Song Changjing remained silent with a smile on his face.

Meanwhile, cold sweat began to seep out of Liu Baqiao's back and forehead, and finally, he ran out of things to say, sheepishly falling silent.

Song Changjing suddenly turned to the woman across from him with an intrigued expression as he asked, "Are you from the Chen Clan of Dragon Tail County?"

"No," the woman replied with a shake of her head.

Song Changjing nodded in response and fell into a contemplative silence.

An awkward atmosphere descended upon the room.

Thankfully, Song Jixin entered the room shortly thereafter to alleviate the awkward atmosphere. There were no spare chairs in the room, so he casually sat down onto the doorstep before turning his gaze to everyone in the room.

Song Changjing paid no heed to this, and he turned back to Liu Baqiao with a smile as he said, "Come to think of it, you are one of the reasons why that boy was able to survive."

From the very beginning, Bai Yuan had been convinced that someone had instructed Chen Ping'an to provoke him. In this town, the only ones who dared to set a trap for someone from Sun Scorch Mountain were extremely cunning individuals who were adept at hatching elaborate schemes and pulling strings behind the scenes. 

Hence, Bai Yuan was under the impression that there had to be a powerful mastermind lurking in the shadows, which was why he had been constantly distracted, on the lookout for a non-existent enemy, thereby leading to his inability to catch Chen Ping'an on Clay Vase Alley.

Only after they had reached the westernmost part of the town, when Bai Yuan was able to confirm that there were no assassins lurking nearby, did he dare to fully commit himself to pursue Chen Ping'an, and shortly thereafter came the punch to the back that had almost taken Chen Ping'an's life.

"That may be the case, but I have no intention of accepting credit for something like this," Liu Baqiao replied with a wry smile.

Song Changjing merely smiled and offered no response to this.

The woman turned to glance at Song Jixin, and he flashed a grin at her in response.

The woman turned away in an expressionless manner, and Song Jixin's smile widened as his gaze began to blatantly roam over her long legs.

She was around 25 to 26 years of age, and she wasn't particularly beautiful, but Song Jixin found her to be rather attractive.

The woman turned to Song Jixin with a cold look in her eyes as she threatened, "Do you want to have your eyes gouged out?"

Song Jixin pointed at himself as he put on an extremely superficial expression of innocence. "Are you talking...