Chapter 88: Burning Anxiety
After the parent and grandparent fixed Duan Ling Tian and Li Fei's marriage, they gathered together for dinner that night.
After dinner, Duan Ling Tian accompanied the grandfather and granddaughter pair back home.
The old man was sensible and returned to his room first.
"Little Fei, from today onwards, you're my fiancée..."
Duan Ling Tian laughed slyly.
"Pei! It's only a fixing, we haven't really gotten married yet."
Li Fei rolled her eyes at Duan Ling Tian.
Duan Ling Tian's eyes burned as he sized up Li Fei's hot body, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and said greedily, "Grandfather has already said that in two years, once I'm eighteen, we'll get married. Little Fei, why not sleep here tonight?"
"You wish."
Li Fei had a vigilant expression, moving gracefully as she rushed into her room, and shut the door with a bang.
Duan Ling Tian could only leave while laughing bitterly.
When he returned home, Duan Ling Tian noticed that Ke Er was still waiting for him.
"Silly girl."
Duan Ling Tian extended his hand and wrapped it around Ke Er's waist as he pulled her into an embrace and carried her off back to her room.
"Young Master."
Just when Duan Ling Tian was about to leave, Ke Er called him lightly.
"What's the matter?"
Duan Ling Tian wondered.
"Young Master, accompany Ke Er tonight, OK?" Ke Er said, in a delicate and touching manner.
After taking off his outer garments and getting on the bed, Duan Ling Tian embraced Ke Er in his arms as he asked, in a gentle tone, "Silly girl, what's wrong?"
"Young Master, when you have Big Sister Fei Fei in the future, will you not want Ke Er anymore?"
The young girl voiced out her worries.
"Silly girl, remember this: you're mine for your entire lifetime, no one can change that... Your place in my heart is something no one can replace, understand?"
Duan Ling Tian hugged the young girl and comforted her lightly. It was unusual that he didn't do anything else to her.
"Young Master."
The young girl tightly hugged Duan Ling Tian as she sank into a deep slumber.
Early morning the next day, during breakfast.
"Mom, Ke Er, I'm going out for a few days. Don't wait for me at night these next few days and sleep early," Duan Ling Tian said in advance.
"Be careful."
Li Rou nodded.
Although Duan Ling Tian didn't say what he was going to do, she knew that he definitely had something to deal with.
Her son had grown up; he wasn't the baby eagle that used to be curled up under her wings anymore.
"Young Master, when will you be back?" Ke Er asked.
Duan Ling Tian pondered for a moment before saying, "In four days... If Little Fei comes looking for me, let her know."
He was planning to head to Triumph City.
The current him had a standing in the Li Clan; he had even obtained the protection of the Li Clan's one and only Grade Eight Weapons Craftsman, meaning that he didn't have to be afraid of Triumph City's Wang Clan bringing the 'fish that escaped the net' to come denounce his crimes.
Nevertheless, he didn't want to expose himself in front of the Wang Clan.
Once he was exposed, the Li Clan could protect him for some time, but it couldn't protect him for an eternity.
He had to eradicate the source of his problems to prevent any future troubles.
After exiting the Li Clan Estate, Duan Ling Tian removed the Li Clan crest from his clothes and placed it inside his Spatial Ring.
The Spatial Ring had been covered with a dark grey-colored metal layer by Duan Ling Tian using his refinement methods. It now looked like it was an ordinary ring, and as such he conveniently wore it on his hand.
After going to the trade market and buying a horse and some dry rations to eat on the way, Duan Ling Tian departed Aurora City.
Aurora City, Aqua Mist City, and Triumph City were in a triangular position surrounding the Misty Forest within.
The distance from Aurora City to Triumph City was not one tad shorter than the distance of a round trip to the Misty Forest and back to Aurora City.
Even if he galloped all the way to Triumph City with his horse, it would still take him eight or nine hours.
Duan Ling Tian departed in the morning and passed the Misty Forest at noon, then headed towards the other side of the large road swiftly.
