Chapter 20: News of Another Tragedy

"I understand, sir!" Hao Fei nodded, then turned and soared into the air, shooting forward like a swift arrow. His figure cut through the night sky, trailing a faint, piercing whistle.

"This kid… is he showing off his progress on purpose?" Ye Xin curled his lip. "But it's pointless. I could still pin you two down and beat you together!"

Xue Baiqi chuckled. Although he didn't quite grasp Ye Xin's peculiar slang, he more or less understood the meaning.

"You're not convinced?" Ye Xin glanced sidelong at Xue Baiqi.

"By heaven and earth!" Xue Baiqi protested, "Sir, I've always been sincerely convinced by you, in heart and word alike."

Just then, the little sable darted out from the grass. Agile as ever, it bounded nimbly to Ye Xin's feet in a few leaps.

"Where did the person go? You didn't catch up?" Ye Xin asked.

The little sable immediately shook its head, then drew a square with its tail on the ground and stood inside it. It covered its belly with its forepaws, letting out odd sounds—howling softly. Then it lay down and pounded the ground with a paw, as if in great pain, whimpering and groaning.

Ye Xin watched for a while, and the actions reminded him of someone retching. "Are you saying… that fellow kept vomiting?"

The little sable nodded eagerly, then reared up on its hind legs, gazing up at Ye Xin with a fawning expression.

"Who was it?" Ye Xin pressed.

The sable tilted its head in thought, then slowly combed its fur over its head with its paw.

"A barber?" Ye Xin guessed.

The sable seemed impatient, circling inside the square. Suddenly, its bright little eyes narrowed. It placed both forepaws on its chest and sashayed forward, swaying its little backside exaggeratedly.

"A woman?" Ye Xin ventured.

The sable nodded again with a series of chirps.

"Which direction did she go? Is she far from here?" Ye Xin questioned.

The little sable flicked its tail and drew another square around the original, then shook its head while pointing sideways with a paw.

"The courtyard? You're saying she's in the courtyard over there?" Ye Xin asked.

The sable nodded vigorously.

"Well done," Ye Xin praised, before frowning slightly. "Which one is it? Sun Meifang or Deng Duojie..."

It was impossible to judge a warrior’s progress by appearances alone. Unless one was circulating elemental power, even an advanced innate warrior looked little different from an ordinary person.

However, there was one thing—a true battle-hardened innate warrior would bear traces of it in their bearing and aura. Those with keen intuition could immediately sense whether someone was easily provoked or not, but as for their exact level, that could only be found out through combat.

Still, some were adept at concealing their presence, leading foes to misjudge them—Ye Xin himself was such an example.

Therefore, he couldn’t be sure who it was.

"This little creature is so clever?!" Xue Baiqi was amazed.

"I was just as surprised at first," Ye Xin smiled. "Little Bai, if you have time, help me teach it to read. Otherwise, figuring out what it means is too much trouble."

"Seriously, sir? It can read?" Xue Baiqi's mouth dropped open.

"Give it a try. Since it understands everything we say, it should be possible." Ye Xin paused. "I'm going back to rest for a while. If Hao Fei returns, notify me at once. No, better yet—come with me. If that woman really loses her mind, it’ll be trouble for me. You have to protect me."

"This is the Ye family, after all. Would they dare?" Xue Baiqi said.

"Never, never, never—important things bear repeating thrice!" Ye Xin sighed. "Never underestimate a woman on the edge of madness! There’s nothing she wouldn’t do!"

"Sir, sounds like you’ve suffered in that area before…" Xue Baiqi eyed him suspiciously.

"Suffered? That’s putting it mildly!" Ye Xin shook his head.

****

The night passed uneventfully. In the morning, Deng Qiaoying sent a servant to invite Ye Xin to breakfast at her place. As soon as he stepped into Deng Qiaoying’s courtyard, Ye Xin suddenly halted and lowered his voice, "There’s a demonic aura…"

"What?" Xue Baiqi, trailing behind, was puzzled.

Ye Xin shook his head and walked in first. Last night, Deng Qiaoying had gone to great lengths, hoping to restore the Ye family’s former glory. Unfortunately, her efforts were met with crushing disappointment. Apart from her own relatives, not a single guest appeared—all the painstakingly written invitations by Ye Ling had been in vain.

Thus, Deng Qiaoying had no heart to fuss over breakfast, intending only to make do. Ye Ling was already present, as were Sun Meifang and Deng Duojie and her mother. To Ye Xin’s surprise, Deng Qiaoying, despite the blow, looked quite well—her brow even glowed with a hint of happiness. In sharp contrast, Deng Duojie, sitting to one side, was pale and dejected.

