Chapter 518 - Can"t Afford To Provoke Xu Xiaoshou!
"Sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle..."
The golden oil dripped onto the firewood in the bonfire, making a soft sizzling sound.
The fragrance of the spirit beast meat permeated the air, completely suppressing the sounds of the squabbling from the other bonfire team not far away.
"Are you done?"
Fu Yinhong hugged her knees and couldn"t help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.
Her brother"s culinary skills were simply incomparable.
Even in this desolate and barren White Cave, as long as she could find Fu Xing, she would not have to worry about food and drinks.
"What"s the rush? I"m trying to listen!"
Fu Xing chuckled. With a flick of his ear, his spiritual senses were withdrawn from the other bonfire team.
"Didn"t the people from Tiansang Spirit Palace notice when they fought against the White Skeleton earlier? They should be Xu Xiaoshou"s friends..."
Fu Yinhong glanced at them and ignored them.
The world was big, but it cannot be compared to eating.
"Friends..."
Fu Xing lowered his head and murmured as if he was thinking about something.
After a long time, he turned the spirit beast meat in his hand and said, "Sister, there"s something important I need to talk to you about."
"Later, if you encounter Xu Xiaoshou in the White Cave..."
"Try not to have any contact with him."
"Hmm?" Fu Yinhong raised her head. "What do you mean?"
"Don"t ask so many questions. Just do as you"re told."
"What do you mean?"
Fu Yinhong frowned and said in puzzlement, "I remember that you were still shouting "Big Brother Shou, Big Brother Shou" previously."
"You don"t want the 10 Sections of the Finger Sword anymore?"
"Isn"t that your dream?" She smiled teasingly.
"10 Sections of the Finger Sword..."
Fu Xing"s head started to hurt when he heard this name.
"I wish but my life is more important!"
"In short, try not to deal with him in the future. It"s best if you just turn around and leave... no, it"s best if you don"t encounter him." He shook his head and sighed.
"You"re weird!"
Fu Yinhong was very sharp. She could see Fu Xing"s abnormal behavior at a glance.
This guy practically wors.h.i.+pped the Eighth Sword Deity as if he was a G.o.d.
It was not easy to come across an authentic 10 Sections of the Finger Sword. How could he give up so easily?
"Tell me about it?"
Fu Yinhong straightened her body.
Fu Xing shook his head. "It"s not good for you to know too much."
"Even if you didn"t tell me, I would have known!"
Fu Yinhong sneered.
Did he think that she was still a little girl and everything had to be kept a secret from her?
"Does it have something to do with father asking you to go to the study that night?"
Fu Xing was stunned.
"Yes."
He didn"t object and nodded directly.
"So what"s the matter?"
Fu Yinhong became even more curious.
After the City Lord Mansion banquet dinner that night ended, father didn"t even give the order to clean up the mess and called Fu Xing into the study.
This conversation lasted the whole night.
Fu Yinhong did not believe that this was some father-son catch-up after a long separation.
It was still possible to say that their father-daughter relations.h.i.+p was deep.
But these two people...
Usually, these two were not on good terms!
There was no reason for them to come out and have a heart-to-heart talk until dawn.
There must be something fishy going on here!
"You really don"t want to say it?" She raised her eyebrows.
"I can"t." Fu Xing still shook his head.
"Alright. You"re not going to tell me, are you?"
Fu Yinhong raised her head and said stubbornly, "If you"re not going to tell me, I"ll go and find Xu Xiaoshou myself and ask him about it. In any case, that fellow blew up the entire City Lord Mansion and hasn"t even taken out a single cent of compensation!"
"This debt hasn"t been settled yet."
"I"m puzzled. When you left in the end, with your character as an unscrupulous businessman, didn"t you go and exchange the 10 Sections of the Finger Sword?" Fu Yinhong said unhappily.
"You"re crazy!"
Fu Xing was startled when he heard that, and he jumped up immediately.
"Hey, hey, hey."
"The meat, meat!"
Fu Yinhong instantly became anxious. She pointed at the meat on his hand, indicating that he shouldn"t drop it.
"I already said that you can"t go, yet you"re still stubborn. Is this something that can be joked about?" Fu Xing"s expression was sullen.
"Ahem."
Fu Yinhong didn"t buy it. "So, are you going to say it or not?"
"Look at me!"
Throwing the spirit beast meat onto the ground, Fu Xing"s face was solemn.
