Liang Xinghua quickly caught up to Xiao Luo. Then he made a formal bow to Xiao Luo with both hands folded in front of him.
“What do you want?” asked Xiao Luo rather coldly.
Liang Xinghua shivered when his eyes met Xiao Luo’s. Plucking up his courage, he smiled and said, “Young Brother, I have prepared some food and wine, and I would be honored if you would accept my invitation to visit my house and take a rest. What do you say?”
If he could attain the friendship of such a powerful young man, it would bring the Liang family many benefits in the next one hundred years. Besides, he had a daughter. If those two could get married, that would even be better.
“I’m not interested!”
Xiao Luo rejected his invitation curtly. He did not belong to this world and was merely passing through Stan City. There was no reason for him to befriend the Liang family. Besides, Xiao Luo had his reservations about the middle-aged man standing before him.
After declining the invite, Xiao Luo pushed the cart forward and continued on his way.
Liang Xinghua refrained from insisting further after he had witnessed Xiao Luo killing Song Tianba and the elders so cruelly, and thought it wiser not to irritate Xiao Luo.
The deputy walked up to Liang Xinghua when he saw Xiao Luo leaving, and said, “My Lord, this guy suddenly showed up in the Stan City, and we know nothing about him. I do not think it is possible to cozy up to him.”
“Let us get to know him, then.”
Liang Xinghua said, “I’ll hand this arduous task over to you.”
“Me?” asked the deputy. He opened his eyes wide, pointing to himself.
Liang Xinghua patted him on his shoulder and said, “That’s right. You are my right-hand man and I trust you. From now on, follow him secretly to figure out what he wants in Stan City. Find out what he likes to do, and things like that. All humans have weaknesses. As long as we can find out what his weaknesses are, it will be possible for us to win him over to our side.”
The deputy shivered and started sweating profusely. Was there any difference between secretly trailing that fearsome man and courting death? Lord, you overestimate my abilities, he thought anxiously.
“My Lord, I…”
“Do not be afraid. That man saved a little girl that he had met just by chance. I am sure he does not kill innocent people unless they piss him off. Just follow him. If he warns you, you stop. However, please realize that you are my right-hand man, so do not disappoint me,” said Liang Xinghua sternly.
The deputy was close to tears upon hearing that. Did the Lord mean he must succeed? If he failed at his mission, he would be demoted down the ranks. It was the same as telling him to finish the task, even at the risk of death.
…
…
Xiao Luo pushed the cart carrying the two bodies to a forest out of the city. He stopped when he found a place that overlooked the rolling landscape beyond. Looking at the little girl’s pale face, he felt a deep sense of regret. He thought he had saved her, but she still died in the end.
“God damned jerk, cheer up. It is just one of those things. It is the fate of this little girl,” said the Duck Emperor as he tried to comfort Xiao Luo. He had flown out of the pocket and landed on his shoulder.
“Fate?”
Xiao Luo snorted and replied, “I have never believed in such a thing as fate. And I will not let fate beat me.”
“You are just stubborn. I studied the Taiji and Yin Yang of the Hua Nation and found them very profound and mysterious. I agree with the belief that a person is born with the path of his life already determined. That is your lifeline. When you have reached the end of the lifeline, even the Great Heavens cannot save you,” said the Duck Emperor.
Xiao Luo did not speak.
The Duck Emperor continued, “For example, you want to go to the Holy land of the Light Clan to rescue your wife. Fate has already determined the result. No matter what you do, you cannot change that result.”
“Fate has written it?”
Xiao Luo laughed sarcastically and said, “Where there is a will, there is a way. That is what I believe. When your faith is strong, there is nothing you cannot achieve.”
“You just do not get it. Well, forget about it then. Bury those two now, or the bodies will stink if exposed to the air for too long,” advised the Duck Emperor. He could not persuade Xiao Luo and promptly changed the subject.
At that moment, a few people ran out of the forest, holding hoes in hand. It was Liang Xinghua’s deputy and two guards of the Liang family.
The deputy came over respectfully. He said to Xiao Luo, “Brother, let us help you bury them.”
Without waiting for Xiao Luo’s response, he waved at those two guards to signal them to dig. Then all three of them dug.
“Are they not from the Liang family of the Stan City? We saw them earlier. Why are they here helping you bury the little girl?” whispered the Duck Emperor to Xiao Luo. He looked confused.
“Their intentions are so obvious. Can you not see it? You are absolutely a duck. Although you are good at speaking our language, you don’t know how to think the human way,” Xiao Luo said scornfully.
“Shoot!” cursed the Duck Emperor as the feathers on his head stood on ends.
The voluntary labor was certainly helpful and the deputy and his two guards did their job very well. It only took two hours to bury the little girl and her mother.
The tomb was a small heap of earth, with white flowers on it. As for the tombstone, it was a piece of marble the men had brought along from Stan City. They found out the names of the mother and daughter and carved their names on the tombstone with a sword.
“Brother, what do you think? Is there any change you want to make?” asked the deputy. He sought Xiao Luo’s opinion about the tomb. He was sweating heavily because of the physical task.
Xiao Luo did not answer him. Instead, he asked the deputy, “What’s your name?”
The unexpected question threw the deputy off slightly. Then he answered honestly, “My name is Liang Kuan.”
Liang Kuan?
Xiao Luo raised an eyebrow because the name sounded familiar. He watched many TV series and movies about Huang Feihong, who had an apprentice called Liang Kuan.
“Go back with this message for your Lord. Tell him to stop wasting his time on me. I will not be staying in Stan City for a long time. I will leave soon. Do not make a wrong move,” said Xiao Luo.
Liang Kuan gave a bitter smile. He wished he could go back to report what Xiao Luo had said to his Lord. But if he went back with that message, he knew he could no longer stay with the Liang family.
He grinned and replied, “Brother, this incident happened in the Stan City. The Liang family has both the obligation and the responsibility to come forward to do something for the folks. The Song family has been bullying these people here for a long time. There were many complaints. Now, you have eliminated the Song family and got rid of evil in our city, and in doing so, you have also been a great help to the Liang family. The Song family was our enemy. The deaths of the little girl and her mother were unjustified, and they deserved a proper burial. Brother, if we allowed you to do that on your own, then the Liang family would be thoughtless.”
Xiao Luo said, “You are good at sweet-talking, but it does not work on me!”
His body slowly lifted into the air as he spoke. In the end, Xiao Luo was standing in mid-air like a god.
Martial Emperor?
The two guards of the Liang family dropped to the ground out of fear. Liang Kuan stared at Xiao Luo, hardly able to believe what he was seeing. It was true he had suspected that Xiao Luo was a Martial Emperor. But it was quite a novel experience to confirm it with his own eyes. Xiao Luo had achieved the level of a Martial Emperor at twenty-five or twenty-six years old. It was incredible.
