Xu Qian is Xu Qi’an?

The Xu siblings, Xu Yuanxiang and Xu Yuanhuai felt their heads “buzz” as if struck by a surprise blow.

Besides the Xu siblings, Liu Hongmian had the most intense reaction—she was the only woman present besides Xu Yuanxiang.

Women’s interest in exceptional men was like men’s attraction to peerless beauties.

Liu Hongmian came from the Thousand Flowers House of Sword Province, a jianghu force composed of women. Initially, due to their weak strength, they encountered many unpleasant situations.

Later, they devised the strategy of arranged marriages, wedding their beautiful members to various heroes, gang leaders, and young talents. Even in Sword Province’s officialdom, many officials took pride in marrying Thousand Flowers House women.

Now the Thousand Flowers House had firmly established itself in Sword Province with an intricate network of connections, but their corresponding traditions remained.

Thousand Flowers House women couldn’t resist young men with strong abilities, handsome appearances, and high prestige…

They would become infatuated at the sight of such men.

Liu Hongmian pressed her lips together, staring intently at the distant Xu Qian—no, Xu Qi’an—her gaze burning.

Compared to the Xu siblings’ dramatic reaction and Liu Hongmian’s suddenly intense interest, Old Daoist Jiao Ye quickly stabilized his emotions after brief bewilderment and shock, his expression grave as he pondered in silence.

As for Qi Hun Dan Xiang from the Southern Border’s Insect Tribes, he cared nothing about the figure of Great Feng’s Silver Constable Xu Qi’an.

As for Ji Xuan and White Tiger, they exchanged knowing glances, seeing in each other’s eyes expressions that said “just as expected.”

Both had somewhat guessed Xu Qian’s true identity, lacking only final confirmation.

“This is impossible!”

Xu Yuanhuai suddenly shouted, pointing his spear at Xu Qian, his words passionate:

“How could he be Xu Qi’an? That man was crippled, and Xu Qian is an insect master, not a martial artist.”

Pure Heart spoke slowly: “Precisely because he was crippled, he turned to cultivating insect arts.”

Xu Yuanhuai opened and closed his mouth, momentarily speechless, his face reddening with anger:

“What proof do you have?”

He simply couldn’t accept that Xu Qian was his elder brother Xu Qi’an, whom his parents had raised in the capital’s clan. This wasn’t what he had expected—he hadn’t been prepared at all.

Ji Xuan sighed, speaking in Pure Heart’s place:

“Buddha’s son, hah, besides that Xu Qi’an who proposed Mahayana Buddhist concepts during the battle in the capital, who else could Buddhism value so highly?”

He glanced at Pure Heart and Pure Karma, sneering: “Not to mention bearing half of Great Feng’s fortune.”

Xu Yuanhuai wasn’t stupid—quite the contrary, he was very clever. Thinking of the Heaven’s Secrets Palace spies’ attitude toward Xu Qian, he believed it somewhat.

He seemed to think of something and suddenly turned his head to look at his sister Xu Yuanxiang.

No wonder, no wonder when Xu Qian heard his sister reveal her background, not only did he not kill her, but he let her go.

He had always thought his sister had sacrificed her chastity to earn a chance at survival.

“But wasn’t he, wasn’t he crippled?” Xu Yuanhuai seized on this point.

“That’s what I still can’t figure out,” Ji Xuan shook his head.

As they spoke, Xu Yuanxiang stared blankly at the distant blue-robed man, her beautiful eyes flashing with anger, confusion, embarrassment, and many other emotions. Finally, thinking of something unknown, her face suddenly reddened.

She understood why Xu Yuanhuai’s reaction was so intense.

The siblings had imagined many scenarios of meeting their elder brother from the capital.

Perhaps secretly observing him without revealing themselves; perhaps confronting him as enemies; or perhaps, carrying complex emotions, not knowing how to handle their relationship, simply wanting to see him.

Xu Yuanxiang had never imagined that her meeting with her capital brother would begin with a love insect, would begin with a light green undershirt…

Liu Hongmian, a woman skilled in scheming and seducing men, cupped her hands around her mouth, feigning innocence as she called out:

“Hey, are you Constable Xu? I heard Constable Xu was an exceptionally handsome man—why not show your true face for us to see?”

Her flirtatious manner made Xu Yuanxiang’s delicate brows furrow in displeasure, but seeing Xu Qi’an ignore her, Xu Yuanxiang’s expression slightly cleared.

Not interested, I’m completely done… In the distance, Xu Qi’an maintained his aloof exterior while internally complaining.

At this moment, Old Daoist Jiao Ye spoke gravely:

“Now is not the time to question his identity.

“If Xu Qian is Xu Qi’an, what we face is the number one figure among the younger generation in the Central Plains, even the entire world.

“A third-rank martial artist at twenty-one years old.”

Old Daoist Jiao Ye’s words plunged the entire team into silence.

Even in Cloud Province, they had heard countless rumors about this young man.

He had single-handedly held off rebel armies in Cloud Province; he had repelled an army of eighty thousand at Yuyang Pass, taking enemy generals’ heads as easily as reaching into a bag; he had angrily slain a foolish emperor, shaking the world.

His legends were too numerous, and long since turned into mythical tales by jianghu people and common folk.

All present were heaven’s chosen, but facing such a figure, they had almost no confidence.

Xu Yuanhuai opened his mouth, wanting to say something—perhaps words to boost morale, perhaps “don’t underestimate the young and poor,” perhaps “I’ll be stronger than him in the future”…

But as the words reached his lips, he lacked the confidence to speak them.

