Chapter 143 Ouyang Feng

Ouyang Feng was indeed acquainted with Ling Tianzhi. As an elder, she had witnessed this young man grow from an unremarkable youth into a seasoned official. She simply never expected that even in his thirties, he would still be single and as glib-tongued as ever!

She had specifically emerged from seclusion for two reasons. First, Jiang Xiaotian had saved her family and indirectly elevated the Ouyang family to the overlord of Dragon City. As for the second reason, it went without saying: Ouyang Ziqian’s affection for Jiang Xiaotian was now common knowledge, and she naturally had to come and take a look for herself.

On her way here, Ouyang Feng had thought of Ling Tianzhi. Back then, he too had been full of vigor and hailed as a juvenile prodigy. True to form, speak of the devil and he appeared; Ling Tianzhi was right here, and this Jiang Xiaotian shared that exact same extraordinary aura.

"Grandma Ouyang still has such a fiery temper. That hurt like hell! But mind you, you're the one who killed that Japanese man, not me!" Ling Tianzhi hurriedly distanced himself from the deed.

Ouyang Feng let out a cold snort and said nothing further. Possessing formidable cultivation and having lived for a century, she had naturally experienced the turbulent years of war and held no fondness for the Japanese—killing one was simply killing one.

Yet Jiang Xiaotian remained utterly shocked. The very expert whom he had fought with every ounce of his strength—pushing the divine sword to its absolute limits without even being able to inflict a heavy wound—had her head cleanly severed by this elderly woman with effortless ease.

It seemed that even without his help, the Ouyang family would still have become the overlords of Dragon City; it was just that, being women, they preferred to keep an exceptionally low profile.

In contrast, although both were at the Divine Realm, the Zhao family's Shadow was far too weak. Of course, it was also possible that Shadow simply didn't excel in direct combat and had been caught off guard by Jiang Xiaotian's surprise attack.

Still, Jiang Xiaotian was certain that in a head-on collision, Shadow would be no match for Ouyang Feng.

Moreover, it was impossible to tell that she was already of such advanced age; he had originally expected the family ancestor to be a hunched, decrepit crone.

"Junior Jiang Xiaotian pays his respects to the Ancestor! If you hadn't rushed here to save us, both of us would have been in mortal danger."

He quickly offered his thanks, unwilling to slack on proper etiquette.

Seeing him behave with such awareness, Ouyang Feng nodded in satisfaction before turning her gaze to Ling Tianzhi. "At least he is more sensible than you. You are still the exact same old self after all these years. What would you have done today if I hadn't come?"

Put on the spot by her words, Ling Tianzhi felt rather awkward. To be honest, he hadn't thought that far ahead.

Seeing him fall silent, Ouyang Feng sighed softly, judging him to be nothing more than a child who refused to grow up.

"Jiang Xiaotian, don't you dare learn from him. The Ouyang family does not fancy such a glib-tongued lad. Only when you have truly matured should you think about marrying Ziqian. For now, I do not approve."

"Huh?" Jiang Xiaotian wore a look of utter bewilderment. When had he ever planned to marry Ouyang Ziqian? He had no such intentions whatsoever!

Just as he was about to open his mouth to clear things up, Ling Tianzhi firmly pressed down on his head and answered on his behalf, "Hahaha! It would be his supreme blessing if he could marry Ziqian in the future. I will guide him properly and set him on the right path. This kid is currently with the Falcon Squad and is barely in his early twenties. Before you arrived, he tangled with that Japanese fellow you handled for a good half hour."

Hearing this, Ouyang Feng cast a surprised glance at Jiang Xiaotian. "Is that true?"

"It's true, and it's also true that I was almost beaten to death," Jiang Xiaotian replied truthfully. In front of such a powerhouse, he wouldn't dare spout nonsense.

"Yet you didn't die and are standing here safe and sound, aren't you? That alone is enough." Ouyang Feng's estimation of Jiang Xiaotian rose a notch in her heart.

