"Someone's here." Yi Fan said lightly.
Mu Xuelan looked at Yi Fan's bloodthirsty eyes and some uneasiness flashed through her heart.
Yi Fan walked out of the hall and saw a pale-faced Yi Chuxue in the courtyard.
Yi Chuxue was a little panicked as she tried to avoid the snakes in the courtyard, "Yi Fan, you scoundrel, show yourself."
"Yi Fan, you finally came out. Were you responsible for Eldest Brother and Second Brother's accidents? You bastard, you don't deserve an easy death."
Yi Fan looked at Yi Chuxue and an excited smile appeared at the corners of his lips.
"Little Sister Chuxue! When there's clearly a path to heaven, you refuse to walk it, yet when there's no door to hell you send yourself right to it, you're really courting death." Yi Fan waved his hand and a ten meter-long giant snake immediately coiled itself tightly around Yi Chuxue.
"Yi Fan, what are you doing?"
The giant snake was wrapped around Yi Chuxue, and the more she struggled, the tighter it became. Yi Chuxue's off-key, miserable-sounding screams could send shivers down the spines of anyone listening. As she started feeling strangled to the point of pain, she gradually stopped being able to make a sound.
"Yi Fan, are you going to kill her? She's still your sister, after all!" Xiang Lan said.
"You're right! She's my sister, if people know that I killed her, it wouldn't be good for my reputation. I should silence you as a witness instead." Yi Fan suddenly reached out and grabbed Xiang Lan's neck, throwing her into the pile of snakes. Xiang Lan was quickly overwhelmed by the snakes in the blink of an eye.
"Yi Fan, what are you doing?" Mu Xuelan asked agitatedly.
"It's only a joke, to teach her to stop talking nonsense. She's just a little maid, yet she dares to criticise and point fingers at me, who does she think she is." Mu Xuelan looked at the colorful snakes crawling all over Xiang Lan and immediately felt her hairs stand on end. However, the snakes were only crawling on Xiang Lan's body, they didn't actually make any moves to kill her.
The smooth, satiny snakes slithered over Xiang Lan, and Xiang Lan was terrified.
"You…"
Yi Fan turned his head and said, "Mu Xuelan, is your relationship with your maid so close that you want to die together with her!"
Mu Xuelan dug her fingernails into the palm of her hands. It was like she had been splashed with a bucket of cold water, she calmed down instantly. In Yi Fan's eyes, she wasn't much different from Xiang Lan.
"Yi Chuxue is dying." Mu Xuelan said. At the beginning, Yi Chuxue could still curse and yell out, but now her face was pale, and she looked like she was being suffocated.
"It's about time she died already."
Mu Xuelan: "…"
"Old man, if you still don't come out, then Yi Chuxue really will lose her life." Yi Fan said in a loud voice.
The door was kicked open, and dozens of guards poured into the courtyard.
Yi Fan clasped his hands and looked at the dark-faced Yi Xun. A ridiculing smile bloomed on his face and he said, "Father-daren is here [1], I can't miss this opportunity to welcome you!"
Yi Xun glared at Yi Fan, his eyes full of resentment, and said, "Yi Fan, don't you think that you're going a little overboard?"
"Really? I don't think so." Yi Fan said.
Yi Xun looked at Yi Fan and said, "Even if your Eldest Brother and Second Brother weren't good to you, was it really necessary for you to turn them into wastes?"
"Father, now that's where you're wrong. I really was responsible for Second Brother's accident, but wasn't Eldest Brother being poisoned all because of Yi Chuxue, that silly girl? I'm actually helping you clean up your family right now, don't you want to thank me!" Yi Fan asked with a smile on his face.
"You dare to say that? The poison used on your Eldest Brother, just where did it come from?" Yi Xun asked angrily.
"Father is very perceptive! That's right, the poison used on Elder Brother, you could say that I indirectly sent it to Second Brother." Yi Fan said.
"The antidote, where's the antidote then?"
