Chapter 34: Yuanhua, Someone Bullied Me

Ye Jiuyao lowered his head. Except for the waiter, none of the people brought by Qi Jiangyou noticed the look of disdainful amusement that crossed his face.

“Oh? You say you want me to call you grandfather?” Suddenly, Ye Jiuyao looked up, his tone carrying a lethal chill and his expression as cold as ice as he stared at Qi Jiangyou.

“Yes, call me grandfather.” Qi Jiangyou, full of arrogance, regarded Ye Jiuyao with the lofty gaze of a sovereign looking down on his subjects, his eyes brimming with unrestrained conceit.

“Waiter, if anything is broken, take it up with the Ministry of Rites,” Ye Jiuyao said, his words leaving Qi Jiangyou and his followers puzzled. Yet even as they tried to comprehend his meaning, Ye Jiuyao stepped forward. The terrifying pressure of his cultivation, like the coming of doomsday, descended upon them in an instant.

“Kneel!”
“Shout 'grandfather!'”
Ye Jiuyao's words were icy, and he looked every bit the god of slaughter.

“You… you…” Qi Jiangyou was forced to his knees by the oppressive aura, his voice trembling with fear. The men behind him fared even worse—the color had drained from their faces, their legs quivered uncontrollably as they knelt, their lips quivered, and they could only stammer incoherently.

“Who… who are you, really?!”

“Me? Just a poor man. All of the Great Zhou knows I am the poorest of the poor…” Ye Jiuyao spread his hands in helpless innocence, though the waiter’s eyelid twitched at this display.

How could he not be poor? The entire Great Zhou belonged to him.

“So, will you call me grandfather or not? If not, I’ll just kill you and bury your bodies…” Ye Jiuyao spoke lightly, as if taking a few ant lives was no more than lifting a finger, but Qi Jiangyou simply couldn’t believe it.

“Hmph, would someone from Great Zhou dare kill us? Absurd! So what if your cultivation is high? You’re just a wandering cultivator, while our Qi clan—”

A sharp slap cut him off, as Ye Jiuyao’s hand flashed out like lightning, landing harshly on Qi Jiangyou’s face.

“You… you dare hit me?”

The waiter looked at Qi Jiangyou as if he were a fool. Did this young lord of the Qi clan really not see what was happening?

Ye Jiuyao asked with a hint of interest, “Oh? What’s the harm in hitting you?”

“I am the young master of the Qi clan! How dare you strike me? Do you believe I won’t call for my grandfather and father to raze Great Zhou to the ground?!” Kneeling, Qi Jiangyou still managed to look proud, though those behind him looked utterly despondent, staring at him as if he were mad.

“Oh,” Ye Jiuyao replied with a glance, “I’m so terribly frightened.”

“If you’re scared, then withdraw your pressure, kowtow, and apologize—admit your Great Zhou is useless, and I’ll let you go.”

Ye Jiuyao could no longer restrain himself. How had he ended up bickering with an idiot like this? He withdrew the oppressive force, then looked at the waiter and said,

“In future, don’t let idiots like this in. Lest people think he’s one of us from Great Zhou. I couldn’t bear the shame.”

Ye Jiuyao made no effort to hide his words, and with the pressure lifted, Qi Jiangyou and his men immediately scrambled to their feet. The others kept their heads bowed, while he alone remained arrogant.

“Heh, see? You’re scared now. My Qi clan is nothing like your Great Zhou, full of trash…”

“Iron-Headed Boy?”

Just as Ye Jiuyao was about to step into his private room, he turned and looked at Qi Jiangyou, asking quietly.

“So what if Great Zhou has a female emperor? When the day comes that I decide to marry her, won’t she have to obediently serve beneath me?!”

Qi Jiangyou grew more excited as he spoke, even mentioning Luo Qingyu. At first, Ye Jiuyao didn’t care, but the next moment, a chilling aura enveloped the entire Bafang Pavilion.

