“This gentleman probably wasn’t there to witness it, right?”
The storyteller smiled.
“Indeed I wasn’t. There would have been no point.”
The man replied.
“Then you are quite wrong. Missing the wedding venue today is surely the greatest loss for people like you. Just half an hour ago, at that very wedding, an earth-shattering event occurred. Anyone who witnessed it will never forget the heroic bearing of that young hero!”
The storyteller stroked his beard, deliberately picked up his teacup, and sipped slowly, whetting everyone’s appetite.
“Is your young hero the Star Phoenix Son?”
“Perhaps someone caused trouble and was struck down on the spot by the Star Phoenix Son?”
“Exactly. If nothing like that happened, no matter how grand the wedding, it would still just be a banquet. How could it possibly be as thrilling as you make it sound?”
The crowd below chimed in one after another. They all felt the storyteller was exaggerating wildly, turning an ordinary event into something apocalyptic.
“Let us go. It is just a storyteller’s lies. What is the point?”
The Medicine King Sun Ran flicked his sleeve in boredom, lifted his foot, and prepared to leave.
Yet the storyteller’s next words froze the steps of all three, including him.
“So none of you were there. You truly have no idea what happened. The young hero I speak of is not that shameless Ji Ming Xing, but the Heavenly Emperor of the Heavenly Dynasty, Ling Xiao!”
The storyteller said smugly. “You would never guess. In less than an hour, Ji Ming Xing was killed, the Great Sun Realm Lord was killed, more than a thousand divine guards were killed, and even the Heavenly Peng Phoenix Son Peng Yue was slain, along with over a hundred young talents from the Divine Phoenix Academy!”
What!
Hearing this, everyone was stunned.
Such events certainly deserved to be called earth-shattering and world-shaking.
“Could foreign enemies have invaded, causing these people to be killed? And Ling Xiao repelled them?”
Someone asked.
“I say, mate, can you stop keeping us in suspense and just tell us?”
The crowd below grew anxious and eager.
“But I have been short of drinking money these past few days. I wonder if you good people might bestow a little.”
The storyteller chuckled.
“No problem at all!”
Which warrior present would lack a few spirit stones? In moments, the storyteller’s collection box was filled to the brim.
Only then did the storyteller close the lid with a beaming smile. “All your guesses are wrong. There was no foreign invasion in our capital today.
How could our mighty imperial capital be so easily breached?”
“Then what exactly happened? Who could kill so many people at once? Surely not some Cave Heaven realm expert gone mad?”
Questions came thick and fast.
Feng Ming Xiao, the Medicine King Sun Ran, and Ji Luo Yu also appeared expectant.
“Did I not just say? Today’s young hero is none other than Ling Xiao! The peerless hero who destroyed the True Demon Empire, founded the Heavenly Dynasty Empire, once captured Jumo Zhiyan alive, and killed Tiemuer Mutu.”
The storyteller smiled.
“You are not going to tell us that Ling Xiao killed all those people, are you?”
Feng Ming Xiao asked with a frown.
“This heroine has guessed correctly. Apart from the Great Sun Realm Lord, all of them were indeed killed by Ling Xiao.”
The storyteller nodded.
“Impossible. What level of cultivation does he have? How could he kill so many? Whether the Star Phoenix Son or the Heavenly Peng Phoenix Son, which one is not stronger than him?”
Feng Ming Xiao demanded sharply.
“What the heroine knows is outdated. Half a year ago, Ling Xiao was merely a Ninth Layer Heaven warrior. Yet today, from what I observed, he is probably already a Cave Heaven realm warrior.”
The storyteller laughed.
“Are you certain?”
“Of course I cannot be certain of that. But I personally witnessed Ling Xiao kill Ji Ming Xing and Peng Yue. You have no idea. More than a thousand Justice Divine Guards arrived, led by a thousand-man commander at the First Cave Heaven realm. Yet none of them even got close to Ling Xiao before they were all slain.”
The storyteller declared proudly.
“Scoundrel! That villain Ling Xiao!”
Feng Ming Xiao cursed.
“The heroine is mistaken. You do not know the full story. That Ji Ming Xing actually slandered his own lifesaver, crippled her entire cultivation, and nearly killed her.”
“That person was Ji Ming Kong, right?”
“Yes, exactly Ji Ming Kong. She is Ling Xiao’s friend. Now that Ling Xiao has come to the capital, how could he not stand up for her?”
The storyteller continued. “The most shameful was the Great Sun Realm Lord. He actually used an illusion technique to try forcing Princess Feng Ming Lian to marry his shameless disciple.”
“Is all this true?”
Some remained sceptical.
“Absolutely true. Prince Yin Shan of the Hidden Mountain has already investigated. These are the facts. Princess Lian herself testified. There is no mistake.”
The storyteller added. “Later, somehow, the Justice Divine Guards came to kill Ling Xiao. In a fit of rage, Ling Xiao wiped them out too. I must say, this Ling Xiao is truly arrogant. He shows no regard even for the Emperor’s face.”
Afterwards, the storyteller recounted the entire sequence of events in vivid detail to everyone.
Being a professional storyteller, he naturally knew how to embellish with words. There was inevitable exaggeration in the process.
It sounded utterly thrilling and rousing.
In that moment, everyone present seemed to see the fearless young warrior who defied authority, domineering and arrogant, looking down upon all. Facing the siege of countless foes, he relied solely on his sword to carve a bloody path out.
Though many disliked arrogant people, every warrior secretly wished they could be so domineering themselves.
Yet that required immense strength as foundation.
Ling Xiao had unexpectedly become this powerful.
“This Ling Xiao must die!”
Feng Ming Xiao’s gaze turned as cold as a demon’s.
She absolutely could not tolerate someone abducting her daughter, killing the future son-in-law she had chosen, and still living well.
Absolutely not.
Boom!
At that very moment, a powerful fluctuation suddenly came from the horizon.
The expressions of Feng Ming Xiao and the Medicine King Sun Ran changed dramatically.
“Who is fighting over there with such tremendous commotion?”
Sun Ran asked.
“It is probably the old ancestor taking action. The other person is unclear.”
Feng Ming Xiao gritted her teeth.
She guessed that the other person was very likely the guardian behind Ling Xiao from the rumours, that Yue Nü Highness.
From this single clash, she could sense that her old ancestor had suffered a slight disadvantage. Though the loss was not great, if the battle continued, the old ancestor might not prevail.
Damn it. How did Ling Xiao gain the protection of such a person? No wonder he was so insolent.
It seemed she could no longer confront Ling Xiao openly. She would have to scheme in secret to have him killed.
In fact, Feng Ming Xiao was not alone in this thinking.
The Peacock clan, the Great Peng clan, the Righteous Alliance, and those of the Emperor’s direct line all harboured similar plans.
The Heavenly Peng Phoenix Son was dead.
The Star Phoenix Son was dead.
The Peacock Phoenix Son had been crippled.
More than a thousand Justice Divine Guards had been killed.
All of this was Ling Xiao’s doing. How could they possibly allow such a person to continue living?
They would never permit it.
