Raising his eyebrows, Yu Zixi slowly looked down at the long blade against his neck and smiled somewhat helplessly.

Qin Chang Ge stood leisurely to one side, saying quietly to Xiao Rong: “Son, you must remember in the future—when traveling the martial world, you must never have any strange quirks. You should know that strange quirks can kill people.”

Xiao Rong glanced at Yu Zixi and asked studiously: “What strange quirk does he have?”

“Germaphobia,” Qin Chang Ge explained patiently. “Germaphobia is the strange quirk of being particularly afraid of dirt… Look, if this prince hadn’t been afraid of getting dirty just now and hadn’t wanted the sleeve wind to bring blood and flesh onto himself, stopping mid-attack, it would probably be that disabled uncle who was in trouble now.”

Xiao Rong’s eyes lit up brightly: “I can see this effeminate man isn’t a good person. He might harm us in the future. Mother, from now on whenever we encounter him, let’s remember to bring a bag of dirt. If he tries to kill us, we’ll throw dirt at him.”

Qin Chang Ge stared at her son, seeing his face was truly earnest and excited. She couldn’t help but sigh sadly, murmuring: “Son, what kind of nature do you have? You could be called heroic, and you could be called kind, but within your heroism is roguishness, and within your kindness is cunning. Who do you take after with this character?”

Xiao Rong didn’t hear her lament and had already crouched down, enthusiastically looking for dirt. He specifically sought the bloody, filthy kind, showing no disgust as he tore off part of his clothing to stuff it in.

Over there, the mud-covered young man, his legs unable to support him, leaned entirely against Yu Zixi. Yet his blade-holding hand was extremely steady, resting against Yu Zixi’s neck steady as a rock. The prince’s soldiers let out a shout and surrounded them with weapons drawn.

The young man gave a cold laugh and pressed down with his elbow. He controlled his strength perfectly—the blade edge slightly penetrated the flesh, and a line of red slowly spread across the jade-like skin, appearing so vivid it made one’s heart tremble.

Yu Zixi extended his finger and touched that mark, immediately staining his finger with fresh red. He smiled and gently licked his finger, his posture like a lazy cat washing its face, though his gaze surged with dark currents as he said softly: “Good… good… I like it very much.”

Waving his hand, he said: “Useless things, all of you get lost.”

The soldiers retreated resentfully.

Looking sideways at the young man, he said: “What do you want? Speak plainly.”

“Just leave,” the young man said, his face so covered in mud that his features were completely obscured, but his gaze was cold and stern. “Don’t disturb me again from now on, or I’ll kill you.”

“You don’t hate me that much, do you?” Yu Zixi’s smile was calm, paying no attention to the blade. “And you don’t really want to be a beggar… You just don’t want to be my subordinate, right?”

The young man remained silent.

“You… don’t want to kill people. You have no killing intent,” Yu Zixi said gently. “Such a formidable person, yet unwilling to kill… You’re so foolish.”

Just as that last word “foolish” left his mouth.

He suddenly jerked his head to the side.

Opened his mouth.

With a crack, fragments flew everywhere.

He had actually bitten the blade in two with one bite!

“Those who control others will always be controlled by others!” With a long laugh, Yu Zixi swept his arm horizontally. In the flutter of his flowing sleeves, the young man flew out like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily to the ground and falling unconscious without a sound.

His reckless forceful head movement caused Yu Zixi’s neck skin to be torn by the blade edge, nearly injuring the carotid artery. Blood gushed like a spring. He gently pressed against it with his red clothing that was even more vivid than blood, his posture graceful as rosy clouds as he walked over, leaving a trail of blood drops that bloomed like blood lotus flowers all over the ground.

After gazing at the unconscious young man for a long while, he smiled: “What I respect most are ruthless people, but your ruthlessness isn’t thorough enough… Originally I should have invited you into my residence and treated you as an honored guest, but your unwillingness to kill makes me rather uncomfortable… I’ll give you a discount and send you to another good place instead.”

He waved his hand, and immediately soldiers came forward to lift the young man and place him on a horse’s back.

Qin Chang Ge frowned. Xiao Rong couldn’t hold back any longer and called out loudly: “Hey, Your Royal Highness, where are you taking him?”

“To a good place…” Yu Zixi’s smile was gentle. “Didn’t the great hero hear?”

Xiao Rong looked at him suspiciously: “You’re not going to take him away and throw him in some pit to render corpse oil, are you?”

“How could that be?” Yu Zixi looked hurt. “Do I look like someone who would lie?”

“Yes,” Xiao Rong nodded without courtesy. Ignoring Yu Zixi, he walked forward and called softly: “Uncle, uncle?”

The young man moved slightly but remained unconscious. Yu Zixi’s palm strike was not something his weak body, long subjected to abuse, could withstand.

Xiao Rong thought for a moment, then turned to look at Qin Chang Ge. Qin Chang Ge slowly shook her head at him, indicating that this person’s background was unknown and it wouldn’t be appropriate to take him in.

Xiao Rong sighed and reached into his robes, feeling around until he pulled out a small jade lock pendant. Qin Chang Ge’s gaze focused, somewhat worried that this child might carelessly produce some imperial palace token. Looking carefully, she saw it was just an ordinary longevity lock worn by wealthy family children, though its style and jade quality were particularly exquisite. Xiao Rong stuffed the lock into the young man’s hand, and the young man instinctively gripped it tightly.

Standing on his tiptoes, Xiao Rong whispered in the young man’s ear: “Uncle, this is my gift to you. I find you more pleasing to the eye than that effeminate man. When you get better, remember to come find me. If you don’t have money to come, you can sell this for money too.”

The young man moved again but didn’t open his eyes, still clutching the jade lock pendant in his hand.

Yu Zixi watched Xiao Rong with an expression between smiling and not smiling, saying to Qin Chang Ge: “Your son is very interesting.”

“Thank you for the praise, Your Highness,” Qin Chang Ge replied with a smile. “I’m just thinking that if you continue praising here, your neck probably won’t be very interesting anymore.”

With a graceful smile, Yu Zixi glanced at her sideways, his gaze deep with allure, but said nothing more as he led his soldiers away.

Qin Chang Ge remained where she stood, watching his gorgeous retreating figure, frowning slightly in thought, then smiling gently.