Sword Shatters Stars

I already reminded you in Chapter 176!

Lin Qiru stood by the window, watching the continuous downpour outside.

She recalled the first time she ran in the rain, when her father fulfilled her childhood curiosity.

The second time was with Lin Xiufei. We ran back when the rain was light, but it started raining heavily again halfway through.

Unable to go forward or backward, we decided to get soaked and go home together.

Lin Xiufeng stayed by Lin Qiru's side, watching the rain with her, and sighed as he thought about Zhao Youyue's long-term threat.

"It's okay," Lin Qiru said softly, leaning on his shoulder.
"Even if I kill Zhao Youyue, how many more Zhao Youyues will the Heavenly Martial Group have?"

"There are other Heavenly Blades, and there will be even more Heavenly Blades in the future."

"Why bother keeping an eye on her?"

“…Yes. Let’s not talk about her anymore. There’s no need to ruin our good time.” Lin Xiufeng stopped mentioning her.

The torrential rain continued to fall, as if this rainy year would never end.

Outside the window, on one side, a willful figure stands under the eaves, leaning against the wall.

She suddenly turned around and appeared outside the window, in front of Lin Xiufeng and Lin Qiru.

"Ha!" Seeing that Lin Xiufeng was startled, but Lin Qiru was laughing, Renxing couldn't help but pout and say, "No fun! You only scared one person!"

"Is it possible that I wasn't actually scared, and was just playing along with you?"

Lin Xiufeng chuckled to himself.

"Tch! Stop being so stubborn. You were fast asleep like a log when I arrived, what do you know!"

"Fine! You tricked me into revealing how long you've been eavesdropping with just one sentence!" Lin Xiufeng asked irritably, "Why were you eavesdropping?"

"Who was eavesdropping? I just happened to be standing under your eaves to take shelter from the rain!"

It was just a willful excuse. Looking at them through the window for a while, he rested his chin on his hand and asked, utterly bewildered:
"But—Lin Xiufeng, you're so strange. Why are you so quiet when you're with Lin Qiru? It's like you've changed your personality!"

Lin Xiufeng said with a laugh, "Is it possible? I've always been good at enjoying the happiness of tranquility, it's just that you guys made me miss the chance in the past."

"Yes, yes, yes!" she retorted with a willful and disdainful tone, "Even your pettiness is something you learned from us!"

"Good to know!" Lin Xiufeng pretended to be a teacher facing a student admitting a mistake: it is a great thing to know one's mistakes and correct them.

He pretended to vomit and couldn't help but ask Lin Qiru:

"Has he always been this shameless?"

"Hmm...sometimes I'm a bit unserious, and I'm a little thick-skinned." Lin Qiru's answer made Renxing's eyes widen.

"Sometimes? A little thick?" Who knows how much more unruly and irresponsible he can get!
"Listen to this, this is what you call objectivity! Do you understand? Just do a little calculation of the percentage of time I spend being unconventional, and the answer is, of course, sometimes!"

Lin Xiufeng chatted with Renxing, guessing that she must have come to talk about something else.

But they kept rambling on, and that matter was clearly related to Zhao Youyue.

He realized it, and Lin Qiru most likely guessed it as well.

However, since Lin Qiru did not actively avoid the topic, it meant that she did not want to avoid discussing Zhao Youyue's situation.

Just as Renxing was caught in a dilemma, Lin Xiufeng suddenly asked:

Is something wrong?

"Hmm..." Renxing looked at Lin Qiru, and saw her smiling as she said, "Is it something I can't know?"

"Of course it's not that I can't... it's just that I need to mention a name, and I don't know if you'd like to hear it."

Being willful is tantamount to making it explicit.

"Please don't need to avoid Zhao Youyue. We have already taken our revenge, so it's not that we hate her, it's that she hates us."

Lin Qiru clearly intended to use this opportunity to express her stance, and Ren Xing immediately breathed a sigh of relief, saying with a relaxed expression:
"That's great! After spending some time with her, her emotions have stabilized, but she can't stand anyone mentioning your names in front of her."

