His foot came forward, and a violent tornado abruptly spun up with his body at its center, the churning air instantly shoving aside every player standing close by. Inside the spinning wind all anyone could make out was a shadow already blurred past recognition — and then a great spread of damage numbers, enough to drain the color from every face, floated up overlapping above the head of a Thunderstorm who had no time whatsoever to react.
-1340, -1342, -1332, -1384, -1348, -1336, -1338!
When those seven damage numbers rose at the same instant, nearly stacked one on top of another above Thunderstorm’s head, the crowd could hardly believe their own eyes… They had just witnessed Xietian’s strength firsthand — thirty-odd people dealt with in twenty seconds like some kind of miracle, and damage that broke a thousand, a level no ordinary player could possibly reach.
And now, what were they looking at…
Seven separate figures, and the seven of them added together… damage that came very near ten thousand!!
Ten thousand damage — what did that even mean?!
At a time when countless players had only just managed to locate Level 10 to 13 Lord-tier BOSSes, then deployed in full and assembled enormous parties to make a grueling attempt at them… this damage was plainly a terrifying strike that could one-shot any Lord-tier BOSS below Level 15!
Without question, Thunderstorm fell at Ye Tianxie’s feet a second time… Of course, had he somehow managed not to fall, he would have become a legend on par with Xietian. But Xietian was destined to be the legend, and he was nothing more than a pitiful stepping stone.
When the tornado stopped and Ye Tianxie stood there quietly with a mild smile, every last person held their breath, staring blankly at him as though at some monster from beyond the sky… Too terrifying. That was the only thought any of them could manage.
The heavy chopping saber in Thunderstorm’s hand had dropped, and it lay still on the ground, giving off a bronze glow that had the onlooking players drooling. Ye Tianxie didn’t spare it a glance, as though a piece of Bronze-grade equipment couldn’t rouse the slightest interest in him. He swept his gaze across the crowd, and every player it touched felt an involuntary jolt of unease, almost unable to keep from taking a step back.
“Nothing more to see. Disperse,” he said coldly.
That one short sentence seemed to carry an awe that soaked straight into the heart, and the effect was remarkably good: the crowd, which had been growing steadily larger, began to scatter fast. Plenty of them stayed, of course, or walked a long way off and then stole glances back at the spot. Among those who hadn’t left was the man who had not said a word this whole time, but in whose eyes a strange light kept flickering — Cloud-Piercing Sword.
Paying the crowd no more attention, Ye Tianxie walked over to Shattered Star-Heart. Her eyes just then were extraordinarily bright — bright enough that his own gaze was drawn to them despite himself. He smiled. “It looks like you won’t be able to stay here from now on.”
The remark, arriving out of nowhere, left Shattered Star-Heart blank for a moment. Then she shook her head firmly and answered with a smile that held no trace of regret. “It’s all right… Thank you. I’ll always remember you… this friend.”
She had grasped his meaning at once. Today’s conflict with Battle Soul Hall stood a very good chance of drawing their retaliation, and if they couldn’t find Ye Tianxie, that retaliation would very likely begin with Shattered Star-Heart instead. She truly couldn’t stay here any longer; if she did, what waited for her might be endless trouble.
Ye Tianxie nodded, then smiled. “In that case, could you do me a favor from now on? It happens that I have a home here in the game, but I’m short a person to look after it and manage it… Would you be willing to mind it and keep it in order every day? I’ll pay you by the day — one thousand gold… every day!”
Zuo Pojun: “……”
Murong Qiushui: “……”
Su Feifei: “！@#￥%……”
“Where did this little sister come from? Why is the boss treating her… so specially?” Zuo Pojun asked Murong Qiushui in a low voice. Then something occurred to him and he stole a glance at Su Feifei — and sure enough, the expression on her face was… quite something. The sort that belongs to a volcano about to erupt.
“Oh! Perhaps Second Brother has had a change of heart, who knows… Ooh!! If that really were the case, I truly wouldn’t mind being a real woman.” Murong Qiushui said it with a soulful look, and those two sentences had veins standing out on Zuo Pojun’s forehead.
Shattered Star-Heart looked up at him in astonishment, then lowered her head again at once, her expression dimming. “Thank you, but I…”
“This isn’t charity.” Ye Tianxie didn’t wait for her to finish, and shook his head slowly. “Not in the slightest. It’s because I genuinely do need someone like this… That residence of mine is very large. Every day there’s a great deal of ground that needs cleaning, a pool that needs maintaining, a garden that needs pruning and tending at all hours, and the daily purchasing work is heavier still… If you saw my home in this world, you’d understand that for a place that size, with one person doing all of it, a thousand gold a day isn’t much at all.” He paused, then went on. “Of course, I’m only asking your opinion. I’m hoping you’ll be my housekeeper… and if you’re not willing, that’s fine too. I’ll find someone else right away.”
