Silence fell over the courtyard in an instant. Every gaze was locked onto Jiang Moran. His eyebrows rose slightly, completely unbothered by the eyes fixed on him, as calm as if he were merely watching an entertaining farce.
Even the annoyance of being rudely awakened was smoothed away a bit.
For some reason, when Li Yu'er saw Jiang Moran leaning against the doorframe, her heart sank unaccountably.
It felt as though something terrible would happen if he found out what had just transpired...
“Good morning, Young Master. Did you sleep soundly last night?” Suppressing her inner unease, Li Yu'er forced a gentle smile and asked.
“Thanks to your care, I slept very well.”
Hearing his casual response, the tightly strung tension in her heart relaxed slightly. He was still as carefree and idle as ever.
Unfortunately, that so-called peace was completely shattered in the very next instant.
“This... young master?”
The young man's gaze swept over Jiang Moran. A tattered black robe draped across his frame, completely concealing his posture. Aside from a handsome face that carried a habitual laziness, there was nothing impressive about him. In an instant, disdain spread across the young man's eyes.
“Hahaha! This is the so-called young master you were talking about?” The young man sneered, making no attempt to hide his ridicule.
“Alright then, my good young master, I find your maidservant quite pleasing to the eye. Name a price, and I'll buy her!”
Ning Qingzhu felt her heart tighten. Although she believed her young master would not abandon her just like that, she did not dare to gamble...
The young girl could only purse her lips in silence, keeping her head lowered while stealing occasional glances at him.
Listening to his words, Jiang Moran scoffed in his mind. Just as he was about to make a playful retort, he felt a sudden tug on his senses. He tilted his head slightly and met the girl's timid gaze.
And with that single glance, he clearly saw her newly reddened eyes and the faint bite mark on her lower lip.
In an instant, he recalled the young man's earlier words and combined them with the scene he had witnessed upon stepping outside.
The lazy smile on his lips faded away.
The lingering drowsiness vanished from his eyes, replaced by a deep, pitch-black silence.
The moment Li Yu'er met his gaze, her heart stopped for a beat. It felt as though a massive hand were squeezing her chest, leaving her unable to breathe.
That trace of unease transformed into pure terror, creeping back into her heart and completely taking over. The atmosphere froze instantly, a heavy chill pressing down on everyone present.
The young man, who had been arrogant and overbearing just a moment ago, swallowed hard. The man before him was no longer leaning against the doorframe; he merely stood where he was, yet an earth-shattering shift had occurred. He seemed like a god of slaughter, saturating the air with a suffocating intent to kill!
Time seemed to stand still, ticking away second by agonizing second.
Finally, Second Madam Li could no longer endure the suffocating pressure. She was the first to break this bizarre silence.
“This is the Li Residence, not a place for you to act so brazenly!” She tried her best to maintain a calm expression, but her trembling voice betrayed her. She was terrified.
Jiang Moran did not spare her even a single glance. Instead, he uttered a sentence devoid of all emotion—whether to the young man, Second Madam Li, or everyone present:
“I need an explanation.”
Li Yu'er felt an overwhelming wave of dread. Unlike the arrogant mother and son, she sensed just how terrifying the man before her was. Even Mo Laodao, whom she had met two days prior, did not project a tenth of the pressure this man exerted!
She hurriedly stepped forward, wanting to explain: “Young Master...”
“I said...”
“I need an explanation.”
Jiang Moran cut her off, his tone dripping with ice. His patience was running out.
An explanation? What explanation could there be? That her brother had taken a liking to the maidservant? That he wanted to force her into his bed? A bitter smile touched Li Yu'er's lips; she had nothing to say in defense of this.
Having received no answer for so long, Jiang Moran's patience finally expired.
Perhaps sensing this, the young man suddenly yelled at the top of his lungs, “Guards! Help—”
“Assassins!!”
Jiang Moran watched his performance silently, his eyes cold and devoid of emotion, like someone watching an ant struggle in vain.
Strangely enough, despite the Li Residence usually being heavily guarded, no one responded to his cries. Not a single person came to investigate.
The household guards and the secret experts hiding in the shadows had all vanished...
Tap, tap, tap.
Crisp footsteps sounded from outside, approaching at an unhurried, measured pace.
A figure in long white robes came into everyone's view, speckled with spots of blood that looked like plum blossoms blooming in snow.
The long sword in the newcomer's hand pointed toward the ground, stained with blood that dripped continuously from its tip. A metallic stench of blood rapidly spread through the courtyard.
Fengqingzi!
Li Yu'er's pupils shrank sharply. Seeing the bloodied blade in his hand, her heart sank straight to the bottom.
No wonder the residence was so quiet. Everyone had already been dealt with...
Color drained completely from her face, leaving behind only a pale, bitter smile. Crushed under the mounting pressures, any hope of survival for the current Li Family had grown utterly slim.
Fengqingzi paid no mind to their reactions. He only wanted to fulfill his promise as quickly as possible and leave.
His sharp gaze swept across everyone in the courtyard. When his eyes landed on Jiang Moran, his pupils vibrated slightly. That pitch-black robe stirred memories of the auction.
Fengqingzi's heart trembled.
It's way too familiar. He looks identical to that black-robed man.
Impossible. How could that person be here? He desperately tried to reject the thought.
But when his gaze shifted to the young girl nearby, his anxious heart died completely. At this moment, he realized he might be finished today.
Yet from start to finish, Jiang Moran did not give anyone else a single look. His patience completely exhausted, his body darted forward like a phantom.
“So fast!”