This elder brother raised in the capital was a figure who could eclipse any genius.

His talent, which Xu Yuanhuai took such pride in, wasn’t worth mentioning before this person.

“There’s no need to worry.”

Warrior Monk Pure Karma stepped forward, his gaze sharp, battle spirit high:

“His cultivation is sealed by the demon-sealing nail. At most, he’s at the fourth rank now. Even with insect art to assist, he cannot defeat all of us. Benefactors, this is the perfect opportunity to subdue him.

“Even if he planned and orchestrated this play, what of it? With our battle power, we are more than enough.”

The current situation made Pure Karma see an opportunity to defeat Xu Qi’an and eliminate his obsession.

He didn’t believe the Buddha’s son could withstand so many experts with his strength alone.

Pure Heart pondered briefly before nodding:

“Indeed. Even though he invited two Yang Spirit experts from the Heaven Path, at most that balance the transcendent forces, but below the third rank, he stands alone.”

Everyone’s eyes brightened.

That’s right—no matter how brilliant Xu Qi’an had been, that was past glory.

Now, he was no longer in his peak state when he slew the foolish emperor in the capital. What was there to fear?

Old Daoist Jiao Ye spoke slowly:

“Correct. At his peak, we couldn’t have matched him. But now he’s a tiger fallen to the plains—how much battle power can he have? Perhaps stronger than ordinary fourth rank, but unable to defeat us all.”

Ji Xuan began to smile: “Perfect chance to temper our martial way. There’s no better whetstone than Constable Xu. If we’re lucky enough to defeat him—tsk—the foremost figure of the Central Plains’ younger generation, broken in our hands. That calls for a celebration.”

Xu Yuanhuai listened, eager to try.

The martial artists’ fighting spirit soared, a strong desire for battle rising, even surpassing their focus on the Dragon Qi.

Ji Xuan’s words scratched their inner itch—the chance to cross hands and fight with Xu Qi’an was a temptation no martial artist could resist.

Defeating Xu Qi’an would be a glory to make any martial artist’s blood boil.

“Interesting!”

Liu Hongmian giggled: “If we can defeat Constable Xu here, I must return to the Thousand Flowers House in Sword Province and show off properly to those little hussies.”

Let them know what a mistake they made not choosing her as housemaster.

As a martial artist, Liu Hongmian felt defeating Constable Xu would be an immense honor, which didn’t conflict with her admiration for him.

Xu Yuanxiang’s delicate brows furrowed as she raised her cold, pretty face to look at Xu Qi’an.

How much strength do you still have? She couldn’t tell if she felt worried or relieved, her emotions particularly complex.

Influenced by her mother, she didn’t bear much hostility toward this elder brother, but she was also influenced by Hidden Dragon City’s Ji family and her father, knowing her position opposed his.

This time leaving home to travel, she had actually wanted to visit the capital. She wanted to step outside the influence of her mother and position, to view this matter and this person from her own perspective.

Now meeting Xu Qi’an here saved her the trip to the capital.

Seeing no one willing to take the lead, Xu Yuanhuai snorted coldly, dragging his spear forward to step out first:

“I’ll subdue him!”

Dragging his long spear, he walked faster and faster, then broke into a run, the spear tip plowing deep marks in the ground.

Approaching Xu Qi’an, he let out a deep roar, his waist driving his body to spin, his body driving the long spear in a domineering sweep across heaven.

The accumulated snow within several zhangs instantly rose, snowflakes dancing in the air.

The long spear swept through the air with a piercing whistle.

Everyone’s gaze focused intently on this scene, hoping to gauge Xu Qi’an’s depth from this exchange.

At this moment, Xu Qi’an moved, raising his hand to lightly flick his fingertip.

From above, he flicked the spear shaft.

“Ding!”

Xu Yuanhuai’s tiger’s mouth split open, unable to hold his weapon, watching helplessly as it flew spinning toward the sky.

Seeing this, Ji Xuan nodded: “No worse than me.”

He was referring to Xu Qi’an.

But everyone’s expressions relaxed—he was still within the fourth rank’s scope.

Ji Xuan continued: “Yuanhuai hasn’t used his full strength yet. Let’s see how much of Xu Qi’an’s level he can test.”

As his words fell, Xu Yuanhuai leaped up to catch the long spear.

His body briefly hung in the air as he shouted and shook the black spear. The dragon head at the connection between spearhead and shaft burst with dazzling black light, then came alive, automatically separating from the spear body.

The sealed dragon soul in the magical weapon had awakened.

This spear was an extremely high-grade magical weapon, its shaft forged from a fourth-rank flood dragon’s spine, its head from the dragon’s sharpest and hardest fang.

Sealed within the spear was the fourth-rank flood dragon’s primordial spirit. It could briefly merge with the weapon’s master, temporarily raising its strength to the fourth rank.

Xu Yuanhuai was at the peak of fifth rank, but at full power, he could match a fourth-rank martial artist.

The not-quite-real dragon shadow swam through the air, suddenly turning to rush into Xu Yuanhuai’s body.

Xu Yuanhuai’s eyes changed to vertical pupils, ethereal black scales appeared on his cheeks, and a dragon’s roar burst from his throat.

Gripping the Flood Dragon Radiance Spear, he suddenly dove down, the spear tip exploding with a dazzling sharp light, forming a semicircular energy barrier.

“What a fine magical weapon!”

Everyone watched with envy. Liu Hongmian seemed to think of something and asked:

“By the way, what’s Constable Xu’s weapon?”