Chapter 10: Breaking Off the Engagement (2)

Posted byYours TrulySeptember 30, 2023Posted inZanxing

In front of the “Good Fortune Inn”, many curious cultivators gathered.

The young girl stood quietly, not showing any signs of being flustered by this sudden situation. The morning sunlight cast a shallow golden hue on the camellia trees at the inn’s entrance. The girl’s dress fluttered in the wind, and she possessed a pair of bright, clear eyes like those of a young deer in the forest. Her eyelashes were long, her nose delicate, and her lips as red as the glow of the dawn. She appeared to be a lovely and radiant beauty, if one could overlook her right half of the face.

Her right cheek, on fair skin, bore several glaring black scars that rudely marred her originally captivating beauty.

Whispers and murmurs filled the air.

“Is this Mr. Wang’s fiancée?” Duan Xiangrao covered her mouth, seemingly shocked, and hid behind Wang Shao, saying, “This…”

“What’s on your face?” Wang Shao took a step back, avoiding looking directly at Zanxing’s face as if he found the sight disgusting.

“Young Master Shao,” Hongsu urged, “our young lady was injured by the malevolent aura of a water monster, which caused her disfigurement. Young Master Shao, could you please take my young lady to a medical facility? Perhaps there’s a chance for her to be healed.”

“Injured by a malevolent aura?” Duan Xiangrao exclaimed, “I’ve heard that the cultivation level of these monsters is equivalent to the late Foundation Establishment stage of cultivators. If one is harmed by their malevolent aura, it would likely take high-grade spiritual medicine to heal, but high-grade spiritual medicine…”

High-grade spiritual medicine was incredibly precious, and even with spirit stones, it might not be readily available. If a cultivator obtained high-grade spiritual medicine, it would most likely be reserved for their own breakthroughs in cultivation. Why would they use it to treat an ordinary woman’s facial injury?

“I’ve heard that the Taiyan Sect has numerous spiritual medicines and elixirs…” Hongsu attempted to argue.

“But the allocation of spiritual medicine and elixirs each month is limited,” Duan Xiangrao interjected at the right moment.

Frustrated by being repeatedly interrupted, Hongsu turned to her and exclaimed, “You, always interrupting people like this!” She noticed Duan Xiangrao holding Wang Shao’s hand and suddenly realized what was happening. Filled with indignation, she accused, “I see now, you vixen! You’re trying to seduce our Young Master Shao!”

Hongsu lunged toward Duan Xiangrao.

Duan Xiangrao smiled faintly and didn’t even look at her. With a single palm strike, she sent Hongsu flying. With her cultivation at the Foundation Establishment stage, even without using spiritual energy, she easily repelled Hongsu.

Hongsu collided with the trunk of a camellia tree and didn’t get up for a while.

Everything unfolded rapidly, and Zanxing hadn’t had the chance to intervene. Observing this, she quickly approached Hongsu, helped her to her feet, and held her in her arms. She asked, “Are you alright?”

Hongsu gazed at Zanxing, her eyes briefly fixing on the black scars on Zanxing’s right cheek. She then looked at Duan Xiangrao, who stood confidently next to Wang Shao. Growing increasingly frustrated, Hongsu raised her voice, “You… don’t forget your own identity. Wang Shao’s fiancée is our young miss, not you, you vixen!”

“Is that so?” Duan Xiangrao replied indifferently, leaning in close to Wang Shao’s ear and softly inquiring, “Young Master Wang, are you truly planning to marry this young lady?”

Wang Shao furrowed his brow, his gaze shifting between Zanxing, who held the young girl, and Miss Yang.

Miss Yang was undeniably beautiful, but her temperament left much to be desired. In the past, he had been captivated by her beauty and had agreed to the engagement. However, Miss Yang often displayed the airs of a spoiled young lady. Now, having witnessed Duan Xiangrao’s gentle disposition in Pingyang Town and then looking back at Miss Yang, he found her behavior too crude and inappropriate, not befitting a lady of her status.

Furthermore, her current facial disfigurement was quite repulsive.

If he had to spend each day with a woman like this, he might lose his sanity, even if he didn’t die. Besides, her facial injury, though possibly treatable, would require high-grade spiritual medicine for recovery. High-grade spiritual medicine was exceedingly rare, to the point where obtaining even a single herb in their entire Yue City would be sheer luck.

This was a losing deal.

“Young Master Wang,” Duan Xiangrao’s voice gently drifted into his ears, “all the surrounding cultivators are watching you.”

Wang Shao suddenly realized that their commotion had already attracted a crowd of spectators, who were eagerly observing the situation.

Marry Zanxing?

Allow everyone in the entire cultivation world, including his fellow disciples from the Taiyan Sect, to know that he had such an ugly fiancée with low cultivation?

Impossible.

In that moment, Wang Shao made a decisive choice, stating, “Zanxing, our prior engagement was a verbal agreement without any written contract. Let’s just forget about it.”

Hongsu, under the tree, shivered, “Young Master…”

Zanxing assisted Hongsu in leaning against the tree before standing up. She walked over to Wang Shao and asked, “What did you say?”

Wang Shao had originally intended to speak, but when he met Zanxing’s gaze, for a moment, an unexpected sense of guilt welled up within him. If it had been the Miss Yang of the past, she would undoubtedly have begun crying, causing a scene, or even threatened self-harm. However, today she appeared strangely composed, her bright eyes locked onto him with only a hint of indifference and perhaps a touch of curiosity.

Curiosity?

The voices of the curious onlookers around them filled the air: “Hit him! Punish this heartless man, give him a resounding slap!”

“This poor girl, abandoned like this.”

“…You can only trust a man’s words when pigs fly.”

Duan Xiangrao timely pinched Wang Shao’s arm, saying, “Young Master Wang…”

Wang Shao came to his senses, cleared his throat, and swiftly made a decision, stating loudly, “I hereby declare that I want to annul the engagement with you!”

These words were pronounced with conviction, leaving no room for ambiguity.

Silence fell over the surroundings.

“You want to annul the engagement?” Zanxing inquired.

“That’s correct,” Wang Shao replied, “Considering our past relationship, I can offer you some spirit stones as compensation…”

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the laughter of the girl in front of him.

The girl in the green dress stood before him, her eyes curved with a smile that seemed genuine and not feigned. However, given the current situation, he couldn’t fathom how she could still find it in her to laugh.

“Why… why are you laughing?” Wang Shao was a bit irritated.

“I just feel,” Zanxing sighed, “that this line sounds somewhat familiar.”

This old and overused trope of breaking off an engagement hadn’t happened to the male lead, Mu Cengxiao, but instead, it was unfolding with her, a seemingly insignificant female cannon fodder character. Was it because she had snatched the male lead’s precious Xiao Yuan Pearl and seized his opportunities, that even the male lead’s signature face-slapping scenarios had fallen onto her?

“Miss Yang, everyone knows you must be feeling uncomfortable right now,” Duan Xiangrao softly interjected. “However, excessive entanglement between men and women isn’t a good thing either. It might be better to part ways amicably.”

Zanxing’s gaze fell on Duan Xiangrao. This girl had a knack for instigating trouble from start to finish, as if she were tailor-made to be a malicious supporting character specifically for face-slapping scenarios.

However, since the plot had already progressed to this point, everyone was quite familiar with the next step.

Zanxing took a step forward, and Wang Shao watched her warily.

“Very well,” she said, “I agree to break off the engagement.”