Bab 171: Chapter 171 - True Intention

Anda's words immediately turned the atmosphere tense. Leyvi gulped. His panda wife was too fearless.

"Are you the one who kidnapped Dorin?" Tordin replied with a question as he played with his mustache.

"So what if we kidnapped her? It's not like you care anyway! Listen here, since you gave up on her, we will take her in! She is doing very well with us. With a father like you, no wonder she didn't want to return here!" Anda didn't hold back in the slightest and kept talking rudely to Tordin.

Tordin frowned as he stopped twirling his mustache. "What did you say? Do you realize where you are now? We are not in the city anymore, where I have to hold back. Here, I could kill you easily."

"Heh, you can try, but are you prepared to deal with the consequences? The fact that we are here is not a secret. Can you deal with them if you kill me?" Anda's fearlessness was not baseless. She possessed layers of protection that would prevent Tordin from harming her, and she knew that Tordin was aware of this as well.

"What a cunning lass. You are still young, but you are already this calculative. However, being young or lacking experience is precisely why you failed to consider that the invisible protection only applies to you. I might not dare to do anything to you, but what about them?" Tordin moved his gaze from Anda to Leyvi and the others. His spiritual pressure started to press on them.

Tordin's words shook Anda to the core. She had indeed not included them in the equation because she thought he would focus on her, the aggressor.

The next moment, seeing Tordin directing his spiritual pressure on Leyvi, Anda, who had been emotionally charged since they came here, finally snapped and became enraged. "How dare you! You want to harm my husband? Little Fiery! Get ready to incinerate this land to ashes!"

Anda raised her hand high, a brilliant crimson light erupted from her palm, and in an instant, Little Fiery materialized—a pulsing orb of flame that radiated heat so intense it distorted the air around it. The fire was no ordinary blaze; it was alive, swirling and crackling with a chaotic energy that seemed to hunger for destruction.

The temperature in the room skyrocketed as Little Fiery hovered ominously above Anda, its light casting sharp, surreal shadows that danced wildly across the walls. The space seemed to bend around it, as if reality itself strained to contain the fire's presence. No smoke or ash accompanied its heat—just an overwhelming sense of annihilation that hung heavy in the air, making it difficult to breathe and think.

Anda's voice was cold and resolute. "If anyone dares to lay a hand on my husband, I will reduce this place—and everyone in it—to nothing but cinders."

Little Fiery began to charge itself, its fiery form growing larger and more unstable with every second. The hum of its energy was deafening, like the roar of a raging tempest. Sparks of pure light arced from its surface, searing the stone floor beneath it, and the ground quaked as if responding to the power it could no longer contain.

Tordin's confident demeanor vanished instantly. His face went pale, and his body froze for a moment before a shiver ran down his spine. "Fuck! This girl is crazy! That special fire! Oh no! Even I won't survive that!" he thought in sheer panic, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. How did she get her hands on a special fire like that?

The orb continued to grow, its energy reaching a fever pitch. The oppressive heat bore down on everyone present, sapping their strength and leaving them drenched in sweat. Anda stood unwavering, her gaze locked onto Tordin. She was ready to unleash the devastating explosion, one that would annihilate everything in its radius. Only she and Leyvi would survive this destruction, thanks to Leyvi's immunity to fire.

"Lass! Stop!! What are you doing?! Calm down! I wasn't being serious! Please stop!" Tordin frantically pleaded, his voice cracking under the weight of his desperation. He could feel the terrifying power radiating from Little Fiery, and he knew he wouldn't escape unscathed if it detonated.

But Anda's resolve didn't waver. The flames around her burned brighter, and Little Fiery's charge approached its peak, a low rumble shaking the room as it prepared to explode.

Not good! She doesn't intend to stop. I have to make a move now, or it would be bad! Damn it! Am I forced to kill her? Everything is falling apart!

If he killed her, even without including the Alchemy Association, he would attract the wrath of the Pill Ascension Sect, Pill Palace, Goldstone, and Clover Family—the four big groups that made transactions with her. Her death meant that they would lose their spots in the Mystic Realm.

Additionally, they had traded the spots with their precious Alchemy Formulas, so they wouldn't let the Homun Family go because of this. He regretted pretending to threaten her husband. The reports he gathered in Bara City did say she loved her husband to the point of obsession, but he didn't understand what this meant until now.

Tordin was about to make his move when suddenly a loud voice sounded in the room.

"ANDA STOP!!!"

Leyvi's voice made Anda tremble as her rationality returned. She realized that she had been too impulsive and out of control. She could sense that Leyvi was angry about her action. He had never been angry at her before—not even once. She recalled Little Fiery and stared at the floor, afraid to look at Leyvi's face. The surrounding temperature and atmosphere immediately returned to normal.

