Chapter Seventeen: Overlord of the Martial World
In the inn’s courtyard, a dozen empty escort carts lay covered with straw mats, the mats thickly dusted with snow. Beneath the eaves to the east, a dark brown banner edged with gold hung askew, rustling in the wind. Its embroidered image—whether tiger or lion—was nearly impossible to discern under the wavering golden threads.
Stone Fei, drunken and unsteady, dismounted his carriage and immediately saw a burly man with a bristling beard step down from the front of the carriage, snorting coldly at him.
Just moments ago, Stone Fei had called him an old man.
Stone Fei naturally refused to stoop to such petty quarrels and moved towards the inn. Suddenly, he turned back and asked Li Xunhuan, “Do you have any silver?”
“I don’t have much, but enough to buy some wine,” Li Xunhuan replied knowingly, fully aware of Stone Fei’s intentions.
A drunken man entering an inn usually wasn’t there to sleep but to drink.
“Good! A friend with righteous generosity!” Stone Fei declared. “Your silver is mine, and my silver is yours!”
He staggered into the inn and slurred to the innkeeper, “Bring wine! Bring good wine! And some side dishes! Pig’s head meat—no beef, I don’t eat beef!”
The inn was divided into sleeping quarters, upper rooms, and a dining hall.
Li Xunhuan sat quietly in a corner of the dining hall, watching the drunken Stone Fei and shaking his head. A man’s true nature often revealed itself in drunkenness; and if a drunk still thought to spend money on wine, he was likely not a bad person.
The words said on the carriage were likely drunken ramblings, the wild dreams of youth.
To marry both a man and a woman simultaneously.
The man was his brother; the woman, his fiancée.
Perhaps only the young could dare to dream such impossible dreams.
The wine arrived swiftly, and Stone Fei and Li Xunhuan took turns sipping—one bowl, one sip.
Li Xunhuan drank slowly, savoring each mouthful; even a whole jug might last him three days and nights.
Stone Fei, by contrast, gulped it down in great, eager swallows, able to finish a jug in one go.
As night fell, Stone Fei noticed the bearded giant return and stand behind him, saying, “Young master, the upper room to the south has been cleared and is ready. You may rest there anytime.”
On a snowy, windy night, the inn was fully booked—this man had made an effort to secure a clean room for Li Xunhuan.
There were few things in this world that money could not buy.
Stone Fei, still drunk, said, “Just one room—how could that be enough for the three of us?”
The bearded man replied, “I’ll sleep in the carriage.”
The implication was clear: no room was prepared for Stone Fei; he was to make his own arrangements.
Stone Fei scoffed, “Oh? The two of us sleeping in one room? Two men sharing a room?”
He sighed heavily. “The rumors say Li Xunhuan is fond of both women and men. Me sleeping with him in the same room would be inappropriate! I must think of my own honor!”
The bearded man glared at Stone Fei, anger flashing in his eyes. He had endured Stone Fei’s nonsense all along the way; now hearing it outright was infuriating.
Li Xunhuan looked at the drunken Stone Fei, both amused and exasperated, and said, “Then you sleep in the room. I’ll sleep in the carriage.”
Stone Fei was momentarily stunned. The only one who had ever treated him so well before was Qingqing.
Qingqing’s affection was love; Li Xunhuan’s was purely friendship.
Even a friend met only once!
To sacrifice oneself for another—that was Li Xunhuan.
He sighed deeply and said, “Good brother! I cannot treat you unfairly. Your matters are my matters!”
The hardest thing to bear in dreams is the sincerity of others.
Whether in dreams or reality, true sincerity is deeply moving.
Stone Fei motioned to the bearded man, who was puzzled but obediently stepped forward.
“Come here!” Stone Fei commanded.
The bearded man felt as if Stone Fei’s words held a strange power, compelling him to move forward.
When he stood before Stone Fei, he suddenly became alert, a cold sweat breaking out on his back.
The drunken youth babbling nonsense before him suddenly seemed mysterious, especially his eyes, which gleamed with an uncanny light.
Stone Fei extended his hand, and the bearded man involuntarily reached out. Their hands clasped.
Wide-eyed, the bearded man felt a torrent of inner energy flowing from the youth’s hand—vast as mountains and seas.
The youth was transmitting martial power to him!
“You practice the Horizontal Fist style. It’s a crude technique, but you’ve reached proficiency. Yet against a true master, you’ll still falter,” Stone Fei said. “But now, things are different.”
Li Xunhuan watched in stunned silence as Stone Fei transmitted energy to the bearded man.
This youth...
The bearded man felt his internal energy surge wildly; he seemed transformed into a master of inner strength. Yet, terrifyingly, he sensed no weakening of the youth’s power!
“You are now the underling of the future martial overlord Li Xunhuan. These chaotic scoundrels in the jianghu are not worthy to share an inn with the martial overlord!”
“You know what to do!”
Stone Fei’s words made the bearded man nod without hesitation.
Then the bearded man bellowed, his voice like thunder, silencing the once noisy dining hall.
“You pigs and dogs! How dare you share wine in the same inn with my young master?”
“Before my young master’s temper flares, get out of here!”
His form was fierce, his face bristling with beard, his gaze sharp as a falcon’s. His thunderous shout made him seem like a god descending, majestic and awe-inspiring.
Li Xunhuan stared in surprise, about to speak, only to find himself unable to utter a word.
Not only that, he couldn’t move.
Not a single finger.
Poisoned?
No, not poison.
This was a terrifying martial technique!
Before he knew it, Stone Fei had seated himself beside him.
The demonic cult possessed many arts of control, all of which Stone Fei had mastered.
Stone Fei looked at him and said, “Let’s continue drinking!”
And so, against his will, Li Xunhuan picked up the wine jug and drank.
Cold sweat beaded on Li Xunhuan’s brow as he realized he had misjudged the youth before him.
What kind of martial art could silently seize control over his body?
This youth was terrifying!
Extremely terrifying!
In the dining hall, many jianghu folks, previously boasting about their bloody exploits, suddenly found themselves insulted as pigs and dogs.
Could they tolerate this?
No.
Immediately, someone jumped up and shouted, “Who are you?!”
The bearded man sneered, “Who I am is none of your concern! But my young master? You certainly know him!”
Everyone’s gaze followed the bearded man’s to the young man behind him.
“That is the future martial overlord, Li Xunhuan!”
Li Xunhuan smiled wryly to himself but outwardly gave only a faint, sinister smile.
That smile was so wicked, so mysterious, complemented by his tousled hair and jade-like grace, that he seemed a demon incarnate.
Or, perhaps, a twisted demon.