Witnessing Xun'er actually nod her assent to Xiao Yan's words, the corners of Jie Lie'ao's mouth twitched violently, and his fists cracked as they clenched. With a dark, malevolent gaze, he fixed his eyes hard upon the boy calmly facing him.
At a glance at their master's ugly expression, the cluster of subordinates behind Jie Lie'ao took a shrewd step forward, vaguely surrounding the two of them. The looks they swept about were laced with ill intent.
The crowd within the depths of the trading market was not sparse either. Catching sight of the commotion, everyone turned to look over curiously. Both Xiao Yan and Jie Lie'ao had a fair degree of name in Wutan City — Xiao Yan for his fame as a good-for-nothing, and Jie Lie'ao for his habit of seducing and abandoning. Though neither reputation was pleasant, the two could still, in a loose sense, count as celebrities.
At the sight of the other party's actions, Xiao Yan's brows arched upward, and a hint of mockery surfaced on his youthful face. Slightly tilting his head, he gave a soft whistle toward one corner of the market.
Interested at Xiao Yan's gesture, the crowd turned to look, and beheld the market's guard force come charging over in menacing fashion, led by their captain, Payne.
Payne led his large band of guards running swiftly over. With a wave of his hand, his underlings promptly surrounded Jie Lie'ao's group in a menacing counter-encirclement. For a moment, the two sides stood at daggers drawn. "Young Third Master, has something happened?" Reaching Xiao Yan's side, Payne first swept a look over the opposing Jie Lie'ao and his men, then inquired with a respectful laugh.
Xiao Yan smiled. Tilting his head toward the livid Jie Lie'ao, he said unconcernedly, "Young Master Jie Lie'ao, this market is the territory of my Xiao Clan. Do you mean to raise a hand in this place?"
Jie Lie'ao cast a wary look at Payne before turning to Xiao Yan with a cold sneer. "Do you know nothing but to rely on your clan's power? If you were a man…"
"You mean to tell me, if I were a man, I should fight you in a fair contest, is that it?" Xiao Yan abruptly waved a hand and cut off Jie Lie'ao's words with a laugh.
Jie Lie'ao sneered, provoking, "That's right. Do you dare?"
Looking at the thoroughly challenging Jie Lie'ao, Xiao Yan appeared to let out a helpless sigh. His palm rose to stroke his forehead, and only after a moment did he raise his head, shrugging lightly, his face a picture of pure innocence. "Young Master Jie Lie'ao, might I ask, how old are you this year?"
Jie Lie'ao's mouth twitched, and he fell silent with a gloomy face.
"Elder brother, you are twenty-one this year. And how old am I? Fifteen! And you would have me, a child who has not yet even held his coming-of-age ceremony, duel with you? Do you not find your request a rather embarrassing one?" Xiao Yan sighed, and the helpless look upon his childish face made Xun'er, at his side, unable to hold back a smile, pressing her lips together in quiet laughter.
"Ha ha!"
At the boy's guileless words, the mercenaries and merchants holding stalls in the depths of the market burst out laughing. Indeed, at Xiao Yan's age, he could at most count as a raw, unseasoned youth, whereas Jie Lie'ao had long since reached adulthood. Such a challenge could not help but earn some contempt in the onlookers' hearts.
The ring of mocking gazes around him was like a basin of cold water, jolting Jie Lie'ao back to clarity. The maturity and calm that Xiao Yan displayed always made one involuntarily discount his age. Reminded thus, Jie Lie'ao at last recalled that the boy before him was merely fifteen years old…
Gnashing his teeth in fury, Jie Lie'ao cast a glance at the band of Xiao Clan guards who stood warily behind Xiao Yan. Knowing that today he would have no chance to teach the lad a lesson, he could only shake his head resentfully and say, in a sinister tone, "In another year, you should be holding your coming-of-age ceremony, shouldn't you? Heh heh, this good-for-nothing of yours, I wager that the moment it passes, you'll be packed off to some backwater village. From then on, you won't even have the standing to set foot in Wutan City. What a pity."