Dusk.
The outline of Triumph City appeared before Duan Ling Tian's eyes.
Under his agitated mood, he spurred his horse to go even faster and galloped onwards.
"Go!"
"Go!"
Just at this moment, Duan Ling Tian heard two voices come from behind him, one male and one female.
Turning around to take a look, he noticed a youth and young girl galloping their horses. They were running madly, their speeds extremely swift.
The youth and young girl were around the age of seventeen.
Their clothes were gorgeous, obviously having an extraordinary background.
"Ferghana Horse!"
Duan Ling Tian's gaze quickly descended upon the fine steeds beneath them.
He could see the two steeds sweat out drops of blood as they galloped.
In terms of speed, they were completely incomparable to the horse under him.
"Ferghana horse, one is worth 10,000 gold, and they are extremely rare..." Duan Ling Tian thought in his heart.
In the Cloud Continent, one gold would be equal to 100 silver.
In other words, a Ferghana Horse was worth 1,000,000 silver.
Even the Patriarchs of Aurora City's three great clans weren't so extravagant.
He guessed that this pair of youths weren't from the three cities that surrounded the Misty Forest.
"Could it be that they are from County City?"
The Crimson Sky Kingdom was divided into 18 counties. These 18 counties had eighteen respective county cities at a scale only inferior to the Imperial City.
And below every county city, there were 81 smaller cities.
"Halt."
Taking a deep breath, Duan Ling Tian stopped his horse and made it leap to the side of the road.
He wasn't willing to get into any unwanted trouble.
But sometimes, even though he didn't want any unwanted trouble, it didn't mean others wouldn't provoke him.
"Sister Ru, do you see that commoner ahead? Scared to the side of the road just by noticing us..."
The youth who was madly galloping his horse laughed loudly.
"He's afraid he will be knocked flying by our Ferghana Horses."
The young girl laughed as well.
The youth's gaze flickered as he asked, "Sister Ru, why don't we have a competition?"
"How will we compete?"
The young girl was interested as well.
"We'll see who can reach the commoner's side first and be the first to hit him off his horse with their horsewhip... how about it?"
The youth laughed.
"OK! Go!" the young girl replied as her horsewhip descended unto her Ferghana Horse.
Immediately, the Ferghana Horse galloped like the wind.
"Sister Ru, you're being shameless!" the youth exclaimed before following her.
Duan Ling Tian naturally didn't hear their conversation.
Duan Ling Tian looked from afar at the youth and young girl who were galloping over and planned to continue his journey after they passed, as he wanted to avoid any unwanted troubles.
Unexpectedly.
Whoosh!
The young girl was in the lead as she passed by Duan Ling Tian first, giving rise to a surge of fierce winds.
Suddenly, Duan Ling Tian's expression turned grim.
He noticed the horsewhip in the young girl's hand jerk as it was suffused with Origin Energy. It was actually whipping down towards him, flashing straight for his face...
Above the young girl, two ancient mammoth silhouettes formed.
A seventeen-year-old at the first level of the Core Formation Stage!
Whoosh!
The horsewhip hadn't arrived in front of him yet, but he could already feel the sharp breeze hitting his face as the whip approached, causing him to feel a slight pain.
Duan Ling Tian's expression sunk.
In the blink of an eye, his hand grabbed out.
Exploding forth with a strength close to the strength of three ancient mammoths, two ancient mammoth silhouettes formed above Duan Ling Tian...
Pa!
Duan Ling Tian easily caught hold of the horse whip.
The young girl obviously didn't expect Duan Ling Tian to be able to catch her whip. At the same moment that she was stunned, she unconsciously tried to pull the horsewhip out of Duan Ling Tian's hand.
"Humph!"
Duan Ling Tian's gaze turned cold as he exerted force with his hand.
Bang!
The Ferghana Horse continued to gallop on by itself, but the young girl, however, was pulled off her horse by Duan Ling Tian and emitted a shrill cry.
