The Long-awaited Wedding

"The bride's entourage has arrived!"

Shura heard a shout outside the grand hall. Shura and his family had been waiting in the finely decorated grand hall. The preparations were finished. They could immediately begin the ceremony when the bride and her family arrived.

Shura watched in his seat as the newcomers arrived. His parents sat to his right while his siblings sat to his left. His grandparents were also there, but they sat in an inconspicuous corner of the hall, uninterested in the fanfare and the attention.

First to enter were the bannermen. They held exquisitely-carved banners with the symbol of a silver hawk, the crest of Tai Province Lord's family, the family that was about to become Shura's in-laws.

A sea of people entered the spacious grand hall. The stream of newcomers showed no sign of stopping. At the end of the group were warriors in full armor armed with weapons. The way they carried themselves didn't hint that they were going to a festive event at all. There were over a hundred of them.

Shura's father, the Province Lord of Qi Province, Lord Qi, frowned at the appearance of the soldiers. Shura shared his father's thoughts. Was this still a wedding?

Shura looked down at his sword. It leaned against his leg. He shook his head. Even on a wedding, there was no escaping a sword's reach.

The entourage finally all arrived in the grand hall. There was a large number of extra guests among the newcomers. The group had twice the soldiers of Lord Tai, their banners were bigger and more decorated. It had the symbol of a bleeding crescent moon. Leading them was a middle-aged man in a blood-red robe. This man must be the leader of the group. He had a regal bearing and exuded an aura of disdain. Next to him was a handsome young man in a deep blue robe.

Shura was acquainted with the crest of the silver hawk, but this other group had an unknown insignia that was more intricate. Was this group led by a Region Lord? Not only were there more soldiers, but Shura could also see that this second group had plenty of experts.

Shura's eyes moved through the large mass of people and finally stopped at the only woman among them. It was his soon-to-be wife. It was odd though. Shura was already dressed in a scarlet wedding robe, but his bride wasn't. She wore a simple white robe.

'Is this not the wedding day?' Shura thought.

Shura smiled, he could barely contain his laughter. So it turned out that he wouldn't be getting married so simply after all. Anyone with a brain could see that something was wrong.

"What is the meaning of this?" Shura's father said to the Tai Province Lord who stood next to his son and daughter.

"I've come to tell you that this marriage is not happening. Your untalented son is unworthy of my daughter. The Region Lord Gu's son is deeply in love with my daughter. Such a match is made in heaven. I've come all the way here to tell you this in person so you don't lose face," Lord Tai said.

Shura's father's face darkened. His pupil dilated and he clenched his fists.

Shura's mother had an angry expression on her face. Shura had never seen his mother so angry before.

"Peace, peace, everyone." Shura stood and spoke. As he said this, his gaze never left the woman he was supposed to marry. She stared back at him. She was indeed beautiful. Silky black hair fell like waterfalls down her back. She had creamy white skin without a speck of blemish and a well-proportioned figure. Her face was also stunning.

But that wasn't what caught his eyes. He stared at her eyes and her his. He couldn't see any care in those eyes, only indifference. That was, she didn't care about him, and it didn't matter to her whether she married him or not. It was pure indifference, a cruel indifference to his eyes.

It was something expected. They didn't know each other, it was an arranged marriage. She couldn't be faulted for not caring. Yet those eyes... the indifference within them...

The word peace scarcely left his mouth before he recalled a similar look of indifference that another woman had given him. That woman was someone who should've cared about him, yet only indifference was in her eyes then.

Peace was not forthcoming for him at that moment, even though he had spoken of it to everyone only moments before. He gripped his sheathed sword tightly. Speaking of peace while carrying a sword wasn't convincing either.

Today was an important day to Shura. Its importance wasn't in that he was or wasn't getting married. The importance was that today's event taught him the meaning of "caring". If he cared very much about this marriage going through, his fury and stress would've been greater than his father's.

But now that this had happened. It turned out that Shura really didn't care. Since he didn't care, it didn't affect him, and thus he could still talk with ease.

But that was only for the 'marriage part'. That look of indifference really angered him, and he cared about that. Was it so much to ask for some decent human relationships in his life?

"If the esteemed Lord Tai and that middle-aged man in fancy red robes wanted to simply annul the engagement, there was no need for you to come all the way to our humble dwelling, especially not with all of these armed warriors," Shura said.

"So please clarify your real intentions. Why did you really come?" Shura spoke with a refreshing smile on his face. No one could connect this smiling man to the groom that wasn't getting married to a beautiful girl today. Nothing about him hinted at disappointment at all.

"Who are you? How dare you speak out, boy!" Region Lord Gu shouted.

Region Lord Gu did not like this nonchalant and disrespectful youngster at all. He could feel that this youngster didn't have any respect toward him appropriate of his station and rank at all.

"Who am I? Yes… who am I? I also want to know the answer to that. But there's one thing that I know for sure, and I don't need to ask anyone this: whether I have a wife or not, I would still be myself," Shura said.

"Big talk for a plain and untalented fool," Alyan said with a sneer as he came up to stand beside his father.

Shura looked at his own father. Within that exchange of gaze, Shura's father understood a little more about this strange son of his who spoke when he was born. He also understood Shura's intention: "I don't care whether this marriage goes through or not, but I do care about you having all these armed people in my house."

"My son is right. Whether this marriage goes through or not is irrelevant right now. Why have the two of you come with all of these warriors and experts? Are you looking to start a battle against my family?" Lord Qi said.

