The tower.
Ye Zichen laughed wantonly on screen, and when Ye Rong heard this, her heart clenched.
Gu Xuande’s emotions didn’t show on the surface. Still seated, he waved his hand and dispersed the water screen.
“Clan Uncle….” Ye Rong was a bit worried on Ye Zichen’s behalf. The soul of a holy dragon was a precious treasure, yet Ye Zichen had seized it. But then, this wasn’t the real problem; worst case scenario, she could just have Ye Zichen return it.
The main issue was that he’d destroyed the city signboard!
The signboard was like the Gu Family’s face, yet Ye Zichen had shattered it. The experts of the Gu Family were furious!
“That boy really has no manners! Impudent!” Ye Rong tentatively berated him, only for Qing Li to pat her hand.
“This isn’t his fault. Xuande said it himself: it was his skill that enabled him to break the sign. Similarly, taking the holy dragon soul was his achievement. He did this with his own power. Why would we reproach him? Little Rong, that boy of yours isn’t like our daughter. Even now, she still acts like a little kid.”
“Aunt….”
“It’s okay, don’t worry! Xuande isn’t the petty sort. He’s the head of the Gu Family, you know! He’s sure to keep his word, and his promises are worth more than gold! There’s no way he’ll blame Ye Zichen for this. On the contrary, he’s even going to reward him.” Qing Li chuckled, then turned to Gu Xuande. “Right, Xuande?”
“Right! A reward! And a generous reward at that!” Gu Xuande nodded benevolently. Off to the side, Qing Li was so happy, she felt as if she might burst.
She’d known her husband for a long time, but she’d never seen him suffer such a loss. The city gate’s sign was ruined, and the holy dragon soul, which he’d gone to such trouble to obtain, had been seized.
Qing Li knew where the dragon soul came from.
It was true that he’d found it on an ancient battlefield, but obtaining it was nowhere near as simple as he made it sound. In order to solidify this wisp of soul, he’d lingered on the battlefield for a hundred years, piecing the battered remnant together bit by bit. Only then had he obtained the present holy dragon soul.
He’d treasured it ever since. He’d only recently embedded it within the city gate’s sign.
Why? Because he knew Ye Zichen was proficient in the Grand Dao of the Five Elements, and he wanted to use the holy dragon soul to scare him. Who would have thought that….?
“See? Xuande said it himself! You can relax.” Qing Li made no effort to comfort Gu Xuande. Instead, she turned to Ye Rong, nothing but smiles.
The current scene had Ye Rong confused and out of sorts. She couldn’t help but feel like the problem wasn’t as simple as it seemed. But then, these were both half-step transcendents, and moreover, her seniors. She was in no position to overthink things. All she could do was nod, mutter something about Gu Xuande’s tolerance and benevolence, then thank him on Ye Zichen’s behalf.
“Hah…”
Outside the city, Ye Zichen no longer heard Gu Xuande’s response. He’da actually been looking forward to hearing him curse and shout in a panic. Just the thought of throwing a half-step transcendent into a tizzy felt great.
Unfortunately, Gu Xuande didn’t respond. Ye Zichen could only scrunch up his lips in disappointment. He descended from the air and landed heside Lan Tu.
“Bodyguard Lan Tu, I’ll have to trouble you to lead me inside.” Ye Zichen hadn’t forgotten the purpose of this trip. The head of the Gu Family had invited him here. Breaking the sign and obtaining the holy dragon’s soul was nothing but a minor interlude.
The pressure the sign had exerted on him earlier had disappeared, so he naturally had to go inside and meet this freshly-humiliated half-step transcendent for himself.
However, as soon as he landed, Ye Zichen felt countless turbulent auras locking onto him. His heart clenched instinctively; the weakest of these presences, shockingly, came from imperial kings, and there were quite a few imperial lords among them.
The Gu Family…
They had three half-step transcendents. Ye Zichen absolutely hadn’t looked down on them.
But for everyone, from their clansmen to their servants, to be an imperial expert? That was a bit too terrifying, wasn’t it?
He looked around and found that practically everyone gathered by the gate was glaring at him. It seemed they were furious that Ye Zichen had broken their sign.
Ye Zichen, who just moments ago had been joking around with the family head, couldn’t help but gulp.
Gu Xuande was a senior, and Ye Zichen trusted that he’d be magnanimous enough not to make trouble for a junior. However, the experts gathered before him wouldn’t necessarily share his attitude.
If that many imperial kings and imperial lords all took action…
Ten lives wouldn’t be enough!
“Brat, you dare destroy Gu City’s sign…..” Suddenly, a stalwart man appeared with the gateway, fists clenched, and he came charging straight at Ye Zichen.
Ye Zichen instinctively called upon the power of the five elements, but Lan Tu beat him to the punch. With a wave of his hand, he slapped the charging imperial lord, sending him flying back.
“Alliance Master Ye is the family head’s VIP guest. Impudent!”
“Sir Lan Tu!” The stalwart man Lan Tu had just pushed back clenched his chest and howled with unwillingness, “He destroyed our city signboard! And he was so disrespectful to the family head!”
“The family head has not taken him to task. Surely you don’t think it’s up to you to reclaim our Gu Family’s dignity?” Lan Tu rebuked him sharply, then looked around in a circle. “Out of consideration for your desire to protect the clan, I let you off easy. However, if anyone else dares treat Alliance Head Ye with disrespect, don’t blame me for not showing mercy.”
It was clear that Lan Tu’s prestige was rather high, or rather, that his cultivation really could suppress everyone else gathered by the gates.
However, quite a few people didn’t avert their gaze.
One of them even snorted in fury, “Sir Lan Tu, breaking the signboard is like slapping the Gu Family in the face. In tens of millions of years, no one has dared provoke us to such an extent. Since he’s the family head’s VIP guest, he more than anyone ought to treat us appropriately, not go around trashing our sign and mocking our leader. You say you got a transmission from the family head, but I got no such transmission, and I have no way of knowing if what you said is true or false. The way I see it…. The one who destroyed our sign must pay for his mistakes in blood.”
“Hah? Does that mean you want to try me?” Suddenly, every inch of Lan Tu lit up with deep blue light. Countless cyclones rose from the base of his feet, and a dense, solemn pressure bore down on the group like a mountain. Many of the imperial kings retreated several thousand meters back, unwilling to linger beneath the spiritual pressure of an imperial sovereign.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I meant,” said the man who’d spoken earlier. He snorted, then stepped forward. “I was just thinking, Sir Lan Tu, that I’d test you to see whether you were truly qualified to be the family head’s personal bodyguard or not.”
“Sir Bai Shou is here too!” When they saw this new arrival, there was uproar among the onlookers.
“In the last intra-clan martial arts competition, he lost to Lan Tu by a single blow, thus failing to become the clan head’s personal guard. It seems he’s been bitter about this ever since, and is deliberately making trouble for Sir Lan Tu.”
“Sir Bai Shou has been on the ancient battlefield throughout the past few years. I wonder if Sir Lan Tu is a match for him anymore.”
“Hmph. I support Sir Bai Shou. That kid really took this too far, and someone needs to teach him a lesson.”
As Ye Zichen watched Lan Tu and Bai Shou stare each other down, Ye Zichen was stunned despite himself.
What was going on?
Why were they fighting all of a sudden? Also, it seemed… that he’d at most been a trigger, and that the real reason they were fighting was to resolve some personal grudge!
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