Just like last time, Fengqingzi only managed to catch a blurry afterimage. By the time he reacted, Jiang Moran was already standing beside the second young master.
As he raised a foot and kicked, a crisp crack echoed from the knee.
The second young master's eyes bulged in utter horror. His lower leg twisted at a bizarre angle, and the agonizing pain forced a bloodcurdling scream from his throat.
“AAAAAH! My leg!!”
“Mother! My leg!!”
He curled up on the ground in agony, tears and snot streaming down his face as his hands clutched helplessly at his mangled leg.
“My son!!” Second Madam Li shrieked in grief and despair. Her eyes locked onto the culprit with pure venom, and she lunged at him recklessly.
Jiang Moran did not dodge, merely casting a faint glance at her.
A wave of bone-chilling coldness surged from the soles of her feet, spreading through her whole body in an instant. Second Madam Li's fury vanished instantly, freezing her dead in her tracks.
She did not doubt for a moment that he would actually kill her...
The thought exploded in her mind like a bolt of lightning, and terror instantly seized control.
Crack!
Jiang Moran stepped onto the joint of the other leg and ground down forcefully, shattering the bone completely.
The second young master let out a raspy scream, trembling violently, so overwhelmed by pain that he could no longer articulate words.
But Jiang Moran had no intention of letting him off so easily.
He shifted his foot slightly forward, landing firmly on the thigh, and ground down once more under everyone's terrified gazes.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Li Yu'er's face was utterly drained of blood, her entire body trembling at the sight before her. The gruesome, brutal scene hammered relentlessly at her nerves, making her feel for a brief moment that death itself might not be so bad.
This man was far more terrifying than she had ever imagined...
Everyone present could only watch helplessly as the second young master's bones were ground to splinters step by step, the crisp snapping sounds echoing continuously in their ears.
With every snap, the hearts of those watching shuddered in horror.
When the final stomp landed, not a single bone in the second young master's body remained intact save for his skull. His body slumped like a puddle of liquid.
His eyes overflowed with indelible horror and despair.
Did he regret it? He wished he could go back and kill his past self for being overcome by lust. If he hadn't, perhaps he would still be the second young master now, instead of a dying dog lying on the ground.
He felt intense hatred, intense regret.
As for hating Jiang Moran? He didn't dare.
The face of this devil had been burned into his mind, impossible to erase even through endless cycles of reincarnation.
The foot resting on his body moved again, landing squarely on the second young master's head. Second Madam Li's body shuddered violently.
She had already realized what was coming.
“No... don't!” she shrieked hysterically.
Yet whatever she did was useless.
Crunch—
Blood splattered in all directions, red and white matter bursting across the ground. A few drops of warm red splashed onto Second Madam Li's cheek.
From that moment on, the Li Residence no longer had a second young master—only a headless corpse.
Jiang Moran finished calmly, his face showing not even half a shred of mercy. He wiped the sole of his shoe against the corpse, as composed as though he had merely crushed an ant.
Second Madam Li had fainted. Jiang Moran couldn't be bothered to care about her.
The pressure now fell on Fengqingzi.
When those emotionless eyes shifted to him, Fengqingzi felt his scalp go completely numb.
At this moment, he was the only one who truly understood how the second young master felt.
Even with a sword in hand, he didn't dare entertain a single thought of resistance. In all his years wandering the jianghu, this was the first time anyone had ever exerted such suffocating pressure on him...
“I'm in a bad mood today. You wouldn't want to come all this way for nothing, would you?”
The corner of Fengqingzi's eye twitched slightly. He knew he had to leave something behind today.
Just what that “something” was depended entirely on him.
If it lacked enough weight, his life would end right here...
At that thought, Fengqingzi gritted his teeth, steeled his heart, and pulled two items from his robes.
One was a withered stalk of medicinal herb.
The other looked familiar—it was the parchment scroll that had appeared at the auction.
“Senior, I hope these two items can brighten your mood,” Fengqingzi said earnestly, though his eyes brimmed with irrepressible heartache.
After all, both of these items were priceless treasures!
Jiang Moran raised an eyebrow, snatched them from his hands, and glanced over them. I didn't misjudge after all, he thought to himself.
The withered herb was called Dragon Blood Grass. Despite its grand name, it wasn't nourished by actual dragon blood, but rather by the blood of injured wild beasts in the mountains.
Consuming it could boost one's vitality, thereby strengthening the constitution and conferring immunity to all sicknesses.
As for the other item, he tossed it casually to the young girl beside him. Treasure maps and the like were always the most troublesome.
What a piece of garbage. I'd actually have to go look for it myself.
He barely found these two items acceptable, but it was clear that Fengqingzi hadn't tried to pull a fast one on him, showing at least some sincerity.
He waved his hand dismissively. “You can scram.”
These humiliating words filled Fengqingzi with joy. He cupped his hands repeatedly in thanks. “Thank you, Senior! May fate bring us together again!”
With those words, he did not tarry for a second, leaping several times before vanishing over the courtyard wall, moving as fast as if he were fleeing a ferocious monster.
Jiang Moran watched him leave, speechless. Why run so fast? "May fate bring us together again"? If we ever happen to meet by fate, you'd probably run so fast we'd become strangers.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, Fengqingzi suddenly jumped back down from the wall, his face looking as foul as if he had swallowed a fly.
Jiang Moran looked at him, slightly perplexed. Did I misjudge this guy?
Before he could ponder further, a loud shout rang out from outside the residence.
“Master Li, please open the doors! The Patrol Bureau has official business to conduct!”
...
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