The Smiling, Proud Wanderer: From the Moment He Picked Up Qu Feiyan

On the 27th of August, at the hour of Wei (1-3 PM), it is auspicious for weddings, sacrifices, and returning to one's parents' home, but inauspicious for moving, hunting, and fishing.

The crowd on the riverbank automatically parted to make way for them.

A figure was walking slowly and steadily along the road toward the academy.

The smile on Shen An's face slowly faded.

Even the gentle breeze on the river seemed to pause for a moment.

The man was dressed in a bright turquoise robe with wide sleeves. He walked with such vigor and speed, as if he were traveling a thousand miles in a day, as if he were in another world.

Feeling the thousands of gazes from both sides of the strait, a mixture of hatred and curiosity, he seemed somewhat unaccustomed to it. On his thin, sallow face, his narrow eyes slightly narrowed.

He had a knife hanging at his waist, which gleamed brightly in the sunlight. Even more eye-catching was the long, rectangular wooden box he carried on his back, wrapped in a festive bright red cloth and tightly bound with a matching red rope.

This outfit is inexplicably eerie and makes one feel extremely uncomfortable.

Wherever he went, people gave way as if avoiding snakes and scorpions, as if he carried some kind of invisible plague.

Tian Boguang, the notorious womanizer!

That name that makes countless prestigious sects in the martial arts world grit their teeth and makes countless ordinary people turn pale at the mere mention of it.

He's finally here!

The atmosphere on the platform instantly plummeted to freezing point. The fervor ignited by the stunning appearance of the Light Sound Sword was completely extinguished by his arrival alone.

Li Qingde subconsciously took two steps back, hiding behind Shen An's not particularly burly figure.

Tian Boguang's gaze did not linger on anyone. Whether it was the renowned figures at the main table or the martial arts practitioners around him who were eyeing him covetously, they were all like pebbles on the roadside in his eyes.

His goal was clear: he walked through the academy and headed straight for Shen An on the platform.

However, as he passed Li Qingde, he paused slightly.

He sniffed the air very faintly.

A look of confusion and intoxication appeared on that sallow face, as if he had caught a whiff of a strange fragrance in the air.

He slowly turned his head, his slender eyes falling on Li Qingde, whose face was deathly pale.

Then, in a dreamlike voice, only he and Li Qingde could hear, he whispered:

"Strange...how come you smell like a fairy?"

After saying that, he seemed to realize that the idea was a bit absurd. He shook his head with a laugh and then ignored Li Qingde, walking straight past him.

In his opinion, since the Hundred Refinements Workshop had once possessed the fairy's sword for a period of time, it was perfectly normal for the craftsmen and managers to have some of the fairy's lingering fragrance on them.

He stopped three steps away from Shen An, then slowly turned around, facing the Xiang River with his back to Shen An.

The river breeze lifted the hem of his emerald green robe.

At that moment, it seemed as if only the two of them remained in the world.

An atmosphere of solemnity and impending doom spread out.

Everyone held their breath. They knew that the "Sword Pact," which would determine life and death and shake the martial world, was about to be triggered!

However, Tian Boguang's next move surprised everyone.

He did not draw his sword.

Instead, he reached out his right hand with incredibly gentle movements, as if caressing a lover's cheek, and gently, with endless tenderness, stroked the sword box wrapped in red cloth behind him.

A gentle smile appeared on his face, a smile that seemed both strange and genuine on his sallow and fierce-looking face.

He looked up at Shen An and spoke.

Today is the 27th of August, an auspicious day for returning to one's parents' home.

His seemingly random remark stunned Shen An and everyone else in the room.

"Although... we've passed the best day of returning to the bride's parents' home three days after the wedding, it's still within ten days, so it's not too late after all." He seemed to be explaining, but also seemed to be talking to himself.

Shen An frowned slightly, completely baffled as to what he was saying.

Seeing the confused expression on Shen An's face, Tian Boguang seemed to realize that he had spoken too abruptly. He withdrew his hand from the sword box, looked at Shen An again, and his eyes became complicated.

"I, Tian Boguang, have roamed the martial world for over a decade. I can't even remember the number of people I've killed or the women I've been with."

"People in the martial world either fear me, hate me, want to kill me, or even envy me. But... hardly anyone has ever given me a second glance, haha."

He grinned, his gaze fixed intently on Shen An: "Brother Shen, you're the first."

"You gave me a chance to stand upright before the heroes of the world, and you gave me a fair duel. You didn't treat me like an animal; you treated me like a... human being."

That's because I can't catch you; I can't fish you out without doing this... Shen An was speechless.

Just like in the original novel, Linghu Chong was willing to feign compliance with him because Yilin was in his hands, and he couldn't beat him by force.

Tsk, it's pathetic to take some illusory saccharin as a lifelong comfort.

"Based on this alone," Tian Boguang's voice suddenly became solemn, "I, Tian Boguang, will consider you a friend."

He spoke these words frankly and sincerely.

The entire audience erupted in uproar! Who would have thought that this ruthless womanizer would utter such words?

Shen An remained unmoved.

His values ​​are very different from those of people in this world.

"However," Tian Boguang changed the subject, "I will not return this fairy's lost sword no matter what."

He reached out again and gently patted the red cloth sword case on his back.

"One should not covet a friend's wife. Brother Shen, you always understand this principle."

My friend's wife?!

These words were like a thunderbolt from a clear sky! Everyone was stunned by his shocking statement. He... he actually considered the Fairy of Light Sound's lost sword as his wife?!

Shen An finally understood what he meant by "returning home to one's parents' home".

Uh, steamed goose heart from my private kitchen.

"But since I consider you a friend," Tian Boguang continued, "I will use all my strength to parry this next sword strike, and I will never let the heroes of the world underestimate you, Brother Shen."

"Rest assured, after this sword strike, regardless of the outcome, anyone who disrespects you, Brother Shen, because of this will be causing trouble for me, Tian!"

His words were full of heroic spirit and righteous indignation.

It was as if he hadn't come to fulfill a life-or-death commitment, but rather to stand by his friend through thick and thin.

Shen An looked at him, her heart filled with mixed emotions.

If he's acting, what good does a twisted persona do for him? Is he trying to whitewash his image this way?

If he is real, oh, that's really awesome.

He had prepared countless solutions, but he had not anticipated this one.