After all, she was well aware of how Jiang Xiaotian had defeated a Divine Realm expert—relying on a divine sword and the element of surprise. Yet today, he had managed to hold his own in a fair fight for so long, which proved that his fundamental combat strength was far from weak. At the very least, anyone below the Divine Realm would find it immensely difficult to kill him.

As Ouyang Feng mused to herself, she reached out and squeezed Jiang Xiaotian's arm, her brows immediately furrowing.

As the strongest member of the Ouyang family, she had naturally attempted to explore the secrets of the city park.

She knew there was a treasure there possessing its own independent consciousness. That Jiang Xiaotian had managed to obtain it already astonished her immensely, but what shocked her even more now was that his aura bore a faint similarity to it.

Furthermore, his injuries—both internal and external—were healing at an astonishing rate.

"Just what kind of cultivation technique... have you practiced?" Even Ouyang Feng had never witnessed such miraculous martial arts; wasn't this simply too terrifying?

Jiang Xiaotian gave an awkward smile and offered no reply.

Ouyang Feng was not an inquisitive busybody. Seeing that he kept silent, she did not press further. Everyone had their own secrets; no wonder he was able to grow so much in such a short time. Perseverance and strength were important, but fortuitous encounters were even more crucial.

She reached into her pocket, pulled out a traditional thread-bound manual and a bamboo slip, and tossed them to Ling Tianzhi. "These were taken from the Japanese fellow. It's thanks to you wearing him down to that state; otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to kill him so easily."

In truth, during Yishen's prime, it would have been very difficult for Ouyang Feng to kill him. However, the fellow had been beaten black and blue by Ling Tianzhi, forced to frantically gather his energy while dodging countless swords, which presented Ouyang Feng with the perfect opportunity to decapitate him in one stroke and end his life.

The quantitative accumulation of the Divine Realm could indeed trigger a qualitative change; no matter how strong a single individual was, they could not fight off two opponents.

Of course, she herself was exceptionally powerful to begin with.

Of the two ancient texts, one was the Flowing Flower Dao, while the bamboo slip left all three of them baffled after staring at it for a long time. Ouyang Feng in particular opened it, squinted, and muttered, "What on earth is this gibberish?"

"It's Japanese. Do you expect a Japanese man to speak Chinese? Alright, stop looking at it," Ling Tianzhi said as he took it back and tossed it over to Jiang Xiaotian.

Ouyang Feng showed no particular reaction. She disdained learning Japanese martial arts, and both texts belonged to that category.

"Very well, I've helped out, killed the man, and retrieved the martial arts manual. Jiang Xiaotian, if there's nothing else, I'll be heading back first. I hope that the next time we meet, the two of us will be standing on equal footing." With that, Ouyang Feng shot a glare at Ling Tianzhi.

"You guide him onto the proper path. If you lead him astray, I will certainly not forgive you!"

She meant every word. Ling Tianzhi shuddered all over and hastily abandoned his playful attitude.

Clearly, Ouyang Feng was quite pleased with Jiang Xiaotian and did not oppose Ouyang Ziqian being with him, which was the only reason she bothered to say such things; otherwise, she couldn't care less about an outsider.

Having reached her level of the Divine Realm, her lifespan had indeed been prolonged, which was why she appeared so youthful. However, the majority of her time was spent pursuing further breakthroughs so she could live even longer.

In fact, when she was roughly the same age as Jiang Xiaotian and Ling Tianzhi, she had achieved similar accomplishments. But once she truly stepped into the Divine Realm, her progress slowed to a crawl. Truly, every century was a massive hurdle, leaving her stuck at the Divine Realm unable to advance further.

After she drifted away like a wisp of cloud, Ling Tianzhi finally let out a sigh of relief. "Let me tell you, if you had dared to say you didn't plan on being with Ouyang Ziqian just now, that old lady would have surely skinned you alive!"