Tordin let out a huge breath of relief. He didn't expect that the lass would be this ruthless, intending to drag everyone else to hell if someone harmed her husband.

Initially, Norin wanted to let Anda raise the issue; then she would step up and scold her father. But now, she was just speechless at how harsh Anda had been since the beginning. Then, the situation escalated so fast and became so terrifying that her legs got shaky, realizing that she might die here.

Leyvi stepped forward, bowed a little, and spoke to Tordin. "Patriarch Tordin, I would like to apologize for my wife's behavior. She has always been protective of me, but she went too far this time. It's my fault for allowing things to escalate like this. I will make sure Dorin gets back here safely too, later."

Leyvi had experienced quite a number of battles, and he even faced a Soul Formation expert recently. So, he could sense that Tordin never had the intention to harm them and was merely pretending. However, this series of situations had probably caused Anda to be on edge, agitating her emotions.

Tordin sighed. He decided to come clean. "Forget it. It was actually my fault. I already know the full story, but I secretly arranged things to be like this to see your reactions. However, that special fire is something I didn't expect."

Leyvi was confused. "Arranged? Patriarch Tordin, what do you mean by that?"

"When I received the news about my daughter getting kidnapped, I immediately ordered someone to investigate and track your whereabouts," Tordin said.

"But Father, you said to me that you gave up on Dorin!" Norin interrupted. Her legs were still wobbly, so her two maids held her. Furthermore, she was sure that nobody had dispatched anyone to look for her sister. How did he know everything?

"That's right. I intended to give up Dorin to them. That's the purpose of this whole arrangement. That's all I'm willing to say. Lass, you said you wanted to take Dorin, right? Good, take her. I don't mind," Tordin stated his true intention. He leaned back in his chair and played with his mustache again.

Huh? Everyone present became further confused. Why would you do that? They didn't say anything, thinking Tordin would say more.

"What are you still waiting for? Don't you have somewhere to go? You can go now. I already told you, that's all I'm willing to say." Tordin chased them away. If he had to tell them everything, he might need to expose his secret first. There was no way he would do that.

Leyvi spoke once again. "Since my wife promised to take care of Young Lady Dorin, I will bear the same responsibility. However, if she decides to return here, I will respect her wishes and send her back. Is that fine?"

"Um." Tordin nodded. He then gestured for them to leave with his hand.

Leyvi bowed slightly and turned around. "Let's go."

Everyone followed Leyvi out of Tordin's office. Anda followed closely behind him, still looking at the floor.

After watching his guests leave, Tordin shut his eyes. "Useless father, huh? Maybe I am," he muttered.

When he shut his eyes, he could see everything his other body saw. His other body was still in Bara City, observing his daughter Dorin from afar. He noticed that his daughter, although still behaving weirdly, was much happier.

This was how he found out about everything. It was a secret that only he and his father knew. He possessed one of the Unique Heavenly Bodies, Heavenly Two-In-One Body!

He could separate himself into two and merge again whenever he wanted. When he split, everything about his two selves remained the same except for one thing: his Qi would be split equally between them. Aside from that, his cultivation, intelligence, strength, and others remained.

His Qi, being split in half for each body, was the only downside of his heavenly physique. It means that if he fights someone at the same level when split, he might run out of Qi faster than his opponents.

That was why he could only be vague when he told them he knew the full story. He wouldn't be able to explain how he managed to know without exposing his secret.

Other people might not yet have been made aware of what occurred in Bara City, but he was there. He knew Leyvi Leyan received the Deed of Sovereignty from Gandolf the White. Although he couldn't figure out why he received it, it could only mean that he was someone highly regarded by the Protector.

In the future, he might become someone even more influential than him. How could he pass this chance to let Dorin get together with Leyvi? After all, even fate seemed to have brought his daughter to this young man. The problem was that Leyvi had a poor impression of his daughter and had expressed his intention to send Dorin back many times.

He must find a way to let Dorin stay with them so that Leyvi would slowly warm up to her and eventually marry her.

So, when he found out that they were going to Mercenary City, he knew that his chance had arrived and arranged everything so that he could push his daughter to him and make it seem like they rescued Dorin from her deadbeat father. That way, they would look past her weird personality and treat her with more care and love.

However, Anda's extreme reaction when he pretended to threaten Leyvi and the unbelievable special fire she possessed completely destroyed his plan. Things could end badly on both sides. He had never seen someone so extreme and decisive as Anda before. Was she really an alchemist? Her ruthlessness terrified even a Nascent Soul expert like him.

After the unexpected incident, his plan naturally wasn't perfect anymore. Leyvi might send Dorin back here to apologize for Anda's action.

Therefore, he could only reveal his intention and admit fault if he wanted to let Dorin stay with them.