Chapter 772: Kicking a Man While He's Down

Watching Niu Youdao slink away like a beaten dog, Chu Fengping looked thoroughly pleased, as though he had finally vented some of his anger.

But the humiliation in his heart had not truly disappeared.

The most important purpose for which he had come here had failed.

It was difficult for him to feel genuinely happy.

He had never expected this outcome either.

He had believed he had seized Niu Youdao's weak point exactly.

He had believed that making the demand at this time would leave Niu Youdao no choice but to submit.

He had believed the matter was practically certain.

Who could have imagined Niu Youdao would reject him outright?

How was Chu Fengping supposed to preserve his face?

And he understood equally well that offering up a female disciple like this was hardly glorious.

If the matter succeeded, everyone could call it a fine marriage and let the unsavory part quietly pass.

Now that it had failed, however, Chu Fengping would carry the shame of this incident for the rest of his life.

How could he not be humiliated and furious?

Was merely exiling Niu Youdao and forcing him into a dead end really enough to wash away that disgrace?

"Stop!"

A woman's clear voice suddenly rang out beside him.

Chu Fengping looked back and frowned.

It was his own female disciple, Xiao Ruying—the very woman he had prepared to marry to Niu Youdao.

She had stepped forward, apparently unable to endure something any longer.

Chu Fengping immediately warned in a low voice, "Ruying!"

This time, Xiao Ruying ignored her master.

Niu Youdao heard the shout and stopped.

When he turned, he saw a fairly attractive woman.

But the killing frost on her delicate face made it obvious she had not come with good intentions.

He did not know her.

He had seen her before, however, and knew she was one of Yan's cultivators on this expedition.

Judging by her clothes, she was a disciple of Lingjian Mountain.

Niu Youdao slowly turned around. "What guidance does this young lady have for me?"

Xiao Ruying walked toward him at an unhurried pace.

She stopped directly in front of him.

Bone-deep cold gleamed in her bright eyes as she stared at him.

Word by word, she said, "Niu Youdao, remember my name. I am Xiao Ruying."

Yan Li and Shan Hai exchanged a glance.

One man waggled his brows.

The other raised an eyebrow.

Both appeared to have guessed something.

Niu Youdao glanced at Chu Fengping's reaction and roughly guessed who this woman was as well.

He smiled faintly. "Why should I remember your name?"

Xiao Ruying said, "You had better stay alive."

Niu Youdao shrugged. "No need for Miss Xiao to worry about me or remind me. Even ants cling to life. Naturally I'll exhaust every possible method to stay alive."

Xiao Ruying's voice was icy. "For the humiliation you've given me today, I will repay you double one day!"

The others might not understand what she meant.

In truth, even within Lingjian Mountain, only Chu Fengping and Xiao Ruying knew about this matter.

Once again, it was hardly something glorious.

And because it touched on the competition among Yan's three major sects, neither of them had any intention of publicizing it.

Xiao Ruying had always been a proud woman within Lingjian Mountain.

She genuinely looked down on ordinary men.

So at first, she had refused the idea.

Later, after Chu Fengping persuaded her, she gathered information about Niu Youdao and examined his circumstances carefully.

Before this, she had only heard of the man and never understood him in detail.

Only after looking into him did she realize he truly was an extraordinary figure, one of the rare outstanding young men in the cultivation world.

She discovered that he really was worthy of her.

Becoming the mistress of Maolu Villa by marrying him would not humiliate her.

Considering the sect's interests, and after repeated persuasion from her master, she neither agreed nor refused.

But she did follow Chu Fengping into the Tiandu Secret Realm.

That itself amounted to agreement.

Chu Fengping understood perfectly well.

He did not bother forcing her to say it openly and make things awkward.

They could simply follow the plan.

Naturally Xiao Ruying had wanted to see what Niu Youdao looked like.

When she first saw him in Tiangu, he had ignored Misty Pavilion's authority and opened a slaughter in public.

It had astonished her.

At their very first meeting, Niu Youdao's deed left her stupefied and deeply shaken.

Who among Lingjian Mountain's people would dare do such a thing?

