Chapter Twenty-Two: The Words You Speak, Even Through Tears, Must Be Fulfilled

The crowd turned to look, and a streak of lightning flashed across the sky. Suddenly, a figure appeared before them. Their pupils contracted—such speed! They had only glimpsed a flash of lightning; what kind of movement technique was this?

The Sixth Elder, upon seeing the newcomer, was somewhat surprised. "It's you!"

The woman lying on the ground, her breath faint but still conscious, looked at Chen Xiang in astonishment. So this man wasn’t sent by the Li family?

"It’s me," Chen Xiang replied with a slight smile.

He dared not look at the woman directly; her stunning beauty made him feel at a loss. The only reason he had appeared was to fulfill his promise. Shameless he might be, but he was a man of his word. Remembering his boast about wooing this woman, he regretted it, secretly hoping she had used some trick to conceal her appearance.

What he had said, he would do—even if it made him cry.

"Hmph," the Sixth Elder clearly recognized Chen Xiang. They had crossed words in the teahouse; he’d wanted to teach him a lesson, but the young lady had stopped him, so he let it go. He hadn’t sought trouble with Chen Xiang, but now Chen Xiang had come to trouble him.

"You, who are you? Why do you want to keep our young lady here?" The Sixth Elder signaled the guards with his eyes and spoke mildly.

The guards, frustrated from their earlier defeat by the woman and unable to vent their anger, now saw Chen Xiang walk right into their midst. Their faces darkened as they surrounded him.

"Me? Oh, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I am the dashing, elegant, chivalrous swordsman whose looks surpass the legendary Pan An, the hero with a heart of gold and a blade of ice, the romantic yet ruthless Li Xunhuan—a simple scholar, versed in both civil and martial arts. Greetings to you all," Chen Xiang clasped his hands in salute, smiling broadly.

The crowd’s minds reeled. How could he use such grand phrases to describe himself without a trace of shame?

Did he really need so many idioms just to introduce himself?

Greetings? What nonsense! Looks surpassing Pan An? They didn’t know who Pan An was, but they were determined to beat him so hard his own mother wouldn’t recognize him.

"Hmph, nonsense!" the Sixth Elder snorted.

"Boy, I don’t have time to banter with you. You have three breaths to leave, or we won’t be polite!" the Sixth Elder said coldly, then turned away, no longer looking at him. He’d already discerned that Chen Xiang was a third-layer Core Formation cultivator—a remarkable achievement for s