Chapter 4: The Virginity Check & The First Blood.
The Golden Dragon Pavilion Main Hall.
Noon, The atmosphere in the grand hall was a powder keg, waiting for a single spark to ignite.
Su Ruoyan sat upon the high throne, her posture rigid.
She wore a high-collared cerulean dress that covered every inch of her neck—a desperate attempt to hide the dark, possessive love bites Jiang Yi had branded her with the night before. Her face was a mask of glacial indifference, but beneath her silk sleeves,
her hands were trembling with a chaotic mix of lingering exhaustion and mounting fury.
Standing in the center of the hall were three uninvited guests.
The leader, Liu Cheng, was a man who smelled of expensive oils and cheap intentions.
He flicked a folding fan open, his eyes roaming over Ruoyan's curves with a nauseating, undisguised lust. Behind him stood two bodyguards, their auras vibrating with the power of the Late Earth Spirit Realm.
"City Lord Su," Liu Cheng said, his voice dripping with oily arrogance. "My Master, the Young Lord of the Blood Sect, is displeased.
He heard a foul rumor that you tethered yourself to that crippled dog, Jiang Yi, yesterday."
"It is no rumor," Ruoyan said, her voice cutting through the air like a blade. "Jiang Yi is my husband.
You will address him with the respect his title demands."
"Respect?"
Liu Cheng barked a laugh, his fan snapping shut. "Respect is a currency for the strong.
Jiang Yi is a broken toy with a shattered Dantian. We all know this 'marriage' is a pathetic farce to protect your Yin Essence from the Sect."
He took a predatory step forward, his eyes narrowing into slits.
"My Master sent me to verify the truth.
If you are still a maiden, the Blood Sect will claim you by force before the moon rises.
And if you truly have permitted that trash to taint your body..." He leaned in, his voice dropping to a hiss.
"...then the Sect will erase the Jiang bloodline for dared to touch 'property' that wasn't theirs."
"Presumptuous cur!"
Ruoyan slammed her hand onto the arm of the throne. "This is the Golden Dragon Pavilion! Guards, remove this trash!"
"Not until I've had my look," Liu Cheng sneered.
He produced a jagged red crystal from his robes—a Gecko Cinnabar Stone.
"If the seal of your virginity is intact, this stone will glow the moment it touches your skin.
Now, give me your arm, 'City Lord'."
He reached out, his fingers clawing for her wrist.
Ruoyan's Qi flared, but her body was still recovering from the explosive dual cultivation of the night before.
Before she could strike, the two bodyguards stepped forward, their combined auras slamming into her like a physical weight, pinning her to the throne.
"Don't struggle, Ruoyan. Let's see if you're as pure as you pretend..." Liu Cheng grinned, his hand inches from her skin.
BOOM.
The massive, reinforced double doors of the hall didn't just open—they disintegrated.
Splinters of iron-wood flew through the air like shrapnel.
One of the heavy door leaves whistled through the room, striking Liu Cheng's left bodyguard with the force of a falling mountain.
CRUNCH.
The man didn't even have time to scream. He was flattened into a red smear against a marble pillar, his bones pulverized instantly.
An absolute, suffocating silence fell over the hall.
Through the swirling dust, a figure emerged.
He wore a black training robe, left carelessly open to reveal a chest of corded, iron-hard muscle.
His dark hair flowed behind him like a cape, and his golden eyes burned with a light that promised only death.
He dragged a massive, jagged greatsword behind him. The tip of the Violet Dragon carved a deep, screeching groove into the marble floor.
Scrape... Scrape... Scrape...
"Who..." Liu Cheng's voice cracked, his face paling. "Jiang Yi?"
Jiang Yi didn't stop. He ignored the meat paste on the pillar. He ignored the gasping servants. His gaze was locked entirely on Liu Cheng's outstretched hand.
"You want to check her virginity?" Jiang Yi's voice was soft, a low rumble that made the windows vibrate.
