Chapter Sixteen: Rumors of the Martial World

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Shi Fei said, "Actually, you had a perfect solution from the start."

His words carried a strange magic. Li Xunhuan put down his wine flask and looked at Shi Fei.

He wanted to see what insight Shi Fei had.

Could there really be a choice that satisfied everyone?

"Would you sacrifice everything for her?" Shi Fei asked.

Li Xunhuan didn’t ask who "her" was; he simply nodded.

Shi Fei continued, "Even your life and honor?"

Li Xunhuan nodded seriously. For "her," he could do anything.

Retreat from the martial world, squander his fortune, even give away the ancestral home.

Shi Fei sighed and said, "You should have married them both from the start, wouldn’t that have been better?"

"What?" Li Xunhuan was stunned, thinking he had misheard.

Who were "they"?

Shi Fei repeated, "If you had married Long Xiaoyun and Lin Shiyin together, none of this would have happened."

Li Xunhuan felt as if struck by lightning.

"A man… how could a man marry a man?" He thought Shi Fei was joking.

"Indeed, it’s impossible!" Shi Fei nodded. "But who said Li Xunhuan wasn’t a pervert? He likes not only women but men as well."

"He excels at all pleasures—drinking, eating, gambling, and womanizing. He admires the handsome and gallant Long Xiaoyun, but Long Xiaoyun is a true man of honor; how could he ever submit to Li Xunhuan’s tyranny?"

"So, Li Xunhuan sent his fiancée Lin Shiyin to lure Long Xiaoyun."

"What Li Xunhuan never expected was that Lin Shiyin and Long Xiaoyun fell in love at first sight. After many trials, they overcame Li Xunhuan and drove him beyond the border."

"Do you think this rumor in the martial world is believable?"

Li Xunhuan was dumbfounded and couldn’t help but ask, "Is there really such a rumor?"

It wasn’t that he refused to believe it, but Shi Fei told it with such detail that he couldn’t help but doubt whether he really was as the rumor said.

Shi Fei said, "It didn’t exist before, but now it does."

Li Xunhuan asked, "Why?"

Shi Fei didn’t answer directly but continued, "Now, ten years have passed. Li Xunhuan has been training his divine skills beyond the border, mastering them fully. He is a gallant scholar of great renown, a favored son of heaven. He cannot accept his defeat!"

"He wants to return inside the border and reclaim everything that belongs to him!"

"He doesn’t care about those things for their own sake, but to tell everyone in the martial world that what he lost, he will take back with his own hands!"

"The Li family, Lin Shiyin, Long Xiaoyun… he wants them all!"

"Ten years have passed, and Li Xunhuan returns inside the border once more!"

"What do you think of this rumor?"

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As he spoke, he drank, quickly finishing a flask of wine.

Li Xunhuan listened, half amused, half incredulous. "This time I enter the border…"

This time, he was entering simply because he couldn’t forget the one in his heart, just to have a look.

Just a pure look.

He found Shi Fei’s idea strange—not like a fool but like a clever man.

Shi Fei asked in return, "Do you think marrying both of them back then would be worse than now?"

Li Xunhuan was stunned again.

He would sacrifice personal honor but could have all three living together. That wouldn’t be worse.

But…

"Too absurd!" He shook his head.

Indeed absurd—Li Xunhuan marrying a woman and a man.

The man loved the woman, and the woman loved Li Xunhuan.

How utterly absurd!

Shi Fei just said, "Your father was a top scholar, your grandfather as well. The Li family holds government positions; naturally, you know this is not as absurd as it seems."

A man loving a man isn’t just accepted in officialdom; it’s considered refined.

The absurdities in official circles, men and women alike, far surpass those in the martial world by a hundredfold.

What Shi Fei proposed was not as absurd compared to the officials.

It could only be described as very much a man of official descent.

Li Xunhuan shook his head again. Marrying a man was truly beyond his limits.

Shi Fei grabbed another flask and said, "Since you don’t object, I’ll prepare to do just that."

Li Xunhuan smiled, "Friend, how do you plan to do that?"

He thought Shi Fei was joking, just a youth dressed simply.

Young people drunk often speak nonsense.

But he underestimated Shi Fei and Shi Fei’s sincere friendship.

Shi Fei thought for a moment, looked at Li Xunhuan, and said, "You’re too weak now, too lacking in grandeur."

"The carriage you travel in should be drawn by eight white horses, each entirely white from head to hoof without a single speck."

"Your entourage shouldn’t be an old, shabby man!"

A cold snort came from outside the carriage—that was the driver.

"But a world-renowned master. Such masters are few; even one will do. He will bring you wealth and power."

"At the same time, he will solve your troubles!"

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Li Xunhuan felt Shi Fei’s words sounded more and more like drunken ramblings. He said, "Is that person you?"

"No!" Shi Fei shook his head. "That person isn’t me; it’s Shangguan Jinhong!"

"Shangguan Jinhong?" Li Xunhuan asked, "The one who ranks second on the Weapon List with the Dragon and Phoenix Rings?"

Shi Fei continued, "Rumors say Shangguan Jinhong is ambitious, planning to create the Money Gang to dominate the world."

"But when he met Li Xunhuan, he admired him greatly and became Li Xunhuan’s top henchman."

"Once you meet Xunhuan, you ruin your life!"

Li Xunhuan spat out a mouthful of wine and started coughing.

He didn’t know if it was from laughter or genuine coughing.

Shi Fei drank and spoke drunkenly, his words becoming more rousing, uncertain if they were nonsense or truth:

"Only this way can you bring the power of the martial world to your ancestral home, slap Lin Shiyin and Long Xiaoyun in the face, and show them they chose wrongly back then."

"Only such a domineering Li Xunhuan can reclaim everything that belongs to him."

"Fame and women, he wants them all!"

After coughing, Li Xunhuan said, "For the first time, I think alcohol is not a good thing!"

Because some people speak nonsense after drinking.

It’s normal for friends to boast when drunk.

Some even think they are the greatest under heaven.

Shi Fei was definitely drunk—intoxicated not just by wine but by his own feelings.

In a flash, he thought of Qingqing. Although he had spent a lifetime with her in dreams, why was he always filled with melancholy?

Why couldn’t he remember what Qingqing looked like?

Dreams are still just dreams; the more beautiful the dream, the emptier he felt.

In this moment, he decided to live differently.

He could not and would not leave melancholy to himself.

He feared sorrow and emptiness, so he wanted to keep joy for himself!

The wine was soon finished. Li Xunhuan drank one flask, Shi Fei three.

No wine could withstand such drinking.

Fortunately, they arrived at a small town.

There was naturally wine for sale there.

The inns in the town were never large, but now crowded with travelers trapped by wind and snow, making the place especially bustling and lively.