I Can See Your Combat Power
Chapter 1160 - Chapter 1160 Chapter 454 Exile

Chapter 1160: Chapter 454: Exile Chapter 1160: Chapter 454: Exile This wasn’t the first time Tang Luo had seen Yun Xiu cry, but he felt equally flustered, his usually sharp tongue failing him at that moment. He rummaged through his memories, but could not recall any words of comfort. He could only attempt to appear relaxed as he approached her, pretending to notice her casually, “Eh? Why are you alone, where are the people of the Yun Clan?”

There was no response, only a deeper desolation that was gut-wrenching to witness.

“Uh…”

Gradually moving closer to Xiu’er, he squatted beside her and softly consoled, “Wars, well, casualties are inevitable.”

“…”

Yun Xiu still didn’t answer, just hugged her knees tighter, burying her face even deeper, like a kitten abandoned by everyone.

Having known her for half a year, Tang Luo had never seen Yun Xiu so dispirited. He whispered, “Don’t be sad, just talk about it and we’ll think of a solution together. This is really worrying me.”

A muffled sob managed to escape before silence ensued once again, leaving Tang Luo even more concerned.

He shifted his legs, moving even closer to her, so close that he could almost feel the young girl’s sorrow and despair, and her continuously trembling body.

He wanted to pull the helpless, pitiful figure into his arms, but his hands seemed to be frozen, rigid to the point where he couldn’t reach out. Hands that could move mountains and split rocks hung uselessly at his sides. After mustering courage for a long time, he still couldn’t lift them. In the end, he simply squatted beside Xiu’er, placing his hands awkwardly on his knees, trying to offer dry comfort to the distressed girl.

“This outcome was quite good already. Judging by the speed with which Xiang Ange led the troops of the Wind Department to the battlefield, he must have been preparing for this right after the battle in the Wilderness. The Yun Family just happened to catch the bullet, an innocent casualty of war.”

“Besides, the Yun Clan only recently abandoned commerce for martial pursuits. Although the foundations are solid, cultivating strong warriors requires both soil and time. Even if you had somehow managed to win this time, as long as the Xiang Family could protect City Lord Yun Xiu, they still would have retained the moral high ground. Even if you could prove Yun Ji’s identity as the rightful head of the family, you would seem like nothing but shameless interlopers to others, unable to win their allegiance.”

“Moreover, whether it’s the mighty demons or the Corpse Bone Protector, these are external forces. They could help you win a decisive battle but not to consolidate your reign. What use is defeating the Xiang Family if they lack the power to wipe them out? And considering the sensitive identities of these allies who can’t afford to stay in Chaochang for long, it will be as if they had never been here.”

“If the established Xiang Family simply retreats to their fortified camps and adopts a defensive stance, waiting for their grandmasters to recover from injuries, wouldn’t the Yun Clan still inevitably face defeat?”

“So, the person who planned this operation was either blinded by hatred or was a fool with muscles for brains. What good can a venture that’s destined to fail bring, other than broadcasting to the world that the Yun Clan harbors a thirst for revenge, making those behind the Xiang Family wary? Perhaps Yun Ji still hopes that families that have benefited from Yun Zu’s kindness would come forward to show goodwill towards the orphaned Yun Clan?”

“Isn’t that just daydreaming? Even if there were those who remembered Yun Zu’s past favors, they wouldn’t emerge to help you now!”

“The Yun Family is too weak at this moment. Revealing their desire for revenge now would only attract those with grand ambitions. Who else would dare involve themselves and accept the consequences?”

“And what about those ambitious conspirators who ally with the Yun Clan? Are they intending to help restore the Yun Clan, or are they planning to use the Yun Clan’s obsession with revenge for their own ends? I shouldn’t need to say more, should I?”

“If things continue in this way, the Yun Family will either become a tool in somebody else’s hands or turn into a nominal puppet. Talking about restoration, you should consider yourselves lucky not to be completely devoured, thanks to the virtue of your ancestors.”

Perhaps he truly lacked the talent to comfort others, for Tang Luo found himself steering the conversation back to the Yun Family’s inexplicable course of action.

As a scion of a noble house, he really couldn’t comprehend the moves of the Yun Clan. Maybe the cautious and tiptoeing development strategy of the Tang Clan had raised his standards for noble families. Comparing his clan to the Yun Clan’s current actions, he really felt that if the Yun Clan were not to be annihilated by the Xiang Family, they would sooner or later be swallowed whole by the Longxi Alliance.

In Tang Luo’s eyes, Sister Xiu’er’s sadness was meaningless, for being able to retreat in one piece was already the best possible outcome for the Yun Family.

But he simply didn’t understand that Yun Xiu’s heartache had nothing to do with the outcome of the battle, but with something far more important.

She lifted her head, her tearful eyes brimming with a vacuous void, her hands gripping her knees were deathly pale and quivering slightly with blue veins visible.

Staring blankly into the empty corridor, she seemed to have lost her soul, causing Tang Luo’s heart to clench, “Okay, I’ll stop talking, you shouldn’t be hard on…””

“I don’t have a home anymore…I…don’t have a home…””

The distraught murmurs were so faint that they were difficult to hear distinctly, but Tang Luo suddenly understood why Xiu’er was in such a state of despair, yet he found it absurd from the bottom of his heart.

For a scion of a great family, there was no punishment more severe than exile, which in this clan-based world didn’t mean freedom, but rather signified being stripped of one’s surname, being abandoned by one’s own kin. But why had this punishment befallen Yun Xiu?

The murmuring Yun Xiu snapped back to reality, uttered a few words, then could no longer continue. She buried her face in her knees, and her weeping gradually turned into a wail, like a child abandoned on the street.

And Tang Luo, hearing Yun Xiu’s murmurs, felt a suffocating pressure in his chest, almost to the point of suffocation.

Clenching his fist and hitting his own chest hard, the Pride of Longxi finally began to examine his own heart, this novel cocktail of emotions stirring a fear within him.

He sat with Yun Xiu in the corridor, not knowing how long it had been, until her loud crying turned back into soft sobs. Tang Luo said in a low voice, “Don’t be sad, even if the Yun Family is gone, I’m still here.”

The sobbing stopped abruptly, and Yun Xiu looked up in alarm, “What did you say?”

“I said…” Tang Luo took a deep breath, looked at Yun Xiu seriously, and said, “From now on, I will take care of you!””

He hesitated, then asked nervously, “How does that sound?”

Wasn’t that an impressive first-time confession?

Before Tang Luo could mentally prepare himself, the rejection was already smeared across his face.

“Not very good.”

With teary and hazy eyes, Xiu’er’s rejection was decisive, her voice as cold as a thousand years of ice: “You’ve done enough already, I don’t need your pity, you should leave.””

This coldness could extinguish all fervor. If the confession had been a spur-of-the-moment thing, he might have left in a huff, but Tang Luo, who had spent the better part of the day examining his soul, wouldn’t back down so easily.

“You need to understand, I want to take care of you, not out of pity!”

Undeterred by Xiu’er’s refusal, Tang Luo spoke with a matter-of-fact yet somewhat uncertain tone, “I think, I might have fallen for you!””