BW Extra 2

Later (2)

In the southeast of Zhongzhou, along the Endless riverbank, at Chengyun Tavern.

As soon as the black-robed young man entered, the bustling and noisy hall fell silent for a moment. Countless gazes gathered on his face, and some even momentarily lost their composure. Then a powerful aura spread out from the young man’s body, causing those curious and amazed looks to instantly vanish without a trace, no longer daring to offend in the slightest.

To be fair, this young man possessed an extremely handsome appearance, especially those beautiful phoenix eyes that seemed almost unreal. When he looked over coldly, they carried an intense sense of oppression. However, he often wore a smile, as if ice and snow instantly melted away, unconsciously bringing forth the joy and brightness of youth, making people can’t help but feel drawn to him.

The young man wore a crisp black outfit, and after spreading his arrogant and domineering aura, he leisurely went upstairs.

“Xiao Shan! Over here!” A clear girl’s voice came from the corner.

Ge Yunxi was happily waving at him.

The little dumpling who had been about the same age as him back then had now grown into a beautiful and radiant girl. When she saw him, her eyes seemed to be filled with stars.

Ning Xiu smiled and strode over. He was immediately embraced around the neck and dragged into the private room. “You rascal Chu Xiao Shan, you’ve left us hanging for half a month. Tell us! What have you been secretly up to!”

Xie Changming, relying on being older and taller than him, tried to intimidate him, but was easily pushed away. Ning Xiu laughed and said, “Guess.”

Ge Yunyang pulled back his little sister and stared at Ning Xiu with vigilance and wariness. He said irritably, “What’s there to guess? You must have been bewitched by some female cultivator and got entangled.”

“Brother!” Ge Yunxi angrily punched him. “Don’t talk about Xiao Shan like that!”

Ge Yunyang rolled his eyes.

Ning Xiu scanned the room and asked, “Where’s Big Brother Chang’an?”

“He went to the nearby Brocade Clothes Pavilion to get his ceremonial robes. It’s been a whole hour, why hasn’t he come back yet?” Xie Changming leaned out the window to look.

Ning Xiu picked up a teacup from the table and took a sip, teasing, “He must have gotten lost again.”

Xie Changming wailed, and Ge Yunyang walked to the door and opened it. “Forget it, I’ll go find—”

“Find what?” The sword-carrying young man stood at the door with an unpleasant expression, his deep brows and eyes still tinged with a trace of anxiety. Only when his gaze swept over a certain person behind Ge Yunyang did he imperceptibly breathe a sigh of relief.

“Big Brother Chang’an, you’re back.” Ge Yunyang smiled sheepishly and decisively deflected trouble. “It was Ning Xiu who said you got lost again!”

Ning Xiu hadn’t finished swallowing his water when someone grabbed his face. Xie Chang’an stared at him ominously, his tone carrying a threat, “Ning… Xiao… Shan?”

“Chu Xiao Shan.” Ning Xiu seriously corrected him. “Not Chu Xiu, not Cui Xiu, and not Ning Shan, but Ning Xiu.”

Xie Chang’an irritably let go of his hand. “I’ll call you whatever I want. What have you been doing this half month? You don’t reply to messages and don’t accept transmission talismans!”

“This!” Ning Xiu pulled out a dirty stone from his sleeve, and several barrier spells fell down with clanging sounds. He lowered his voice and said, “I know where the Fentian Stone is.”

The several young men in the room immediately fell silent. Xie Changming closed the window and said excitedly, “So does this mean we can enter the Wandering Dragon Secret Realm?”

“But even though the Fentian Stone can open the Wandering Dragon Secret Realm, we still don’t know which direction the Wanxuan Academy team is in!” Ge Yunxi said glumly.

“That’s easy.” Ning Xiu pulled out a stack of positioning talisman papers from his sleeve. “My big brother’s positioning talisman papers.”

“Lord Chengping gave you so many?” Ge Yunyang exclaimed in amazement.