"Sigh!"
Fu Yinhong hurriedly used her spiritual strength to pull the spirit beast meat that was about to fall to the ground. Then, she raised her head and stared at it with her big eyes, unwilling to be outdone.
They looked at each other for a long time.
There was a long silence.
With a "Kacha" sound, Fu Yinhong suddenly took a big bite, and her mouth was full of oil.
The veins on Fu Xing"s forehead twitched violently.
He covered his face and sat back down helplessly.
"My goodness, can we stop playing? This is not a small matter. Can"t you listen to my advice?"
"I don"t even want the 10 Sections of the Finger Sword anymore. Can"t you see the seriousness of the matter?"
"Kacha!"
"Kacha!"
Fu Yinhong took two bites. Suddenly, her face turned bitter, and she spat out the meat in her mouth.
"Why is there still blood?"
"Wait until I finish eating the cooked meat in the outer ring, then you can grill it again."
Fu Yinhong hesitated for a moment, but she didn"t mind. She bit into the crispy part of the outer ring of the spirit beast meat.
Anyway, there was a lot of meat there, and it was delicious.
While eating, she said in a hurry, "There"s no hurry, tell me slowly. I"m not eating fast. It"s an urgent matter, just take it slow."
"You win!"
With a headache, he took out a new piece of meat from his ring and skewered it before grilling it. He said, "Do you still remember the Cardinal Wheel?"
"Uh-huh."
Fu Yinhong did not even raise her head. She said incoherently, "I thought you couldn"t find it? Guardian Liu brought some people to search the City Lord Mansion thoroughly, but they did not find anything wrong..."
"Hmm?"
As she spoke, her words suddenly paused. She raised her head in surprise. "Xu Xiaoshou?"
"Yes."
Fu Xing flipped through the roasted meat. As he added seasoning, he said, "Xu Xiaoshou was the one who broke into the backyard during the explosion. You should know this."
"Mm, continue." Fu Yinhong nodded.
Fu Xing said, "I only found out later. Father has been studying that array wheel in the backyard for the past few years."
"He spent so much time because he was trapped by the spiritual array that he developed."
"Pfft!"
Fu Yinhong suddenly spat out a mouthful of meat on Fu Xing"s face.
Disbelief appeared on her face.
"Are you kidding?"
He clenched his fists and finally turned them into claws. He took out a cloth from his ring and wiped his face.
"Yes. I mean no, I"m not joking."
"It"s because he didn"t want to break the array with violence and thought that he could do it. That"s why he was trapped by the spiritual array for so many years."
She looked at the spirit beast meat in her hand and was suddenly so speechless that she couldn"t eat anymore.
What a weirdo!
Her father was such a weirdo!
"So?"
Fu Yinhong regained her senses and lost her appet.i.te. She put down the roasted meat and asked, "So what does this have to do with Xu Xiaoshou?"
Fu Xing sighed.
"After all, he has studied the Cardinal Wheel for so many years. Although he hasn"t completely solved the secret inside, he can still perform the most basic functions."
"When Xu Xiaoshou went to the back garden, he didn"t go alone."
"He brought his Junior Sister with him!"
"Yes." Fu Yinhong acted as if she was listening to him.
Fu Xing spread out his hands. "So, how should I put it? A guy who can be trapped by the spiritual array that he has researched, his control over the Cardinal Wheel is limited to only being able to enter, but not to leave."
"During the battle where he treated Xu Xiaoshou as an enemy who broke into the City Lord Mansion, Father kept Mu Zixi into the Cardinal Wheel."
"This time, it happened around the beginning of the banquet."
"But after the banquet ended..."
Fu Xing shrugged and kept quiet.
"After the banquet ended?"
Fu Yinhong was puzzled. She thought hard for a long time before she came to a realization.
"Xu Xiaoshou... if I remember correctly, Xu Xiaoshou left with his Junior Sister?"
"Exactly."
Fu Yinhong was shocked. She tilted her head and deduced.
"So, you mean..."
"When the battle in the back garden ended, the Cardinal Wheel fell into the hands of Xu Xiaoshou in a way that even Father didn"t know."
"That guy started to lie to me and Guardian Liu when he was facing us?"
"Yes."
Fu Xing smiled bitterly. "But you seem to have forgotten a more important point."
"Father spent so many years of effort and only managed to develop a method to keep people in, but he couldn"t even release them."