Who possessed that courage?

With the earlier background already in place, witnessing that scene made her heart suddenly stir.

She thought: This is the sort of man I, Xiao Ruying, want!

Afterward, she kept secretly observing Niu Youdao.

His face could not be called exceptionally handsome, but he was certainly not ugly.

There was also something unusual in his bearing, a flavor ordinary people simply did not possess.

Once her heart had shifted, the more she looked at him, the more satisfied she became.

She had to admit that among Lingjian Mountain's disciples of her own generation, none could compare with him.

Later still, Chu Fengping approached Niu Youdao and openly raised the marriage proposal.

Niu Youdao said he needed time to consider it, and Chu Fengping allowed him that time.

Chu Fengping had believed the matter as good as settled.

A man like Niu Youdao could not possibly fail to understand what was good for him.

He would inevitably agree.

In short, Chu Fengping never considered the possibility of rejection.

So after laying the matter out to Niu Youdao, he immediately went back to Xiao Ruying and asked her for a definite answer.

She could no longer continue being vague.

Otherwise, if Niu Youdao agreed and then she suddenly started causing trouble, the situation would become awkward.

When the question was put to her again, Xiao Ruying found it difficult to speak directly.

She merely asked one question: Would Niu Youdao agree?

What else could Chu Fengping say?

The answer was obvious.

From that day onward, Xiao Ruying naturally began thinking that she and Niu Youdao were destined to become husband and wife.

She began considering how the two of them should get along afterward.

If she became pregnant inside the Secret Realm, once they left, should she return to Lingjian Mountain or go back with Niu Youdao to Maolu Villa?

After becoming the mistress of Maolu Villa, how should she deal with that Hongniang from the Qi capital?

Through her investigations, she knew there was a woman called Hongniang beside Niu Youdao and that the relationship between the two was known to everyone.

In short, she had thought about many things.

Who could have imagined that today, all of it would turn out to be one-sided wishful thinking?

She had become the one pressing a warm face against a cold backside.

Worse, she had even agreed with her master that, for the sake of the sect's interests, once the marriage was settled she would conceive Niu Youdao's child as quickly as possible.

Thinking about it now, she had actually loosened her mouth enough to agree to such a thing.

How was she supposed to preserve her pride?

She was a deeply proud woman.

Yielding that much had not been easy.

To her, the rejection was an enormous humiliation.

And so this scene had occurred.

"..."

Niu Youdao was speechless.

He did not know the sequence of events and could not understand how this had somehow become a humiliation to her.

After a brief pause, he said calmly, "Miss Xiao, you're thinking too much. Whether you believe me or not, I did this for your own good."

As for Yan Li and Shan Hai's schemes, he could not expose them now.

There was no point saying anything more to this woman either.

Niu Youdao left those words behind, turned, and continued walking away.

"Brother, take care on the road!" Situ Yao called after him.

Niu Youdao did not look back.

Only Wu Zhaoxing, Yun Ji, and Yun Huan followed him away.

Situ Yao's emotions were complicated.

So were those of Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion.

They all knew perfectly well that what they had done to Niu Youdao this time was deeply dishonorable.

If they had not been inside the Tiandu Secret Realm, they would never have dared act this way.

With the Nanzhou forces Niu Youdao controlled, he could influence the life or death of Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion itself.

They dared behave like this only because, here and now, Niu Youdao had become easy to bully.

The people from Dachan Mountain, meanwhile, were somewhat delighted by his misfortune.

They were already considering whether, once Niu Youdao died here, there might be major opportunities for them in Nanzhou.

Yan Baoru's eyes flickered.

Xiao Ruying watched Niu Youdao leave with an icy face, the resentment in her eyes impossible to conceal.

Chu Fengping was speechless as well.

From beginning to end, he had deliberately avoided exposing this disciple directly because he had wanted to preserve some face for her.

He had never imagined she would step forward herself.

"Ah."

Yan Li sighed.

When he turned around, he saw three women huddled nervously together and could not resist asking, "Aren't the three of you Niu Youdao's subordinates?"

