Volume 5 – A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 38: A Wanton and Unrestrained Beauty
Wei Potian was surrounded at all times by a number of noble ladies except when he was discussing serious business with other men—these bossy young ladies absolutely refused to let him interact with any single woman. There was no way Shi Dongqi could hide her intentions to invite Wei Potian using a celebratory feast as an excuse.
As such, the situation developed just as Song Zining had anticipated—all the noble ladies were soon intent on holding a celebratory party. However, there was only one Wei clan heir. As a result, the soiree was jointly held by all of them with the lone guest of honor being Wei Potian.
Song Zining dragged Qianye away to stand in the distance. They watched as the group of noble ladies chattered around Wei Potian, discussing what type of wine they should serve, what dishes they should prepare, and what music they should perform.
Qianye suddenly recalled Wei Potian’s remark about being the only lady in a room full of brothel patrons and felt that the scene before him was a vivid depiction of those words. He immediately broke into an uncontrollable laughter and even his his stomach started to cramp up.
Song Zining’s strategy of diverting calamity was extremely effective. All of the noble ladies lost interest in the post-war affairs and focused their attention on the banquet which had quickly become the highlight of the night.
However, not everything went as planned. Qianye had just breathed a sigh of relief when trouble came knocking on the doors. Moreover, it was even more troublesome than all the bossy ladies added together.
That valiant lady who had blasted Dong Qifeng’s flagship with a handheld cannon suddenly appeared before Qianye and asked to speak with him alone. Seeing this beautiful lady up close, Qianye deeply experienced a type of magnificence and splendor that was even more dazzling than the sun. So much that he had been bewitched even before he could see her facial features clearly.
However, the giant handheld cannon she was fiddling with in her hand painted the words “speak in private” with a sense of inexplicable danger.
Under her harsh gaze, Song Zining quickly turned around and left without a shred of brotherly spirit—he didn’t even stay to engage in social niceties. Qianye couldn’t help but curse in his heart and felt that Wei Potian’s rude descriptions of Song Zining weren’t totally unreasonable.
“I’ll have someone clear out a conference room,” Qianye braced himself and said.
That beauty replied impatiently, “Let’s just go to your room. Stop acting like an old woman!”
Qianye was astonished. “This isn’t very appropriate, is it?”
“Enough with the rubbish. Even your mother here doesn’t care, what’s a little boy like you being so embarrassed about?”
Little… boy? Qianye glanced at the beautiful lady who was at most a couple of years older than him and felt drops of sweat roll down his forehead. Moreover, she was waving that astonishingly big handheld cannon around while she was speaking and, intentionally or otherwise, the muzzle always seemed to be pointed toward him.
At close range, the cannon muzzle was so big that it was no different from that of a mobile heavy cannon. Could this thing really be fired from one’s hands? Even Qianye, who possessed a constitution surpassing that of the dark races, couldn’t help but have some doubts about it.
The scene where this big fellow had blasted an airship apart with one shot was still vivid in Qianye’s mind. He felt that his fate, after being struck, wouldn’t be much better than the airship.
Suddenly, an inconspicuous insignia flitted past Qianye’s eyes and caused his gaze to freeze for a moment. That was the Swallow Cloud Zhao Clan’s emblem. There was, however, a slight difference, and it likely represented a certain branch family.
Qianye gave it some thought and then brought her toward his own residence in the Dark Flame headquarters.
The moment this lady entered, she sized up Lil’ Seven, who was standing at the door, from head to toe and then from toe to head. One big and one small, the two ladies glanced at each other with beautiful eyes akin to peach blossoms.
Qianye felt his distress intensify.
During his momentary lapse in concentration, that beautiful lady had walked toward the interior on her own and directly entered his room. She then tossed her big handheld cannon to one side and, with a loud “clang”, produced a hole in the floor.
Qianye’s eyes couldn’t help but twitch a few times. Not because the floor had suffered an unexpected calamity, but because he felt a heartache for that grade-seven weapon.
A grade-seven origin armament was a big step-up from grade-six. Any random grade-seven weapon was worth tens of times more than a grade-six. Because of the lack in craftsmen at that level, the creation of a custom-made weapon of that level would take several years or even dozens.
