Chapter 841: Chapter 841: The Gu Family’s Bluster

The next day.

Downstairs at the hotel, Zhao Yi walked out slowly, rubbing his forehead, looking exhausted.

Liu Zixuan said with a snort of annoyance, "Don’t tell me you’re still not sober?"

"How the hell could I be sober, who knows how much I drank yesterday!" Zhao Yi cursed, then sat down in the back seat.

Ye Lianyi gave a derisive laugh. "If I hadn’t gone to drag you two back, you’d probably still be drinking till dawn."

Liu Zixuan curled his lips. "That’s why having a woman by your side does have its perks."

"So we women are just born to wait on you men, is that it?"

"I never said that!"

Listening to their flirting and bickering, Zhao Yi pinched his forehead. "Zixuan, sis-in-law, you two keep quarreling, I’m gonna grab a nap first. Just remember to wake me when we get there!"

Well then, here’s another one who only knows how to sit back and enjoy the show.

However, after that, Ye Lianyi didn’t keep arguing with Liu Zixuan either, worried it would affect Zhao Yi’s rest.

The three of them took the car straight toward the mountain stream at the border of the two cities.

About forty minutes later, the car had already reached the outskirts of the suburbs, and they were about to drive into the mountains.

Liu Zixuan chuckled. "I thought we were here pretty early, but looks like some people are in even more of a rush than us."

"How can you tell?" Ye Lianyi asked.

"Look at the tire tracks on the road, clearly just went in not long ago. No idea why they’d pick this damned place. It’s full of potholes; go any further in and the car definitely won’t make it." Liu Zixuan muttered irritably.

Ye Lianyi gave a light snort. "Enough, the tournament only lasts two days. Grit your teeth and it’ll be over."

"I’m really hoping it’ll just be one day." Liu Zixuan grumbled, then glanced at the road ahead. His expression turned ugly—sure enough, it was just as he’d said.

Farther in, the mountain path could only fit two or three people walking side by side; cars definitely couldn’t go in anymore. On both sides of the path, quite a few cars were already parked.

After waking Zhao Yi, the three of them got out of the car together. Feeling the howling cold wind, Zhao Yi instinctively shrank his neck. "Tell me this: whether it’s the Eight Great Powers or the Four Great Clans, or even those Scattered Sects, most of them are big shots in the city, and they’re definitely not short on cash. Why not just rent out a sports arena or some bigger place to hold the tournament? Why the hell pick this dump?"

Liu Zixuan paused, then spoke as he raised his hand and pointed to the sky.

Zhao Yi was stunned at first, then laughed. "Right, an answer like that—only heaven knows!"

"No, I’m not talking about heaven. I mean the Big Dipper."

Liu Zixuan briefly explained to Zhao Yi how this place corresponded to the Big Dipper.

Zhao Yi said, half comprehending, "So it seems this tournament is full of hidden tricks too."

Joking and chatting, the three of them had already reached the largest mountain-stream entrance.

Strangely enough, when they first entered the mountains the wind was howling, but the moment they stepped into this mountain stream, the cold and the gale both vanished. Instead, it was like they’d walked into a house, with a faint hint of warmth.

The surrounding mountains formed a huge natural hollow, enclosing this place. Blocking the wind like this, it was basically a natural windbreak.

After marveling for a moment at the wonders of nature, Ye Lianyi suddenly tugged on Liu Zixuan’s sleeve and whispered, "Someone up ahead to the left is watching us. I can see the thick killing intent in their eyes."

Liu Zixuan lifted his head and looked over, then grinned. "I’ve nearly wiped out their whole family; of course their eyes are full of killing intent when they look at me."

"Who are they?" Zhao Yi asked.

"People from the Gu Family, one of the Eight Great Powers. The one standing on the outside is Gu Chengyuan. We met once back in Ghost Wood City. On his right is Gu Daohe, the Gu Family’s Second Patriarch. That slightly older one next to him, I don’t know him, but I figure he’s probably the Gu Family Patriarch."

While Liu Zixuan was introducing them, the Gu Family group was already striding quickly toward them.

Zhao Yi’s expression instantly turned alert as he moved to stand next to Liu Zixuan. Ye Lianyi also followed closely, glaring at the people in front of them as though facing a great enemy.

"No need to be so nervous. The tournament hasn’t started yet, we won’t just randomly make a move." Gu Daohe walked at the front, speaking with a half-smile.

"Looks like the Gu Family is sure they’ve got this tournament in the bag." Liu Zixuan stood before them, neither humble nor arrogant, smiling as he spoke.

"I wouldn’t dare claim it’s in the bag, but using a bit of spare time to settle the grudges between us—I do have some confidence in that."

Gu Daohe’s eyes suddenly flashed with vicious light as he snarled, "Liu Zixuan, you crippled my nephew, killed an elder’s son, and conned over five billion out of my Gu Family. I’ve tallied every single one of those debts."

"Then do you remember how you almost got yourself killed by me in Ghost Valley back then?"

Even facing the many experts of the Gu Family, Liu Zixuan didn’t show the slightest hint of fear. Instead, he took a step forward and stared straight at Gu Daohe.

"You!"

Back in Ghost Valley, if not for that noblewoman from the Jade Maiden Sect and the Divine Maiden Tongtong showing up, Gu Daohe would’ve died in Liu Zixuan’s hands long ago. He’d just been pressing hard a moment ago, and now Liu Zixuan’s one sentence had stabbed right into his sore spot!

"Daohe, why are you always fussing over a junior?"

The Gu Family Patriarch, who’d been standing behind with an inscrutable expression, finally spoke. He pressed a hand on Gu Daohe’s shoulder, then stepped forward, looking at Liu Zixuan with a smile that hid blades. "There’s still time. We can take our time playing. I also hope young friend Zixuan can climb a bit higher in the tournament, so our Gu Family juniors don’t end up without an opponent."

"I hear you’ve only got two sons. I crippled one already. Aren’t you afraid that in the tournament I might accidentally kill the other one too? Then your Gu Family would be completely cut off." Liu Zixuan said with a playful smile.

A flash of vicious malice crossed the Gu Family Patriarch’s face. Before he could speak, an old man in his fifties suddenly stepped out from the side. With a sweep of his long sword, he pointed it straight at Liu Zixuan. "To be so disrespectful to our Patriarch—believe it or not, I’ll kill you right now!"

Liu Zixuan rubbed his chin, his eyes instantly filling with sharp killing intent. He said, word by word, "The last person who pointed a sword at me—there’s already grass growing all over his grave."

"You don’t know what’s g—"

"Stop!"

Just as the old man in his fifties was about to make a move on Liu Zixuan, a few figures suddenly walked over from the side. Liu Zixuan didn’t recognize them, but one of their voices sounded faintly familiar.

"Patriarch Gu, the tournament hasn’t even started yet, and you’re already waving blades around—don’t you think you’re being a bit too hasty? Besides, the Willow Association’s Old Ancestor made it clear: if you want to kill, you can only do it in the tournament. Your Gu Family isn’t planning to break the agreement, is it?"

The man speaking was about the same age as the Gu Family Patriarch, his voice naturally carrying a hoarse timbre.

"Of course we won’t break the agreement. I was just teaching a junior a lesson as his elder, that’s all. What, you intend to side with Liu Zixuan?" the Gu Family Patriarch asked with a mocking, yin-yang tone.