Chapter 173: The Stone

Qi Xia frowned and said, “I say… aren’t you all on the same side?”

“What?” Lao Sun sized up Qi Xia and said, “Just because we’re on the same side, does that mean we can’t fight?”

Qi Xia sensed that the man in front of him had a quality very similar to that of the Qiao family’s energy.

However, after combining with the differences between north and south, this quality manifested in completely different ways in the two of them.

“Thanks, but I don’t need anyone to stand up for me,” Qi Xia said. “If there’s nothing else, you all can go ahead and fight. We’d like to leave first.”

“Leave…?” Lao Sun looked a bit stunned. “I’m standing up for you… and now you want to leave?”

Qi Xia felt like he had fallen into the situation of a scholar dealing with soldiers again.

“I’ve said I don’t need anyone to stand up for me,” Qi Xia said. “If you’re putting on a show for me, you might as well skip it.”

“A show?!” Lao Sun was instantly furious. “Come on, come on, let me show you if this is a show!”

With that, he clenched his fist and said to Qi Xia, “Here, take this stone for self-defense. If a fight breaks out, watch and see if I hold back or not.”

He extended his hand forward, as if handing something to Qi Xia.

But Qi Xia knew his hand was empty.

“I say you…”

Before Qi Xia could object, he suddenly realized a heavy stone had appeared in his own hand.

The stone lay quietly in his palm, as if it had been there all along.

“This?” Qi Xia was stunned. “A stone appearing out of thin air?”

Without hesitation, Lao Sun reached out and gripped his hand, and a thick stone stick materialized in it. “Xiao Xiao! You’d better apologize to this guy. If you keep offending him, how are we going to get him to join us?”

“I won’t apologize. I didn’t do anything wrong,” Xiao Xiao said. “If it weren’t for me, would Qi Xia have learned about Zhong Yan Zhi Di so quickly?”

Qi Xia’s face darkened, and he threw the stone in his hand aside, saying, “You all are being ridiculous. I’ll say it again: I won’t join you. Even if you two end up killing each other over me, I still won’t join.”

“Hey, hey, hey! Buddy!” Lao Sun turned back and grabbed Qi Xia’s arm. “Let’s talk this out. If you’re not satisfied, take this stick!”

Qi Xia snorted coldly. “So it really is a show… I don’t want anything to do with you all.”

“Hey, I’m not putting on a show,” Lao Sun said, seeing that Qi Xia wasn’t buying it, and he casually tossed the stone stick away. “I’ve always been unhappy with Xiao Xiao’s approach. She’s too extreme.”

Qi Xia gave Zhao Yisheng a look, and the two of them didn’t want to get entangled, so they tried to go around the group and leave.

“Buddy!” Lao Sun still didn’t let go of Qi Xia’s arm. “You really won’t consider joining us?”

Qi Xia stopped and looked at Lao Sun, asking, “Are you going to kill me?”

“What?”

“If you’re not going to kill me, don’t waste my time. My stance is clear, right?” Qi Xia turned his head to glance at Xiao Xiao. “I won’t associate with a lunatic like that.”

After hearing this, Xiao Xiao’s face showed a slight hint of disappointment.

Lao Sun stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

Jiang Ruoxue slowly walked forward and said with a smile, “Forget it, Lao Sun, let him go.”

“Huh? Xiao Jiang… didn’t you say this guy is really capable?”

“But his first impression of Xiao Xiao is already terrible. There’s no point in dragging this out.” Jiang Ruoxue smiled bitterly and turned back to Xiao Xiao, saying, “Xiao Xiao, did you take that bottle of li yan I found earlier?”

“I took it. I take it every midnight,” Xiao Xiao said, looking down.

“What the heck?! At midnight?!” Lao Sun was startled. “Could you make sure before you take it? I’ve been wondering why I throw up bile every midnight—it turns out you’ve been eating stuff from my stomach!”

“Huh?” Xiao Xiao was stunned. “Wait, did I pin the blame on you?”

Qi Xia looked at this group of lunatics and felt his patience had reached its limit.

Was this another act?

“Let’s go,” he whispered to Zhao Yisheng.

“Okay, okay.” Zhao Yisheng started to hurry away.

“No, no… I can’t let that happen.” Xiao Xiao suddenly turned her head, her expression blank as she stared in the direction Qi Xia was escaping. “Ruoxue, we can’t let him go. He’s too smart—he’ll collect the three thousand six hundred Dao…”

“Calm down, Xiao Xiao,” Jiang Ruoxue said, frowning.

“I am calm,” Xiao Xiao took a deep breath and said. “Everyone else’s death wouldn’t matter, but Qi Xia is different. He’s destined to live here like us…”

As soon as she finished speaking, she took off her shirt, revealing the sports tank top underneath and her well-trained muscles.

This sight startled Zhao Yisheng.

“Oh my god…” He had never imagined that under Xiao Xiao’s T-shirt was such a strong body.

Xiao Xiao picked up the stone that Qi Xia had thrown away earlier.

“Xiao Xiao!” Jiang Ruoxue anxiously grabbed her. “Don’t be impulsive! We agreed to discuss things together, right?”

“I’ll keep Qi Xia here first…” Xiao Xiao gave a strange smile. “I’ll make sure he stays, and then we can discuss.”

With that, she swung the stone hard and smashed it against her own forehead.

This action left Qi Xia and Zhao Yisheng stunned.

After the blow, blood started flowing from Xiao Xiao’s forehead.

“What… what is she doing?”

“Never mind that—just run!”

Qi Xia pulled Zhao Yisheng and turned to flee.

Xiao Xiao’s face slowly showed a look of disappointment. “Did it fail? It’s okay…”

She raised the stone again and struck herself a second time.

With a dull thud, Zhao Yisheng, who was next to Qi Xia, was suddenly flung into the air on the spot.

“Ah!!” Zhao Yisheng lay on the ground, clutching his forehead. “Damn it! What the hell is this?!”

He furrowed his brows, feeling like he’d been hit by a stone, but his forehead only hurt without any injury.

Seeing Zhao Yisheng rolling on the ground, Qi Xia gritted his teeth and glared at the three in front of him. “You lunatics… when will this end?”

Xiao Xiao, seeing this, staggered and threw away the stone, looking unsteady herself.

“Lao Sun, quickly tie him up…”

“Huh?” Lao Sun was taken aback. “Wait, you really want to tie him up?”

“Stop talking nonsense… hurry up…” Xiao Xiao said, holding her forehead.

“Well… sorry about this, buddy.” Lao Sun made a stone stick appear in his left hand out of thin air, pulled a small roll of rope from his pocket with his right hand, and slowly approached Qi Xia.

Qi Xia’s face turned cold as he slowly rolled up his sleeves.

“Tie me up? Give it a try.”

Jiang Ruoxue’s expression wasn’t great either, and she quickly went to help Zhao Yisheng up, feeling that things were getting out of control.

“Hey… are you okay?”

Zhao Yisheng clutched his forehead, glanced at the situation, slowly stood up, and said with an awkward smile, “I’m fine, I’m fine…”

As he spoke, he subconsciously touched Jiang Ruoxue’s hand. “Thanks!”