“My big brother has always doted on me, and he’s the easiest to talk to.” Ning Xiu smiled slyly. “In at most three days, we’ll be able to enter the secret realm and find the Wanhua Pagoda that Shen San and the others mentioned.”

“The Fentian Stone is the Shen family’s secret treasure. Where did you get it?” Xie Chang’an looked at him suspiciously.

Ning Xiu’s eyebrow twitched slightly. “Young Master Shen Jingxue of the Shen family loves listening to story books the most. I told him stories for half a month, and he was in such a good mood that he gave me a small piece.”

“…………” Xie Chang’an said quietly, “You didn’t tell him about your father and dad, did you?”

Ning Xiu smiled slightly. “Who told Young Master Shen to love listening to them.”

Xie Chang’an said disapprovingly, “That Shen Jingxue is famously stupid, and yet you still rush to curry favor with him.”

“Xiao Shan endured humiliation for the greater plan.” Xie Changming patted Ning Xiu’s shoulder. “To be able to make that spoiled brat happy, brother respects you as a real man.”

Ning Xiu said, “Actually, he’s quite a nice person.”

Xie Chang’an snorted coldly.

“That Shen San is Young Master Shen’s cousin. If we run into him in the Wandering Dragon Secret Realm, do we still beat him up or not?” Ge Yunyang asked.

“Of course we beat him up.” Ning Xiu’s expression darkened. “If it weren’t for the fact that his aunt is Sect Master Shen of Wushi Sect, I would have chopped him up with one blade long ago.”

“Your fourth and fifth brothers broke one of his arms and one of his legs last time. Now Shen San doesn’t even dare to leave his house. I think the chance of running into him is very small.” Xie Changming bumped his shoulder. “Didn’t your second sister say she wouldn’t pursue it anymore?”

“My second sister is magnanimous, but I’m not magnanimous.” Ning Xiu said, “You all go wait for me at the secret realm entrance first. I have something to attend to at home.”

Xie Chang’an pressed down on his shoulder. “Is your father calling you back or your dad calling you back?”

“Don’t worry, it’s my father.” Ning Xiu stood up and left the Fentian Stone with them. “See you in three days.”

The young man came and went like a gust of wind, disappearing in the blink of an eye. Xie Chang’an stood at the window watching his retreating figure disappear. Xie Changming teasingly nudged his arm. “Brother, weren’t the ceremonial robes you went to get meant to be given to Xiao Shan? Why didn’t you give them to him?”

Xie Chang’an glared at him irritably, then grabbed the long sword from the table. “You all go wait at the secret realm first. I’ll go and come back.”

“Big Brother Chang’an, where are you going?” Ge Yunyang shouted after him.

Xie Changming pursed his lips and said sourly, “Where else could he go? He’s definitely chasing after Xiao Shan. Really don’t know who’s his real little brother.”

Ge Yunxi pressed her lips together and said uneasily, “Demon Lord Ning calling Xiao Shan back, it wouldn’t be because of Shen San’s matter, would it?”

“Who told that bastard Shen San to deceive Fairy Yizheng? He deserved it.” Ge Yunyang felt deeply sympathetic. “If someone dared to deceive you like that, breaking one of his legs would be getting off easy.”

Xie Changming spread his hands. “That idiot Shen San, he could have provoked anyone, but he had to provoke the Ning family’s second young lady. Which of Fairy Yizheng’s brothers is a pushover? How miserable.”

“Big Brother Chang’an has never gotten along with Cui Yuanbai. Going to Chen City, won’t he be at a disadvantage?” Ge Yunxi looked worried.

“With Xiao Shan there, they probably won’t fight.” Xie Changming thought of Ning Xiu’s fourth brother, who looked refined and scholarly but was actually incredibly good at fighting, and couldn’t help touching his own leg.

Really loving to break other people’s legs was a terrifying bad habit.

****

When Ning Xiu returned to Chen City, it was just evening.

