Lin Xiao warily eyed the guards as he took his stance while he was being surrounded. Without fighting back, Lin Xiao was sure to be unable to escape unscathed. Through all his memories, Lin Xiao disliked pain the most. After all, when he woke up after losing all his past memories, all he could feel the first few days was pain. Those few days were enough to give him a traumatic experience.

“Brothers, please… I really do not want to cause a scene,” Lin Xiao said as he gripped the sheath of the sword in his hand tightly. ‘I guess I really can’t avoid trouble…’ Lin Xiao let out a heavy sigh when the guards didn’t budge.

As the guards inched closer, Lin Xiao’s eyes began to dart between each of them while his ears trained on those who were standing behind him. He had to make sure that none of them would be able to take him by surprise. A moment later, one of the guards finally let out a battle cry and rushed towards Lin Xiao. As if on cue, the rest followed suit.

Lin Xiao sidestepped and drove the hilt of his sword to the first guard’s abdomen. With the guard hunching down in pain, he used the other’s body as a support and then, he proceeded to aim a strong kick to the next one that was closest to him. The battle continues with Lin Xiao dominating the guards, which came as a surprise even to Lin Xiao himself.

‘These guards… really don’t have any battle experience! They’re nothing but a vase!’ Lin Xiao thought to himself as he continued to subdue each one of the guards.

It did not take long for the commotion to catch the attention of the passerby and they stopped in their track to witness the fight. Soon, the road was congested as the audience grew. Most of them cheered for Lin Xiao while mocking the guards for unable to beat him despite the number advantage.

Soon, the news of the fight spreads and it reached the ear of the Xia Patriarch who was currently in a business discussion with a merchant. When he heard how the guards he hired were beaten by a single young man, his face turned dark. The merchant in front of him can only shiver with how cold the atmosphere had become.

“Yuan shao­, maybe you would like to continue our discussion later? It seems that there is some trouble at your home…” the Merchant said in a very polite tone.

“En. Then I will excuse myself. I will come and see you again in few days,” the Xia Patriarch replied before he stood up and left the merchant’s estate.

Only when the Xia Patriarch left did the merchant let out a relieved sigh. “Who’s the idiot causing trouble for the Xia family? Didn’t he know that the Thunder Hawk works directly under the Xia family?” the merchant shook his head as he pitied the poor young man in his heart.

When the Xia Patriarch arrived at the scene, he saw the pitiful state of his guards and his anger rose. “Who dared to cause trouble in front of my residence?!” he roared out before his eyes landed on Lin Xiao, then to the guards who were beaten into a sorry state.

When the Xia Patriarch came, Lin Xiao immediately stopped all of his action and took a few steps away. Just from the look of the other, Lin Xiao knew this man is very influential and might even be the person they are looking for. Not only that, the crowd who had stopped by to watch the fight for entertainment quickly dispersed. No one wanted to offend the Xia family at all.

“Beaten by a brat? Looks like I must improve your training regime!” Xia Patriarch hissed out as he gave his guards a look of disdain. “Go to the training hall and wait for your punishment!”

As soon as the sentence was heard, the guards scrambled off in an undignified manner and rushed into the Xia family residence. Lin Xiao could only see them until they disappeared behind the wall.

“As for you,” Lin Xiao heard the other say and his eyes quickly went back to the newcomer from earlier. “I will give you a chance to explain yourself. Depending on your explanation, I may let you off with only a few broken bones.”

Now that his attention is not divided, he finally noticed the four guards that stood beside the others. With the way they carry themselves, Lin Xiao knew their martial arts are several ranks higher than the guards he faced earlier.

“My lord, you are scaring this Lin Xiao,” Lin Xiao quickly bowed his head and cupped his fist in a form of a respectful salute. If possible, Lin Xiao would not want to enrage the man even more, even though it looks like the man is already looking like a monkey breathing hot fire.

“Scaring you? If I don’t let you know your place, then I am not surnamed Xia!” the older man huffed. “Now speak!”

Lin Xiao just sighed, and he took out the emblem once more. “It’s like this… Few days ago, this humble one and his brother found a group of bandits harassing a young lady, so we saved her. And this lady has this in her belongings,” Lin Xiao took out the token once again. He carefully approached the other man and handed the token to him.

Xia Patriarch eyed the token and knew that this was the same token that he had sent to the Fei family who lived in Danxing county within the Zhenwei region. This token is to serve as proof of identity for the young lady who will marry into his family.

“This is no doubt, my family’s emblem carved in this token. Very well, I shall believe you. Now, where is this young lady you talked about?” the older male asked, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Lin Xiao suspiciously. “Or maybe you’re just after a ransom money? I should just lock you up and—”

“Alright, that is enough, Feng-ge,” a gentle voice came from behind Lin Xiao. When he turned around, he saw Long YinLian coming over being helped by Fei YuXing. “No one will be locking Xiao-er up. If you keep bullying my disciple like this, I will get angry,” he said as he placed a hand over Lin Xiao’s head, giving him a gentle pat on the head.

