Chapter 194: Vermilion Bird Displays Might

Chapter 194: The Vermilion Bird Shows Its Might

“Let me tell you…” Xia Chichi leaned in, her voice dripping with secrecy: “That old woman may be thick-skinned, but what man doesn’t prefer youth? If you’d just drop that fake reserve of a noble lady, turning your Brother Zhao into putty in your hands would be child’s play.”

Cui Yuanyang leaned back three inches: “Are you trying to set me up? Why would you ever help me scheme?”

Xia Chichi gritted her teeth in frustration, grabbed Cui Yuanyang by the collar, and hissed: “You’re the one who said our greatest enemy is that old woman, and now you’re the one guarding against me. At your age, you’re a fool in every other way, but in this, you’re sharp as a blade. What do they teach you in the Qinghe Cui clan? The art of domestic warfare?”

Cui Yuanyang struggled: “Then why would you help me?”

“Because he dares to eat that old woman, but he doesn’t dare to touch you. No matter how seductive you act, what can you do?” Xia Chichi sneered. “You little waste.”

Sounds of a scuffle came from inside the carriage.

The guards dared not eavesdrop on their mistress’s words, but they kept an ear on the commotion and immediately swarmed over: “Miss!”

Cui Yuanyang, panting, shouted from within: “Don’t come near! I won’t give in… wuwuwu…”

The guards: “…”

Inside the carriage, Xia Chichi flipped Cui Yuanyang over, straddled her, and spanked her once, then again, a thrill of delight surging through her.

*Let you act cute, let you flirt with my man, and you dare to resist!*

“Are you a little waste or not?”

Cui Yuanyang whimpered: “You’ve slept with him—compared to you, who isn’t a little waste…”

Xia Chichi: “…”

“What’s it like to sleep with a man?” Cui Yuanyang lay there, defeated, no longer struggling, and actually asked with earnest curiosity: “I’ve heard that sleeping together makes babies—why don’t you have one…”

Xia Chichi’s voice turned cool: “You fled with him for so many days, sleeping out in the wild—didn’t you ever share a bed?”

Cui Yuanyang was puzzled for a long moment before replying: “It doesn’t count unless we’re lying on the same bed under the same blanket, right? Does it have to be hatched under the covers, like a hen sitting on eggs?”

Xia Chichi finally couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

She quietly leaned down, mischievously blew a soft breath into Cui Yuanyang’s ear, and watched as the flush spread from her cheeks to her earlobes, translucent and utterly adorable.

She gave it a gentle lick.

Cui Yuanyang’s whole body trembled, tensed up, and her eyes went wide.

Xia Chichi giggled, leaned in to whisper: “Next time you see him, try that, and you’ll know…”

With a smile, she hopped out of the carriage, leaving Cui Yuanyang lying there, her mind a blank, staring into space.

Lu Ya watched her warily. Xia Chichi snorted and turned to leave.

From afar came a clear male voice: “Brother Lu, Wang has come to meet you. Traces of barbarians have been found in the territory—did you encounter anything unusual on the road?”

Lu Ya glanced at Xia Chichi again: “Thanks for your trouble, Master Wang. The journey was uneventful.”

Wang Daozhong soon appeared beside the convoy, frowning at Xia Chichi: “Who is this?”

Cui Yuanyang leaped out of the carriage, grabbed Xia Chichi’s arm, and said sweetly: “Hello, Uncle Wang.”

Seeing Cui Yuanyang’s attitude, Wang Daozhong knew there was nothing more to ask. He nodded: “The world is unsettled these days. Be careful on your way. I have urgent matters, so I won’t accompany you. Farewell.”

As an elder and the second-in-command of the Wang clan, he naturally wouldn’t lower himself to escort a young niece. Coming personally to ask was already a sign of great respect for the Cui family. But Cui Yuanyang, watching his retreating figure, gave a soft snort and muttered: “He knows the world is unsettled, yet he still throws a lavish birthday party. Hypocrite.”

Lu Ya coughed: “Watch your tongue.”

