It was warm in the afternoon. Two figures were seen slowly flying across the sky, catching people's attention.

"Look, what's that?"

​​

"Xu Xiaoshou?"

"Seems like him. And Reverse Sword Subduing?"

Some people got very excited. Xu Xiaoshou was a huge figure among the ones from the Outer Yard. He was still the champion after all, and his antics never failed to baffle others. As such, there were a lot of people who knew him.

"Who is that next to him? The sword is so huge I can't make out who's riding it."

"Looks like Su Qianqian from the Inner Yard, but that can't be right. My eyes must be playing tricks on me. No way Su Qianqian would go on the streets like that with Xu Xiaoshou."

"Yeah, you got that right, but I'm surprised she knows 'Reverse Sword Subduing' too. Man, this is something!"

"This is something? Seems dizzying to me…"

In the sky, Su Qianqian was indeed feeling rather dizzy, yet she managed to suppress the motion sickness. "Brother Xiaoshou, why are we flying so slow?"

Xu Xiaoshou glared at her and said, "Slow? This is steady!"

"If there's one thing wrong with you, it's that you get too anxious over everything. Steadiness is important, you know?"

"Okay." Su Qianqian listened without objecting to anything.

Xu Xiaoshou then glanced at the Information Bar.

Envied, Passive Points +32.

Envied, Passive Points +4.

Envied, Passive Points +122.

"…"

"This is some reward indeed," he thought. "Why the well would I wanna fly fast, then?"

Furthermore, one had to be capable of flying fast in order to do so, and his current speed was pretty much his very limit.

His remaining Passive Points had been reduced to single-digits after he finished his drawings, yet having his body encroached by that masked person's sword aura had enabled him to earn over 1000 Passive Points.

But then again, such a way of earning points was nowhere near as comfortable as what he was doing now.

"See? I've already managed to earn this much just by flying from my place to Goose Lake. All done simply by taking in bits after bits. Many a little makes a mickle, as they say… and look, I'm almost at 2000 Passive Points earned already."

Xu Xiaoshou felt like he'd just discovered a new way of making money.

With the contest over and no safe fights to be had, he deemed that taking a stroll every day from then on out would earn him a number of Passive Points comparable to fighting someone while enabling him to take a breather and relax as well.

And, if he happened to do it at peak hours...

Hehe. Xu Xiaoshou felt like he was about to salivate.

Both of them flew to Goose Lake, and Su Qianqian finally decided to stop playing. She then asked solemnly, "Brother Xiaoshou, was someone trying to kill you last night?"

Xu Xiaoshou came to his senses, astonished at how quickly news traveled. He wondered if that was the real reason why Su Qianqian had come looking for him.

"Elder Xiao told you about it?"

Su Qianqian shook her head. "My master doesn't tell me things like that."

"Actually, the reason why I came here, other than to congratulate you, was to tell you to beware of several people from the Inner Yard."

"Those people had something to do with the assassin last night?" He raised his eyebrows.

Su Qianqian nodded. "And they may also have something to do with more assassins coming your way in the future too."

His art at controlling his blade, which was actually far from steady, caused him to almost trip when he heard this. He wobbled for a bit before steadying himself yet again.

"So it's just like what I speculated, then? That was just the beginning."

"Wen Chong?" he probed.

A look of surprise appeared in Su Qianqian's eyes. "You knew?"

"I guessed…" His expression then turned glum. The matter had indeed taken a turn for the worst possible direction. "Tell me more, then."

Su Qianqian sorted out her thoughts and continued, "You know anything about the 'Inner Yard Thirty-Three?'"

Xu Xiaoshou nodded, then shook his head. He knew next to nothing at all.

She then elaborated, "Per its namesake, the 'Inner Yard Thirty-Three' naturally denotes the 33 most powerful people among the hundred or so from the Inner Yard.

"It's also a ranking that reshuffles every year, basically right before the Wind and Cloud Contest takes place in the Outer Yard."

Xu Xiaoshou nodded. He hadn't known this.

Su Qianqian then continued, "Few disciples join the Inner Yard every year, and some years none get in. Yet, the number of those who fight to become one of the 33 yet fail to remains abundant.