Without waiting for Qianye to speak, she had thrown herself onto his bed and bounced a couple of times on it before sitting up to speak to him, “It’s not comfy at all!”
After making such a comment, she sat at his bedside, crossed her two straight legs, and proceeded to light a cigarette. She then inhaled deeply without a care for her image.
Finally, Qianye couldn’t take it anymore and said, “That’s my bed.”
“I know it’s yours, but so what? Isn’t it just a broken bed? What? This mommy here wants to sit on your bed. Do you dare to not yield?”
Qianye was immediately defeated and said helplessly with a wry laugh, “Stop playing such jokes. What exactly is your business?”
The lady began to laugh out loud after seeing Qianye’s distressed attitude. “Has anyone told you that your embarrassed manner is very amusing?”
Darkness flitted across Qianye’s countenance as he replied in a frosty voice, “Let me tell you that it’s not fun at all.”
The unbridled beauty curled her lips and said, “So serious! You’re just like Little Four.”
Qianye was somewhat startled and asked suspiciously, “Little Four? Which Little Four?”
She replied impatiently, “Which other Little Four is there? There’s only one person in the Zhao clan who can be called Zhao Fourth, and that’s Zhao Jundu.”
A clan as large as the Zhao had countless branch families. Naturally, there was more than one person who was ranked fourth in seniority. But at present, the name Zhao Fourth only referred to Zhao Jundu and none other.
Qianye went silent. A layer of coldness appeared in the depths of his eyes as he asked, “Then what about you?”
She hopped up, landed in front of Qianye, and extended her hand. “Come, little beauty, let’s get to know each other! I’m Zhao Yuying of the Swallow Cloud Zhao Clan and Duke You is my grandfather.”
The Swallow Cloud Zhao Clan’s two branches of hereditary dukes were Duke Yan and Duke You respectively. During the past hundreds of years, the position of clan lord had always been controlled by these two branches. That was until the current Duke You’s younger brother achieved a meteoric rise and was designated Duke Xuanyuan. He then pleaded the emperor to allow his eldest son, Zhao Weihuang, to marry the Imperial Princess Gaoyi. It was only after ten-odd years of service that Zhao Weihuang was conferred the title of Duke Chengen and allowed to sit at the clan lord’s position.
This also meant that the current Duke of You, Zhao Xuan, was Zhao Weihuang’s uncle. Although the clan lord’s position had fallen to a different branch, Duke Yan and Duke You’s connections were deeply rooted akin to a tree with complicated branches and luxuriant leaves. Their status wasn’t easily shaken within a generation or two.
In addition to the apprehension in his heart, Qianye also found it to be somewhat odd.
Among the Zhao clan’s younger generation, it seemed that Zhao Weihuang’s four sons and one daughter had seized most of the brilliance. In truth, the Zhao clan, as a whole, wasn’t lacking in geniuses. Zhao Yuying was one such outstanding person from a branch family.
But she was particularly special. Her name was frequently heard, but she rarely made any public appearance. Even lineal descendants of high status like Song Zining and Wei Potian had never seen her before. This indicated that she almost never attended any social event held by the upper-class of the empire. Hence, her limelight had been drowned out by the fourth young master.
But after meeting her personally, Qianye felt people’s evaluation of her didn’t do her justice. Zhao Yuying was exceptionally strong—ignoring other aspects of her strength, just that grade-seven cannon alone wasn’t something everyone could use. A weaker champion would’ve been sucked dry if he were to fire a shot from it. Even though this lady couldn’t compare to Zhao Jundu and Zhao Ruoxi, she could easily suppress the other three young masters without much suspense.
Seeing that Qianye wasn’t reacting, Zhao Yuying waved her hand closer and almost reached Qianye’s nose.
Qianye didn’t take her hand and, instead, asked, “Did Zhao Jundu tell you to come here?”
“Him?” Zhao Yuying let out a snort and said, “I haven’t the slightest association with that stupid fellow. I’m only here to see how troublesome his disobedient brother actually is.”
