As soon as Xue Wei left the house, he felt his senses tingling. He spread out his perception and sensed that a rather substantial number of experts were trailing him.
Looking around, Xue Wei found that there were a lot of people walking on the streets again, yet none of them dared to get close to him. All of them looked at him with fear evident in their many eyes.
It was clear that everyone knew that Xue Wei had killed the Baili members without even showing the slightest hint of mercy. This was frightening and something that they could not accept with their views on murder.
Those who previously had looked down upon him, or bad-mouthed him and his friends for being show-offs from another continent did not even dare to look him in the eye.
“This is troublesome,” Xue Wei sighed. “They will not come out and drag me away in front of all these people.” As he mused to himself, Xue Wei was starting to walk towards the forbidden area again.
The forbidden area was the best place to fight without being noticed. Not many went there, and it was quiet; it was the ideal place for a confrontation.
From what Xue Wei had sensed when spreading out his perception, he could tell the experts were all stronger than him, though most likely it was only a batch of Sky Knights that had been sent out.
Even if Xue Wei were capable of killing one Sky Knight that specialized in spiritual energy, it would become difficult when there were multiple present. Even though he believed in his ability to escape them all on his own, he also understood that if the Baili family failed in capturing him, then they would change their tactics. There was even a possibility of them moving on Luoluo and his friends, and this thought alone was enough to make him feel bloodlust rise from within.
No one should touch his friends or family. They were his reverse scale, the one thing that could make him lose all his rationality.
As he reached the area in front of the Forbidden Area, Xue Wei stopped in his tracks and turned around, “Come out and play, wherever you are,” he called out in a whimsical tone. Not long after, the people who had followed behind him suddenly appeared out of the shadows, one after another.
So far, the people that had tried to deal with Xue Wei were all students at the academy, and their ages were not too dissimilar from Xue Wei’s, being youngsters beneath the age of twenty.
But now things were different, the people who appeared were clearly at least a decade older.
The leader of this group was different from the previous leader too. Although he walked with the same arrogant confidence as the previous leader had when they first arrived, there was a cold gleam in his eyes. This made Xue Wei understand that this man was not as naive as the other, nor did he doubt that this man would kill if need be; in fact, he had the aura of someone who had killed before.
Sensing the actual killing intent that the man exuded, Xue Wei was rather intrigued. On a continent like Yan Dalu, where murder was as frowned upon as it was, how was it that this Baili person had managed to kill before?
“Mister Xue, we have tried inviting you plenty of times, but it seems that our sincere and gracious offers have been belittled by you and even caused us to suffer some significant losses,” the leader began talking, his voice cold like ice and his eyes not showing any sincerity at all—instead a fierce expression flashed within.
“I see, I am sorry, but I did not sense such gracious sincerity earlier, perhaps you sent the wrong person to negotiate with me,” Xue Wei said mockingly. Although he planned to go with them, he was not intending to work with them, so there was no reason to try and save face.
“I do apologize for their rude behavior, but Mister Xue, you could also have been more forgiving. To directly kill the people we sent was not a very polite gesture.” The man did not lose his cool when he heard Xue Wei’s antagonistic answer; instead, he continued to speak and even turned it around so that Xue Wei was the one at fault.
Sensing that this man was in a completely different league than his previous opponents, Xue Wei felt the urge to battle boiling in his blood, but he pushed it down and forced himself to remain calm. Now was not the time to confront him.
“We are both smart people,” Xue Wei answered. “If they had not pressured me, I would not have done something so final to them either, but it seems that currently the Baili family and I are doomed to wander on opposite paths.”
“That is not certain,” the leader cut in, a smile on his face, yet a smile that did not reach his eyes which remained as icy cold as before. “Why don’t you follow me back to the Baili family to discuss the possibilities of working together? If you say no, then we have no other option than to invite your friends. I heard a little bird sing about you having a cute younger sister that would surely have a pleasant time with us.”
Hearing this man actually threatening him with Luoluo, Xue Wei’s eyes turned black with anger, and he snickered, quietly swearing that when he had reached his goal, then he would personally send this man to meet King Yama.
The man felt how the surrounding atmosphere turned colder, the temperature was dropping drastically and he was shocked.
He had killed a fair number of people before, and because of this, he had been picked for the job of fetching Xue Wei, as he would not become petrified with fear when it came to a situation where one had to kill or be killed.
But this man had clearly killed a lot fewer people than Xue Wei. Xue Wei’s killing intent, when released, was so terrifying that even the surrounding air turned colder, and many of the other Sky Knights felt as if a hand had grasped their hearts and started squeezing.
