Martial King's Retired Life

Hai Yecha’s booming power reduced as it closed in on Lady Bai, then started booming again, then abruptly went silent metres away from her. Subsequently, he raised his guard whilst retreating eight steps.

Owing to inevitable aging, Hai Yecha lost the nimbleness in his youth, but his internal energy was more potent. During his youth, he trained submerged in water to build his raw strength. In spite of all that, and nobody comprehended it, the energy he produced went through an invisible net, for lack of better word, once it was thirty metres away from Lady Bai, half of which was instantly transferred out. Hence, he added another three layers with dual palm strikes, which was why another loud gale was generated. Once again, though, the force dissipated, eventually being less than 30% of his original output once it was three metres away from her.

Whatever sorcery she was using, it was capable of defusing every ounce of strength Hai Yecha did without suffering any noticeable ramifications. If she capitalised, he was most likely going to forfeit his life. For that reason, he created space forthwith.

Hai Yecha regretted underestimating Lady Bai. He imagined he was riding a wave of momentum that he just had to ride to the end to triumph, never expected he would nearly slip to his death due to one wrong call. Nevertheless, now that he knew his mistake, all he had to do was calm down and go back to being calculative.

Bai Zhiqing flipped through the air, landed in front of his wife and stretched his arms out to the side, only feeling reassured once he confirmed Hai Yecha wasn’t coming again. Then, he started waving his arms as if he was purifying the air for his wife.

“My Lady, are you all right? Why did you come down here? I was worried.”

The beauty in her thirties with the appearance of a maiden in her twenties dimpled, changing her image of a snow Queen into a gentle lady. “It’s okay. He was only testing my skills. Look at you: you’re all sweaty.” Lady Bai took out her white handkerchief from her shirt to wipe her husband’s sweat. “You’re already at Thousand Flowers Valley as soon as you’re back. You really can’t sit still, can you?”

In truth, Bai Zhiqing wasn’t really that sweaty, not at his level, but he purposely breathed harder as his wife wiped his face. “I can’t feign ignorance when I know you like the twelve instruments of torture. Since I know, I must obtain them for you.”

Lady Bai nestled her head on her husband’s shoulder. “But I like you more.”

Master Qi and Hong Jiu looked to each other as though to ask, “Is it just me, or did I just hear snow crack?” If one were to describe Lady Zhuo as humanoid snow entity, Hong Jiu would agree. Although there was no arguing her appearance was something to marvel at, there was no arguing that she felt closer to a puppet than a human from her facial expressions when not interacting with her husband.

“Don’t leave me for so long, okay?”

“In that case, I shall not leave you. Forget the flowers, too. I shall stay on the mountain for three months to keep you company.”

Lady Bai lowered her head and, in a soft voice, uttered, “Uhm.”

Fed up, Hai Yecha said, “And here I thought Bai Sanlang was some wondrous man. You’re just a coward who fears his wife! Listen up: Fiends’ Genesis is making their comeback, and we’re squashing a White Prince to announce our return. Since you Bais don’t know what’s good for you, you’ll be first to perish.”

Bai Zhiqing grabbed the back of his head. “Now that’s odd. Since when did we ever not know what’s good for us? Are you sure you have the right people?”

While people cracked up, Hai Yecha snorted.

Bai Zhiqing smiled. “You are Hai Yecha? We met twenty years ago; there’s no need to pretend you don’t recognise me. Why would you come to my mountain and disrespect my wife? Should I destroy you or destroy you? Well, even if you do answer, as you disrespected my wife, there’s no way we can settle this with words.”

Hai Yecha, knowing Bai Clan raised romantics, wasn’t going to try his luck in a word war with Bai Zhiqing. “In that case, let me ask you this: why did you abandon my sister Nine-Lives Cat Fiend? Had she not protected you, that day would’ve been your last day alive. Is playing with a woman’s heart and then throwing her to the curb the way a man ought to behave?”

After hearing, “Playing with a woman’s heart and then throwing her to the curb,” Lady Bai looked to her husband. “You can speak, but don’t speak nonsense.”

Bai Zhiqing felt jittery at the mention of Nine-Lives Cat Fiend, but he didn’t know how to respond, lest his wife get the wrong idea.

“Hmph, you know she loves you, yet you married another woman. If you never had any feelings for her, why did you make her fall for you? To this day, she is still loyal to you. Say something if you’re a man!”

“She still…” Bai Zhiqing sighed, then continued, “I made it very clear with her back then. Though I was and am still grateful to her for saving me, I never had any romantic feelings for her. In contrast, I fell for my wife at first sight. I never started a relationship with her, so I never played or abandoned her.”

Lady Bai and Bai Zhiqing never had any subject restrictions between them. Still, to hear her husband mention a woman she had never heard of left a bitter taste in her mouth. “Dear, who is sh-”

“Watch out!”

Master Qi didn’t notice anything, but Hong Jiu didn’t miss the blue blade stealthily turning into a black blade as it inched toward Lady Bai’s neck out of nowhere. Given the speed of the attack and Hong Jiu’s distance from her, he could only warn them as loudly as he could.

Lady Bai calmly raised her hand, passed through the blue cover and denied the blade any further ground. The blade that symbolised death suddenly resembled nothing more than harmless tin. She knitted her brows together as though she found the assailant rude and asked, “What are you doing?”

Glossary

Bai Sanlang – “Bai” refers to the family name. “San” refers to the fact that Bai Zhiqing is the third eldest among his siblings. “Lang” is another word for a man. All together, it effectively equals to “Third Bai Brother among the Bai Brothers”.