"Xu Xiaoshou..."
Fu Yinhong"s pupils constricted as she continued, "Xu Xiaoshou successfully cracked the Cardinal Wheel and saved people in a short time during the banquet?"
"Yes."
This time, the scene fell silent for a moment.
The two of them looked at each other, and they could see the shock in each other"s eyes.
The bonfire burned even more vigorously.
Golden oil dripped down, and sparks flew everywhere. The charred firewood emitted crackling sounds, and it was so noisy for a moment.
"This..."
Fu Yinhong"s face was filled with disbelief.
But she thought about it again.
Wasn"t the final battle at the City Lord Mansion banquet dinner a battle between Spirit Array Casters?
Those old Spirit Array Casters even spent an entire night"s effort, and even the spiritual array at the threshold of the Thirty-Six Heavens Sealed Array couldn"t be broken.
Xu Xiaoshou completely cracked it in the blink of an eye.
Was this an innate talent...
"Very strong."
Fu Yinhong sighed softly.
She prided herself as a woman who was not inferior to men. There were only a few men in the world that she would take a second look at.
For example, Fu Xing who was sitting in front of her.
He was proficient in all eighteen types of martial arts and was barely able to catch her eye.
But Xu Xiaoshou...
Ever since he appeared, it was not a problem for people to take a second look at him.
Every time this fellow made a move, it was enough to blind the eyes of the world!
"He is indeed very strong. I didn"t say that he isn"t strong. I just told you not to have any more contact with him."
Fu Xing also sighed. "After all, I am afraid that you will be moved by such an outstanding man like him."
After a pause, he added, "I am moved by him a little bit."
She grabbed the spirit beast meat stick in her hand and directly threw it at him.
"Whew!"
Fu Xing"s reaction was so quick that he dodged it with a tilt of his head.
"Angry out of humiliation?"
"Shut your darn mouth. The roasted meat won"t stop your lies, will it? Ah!" Fu Yinhong glared at him angrily.
"Didn"t you tell me to say it..."
Fu Xing ridiculed her silently.
"Continue!"
Fu Yinhong frowned again and said in confusion, "So what does all of this have to do with you telling me not to have anything to do with him?"
"Aren"t you going to say it?" Fu Xing stretched out his hand to roast the meat and retreated. "I"m afraid that you"ll be tempted!"
"Whoos.h.!.+"
Fu Yinhong grabbed a stone and threw it again.
"Are you going to say it or not?!"
"We"re already here. Do you think I"ll stop?"
Seeing the man in front of her dodge at the speed of light, Fu Yinhong"s lips twitched. "If you don"t say it, I"ll be even more tempted!"
"No, no, no!"
He immediately s.h.i.+fted his body back and said, "It"s not a big deal to lose the Cardinal Wheel..."
"It"s not a big deal? It"s not a big deal to steal things, and it"s not a big deal to blow up my house? Wait for me to go and argue with him!" Fu Yinhong"s temper flared up, and she immediately interrupted him.
"Listen to me!"
Fu Xing was helpless. He pressed his hand down and continued, "Compared to what happened later, the Cardinal Wheel is insignificant."
"What"s the matter?"
"Zhang Taiying!" Fu Xing"s tone was grave.
Fu Yinhong"s stern face relaxed again. She exclaimed in surprise, "Zhang Taiying?"
As a ghost beast, Zhang Taiying was destroyed by the Red Coat.
Even the entire Zhang family that he brought with him was completely eradicated overnight.
Other than some of the younger generation who did not have any special circ.u.mstances after their investigation, they would be living under the surveillance of the Red Coats for years to come.
The rest of the higher-ups were almost completely wiped out.
The Zhang family couldn"t have a chance to rise again.
What was wrong with this?
Fu Xing looked at his younger sister"s pensive expression and naturally knew what she was thinking.
That night, after he learned the real information from his father, his expression was the same.
"He colluded with the ghost beast. Even if he was slightly involved, he would still die if he was caught."
"Father has said this before. You must always remember this!"
"You have already seen the ending of the Zhang family."
"Therefore, this is the reason why I told you not to interact with Xu Xiaoshou."
Fu Yinhong"s pupils constricted. "What do you mean?"
Xu Xiaoshou... was a ghost beast?
A storm raged in her heart.
"It is just like what you are thinking." Fu Xing nodded.
