"Zhang Xinxiong?"

The crowd gasped anxiously as soon as that enormous man with a cape appeared.

"Boy, this is intense. I wonder if Xu Xiaoshou can still mess around, now that the big brother of the Inner Yard has made his appearance."

"Yeah, Young Master Zhang… I haven't seen him fight in a long while. From what I heard, he was already halfway through his Master Level several years ago. I wonder if he had been suppressing his level the whole time."

"Indeed. You could say Zhang Xinxiong is among the oldest in the Inner Yard. Only Enforcer Zhao who still hadn't graduated back then was older than him, and that's considering the whole damn frickin' Inner Yard, man."

"Enforcer Zhao… you mean Zhao Xidong?"

"Yeah."

Hsss...

Many people heard what was happening and arrived at the scene soon enough. Regardless of whether they knew what was happening, everyone was chattering away in excitement.

The big brother of the Inner Yard had yet to show what he was capable of, and they knew little about his past.

However, they knew without a doubt that he and Lan Xinzi were close.

That woman, whom the outsiders saw to be like a taboo, was at the moment severely injured. There was no way Zhang Xinxiong would just let it slide just like that.

Based on how he got to the top in the Inner Yard years ago, what just happened meant that he definitely would not just let it slide even if Zhao Xidong was around.

Xu Xiaoshou looked up at that giant before him and was rather awed.

Before that, the tallest, stoutest man that he had seen was probably Zhou Tianshen.

Yet, when compared to Zhang Xinxiong, Zhou Tianshen was most definitely small.

Just look at those shoulders, the muscle definition…

Seeing that he wasn't getting anything in return after extending his hand in a friendly manner, Xu Xiaoshou touched Zhang Xinxiong's triceps curiously and asked, "Is this really muscle? How did you get this big? Protein or something?"

Crack!

The crowd felt like they had just been petrified that very instant.

Everyone was in a stupor and it was as if their jaws had dropped to the floor and shattered, and they could not pick them up again.

"The hell…!"

Impressed, Passive Points +32.

Envied, Passive Points +7.

Xu Xiaoshou's bizarre antics even shocked Zhang Xinxiong.

Did he just…

Touch me?

That was a body that not even Lan Xinzi would have dared to touch.

"You're brave."

Encouraged, Passive Points +1.

Zhang Xinxiong snorted and walked up to him, hoisting Xu Xiaoshou up by the collar with a nasty look on his face.

"Your body has the smell of the Zhang family's blood…" He tilted his head close to Xu Xiaoshou's ear and asked, "Did you kill Yuan Tou?"

Zhang Xinxiong lifted Xu Xiaoshou off of his feet like a chick, and the sight of it made the crowd pity him.

"Couldn't do anything to resist at all…"

"Yeah, the Xu Xiaoshou who acted like he owned the place finally met his match today."

"You're right. Technically, Xu Xiaoshou is only an Outer Yard disciple after all. I wonder how did someone who keeps messing around as he does, get to stay alive for as long as he did."

"Huh, just get on the bad side of Lan Xinzi and see what happens next. Zhang Xinxiong aside, you think you could beat her?"

"Hell, who doesn't know how to pull off an ambush. I'd be able to do that much if I were in his shoes."

"Well, do it then."

"I'd be able to do that much if I were to be in his shoes."

"What are you waiting for…?"

"Shut up!"

"…"

Sympathized, Passive Points +12.

Envied, Passive Points +11.

"…"

Zhang Xinxiong had Xu Xiaoshou by the scruff, and there was nothing he could do about it. He then took a good look at Zhang Xinxiong before he answered, "Yuan Tou… what happened to him has nothing to do with me."

Hmph!

Zhang Xinxiong wore a wry smirk on his face, but when he shot a glance at Lan Xinzi, who was all disheveled, anger burned in his eyes.

He didn't care about what happened to Yuan Tou.

Yet, when it came to one of his own…

Regardless of his conduct with Lan Xinzi in private, he deemed it off-limits for anyone else to touch her.

"Tell me, how would you like to die?"

Xu Xiaoshou's face seemed flushed from the choke. He then looked at Zhao Xidong with teary eyes.

"Master Zhao, he's threatening me!"

Zhang Xinxiong's mouth twitched.

He wondered why the man seemed rather different from what he had imagined the man to be.

Cursed, Passive Points +1.

Zhao Xidong felt his head hurt, thinking that this kid truly was crazy.