Dong Jinhuan, An Miao'er, and Lin Feiyan exchanged glances.

The question was awkward.

But whether the three of them felt awkward was hardly something Yan Li needed to care about.

Dong Jinhuan answered, "We're not his subordinates. The three of us are disciples of Liuxian Sect, Lingxiu Mountain, and Fuyun Sect."

Yan Li raised an eyebrow. "Aren't Liuxian Sect, Lingxiu Mountain, and Fuyun Sect all forces under Niu Youdao? Now that you've abandoned him, aren't you afraid you won't be able to explain yourselves to your sects after returning?"

Dong Jinhuan hesitated. "Our cultivation truly isn't enough for major responsibilities. Originally, it shouldn't even have been our turn to come. Niu Youdao was the one who specifically named the three of us."

She turned her head toward the other two as she spoke, as though asking them to confirm it.

An Miao'er hurriedly nodded and added, "Back when Niu Youdao was at Maolu Villa, he already harbored improper intentions toward the three of us. We've always been avoiding him."

Dong Jinhuan immediately continued, "This time Niu Youdao specifically named the three of us to come, and we had no way to refuse. In truth, we were terrified. We were afraid we wouldn't be able to escape his poisonous hands. We never expected we'd actually get a chance to break free of him."

Anyone who was not a fool understood what those words meant.

The three women were frightened now.

They also knew their behavior was dishonorable and were afraid the group would despise them for it.

So, to prove they had not betrayed Niu Youdao, they fabricated accusations out of nothing, trampled his reputation, and smeared him in order to protect themselves.

This was what it meant to kick someone while he was down: when the drumskin is broken, everyone takes a turn beating it; when the wall falls, everyone gives it a shove.

The moment Niu Youdao lost power, they rushed to draw a line between themselves and him.

The old saying that a woman's heart could be the most venomous of all was no empty phrase.

Lin Feiyan knew perfectly well what the truth was.

She did not say anything.

She merely lowered her head.

Everyone around them suddenly understood.

So that was how it was.

No wonder Liuxian Sect, Lingxiu Mountain, and Fuyun Sect had all sent young and beautiful women.

It turned out Niu Youdao had been harboring such filthy intentions.

Naturally, some people began despising him for it and feeling sympathy for the three women instead.

...

After putting distance between themselves and Yan's people, Niu Youdao and the others stopped on a mountaintop.

They could not run blindly without direction.

They needed to replan.

Niu Youdao looked at the people beside him.

Only Yun Ji and her son, together with Wu Zhaoxing, remained.

To say Niu Youdao felt nothing would have been impossible.

The truth was clear.

Yun Ji and Yun Huan remained because Niu Youdao held their fatal weakness in his hands. They did not dare betray him.

Wu Zhaoxing likewise had no choice.

Niu Youdao had threatened the Demonic Sect.

If Niu Youdao failed to return alive, Wu Zhaoxing's hidden identity would be exposed.

So Niu Youdao understood very clearly that if not for those reasons, these three would not have followed him either.

His so-called sworn brotherhood with Yun Huan was not reliable at all when faced with a situation like this.

Suddenly, Niu Youdao thought of Wei Duo.

That stuttering fool was truly irritating.

He wondered how the man was doing now.

"What exactly happened? Everything was fine. Why did you suddenly turn against Chu Fengping?"

They had never understood this.

They did not believe Niu Youdao could fail to understand the stakes involved.

Now that they had finally stopped, Yun Ji could no longer resist asking.

"That Xiao Ruying you just saw—Chu Fengping wanted me to marry her..."

Niu Youdao explained the entire chain of events from beginning to end.

Only these few people remained beside him now.

There was no longer any room for mutual suspicion.

For the sake of keeping them united, Niu Youdao concealed nothing and told them the reason.

The three looked at one another.

None had imagined this was the cause.

Even Yun Ji, despite being a woman herself, looked somewhat surprised.

After thinking for a moment, she said, "This world is unfair to women. Wouldn't agreeing have been perfectly normal? Why force yourself into a dead end over it? Was it worth it?"

[End of Chapter 772]