Large patches of soft, pale orange slowly spread across the horizon, coating the entire Chen City in a gentle glow. Ning Xiu passed through the bustling long street, winding around until he reached a deserted small alley. He looked up at the high wall and with a running start, easily grabbed onto the top of the wall.

He didn’t use spiritual power, didn’t break the barriers, and wouldn’t alarm anyone.

Perfect.

As a result, when he raised his head, he met the gaze of Long Jin, who was sitting on a tree branch slowly gnawing on a chicken leg. He wore an extremely flashy golden robe, and his handsome face still had a few sesame seeds on it. He flashed Ning Xiu a malicious smile.

Long Jin, nickname Little Black, the fifth young master of the Ning residence, still firmly believed to this day that his family members were all a group of black dragons who refused to reveal their true forms. Besides eating, his greatest interest was causing trouble for his sixth brother.

“Fifth Brother.” Ning Xiu smiled sheepishly and with a twist of his wrist, crouched on top of the wall.

Long Jin finished sucking on the bone in his hand and smiled. “Xiao Shan, you’re back.”

Ning Xiu pulled out a roasted chicken from his sleeve, his gaze sincere. “I brought this for Fifth Brother, freshly roasted from Chengyun Tavern.”

Long Jin nodded with satisfaction, flew to the top of the wall to crouch with him, picked up the roasted chicken and smelled it, satisfied. “Fifth Brother didn’t love you for nothing.”

Ning Xiu looked at him suspiciously. “Fifth Brother, you’re eating here?”

Long Jin nodded and smiled. “I got into a fight with Fourth Brother and he kicked me out. He said if he sees a single dragon scale in the residence within three days, he’ll strip out my dragon tendons to make a belt.”

“…………” Ning Xiu turned and ran, but was immediately grabbed by the collar. An ominous voice came from behind him:

“Xiao Shan, where are you going?”

Ning Xiu slowly turned around and saw Cui Yuanbai staring at him expressionlessly.

“Fourth Brother.” Ning Xiu smiled obediently.

Cui Yuanbai stood on his blade and lifted both of them down from the wall, one in each hand.

Cui Yuanbai looked thin and scholarly, born with a delicate and harmless appearance, but probably influenced by the Purple Flame Knife, his temper was fierce and explosive. His broad blade had a formidable reputation, and few people in the seventeen states dared to provoke him.

Little Black wailed as he was grabbed by the ear. “Fourth Brother! Huanhuan! I was wrong, I was wrong! I’ll never dare again, I really didn’t mean to use your blade to scrape scales—”

“I think you don’t need those scales anyway.” Cui Yuanbai grabbed the dragon horns that popped out. “Might as well chop them off and make soup for Dad.”

Such a cruel statement shocked the dragon. Little Black couldn’t care about his golden robe anymore and hugged his waist, refusing to let go. “If you don’t let go, I’ll breathe fire!”

“I’d like to see whether your dragon breath is faster or my Purple Flame True Fire is faster!”

“Why must we two dragon brothers kill each other!?”

“Idiot, I’ve told you I’m a blade!”

“You can’t be jealous of my pure black beautiful dragon just because you’re a tabby dragon!”

“Stupid dragon, today I’ll strip your tendons!”

While they were arguing, Ning Xiu quietly slipped into the corridor beside them, gracefully brushed off the leaves that had stuck to his sleeves, and after winding around, reached the main hall. From a distance, he could hear the voices of Ning Buwei and Chu Jun coming from inside.

Ning Xiu pondered for a moment, threw a breath-concealing talisman on himself, silently jumped onto the roof, and lifted up a roof tile.

A clean handkerchief was timely handed to him. Ning Xiu took it and wiped his hands. Halfway through wiping, he suddenly froze in place. He slowly turned his head and saw Ning Buwei sitting beside him with a fake smile, staring at him.

“Father.” Ning Xiu innocently blinked his eyes and showed an obedient smile.