Danyang City, Your bully is Back

When Li Shiyin saw Li Shiwen again, he was drunk out of his mind, being beaten on the roadside, and beaten until he spit blood.

The "pure passersby" and "Danyang hoodlums" beating him, whom Li Shiyin recognized, were precisely servants from other families in Danyang City that the siblings did not get along with.

These servants were only ordinary people, and with Li Shiwen's martial arts skills, dealing with them would be nothing more than a lift of his hand. But he did not lift his hand. He just hugged his head, curled up on the ground, and let people beat him.

If it weren't for the more than ten years of life-and-death ties between the two siblings, Li Shiyin would absolutely not have recognized the person on the ground as her brother...

Her brother had a dignified appearance and an imposing manner. He was one of the top handsome youths in Danyang City. Anyone who saw him would praise him as "the tiger son of a general's family".

Her brother was a young general in his prime, full of youthful spirit and vigor, riding his white horse with his silver spear, guarding a border region of the empire at a young age. Enemy generals facing him had to sigh "what a great Li Shiwen".

The disheveled, dissipated, drunk and dreaming tramp groveling in the mud and snow was definitely not him.

Li Shiyin kicked away those servants with three punches and two kicks and left them with harsh words: "Go back and tell your master I, Li Shiyin, have returned. Tell them to wash their necks clean and wait."

Ignoring the strange looks of passersby, she helped the tramp Li Shiwen sit by the roadside, before sitting down herself on that dirty roadside.

Looking at the familiar streets of Danyang City, she asked Li Shiwen, "Brother, why did you have to do this?"

But she probably already knew why Li Shiwen had become like this.

The reason Li Shiwen had become what he was now was definitely not because he had lost his official post, but because the Tian Ce Army was gone, and the western borders of North Chu were devastated. He blamed himself for all the evil done by the Devouring Demon Willow on the southwestern border. And he, a mere mortal, how could he shoulder such blame?

It was also snowing in Danyang City, and it was very cold too.

Li Shiwen tightened his clothes and curled into a ball in a rascally manner. He lowered his head and turned it to look at Li Shiyin, recognizing his sister and smiling: "Shiyin's back?"

His face was full of mud from the ground, and the long messy beard on it was also covered in his own coughed up blood. Seeing him like this, Li Shiyin's heart ached for him in full measure.

She lifted her fist and punched Li Shiwen in the face, leaving a dark bruise, cursing: "The Devouring Demon Willow is a Level 9 demon beast. Do you know what a Level 9 demon beast is? It's a god, an immortal, a demon - a real demon! Let alone you, even North Chu Country's cultivators can't beat it. Many Primordial Spirit cultivators have died too.

"... Before the incident I told you to leave, but you wouldn't. Now putting on this act for whom to see? You are disgraceful, aren't you?!"

After being scolded, Li Shiwen remembered again the soldiers who died under the demon beast, and the common people who died under its willow catkins. He was stunned for a moment, and then cried. He didn't say a word, just cried blankly and numbly.

The dignified seven-foot-tall man, the young general, could only weep helplessly at this time.

Seeing his state, Li Shiyin wanted to hit him again, but she halted her raised fist and still did not strike.

She sighed, found healing pills in her storage treasure bag, and handed them to Li Shiwen. Li Shiwen didn't take them, so she stuffed them into his mouth.

"Let's go, back home first." She got up and reached out to drag Li Shiwen.

Hearing that they were going home, there was a moment of hesitation on Li Shiwen's face, but he couldn't resist Li Shiyin's strength and was forcibly pulled up.

Li Shiwen slouched and hunched over, his hands tucked in his sleeves, as he was forcibly dragged to the Li residence by Li Shiyin.

The Li Household used to be, before the death of General Li Konghe this year, residence of three generals. In all of North Chu, there were almost none that could stand side-by-side with the Li family. At best there were two or three families who could socialize with them on equal terms. Therefore, the Li mansion was built to specifications for prince's and king's mansions, the highest-level mansion below the imperial palace.