"Father, you don't have to waste your time. It's already too late to use the antidote. Even if it weren't too late, I still wouldn't give you the antidote." Yi Fan said plainly.
Yi Xun looked at Yi Fan and said, "How are you so insane!"
"I'm insane? I only gave them what they deserved [2]!" Yi Fan said .
"Your magic talent couldn't be detected, and your fighting aptitude was originally poor anyway. The family determining that your talent wasn't good was just your fate! How can you blame it on your Eldest Brother and your Second Brother." Yi Xun's face sank.
"Enough! Even now that we've reached this point, you still want to lie to me? My aptitude for fighting was originally excellent. However, at the time that I was born, Yang Man's two sons had already been born, so Yang Man bribed all the servants of the Yi Family, and destroyed my fighting talents."
"You were glad that my qualifications were average, you had always liked Yang Man that cheap woman. Originally, you had no justifiable excuse to bring the two bastards back to family, so you used my poor qualifications as a reason."
"Yang Man ruined my fighting talent, so I let her two sons become real wastes, don't you think that's fair! "
"You unfilial son, you caused the death of your mother, and you even conspired against your brothers." Yi Xun said, looking at Yi Xun hatefully.
"Shut up, you old fart, for my whole life you've always pushed the death of my mother onto my head. You've repeatedly told me ever since I was a child that it was me who killed Mother, it was me who killed Mother. To put it bluntly, you were just afraid that you'd have to take responsibility, that my maternal grandfather's side of the family would hold you accountable for it, so you used me as a scapegoat."
"Just how did Mother die then? It's because she accidentally discovered that Yang Man was cheating on you [3], so she was sent to her death by Yang Man. I hated that my voice never mattered [4], that even if I happened to know the truth, I couldn't say anything. In fact, I've always been curious about this Little Sister Chuxue of mine, whether she's actually yours or not!" Yi Fan tilted his head, his eyes shining.
"What nonsense are you saying?" Yi Xun asked.
Yi Fan shrugged and said, "The nonsense that I'm saying, you can go to Yang Man for verification! Speaking of, there's an attractive man by Yang Man's side, he and Yi Chuxue look really similar to each other, like they could be a father and daughter pair, don't you think so? Let's stop talking about this matter, I don't know, for what reason has Father come to find me today?"
"You did so many things, you're actually asking me why I'm here?"
"What did I do? For the Hundred Schools Battle, everyone fought for the glory of our schools! Since Second Brother participated in the competition, he should accept the results of it. As for Eldest Brother, Eldest Brother only had a dispute with Second Brother, what does that have to do with me!" Yi Fan said indifferently.
"Whether that has anything to do with you, wait until you get to the Yi Family's Punishment Hall, then we'll see."
"I remember that I seem to have been kicked out of the Yi Family, I have no interest in going to the Yi Family's Punishment Hall."
"That's not up to you to decide?"
"If you're only relying on these useless people that you brought with you, I'm afraid that they're not my match."
Yi Xun looked at Yi Fan and said, "Okay! Okay! I didn't expect you to be this insolent."
"Old man, who do you think you are? It's already too late for you to have any control over me." Yi Fan said coldly.
Mu Xuelan looked at Yi Fan, and she suddenly felt a little ridiculous. She used to think that Yi Fan lacked vigour, but now she felt that Yi Fan was way too brash. Mu Xuelan felt it was as if she'd just met Yi Fan for the first time.
Yi Xun glared at Yi Fan and said angrily, "You…"
"Capture him for me."
Yi Fan smiled coldly, and his body suddenly flew back. With a loud bang, there was an explosion in the courtyard. A thick burst of smoke filled the air, and Mu Xuelan was hit with a bout of dizziness. The smoke was poisonous. Some worry flashed through Mu Xuelan's heart.
Yi Fan grabbed Mu Xuelan and threw her over the wall of the courtyard like a sandbag.
