by Tinalynge
Unfortunately, these witnesses had gained the protection of Shen Bingwen. With him shielding them, they dared to tell the truth.
Usually, murder would not cause too much of a problem. As long as the family was compensated with some silver or even gold, then they would be able to accept their loss. However, it was different when it came to the geniuses of the younger generation. Every single action they made affected the situation between the Li and then Shen family, who were both fighting tooth and nail to extinguish the other while keeping within the boundaries of the law that had been placed by the Kingdom of Heping.
If one of the members did something inappropriate, then the other side would blame them – and the worse their actions the better it was for the opposition. Because of this, the Shen family secretly gloated at their enemy’s misfortune now that they had the witnesses in their hands.
They had taken a small victory against the Li family, and they secretly celebrated for Xue Wei crippling two of their geniuses as they would become less of a threat in later generations the fewer they had.
Xue Wei had no actual reason to place himself in the midst of this battle for power. He was initially on the neutral side as his uncle was not interested in becoming the next City Lord of Tiankong City. However, because Xiao Lei was a friend of Shen Bingwen, and because of the apparent hostility that Li Jian felt towards Xue Wei, he had been pushed towards the Shen family’s camp.
Slowly, everyone who had gathered in front of the mansion scattered. Some were feeling excited and happy, others dejected and angry.
Especially the He and Jia families had a belly full of anger but nowhere to vent it. They knew that if they were to do something to Xue Wei now, they would get blamed for it, whether or not there was any evidence, and thus they could not risk taking vengeance just yet.
"Just you wait until you enter the army," He Tong sneered sinisterly. "My other sons are still in the army, and they have managed to make a name for themselves. I will have them ensure that you do not return home, and this way your uncle can never blame it on us!"
Having reached this conclusion, He Tong grinned to himself with a manic expression on his face. His other sons had done well in the army, and although they had not managed to become generals or anything too outstanding, they were still capable of making a new green member of the army encounter quite some troubles.
The leader of the Jia family was thinking the same thing. He did not have as many sons as the He family, but he still had a few, and these sons were capable of causing enough problems for Xue Wei.
These two men were both of the Sky Warrior rank. They had a lifespan of five hundred years and had only lived around two hundred and fifty of it each. They were from the same generation, and they had taken many wives throughout their lifetime, producing multiple sons and daughters.
But the ones who had been following Li Jian had been some of the more accomplished ones, and seeing them suddenly turned into trash was a slap on their faces.
The moment the last people vanished, Xue Wei also returned to the back of the mansion where he continued to train. He was not going to waste his time sleeping, and although it was already dark, he ended up training the entire night.
Xue Wei stood up as the sun sent its first rays of sunlight down from the sky and stretched his body. He had completely emptied himself of Qi earlier and had just finished absorbing and refining enough Qi to once more fill the pearl-like dantian that he had.
He quickly went to wash before dressing and rushing into the central marketplace where the Wayfarers had parked their caravan.
Xue Wei saw how the city was waking up. Shops were opening, and people were going about doing their morning business. A few people were out buying food; others were out delivering messages. Everyone was busy, and the morning air was alive with the hustle and bustle of the city.
As Xue Wei reached the Wayfarer's caravan, he saw that they too had awakened and were starting to open up their shops. The group of seniors was sitting and eating soup that had been brought to them by smaller children, while they were busy chatting with one another.
The older children were setting up their stalls and preparing to sell their goods, and the teenagers were running around doing whatever they felt like doing. There was no one to supervise them.
Xue Wei walked around the caravan, and although many looked at him curiously, no one tried to stop him. The seniors had long since noticed him, and since they approved of his presence, then no one would question their judgement. No one knew exactly how old or strong these seniors were, but if the caravan was truly in danger, or about to be in trouble, they would explode with power and any young man would be killed on the spot.
Xue Wei had one aim in entering the Wayfarer caravan, and that was to find Wang Xiaoyun. When he saw the seniors, he cupped his hands and bowed to them from a distance, causing the old woman who had taken the most significant liking to him to smile widely and wave back at him. The rest just smiled gently.
Xue Wei wandered past caravan after caravan until his eyes found Wang Xiaoyun and his face, which usually never displayed much emotion, suddenly lit up with a great smile.
However, the smile on his face quickly froze when he saw that Wang Xiaoyun was not alone. With her was a young man, who seemed to be around seventeen years old.
This young man was holding her hand, and they were talking about something in a heated manner. It seemed as if Wang Xiaoyun wanted to leave but the man would not let her, and it was clear that their discussion was getting more and more intense by the minute.
"You have no right to tell me what to do! Even Grandma Meng has given me her permission!" Wang Xiaoyun's voice ricocheted through the caravans as she pulled her hand free and turned around.