He stopped three paces away. The air around him distorted as the Sky Spirit Realm pressure rolled off him in invisible, crushing waves.
Liu Cheng's knees buckled, hitting the floor with a dull thud.
"Sky... Sky Spirit? Impossible! You're a cripple! A waste!"
"I asked you a question," Jiang Yi said, hoisting the massive greatsword effortlessly with one hand. The golden veins on his arm pulsed.
"You want to touch my wife? With which hand?"
"Left? Or Right?"
Liu Cheng was shaking so hard his teeth rattled. This wasn't the "trash" the city mocked. This was a demon in human skin.
"Kill him! Kill him now!"
Liu Cheng shrieked, shoving his remaining bodyguard forward.
The bodyguard, a Peak Earth Spirit cultivator, roared in desperation and drew a heavy saber.
"Die, you arrogant brat!"
Jiang Yi didn't even blink. He didn't use a technique. He simply swung.
[Basic Sword Art: Horizontal Cleave.]
[Effect: 500% Physical Might.]
Squelch.
There was no clash of steel. The bodyguard's saber shattered like glass.
A moment later, his body followed suit—cut perfectly in half at the waist.
Blood sprayed the golden pillars in a macabre red rain. The upper half of the man landed with a wet thud at Liu Cheng's feet, his eyes still blinking in confusion as his life faded.
"AAHHH!" Liu Cheng scrambled backward on his buttocks, a dark stain spreading across his crotch as he urinated in pure terror.
"Don't kill me! My father... the Blood Sect... they'll flay you alive!"
Thud.
Jiang Yi's heavy boot slammed onto Liu Cheng's chest, pinning him to the floor. The sound of ribs snapping echoed through the hall.
"The Blood Sect?" Jiang Yi leaned down, his face a mask of cold, golden fury. "Go back and tell your 'Master' something for me."
He leaned closer, his voice a lethal whisper.
"Tell him Su Ruoyan is mine. Every inch of her skin, every drop of her blood, and every breath she takes belongs to me.
I claimed her last night. I took her again this morning.
And I will spend every night from now on making sure she remembers exactly who her master is."
Ruoyan, watching from the throne, turned a shade of crimson that rivaled her wedding robes.
She buried her face in her hands, her heart thundering with a potent mix of mortification and a dark, intoxicating pride.
He's declaring war... for me.
Jiang Yi grabbed Liu Cheng's right hand—the one that had dared to reach for her.
"As for this hand..."
Flash.
The blade moved faster than the human eye could track.
"ARGHHHHH!"
The hand was severed cleanly at the wrist. A fountain of blood sprayed the floor.
Jiang Yi kicked the sobbing, mutilated Young Master toward the shattered entrance.
"Get out. If I see your face in this city again, I won't take a hand. I'll take your soul."
Liu Cheng didn't look back. He grabbed his stump and fled, trailing a pathetic path of blood and urine.
Jiang Yi stood in the center of the carnage, the tip of his sword dripping red.
He slammed the blade into the marble and turned to the trembling servants.
"Clean this up," he commanded. "The stench of filth is ruining my appetite."
He turned and walked up the steps to the throne.
He didn't care about the blood on his boots. He reached out, his hand firm as he tilted Ruoyan's chin up to face him.
"Did I scare you, wife?" he asked, his thumb tracing the curve of her lower lip.
Ruoyan shook her head slowly. Her breathing was shallow, her eyes wide with a new kind of hunger. The violence, the dominance, the absolute declaration of ownership... it was like a key turning in her Ice Phoenix blood.
"You've started a war with the Liu Clan,"
she whispered.
"Good," Jiang Yi smirked, his golden eyes glowing. "I needed a whetstone for my blade."
[Ding! Face-Slapping Successful!]
[Reward: 500 System Points.]
[Reward: Blueprint—Heaven-Severing City Defensive Formation (Tier 3).]
Jiang Yi's grin widened.
"Wife, go and prepare the bath.
Washing off the blood of my enemies always makes me... hungry for a different kind of dessert."
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