Chapter 48: The Arch-Villain

"Right now, you look just like a stubborn child," Ren Yi said.

Shen Bijun's expression froze. Her lips pressed tightly together into an obstinate line, giving the distinct impression that she had no intention of dignifying him with a response.

With an amused chuckle, Ren Yi continued, "You could easily call out for help. If you were to do so, no doubt many people would come running to your rescue. So why haven't you?"

Shen Bijun kept her pretty lips pursed, still refusing to acknowledge him.

A smile of growing amusement touched Ren Yi's face. "Is it because you feel I haven't harmed you yet, and that if you shouted, I would surely come to a bad end?"

Hearing this, she actually mimicked his tone and said coldly, "Since you understand that much, why haven't you left already? Do not forget, this is the Shen residence, not some place where you can afford to act so presumptuously."

"If I were to act presumptuously, the Shen residence would be no more." He paused, a look of curiosity crossing his face. "Aren't you afraid I might kill you?"

Shen Bijun's face paled slightly, yet she maintained her composure. "If you intended to kill me, you would have shown no mercy earlier!"

Ren Yi nodded in acknowledgment. "And what if I were to seal your acupoints and abduct you?"

With unwavering calmness, Shen Bijun replied, "I am not some sheltered young lady entirely ignorant of the world. This is the Shen Manor. Your ability to enter here proves your methods are extraordinary, but to abduct someone and escape as well... you would never make it out of the Shen family grounds. I do not believe you would dare."

Ren Yi smiled faintly. "So you panicked only for a moment before instantly regaining your composure... It seems you aren't quite as foolish as you look!"

Resisting her rising irritation, Shen Bijun reiterated, "I was never foolish to begin with!"

Ren Yi countered, "And yet you don't seem particularly bright either!"

Having endured him for far too long, Shen Bijun finally lost her temper. Raising her voice, she demanded, "Can you tell me now why you came to find me? You haven't harmed me, and I have no wish to harm you."

Ren Yi sighed softly. "I told you earlier—I simply came to have a chat."

Astonished, Shen Bijun asked, "That is truly all?"

Ren Yi shook his head. "Of course not. Afterward, I plan to go to the Dowager and ask for your hand in marriage, though I haven't prepared the betrothal gifts just yet..."

She sprang up from her seat as if propelled by a spring, her cheeks flushed with a stunning, peerless radiance, her expression marred by a fresh surge of annoyance. "I... I actually thought that even if you were no gentleman, you at least weren't a scoundrel. To think you—you—"

Interrupting her, Ren Yi said, "You are right, I am no gentleman. And you are wrong as well—I am precisely a scoundrel! Have you forgotten that I am the supreme leader of the Thirteen Bandit Gangs?"

Shen Bijun was momentarily stunned. Biting her lip, she stammered, "You... how could you possibly do such a thing..."

Completely unruffled, Ren Yi smiled and asked, "I am unwed. Whyever not?"

Taken aback once more, Shen Bijun nevertheless rebuked him, "My grandmother will never consent, and... and neither will I!"

Ren Yi chuckled heartily. "Whether the two of you consent or not is hardly important. As long as I have consented, that is enough."

"You... you... you are simply, utterly beyond reason!"

"What you say is true. I am indeed beyond reason, because I live entirely by my own principles."

With a soft, delicate finger, Shen Bijun pointed at him, her pretty cheeks growing even more brilliantly flushed with anger. She had never encountered a man quite like this, and she could feel a blaze of fury igniting deep within her heart.

She was angry—she had been angry for a while now—but alongside her fury toward this scoundrel, she was also furious with herself.

Why, she wondered with vexation, did she still possess a merciful heart when facing such a man? She should have called for help long ago. Whether this wretch lived or died was none of her concern. Wasn't he a villain? Hadn't he admitted as much himself?

Ren Yi watched her with a smile. Witnessing someone who never lost their temper driven to such a state of rage was an exceptionally entertaining pastime.

The more relaxed and carefree his smile, the more hateful and detestable he appeared in Shen Bijun's eyes. Deciding she would endure no more, she prepared to scream at the top of her lungs.

