Chapter 58: Chapter 58: A Contest of Arrogance
Since Ye Xuan had spoken, Ji Ling said no more. Besides, this was a Ye family matter. It wouldn’t be appropriate for outsiders like them to interfere.
"Ye Xuan, we’ll be right outside the door," Luo Zhan said with a faint smile. "Just give us a shout if you need anything."
Just as the arguments inside the room reached a fever pitch, the main doors creaked open and Ye Xuan walked in.
"Heh, it’s certainly lively in here," Ye Xuan said with a faint smile as he entered, his gaze sweeping over everyone in the main hall.
The main hall was crowded with people. In the seats of honor, every core member of the Ye family’s second generation was present—not a single one was missing. Even important third-generation disciples like Lin Xuan were here, their eyes blazing with fury.
Meanwhile, in the guest seats, several important figures from the Li family and the Liu family, including their Patriarchs, sat with arrogant expressions. Between the two Patriarchs sat a middle-aged man in a gray robe with an aquiline nose. He held a teapot, leisurely observing the chaotic hall with a sinister, vulture-like gaze and the barest hint of a smile.
What surprised Ye Xuan the most was that Li Yue was also seated beside the middle-aged man. She wore a haughty expression, her position apparently not insignificant.
The two sides glared at each other, and the faint scent of gunpowder hung in the air. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
"Xuan’Er, you’re back." From one of the Ye family’s main seats, a handsome middle-aged man shot to his feet. A flicker of joy broke through his deeply furrowed brow, and his eyes welled with tears.
"Father."
Seeing this man, Ye Xuan felt a lump in his throat, but he managed to force out the single word, "Father."
In his memories, this man, Ye Zhanyun, had been exceptionally good to the body’s previous owner. Back when Ye Xuan’s cultivation had stalled, it was Ye Zhanyun who had taken him to Blue Moon City, desperately pleading with numerous Soul Refiners for a diagnosis.
Although the Ye family was a powerhouse in Cyan Mountain Town, they were merely an ordinary first-class family in Blue Moon City. Soul Refiners were notoriously cold and arrogant; they didn’t even pay much mind to the three great families, let alone a mere disciple from the Ye family.
It was Ye Zhanyun who, trying every conceivable method and swallowing his pride to beg and plead, finally convinced a few Soul Refiners to diagnose Ye Xuan. The result was not only a failure to find a cure, but a grim diagnosis of a dead martial soul and crippled meridians, which made him the laughingstock of Blue Moon City.
Yet, Ye Zhanyun never showed the slightest dissatisfaction toward Ye Xuan because of this; instead, his care for him only grew.
The body’s previous owner had held a deep affection for this father.
As he uttered the word "Father," Ye Xuan’s mind went blank, filled with a warm, comforting sensation. ’He knew that only at this moment had his soul—the soul of Ye Xiaoyao—truly and completely merged with the soul of this body, becoming one without the slightest gap or barrier.’
With Ye Xuan’s appearance, dozens of gazes instantly landed on him, each carrying a different emotion.
"Ye Xuan." A gaze filled with venomous hatred locked onto him. Its owner was none other than Li Yue. At Xingxuan Academy, her attempt to frame Ye Xuan had backfired, leaving her utterly humiliated. Too ashamed to show her face, she had been forced to drop out, becoming a laughingstock to her family and the entire academy.
Fortunately, the Wang family hadn’t abandoned her. Now, she was about to marry into their family, and her status in her own clan was second only to her father, Li Haoran. Over the past few days, watching the Li and Liu families—with the Wang family’s backing—crush the Ye family had filled her with a twisted sense of pleasure.
But her hatred for Ye Xuan had never faded; in fact, it had only intensified. She was going to make him regret every single thing he had ever done.
"Hmph. You waste, you finally decided to show your face? Look at what you’ve done to this family!"
Just then, a cold voice barked out from the Ye family’s main seats. A middle-aged man glared, a frigid light in his eyes.
This man was Ye Xuan’s second uncle, Ye Zhantang—Ye Yun’s father.
"Second Brother, who are you calling a waste?" Ye Xuan’s father, Ye Zhanyun, roared in anger.
"Third Brother, don’t blame me for being blunt. Everyone knows what’s happened to our Ye family. It was all caused by the trouble Ye Xuan stirred up at Xingxuan Academy, which angered the Wang family of Blue Moon City. If not for him, would we be in this mess?"
Ye Zhantang said coldly.
"Heh, so you’re Ye Xuan?" the middle-aged man seated between the Patriarchs of the Li and Liu families suddenly spoke up. His vulture-like eyes stared coldly at Ye Xuan, sizing him up and down as if looking at a corpse.
"What dog is barking now?" Ye Xuan asked lightly.
