Watching Madam Yu wail and sob, Xuanyuan Lige hadn’t even reacted yet when Jun Beiyue’s brow furrowed first. A flash of impatience crossed his eyes, and he simply turned his back, acting as though he’d seen and heard nothing at all.

Given Madam Yu’s reaction, it was obvious Xuanyuan Lige must have done something to that girl called Yu Xiaomeng.

Of course, he had no interest in that whatsoever. His only concern was Wuzheng.

Whether it was because Xuanyuan Lige had a gentler temperament than Jun Beiyue, or because he felt some sense of responsibility for the loss of Wuzheng and wanted to help Ziqing recover it as quickly as possible, he kept his eyes on Madam Yu, saying nothing at all, simply letting her wail and carry on however she pleased.

“You ruined my daughter, all because of you!”

“Xuanyuan Shang, let me tell you — if anything happens to my daughter, I will settle this with you no matter what it costs me!”

…

Madam Yu cried for the better part of an hour, yet never once actually explained what had happened to Yu Xiaomeng. Xuanyuan Lige took another deep breath — he knew Yu Xiaomeng was safe; otherwise this old woman wouldn’t still have the composure to carry on wailing here in front of him.

Seeing that Xuanyuan Lige showed no reaction at all, Madam Yu’s crying gradually grew quieter, until finally she stopped on her own, wiping her tears while sneaking glances at Xuanyuan Lige and Jun Beiyue.

She could only sense that Jun Beiyue radiated an overwhelming sense of dominance and nobility — who on earth was this man, she wondered warily?

Once Madam Yu had finally stopped crying, Xuanyuan Lige spoke up coldly. “Where is Miss Yu? I have business with her.”

Madam Yu wiped her tears and sneered. “Business with her, is it? Only now that you need something do you remember to come looking for her! Well let me tell you — not a chance!”

This old woman was truly unreasonable!

Just a moment ago she’d been wailing and demanding Xuanyuan Lige take responsibility, and now she wouldn’t even let them meet.

Xuanyuan Lige took a third deep breath. If Jun Beiyue hadn’t been present, he certainly wouldn’t have kept his patience this long — there were certain things he didn’t want Jun Beiyue to know about.

“Where is she, exactly? I have something important to discuss with her!” Xuanyuan Lige said, forcing himself to remain patient, speaking with genuine earnestness.

“I. Don’t. Know.” Madam Yu said, biting off each word deliberately, clearly doing it on purpose.

Xuanyuan Lige was about to speak again when Jun Beiyue suddenly spun around and barked out sharply, “Enough with all this nonsense — where’s Wuzheng!”

Madam Yu, caught completely off guard, jumped back several steps in fright, nearly stumbling and falling.

This… this young man was terrifyingly fierce!

“The person your daughter rescued before was carrying an old zither with her. Where is it?” Jun Beiyue got straight to the point, his tone icy cold — this wasn’t a question at all, it was practically an interrogation.

He hadn’t moved from where he stood, merely turning to face her, and yet Madam Yu could clearly feel an overwhelming pressure bearing down on her, as though a mountain had just come crashing down.

So this was it — they were here to reclaim an ancient zither! This young man must be connected to that woman from the Central Plains somehow.

Madam Yu was certainly afraid, but she also knew that ancient zither was her very last bargaining chip!

Of course she was going to cling to it with everything she had. Steeling her nerve, she answered Jun Beiyue with open displeasure, “I don’t know what you’re talking about! What zither? Never seen it!”

“I’ll ask you one last time — do you have it, or not?” Jun Beiyue said coldly.

“No!” Madam Yu declared, absolutely unshakable!

“Very well. Someone, burn this house down!” Jun Beiyue ordered coldly. Two Shadow Guards materialized out of thin air at once, storming straight into the Yu family courtyard!

Madam Yu froze for a moment, then snapped back to her senses and lunged after them, shouting, “Stop! What gives you the right!”

The two shadow figures had already prepared their fire strikers, ready to set the blaze in an instant — a thatched-roof cottage like this would catch fire in no time at all.

