The moment Hua Qingsi's words left her mouth, she suddenly realized what she had said and looked at Yang Kai in horror. "Pavilion Master, don't tell me you're planning to..."
The fact that he would want to silence someone out of nowhere, combined with what had happened earlier, made it abundantly clear who the target was.
She couldn't help but be shocked by Yang Kai's audacity.
That person was a disciple of Medicine Pill Valley! How could he even think about killing to silence a witness? If he actually did something like that, Medicine Pill Valley would never let it go.
"What are you talking about..." Yang Kai flatly denied it. "That's not it at all. Yao'er, you have quite the imagination."
"Then why won't you look me in the eye when you talk!" Ji Yao snorted coldly.
"Look at you, I will! You think I'm scared of you?" Yang Kai turned his head and glared at her with eyes as wide as eggs, staring at her fiercely.
Before him, her beautiful eyes were clear and flawless, as white and pure as a clear spring. His own reflection was clearly visible within them, framed by long lashes like dancing elves, making them appear even more pure and transcendent.
"Hmph!" Ji Yao sneered. "You think glaring makes you look less guilty? Don't think I don't know what you're thinking."
*I'm thinking about what you looked like in the Fengluo Palace when you stripped off all your clothes and stood there completely naked!*
"That kid is obviously no easy customer. On the surface, after you beat him up, he went from arrogant to subservient, all meek and obedient. But deep down, he already hates your guts. He's young and his scheming is too shallow — he thinks putting on an act will let him slide by. But who are you and I kidding? We both know he's brimming with schemes and is planning to run back to Medicine Pill Valley to report on you. You want to leave no living witness, so you went to kill him to silence him, right?"
Yang Kai's face darkened. "Since it's already come to this, do you have a better solution?"
This time he didn't bother denying it. He was just puzzled — had he really been that obvious? How had Ji Yao seen through his thoughts at a single glance?
"Even so, you can't kill him!" Ji Yao frowned. "If you actually kill him, that's when real trouble begins. Or rather, you shouldn't have hit him like that in the first place. Now you've stirred up a hornet's nest. Instead of thinking about how to resolve it, the Pavilion Master himself wants to act even more recklessly!"
"I shouldn't have hit him?" Yang Kai leaped to his feet like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "Where did that little brat even come from? He was outrageously insolent in my Lingxiao Pavilion, laid hands on my people, and dared to speak such disrespectfully. You say I shouldn't have hit him? I wish I'd killed him on the spot! Letting him leave Lingxiao Pavilion alive was already a mercy!"
"Since when are any of us 'your people'?" Zhu Qing blushed.
"That's... the general idea. Why are you being so pedantic?" Yang Kai waved his hand irritably. "If he'd realized his mistake and let it go, that would have been one thing. But he's secretly plotting revenge? How could I possibly tolerate that?"
"A rage born for the sake of a fair maiden!" Ji Yao's words carried praise, but her eyes were full of mockery. "Is this something men enjoy?"
"This has nothing to do with some damned fair maiden!" Yang Kai's voice dropped low, his tone serious. "This is a matter of principle in how one conducts oneself!"
"I'm not blaming you for hitting him... Honestly, even I wanted to hit him just now." Ji Yao pressed her lips together, her tone softening somewhat. "But you absolutely should not have considered killing him to silence a witness."
"I haven't done anything yet. You stopped me, didn't you?" Yang Kai said with a pout.
"If you had, it would have been over. Even if you were in the right, you'd have ended up in the wrong." Ji Yao sighed. "I think you let your anger cloud your judgment, which is why you'd even consider doing something so foolish."
"Say whatever you want." Yang Kai adopted the posture of a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, craning his neck and letting Ji Yao lecture him.
Ji Yao didn't know whether to laugh or be angry. "You've been roaming the Star Realm for so many years now. Surely you understand the mentality of these young upstarts? He doesn't represent Medicine Pill Valley — he's merely a second-generation disciple..."
"Second-generation disciple?" Yang Kai raised an eyebrow.
"Mm." Ji Yao nodded and explained. "Medicine Pill Valley is the secluded cultivation ground of the Wonderful Pill Great Emperor. Only his personal disciples are the first generation. Each one is an Imperial Alchemist with profound mastery of alchemy. The Wonderful Pill Great Emperor has long since stopped taking new disciples, so the disciples taken by those personal disciples of his are the second generation. That Li Xuan is naturally one of them."
"So you're saying... it's really not that big of a deal after all?" Yang Kai stroked his chin thoughtfully. The only person he truly feared was the Wonderful Pill Great Emperor. If what Ji Yao said was accurate, then this really wasn't much to worry about.
Li Xuan was separated from the Wonderful Pill Great Emperor by an entire generation. The most he could rely on was one of the Great Emperor's personal disciples.
An Imperial Alchemist, huh... Yang Kai himself was an Imperial Alchemist. Who was afraid of whom?
Moreover, no matter how you looked at it, today's affair was entirely Li Xuan's own doing. He had leaned on his status as a Medicine Pill Valley disciple and acted with extreme arrogance. If his master had any sense at all, he shouldn't blame Yang Kai or Lingxiao Pavilion.
Of course, he couldn't expect gratitude. Having one's own disciple disciplined would naturally leave a sour taste, and if the master was the petty type, he might even come looking for trouble.
"So, are you still going to kill him to silence him?" Ji Yao asked.
Yang Kai threw back his head and laughed, waving his hand dismissively. "What are you talking about? Killing to silence a witness — how can you even say something so sensational? This Pavilion Master sweeps the floor lest he harm an ant's life, and covers the lamp with gauze to protect moths. How could I possibly do such a thing?"
All three women rolled their eyes in unison.