Today's breakthrough, the second chapter delivered! Working hard on the third and fourth chapters... I'm about to be overtaken. Calling for backup from all brothers and sisters!

"Mo Xie, don't get so agitated. I never said I forbade you two from being together. I just said this matter must be postponed for a while! Yes! Qing Han is now physically married to you; that is a fact, and you don't need to remind me! Everyone here wishes to see this good thing happen; no one wants to break you two up—you must understand that!"

Jun Wu Yi slammed the table: "But this matter requires time! You need to give us time to maneuver, don't you? Once Qing Han's current status is clarified and announced to the world, I will immediately begin arranging your wedding, allowing her to become your wife openly and honorably! Can't you wait even this small amount of time? Must you end up being reviled by a thousand people and cursed by ten thousand? Bringing shame to the family reputation, making the world laugh at us, would that satisfy you?"

"So what if they do?" Jun Mo Xie stood his ground, his eyes blazing back: "Third Uncle, do you know that if I simply leave, if I hide away like a coward, then all this wrongdoing, all this pressure—who will shoulder it? Who will bear it?"

Jun Mo Xie suddenly spun around, a streak of sky-blue lightning flashing from his fingertip across the tent. The curtain at the entrance swept open with a swish, as if cleanly sliced by a sharp blade, revealing Guan Qing Han’s tear-streaked face and Du Gu Xiao Yi’s expression of panicked helplessness.

Silence descended upon the tent; no one spoke. Who would bear it? That hardly needed asking.

"If I leave, I am free, and I escape all punishment. Afterward, all the infamy will have nothing to do with me! But that doesn't mean it disappears! Someone still has to bear it, and that someone will be her! Guan Qing Han!" Jun Mo Xie strode forward, grabbing Guan Qing Han's arm and pulling her inside.

"My evasion would result in this frail woman having to endure all the condemnation in my stead! This woman, who has already given everything to the Jun family, would have to bear it all!" Jun Mo Xie's face flushed scarlet as he fiercely suppressed his rage, yet failed to control it: "It is my woman who will bear all of this for me!"

Jun Mo Xie fixed a heavy gaze on Jun Wu Yi, his eyes alight: "Third Uncle, you are an experienced man. How could you not know the power of gossip! Condemned by a thousand mouths leads to an untimely death! Especially with such an accusation? Do you truly believe that she, a delicate woman, can withstand it? Wouldn't that be actively forcing her to her death?"

Guan Qing Han’s delicate body trembled like a leaf scattering in the wind. Her usually cool features were etched with utter helplessness. Even though she was strong, even though she possessed greater resilience than the average worldly woman, facing the moral condemnation of the entire world, she remained nothing more than an incomparably frail, weak woman!

"She is my adopted daughter, and she is the niece-in-law I have recognized. I will certainly protect her! I will hide Qing Han within the household, preventing her from hearing a single bit of gossip! By the time she can show her face, this storm will have long since passed!" Jun Wu Yi grew somewhat agitated: "Do you think I don't even know that much?"

"Will it truly become calm?" Jun Mo Xie scoffed. "Not to mention those with ill intentions, how many people are simply bored busybodies! People who are filthy and venomous in private, practicing vice in secret, yet standing on the moral high ground with sanctimonious faces to denounce others—have I not seen enough of them?! I dare assert that without my presence, this turmoil will never subside! Unless, of course, Guan Qing Han takes her own life out of shame! Only blood can cleanse this matter! Therefore…"

"My woman, I will protect her myself!" Jun Mo Xie’s voice was now filled with unparalleled sharpness, brimming with murderous intent! He straightened his frame, gazing proudly at the four figures: "The responsibility that belongs to me, I will absolutely never evade! Never!"

"I don't care what her identity was before. I only know one thing: she is my woman now! And she became my woman specifically to save me!"

Jun Mo Xie's eyes sparkled, colored with the intent to kill and yet bright: "I also don't care what happened before, nor do I know what my feelings were then; but right now, I only know one thing: Guan Qing Han is my Jun Mo Xie’s woman! No one will ever harm my woman!"

Jun Mo Xie’s tone was resonant and thunderous: "If I, a grown man, were to hide like a turtle sticking its head in the sand, letting a woman bear this mountain-like and sea-like infamy, facing the torrent of global condemnation on my behalf…"

Jun Mo Xie sneered, "If I really hid and evaded my responsibility, would I still be considered a man? Would I still be considered human? Do not forget the Jun family maxim: If you have the bird beneath your stride, you must act like a man, standing tall between heaven and earth—to hell with it all!"

"Even if the entire world curses and condemns, so what?"

Jun Mo Xie smiled proudly: "The world that belongs to my woman, I can hold it up alone! Even if I have to slaughter everyone under heaven, I will follow my own path! I will not retreat, even unto death!"

Guan Qing Han suddenly burst into uncontrollable, loud sobs!

Since last night, this was exactly what she had feared! Guan Qing Han truly didn't know how she would face everything if Jun Mo Xie really did hide—perhaps... only death would remain...

But now, every word from Jun Mo Xie was so decisive, so resolute and ruthless!