Madam Yu threw herself between them and the two guards, roaring like a lioness. “You band of bandits! I’ve done nothing to wrong you — what gives you the right to burn my house down!”

“Are you even human? Are you even men, bullying a defenseless old woman like me who can’t so much as tie up a chicken?”

“Tell me — what gives you the right to burn my house down! You’re absolutely lawless!”

“Since what I’m looking for isn’t here, there’s no great loss in burning it down.” Jun Beiyue snorted coldly. “What are you waiting for? Get on with it!”

Madam Yu shrieked again, blocking the guard on the left with one arm and the guard on the right with the other, shouting furiously, “Who do you think you are? Do you even know where you are? You dare run wild here of all places?”

A cold light flashed in Jun Beiyue’s eyes. Without needing to be told twice, one of the Shadow Guards immediately pried Madam Yu’s hands away and set fire to the thatched roof.

Seeing this, Madam Yu immediately tried to rush forward to smother the flames, but the fire had already surged upward, quickly growing fierce and uncontrollable!

“You wretched brat! You! How dare you be so reckless — I’ll fight you to the death!” Madam Yu screamed, charging straight at Jun Beiyue in fury.

Jun Beiyue simply sidestepped, easily dodging her, and snorted coldly. “If you don’t hand over what I’m looking for, don’t blame me for what comes next.”

Madam Yu, refusing to back down in the slightest, snapped back coldly, “The thing’s right here in my hands, and I’m simply not giving it to you — what exactly do you think you can do to me?”

“Burn the other house down too!” Jun Beiyue snorted coldly, entirely unsurprised.

“You wouldn’t dare!” Madam Yu gasped sharply, immediately issuing a warning. “You Central Plains people, let me tell you — this is Mobei, not your Central Plains! We have the Xiongnu watching over us here! If you don’t stop this right now, once the Xiongnu army arrives, you’ll be in for it!”

Xiongnu?

Jun Beiyue snorted coldly and said nothing.

By now, an ever-growing crowd had gathered to watch, murmuring amongst themselves in a swelling wave of discussion.

For the moment, Madam Yu had no room left to consider anything else — she was absolutely determined not to let Xuanyuan Shang off easy.

The fire in the thatched cottage grew fiercer and fiercer, on the verge of spiraling completely out of control. The gathered clan members began stepping forward, one after another, trying to reason with them.

“Madam Yu, what on earth is going on here? Can’t we all just sit down and talk this through properly?”

“Young man, whatever your background, once you’ve come to Mobei, you’re our guest. If you have something to say, say it properly — if you can’t reach an agreement, let’s take this to the clan elder! Don’t set fires!”

…

Faced with these pleas to reason, Madam Yu, being clearly in the wrong, immediately lost her footing!

With no leg to stand on, all she could do was raise her voice louder to seem more righteous. “There’s nothing to discuss with the likes of them. And to think they’re supposedly Central Plains people — nothing but common bandits!”

Xuanyuan Lige stood by in silence, having already stepped off to one side. He had no wish to clash with the people of the Mobei tribe, nor did he want to disturb the peaceful life they had here.

But Jun Beiyue was different — he was thoroughly sick of this unreasonable old woman’s shameless antics!

Amid the mounting murmurs and discussion all around, his patience grew thinner and thinner, and he snapped coldly, “Burn it! Burn it all to the ground!”

Wuzheng was one of the demonic zithers — a legendary instrument that water couldn’t rot and fire couldn’t destroy. If he was expected to believe Wuzheng wasn’t inside this house, then let this house burn to ashes first and let him see for himself!

The Shadow Guards didn’t dare hesitate — in an instant, they’d set the main house ablaze as well!

At this, not just Madam Yu but everyone gathered around was stunned!

“Heavens, bandits! Someone, quickly, go fetch the people from Nangong City! We’ve got bandits here in Mobei!” Madam Yu wailed and shrieked, thinking to herself — she was going all in now. That zither was inside the house; if they wanted to burn it, let them burn it completely, let the zither burn along with everything else!

She was determined to make a scene of it. She would swear up and down that she’d never taken that zither, and make sure Xuanyuan Shang could never show his face in Mobei again.