Xue Wei had to admit that he was close to giving up on his plan just to show these people that they should not threaten his family or friends, but if he did, no one knew how the Baili family would react. And if they could not handle it well, then things would become much more difficult. Xue Wei did not have the power to face the noble family on his own just yet, and he needed them to put down their guard, while also buying enough time for the Gu and Yuan families to strengthen themselves and prepare.
Taking in a deep breath, Xue Wei glanced at the leader, and even the leader felt a lingering fear after that glance, yet moments after he calmed down. He was unaware of Xue Wei’s original shape and his overwhelming benefit from being a Sovereign Beast as well as underestimating the value of him being a dual cultivator of Qi and spiritual energy, causing him to relax a lot.
In the multitudinous eyes of the Baili family’s team, there was simply no way for Xue Wei to put up any resistance against them, so although they felt the most primal feeling of fear as if it was an instinct, they did not act on this fear, and they quickly calmed down too.
Xue Wei also kept his temper in check. He could not afford to change the plan as it was now, so he had stopped the killing intent from spreading out. However, it kept roaming in his body, increasing in intensity and making him want nothing more than to chop the leader up into bits.
“So, I just have to follow you back to the Baili family, and in return, you will not touch any of my friends or family?” Xue Wei asked as if he was just now enlightened to the idea.
“Yes, follow us, and we will leave your friends and family alone. We will not even find faults with the Yuan or Gu families.” The leader was promising whatever Xue Wei wanted to hear so that they could avoid fighting.
Although the leader was capable of putting up a proper fight, the others were not as lucky. It was a very limited few who had killed others before, so for the sake of his men, the leader felt that it was better to compromise and promise that his friends and family would be safe.
“I see, in that case, let me take a trip to the Baili family with you,” Xue Wei half-growled through gritted teeth. Although things were going according to plan, he was in a foul mood and still wished for nothing more than to transform and obliterate them with everything he had.
The leader released a breath of foul air. He had been on tenterhooks all the while, but listening to Xue Wei confessing that he would follow them made him feel much better.
The others also let go of their bated breaths, and then they suddenly noticed that their hands were cold but clammy after the sudden drop in temperature.
The group surrounded Xue Wei, making a human barrier around him, in an attempt to stop him from escaping.
These experts were unaware of Xue Wei’s Qi cultivation rank. That he was an Earth Knight, someone who could walk effortlessly on air and fly through the sky.
Qi cultivators could fly through air when they became Sky Warriors. Although their speed was rather limited and the distance they could fly was small, it was a skill that became more and more refined the higher one’s rank became.
These spiritual energy experts were capable of hovering in air for a very short amount of time as their body had reached the Heavenly Warrior rank, but they could never catch up with an Earth Knight.
To fly effortlessly through the air as Spiritual Energy experts, they had to be saints first, and thus the method of flying was not used much in Yan Dalu. This had caused them to forget that Xue Wei was different from them.
Xue Wei could only shake his head. They were being rather inconsistent with their actions. They had threatened him so that he would be forced to follow them, so why would he run away? And if he did want to run away, would they really be capable of stopping him?
Shaking his head, Xue Wei just followed amongst them, a small smile played on his lips but this was not a gentle smile—it was a rather ruthless one.
Although Yuan Bailong was against entering the tiger’s den, he had not considered that this might be different. Inviting a snake home for dinner was in no way a clever idea either.
As they walked through the academy, many observed Xue Wei being surrounded by the experts from the Baili family, and soon the rumors about his surrender had spread through the entire academy.
Only Yuan Bailong, Gu Bing’er, and Xue Wei’s friends knew about the truth behind it all. Even the rest of the Gu and Yuan families were currently unaware of the plan that had caused this reaction of panic amongst the other students.
Sensing that the rumors would spread to the rest of the city soon, Gu Bing’er and Yuan Bailong rushed to their respective homes to begin pacifying them by informing them of the next steps they were to make, alongside delivering all the pills that Xue Wei had created the last few days.
Xue Wei was actually taking quite a bit of a gamble. By providing the Yuan and Gu families with such a large number of outstanding pills up front, there was a chance that they would wash their hands of him, having already benefited so much and refuse to repay the kindness received.
Although he trusted in Yuan Bailong and Gu Bing’er, it was hard to say how their families would react—and the elders were the ones that wielded the most power within their families. If they could not be swayed, it would become problematic.
Thinking like this, Xue Wei’s brows furrowed slightly, but he was not too worried. If he was not saved after the time limit was up, then he would transform and force his way out of the prison anyway. When it came down to it, they were unaware of his Azure Dragon shape, and it should be able to crush any prison to pieces.