Chapter 23: What I Left Behind

Chapter 23: What I Left Behind

Qin Guan smiled and produced a Pill. "Here, Father-in-law — take this. Once you do, you'll have your strength back."

The moment the Nan Family members saw the Pill in Qin Guan's hand, their eyes went wide. A second-rank Returning Origin Pill — a healing miracle medicine!

A second-rank Pill, sold in limited quantities of only five per month at Tianbao Pavilion in Luyun City, each one worth hundreds of thousands of gold coins. Qin Guan had truly struck it rich — he could just casually pull out a second-rank Pill like it was nothing.

The moment Nan Yunqi saw the second-rank Returning Origin Pill hovering near his lips, he clenched his jaw and snapped his mouth shut, shaking his head furiously.

Swallowing a Pill worth hundreds of thousands of gold coins just to treat an injury — even he felt it was a terrible waste. A man of his standing had no business eating something so expensive. Better to endure the pain and sell the Pill to fund the Nan Family's development instead.

"Father, why won't you eat it? Hurry up!" Nan Rou urged anxiously.

"First Young Miss, the Family Head is reluctant to take it," Jiaquan spoke up from the side. "A single Returning Origin Pill sells for at least three hundred thousand gold coins. He must think it's too extravagant."

Hearing Jiaquan's words, everyone looked at Nan Yunqi with heartfelt sympathy — especially the dozen or so Nan Family disciples. Following a Family Head like this was the right call.

Mmph!

Just then, Qin Guan suddenly grabbed Nan Yunqi by the cheeks and forced his mouth open. "What matters more — money or your life? Eat it."

With that, he tossed the Returning Origin Pill straight into Nan Yunqi's mouth.

Gulp.

The Pill slid past Nan Yunqi's lips and down his throat, settling into his stomach. A surge of warm, vigorous energy instantly flooded through every limb and bone in his body.

In less than ten minutes, Nan Yunqi's complexion had visibly improved. He looked around at everyone with deep frustration.

"I am utterly useless. I couldn't even hold onto a yellow-grade high-tier blade technique I had in my hands!"

"Father, a yellow-grade mid-tier dark-attribute Cultivation Technique I had was snatched away by the Song Family!" Nan Qiao chimed in from the side, unable to contain her own indignation.

"What?! A dark-attribute Cultivation Technique?! Cough, cough…"

Nan Yunqi nearly choked when he heard that a dark-attribute Cultivation Technique had been stolen from them.

"Family Head, your subordinate was useless. I couldn't grab a single treasure in the Secret Realm."

Jiaquan lowered his head in self-reproach. Hearing this, the other dozen or so members also hung their heads. Clearly, none of them had managed to get their hands on anything — and they had taken quite a beating on top of it. The worst part was that the Nan Family had not a single ally.

"Son-in-law!"

Nan Yunqi urgently turned to Qin Guan and grabbed his hand. "Go take those things back!"

Everyone looked toward Qin Guan at once — especially Nan Qiao, who desperately hoped he would recover her dark-attribute Cultivation Technique.

Qin Guan rubbed his nose and chuckled lightly. "Forget it. Those things are just what I didn't want."

"What?!"

Nan Yunqi, who had been lying on the ground, shot upright at those words.

"Qin Guan, what exactly do you mean by that?" Nan Yunqi stared at him and demanded.

"I mean those things are what I left behind after picking through everything. I never wanted them in the first place. Going back to fight over them now would be pointless."

The Nan Family members collectively drew a sharp breath. All those priceless treasures that people had been fighting and killing over — were things Qin Guan didn't want?

What a wastrel!

"My dear son-in-law, why on earth would you not want all those treasures… you… wait." Nan Yunqi stopped mid-sentence as something dawned on him. "Left behind after picking through" — that meant the better items had already been taken by Qin Guan?

Qin Guan gave a slight nod.

Nan Yunqi immediately turned to the others. "Everyone, head home. We're done competing."

Just then, Chen Guanxiang strode over with several Yunlan Sect disciples in tow, a broad smile plastered across his face.

"Young Hero Qin, please do visit our Yunlan Sect when you have the time. Our doors are open to you whenever you wish!"

"Ha, you flatter me, Elder. I shall certainly pay your esteemed sect a visit when the opportunity arises." Qin Guan nodded with a smile.