"It's made me so used to being careful every day that I don't dare mention her to you guys when I come back."

"It's great that Lin Qiru doesn't mind!"

Lin Xiufeng couldn't help but remind him, "So, what's the main point you wanted to make?" The capricious man retorted irritably, "Isn't that what I was just about to say? What's the rush?"

"I didn't see Zhao Youyue on this trip to Central City. They said she left some days ago."

"On the way back, I remembered that the people who defied the heavens wanted to talk to us about cooperation, so I went to the nearest village of those people to see what they were like normally."

"If it's someone like Fantian, with such despicable behavior, I would definitely oppose cooperating with Nitian!"

"As a result, when we were almost there, we encountered many free Heavenly Martial Souls, all of whom were discussing the Heavenly Martial Group's attack on the Heaven-Defying Village."

"When I got to the village, I found it had been destroyed, with only a few brave souls searching for and scavenging the remaining Free Heavenly Martial Souls."

Lin Xiufeng was a little puzzled. Given Zhao Youyue's position, it was really unreasonable for her to lead people to attack a village of the Rebellious Organization.

The minister and deputy minister of the External Operations Department do not need to lead teams in this kind of combat.

Each person has their own duties; this is not something that management positions should be doing.

It would indeed be strange if Zhao Youyue were leading the attack.

Ren Xing said with a solemn expression, "I have observed some signs of battle in the village."

"It was discovered that this was not an ordinary offensive operation."

"Footprints, bloodstains under the eaves where the rain couldn't reach, bloody handprints, bloodstains left by crawling, and so on..."

"I can basically reconstruct the general situation in my mind, like—"

Lin Xiufeng understood, and before the capricious man could finish speaking, he interrupted:

"Just like when Zhao Youyue severed the tendons of Tianwu Po on the mountain outside Fantian Village, allowing you and Fang Yuan to quickly accumulate Tianwu power by killing him."

"Yes!" Being willful means realizing the seriousness of the situation!

Moreover, she discovered this situation herself, not by seeing it in the Central City, nor by Zhao Youyue, so of course she had to tell Lin Xiufeng.

Lin Qiru understood the point after hearing Ren Xing mention the breakthrough to the Heavenly Martial Realm.

"Zhao Youyue has probably assembled a fighting force and used this unconventional method to help this fighting force quickly become Heavenly Warriors. This is indeed worth paying attention to."

"This is insane! She gets all the blame, while others reap the benefits. She's doing this to get back at us, she's willing to do anything!"

Lin Xiufeng hadn't expected Zhao Youyue's mental state to be so extreme.

Although Zhao Youyue had done similar things in the past, her status was different.

She was the head of the Central City of the Heavenly Martial Corps. Doing such a notorious thing just to quickly build up a fighting force of Heavenly Martial Warriors was something she would never have done in the past!

When she gets promoted in the future, this stain will be enough to make it difficult for her to win in the competition.

This shows that Zhao Youyue has put her long-term future aside in order to seek revenge.

Lin Xiufeng remembered that not long ago, Zhao Youyue told him to let go of his enemy Qian Shaoyong and consider the future...

"That's why I have to remind you!" the willful and worried man said.
"Zhao Youyue's motivation to pull herself together is to take revenge on you."

"She's resorted to such a desperate measure and entered this state; you need to think carefully about how to deal with it."

Having said that impulsively, he turned to leave, but then suddenly turned back and said:
"Also, I've already given you prior notice: I'll fight the Tianwu Group, but I won't fight Zhao Youyue."

"Understood!" Lin Xiufeng replied understandingly.

“I know you value loyalty and friendship,” Lin Qiru also stated her position.

He said with a troubled expression, "I've discovered that hatred can make anyone abnormal."

“Love can be love too,” Lin Qiru added with a touch of emotion.

"...It's best to be without love or hate, carefree and heartless!" He wandered aimlessly into the rain, getting further and further away.

As the willful figure grew increasingly blurry, Lin Xiufeng suddenly sighed:

"I've been so willful lately that I haven't deliberately sought shelter from the rain in a long time."

(End of this chapter)