Those last words made him recall something. and his heart suddenly softened. He let out a sigh in his heart and, after a moment of hesitation, slowly reached out to shake Zhao Yuying’s hand.
The smile on Zhao Yuying’s face suddenly changed and was now full of complacency as if her plot had succeeded.
Qianye felt a powerful force being transmitted from her hand, one so strong that it could easily leave fingerprints on solid steel. Qianye had no doubt that the bones in his hand would have shattered if he were a bit weaker. He let out a deep shout and erupted with full force to mount a painstaking counter-attack.
It was a struggle completely devoid of fancy moves and, for a time, neither side could gain an advantage. They were in a deadlock.
Qianye was greatly astonished because this was the first time he had encountered someone among the younger generation who could match him in terms of raw strength. Even ordinary champions were far inferior to him in terms of physical strength. Zhao Yuying was a lady, and yet, she actually possessed a terrifying strength comparable to arachne of the same level.
Seeing that her sneak attack had failed, Zhao Yuying’s ponytail began flying behind her without any wind. Following which, she charged forth and crashed straight into Qianye. The force from her shoulder actually caused cracking sounds like thunder and lightning to ring out in the air.
Qianye was very familiar with this sound—it was a sign of origin power resonance. Qianye was already a bit angry and his countenance was as gloomy as water. He returned the same move with his shoulders and similarly stirred up thunderous rumbles through the air.
The moment the two crashed into each other, the plates and tableware in the room all shattered. Afterward, anything not solid was torn into shreds, including the pillows and sheets.
In this exchange, merely the origin power seeping out from their bodies had displayed such destructive might.
This clash once again resulted in a draw. Zhao Yuying’s body swayed abruptly—this movement, extremely clever in both its angle and timing, shook Qianye’s balance. She then closed in on Qianye, locked her long legs around him, and tossed him into the air. She then pressed him heavily onto the ground.
Reacting rapidly, Qianye twisted his waist away and wrung her in return. He stuck tightly to Zhao Yuying and brought her along into the air.
Their bodies intertwined and smashed together onto the ground where they rolled around. Heads, shoulders, elbows, palms, and fingers—every part of their bodies were used as weapons to attack the other party. In more vulgar terms, the two now resembled two ruffians brawling on the streets. There was no more technique to speak of and only random attacks based on instinct.
Although the battle appeared rather ugly, it was, in fact, extremely dangerous. Both their bodies were killer weapons from head to toe and every elbow strike and headbutt possessed enough power to shatter rocks.
Numerous loud thumps rang out within the blink of an eye, and it was unknown who had received how many blows. Qianye’s physique was strong enough to be compared to a vampire champion, but that dazzling beauty, Zhao Yuying, wasn’t a bit weaker. Purely in terms of constitution, she was even a bit stronger than Wei Potian.
However, Zhao Yuying was already rank-eleven and she was far superior to Qianye in terms of origin power. He fell into a disadvantage shortly afterward and was pressed to the ground by Zhao Yuying. She grabbed out with her left hand and clutched Qianye’s throat.
Qianye’s chest rose and fell as he gasped violently for air. Within this short battle, he had used up all of his origin power and didn’t even have the strength to raise his hand.
But, through this battle, Qianye had also come to a direct understanding of Zhao Yuying’s strength. Among the champions he had fought, Song Zian was also rank-eleven, but the difference between him and Zhao Yuying was like that between a firefly and the bright moon. If they were to fight each other, Song Zian was the type of trash who could be eliminated with a single shot of her cannon.
Zhao Yuying stared fixedly at Qianye for a moment and then raised her brows in delight. “I thought you looked like a beautiful little toy, but you really do pack quite a punch in battle. Very good! Now that’s more like it. You’re just my type! You’re worth that stupid Zhao Fourth offending so many people.”
Zhao Yuying stood up while speaking and also pulled Qianye back to his feet.
It was at this time that a blade of autumn leaf suddenly flitted past the two.
Qianye and Zhao Yuying both fixed their eyes on the leaf and watched it fall in a leisurely manner. For a time, the atmosphere turned incomparably odd.