"Many among these people fight for many years but still fail to make the cut.

"Continuous shocks, seeing their potential run out, basically no longer getting any resources from the Inner Yard, and knowing that they'll probably be surpassed by some geniuses who just joined the Inner Yard.

"As such, most of these people choose to just leave the spirit palace to seek their fortunes outside.

She then paused and looked at Xu Xiaoshou. "Some choose to earn quite a bit of cash before leaving. Then they leave in secret and never return."

Xu Xiaoshou realized something by this point.

He'd speculated that those two whom he'd clashed against last night were among such people. Now he realized why they'd dared to make a move in the spirit palace as members of the Inner Yard and tried to kill a puny disciple from the Outer Yard.

"So, all of those who are connected with Wen Chong are sending people to kill me just because I killed Wen Chong?" He had enough perspective to get the gist of the issue.

"Indeed." Su Qianqian then tapped her head. "The assassins are but lackeys, so they don't matter much. The truly troublesome one is the one behind the scenes."

Xu Xiaoshou then wobbled again. "Wait, lackeys…" he thought.

"Gosh, you almost scared me to death back there!"

He repeated her last few words. "The one behind the scenes?"

There was a wary look in her eyes as she continued, "Zhang Xinxiong."

That was a name Xu Xiaoshou had never heard before. He was rather baffled. "He's related to Wen Chong in some way?"

"Yeah, they're relatives."

"The young master of Tiansang Prefecture. He has a tall, stout build and is bestowed with the bloodline powers of his family. He joined the Inner Yard five years ago, and his powers are formidable."

"Five years ago?" he thought.

"Holy sh**. Who could fight someone like this?"

He was no longer able to keep himself steady, and immediately fell from the sky.

It was fortunate that they hadn't been flying high to begin with. He then knelt on the ground, dusted himself off, and straightened his clothes before waving to Su Qianqian, who was still up in the sky.

"Come down and talk. It's rather chilly up there."

Su Qianqian titled her head and looked at the huge, vibrant sun up there, wondering if it was actually chilly.

"It's a hot day and there's no wind to be had since we're flying so slow. So what do you mean chilly?" she thought.

She nonetheless did as she was told and scratched her head for a bit before leaping off of her sword.

Xu Xiaoshou then walked up to her as he kept playing with the name "Zhang Xinxiong" in his head. Then he asked, "Upper Spiritual Level?"

Su Qianqian nodded. "The peak."

He staggered.

Su Qianqian pondered for a bit and added, "He was already at the peak of Upper Spiritual Level a year ago. He's been suppressing his level so he can join the match at Dongtianwang City in half a year."

His legs gave out from under him, and he quickly grabbed onto the white jade fence to steady himself, preventing him from dropping to the floor.

"Good heavens!" he thought.

"What the f**k?

"Are you telling me that the guy who's trying to kill me could've already reached Master Level if he'd wanted to?

"What have I done to deserve this?"

He felt like crying on the spot. Wouldn't someone so powerful feel that they were cheapening themselves for even bothering to get rid of someone like him?

Power levels aside, there was a gap between someone of the Inner Yard and Outer Yard, man!

"The ones who came to kill you, their names are Feng Kong and Shao Yi. I've asked around, and it seems that they weren't sent by Zhang Xinxiong."

A hopeful look appeared in his eyes. "They weren't?" he thought.

"That's great news!"

Yet, what Su Qianqian went on to say shocked him further. "They were probably sent by He Yuxing, and he probably did so because Lan Xinzi said so, and Lan Xinzi was probably doing it because Zhang Xinxiong said so…

"Hmm, come to think about it, I guess you could say that Zhang Xinxiong was the one who sent them…"

Xu Xiaoshou was already feeling rather dizzy. "Who are those two, then?"

Su Qianqian then answered, "They are both of the 33."

Thump!

He was unable to even steady himself by holding the fence, and he immediately dropped to the ground head-first.

Su Qianqian immediately became flustered.

"What's going on, Brother Xiaoshou?

"Are you getting heatstroke?"