After leaving Baoping Alley, Yun Wenfang didn’t return directly to the Yun residence. He went to the Yanbei Prince’s Manor.

Compared to the multiple checkpoints in front of the Ren family, the guards around the Yanbei Prince’s Manor were much more relaxed. Yun Wenfang dismounted and asked the manor’s gatekeeper a few questions, then came out from the manor, mounted his horse, left the city, and waited at that fork in the road outside the city.

After waiting for an unknown length of time, finally, a carriage slowly approached from the end of that side road, with mounted guards following both in front and behind. The carriage appeared larger than ordinary ones. Its exterior wasn’t ostentatious, but upon closer inspection, one could tell that the materials used to make the carriage differed from the wood used in common carriages. The carriage walls also bore a subtle pattern of a soaring eagle emblem – all people of Yanbei knew this was the symbol of the Yanbei Prince’s Manor.

Yun Wenfang kept his eyes fixed on that carriage as it approached. When the guards noticed him, he spurred his horse out from hiding, slowly stopping in the middle of the road to block the group’s path, his gaze still fixed on the carriage curtain as if trying to bore a hole through it with his stare.

Someone reported quietly to those inside the carriage, and then the carriage stopped.

The lead guard rode forward, glanced at Yun Wenfang, then said: “Does Second Young Master Yun have business here?”

Yun Wenfang didn’t even look at the guard: “I want to see Xiao Jingxi.” His voice was somewhat hoarse, like someone who hadn’t had water for a long time.

The guard frowned but still nodded: “Second Young Master Yun, please follow me.” He had already received instructions.

Yun Wenfang followed the guard to the carriage. The guard reported quietly to the carriage: “Young Master, Second Young Master Yun requests an audience.” Although he had brought Yun Wenfang over, the guard’s gaze still rested imperceptibly on Yun Wenfang, maintaining composure while carrying caution and vigilance.

Yun Wenfang tugged at the corner of his mouth, but there was no trace of a smile on his face. This action only caused his already dry and cracked lips to split further, seeping blood that stained his lower lip red. Combined with his gloomy expression, any ordinary person seeing this would surely be frightened away.

“Second Master Xiao, I have matters to discuss with you. Could you have your people withdraw?” The words Yun Wenfang spoke were unusually polite.

The guard was about to speak when the carriage wall was lightly tapped, and then the curtain was lifted by Tonghe, who was standing beside the carriage. Xiao Jingxi stepped down from the carriage.

After alighting, Xiao Jingxi looked Yun Wenfang over once, showing no particular expression on his face. He simply turned and gently instructed his guards: “You may withdraw for now.”

Though the guards hesitated upon hearing this, they still bowed and retreated to about twenty paces away with their men. They refused to go any further. However, Tonghe didn’t withdraw with the other guards – he remained standing behind Xiao Jingxi with lowered eyes, unmoving.

Yun Wenfang looked at Tonghe, his face showing mockery: “If I were to attack, could one attendant stop me? If Second Master Xiao is afraid, you should call everyone back.”

Hearing this, Xiao Jingxi merely smiled without explanation, ignoring Yun Wenfang’s provocation and simply asking: “What do you seek me for?”

Xiao Jingxi’s light and breezy attitude caused the bloodthirsty aura that Yun Wenfang had originally suppressed to surge up again in his eyes. He took two steps forward, approaching Xiao Jingxi: “You’re going to marry Ren Yaoqi?”

When Yun Wenfang stepped forward, he didn’t restrain the murderous and hostile aura emanating from his body. Xiao Jingxi, however, acted as if he hadn’t noticed at all, remaining in place without moving, his voice unchanged: “Yes. However, this is a matter between the Yanbei Prince’s Manor and the Ren family. Second Young Master Yun seems overly concerned. Also, please refer to my fiancée as Miss Ren.”

Following Xiao Jingxi’s affirmative answer, the temperature in Yun Wenfang’s eyes dropped several more degrees. Especially upon hearing Xiao Jingxi’s final words, Yun Wenfang’s hands suddenly clenched into fists, allowing people to hear the sound of joints grinding.

“I knew her when you didn’t even know where you were treating your illness. She is not your fiancée!” Yun Wenfang said through gritted teeth, his eyes red, enunciating each word. He was like a cornered fighting beast, every hair on his body standing on end.

Hearing this, Xiao Jingxi’s eyes narrowed slightly. Yun Wenfang didn’t notice, but Tonghe, standing behind Xiao Jingxi, instinctively took half a step back and lowered his head even further.

An eerie silence fell around them. For a moment, the atmosphere was frozen, as if everything around had been frozen by some force. Even the guards standing twenty-odd paces away, watching the situation, felt a bone-deep chill and couldn’t help but shiver.

Yun Wenfang instinctively sensed something as well, which helped stabilize his somewhat out-of-control emotions. However, grief and anger had lowered his guard, and he continued speaking to himself: “Xiao Jingxi, what kind of woman can’t you have? Even if the Yanbei Prince’s Manor must form a marriage alliance with the Prince of Hezhong, does it have to be her?”

Xiao Jingxi simply looked at Yun Wenfang without speaking.