Yet before she could utter a sound, Ren Yi stood up, turned around, and began to walk away...

Shen Bijun froze. Driven by some inexplicable impulse, she blurted out, "Where are you going?"

The moment the words left her lips, instant regret washed over her.

Looking back over his shoulder, Ren Yi replied, "As agreed, I'm going to ask the Dowager for your hand!"

Ask for her hand? Right now? By going straight to the main hall?

The anger evaporated from Shen Bijun as quickly as it had arisen. Her expression returning to normal, she adopted a voice of utter calmness and flatness. "Very well, off you go then!"

Ren Yi paused, momentarily taken aback, then shook his head with a chuckle and resumed his stride...

"So your heart is just as venomous!"

Watching the swaying figure receding into the distance, Shen Bijun stamped her foot in frustration and shouted, "You are the true scoundrel!"

Ever since Master Shen Jinfeng and his wife had perished together at the Jiayuguan Pass while fighting roving bandits, the Shen Manor had seen its lineage dwindle over the years. Today, only the revered Dowager Shen remained to uphold the family's standing.

Thanks to the presence of Dowager Shen, the Shen Manor's esteemed position in the pugilistic world had never wavered. At this moment, the elderly matriarch was personally receiving members of the Lian family in a side parlor, while the guests in the main hall were being hosted by the Dowager's maternal nephew, the "Swordsman of Xiangyang," Wan Chongshan.

Compared to when people first arrived, the crowd of guests had grown considerably larger.

Stepping into the main hall from the rear courtyard, Ren Yi walked in unnoticed by a single soul. A single sweep of his gaze instantly located Feng Siniang, Xiao Shilang, and Yang Kaitai.

Xiao Shilang was eating and drinking with hearty abandon. Feng Siniang, though also eating and drinking, darted her eyes continuously about the room, as if searching for someone.

Ren Yi strolled over...

Feng Siniang immediately noticed his arrival.

The moment he drew close enough to take a seat, she leaned in and whispered impatiently, "Hey, where on earth have you been? You've been missing this whole time, and now you just pop up out of nowhere."

Pouring himself a cup of wine to drink alongside Xiao Shilang, Ren Yi replied leisurely, "I went to see the foremost beauty in the martial arts world."

Feng Siniang's expression shifted. "You actually went to the inner quarters of the Shen residence?"

Ren Yi nodded.

With a cold snort, Feng Siniang said, "So you saw her... Just how breathtaking is she? Tell me about it."

After a brief moment of contemplation, Ren Yi remarked, "Indescribable!"

Upon hearing this, Feng Siniang instantly grew irate. Losing all appetite for food and drink alike, she glared at him in displeasure.

While Yang Kaitai was busy exchanging pleasantries with various figures, Wan Chongshan—though harboring slight misgivings about the two companions Yang had brought along—kept his facade entirely unruffled and avoided the subject altogether.

Wan Chongshan trusted Yang Kaitai; he believed implicitly that any friend brought by Yang could never be a malfeasant villain.

However, not everyone shared his trust regarding Feng Siniang and Xiao Shilang. In fact, one person had distrusted them from the very start, and upon spotting the suddenly materialized Ren Yi, this individual marched straight over.

His name was Li Gang, renowned as the "True Gentleman Unswayed by Beauty." Among the "Six Gentlemen," he was the longest-established name, having made his mark across the pugilistic world with the thirty-six stances of the "Mountain-Splitting Palm."

Noticing Li Gang striding over, Yang Kaitai only then realized that Ren Yi had somehow seated himself nearby.

With a cold face, Li Gang demanded, "Who are you?"

Ren Yi's shock of white hair was striking enough to draw attention, yet unlike ordinary people, he seemed entirely indifferent to everything around him. Faced with the demand, he acted as though he hadn't heard a word.

His expression darkening further, Li Gang snapped, "Are you deaf, or are you mute?"

Yang Kaitai hurried over to intervene, but Ren Yi beat him to it. Rising to his feet with a smile, devoid of any trace of anger, he merely drifted a casual, effortless palm strike toward his questioner.