level of a third-rate martial artist. He could take him.
Even if he couldn’t, it didn’t matter—he could just release Yun Huizhou.
Yun Huizhou was, at the very least, a powerful existence among first-rate experts.
Sure enough, the man began to draw his weapon and attack Lian Li.
Lian Li was a bit nervous but also a bit excited. After practicing martial arts for a year, he finally had an opponent other than Yun Huizhou!
He reached for his waist, took down the soft whip wrapped around it, and engaged the man.
Yun Huizhou stood to the side holding his blade, having no intention of interfering. He only remained alert to ensure no one else attempted a sneak attack from the surroundings.
Lian Li’s judgment was correct; the man’s verbal skills were indeed better than his martial skills.
Even someone like Lian Li, who had almost no actual combat experience, quickly defeated him.
The man gave Lian Li a hateful look and used his Lightness Skill to flee.
Yun Huizhou glanced in the direction the man had left, his eyes lowered. He hoped the man would be smart enough not to do anything else unnecessary.
Having defeated his opponent, Lian Li was practically crazy with joy. He skipped over to Yun Huizhou’s side and said excitedly, “I won! A victory in my first battle.”
That man’s skills were probably only slightly better than an amateur’s; any sect disciple who had properly studied under a master could have won.
However, Yun Huizhou had no intention of dampening Lian Li’s spirits. He simply smiled and said, “Well done.”
His smiles were mostly arrogant or roguish, but this was the first time Lian Li had seen this kind of encouraging and gentle smile.
He felt that Yun Huizhou was truly a very good person.
The others around them, seeing Lian Li fight that man, could see that Lian Li’s martial arts moves were exquisite, but his level was only so-so.
Quite a few people narrowed their eyes, thinking that since they were already in front of the Su Mansion, it wasn’t easy to find a soft persimmon. If they could show off their prowess a little, they might be remembered.
Consequently, Lian Li felt many gazes filled with malice or hostility sweep over him.
Immediately after, he felt Yun Huizhou’s expression beside him turn cold, radiating a chilling aura.
Following that, those gazes all vanished, and the crowd dispersed.
Lian Li rubbed his neck and said, “Just now, did they all want to hit me?”
Yun Huizhou said, “Yeah. They probably thought they could beat you and wanted to show off.”
Upon hearing this, a look of disgust appeared on Lian Li’s face. “We’re all part of the Jianghu, so why is there such a big difference between people? Back at the Martial Arts Assembly, I remember most of the young heroes and great heroes weren’t like this. They were all quite righteous.”
Yun Huizhou shrugged and said, “Because the Martial Arts Alliance was there. Those with darker intentions restrained themselves. Moreover, those who went there all had some degree of reputation; those with poor reputations generally wouldn’t go.”
“Even if they didn’t have much of a name and went there to make one, they wouldn’t use their dark thoughts there.”
“That idiot from the Five Seas Sect and that scoundrel Feng Man were exceptions.”
Lian Li nodded. He understood.