"Sister Ru! Halt"
The expression of the youth that was following from behind distorted as he stopped his horse, quickly flashed to the side of the young girl, and supported the young girl up.
"Third Brother, it hurts."
The young girl's face was pale.
"Commoner, do you know who we are?"
The youth's face was grim and his voice was incomparably cold and indifferent.
Duan Ling Tian frowned and indifferently said, "I don't know and I'm not interested to know."
"You're courting death!"
The youth's face distorted and his body jerked, flying straight out.
Instantly, four ancient mammoth silhouettes appeared above the youth, revealing his cultivation.
Third level of the Core Formation Stage!
Duan Ling Tian was slightly moved.
Third level of the Core Formation Stage at an age around seventeen...
His natural talent was even more abnormal than Xiao Yu's!
Bang!
The youth dashed forward, his speed like lightning, and slapped out a palm that hit the steed under Duan Ling Tian.
Duan Ling Tian's face twitched as he kicked on the steed's body and jumped off.
The steed emitted a shrill cry as it flew out and then lied there without a sound.
Dead.
"Die!"
The youth's icy cold gaze stared fixedly at Duan Ling Tian.
Whoosh!
His body flew like the wind as his palm slapped out once again.
More than ten palm images condensed from Origin Energy formed into a line in the air, whistling as they descended, and enveloped Duan Ling Tian.
"A high grade Profound Rank martial skill at the perfection stage!"
Duan Ling Tian's heart skipped a beat. The youth's offensive martial skill was not one bit weaker than Xiao Yu's Sleeve Dimension.
Combined with the youth's cultivation being a level higher than Xiao Yu's, even Xiao Yu would find it difficult to take a palm strike from the youth.
"You can consider bumping into me your bad luck!" Duan Ling Tian's eyes were cold as he moved forward and intercepted the attack.
Exploding forth with the strength of nearly five ancient mammoths...
Sword Drawing Arts!
Whoosh!
A dark violet sword shine was like a shadow that followed his hand.
"Ah!"
The youth emitted a shrill cry as his body was blasted flying. He crashed on the ground afar in a sorry state and rolled on the ground in pain.
An arm that was sliced off at the shoulder dropped on the ground.
"Third Brother!"
The young girl was muddled.
"Grandpa Huai!"
The young girl called out in sorrow, her voice spreading far away.
Instantly, Duan Ling Tian clearly saw that far away behind on the road, there was an elderly figure galloping over...
In Duan Ling Tian's field of vision, this figure started off at the size of an ant, became the size of a fist, and was still becoming larger as time went by...
Closer and closer!
"Not good!"
Duan Ling Tian's expression turned gloomy as he realized how formidable this figure was. He stomped on the ground and dropped onto the youth's Ferghana Horse.
Flee!
Duan Ling Tian's legs clamped onto the steed's waist as he galloped forward, dashing like the wind.
Looking at Triumph City, which was nearby, and then turning around to look at the old man that was getting closer, Duan Ling Tian's expression sunk.
Now he only hoped that the old man would take time to attend to the youth's injuries and help the youth connect his sliced off arm.
Or else he would surely die!
The speed of this old man was far swifter than the Li Clan's Grand Elder, Li Tai.
To the extent that his speed wasn't inferior to Aqua Mist City's Supreme Elder, He Zu Dao.
Obviously, this was a Nascent Soul Powerhouse.
As he galloped his horse and flew forward, Duan Ling Tian's heart filled with a sense of uneasiness and anxiousness. What he was afraid of the most was the old man abandoning the youth to chase after him...
With the old man's strength, once he caught up to him, it would be impossible for him to survive.
"Faster, faster!"
Duan Ling Tian's legs unceasingly pressed upon the Ferghana Horse's waist to urge it forward. His heart was burning with anxiety.
Even though the Ferghana Horse's speed was double the speed of his previous horse...
At this moment, he still felt it to be too slow!