This man offered no honeyed words, no oaths of eternal love, but at this moment, this man was prepared to stand against the masses! Against the secular moral concepts held by all under heaven!

To fight the world wildly for her sake!

Since ancient times until now, how many men in the whole world could achieve this much for their woman?

Suddenly, all the doubts in Guan Qing Han’s heart vanished in this instant!

Du Gu Xiao Yi watched Jun Mo Xie standing tall, speaking as if declaring war. Her eyes filled with adoration, and she looked at Guan Qing Han with pure envy... If one day, would he also do such a thing for me?...

"Hahahaha... Excellent!" Suddenly, Jun Wu Yi's stern voice shifted abruptly, his face filled with admiration. Clapping his hands, he exclaimed: "Not bad! Truly worthy of being my nephew, Jun Wu Yi's nephew! This sense of bearing responsibility, this manly spirit—it deserves praise! This is a true man!"

The three Dongfang brothers now looked at Jun Mo Xie with endless gratification. Dongfang Wen Dao roared with laughter: "What spirit! Truly the son of the White Robe Marshal Jun Wu Hui! Merely this decisiveness, few in this world can match! He is indeed my nephew, truly brimming with peerless heroism! Rest assured, even if the entire world opposes you on this matter, your uncle stands with you!"

Jun Mo Xie was momentarily stunned, stammering: "So you were all testing me?"

"Not entirely just testing," Jun Wu Yi observed his nephew with satisfaction. "There are indeed many unavoidable complications in this situation. If you had readily agreed to hide for a while, that would have been acceptable; after all, the current strictures of propriety are too severe, and no one dares to lightly transgress! Hiding away for a bit is not inexcusable, but it always lacks a certain degree of manly bearing, especially the bearing expected of a Jun family man! Heh heh, however, under the current circumstances, saying something is one thing, but actually possessing that kind of responsibility—few in the entire world can manage it! Mo Xie, Uncle is very pleased. My nephew has not disappointed me; he is indeed a man who stands tall between heaven and earth!"

"Rest assured! Uncle will exert all his effort to assist you, and there will be results. However... regarding your grandfather, you might have to suffer a little hardship... I cannot help you with that," Jun Wu Yi smiled faintly.

Jun Mo Xie nodded, gritting his teeth: "Third Uncle, rest assured, your nephew can endure it! Since I have chosen this path, then I, Jun Mo Xie, will walk it to the very end without complaint, even if I have to crawl!"

"Good! What spirit!" Jun Wu Yi and the three Dongfang swordsmen roared their approval simultaneously.

Guan Qing Han looked at Jun Mo Xie's resolute profile, and suddenly a wave of tenderness surged in her heart, an indescribable sense of security filling her breast. She lowered her head silently, two bright blushes rising on her cheeks...

Du Gu Xiao Yi pouted beside them, her lips jutting out high, her eyes filled with unwillingness...

Jun Wu Yi's expression invigorated. He swiftly leaned over the desk and began writing furiously. After a while, he threw down his brush and shouted: "Guard!" A sentry hurried in immediately.

"Send this letter by swift eagle post to the capital, deliver it to the Old Master! Top priority classified, utmost urgency!" Jun Wu Yi commanded coldly.

"Yes!"

"Issue my decree! For all soldiers under my command, a Level One gag order! Matters concerning the Southern Heaven, whether large or small, trivial or significant, military or civil—should anyone dare leak any information, they shall be dealt with by military law! Their entire family will be executed, and their nine generations exterminated!" Jun Wu Yi's voice was laced with killing intent!

For the sake of his nephew's lifelong happiness, for the future of the Jun family, this Blood-Clad General exercised his authority outside of battle for the first time, issuing an order filled with such overwhelming murderous intent that it was clear from his voice that if anyone dared to disobey, Jun Wu Yi would not hesitate to create a mountain of corpses and a river of blood!

"Yes!"

The orders were rapidly transmitted, and immediately, the two thousand soldiers felt a chill down their spines! Especially the two platoons stationed nearest to Jun Mo Xie's tent—they trembled visibly. Some of them, just that day, had been carelessly chatting away, and although nothing had spread, each had said quite a bit. Once this order was issued, they were the ones among the twenty thousand soldiers who best understood its implications; every one of them felt as if they had just walked back from the gates of hell...

Instantly, these two small squads became the most disciplined members of the entire army, serving as a model...

While Jun Mo Xie was speaking those words, far away in the trees, two voices were conversing in low tones, clearly disagreeing somewhat.

"Big Sister, this is quite unexpected. That Jun Mo Xie is so loyal, responsible, and steadfast; how can he be as despicable and shameless as you described? Did Big Sister perhaps misunderstand him?"

"How could I misunderstand? That brat is sinister and vicious, despicable and vile in his actions—his crimes are too numerous to count! This must all be an act..."

"Really?... Hmm?" Hesitant and doubtful...

"Of course. Maybe he discovered we were outside and is putting on a show for us..."

"That... how is that possible!"

"In any case, he is not a good person; he is definitely not a good person."

"But I... still have a hard time believing it. How could such a fine man..."

"Hmph..."

Below, with Jun Wu Yi's command, the great army broke camp! Banners unfurled, and they marched back in triumph!