28 Never Underestimate

The entire mood lightened as their conversation carried on.

Using this opportunity, Zhou Yan decided to question Gu Yan about his father's past. Without hiding any details, Gu Yan told him all of his father's impressive accomplishments.

It was through Gu Yan's words did Zhou Yan learn that the peak of his father's powers was only in the third rank in the realm of the Blade's Menace.

The realm of the Blade's Menace was an incredibly difficult realm to enter. It did not matter how fast one's progress was and how talented they were before they managed to reach the realm of the Blade's Menace. It was common for anyone's growth to throttle to a crawl when one had entered the realm of the Blade's Menace. The speed of one's training would be significantly slower, and the task of filling the entire volume of one's Qi Column was no longer a simple task that would only take a short couple of years to accomplish.

The magnitude of the difficulty was to the extent that even for major sects who possessed more than enough resources would still undergo the same thing. After reaching this realm, the spirit crystals and pills will no longer be enough to fill the volume within this realm.

Hence, Gu Yan was no exception. More than a decade ago, Gu Yan had ascended into the first rank within the realm of the Blade's Menace. However, due to the regression of his training, he was demoted to the third rank in the realm of a Blade's Enforcer. Even till this very day, he remained within the realm of the Blade's Enforcer and had not recovered much progress.

An important thing to note was that even if one managed to ascend to the first rank within the realm of the Blade's Menace, upon demotion, one would still find the task of re-ascension excruciating.

Thus, Gu Yan had not yet recovered his progress.

After everything he had been through, Zhou Yan was interested to know more about the realm of the Blade's Menace. He was increasingly excited to reach this realm.

He thought to himself that due to the incredible combat prowess he had, the instant he successfully ascended to the realm of the Blade's Menace, he no longer would bow his head in shame in Canglan City.

Till then, he would be powerful enough to defeat anyone who dared stand in his way.

Zhou Yan was reflecting on everything Gu Yan and Gu Xi had said earlier. However, his expression suddenly dimmed and his sharp gaze glanced over into the direction of the dark shroud of night.

While both Gu Yan and Gu Xi were having a delightful heart to heart conversation, the duo had not noticed this scene. It was only after Zhou Yan's erratic movements that startled the pair made them glance over toward his direction.

A man of short stature in a black robe stood in the distance. Judging from the man's looks, it was, in fact, a young man. Although he was not too old, he had grown a full clean beard. Even though his clothes were luxurious and fancy, the look on his face was menacing.

He hid in the shroud of darkness and assumed not a single soul would have noticed his presence. He was paying close attention to the conversation the trio were having. He thought that since these people were extremely focused on having a heart to heart conversation, it would be impossible for anyone to notice his presence. However, never did he expect that the instant this thought sprouted in his mind, he had been immediately discovered. In addition to that, based on his combat prowess his skills were the weakest among the trio.

In the light of Zhou Yan's sharp gaze, this man's face resembled a viper's gaze, flickering in the dark. However, he was no fool and never unleashed any of his attacks. He simply turned around and morphed into a glimmering Blade's Light. He then took off into space, fleeing the scene. Judging from the looks of things, it seemed he failed to collect any information he was searching for.

However, before Zhou Yan had a chance to unleash his attacks, Gu Xi, who was standing at the corner, suddenly clapped her hands and a ray of Blade's Light was unleashed. The ferocity of this single ray was equivalent to a whole mountain range, as it enveloped the sky and went straight for that man.

Zhou Yan was unable to sense the actual level of this man, but upon comparison he was at the lowest rank within the realm of the Blade's Enforcer.

Since Gu Xi was only in the third rank in the realm of the Blade's Essence, Zhou Yan was worried that she was no match for this young man. Hence without a single thought, Silver Frost that hung behind Zhou Yan's back flew out in an instant. He was worried that Gu Xi would be wounded by this man since she was no match for him.

The next scene after that stunned Zhou Yan. It was the first time in his life to be absolutely shocked by the skills of a girl.

Zhou Yan noticed Gu Xi's beautiful, long, dark, and flowing hair fluttering violently in the wind while a god-like prismatic rays of light emerged violently from her body. At the same time, her pale white hands grabbed at the air around her, and they instantly cleanly pierced through with a strength that was equivalent to an entire mountain range. That mountain range also morphed into an infinite amount of frost blades, and without a second of hesitation, she sealed this man in a spiritual ice shell. The moment the ice sealed away this man, cracks formed on the surface of the ice, crushing the man inside alive as violent streams of blood dripped from his body.

At the same time, both his knees instantly cracked. It seemed that at any random moment, his knees would be completely shattered, and fall into a bloody mess.

This very method she unleashed on this man was swift and ruthless. If he had not seen it with his eyes, Zhou Yan would be unable to imagine this gentle, elegant and adorable young girl was capable of murder to such an extent. Even though he did witness Gu Xi murder those four men earlier, this scene alone far exceeded its ferocity.

"How are you this powerful Little Xi? You're actually capable of sealing away a powerful foe who resides within the realm of the Blade's Menace?"

Gu Yan was shocked. It was as if he had seen his own daughter for the very first time in his life.

