Nine Nether Dragon Emperor-Chapter 171: Not Taking the Offered Face, Huh?!
Jun Wuya thought he had misheard.
"First Uncle, what did you just say?!"
He widened his eyes, his face a mask of disbelief.
This little beast held my wife’s hand right in front of me. Not only can I not get angry, but I’m supposed to thank him? Has First Uncle gone mad?
The First Uncle of the Jun Family spoke again, "I told you to apologize!"
His tone and expression were stricter than ever before.
His Third Uncle chimed in as well. "That’s right, Wuya. You really should thank them. It’s a shame about our Second Brother..."
Looking at the bisected corpse of Jun Tianzheng, both men sighed.
Realizing something was wrong, Jun Wuya boldly entered the pavilion now that both elders were present. He was immediately stunned.
"No! That’s not right! Brother Lin was killed by Ning Xuan! Second Uncle was blasted to death by Yourong!"
Seeing the faint Soul Lures on their bodies, Jun Wuya nearly flew into a rage.
"What nonsense are you spouting?! Their respective Soul Lures are on each other!"
"Insolence! Guards, drag him away!" the two men ordered one after the other.
"No! First Uncle, Third Uncle, I swear, it was this despicable couple! Seize Ning Xuan immediately! Otherwise, when the Lin Family finds out, our entire clan will be annihilated! Ning Xuan, you bastard—"
Jun Wuya’s injuries hadn’t healed, and the guards who came for him were King Realm experts, so he naturally couldn’t escape. He struggled and screamed as he was dragged away, but his mouth was gagged before he could finish.
The two middle-aged men turned and smiled apologetically. They cupped their fists toward Ning Xuan. "We, Jun Tianyong and Jun Tianchen, thank you, Young Master Ning."
As the saying goes, you don’t slap a smiling face.
Ning Xuan nodded. "It was nothing. I had to. Qian Duoduo is my brother, after all."
The two men were overjoyed to hear this.
"So we’re all family! Yourong, you two chat for a bit while we go prepare a family banquet! Tonight, we’ll drink to our hearts’ content!"
With that, they took their leave. Someone came and removed the bodies of Lin Xihua and Jun Tianzheng, and the pavilion returned to its former tranquility.
Ning Xuan looked at Qian Yourong, waiting for her to speak.
"Are you wondering why those two looked so much younger than Jun Tianzheng?" she asked.
Ning Xuan nodded. Jun Tianzheng had looked like a proper old man. If someone had claimed he was the father of the two men who just left, Ning Xuan wouldn’t have doubted it for a second.
"They’ve been to Heavens Beyond with the current clan head!"
"No wonder," Ning Xuan mused. "Those who have seen the greater world are truly different. They clearly knew Jun Wuya was telling the truth, yet they pretended not to."
Qian Yourong nodded, a hint of worry creasing her brow. They knew the Soul Lure incident was Ning Xuan’s doing, yet they showed no shock. Their profound shrewdness is unnerving.
The most crucial part was that even she couldn’t fathom what those two were truly thinking.
"To be on the safe side, I should get you all to... Oh no!" Qian Yourong suddenly thought of Qian Duoduo and Ning Sanwu.
If those two make a move against them and use them as leverage, we’ll be in serious trouble! Although Qian Duoduo has plenty of powerful tricks up his sleeve, he’s no match for those sly old foxes. As for that little girl, she’s completely unreliable.
"Don’t worry," Ning Xuan said, pulling back the frantic Qian Yourong. He remained perfectly calm. "I don’t think they’ll make a move."
Qian Yourong turned to look at him, her beautiful eyes filled with confusion.
"It’s simple. My perceptive abilities are a bit stronger than the average person’s. Just now, neither of them showed the slightest hint of killing intent."
Although Ning Xuan didn’t possess the Nine-Orifice Exquisite Heart, his Divine Vein, evolved from the twelve divine beasts of Ancient Times, granted him all sorts of unique senses. This perceptive ability was one of them.
Qian Yourong didn’t ask for a reason and immediately let out a sigh of relief. She simply believed him.
Even though the little girl kept insisting Ning Xuan was her enemy, Qian Yourong could see that she had already grown dependent on him. And Ning Xuan, in turn, was very fond of her. He would never gamble with the girl’s safety.
"How bizarre," Qian Yourong murmured. What could they be thinking?
After Jun Tianyong and Jun Tianchen left the pavilion, they found a secluded area. Looking around to confirm they were alone, they finally let their masks drop.
"Damn it! How in the world did that kid manage to force out a Soul Lure?!"
"What a terrifying technique! We never saw anything like that even in Heavens Beyond!"
"Big Brother, do you think it’s possible? That he’s the descendant or illegitimate son of some supreme overlord, sent down to the Lower Realm to be tempered, but is actually one of the people from up there?!"
"It’s possible! Otherwise, how would he dare provoke the major clans like this? We must build a good relationship with him! With him and the Qian Family on our side, we can withstand the Lin Family’s wrath even if they come seeking retribution!"
"Right, right, that’s what I was thinking! There are always people better than you, and heavens beyond the heavens! The fact that he’s provoked the major clans and remains unscathed says it all!"
"I think our clan needs an even closer connection to him!"
"Big Brother, you mean... Yourong...?"
"COUGH, COUGH. Yourong is a member of the Qian Family. She’s ultimately an outsider. I mean we could try to work on Hongyan."
"Hongyan? That girl is proud and has impossibly high standards. I’m afraid..."
"We won’t know unless we try."
"Alright, I’ll go make the trip."
The two then went their separate ways.
「At the same time.」
In the main courtyard square of the Jun Family estate, a young woman in red was speaking sweetly to Ning Sanwu.
"So you’re Mo Xiaoxiao... no, Ning Sanwu, is that right? How courageous! I, Jun Hongyan, admire women with backbone more than anything! Why don’t you stay here, and we can be sisters?"
Many onlookers cast envious glances her way.
"Hurry up and agree! Sister Hongyan is the patriarch’s most cherished pearl! Countless people are dying for a chance to get on her good side!" a girl next to them gushed, looking at Jun Hongyan with adoration.
"Thank you, but San Wu dares not aspire so high."
Ning Sanwu’s eyes were devoid of emotion as she politely shook her head and refused.
She wasn’t a fool. The other woman’s eyes were filled with condescension. She wasn’t looking for a sister; she was looking for a handmaiden.
Jun Hongyan’s expression turned ugly. No one in the Jun Family had ever dared to refuse her.
"You little wench! Are you throwing my goodwill back in my face?!" the girl beside her snapped, raising her hand to strike.
Suddenly, the perpetually smiling little fatty, Qian Duoduo, appeared in front of Ning Sanwu. He caught the girl’s wrist, his grin never wavering. "Whoa there, sister. She is a guest of my aunt."
"And who are you?! Let go of my hand, you filthy—"
The girl was from a branch family and had only recently risen in status, so she naturally didn’t recognize Qian Duoduo.
The little fatty didn’t speak, merely glancing toward Jun Hongyan.
A flicker of anger crossed Jun Hongyan’s eyes, but she still answered, "He’s the nephew of my third sister-in-law, Qian Duoduo."
"Ah!"
The girl’s face instantly turned deathly pale. Qian Yourong was a figure of immense prestige within the Jun Family. In fact, she ranked among the top three people Jun Hongyan admired most.
The other two were her father, Jun Tiansheng, and her older brother, Jun Wuxian.