Two huge and majestic stone lions stood in front, a vermilion gate behind, up a flight of stairs, a high threshold, a thick nameplate simply bearing the two characters "Li Mansion", exuding a dignified and imposing air.

Li Shiyin dragged Li Shiwen up the stairs, past the stone lions. Guards came up to stop them: "No loiterers near the general's residence!"

Within the Li residence, people actually dared to bar her way! Li Shiyin frowned, sizing up the guard for a moment and realizing something was wrong, asked: "New here?"

The original guards of the Li mansion were retired soldiers from the Li family army, Li family confidants who had guarded the gate for several decades, all in their sixties. Yet this one before her eyes was actually a young man.

In these turbulent times, with the Li family missing two generals, for Li mansion guards to be suddenly changed at this time... To say there was no intrigue in this, Li Shiyin didn't believe one bit of it.

Of the four guards, the other three were still old men. Hearing the commotion, they came over, recognized Li Shiyin and Li Shiwen, and quickly stopped the new guard, introducing: "This is the young miss."

"Young miss?" Li Shiyin frowned in bewilderment.

The three old guards quickly lowered their heads to bow and said in unison: "Eldest young miss!"

Li Shiyin snorted, and added: "Go tell my father I'm back."

Then an old guard opened the door, allowing Li Shiyin to enter the residence with Li Shiwen through the side door.

After walking for a while, a beautifully-dressed woman with elegant looks and a commanding aura came quickly toward them. Observing her face, she was precisely Li Shiyin’s mother: the current Li Family’s matriarch, a living legend of her generation, female general Yang Yanqi.

As soon as she saw Yang Yanqi, Li Shiyin dropped Li Shiwen and launched herself into her arms, sobbing: "Mother..."

"Shiyin is back..." Yang Yanqi's eyes were also filled with tears as she embraced Li Shiyin tightly, saying repeatedly.

Mother and daughter bawled for a quite a while, talking of how they missed each other. Finally, with tear tracks on her face, Li Shiyin loosened her grip on her mother and asked: "Where's father?"

When she heard that, Yang Yanqi pulled Li Shiyin closer to whisper: "Your father is still angry, he deliberately went to the study, doesn't want to see you."

"Oh..." Li Shiyin wiped the tear stains off their faces and said, "Then I'll go find him myself. To apologize and make amends."

"Apologize and make amends?" The woman reached out and pinched Li Shiyin's cheek, scolding with laughter: "You little brat!"

After finishing talking over here, Yang Yanqi looked towards Li Shiwen lurking to one side. Seeing Li Shiwen like this, her nose and eyebrows instantly wrinkled, her expression showing distress and anger. She angrily shouted: "You know to come back?! Why not freeze to death outside?!"

Li Shiwen mumbled incoherently without answering.

So Yang Yanqi got even angrier, going up to drag Li Shiwen inside.

Watching them for a moment and knowing Li Shiwen would definitely be fine since her mother loved him most, Li Shiyin went to find her father in the study by herself.

She was very familiar with the route, didn't even knock on the door, just directly pushed it open. She saw her father was sitting at the desk pretending to read a book, knowing she had come in but still keeping a cold face without looking over.

Li Shiyin's father was called Li Zhan, a name which also reflected a father's expectations. From the appearances of the two siblings Li Shiyin and Li Shiwen, it could be inferred that Li Zhan definitely had an outstanding appearance himself. He was now over fifty years old but still had significant looks.

"Dad..." Li Shiyin went over and placed her hand on his shoulder, massaging him while fawning with an ingratiating smile, "I'm back."

Li Zhan didn't so much as glance at her, coldly snorting: "You still know to come back?!"

"How could I not know to come home? I missed you so much."

"Weren't you going to cultivate immortality? Weren't you going to cut off all feelings and ties?" Li Zhan said coldly. "Does the immortal lord still remember this lowly one?!"

"Father!" Li Shiyin laughed and said, "You misunderstand..."