He was there to arrest Xu Xiaoshou, yet he somehow became like a shield to defend the latter instead.

However, as a law enforcer of the spirit palace, he could not just sit around when one of the veteran 33 of the Inner Yard threatened a mere Outer Yard disciple out in the open like that.

"You two want a fight, huh?"

"Sure, go into the Ring of Life and Death, then. I'd take you both there." He gave up resisting altogether.

Everyone was shocked. That was the first time they saw Zhao Xidong being so passive while on the job.

Shouldn't it be like, "I don't care who you are. Perpetrator or victim, you're coming with me to the Tribunal for a trial," instead?

What has gotten into him?

"If I were to be in his shoes, I'd feel tired too…"

The crowd sighed. After all that had happened, it would indeed render any man jaded from the constant effort of keeping order.

Had they been the ones to keep dealing with Xu the troublemaker all the time, they would have probably been in a worse state than Zhao Xidong.

While the crowd felt pity for that young man who was being hoisted, the person in question, Xu Xiaoshou, got excited instead.

"The Ring of Life and Death?"

"Is it the one where once we got in there, one of us has to die?"

Zhao Xidong then had a bad feeling about things.

What the hell is going on here…

I was just trying to intimidate you both, so why the hell are you so damn excited for?

He then recalled the scores between Xu Xiaoshou and Zhang Xinxiong, realizing suddenly that the kid might actually want to kill the other guy.

Could he win?...

No, it seems like a close match, and the fight may go toe-to-toe.

He recalled what happened to Cheng Xingchu and then Lan Xinzi…

Zhao Xidong was all baffled.

Something is wrong with this. This guy was only at Acquired Level just days ago. How would he suddenly able to fight someone like Zhang Xinxiong, then?

Huff…

He took a long and deep breath, then spoke with a focused voice. "You heard wrong. The Inner Yard doesn't forbid resorting to violence to settle personal scores, but fighting to the death is forbidden.

Xu Xiaoshou then looked at the head above him.

The corner of Zhang Xinxiong's lips was lifted, and he glared at Xu Xiaoshou with ominous eyes, and asked, "you wanna issue a challenge then?"

No one in the Inner Yard knew the rules better than him. He was a man who had climbed his way to the top by winning fight after fight.

While settling personal scores through violence was permitted, the parties involved would still be severely punished if caught by the law enforcers.

And while fighting to the death was forbidden, yet those with deep-seated grudges could issue a challenge and apply to get into the Ring of Life and Death to fight to the death.

It was rather ironic that the very ring that no one would dare to get into was the one Zhang Xinxiong had been coming down from countless times till this very day.

"I'm not so sure about the process with issuing challenges…"

Xu Xiaoshou gave a puzzled look to Zhang Xinxiong. He paused and put on a serious look on his face, then said, "but if it means seeing you dead on the spot, I'm all for it!"

The crowd exploded.

The spectators who were sitting around them finally could not contain themselves. All of them jolted up right away with a disbelieving look on their faces.

The young man had just been picked up like a chicken. How dare he say such this while looking so frail and insignificant?

"Damn, Xu Xiaoshou, I don't know what else to say."

"I'd be sure to shine his grave next year because of what he just said."

Zhang Xinxiong was instead quite amused.

He saw Xu Xiaoshou being the living manifestation of the saying 'fledglings being the most fearless'.

He thinks that having killed several at Innate Levels and hurting several at Upper Spiritual Level, means that he could shoot for the stars, eh?

I'd like to ask…

Have you weaned?

Zhang Xinxiong focused his gaze and killing intent emanated all over him, causing the ground to crack and shatter.

The trees around rustled in the howling wind.

Several in the crowd who could not steady themselves in time wobbled and fell to the ground where they stood.

The crowd was cowed and back away immediately, losing the festive look on their faces. Some of them would have usually teased those who had fallen, yet there was nothing but utter silence at the moment.

Zhang Xinxiong… is getting serious here?

"You don't know the procedures, eh?"

Zhang Xinxiong flashed a grin and said, "Alright, I'd give you face and be the one to issue the challenge then. Don't say that I'm picking on the weak here…"

"You have one month to prepare. When the time comes, die!"

Xu Xiaoshou pinched on his nose and covered his mouth, flapping his legs about in the air. He then exhaled long and hard after finding that his legs were not reaching the ground.

"Sorry, but a month is too long. I don't intend to give you that much time."