“I’m not afraid of him.” Cui Yuanyang, arm in arm with Xia Chichi, grinned: “Sister Luo, are you going to Langya too? Let’s play together then.”

*Play together? With whom, and how?* Xia Chichi was muttering to herself when suddenly every hair on her body stood on end.

The Vermilion Bird’s eyes, like lightning and stars in the distance, betrayed no emotion.

*Damn it. You didn’t come watch when I was hitting her just now, but now you show up when we’re arm in arm and laughing. All my acting was for nothing?*

“Clang!” Lu Ya’s long sword flew from its sheath. “The Vermilion Bird of the Four Symbols Sect! Protect the—”

Before he could finish, the Vermilion Bird vanished.

Lu Ya: “?”

From farther away came the sound of clashing energies and Wang Daozhong’s furious roar: “Vermilion Bird! We have no grudges—why attack me?”

The Vermilion Bird’s lazy, seductive voice drifted over: “You bullied my Yi Fire Serpent—did you think today would never come?”

“The Yi Fire Serpent didn’t lose a single hair…” A muffled grunt followed, and Wang Daozhong, apparently wounded, his voice fading: “Fine, fine—a vengeful demon… Wang will remember this!”

Zhao Changhe stood by the roadside with his hands in his sleeves, gazing at the sky burning like a sea of fire in the distance, silently mourning for Wang Daozhong.

The sudden turn of events left Lu Li unsure whether he should even rush to help before the battle seemed already over.

He was secretly alarmed. Wang Daozhong was a figure on the Earth Ranking, and though their ranks differed, they were still on the same level—yet he couldn’t hold his own against the Vermilion Bird for even a few exchanges.

This Vermilion Bird’s strength was truly terrifying. If she suddenly attacked…

Just as he was strung tight as a bowstring, the young mistress he was sworn to protect dashed out of the formation and threw herself into the arms of the man by the roadside: “Brother Zhao!”

Lu Ya: “…”

*This salary from the Cui family is impossible to earn.*

If the Vermilion Bird attacked now, would the young mistress survive?

To his horror, the Vermilion Bird really did reappear, her icy gaze fixed on the young mistress’s back.

Zhao Changhe spun around in an instant, shielding Cui Yuanyang tightly in front of him.

The Vermilion Bird glared viciously at his back. A flash of sword light—Lu Ya’s flying sword shot forward: “Vermilion Bird, bullying a young girl is no act of a hero! Your opponent is me!”

The Vermilion Bird’s gaze passed right over him, fixed on someone behind him, her voice like ice: “Your murder strategy—is it to deliver her into a man’s arms and hope she gets done to death?”

Lu Ya: “…”

“Slap!” Without even drawing a weapon, the Vermilion Bird slapped the sword aside, sending Lu Li staggering off balance, as if he were a child. “In the way!”

Then, before the Cui guards could surround her, she moved like a ghost, grabbed the woman calling herself “Luo Qi” by the scruff of the neck, and vanished into the distance.

Her scolding voice drifted back on the wind: “I’ll deal with you later, you little vixen!”

Xia Chichi’s scream followed: “This is a misunderstanding! I was the one who hit her—why didn’t you come earlier…”

Zhao Changhe looked up, watching the same posture of being carried off by the scruff that he himself had endured, his face twitching. He still couldn’t say a word.

*If the Vermilion Bird really wants to recruit me into the sect, then Chichi’s ‘old flame’ shouldn’t be punished too harshly… Maybe something good will come of it?*

Cui Yuanyang finally lifted her head from his chest, her eyes sparkling: “Brother Zhao’s first instinct was to protect me…”

Zhao Changhe glanced helplessly at the twitching Cui guards around him and sighed: “You little fool, do you have a death wish? That was the Vermilion Bird!”

“But…” Cui Yuanyang stared fixedly at his face: “With Brother Zhao standing here, I can’t see anything else.”

Zhao Changhe stood there in silence, his heart melting in an instant. All the tension, the awkwardness, the strangeness of their long separation, the discomfort of being watched by the crowd—all vanished in that moment.

Only the young girl’s eyes, like water, softer than the moon.