Xia Song quickly explained the background of that scholar.
He was from a school in the South Immortal Commandery.
The southern region regarded martial arts above academics, so only those who were highly talented and passionate about academics would be able to enter the school.
The Auspicious King was the honorary principal of the school, and he often visited the school with Xia Song to lecture the students. Over time, Xia Song became close with a student named Zhao Yan.
Zhao Yan was from a humble background, but he had a dashing face and meticulous heart. Often, he only needed to read a passage once to grasp its key concepts and even formulate personal insights about it.
Due to that, the Auspicious King harbored high hopes for Zhao Yan. He intended to send the latter to the capital to participate in the imperial exams.
Unfortunately, that made the other students in the school jealous of Zhao Yan, and they began oppressing him. Zhao Yan turned a blind eye to their antics and focused on his own studies.
Occasionally, Xia Song would invite him on a boat trip on the Great Xia River to share poetry and exchange couplets.
One day, women started disappearing in the South Immortal Commander. Some were ladies from distinguished households, and some were young girls. This case quickly caught attention, and Jue Panshi personally led a team of chiliarchs to investigate the matter.
Days later, they dug up a few female corpses that hadn’t fully decomposed inside Zhao Yan’s tattered hut. They were the missing personnel! As a result, Zhao Yan was arrested under the suspicion of being the murderer.
No matter how the Valiant Defenders questioned him, Zhao Yan refused to confess to his crime, insisting that he was innocent.
Xia Song saw him once then; he had lost one of his eyes, and his body was covered with grievous wounds. He only had a breath left in him, but he still insisted that he was innocent and begged Xia Song to help him root out the real culprit.
“Imperial Duke Fang, the evidence was in place. I couldn’t exploit my power to save him. I’d can’t face the deceased women and their family if I did that,” Xia Song said with clenched jaws.
“However, Zhao Yan, who was to be executed at noon, suddenly displayed astonishing martial prowess. He broke free of his restraints, defeated over thirty elites from the Valiant Defenders, and vanished into thin air. That made us more certain that he’s the culprit, a human-faced beast. The reason he concealed his martial prowess was so that he could secretly harm those women without coming under suspicion!
“From that day on, Zhao Yan has been wanted in our South Immortal Commandery. It has been years since, but there hasn’t been any news on him…”
At this point, Xia Song looked at Fang Chen and asked, “Is Zhao Yan the culprit who kidnapped my Sixth Sister and Miss Zhixue?”
“Do you think a person who possess such martial cultivation and has committed such grievous crimes would allow the Valiant Defenders to take him away and willingly suffer such torture?” Fang Chen asked.
Xia Song was conflicted. They had thought about that too, but it was hard to overlook the overwhelming evidence. There was little room to accommodate other narratives, especially one based solely on circumstantial evidence.
Alternatively, Zhao Yan could have also stubbornly held on in hopes that he would be acquitted, so that he could continue studying and eventually become an official of the imperial court.
After listening to the story, Fang Canghai and his wife turned to Fang Chen and said, “Chen’er, you should head over and bring Zhixue back. Keep her safe, all right?”
Fang Chen nodded before taking his leave.
Around fifty kilometers away from the Fang Manor was a massive man made cavern dug out from a steep cliff face. No one had ever discovered this cavern as this area was inaccessible to ordinary civilians.
Inside the cavern were several stone chambers, looking almost like an ordinary house. It was just dimly-lit, so oil lamps had to be hung on the walls.
Fang Zhixue and the Auspicious King’s Sixth Daughter sat by the corner. The Auspicious King’s Sixth Daughter held tightly onto Fang Zhixue, shaken by the ordeal.
Not far away from them sat a young man dressed like a scholar. He was immersed in a book.
“Say, do you not know who we are? You shouldn’t have kidnapped us. You can hide wherever you want, but my big brother will find you and kill you,” Fang Zhixue said. “Why don’t you free us right now, and I’ll pretend this didn’t happen? I, Fang Zhixue, am a woman of my word!”
The scholar was unmoved.
Fang Zhixue slowly grew anxious. She didn’t know who the scholar was, but his means were frightening. Her speed was not to be underestimated, being a Ki Explosion martial artist who practiced the Purple Aura Formula and consumed the spirit spring water.
Yet, the scholar subdued her in a single move! Even a Ki Control martial artist wouldn’t have been able to pull that off.
“My big brother is Fang Chen. Even if you are a Ki Manifestation martial artist, my big brother’s disciples can still easily subdue you, let alone my big brother. You should know what’s good for you!” Fang Zhixue continued hurling threats.
“I have long heard about Imperial Duke Fang,” the scholar finally spoke up with a placid voice. “There was a time that I thought about sharing a drink with Imperial Duke Fang after joining the imperial court as an official. What a pity.”
“What right do you have to share a drink with my big brother?! You’re a kidnapper! What do you intend to achieve by kidnapping the two of us? Money?” Fang Zhixue roared.
“Kidnapped?” The scholar laughed self-deprecatingly before ignoring Fang Zhixue.
Fang Zhixue suddenly noticed that one of the scholar’s eyes looked lifeless. Startled, she asked with a suppressed voice, “You have a grudge with our Fang Manor?”
“My target is the Auspicious King’s Sixth Daughter. You were collateral. I, Zhao Yan, have nothing against your Fang Manor. Rest assured, I won’t do anything to you,” Zhao Yan said.
That terrified the Auspicious King’s Sixth Daughter. He is after our Auspicious King Manor!
With a quivering voice, she asked, “I-I don’t know you.”
“You were still young back then. It’s normal you don’t remember me,” Zhao Yan said. “I am very close with your big brother, however.”
Fang Zhixue was starting to make sense of the situation. This Zhao Yan has a grudge with the Auspicious King Manor. He was planning to just kidnap the Auspicious King’s Sixth Daughter, but I was in the way, so he grabbed me as well.
She spent a moment in thought before asking, “What do you want?”
“Don’t ask so much. Just obediently stay there for the next few days.” Zhao Yan shook his head.
“Few days? It won’t even take half a day for my big brother to find us,” Fang Zhixue sneered.
She wasn’t sure if Fang Chen was back from the capital yet, but she was praying that she could intimidate the other party through Fang Chen’s name.
Who, in Great Xia, wouldn’t tremble after hearing Fang Chen’s name?
To Fang Zhixue’s surprise, Zhao Yan calmly chuckled before replying, “Your big brother won’t be a match for me even if he’s here. I have only remained unknown because I don’t want my name to get out.”
“My big brother won’t be a match for you? That’s the biggest joke I have ever heard! You can’t even hope to begin to fathom what my big brother is capable of!” Fang Zhixue snorted.
Zhao Yan shook his head. “I reached pinnacle Human Profound by seven years old, and I comprehended Longevity Ki by the time I was sixteen.”
Fang Zhixue gasped. She stared at Zhao Yan in disbelief.
He’s kidding, right? Longevity Ki?
There were four stages to the Earth Profound realm: Aureate Ki, Primal Ki, Origin Ki, and Longevity Ki. If Zhao Yan had reached Longevity Ki, that would mean that he was a pinnacle Earth Profound realm martial artist!