When she saw Xue Wei, tears were falling from her eyes, and she ran to him, took his hand and dragged him with her away from the young man who looked as if he was billowing with anger and ready to explode at any moment.
Xue Wei could not sense the cultivation base of this expert, and as a result, did not dare to stay behind in case he became the target for the latter's anger.
"Do not leave!" the man yelled, but by then Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun had already gotten quite far away, and Wang Xiaoyun showed no signs of stopping. Her hand was gripping Xue Wei's so hard that her skin had turned completely white and all the blood had been forced out of her hand.
"Sorry that you had to see that," Wang Xiaoyun said with sadness in her voice as she finally stopped running when they reached a park in Tiankong City.
"Have you had breakfast yet?" Xue Wei asked, and Wang Xiaoyun shook her head. Buying some food at a stall, the two ventured into the park and found a beautiful tree to sit beneath where they could eat their breakfast together.
At first, neither spoke, they just ate their food, but as time went on and as the food was eaten, they started talking.
"What is your goal in life?" Wang Xiaoyun suddenly asked randomly, and Xue Wei was a little taken aback. "I want to regain my memories," he sighed.
"I remember this small town in the Northern Taiga. I do not remember anything about it apart from its appearance. I do not even remember the faces of the people who lived there."
"When I was ten years old, I lived in that town, but a Primordial Beast decimated the entire population apart from me. I know nothing about the town apart from that."
"Oh," Wang Xiaoyun was quiet for some time, but then her eyes widened.
"Five years ago? It is Lingyun Town!" she said excitedly, and Xue Wei, who was listening to her, frowned. The name sounded familiar, but he could not put his finger on where he had heard about it before.
"Five years ago, the Ice Harpy appeared in a place called Lingyun Town, and she killed every single person. Lingyun Town is located in the Northern Taiga, and I am quite sure it is the only one that fits the description. It has long since become a land of the dead," Wang Xiaoyun sighed.
Xue Wei was lost in his thoughts. Ice Harpy. The name itself described w
hat kind of Primordial Beast she was. He knew that this was the beast that the Wayfarers were after, but he had no idea how strong she was.
"So I come from Lingyun Town?" Xue Wei suddenly felt something within him, as if he had found a valuable piece of information, but he was not sure of what it meant just yet.
"So when you get your memory back, what do you want to do?" Wang Xiaoyun continued to ask, and Xue Wei pondered for a moment before a great smile spread on his face. "I want to hunt Primordial Beasts with my uncle."
"I do not need riches or fame, I just want my memories back and to make my uncle proud. If I can have these two things, then I will live a happy life," Xue Wei said as he sighed and laid back on the grass while looking up at the blue cotton clouds that were drifting by.
"What about you?" he turned to lay on the side and looked at Wang Xiaoyun. "What do you want with your life?"
Chapter 24 - Masked Experts
Wang Xiaoyun was quiet for some time, pondering the question. "I don't know," she said after careful consideration.
"I have no real goal in life. I obviously want to become a great Primordial Beast Hunter and bring fame and honor to my family, but other than that I have no wishes."
"Perhaps I was waiting for the knight in shining armor riding the white horse to appear in front of me," she sighed. Just as she had spoken, Xue Wei raised an eyebrow and laughed. "do you want me to find a white horse to be eligible for your love?" he asked teasingly, but Wang Xiaoyun just snickered. "I would love to see you on a horse, I wonder if you are even able to stay seated on one!"
"I will let you know that horseback riding is not needed." Xue Wei grinned back, the two of them teasing one another. "We are cultivators. We can ride mortal horses, but they are not very fast. As soon as we become Earth Warriors, our speed will outstrip them, but until then a few people will ride horses I guess."
"Also, it is much more impressive to come riding on a Fierce Beast than any mortal horse. Why don't you imagine your hero on some sort of Fierce Beast rather than a white horse?"
Xue Wei was teasing Wang Xiaoyun, and both of them laughed. It did not take long before Wang Xiaoyun also laid down and allowed for the soft green grass in the park to act as a comfortable blanket.
Xue Wei and Wang Xiaoyun smiled at one another. They talked about random things, but neither approached the topic that made them the most worried.
The rest of the day was spent in bliss for the two; they spent a long time on the grass in the park just talking with one another, and the rest of the day was spent strolling the bustling city's busy streets.
"Are you available tomorrow?" Xue Wei asked hesitatingly as they were about to part. It was once again dark, and it was clear that Wang Xiaoyun had to return to the Wayfarers' caravan as soon as possible, but neither of them wished to be away from one another.
Wang Xiaoyun nodded her head and said nothing. She knew that he wanted to spend more time with her, but she was also aware that it was not possible for the two of them to be together. She was after all a Wayfarer, and he was not.
