Chapter 98

Watching the figures of Qiu Chuji and the others gradually disappear from his sight, Su Yi gently patted his chest, exhaled, and thought to himself that this matter was finally settled. Now he could go about seeking the final bit of fortune without any worries or attachments!

"Hey... I didn’t expect to find a mother right after I arrived in the first world. If I keep traveling through more worlds, won’t I be able to form an army just with parents alone!"

He muttered to himself with a self-deprecating tone. However, he was genuinely pleased to have found a good home for Bao Xiruo. He looked around, found a relatively clean spot, lay down, hummed a tune, and slowly drifted into sleep. He hadn’t closed his eyes for a day and a night, and after such a fierce battle, he really needed a good rest. After all, there were still other matters to attend to... He wouldn’t have a moment’s peace.

...

Ten days later, in a tavern several hundred miles away.

"What? You don’t have a single vacant room?"

Su Yi asked in disbelief, fearing that the innkeeper might think he couldn’t afford the room. He added, "Don’t worry about me not being able to pay. Just give me a clean room, and the tip will be generous!"

The innkeeper looked distressed and said helplessly, "How could I doubt that you can’t afford it, sir? Our inn is quite simple, and we only have a few rooms. This small town rarely sees visitors, so it usually suffices. However, about seven or eight days ago, six strange people arrived and booked six rooms, and they’ve been staying here ever since. Now, we’re completely out of rooms. I’m truly sorry, sir. Thirty miles east of the town, there’s a much larger inn. Please go there for accommodation."

Six strange people? That number really rings a bell!

Su Yi shook his head helplessly and said, "Forget it, just bring me some good wine and food quickly. After I finish eating, I’ll head to the inn you mentioned!"

"Alright, sir! Please wait a moment, and your wine and food will be right here!"

The innkeeper draped a towel over his shoulder, respectfully guided Su Yi to a table, and kept praising him, "You have a good temper, sir. You’re easy to talk to. You don’t know how difficult those six guests are to please. They curse at us at the slightest dissatisfaction. I’ve been scolded by them countless times. One of them is blind and has a terrible temper. If someone hadn’t stopped him, I would have been beaten up many times... Humph, no wonder he was severely injured!"

"What did you say? Severely injured? Tell me more in detail!" Su Yi’s curiosity was piqued. If there was a blind person among them, it had to be the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan... Although their martial arts weren’t particularly high, when the seven of them worked together, they could match Qiu Chuji. Even though eighteen years had passed and the Seven Freaks had become six, anyone who could injure all six of them must be quite formidable.

Hearing someone interested in his gossip, the innkeeper was immediately excited and was about to start talking when a sudden violent coughing sound came from nearby.

"Little Two, talking behind people’s backs, is that the behavior of a man of integrity?"

With the heavy thud of a cane on the wooden stairs, a voice as harsh as a broken gong sounded.

The innkeeper’s face turned awkward, and he quickly shut up.

Su Yi turned his head curiously and saw six strangely shaped people coming down the stairs. The leader was a blind man, and although there were only five others behind him, they included a peddler, a poor scholar, and a cute girl—well, an over-the-hill cute girl, now at least in her thirties, but still with a beautiful face that hinted at her youthful charm!

The only group that could be so diverse with just a few people was the legendary Seven Freaks of Jiangnan.

Seeing that his attempt to gather gossip had failed but encountering the real deal, Su Yi put away his curiosity and didn’t say more. Instead, he tapped the table and said, "Little Two, my food hasn’t arrived yet!"

"Oh, right, coming right up, sir! Please wait a moment!"

The innkeeper, feeling embarrassed, heard Su Yi’s words like a heavenly sound, quickly responded, and ran to the back yard to avoid these terrifying people.

Su Yi ignored the six and poured himself a cup of tea, sipping it while watching the passersby outside. However, his ears remained focused on the six people coming down the stairs.

The six, except for Ke Zhen'e who was holding a cane and seemed to have adapted to the inn despite his blindness, were all supporting each other. Their steps were unsteady, and their faces were pale, indicating that the innkeeper’s claim about their injuries was not exaggerated. They were still in this state after so long, showing how severe their injuries were!

But... who could have done this?

Logically, the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan should have been at the Prince’s Mansion a few days ago, getting involved in a fierce battle with Huang Rong over Guo Jing. But they didn’t show up at the mansion, completely ditching the script... He wondered if they had decided to quit, but it turned out they were severely injured by someone else.

Su Yi sipped his tea and ran through the list of experts who could injure the Seven Freaks in his mind, but dismissed them all. He then chuckled, thinking it didn’t matter to him who had injured them. The Seven Freaks, though honorable, had peculiar personalities and short tempers, so it was normal for them to be taught a lesson. He wasn’t their disciple, so why should he care about their well-being?

The Seven Freaks of Jiangnan didn’t even glance at Su Yi. They sat at two tables, and Ke Zhen'e knocked on the table and shouted, "Little Two, bring two tables of the best wine and food!"

"Coming right up..."

A response came from the back yard.

Perhaps because their gossip had been discovered earlier, the food for the Seven Freaks arrived faster. Su Yi hadn’t even started eating when their tables were already full of wine and meat.

Su Yi wasn’t annoyed; he just focused on eavesdropping on their conversation. With his current skills, he could hear their conversation clearly in the hall, as if he were sitting right next to them.

Sure enough, after a few bites, Zhu Cong couldn’t help but speak up, "Brother, I think we should call Jing back! That boy’s martial arts are better than ours, and he should be able to defeat that red-clothed demon!"

Red-clothed demon?

Su Yi thought hard but couldn’t recall any expert in the martial world who wore red.

Ke Zhen'e took a big gulp of wine and said, "No, we are the masters. How can masters ask their disciples for help? We’ve already made an enemy, and once we recover, we’ll find that demon and rescue the person... If we can’t rescue them, we’ll die at the demon’s hands."

"But..." Han Xiaoying hesitated for a moment before speaking, "We’ve waited for eighteen years for Jing’s martial arts competition. Whether he wins or loses, we need a conclusion. If we’ve worked so hard and even cost Brother Zhang A’s life, and then we all die just before the competition, I’m not afraid of death, but how will we answer Brother Zhang A when he asks about the competition in the afterlife?"

"That..."

Hearing Han Xiaoying mention Zhang A, Ke Zhen'e took another big gulp of wine and hesitated, "Sister Seven has a point. The six of us can’t defeat that demon, but the competition is approaching, and I don’t want to disturb Jing... The red-clothed demon’s techniques, though vicious and cunning, still have traces of the Quanzhen Sect. He must be a Quanzhen renegade. We should find Qiu Chuji; this matter should be handled by him! Humph, a Quanzhen disciple doing such despicable things, who else will take responsibility if not Qiu Chuji?" (To be continued)

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