“Could you let her go?” Yun Wenfang’s voice carried a pleading tone that even he hadn’t noticed. Yun Wenfang had always been high and mighty. Even when facing Xiao Jingxi, he had never felt inferior. In his entire life, except with Ren Yaoqi, he had never bowed his head before anyone else.

“Let her go. I’m willing to do anything for the Yanbei Prince’s Manor, as is the Yun family.” At this moment, Yun Wenfang suppressed all his pride. Although bowing his head before Xiao Jingxi made him feel humiliated, he couldn’t help but do so, even though his spine was trembling violently.

Xiao Jingxi was somewhat surprised, but Yun Wenfang’s words couldn’t move him in the slightest. He raised an eyebrow and said with some amusement, “The Yun family as well? Yun Wenfang, when did you become able to make decisions for the Yun family?”

Yun Wenfang pressed his lips together, the determination in his still-reddened eyes unwavering: “Someday I will be able to make decisions for the Yun family! As long as you don’t marry her.”

Xiao Jingxi looked at Yun Wenfang for a moment, curved his lips in a smile, though there was no trace of mirth in his eyes, and spoke with cold cruelty: “I don’t want the Yun family, and you needn’t waste your efforts. She will only be my wife.”

Yun Wenfang suddenly raised his head, glaring fiercely at Xiao Jingxi.

Xiao Jingxi paid no attention to the ferocity and hatred in his eyes, merely nodding politely: “Our discussion is finished. Second Young Master Yun, please take your leave.”

A flash of cruel killing intent crossed Yun Wenfang’s face. He stepped forward to block Xiao Jingxi’s path to the carriage, his entire body radiating coldness: “Xiao Jingxi, aren’t you dying from illness? Why must you drag her down with you? If you just want to marry a decoration, wouldn’t anyone do?”

Xiao Jingxi said indifferently: “What concern is it of yours?”

Yun Wenfang laughed coldly, raising his hand to attack Xiao Jingxi while saying: “Since you’re going to die sooner or later anyway, why not die now and spare someone else from being dragged down with you?”

The killing intent emanating from Yun Wenfang was genuine – at this moment, he truly wanted Xiao Jingxi dead.

Yun Wenfang had long passed the age of naivety, and his experiences at the frontier in recent years had taught him much about human nature and worldly affairs. So initially, he hadn’t intended to fight Xiao Jingxi to the death – he still had some reservations about the status of the Yanbei Prince’s Manor’s Second Young Master. But Xiao Jingxi’s words, “she will only be my wife,” had completely driven Yun Wenfang mad, causing his long-suppressed bloodlust to surge up and break through his already precarious rationality. In Yun Wenfang’s view, Xiao Jingxi, knowing his life was short, still insisted on marrying Ren Yaoqi, wanting to ruin her entire life – this was truly detestable and deserving of death!

The guards who had been watching from a distance immediately sensed something was wrong and wanted to rush over to protect their master, but they were stopped by a subtle gesture from Xiao Jingxi. Even Tonghe, who had wanted to step forward to block Yun Wenfang, abruptly halted and instead retreated three steps, leaving the combat area.

Because he truly wanted to kill Xiao Jingxi, Yun Wenfang used his full strength when attacking, his movements lightning-fast as he sought a quick victory. However, just as his hand was about to touch Xiao Jingxi’s neck, it was forcibly suppressed by a sudden burst of power.

The neck is one of the most vulnerable parts of the human body, especially in close combat. Catching an enemy off guard and snapping their neck is the most decisive and efficient killing move. Yun Wenfang had used this technique to take no fewer than twenty lives on the battlefield, never once failing. So when dealing with Xiao Jingxi, Yun Wenfang subconsciously used this move. He feared that if he hesitated even a moment, he might become cowardly or regretful, so he wanted to kill with one strike.

When his hand was blocked by a hand with slender fingers, Yun Wenfang was momentarily stunned. When he saw that the owner of this hand was Xiao Jingxi himself, shock flashed in Yun Wenfang’s eyes.

How was this possible?

Yun Wenfang knew his abilities well. In close combat with a top expert like Xiao Hua, who came from a shadow guard background, he had little chance of winning. But dealing with ordinary experts was no problem at all, let alone a sickly person like Xiao Jingxi?

Yun Wenfang thought this was a coincidence. After quickly regaining his composure, his other hand attacked Xiao Jingxi’s jiuwei acupoint. This acupoint was one of the human body’s death points – a sneak attack with proper positioning and force could shatter a person’s heart meridians and severely injure the chest and abdominal organs, equally lethal with one strike.

However, Yun Wenfang’s hand was still blocked by Xiao Jingxi’s wrist. Xiao Jingxi remained standing in place without moving. While blocking Yun Wenfang’s offensive, his originally loosely held palm slightly opened, and his ring finger and middle finger tapped lightly at a spot seven inches above Yun Wenfang’s navel and half an inch below the xiphoid process at a strange speed and cunning angle, landing precisely on the “jiuwei acupoint” that Yun Wenfang had just attacked.

Yun Wenfang’s form stiffened. He stumbled back several steps, then suddenly lowered his head and spat out a mouthful of blood. The blood he coughed up stained a large area of his chest garment red.