When Ye Xin entered, Deng Duojie’s body visibly trembled and her eyes blazed with hatred. Still, she struggled to hide her feelings, even forcing a smile at Ye Xin—though the result was more pitiful than laughter, her fingers twisting together so tightly they made an audible sound.

Deng Duojie had always been proud, and with good reason. But last night, she had suffered a nightmare humiliation—Ye Xin’s manhood had nearly brushed her face! With Xue Baiqi and Hao Fei nearby, Deng Duojie had dared not act rashly and could only endure it all with the stoicism of a martyr.

If she could, she would have pounced on Ye Xin like a lioness—scratching, kicking, biting—until he was torn to shreds.

But now, she could do nothing—she even had to force a smile at him. Deng Duojie felt her head splitting from the effort not to go mad or simply faint away to escape reality.

She poured all her strength into maintaining her composure. Even the normally oblivious Deng Qiaoying sensed something amiss, fixing Deng Duojie with a suspicious stare before shifting her gaze to Ye Xin.

Sun Meifang, meanwhile, covertly nudged Deng Duojie with her elbow, her expression calm as if nothing had happened.

Ye Xin was startled. So the woman from last night was Deng Duojie? He had thought Sun Meifang more likely, given their ages—Deng Duojie was his contemporary, a student at Dragon Soaring Martial Academy, living a life of luxury. And yet, she had already forged her innate skill?

Typically, one could refine an innate skill upon advancing to an innate warrior, but the quality of the first skill could shape a warrior’s entire life. One had to be extremely cautious—and it was by far the most costly step.

Take the Poison Widow, for example: she had used over forty true wetland emperor scorpion essence crystals to refine her innate skill. In Tianyuan City, a single such crystal went for five to eight thousand gold coins, meaning the Poison Widow had spent at least two hundred thousand gold in one go. Of course, the Poison Widow Ye Xin had killed was wealthy—but that was after her successful refinement and rise. Before that, she too had struggled to survive.

For any warrior, secluding oneself to refine an innate skill was a tremendous gamble. Success or failure, none could avoid the ordeal.

Essence crystals came in grades—the higher the grade, the stronger the resulting innate skill. Any life containing elemental power might leave behind an essence crystal after death. Most on the market came from fierce beasts, making them the easiest to obtain, though not the only source.

Hao Fei, for instance, had acquired his innate skill from several nameless swords. When a divine weapon decayed, it might yield an essence crystal. These rare crystals had a higher chance of yielding innate skills than beast crystals, but were much harder to find. Hao Fei owed his success entirely to incredible luck.

Prominent families would pour vast resources into one or two heirs, using far more than the usual hundred essence crystals for a single refinement, and always seeking the highest grade possible.

Those with some strength would focus on collecting a single type of beast crystal, so as to have some idea what kind of skill would result; those of humble means could only make do with whatever low-grade crystals they could gather. Even if they succeeded, the improvement in combat power was minimal.

Though the Dengs were an old noble house in Nine Cauldrons City, they could not afford to squander resources. Their choice of Deng Duojie meant she must possess uncommon talent.

Ye Xin sat down slowly, giving Deng Duojie a cold snort to show he had not forgotten yesterday’s unpleasantness—after all, pettiness was the mark of a true scoundrel.

"Xin’er, don’t be rude!" Deng Qiaoying glared at him. "You should be thanking your cousin!"

"Thank her? For what?!" Ye Xin cried.

"Your cousin came up with a good idea," Deng Qiaoying said with a smile. "You’ve been too much of a troublemaker in the past—so much so that few people have a good opinion of you. No matter how hard your aunt and I try, no respectable family wants to marry their daughter to you. So, we need to change that."

"Aunt, what do you mean?" Ye Xin asked, puzzled.

"You’ll go to Dragon Soaring Martial Academy, and like Ling’er, work to earn a medal of merit!" Deng Qiaoying beamed. "Then everyone will see you’re finally making something of yourself!"

"Mom, my medal wasn’t just for show! Only by breaking through the bottleneck and becoming an innate warrior, and contributing to the academy, can one earn a medal!" Ye Ling protested.

"This isn’t your concern—just eat," Deng Qiaoying said. "Well, Xin’er, do you have confidence?"

Ye Xin stared at Deng Qiaoying, wide-eyed and speechless.

"Mom, everyone knows my brother can’t cultivate. How could he possibly enter Dragon Soaring Martial Academy?" Ye Ling said.

"I have an excellent relationship with Dean Feng, and he holds Elder Ye in high esteem. If our two families go together to request it, he won’t refuse us," Sun Meifang replied with a gentle smile.