Xiao Yan gave a faint smile and shrugged noncommittally.
His eyelids twitched. For some reason, Jie Lie'ao was filled with rage at the mere sight of the calm ease on the boy's face. You worthless trash, why put on that insufferable air of mystery for nothing…
Forcibly choking back his fury, Jie Lie'ao gave a cold snort, waved his hand, and shoved his way through the crowd with his men.
"Oh, right…" His steps suddenly halted, as though Jie Lie'ao had recalled something. He turned and sneered, "Young Master Xiao Yan, I hear your Xiao Clan had its engagement forcibly annulled by Nalan Yanran of the Nalan Clan? Heh heh, it's nothing, really. With your talent for cultivation, you hardly deserve to match Young Miss Nalan anyway. Ha ha…" Having said this, Jie Lie'ao left with a loud laugh.
Xiao Yan shot a somewhat sinister glance at the departing Jie Lie'ao. Reaching out, he seized Xun'er's hand at his side and said flatly, "Just a mad dog. If it bites you, are you going to bite it back?"
"But he… he went too far. Are we simply to let him be?" Xun'er frowned her slim, delicate brows, somewhat indignantly.
"Heh, there will be a chance…" Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes and smiled. The cold, sinister look clinging to the corners of his mouth sent a slight chill through Payne at his side. A lion that bites is not so terrifying; what terrifies is a lion that knows how to bide its time…
"Uncle Payne, I've put you to trouble." Xiao Yan turned and said amiably to Payne and his men, the sinister aura of moments before instantly dissolving into boyish candor.
Marveling inwardly at Xiao Yan's command over his own moods, Payne's smile gained a shade of sincere reverence. Setting aside Xiao Yan's talent for cultivation, with this measure of presence of mind, his future accomplishments could hardly be low indeed.
"Heh heh, the Young Third Master jests. This ground has always been the territory of our Xiao Clan. How could we let the people of the Jia Lie Clan run rampant here?" Payne smiled. Noticing that Xiao Yan was glancing about, he bid his farewells and, with great tact, led his men away.
Watching Payne and his men depart, Xiao Yan finally turned around. Reaching out, he rubbed Xun'er's long hair hard and scolded in feigned anger, "You foolish girl. A first-grade magic crystal and your heart was already stirred? Do you not know what sort of goods that fellow is? Accept a gift from him, and that rogue would press his advantage at once."
Pursing her small lips slightly, Xun'er smoothed her tousled hair and spread her hands in resignation. "When something is handed to you on a platter, it would be a waste not to take it."
Xiao Yan rolled his eyes, at once amused and exasperated. "That thing isn't even precious. Why should you stoop so low for it? You are the genius girl of the Xiao Clan, after all…"
Xun'er wrinkled her cute nose and raised her wrist, with its bracelet, in playful tease. "So Xiao Yan-gege has been watching over Xun'er all along."
Rolling his eyes at Xun'er once more, Xiao Yan took the girl's hand and again made his way deeper into the market's many stalls…
Having passed several more stalls, Xiao Yan's steps finally halted. Bending down, he looked at a green crystal on the stall, still flecked with a few streaks of blood, and breathed out in relief. Smiling, he said, "At last, I've found it."
As his hand swept over the stall, just as he was about to snatch up the magic crystal, Xiao Yan's palm suddenly froze. An inexplicably strange sensation welled up in his heart…
Running his tongue over his lips, Xiao Yan nonetheless snatched up the magic crystal in a firm grasp. Then, with a look of seeming unconcern, he let his gaze sweep over the stall…
A moment later, Xiao Yan's gaze came to rest upon a black iron shard lying beside the magic crystal.
The black iron shard was very old and worn, covered with patches of rust, with traces of yellow mud still clinging to it that had not been washed clean. It looked very much like an object freshly dug out from the earth.
"Hey, Little Yan, buy that black iron shard. It's a good thing, oh…"
Just as Xiao Yan was puzzling over his own strange sensation, Yao Lao's voice suddenly sounded within his heart.