When Xia Patriarch saw Long YinLian, his expression changed to that of disbelief. “Ah’Yin…?” he called out in a shaky voice.

“It is me, Feng-ge, I am back,” Long YinLian answered with a smile.

As if something snapped within the Xia Patriarch’s mind, he rushed forward. Not caring about his own reputation, he pushed Lin Xiao aside and pulled Long YinLian into a hug. “Ah’Yin… it’s really you, ah! I knew that you can’t be dead. Where have you been?!” he asked before he pulled away just enough to look at Long YinLian. “And what happened to your eyes?” his hand went over to the cloth that was used to cover Long YinLian’s eyes.

“I… got into an accident,” Long YinLian replied after a brief hesitation. “After losing my vision, I’ve just been around. There wasn’t anything much that I could do,” he added. Then, Long YinLian called Lin Xiao over and introduced him to the Xia Patriarch. “This boy is Lin Xiao. As mentioned before, he is my disciple,” after that, he turned to Lin Xiao. “Xiao-er, this is Xia YuanFeng. Come and greet your… martial uncle.”

Hearing this, Lin Xiao lowered his head and gave Xia YuanFeng a salute despite feeling confused. At first, this man before him acts very overbearing but as soon as Long YinLian made his appearance, the overbearing pressure disappeared. And with how Long YinLian addressed Xia YuanFeng, it made Lin Xiao even more surprised.

“So, you are Ah’Yin’s disciple. To actually beat the guards, I trained to a sorry state, you’ve made your master proud,” Xia YuanFeng said with a friendly tone. Now that he’s looking at Lin Xiao properly, he can’t help but feel that he truly has failed to train the guards properly. ‘I’ve been too complacent. If this was an attack…’

“Uncle Yuan,” Fei YuXing called out to Xia YuanFeng. “I am the daughter of Fei JianYu. My name is Fei YuXing,” she said as she introduced herself while giving Xia YuanFeng a polite bow.

“So, you’re Fei JianYu’s daughter,” Xia YuanFeng eyes finally landed on the young lady beside Long YinLian. “I can see that your eyes look exactly like your mother. According to Lin Xiao earlier, you were attacked by bandits and then was saved by him?”

“Yes. YuXing was unlucky and many of the guards that father sent to protect me died, including the servants that was accompanying me. The dowry was also lost…” as she said this, her voice became lower and lower.

“It doesn’t matter. The dowry can be gathered again. At least, you still have your life,” Xia YuanFeng said. “You must be tired from your journey. Allow me to welcome you to our residence,” as Xia YuanFeng said this, he signaled for the guards accompanying him to help lead the carriage and the wagon into the Xia family household.

After that, Xia YuanFeng proceeded to lead Lin Xiao and the rest into his residence, only to be stopped by a scream coming from his guards. “What is wrong now?” Xia YuanFeng asked, face slightly red from embarrassment. Those pitiful screams were enough to make him, Xia YuanFeng, lose face.

When he turned around, he saw two of his guards had fallen to the ground, aiming their spears towards three tigers who peeked their heads out of the wagon.

“Ah! I’ve nearly forgotten!” Lin Xiao who saw this quickly jogged over to the wagon. “Lan-er, Fan-er, Zan-er, come on out now,” Lin Xiao said to the three tigers. Now that they have arrived at their destination, its now safe for them to come out. Plus, with Xia family’s reputation, having three tigers won’t cause too much commotion. At least, that is what Lin Xiao thought.

“Ah’Yin… are they your disciple’s pet?” Xia YuanFeng asked, his palms slightly sweating. The tigers were bigger than normal. Though they looked pretty domesticated as they walked with Lin Xiao, he could still feel a sense of danger.

When Fei YuXing saw Xia YuanFeng’s face, she understood the older man’s thought. ‘I know, Uncle Yuan… I understand your feelings.’

“These three tigers… as long as they are not vicious, they can stay in the courtyard,” Xia YuanFeng added when Lin Xiao reached them with the three tigers.

“Courtyard? Feng-ge, they are my children. I took care of them ever since they were a young cub…” Long YinLian informed Xia YuanFeng.

This made Xia YuanFeng’s attitude to the three tigers change and he immediately retracted his earlier sentence about making them sleep in the courtyard. “Since it is like this, then they can sleep wherever they want as long as they don’t pose any danger to the people in my household.”

“Don’t worry, martial uncle. My three brothers are very friendly,” this time, it was Lin Xiao who spoke for the three tigers with a big smile on his face. “As long as no one make them angry or tries to harm me and Shizun, they won’t attack people.”

After hearing the assurance from Lin Xiao, Xia YuanFeng can only nod his head before he led them into his household. This time, there was nothing else that disrupted them from entering the gate.