Qi Shaorong was walking towards Yi Fan's courtyard when he saw Mu Xuelan flying out.
"Miss Mu, are you alright?" Qi Shaorong asked the embarrassed Mu Xuelan.
Mu Xuelan shook her head and said, "I'm fine."
Mu Xuelan looked at Qi Shaorong, then looked at Zhuang Hao who was next to Qi Shaorong, and couldn't help saying, "Young Master Qi and Young Master Zhuang's feelings are very good, you two seem to be inseparable."
Qi Shaorong smiled and said, "Miss Mu must be joking, my relationship with Zhuang Hao is only that of ordinary friends. What's the situation inside there right now?"
Mu Xuelan took a deep breath and said, "Yi Xun brought the Yi Family's guards with him here."
Qi Shaorong pursed his lips and said, "Yi Xun that scoundrel, are any of the guards he brought with him at the eighth level?"
Mu Xuelan shook her head and said, "No." Even if they're one of the four major families of the Imperial Capital, level-eight experts have a very high status, and they couldn't easily be brought out.
Qi Shaorong's mouth twitched and he said, "That's good then." Yi Fan's poisoning skills were very powerful, it would be hard for any one under the eighth level to deal with it.
As soon as the door to Yi Fan's courtyard opened up, two people were thrown out, "It's Yi Xun and Yi Chuxue."
"Those guards weren't all killed by Yi Fan, were they?" Zhuang Hao couldn't help but ask.
Qi Shaorong shook his head and said, "I don't know."
"Xiang Lan is still inside." Mu Xuelan said hesitantly.
Qi Shaorong frowned and said, "I'll go in and take a look."
Qi Shaorong walked inside and saw the courtyard full of unsteady, staggering guards, "What happened to them?" Qi Shaorong asked Yi Fan.
"They're poisoned." Yi Fan said.
Qi Shaorong nodded and said, "So it's like that."
Qi Shaorong looked at Yi Fan and said, ���A-Fan, are you okay?"
"I'm great! The ones who aren't, aren't me." Yi Fan said coolly .
Mu Xuelan stepped to the side and helped Xiang Lan get up. Xiang Lan's hair was scattered wildly and the expression on her face was full of panic. When she saw Mu Xuelan, she immediately hid behind her.
"Yi Fan, what happened to Xiang Lan? Was she poisoned?" Mu Xuelan asked.
Yi Fan shrugged and said, "I also don't know, she's probably just scared silly. Tsk tsk, the little girl is usually so arrogant, but when it comes to the critical moments, she gets frightened into a daze. Such little courage is really disappointing."
Mu Xuelan looked at Xiang Lan. Xiang Lan was very timid, looking at Yi Fan with eyes full of fear.
Mu Xuelan couldn't help but regret coming here today to look for Yi Fan. Yi Fan this guy was a madman, but Xiang Lan had always made him out to be a pushover and a weakling.
"Yi Fan, could I…"
"Take your maid and quickly scram. My courtyard is full of poisonous gas, if you stay here for too long and end up being poisoned, I can't guarantee that you'll be fine." Yi Fan said coldly.
Mu Xuelan bit her lip and walked away with Xiang Lan.
Qi Shaorong looked at Yi Fan and said, "A-Fan! You really don't know how to treat women well!"
Yi Fan was in a bad mood and said, "I don't like her, why should I treat her well."
Qi Shaorong: "…" Yi Fan this guy, he really doesn't understand anything about feelings and emotions. He'll probably never be able to successfully pursue Tingxuan in this entire lifetime!
Footnotes:
Daren: "Daren" is a title of respect towards superiors, it could also mean "Your Excellency" or something like that. There's no English equivalent so I just kept it as is.
What they deserved: Originally was "a tooth for a tooth", meaning retaliation.
Cheating: "Yang Man was making you wear a green hat", means that she was cheating on him and making him into a cuckold.
My voice never mattered: The words of the lowly carry little weightーwhat lowly people think counts for little.