"Fellow Daoist," Yoriichi spoke, his voice smooth, resonant, and carrying the absolute, unshakable weight of a seasoned Patriarch. "I know exactly what this man is made of. I am fully aware of his vile deeds, and I do not care in the slightest what his intentions are, whether they are good or evil."
The cloaked figure visibly stiffened, the heavy black ruler trembling slightly.
"If I allowed my personal feelings to guide my blade," Yoriichi continued slowly, his tone dropping to a chilling, absolute absolute zero, "his head would have already rolled off this roof before you even swung that heavy piece of iron. But I am not here to act as a judge of his morality."
Yoriichi took a deliberate half-step forward, placing his body completely between the massive weapon and the broken alchemist.
"I am here," Yoriichi stated, "because if he dies here tonight, by your hands or mine, my Xiao Clan will be the one to face a catastrophic calamity. And perhaps, this entire city will be dragged into the abyss alongside it."
Beneath the heavy black hood, Xiao Yan's eyes widened to the size of saucers. In the distant pine tree, Xun'er's golden Dou Qi momentarily flared in sheer, dumbfounded surprise.
Xiao Yan, who loved his clan more than his own life and had taken up the heavy ruler specifically to protect his family and his pride, felt a sudden, massive jolt of defensive emotion. The calculated disguise of the "mysterious old expert" slipped for just a fraction of a second.
"Wait..." Xiao Yan blurted out, his natural, youthful, higher-pitched voice bleeding through the old man's gruffness. "Why will my... uhm... why will the Xiao Clan face this 'calamity' you speak of?"
Yoriichi's sharp ears instantly caught the distinct pitch shift and the possessive slip of the tongue—my.
'That tone... I know that voice,' Yoriichi thought.
However, this was not the time to solve the disguise of a stranger. His primary objective was to reason with the powerful entity before him.
"The truth of the matter," Yoriichi explained, his voice projecting clearly into the night, "is that this man is not a lone, wandering stray. His master is a highly influential figure in Black Rock City—a Peak Tier 2, or possibly even a Tier 3 Alchemist. That level of mastery guarantees his master possesses the strength of at least a Da Dou Shi, if not higher, along with massive wealth."
Yoriichi gestured vaguely toward the sprawling, luxurious courtyards of the Jia Lie Clan below them.
"You understand the basic laws of geopolitics, do you not?" Yoriichi asked, his crimson eyes locking onto the dark void of the hood.
"If Liu Xi's corpse is found inside the Jia Lie Clan's walls tomorrow morning, you can easily picture the future. The Jia Lie Clan will never accept the blame. They will point their fingers directly at the Xiao Clan, citing the public altercation in the plaza today as undeniable proof of our motive to sabotage their medicinal market."
The heavy ruler in Xiao Yan's hands slowly began to lower by an inch. The pure, unadulterated logic was hitting him like physical blows.
"The Jia Lie Clan themselves would not be able to face the wrath of a Tier 3 Alchemist," Yoriichi continued, ensuring the cloaked figure—and anyone else listening in the shadows—understood the dire reality.
"So, they will offer the Xiao Clan up on a silver platter to appease him. An alchemist of that caliber has terrifying connections. With a single high-grade pill, that master can pull in favors from a Dou Ling expert, or an entire mercenary company."
Yoriichi's gaze hardened into indestructible iron. "I cannot stake the lives thousands of members oin my clan on a momentary lapse of personal disgust. That is why this man must live."
Beneath the cloak, a cold chill ran violently down Xiao Yan's spine.
His hot-blooded, youthful fury had completely blinded him to the wider consequences. He had only thought of silencing the dog that barked at Xun'er. He hadn't considered the monolithic master standing behind the dog.
Still, a part of his pride—the pride of a genius who refused to be lectured by the very cousin he had recently beaten—flared up in denial.
"Are... are you sure about this, young man?" Xiao Yan asked, his voice shaking slightly, desperately trying to reassert the gruff, older tone. "See here, you cannot cook up any type of nonsense just to protect a scum. A trash alchemist like him having a high-tier master... I do not think it is highly probable."
Yoriichi let out a soft sigh. He had laid out the truth. If the opponent was too stubborn to accept it, there was only one language left to speak in the Dou Qi Continent.
"If you do not believe me, then so be it," Yoriichi said, his voice dropping all pretense of negotiation.
Yoriichi slowly lowered his center of gravity. He smoothly transitioned into a flawless, empty-handed martial stance, his hands open and relaxed, yet radiating a suppressed, explosive kinetic energy. He stood firmly over Liu Xi's body.
"But if you want to reach this man," Yoriichi declared, his crimson eyes staring directly through the magical darkness of the hood, making absolute eye contact with the youth hidden beneath, "you need to pass through me. Try me, if you dare."
The atmosphere on the roof instantly solidified into ice.
Xiao Yan stared into those deep, indifferent crimson eyes, and for a reason he could not logically comprehend, a primal, suffocating fear clawed its way up his throat. A cold sweat broke out across his back. It wasn't the fear of a higher cultivation realm—it was the fear of a prey animal looking into the eyes of an apex predator that possessed zero flaws.
'Xiao Yan,' a calm, incredibly serious voice echoed within the confines of Xiao Yan's mind. It was Yao Chen. 'The boy is telling the absolute truth. I can sense the residual alchemy markers on that trash below him; they belong to a lineage from Black Rock City. Let us get out of here.'
Xiao Yan gritted his teeth, his knuckles turning white around the hilt of the Heavy Xuan Ruler.