"Can you act like a man? I"m getting tired of you being so wishy-washy!" Fu Yinhong"s heart started to get agitated.
Fu Xing hesitated for a moment.
He still couldn"t open his mouth.
This matter was too shocking that he couldn"t even digest it.
Fu Yinhong wanted to know. What if she had an impulse to reason with Xu Xiaoshou?
"Speak!"
However, the woman in front of him looked like she was about to roar like a lion. Her hair was about to explode...
"Alright, alright, alright, I"ll tell you!"
"But you have to understand that after knowing it doesn"t mean that you have the right to talk to Xu Xiaoshou, question him, or even..."
He paused for a moment, then flipped through the meat of the spirit beast and said, "I wasn"t joking earlier. A mysterious man can really move a person"s heart. So, are you sure that you want to know all of this..."
"Xiu!"
A large rock brushed past the edge of his ear and shot over.
"Are you trying to murder your own brother?!"
Fu Xing was furious.
"If you continue to be so wishy-washy, do you believe that I will really do justice to my family?" Fu Yinhong"s face sank.
"Chi!"
"If you have the strength, then do it!"
Fu Xing only dared to sneer in his heart and silently ridicule.
On the surface, he still obediently admitted defeat and honestly confessed.
"Alright, speak!"
"I"ll tell you!"
"The source of all this is because when everything was over, Father went back to the back garden to look at the spiritual array and found that it had been tampered with."
"En, and then?" Fu Yinhong was attracted.
Fu Xing continued, "There was a very obvious infernal aura left inside, which is also Xu Xiaoshou"s fire element energy!"
"Before Father and Xu Xiaoshou parted ways, there was none of this..."
"Are you sure?" Fu Yinhong suddenly leaned over and interrupted.
"That"s what I asked at the time."
Fu Xing thought of his question in the study and sighed, "I"m sure of it. Father said he remembered it clearly."
"So, after the two of them parted ways, Xu Xiaoshou must have gone to the back garden and tampered with the spiritual array."
"In other words, he set up an ambus.h.!.+"
"Then, he returned to the banquet room..."
"When he returned to the banquet room, he lured Zhang Taiying out and chose to use the spiritual array in the back garden that had been tampered with to kill him?" Fu Yinhong"s face was filled with shock, and her voice was much louder.
"Shh!"
Fu Xing immediately raised a finger and pressed it against his lips, indicating for her to keep quiet.
"Do you want the whole world to hear it?"
He cursed in a low voice before returning to the topic. "That"s just your speculation. I didn"t say that."
"Are you sure?"
Fu Yinhong sneered. "Didn"t you say so much just to get me to deduce this possibility?"
"Sigh."
"I did say that..."
Fu Xing thought of the second rhetorical question in the study.
He was silent for a while, then he closed his eyes and sighed, "But Father also answered you like I did."
"The matter of the Zhang Residence has already been settled. Who would dare to overturn the case?"
"You dare to question Red Coat"s actions at that time?"
"You dare to confront Xu Xiaoshou and ask him about this?"
"Then at that time..." Fu Yinhong was dumbfounded.
"At that time?"
Fu Xing smiled helplessly. "It"s not like you don"t know about Xu Xiaoshou"s mouth. At that time, the situation was indeed not stable. Father didn"t think too much about it!"
"Perhaps what Xu Xiaoshou said there was no problem to be found out, so the matter was forgotten."
"Father also returned to the City Lord Mansion and saw Mu Zixi. After a long time, he finally remembered that something was wrong and went to the back garden to check on the situation."
"But these are all things to be discussed in the future..."
After a moment of silence, Fu Xing added.
"Let"s not talk about whether Xu Xiaoshou had done such a thing. Just that fellow who dared to do such a thing in the City Lord Mansion with his Innate cultivation level had managed to deceive the Red Coat."
"Do you think that a mere City Lord Mansion is qualified to fight with the other party?"
"Even if Father and a few uncles who are in closed-door cultivation join forces, once Xu Xiaoshou is confirmed to be a ghost..."
Fu Xing"s voice suddenly stopped.
As he spoke, his mood hit rock bottom.
That night when he was called by his father to the study for a talk, every time he thought about it, he felt incredulous.
This kind of person, this kind of courage, this kind of ability...
If he really was the host body of the ghost beast, who could withstand it?
The City Lord Mansion was indeed the highest force in the Tiansang Prefecture.