Chen Guanxiang was momentarily taken aback — he hadn't expected Qin Guan to show him such face. He laughed heartily. "Then I shall await Young Hero Qin's arrival at Yunlan Sect!"

"Get out here!"

At that moment, Nan Qiao suddenly stepped forward. She swept a furious glare across the Yunlan Sect disciples. Earlier in the Secret Realm, she and her sister had nearly been violated by two of them — just thinking about it filled her with rage. With Qin Guan here now, she had the backbone to demand justice.

Seeing Nan Qiao's face frosted with fury as she glared at his group, Chen Guanxiang furrowed his brow, puzzled.

"Qiao'er, don't cause trouble!" Nan Yunqi, alarmed to see his daughter provoking Yunlan Sect, hurriedly called out to stop her. The Nan Family had already made an enemy of the powerful Spirit Sword Academy — if they offended the equally powerful Yunlan Sect on top of that, there truly would be nothing left of the entire clan.

"Miss Qiao'er, is there some misunderstanding? If any of my sect's disciples took something from you, I'll have them return it to you immediately!"

Chen Guanxiang said this while glancing back at the Yunlan Sect disciples.

The disciples exchanged puzzled looks, frowning. They had not had any conflict with this Nan Qiao.

"There's no misunderstanding. Earlier in the Secret Realm, two of your Yunlan Sect disciples actually tried to… tried to assault me." Nan Qiao's voice trembled with shame and fury as she forced out the last words.

Chen Guanxiang's eyelid twitched. He quickly glanced at Qin Guan and found him wearing an expression of cold indifference, showing no anger. Reassured, he turned back to his disciples.

"Which two wretches — get out here and apologize to Miss Nan Qiao this instant!"

One of the Yunlan Sect disciples spoke up with some displeasure. "Elder, we never even ran into her in the Secret Realm. She's clearly making false accusations!"

"That's right — we never laid a hand on her. What assault? This woman must be out of her mind!"

The other disciples nodded in agreement. A girl from some third-rate clan daring to slander Yunlan Sect — she had a death wish.

"You…" Nan Qiao seethed, unable to find words. Looking through the crowd now, she could not spot the two Yunlan Sect disciples from before.

They must be hiding. Thinking of how she and her sister had nearly been violated, Nan Qiao suddenly turned her anger on Qin Guan. "Why aren't you saying anything?!"

Qin Guan glanced at Nan Qiao with cool detachment. "You didn't actually suffer any loss. What are you making a scene about?"

He had no goodwill toward Nan Qiao or Yang Hongmei and her daughter. If they had been even a little courteous to him in the past, he would have gladly stood up for them.

"Hmph! You don't care about me — fine. But you should at least care about my sister!" Nan Qiao stamped her foot in fury.

Qin Guan's brow furrowed. "What do you mean by that?"

"What do I mean?! Earlier in the Secret Realm, my sister and I nearly got violated by two animals from Yunlan Sect. My sister's injuries were from them too. Are you satisfied now?!"

"WHAT?!"

The moment Qin Guan heard this, he exploded.

A terrifying killing intent erupted from him. He turned to Nan Rou, his voice low and dangerous. "Rou'er — what happened?"

Recalling the incident, Nan Rou looked both distressed and frightened. "Everything my sister said is true. We were fortunate that two Black Armored soldiers arrived and saved us. Otherwise… otherwise…"

Qin Guan turned on Chen Guanxiang and the others, his voice a snarl. "Fuck — get out here right now. If you don't, I'll slaughter every last one of your Yunlan Sect people!"

Seeing Qin Guan suddenly transform into a rabid dog, the Yunlan Sect members shuddered in unison.

A moment ago, when his sister-in-law mentioned nearly being assaulted, he had been completely unmoved. But the instant he heard his own wife had nearly been violated — a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree reversal.

Chen Guanxiang's eyelid was twitching furiously. He was both furious and mortified. Just moments ago he had been quietly gloating, looking forward to watching Qin Guan clash with Spirit Sword Academy — but the show hadn't even started, and Yunlan Sect had already stumbled onto the stage themselves!

Those two bastards!

Damn it all — of all the people to mess with, they had to go and touch Qin Guan's woman. Were they out of their minds?!