His arm made a vicious swing towards Ye Yichen. A powerful energy emanated from the movement and passed though Ye Yichen’s defences. It resulted a long, thin cut that extended from the back of his hand to his elbow. Blood was pouring out from the cut, staining his sleeve.………..

“Ye Yichen, you are not fit to lecture Xue!” Ouyang Shaochen’s clear voice pierced the air, arousing Ye Yichen’s anger.

Ye Yichen’s expression turned stoned-cold, “If not I, then who? I am the legal future husband of Murong Xue and everyone in Jing City knows that!”

“You publicly shamed her by demeaning her into a concubine. Because of that, she became a laughing stock to people. And to force her to remain as your concubine, you put her in peril by destroying all the fire lotus seeds you could find. She could’ve died without those during her attacks! When the carnivorous flower struck her, you did not even ask about her well-being, you were tightly holding another woman. How can you be fit to be her future husband?” Ouyang Shaochen was looking at Ye Yichen with contempt.

“This is my business; you do not have the right to question it!” Ye Yichen’s voice was icy, his eyes held a dangerous gleam: When Murong Xue extended her arm towards the carnivorous flower, he was about to stop her but at that time, Qin Yuyuan was tightly holding onto his arm, he couldn’t stop her on time…….

“I do not give a damn about your business! But you had involved Xue!” OuYang Shaochen glanced at Qin Yuyuan, “King Jing had only stopped teaching you a few years ago and now you’ve gone and fallen in love with this woman. Your taste is beyond atrocious. If King Jing hadn’t made the move to engage you with Xue, there wouldn’t have been any ties between you two……”

Qin Yuyuan’s face turned into a shade whiter than pale. Beneath her sleeve, she curled her hand tightly into a fist.

Ye Yichen’s face turned livid with anger, “Ouyang Shaochen, don’t you bully others in this!”

“Me? Bullying?” Ouyang Shaochen smirked ever so slightly, but it had shown enough sarcasm:

“Ye Yichen, the reason why we are ‘flirting’ because she is hurt and I’m tending to her wound. As to why she got hurt, it was to rescue you! If her hand hadn’t bled, how would you two still be standing here, unharmed?”

“It’s fine if you don’t thank her for her actions, but yet instead, you chose to lecture her. This character of yours is so dreadful that no one dares to even point it out…”

Ye Yichen’s face darkened to a dangerous shade of murder, enunciating every word, he spoke, “Yu Yuan does not know how to defend herself, I had to protect her. Regarding Xue….”

“Xue has me. Next time, you need not worry about her business. You need only cleanly break off the engagement.” Ouyang Shaochen said icily.

He then turned around to face Murong Xue and gently he spoke, “The sky has darkened, let’s find some place to rest.”

“Alright!” Murong Xue nodded and started to leave: The sun was already below the horizon, it was quickly getting dark. They had walked for two or three hours, endured two battles and were exhausted. They indeed needed to find a safe haven to rest.

OuYang Shaochen walked side-by-side with Murong Xue, his arm gripping on her shoulder to support her. The sight of that made Qin Yuyuan boiled thick with jealousy and hatred: She was just someone who was abandoned by Ye Yi Chen, how could she have found so much favour in OuYang Shaochen? This wasn’t the way it should be…….

A faint smell of blood roused Qin Yuyuan to her senses, she looked at the long cut on Ye Yichen and was filled with the need to care for him, “Yichen, your wound seems really deep….”

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it. Let’s also find somewhere to rest for the night.” Ye Yichen calmly replied.

He gazed at the quickly disappearing Ouyang Shaochen and Murong Xue with an expression that was unreadable.

Murong Xue and Ouyang Shaochen followed a small path and emerged from the tall grass to find a small stream ahead. The stream gurgled with crystal clear water. The area was filled with flat patches of grass and flowers which swayed with the wind. It was an enchanting sight.

There was a clearing beside the stream which was ideal for a resting place. Wu Heng was responsible for collecting firewood while Xun Feng went to catch some fish.

Ouyang Shaochen guided Murong Xue to sit on a big rock. He then took out a white bag filled with water and gave it to her.

“Drink some water.”

“Thank you!” Murong Xue smiled and took it from him: She hadn’t had any water for about two or three hours, she was indeed thirsty.

The material of the water bag was quite puzzling as it was smooth and the water inside of it was still warm.

Murong Xue was surprised and with widened eyes she said, “How come the water is still warm?”

They had ventured into the mountain for two or three hours, even if the material of the bag was of high quality, the water in it would have already been cooled.

“Your body resistance is weak, drinking cold water is bad for you!” Ouyang Shaochen responded without answering the question.

He then placed two plum cakes in front of her, “The fish might take awhile to cook, eat this first.”

The plum cakes emitted a faint delicious smell. Its fragrance was enough to send others drooling. Murong Xue ate one, the fragrance of the soft plum cakes filled her mouth.

Curious, she looked at Ouyang Shaochen. He held a container in his hand which contained 8 plum cakes. But they were all cold and stiff, which was entirely different from the one she just had. That meant that the plum cakes had been passed through Ouyang Shaochen’s hand to become hot.

“How do you do that?”

Looking at her curious gaze, OuYyang Shaochen’s eyes flashed a tinge of humour and said, “It’s a secret.”

Murong Xue’s face darkened and she glared at him.

“Fine!”

Not like she was really interested anyway.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ye Yichen and Qin Yuyuan sat on a nearby rock. Her brow raised lightly: Ahh so they are quite smart too, they knew that Yu Mountain was a dangerous place and they needed to find a place with a clearing to ensure their safety. This area, with the river close-by was the best choice.

Seeing what Murong Xue was looking at, Ouyang Shaochen frowned.

“Do you dislike them being here? I shall ask my guards to chase them away!”

Qin Yuyuan became rigid, she glared at Murong Xue instantly, and her gaze was filled with anger: This is the public area of Qing Yan, it is not their residential or property, they have no right to drive them away.

Ye YiChen lowered his eyelid for a little, his eyes had grown murky. He spread open his palm, a strong internal force was coagulating…

“No need to do so!” Murong Xue shook her head and took a look at Qin Yuyuan. “Although they are our enemies, I still can accept their existence. It’s fine for me to be with them at the riverside, I’ll just pretend like I don’t see them.”

Ye YiChen was the prince of Qing Yan, he was an arrogant man. If we insult him, he will certainly take revenge. By that time, it will definitely create a chaos. She was not afraid of Ye YiChen, she just did not want to create problems.

As she knew, the main focus now was to find DiYang grass. After she got all the DiYang grass, she would be able to immediately retaliate.

“The fish is done. Let’s go and have a look.” Murong Xue held Ouyang Shaochen together with her as she walked briskly toward the pile of firewood.

Ye Yichen closed his palm slowly, the internal force subsided and disappeared instantly. He was contemplating at Ouyang Shaochen with a complicated expression on his face as he saw they were holding hands together.