The waiter knew that the Emperor respected the female sovereign above all, yet this iron-headed fool had gone and touched the forbidden topic—it was no different from seeking death.

“Courting death!”

Ye Jiuyao spat out the words coldly. A shadow remained where he’d stood, but in the blink of an eye, he was before Qi Jiangyou. The others behind him didn’t even have time to react.

A thunderous boom sounded.

Boom!

Qi Jiangyou’s body was sent flying before he even realized what had happened, kicked straight out of the Bafang Pavilion by Ye Jiuyao.

But it wasn’t over yet.

“Who’s there?”
“Who dares to fight in Bafang Pavilion?”
“…”

A wave of confusion rippled through the patrons of Bafang Pavilion, and soon, people rushed out to see what was happening.

“From now on, if anyone from the Qi clan dares set foot in my Great Zhou, they shall be executed!”

In the sky, a long sword condensed, three feet three in length, its blade shimmering with a green radiance. A solitary figure stood proudly in the void, black hair flying, eyes flashing with razor-sharp frost.

Suspended in the sky was another figure, lying flat, bound by tendrils of energy, his breath perilously weak.

At that moment, not only those in Bafang Pavilion, but everyone throughout Great Zhou who could see the sky, witnessed the scene.

The sword, carrying an unstoppable force, descended vertically with a thunderous crash upon the suspended figure.

Bang!

Blood spattered across the sky as the blade fell. A fleeting hint of discomfort crossed Ye Jiuyao’s face; with a wave of his hand, he swept away the blood with a surge of vital energy.

Meanwhile, by the Hall of Honor, people were startled by the roar that echoed forth, their faces filled with shock—especially those from the Qi clan. The middle-aged man seated firmly in his chair suddenly turned ashen, as though recalling something dreadful.

“If anything happens to my son in Great Zhou, then prepare for war. All five Domain Lords are present—let it be. I have nothing to lose,” declared the head of the Qi clan, his tone brimming with madness, his bloodshot eyes wild.

Ye Hanshou, watching the Qi clan patriarch and thinking of Ye Jiuyao, murmured under his breath, “Yaor?”

On the Hall of Honor, the ongoing duel lost all its luster. The two combatants felt wronged; every other battle was dazzling, the center of attention, yet theirs seemed utterly dim and forgotten.

Meanwhile, in the Central Domain Lord’s residence, five men were engaged in cheerful conversation, but with Ye Jiuyao’s words, the mood shifted dramatically.

The Central Domain Lord wore a bitter expression, while the Western Desert Lord looked puzzled and then shot him a less-than-friendly glance.

“Zhong Yuanhua, do you have an explanation?”

“Xi Danyou, are you accusing me of giving orders?”

Their banter turned to sharp confrontation, and the other three Domain Lords were only too happy to watch the spectacle.

“Bufan, shall we go and see for ourselves?”

It was Dong Qiming, Lord of the Eastern Wilds, who finally smoothed things over. With a snort, the two shot into the air, heading straight for Bafang Pavilion.

At this moment, Ye Jiuyao was still unaware that the five Domain Lords and the Qi clan were already converging upon him.

Down below, those gathered outside Bafang Pavilion gazed up at Ye Jiuyao standing in the sky, their shock deepening. If it were anyone else, perhaps the matter could be quietly settled. But not him.

He represented the imperial authority of Great Zhou. Now, after killing a scion of a noble clan, the consequences could be anything from minor to catastrophic, depending on the status of that victim.

Soon enough, the crowd’s suspicions were confirmed.

From the sky, a man strode through the air, his robes billowing without wind, his attire snapping sharply.

When Ye Jiuyao saw the newcomer, he smiled, then looked toward the Central Domain Lord’s residence and called out,

“Brother Yuanhua, someone’s trying to bully me—what do you say to that?”

With those words, Ye Jiuyao turned and re-entered Bafang Pavilion, while Zhong Yuanhua, racing through the sky, suddenly darkened his expression, murderous intent rising.