"Father, brother Zhou Yan, this is a hidden artifact that was given to me by my master. It's only capable of being unleashed several times, and this power doesn't belong to me. Judging from this sneaky cunning man, I assumed that he was capable and powerful. Hence, I did not hesitate to use this artifact to defeat him," 

Gu Xi explained in a casual manner and to unleash this powerful artifact at this time made it seem more attractive.

This point alone was enough for Zhou Yan to highly praise her. Hence, his perspective towards her sparked even more feelings of love and admiration.

"Hmm… it seems that I am completely shocked to death. Never have I expected my daughter to be this elegant and confident. My dear Little Yan, you are truly blessed now!"

While Gu Yan spoke, he chuckled merrily.

"You're bullying your daughter again, father!" replied Gu Xi in a coquettish manner.

As she spoke, her watery bright eyes stared intently at Zhou Yan. He was slightly nervous about being stared down in such a manner. Hence, he nervously rubbed his nose, pretending to not notice her.

Judging from how the situation progressed, Zhou Yan was worried that if he had shown even the slightest hint of interest towards her, Gu Yan would undoubtedly shove both of them in a room and encourage them to 'copulate.' Of course, Zhou Yan would very much enjoy this. However, he was not yet sixteen, and the 'Manuscripts of Clear Waters Heaven's Blade' had clearly advised against breaking the pact of chastity before the age of sixteen regardless of gender. Or else, it would result in plenty of limitations and obstacles in the future.

The law of nature in the elements of Yin and Yang had detailed explanations regarding this matter.

Of course, he did not comment on anything and simply pretended to act as naive as possible.

Gu Xi was no fool and with a single wink of Zhou Yan's eyes, she blushed slightly since her heart was pure and beautiful. Hence, she decided to change the topic altogether. She spoke to the man who had been beaten into complete submission by her earlier. "Although I feel that you are not a good soul, I do not wish to murder an innocent man. Speak now and state your purpose of being here."

"Lady Gu, I was merely passing through, honestly just passing through... Of course, I would also want to know if the health of Lord Gu has improved, merely out of curiosity, nothing else. I was oblivious to the true prowess of Lady Gu. Why else would I retreat?"

As he spoke, he withdrew the sinister intent he had while pretending to be as naive as possible.

Gu Xi nodded and replied in a serious tone, "If that was true, then so be it. Since our Gu family had indeed fallen from grace, this does not mean that anyone can just wander into our humble home. Your actions justified your arrogance as you never thought of our family as a threat. Tell me, do you repent your sins?"

After hearing this reply, he was unsure of how he should react. He simply replied, "Lady Gu, with all due respect, I had been mortally wounded by your grace. I have lost all sensation of the lower half of my body. I, as a rank one Blade's Menace scholar had been defeated by your hands, and this is a shameful testament to me... Here's the thing, to show remorse for my actions, I have some training resources on me, if Lady Gu wouldn't mind taking a look. I would be more than happy to hand you everything."

It seemed that he understood the dire situation he was in, and thus, without hesitation, he was ready to cut his losses.

Gu Xi's expression was still emotionless and cold. However, after hearing his statements, her intent to kill had faded away. She spoke in a deep and solemn tone. "I cannot undo your seal now, but you may toss over your ring, which contains all the resources that you speak of. Let me be the judge of how sincere you actually are."

His face had a subtle sinister expression as he struggled to remove the ring from his finger then tossed it over to Gu Xi.

With a single chilling Blade's Menace, the ring immediately fell onto Gu Xi's palm.

The instant she turned around, that chilling and emotionless expression faded back into her cheerful demeanor. She stared at Zhou Yan with her huge eyes while placing that ring onto Zhou Yan's palm and said, "Brother Zhou Yan, help me judge how sincere this man really is."

"Alright."

Without saying a word, Zhou Yan reached out to pinch her tender, soft white cheeks before accepting that ring from her.

The instant he witnessed this scene, a flash of hatred flashed across his face. This scene was swift, he was able to keep his emotions hidden. However, Zhou Yan could clearly detect his feelings.

This man had pure sinister bloodlust. Emotions that strong would be detected by Zhou Yan.

However, Zhou Yan never responded since he knew that Gu Xi had contingencies and methods of her own since she was not as weak and frail as everyone assumed. Anyone who dared underestimate her real powers, even for Zhou Yan, would be at a significant disadvantage.

"Yes, the resources are indeed not bad. It contains plenty of mid-tier Spirit Crystals. Eighteen to be exact, and there's even one top-tier Spirit Crystal. Not bad at all."

Zhou Yan simply spent a brief moment to sense the contents within the ring. Although, in any normal circumstances, the contents within the Infinite Spatial Ring would be undetectable. However, if the owner's spiritual seal was undone, anyone would be able to sense the contents within the ring.

Since it was being given by its owner willingly, the seal on the ring would have naturally been undone.

"It seems that you are truly sincere, and now I have to hold up my end of the bargain. However, how can I make sure that you won't retaliate the moment I release these seals or even attempt to steal everything you had given to us since you are aware that I'm only able to unleash the powers of the artifact once?"

While Gu Xi spoke, her eyebrows were subtly raised. It appeared that she was also plotting something.