Chapter Nineteen: A Bloody Purge!

The others around them were instantly affected by Xu Ruolan’s emotional outburst, their expressions turning grim one by one.

"Stop your croaking, will you? Just shut up! For all we know, it’s our husband returning," Su Qingcheng snapped, unable to bear it any longer.

Despite her words, the worry on everyone’s face only deepened.

"It is him," An Ruxue said, her gaze icy.

Although she had yet to see Chen Xuan, she could sense it—that unique martial aura was his.

"Him? Do you mean the bandits or our husband?" Lu Qiqi asked.

"Oh, you’re so dense! It must be our husband. If it were bandits, Sister An would have told us to flee long ago!"

Though Xu Ruolan’s character was questionable, her mind remained sharp. Upon hearing this, all the women immediately looked toward the front with anticipation.

Two figures slowly emerged into their sight: Chen Xuan and Yang Ying'er.

Both were filthy, their clothes stained with dried blood and their hair disheveled. If not for the familiar contours of their faces, the others might not have recognized them at all.

"Oh, Husband! Miss Yang! You’ve finally returned! I knew you would be safe and sound."

The moment Xu Ruolan saw Chen Xuan, her eyes lit up. Swinging her hips, she scampered toward him. Seeing Chen Xuan’s tattered, grime-covered state, she put on a look of profound heartache.

"Husband, how did you end up like this? Those wretched bandits to force my husband into such a disheveled state—they deserve to die!"

"Husband, you have no idea how worried we were. But no matter how worried we were, we always firmly believed that you would return safely."

"Come, Husband, you must be tired. Let me massage your shoulders."

As she spoke, Xu Ruolan began to knead his shoulders and back with a cloying, coquettish tone, serving him with exaggerated tenderness.

Watching her sycophantic display, the other women were left speechless. She had been the first to suggest splitting up, and now she was the one spouting such nonsense. They could only reflect that someone with a background in a brothel was truly skilled in deception and knew exactly how to hook a man.

To be honest, after wiping out Jinfeng Stronghold and trekking all the way back, Chen Xuan was indeed exhausted. Having someone massage his shoulders felt incredibly comfortable and warmed his heart. Most of all, he was warmed by the fact that not a single one of these women had left.

In truth, while making his way back after destroying the stronghold, Chen Xuan had wondered if these women might take the opportunity to escape. After all, they had no emotional attachment to him—the only link between them was the debt of his saving their lives. If they had left, he wouldn't have blamed them.

Yet, not one had departed. Not even An Ruxue. If she had wanted to leave, no one here could have stopped her.

"Thank you for your hard work," Chen Xuan said with a smile, feeling her soft fingers pressing against his shoulders.

"Oh, Husband, what are you saying? As your women, isn't it only natural for us to serve you?" Xu Ruolan replied, her voice dripping with sweetness.

The sweet-talking arts of the brothel were effective on men in any situation. At the very least, after hearing these words, Chen Xuan’s favor toward Xu Ruolan rose significantly.

"The people from the Ping'an Escort Agency have all been buried there," Li Xiuning said, approaching with her usual cool, aloof demeanor. She didn't ask what Chen Xuan had done after storming the bandit den; she only focused on the matters at hand.

Chen Xuan turned to look in the direction she was pointing. There were two mounds of earth, one large and one small.

"The large mound holds everyone from the Ping'an Escort Agency. We are only women, and we lacked the energy to dig individual graves for them, so we had to wrong them by burying them together."

"The small mound is for Yang Xun," Li Xiuning added, casting a glance at Yang Ying'er.

Yang Ying'er didn't say a word. She walked to Yang Xun’s grave, knelt, and tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Thank you for your trouble," Chen Xuan said with emotion. He had to admit, Li Xiuning had handled things well—not only were all the escort members buried, but she had even erected a headstone for Yang Xun.

"Has your strength increased again?" An Ruxue suddenly asked, staring at Chen Xuan with a frown.

For some reason, in just two short days, Chen Xuan gave her an increasingly unfathomable feeling. When they first met, he had only the strength of a fourth-tier martial artist. Last night, when he killed the second-in-command, the one-eyed dragon, his strength exceeded the fifth tier and seemed to reach the sixth. But now, he gave her a feeling she couldn't see through at all.

"A little," Chen Xuan replied with a smile, offering no further explanation.

An Ruxue was silent for a moment before asking, "What about Jinfeng Stronghold? What happened?"

Chen Xuan slowly uttered four words: "Wiped out in blood!"

*Swish!*

An Ruxue’s eyes widened, her expression one of utter disbelief. She had assumed that if Chen Xuan had taken Yang Ying'er to storm the stronghold and failed to win, he would have simply retreated. It was a bandit fortress, after all, and Yang Ying'er’s combat ability was mediocre—to put it bluntly, she was a burden. How could he possibly defeat a bandit nest with a burden in tow? Simply surviving was an achievement. She had never expected him to slaughter the entire group of bandits.

"Is that true?" An Ruxue asked, still finding it hard to believe. Even she, had she been uninjured, would never have dared to claim she could wipe out Jinfeng Stronghold by force.

"It is," Chen Xuan affirmed.

An Ruxue took a deep breath and began to look at Chen Xuan with a gaze filled with newfound strangeness. She realized that the man before her was truly unfathomable, becoming more and more difficult for her to understand.

...

In the capital, inside a brothel, Chen Tian held a plump woman in his left arm and a young, pretty woman in his right, his hands wandering restlessly over their delicate bodies. Before him sat a young man holding a feather fan, wearing a scholar’s cap, and looking quite refined and elegant. However, this young man had no women by his side—it was unclear whether he lacked the taste for it or had other reasons.

"Master Sima, you said you would have Chen Xuan’s head delivered to me today. You aren't playing with me, are you?" Chen Tian asked slowly. He had been enjoying himself while teasing the two women, but at the mention of Chen Xuan’s name, his face instantly soured, becoming dark and sinister.

"Master Chen, please rest assured. Since I have given my word, it cannot be false," Sima Xiba replied with a confident smile.