Chapter 455 The dice was rolled
Chapter 455 The dice was rolled
As Wu Long and Hua Ziyan were united in a kiss, her strength left her as her body became lithe in his arms. And when their lips parted, her eyes opened to reveal an unfocused, drunk with love look that sought out his eyes which piercingly looked back at her.
She could feel the beating of his heart that was synched with hers as if it was beating in her own chest, so close were their bodies pressed together.
It seemed that they stayed like this for a long time, as if frozen in a world of their own, and yet it felt short no matter how long it lasted.
However, eventually, distant sounds of disturbance broke the veil that separated their world from the rest, as the moment was interrupted and his eyebrows lightly frowned.
A dangerous glint appeared in the depths of his eyes, one Hua Ziyan had yet to see in them. He turned to look at the direction the sounds were coming from, finally easing the hold on her body, but only gradually, giving her time to adjust and stand on her own.
"Wu Long..."
As he started to turn his body, her hand gripped his forearm, and he froze, turning his head to look back at her.
"Haa~ fine, don't worry, I won't kill them..."
As he saw a worried look he slightly heavily sighed, shaking off the murderous intentions that flashed in his head and gently caressing her cheek with the same motion as he did before.
'... yet'
He finished in his thoughts as he turned and walked toward the gateway of the courtyard.
She was worried as causing trouble before the event started would result in complications. And even though he now had built some rapport with the organizing Frozen Garden Palace, massacring one of the delegations was still hard to get past that easily, at least in public.
She did not care about the people who were arriving, quite the opposite as she was not happy about being interrupted either.
But knowing that acting on emotions could ruin the work and preparations he put into participating in the Winter Forest Hunt, she could not stand still and let it happen.
Meanwhile, Wu Long did not really care much about his efforts being ruined, though agreeing to hold it in for her.
There were few things that others could do to him personally that could truly, genuinely piss him off.
Most actions of others had no emotional effect whatsoever, and a small percentage stopped at mildly annoying, with an even smaller percentage possibly simply angering him.
Insults were a joke to someone of his age and experience, and taunting or underestimation were laughable to someone who did not have anything to prove to others, as opinion of random strangers about him, even if it was a large mass of them, meant literally nothing to him.
His titles, reputation, nicknames and all of the comments and remarks were a vain and useless concept in his eyes.
Even attacking him did not really elicit any emotion, but a simple logical response.
But from a certain point of his stay in this fractured world, interrupting him when he was with his woman, especially sharing a special moment, for some farce he considered a waste of time, was definitely part of that exclusive list.
"...I don't want to hear anything!"
"Grand Elder Hu, there must have been a misunderstanding..."
"Misunderstanding?! Look at his face! It's half-crushed! He hurt our Prime Disciple with an underhanded surprise attack! What nonsense are you spouting!"
"Grand Elder..."
"Indeed, I am the Grand Elder of my Phoenix Sword sect, and even if you belong to the Frozen Garden Palace of the Five Great Sects, don't you think that alone is not enough for a single Sect Protector to be pushing me around?!"
"I am not pushi-..."
"Then don't tell me how to deal with that lowly scum!"
The commotion grew closer, enough to pick out words with a normal hearing of a mortal just as Wu Long came out of the moon gate.
Soon a crowd of people far bigger than such a small incident warranted turned the corner, as representatives of different sects, dozens of Sect Protectors of the Frozen Garden Palace and almost the entire delegation of the sect whose Prime Disciple floated away from here not long ago in the arms of his sect's disciples, all filled the passage between two outside walls, with the crowd stretching far beyond the corner.
"...! Fim! Vat's fim!!!"
A young man with a face which was indeed slightly caved in?and yet simultaneously swollen from one side pointed to Wu Long as soon as he saw him.
Wu Long stood in a leisurely pose, his hands held behind his back like he came out to breathe some air and watch the scenery, and only his head turned to the commotion.
"You got a lot of nerve to be standing there with a-..."
"Shut up"
Wu Long's words spoken in a calm tone made the whole crowd freeze, causing a deathly silence to fall, contrasting the loud noise from before and thus feeling even more deafening.
He did not raise his voice, rather speaking quietly but his words somehow reached the ears of every single person there very clearly.
"Y-You dare speak in such a tone to me?!?! Who do you think you are?!"
The middle-aged looking man with a mustache and a goatee who first froze, came out of his stupor and exclaimed with indignation, bewilderment and anger caused by the embarrassment of his earlier words being cut off midway. His eyes became round and veins popped up on the sides of his forehead.
"Either make a move or scram, don't waste my time"
Wu Long's eyes and tone of voice made the crowd that came to watch the spectacle uneasy as some of them started to back away feeling something dangerous from the atmosphere around him.
As soon as the people from this and the Wood Spirit continents saw who was the target of the procession they outright turned and went in the direction they came from, pushing through the still oncoming waves of people, while guests from the Piercing Cloud Continent had puzzled expressions at this reaction.
The Sect Protectors of the Frozen Garden Palace also began slightly panicking, realizing the situation.
It was well apparent he was in a sour mood. And what every account about him emphasized, was that he was always indifferent and emotionless while doing the things he became famous for, as it was quite an eerie detail which was engraved into the memories of any witness.
"G-grand Elder Hu, we really should go. You can lodge an official complaint to any Grand Elder of our sect"
"Go?! You want me to simply leave this matter like this after being disrespected this much?!"
The man seemed even more unhinged as he looked at the Sect Protector who started sweating despite the cold temperature in the air.
"I am going to-..."
"What is this commotion?"
As things seemed like they would escalate, a clear voice interrupted the Grand Elder of the Phoenix Sword sect who seemed to have lost all reason and was taking out his sword.
A figure of a woman wearing the robes of a Frozen Garden Palace Grand Elder appeared on the tiled roof of an outdoor wall.
"Grand Elder Qu, thank Heavens..."
The Sect Protector who was handling the matter before looked at the appeared Grand Elder like her salvation arrived, sighing with relief.
Wu Long recognized this Grand Elder as the one who protested Xue Bing greeting Sui Luxiao as her senior when they visited this Sect months prior.
"...Khm! Grand Elder Qu, I apologize for the disturbance, but I did not have any choice! Our Sect's Prime Disciple has been gruesomely hurt by the underhanded means of that scoundrel!
And when I arrived to right the wrong, he disrespected me to my face! You cannot expect me to not defend the dignity and honor of my Sect!"
Grand Elder Hu visibly toned down the arrogance and humbled his manners, proceeding to clear his throat and plead his case with the voice of someone deeply and unfairly wronged, pointing to the face of the hurt disciple for a more impactful effect.
The woman standing on the roof tiles of the wall raised her right eyebrow and turned her icy gaze to Wu Long.
"Haa~"
Wu Long didn't answer immediately as the whole situation was getting dragged out and more annoying by the second given that he walked out not in the happiest of moods already.
'Explaining the situation would simply start another long andtedious argument... but then again not explaining is stupid as well, shit I really should have started that talk with Ziyan later'
He mused as he pondered which choice would give the fastest resolution with as less hassle as possible overall.
Special moments like the one they had just now with Hua Ziyan were unpredictable and fleeting, and almost impossible to repeat once the mood and timing were interrupted.
He knew this farce was coming, and was ready to deal with it in the most efficient way. But that was before that special moment.
Had he known that his question that naturally flowed from their conversation while this whole trouble was brewing elsewhere would lead to it happening, he would have saved it for later when there was less chance of being interrupted.
But the dice was rolled and there was no way back.