He was smiling, his expression gentle, without a trace of coercion or charity in it. Under his gaze Shattered Star-Heart’s heartbeat kept quickening… A thousand gold a day meant an income of a thousand Huaxia yuan, which over a month worked out to a full thirty thousand Huaxia yuan — an enormous income that the girl she used to be would only have dared dream of. She needed money badly, not for herself but for the younger sister with the bitter fate… She slowly raised her head and said in a trembling voice, “I… can I really…”
Ye Tianxie let out a quiet breath of relief and smiled. “Of course you can. I chose you because you’re certainly the kind of girl who’ll be responsible, careful and gentle, and who’ll keep my home in very good order — and you’re so pretty that you’ll be easy on the eyes besides. What’s more… you’re an identifier. Once you’re my housekeeper, you’ll be identifying things for me free of charge every day. Put like that, I’m the one making out well here… In fact, I was thinking of asking for your help as early as yesterday. We’re friends. Will you do a friend this favor?”
Shattered Star-Heart found her eyes brimming with mist all over again. Because of him, she had lost control of her emotions again and again… Who was helping whom — she understood. She understood all of it. Friends… She, who moved through every day with such care, had never dared to have friends. But that one word out of his mouth let her feel exactly what kind of warmth it was.
She nodded hard… and at the same time she saw more hope, all of it brought to her by him.
Seeing Shattered Star-Heart agree, Su Feifei finally couldn’t bear it any longer… The man she liked was openly “luring” a delicate, beautiful little sister home to stay for the long term, right in front of her. If she could have swallowed that, she wouldn’t be Su Feifei. She took one sharp step forward — and that step made both Zuo Pojun’s and Murong Qiushui’s hearts go thud at the same moment.
There’s a show coming. There’s a show coming!!
But from the second step onward her pace turned gentle and light, and even the expression on her face shifted in an instant into a soft smile with something elegant and noble in it. In front of everyone she walked unhurriedly to Ye Tianxie’s side, took his arm with perfect naturalness, and said with a light laugh to the watching Shattered Star-Heart, “That’s right, little sister. Tian— Brother Tian and I happen to be short exactly one person to look after our home. We’ve been searching very seriously these last couple of days, so if you’d be willing to help, that really would be wonderful.”
That switch from “Tianxie” mid-word to “Brother Tian” left half of Ye Tianxie’s body tingling numb. With Su Feifei holding his arm like that, her body leaning intimately against his… how could he fail to guess what she was up to? All he could do was smile bitterly to himself.
Zuo Pojun and Murong Qiushui exchanged a look, then privately cried brilliant at the same moment… However furious and jealous she was inside, Su Feifei hadn’t dragged Ye Tianxie away or shouted that she wouldn’t allow any of this housekeeper business. Instead, with a manner so gentle and easygoing that Ye Tianxie couldn’t possibly find it objectionable, she went along with his intent and invited and welcomed Shattered Star-Heart — and the crucial step in all of it was appearing extremely intimate with Ye Tianxie, so that Shattered Star-Heart… so that even an idiot could see the relationship between them at a glance, strangling any possibility of things developing.
Shattered Star-Heart asked softly, “And you are?”
“I’m Brother Tian’s girlfriend. From now on our home is in your hands.” Su Feifei smiled charmingly, her expression so gentle it was like standing in a spring breeze. At the very least, Shattered Star-Heart felt waves of warmth coming off her, born of sincerity.
Somehow, looking at Su Feifei leaning against Ye Tianxie, Shattered Star-Heart felt a small stir of envy. She bowed slightly. “Thank you, Sister… thank you both. I… I won’t let you down.”
Out of sight, one of Su Feifei’s hands stayed pinching very gently at Ye Tianxie’s arm — and if he dared contradict the relationship she had just described… one hard twist was coming.
This woman… Ye Tianxie shook his head with an inward laugh and didn’t deny it; there was no real need to deny it. He gave Shattered Star-Heart a small nod. “Come with me for now. Once we get to my place, you can make your final decision. All right?”
“Mm.” Shattered Star-Heart nodded gently. The gratitude in her heart had gone past anything words could express. He wasn’t only helping her, giving her encouragement and hope; he had given her complete freedom and respect as well… She truly no longer knew what to do with how grateful she felt. Having walked over countless rough patches, having tasted the full fickleness of the world, she finally understood that warmth like this was possible after all.
Watching Ye Tianxie lead a girl — and an unreasonably pretty girl at that — off “home” like this, if she hadn’t burned and seethed with jealousy she wouldn’t be Su Feifei… But beyond all that, Su Feifei was seeing something else as well, something that delighted and reassured her.
From Zuo Pojun and Murong Qiushui she had learned what kind of past Ye Tianxie had once had. And it was that past that had made him cold and cruel, that kept him indoors and unwilling to have contact with more people… But everything he showed in front of Shattered Star-Heart, in front of this girl who looked so frail she made your heart ache, declared that beneath that cold, closed-off surface his heart held a softest side too… Just as he would let her make a fuss and lose her temper without ever truly getting angry; just as, when she was in danger, he would throw himself at it without a thought for anything else…
Perhaps even he himself didn’t know it: the real him wasn’t the least bit cruel or heartless.
(End of Chapter 164)