"If we are, then what about it? Even if you are a Lord, did you ever take a look at your own small and mediocre province? You're insignificant in the greater scheme of things. What do you have compared to me? I am a Region Lord. Speaking with you is already giving you enough face," Region Lord Gu said with disdain.

"A Lord is one word shorter than a Region Lord, and thus more to the point. As for you yourself, you've been a dead man ever since you stepped foot through this hall with malicious intentions," Shura said.

"Insolent!" Alyan said and made a throwing motion at Shura.

Shura unsheathed his sword and cut the projectile into two. The piece of metal was cut in half in midair and fell harmlessly to the ground and made a clang sound.

"It was a good idea to keep this by my side after all," Shura said as he looked at the drawn sword in his hand.

"Let me make the decision for our side," Shura said.

"This marriage? You can annul or cancel or whatever you want. It doesn't matter. But I don't like how you've come here acting all high-and-mighty and with these many soldiers and experts." Shura said as he eyed the many soldiers that stood behind the two lords.

"So since I don't like it, and because we can't be friendly neighbors in the future, I'll have to make sure you can't be a threat."

"You and what army?" the Tai Province Lord said. It was his turn to become exasperated by Shura's lack of respect.

"Just my humble self is enough to deal with a bunch of you. I just don't know if dealing with you will be enough to secure peace and security for my family in the upcoming storm."

The two lords were silent. Rather than consider that Shura was bluffing, the two were cautious men. It was because of their cautious nature that they managed to climb to where they were today and built their family up from nothing.

This boy didn't have any respect in him for the two of them at all. He didn't care about their ranks or even their own personal fighting strength from cultivation or the many subordinates of theirs. Although the two of them weren't experts who had their names recorded on the lists of the top fighters in the empire, they were still powerful.

Lord Tai was more powerful than Shura's father, Lord Qi. Five Lord Tai's couldn't compare to one Region Lord Gu.

The two of them were cautious, was this boy not afraid of the two of them killing him for his disrespect? It was perfectly legal under the law of the empire to kill weak fools who disrespected their betters who were more powerful. The stream of provocations and clear lack of respect had even made these two seasoned and willy old foxes angry, yet cautious at the same time. What was the boy playing at?

They dreaded the possibility that this little boy actually had the capacity to remain fearless. Although they weren't paranoid or cautious to a debilitating degree, they also couldn't be entirely reckless.

The exchange of glances of the two lords and their hesitation did not escape Shura's sight.

"Since you've come, why leave at all?" Shura asked.

The atmosphere was very tense right now.

"Now, now, Brother Shura, stop scaring the guests. You must be joking right?" Shura's youngest brother came up and said.

Shura shook his head. Rather than one of denial, the shaking of his head was made out of disappointment. Was his youngest brother, 'the genius', the real fool, or was he trying to piss Shura off?

What was he expecting? He was just a kid, yet...

What he would give for a peaceful life and meaningful, tolerable human relations.

"There are too many people in this room, time to lower the headcount," Shura said as he stepped forward with his drawn sword.

Seeing that their son was about to fight, both his mother and father also prepared to fight as well.

The situation was at its greatest peak of intensity! Lord Tai couldn't contain himself anymore and blurted out: "So what if we're here to kill you all and take over your land?"

"So there are no great moralists born in this land. Since that's the case, I wouldn't mind just killing. Threats must be removed," Shura replied with a nonchalant tone.

Shura moved like a strike of thunder. Lord Tai was the closest, and thus the first person to die by Shura's sword. It was a clean strike. The headcount in the hall really did lower by one, then two. Lord Tai's son who was next to him also lost his head.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" the bride screamed.

'The indifference doesn't exist now, does it?' Shura thought.

The Region Lord and his son retreated back as their warriors and experts swarmed toward Shura.

Blood rained on the ground and splashed at the people. One soldier after another fell to the ground, their eyes lifeless. The experts died no different. There was nothing different or 'expert' about these experts. One clean strike separated their heads from their bodies. Their ends were the same as the soldiers in armor.

"Shouldn't the strongest be the vanguard?" Shura said mockingly to Region Lord Gu.

"Guhhh," the Region Lord spat out a mouthful of blood. A patch of red spread out from his chest. He looked at Shura. His brain didn't have time to process what happened at all.

He couldn't believe it. What happened? He didn't see anything. He didn't sense anything!

"Impossible…" he managed to say difficulty. The blood flooded his throat. Shura was at least a dozen steps away from him, yet the youngster's sword had stabbed through his heart faster than the blinking of an eye.

The Region Lord crumbled to the ground and was soaked in a rapidly expanding pool of his own blood. His blood met the blood of over a hundred soldiers on the floor. Even the spacious hall found it hard to contain the blood.

"Father!!!!!!" Alyan cried out in anguish and threw some more concealed weapons.

Alyan had a crazed smile on his face as if he had triumphed.

These sharp metals glinted under the light and headed toward… all of Shura's family.

One headed for his father, one his mother, one for his elder brother, one for his younger sister and another for his younger brother. Two concealed weapons also headed for Shura's two grandparents who were dozing unassumingly in the corner.

Shura made a single slash. All the projectiles were immediately sliced into two and flew harmlessly away. Even though the projectiles were far from each other, they were all struck down in a single instant, in one strike.

Grandpa opened his eyes and nodded in approval when he saw Shura's sword strike.

That strike had also decapitated Alyan and the remaining soldiers of both families.

It was not until now that Shura noticed that his robes were entirely wet with blood. It couldn't get any redder as his wedding robes were already red.

The only person who remained alive was his bride. She was crouching on the ground beside the corpse of her father and brother. Tears fell down her cheeks without pause.

Shura walked toward her.