"Shiwen, your junior brother is truly something special." Shang Luoluo said with a smile to Meng Shiwen.
At this moment, Meng Shiwen still didn’t know what had happened to Zhao Ya. She had been feeling a bit uneasy for the past couple of days.
At the party that day, she and the "encountered" Han Suyun hit it off immediately, with their personalities and interests aligning so well.
They had agreed to meet again in the following days, but there hadn’t been any word from Han Suyun.
This left Meng Shiwen feeling anxious, wondering if something had happened, which was why she came to ask Shang Luoluo for any news.
But Shang Luoluo said she wasn’t that familiar with Han Suyun either, only knowing that she was a rich family’s daughter who had learned martial arts from a master when she was young and was quite skilled.
After learning the details, Meng Shiwen couldn’t help but feel disappointed, and as she was lost in thought, Shang Luoluo unexpectedly brought up Zhao Ya.
"What about my junior brother?" Meng Shiwen asked in surprise.
"You don’t know? Well, it’s just happened, so the news hasn’t spread yet."
So Shang Luoluo told Meng Shiwen about what had happened with the Ning Family.
After hearing this, Meng Shiwen fell silent.
She still remembered the first time she met Zhao Ya.
At the time, she heard he was from Wuxiang City, and she immediately felt her anger rise.
But when she arrived in a fury, the first news she received was that her biological father, Meng Lei, was already dead.
At that time, she fell into a state of confusion.
Although her impressions of Meng Lei were very vague, she only remembered that when she was very young, he had come to see her, but later, for some reason, he had a big argument with her master and never came again.
Even though before, when the official roads were still open, he often sent letters and money through others, as Meng Shiwen grew up, she was still full of resentment towards this nominal father of hers.
How could he just leave and never return, abandoning her in this Commandery without any care? Was this something a biological father could do?
She often cursed Meng Lei to die during her rebellious teenage years around fourteen or fifteen.
But when she truly learned of Meng Lei’s death, Meng Shiwen was stunned.
After that, she held some hostility towards Zhao Ya, who was from Wuxiang City and even her father’s apprentice.
That’s why she insisted on having a bout with Zhao Ya.
She wanted to see how capable her father’s apprentice really was.
The result left her somewhat disappointed.
Although his body technique was good, his martial arts were quite average.
But unexpectedly, after joining the Martial Arts Hall, Zhao Ya’s skills improved by leaps and bounds, and later, he even captured the notorious bandit, the Jade Butterfly.
All of this made Meng Shiwen change her perspective on Zhao Ya.
She also began to reflect on whether her previous prejudice against Zhao Ya was somewhat biased.
After listening to what Shang Luoluo told her, Meng Shiwen felt even more troubled.
"Shiwen, are you listening?" Shang Luoluo asked.
"Ah... I’m listening, what’s wrong?" Meng Shiwen snapped back to reality and replied.
"You seem absent-minded, are you feeling unwell?" Shang Luoluo inquired with concern.
"No... it’s nothing, I just suddenly thought of something." Meng Shiwen said.
Shang Luoluo gave Meng Shiwen a deep look, then nodded, choosing not to pursue the matter further.
Meanwhile, as Shang Luoluo and Meng Shiwen were chatting.
Zhao Ya was at home testing the various aspects of his armor’s performance.
Firstly, its comfort when worn.
After wearing it closely, Zhao Ya found that the armor could fit snugly and flexibly against the body surface.
Neither daily activities nor martial arts practice were affected.
Secondly, the defensive capability. Zhao Ya shot the armor with a hand crossbow at close range, the arrowheads bending under the immense impact, yet the armor remained unscathed.
This proved that ordinary bows and arrows could not penetrate the armor’s defense.
Although the armor only covered the upper body, protecting critical areas like the chest and back, this was enough to excite Zhao Ya.
After all, in battles, even a small advantage could tip the scales, let alone life-saving armor.
Feeling satisfied, Zhao Ya donned the armor close to his body then calmed his mind to continue practicing martial arts.
The matter with the Paradise Sect served as a reminder to Zhao Ya.
The Commandery might seem peaceful now, but with the gradual decline of Emperor Yan’s court, the already tumultuous world would continue to decay into chaos, until it became irreparable.
In such chaotic times, only strength is the foundation of everything.
So Zhao Ya refused numerous invitations, focusing on martial arts training at home.
Lu Dingtai was quite pleased with Zhao Ya’s decision.
He was worried that Zhao Ya might get blinded by temporary splendor and go astray.
Now it seemed, Zhao Ya was more composed than he had imagined.
But Zhao Ya was not entirely uninformed about worldly affairs; in fact, he kept a covert eye on the situation in the Commandery, particularly the movements of the Paradise Sect.
After all, he had taken down one of their halls and killed many of its members; Zhao Ya didn’t believe the Paradise Sect would give up so easily.
Although he kept his whereabouts hidden, a determined investigator could still find some clues.
But what surprised Zhao Ya was that the Paradise Sect had remained silent.
For this, Zhao Ya even stealthily visited that small courtyard once.
In the ruins of the burned-down place, Zhao Ya did not find any remains, as if the deceased Han Suyun and others never existed.
This left Zhao Ya utterly puzzled, but he was certain that the Paradise Sect already knew, otherwise, the bodies of Han Suyun and others wouldn’t have vanished without a trace.