Wayfarers married other Wayfarers to ensure that their bloodline was as powerful as possible. Although the Wayfarers seemed few and far between, there were more than a million of them. Every ten years, all Wayfarers would gather to hold a celebration, and this was the location where most of them would get married.
Watching Xue Wei vanish into the distance, Wang Xiaoyun shook her head. "Still, I cannot stop myself from loving him," she sighed, but the moment she had said that a cackling sound came from just beside her, shocking her deeply and causing her to tremble.
The cackling sound was Grandma Meng. "Young one, sometimes tradition is not everything," she said half seriously, half laughing. "Others have left the Wayfarer community before for the sake of marrying normal people."
"But grandma, I am the young miss of this tribe. If I leave, who will take over? Father only has me as a child," she interjected, but she could feel how her voice was weak and her eyes darted away.
She was tempted to give up the life of a Wayfarer and live a casual and carefree life together with Xue Wei, but her family ties had made her feel torn, and ultimately she knew that she could not let her parents and family down.
Even though she had fallen in love, love was one thing but responsibility was another. She could not shy away from her duty as the young miss of the Wayfarer caravan, and thus her only option was to give up on love.
"Well, don't worry too much," Grandma Meng smiled, but her smile contained a trace of pity. "Why don't you just look forward to tomorrow and make sure to enjoy yourself as long as it lasts? I am sure that this young man is not stupid. He would never ask you to give up your family for his sake."
Just as Grandma Meng was about to leave, another shadow appeared in front of the two women. This time, it was the seventeen-year-old boy who had been seen earlier this morning trying to hold back Wang Xiaoyun from going with Xue Wei.
"Finally back?" he asked, his voice cold and his eyes dark with anger. "What does it matter to you?" Wang Xiaoyun asked defiantly while turning around to leave, but the young man caught her by the wrist again and started scolding her.
"I might not be your real brother, but I have seen you grow up. What do you think you are doing, throwing away all honor and good name that we Wayfarers have by running around chasing that guy everywhere?"
"Did you not know, he was considered trash for so long. It is as if this City itself is incapable of getting past the surprise that he is not scum of society, but you, you just throw yourself in his arms, lay down in the park to chat with him and send him long glances as if the world revolves around him."
"This is truly not acceptable. Your father is not here, but he would ground you if he were!"
Hearing the scolding, Wang Xiaoyun's face turned paler and paler with each passing word. She started trembling with anger and did everything in her power to drag her arm back, but no matter what she tried, it didn’t help. The boy in front of her was a real Wayfarer, and one who had had his bloodline activated more than a year ago. He was by now an Earth Warrior of the seventh layer, and he was many times stronger than the woman in front of him.
Wang Xiaoyun's face contorted, and she sneered back at him, "You are not my father, and as you said, you are not my older brother. Who do you think you are telling me what I can and cannot do?"
Her words were dripping with anger. "Father might have adopted you when your own family died fighting the beasts, but you and I are not siblings. If what I do annoys you, then look the other way!"
Having said this, she ripped her hand to herself, turned around, and left the young man standing where he was. His eyes were filled with complex and mixed emotions.
"To think that a random young man suddenly is worth more to her than I am," he mumbled to himself, and a slight killing intent flashed in his eyes.
Wang Xiaoyun rushed back to her caravan where she went to sleep, half depressed and half elated. "I know that I cannot stay like this, but just one more day together with him would not be bad."
Thinking like this, Wang Xiaoyun drifted off to sleep. While she was sleeping, Xue Wei was busy training under the moon. He dared not enter the bathtub with his herbal concoction because he knew that it meant that he would be in a trance-like state for an extended period of time, and then he would not be able to accompany Wang Xiaoyun.
Since this was the case, all he did was some ordinary cultivation. He would train his abilities until he ran out of Qi, and then he would restore his Qi through cultivating his Azure Dragon Scripture.
The night went by and the morning arrived. Xue Wei once more went to get Wang Xiaoyun, and this time she was waiting for him on the outskirts of the caravan.
The two were in their own worlds. They were smiling and having fun, but they did not realize that more and more people noticed them.
Xue Wei had always stood out. Everyone knew who he was, and seeing him together with this unknown girl caught people with curiosity. There w
as a chance that she would become his wife and thus be related to the famous Xiao Lei. As a result, people tried to find out who she was, and it was not hard to figure out that since this unknown girl had appeared at the same time as the Wayfarers, she was most likely one of them.
The more skilled ones realized that Wang Xiaoyun was the young miss of the entire Wayfarer caravan, and they figuratively leaned back, preparing to be entertained. Everyone knew that Wayfarers only married other Wayfarers, so at some point, the older generation would separate them and their emotions.
At the same time, Xue Wei was not very liked in the city, and he had even crippled the sons of the He and Jia families, so it was likely that he would be able to create some problems for the Wayfarers as well.