However, facing the number one force in the continent, the Holy Divine Palace, they had to set up a special force to deal with the ghost beast, which they couldn"t eliminate year after year...
"Sister, I"m telling you the truth."
Fu Xing interrupted his thoughts and said seriously, "No, no, no. Don"t get involved with Xu Xiaoshou anymore. Even if it"s just a little connection, it could cause the Fu family to be doomed forever!"
"Most importantly, never be tempted..."
"Shut up!"
Fu Yinhong rolled her eyes and shouted.
"Alright, I"ll shut up."
"But you know everything. Even though it"s just a guess, I still want to say that I don"t want you to walk into the abyss, even if it"s just a hint."
Fu Xing tore open the roasted meat. After the meat was cooked, he handed it over carefully.
Fu Yinhong took the meat skewer and her beautiful eyes looked around. "Actually, it"s fine if you don"t tell me. I didn"t pay much attention to Xu Xiaoshou, but you"ve praised him to this extent..."
"Such an outstanding man, I can"t help but feel a little moved."
"Oh my G.o.d!"
Fu Xing was so scared that his hands were trembling. The roasted meat almost fell into the fire. "I didn"t tell you. I was afraid that you would have such thoughts!"
"Sigh, it"s not a big problem. Didn"t you say that it was just a conjecture?"
Fu Yinhong took a bite of the meat and chewed it carefully. After a long while, she said, "I don"t think that Xu Xiaoshou is that capable. Wasn"t Zhang Taiying killed by Red Coat too? He didn"t do anything."
"My dear sister!"
Fu Xing was terrified. "So you still think that Zhang Taiying was killed by Red Coat?"
"Uh..." Fu Yinhong"s chewing froze. "Xu Xiaoshou?"
Fu Xing closed his eyes in pain. "When Father and Red Coat rushed over, there was such a huge bounded domain. By the time it was broken open, Zhang Taiying"s body was already cold!"
"With an Innate cultivation level, you believe such a ridiculous thing?"
Fu Yinhong raised her eyebrows.
"Didn"t Red Coat and Father believe it? There were so many people rus.h.i.+ng over, who didn"t believe it?"
Fu Xing froze.
To be honest, this was the mystery of the problem.
Up until now, he didn"t know how Xu Xiaoshou managed to deceive everyone with his flawless tongue.
It would be fine if there were only people from the City Lord Mansion there.
With his father, who had been trapped by his spiritual array for many years, Fu Xing was confident that he could do it.
But was Red Coat lying?
Could he have deceived them?
If he did not display his ability to kill ghost beasts, even if there was no evidence, Red Coat should have captured them and brought them back to prison for interrogation!
However, with the ability to kill ghost beasts...
Xu Xiaoshou was only at the Innate Stage!
Soon, Fu Xing interrupted his thoughts.
"Sister, these things are not something that you and I can think about."
"I can only say that Xu Xiaoshou is able to do this. Regardless of whether he is a ghost beast or not, it is not something that a mere Tiansang Prefecture"s City Lord Mansion can contend against."
"What I said before is not important. You just have to remember this sentence..."
"In the future, when you see Xu Xiaoshou, just take a detour!"
"Oh."
Fu Yinhong nodded.
Fu Xing, on the other hand, was going crazy.
With just a glance, he could clearly see that the two of them were not on the same wavelength at all!
"Are you even listening to what I"m saying!"
"Can you be more serious? This is a very grave matter!"
"Father didn"t dare to tell the Night Guardian about this. He doesn"t even dare to pursue this matter. He doesn"t even want the lost Cardinal Wheel anymore!"
"What was he afraid of?"
"He was afraid that the two of us will be implicated by the ghost beast and get revenged on and something might happen to us?"
"Aren"t you listening?"
Fu Xing roared angrily, "Xu Xiaoshou isn"t someone our Fu family can afford to provoke. Do you understand?"
Fu Yinhong was momentarily stunned by the roar.
It wasn"t until this sentence, "Father doesn"t dare to tell the Night Guardian", that she realized that it wasn"t that everyone didn"t want to talk about it. It wasn"t that they didn"t value it.
It was that they had a tacit understanding and they didn"t dare!
Ghost beasts... were they really that terrifying?
Fu Yinhong"s lips opened and closed, and she was just about to say something.
Suddenly, a pleasantly surprised voice appeared not far behind her.
"Yo-ho!"
"Nieces and nephews? You"re all here!"