"You..." The middle-aged man’s expression changed, his eyes turning dark. "You little bastard, quite the sharp tongue, aren’t you? I am Wang Tian, uncle to Wang Yue of my clan. It was you who beat a disciple of my Wang family and then used your treacherous schemes to get him expelled from Xingxuan Academy. So young, yet so vicious. Your actions are an offense against heaven itself!"
"Your Wang family disciple was a good-for-nothing who couldn’t control himself. He’s the one who went whoring, and you’re blaming me for it? Is everyone in the Wang family as shameless as you?"
"Ye Xuan, you framed Wang Yue! If you had the guts to do it, why don’t you have the guts to admit it?" Li Yue shrieked, her voice dripping with venom.
She couldn’t stand Ye Xuan’s condescending tone; every time she heard it, her heart filled with rage.
"Oh, so Li Yue, the other party involved, is also here," Ye Xuan said with a faint smile. "Although the things you and Wang Yue did were a bit... risqué, and being trapped with several naked men was certainly a disgrace to the Wang family’s dignity, I wouldn’t dream of mentioning such private matters in public. You can rest easy."
"You..." Li Yue’s expression changed, her heart burning with the desire to slice Ye Xuan into a thousand pieces. She barely suppressed her rage and spat, "A waste is only good for running his mouth. You probably have no idea, but because of you, your Ye family is on its last legs. If you had stayed at Xingxuan Academy, I couldn’t have touched you. But you actually dared to return to Cyan Mountain Town. It won’t be long before you’re a rotting corpse, and I... I will be a bride of the Wang family."
"Tsk, tsk. Whether I’m a waste or not is beside the point. What I truly admire is the Wang family’s open-mindedness. To think they’d still be willing to accept a ’used shoe’ like you—a woman who bared her body for the entire school to see, who was cooped up with several naked men. I, Ye Xuan, am truly impressed. No wonder Wang Yue has such... unique tastes. It seems everyone in the Wang family is just the same."
Ye Xuan’s words were laced with poison, and the expressions on Wang Tian and the others changed instantly.
"You animal! You dare insult my Wang family?" Wang Tian shot to his feet, cursing Ye Xuan.
"Boy, don’t get arrogant. Today is the day you die!" Li Haoran also roared in fury.
After Ye Xuan’s tirade, their faces flushed red, and a thick killing intent permeated the Ye family’s main hall.
"Insolence! You waste, how dare you disrespect Wang Tian and the others! Apologize at once!" Seeing this, Ye Zhantang’s expression changed, and he shot to his feet to condemn Ye Xuan.
"How laughable. An outsider stands in the Ye family hall and insults a Ye family disciple, yet a member of our own family stands up to defend him. I’d like to ask, Second Uncle, are you a member of the Ye family, or are you the Wang family’s dog?"
Ye Xuan let out a cold laugh. His icy words were like a sharp blade stabbing into Ye Zhantang’s heart, yet they were undeniably logical and impossible to refute.
"Well said! Second Brother, what is the meaning of this? You keep cursing my son. Ye Zhantang, is your surname even Ye?" Ye Zhanyun’s face was grim. How could he not be furious when Ye Zhantang had repeatedly called his son a waste?
"That’s enough! We are brothers! To behave like this in front of outsiders is to throw away all of the Ye family’s dignity!" The Patriarch, Ye Zhanxiong, finally spoke. He then looked coldly at Wang Tian and the others. "Gentlemen, I’m afraid the Ye family cannot agree to your demands. Please, leave."
"Patriarch Ye, are you sure you’ve thought this through? In the last month, your Ye family has already lost half of its assets. If this stalemate continues, I’m afraid you won’t even have a place to bury your dead." Wang Tian’s face was grim, the threat in his voice unmistakable.
"Wang Tian, are you threatening me?" Ye Zhanxiong stood, and the oppressive might of a First Layer Earth Martial Artist suddenly bore down on Wang Tian.
"Ye Zhanxiong, what do you think you’re doing?"
The Li family Patriarch, Li Haoran, and the Liu family Patriarch, Liu Tianjie, all rose to their feet. The auras of First Layer Earth Martial Artists emanated from them as they shielded Wang Tian, afraid Ye Zhanxiong would attack.
"Hahaha." Wang Tian was merely a First Layer Martial Master, and his face paled under the pressure of Ye Zhanxiong’s aura. But he coldly pushed Li Haoran and Liu Tianjie aside and strode to the center of the hall. He laughed icily, "Patriarch Ye, don’t bother showing off such meager strength. First Layer Earth Martial Artists? My Wang family has plenty of those. I guarantee you, if you so much as touch a single hair on my head today, my Wang family will raze your entire estate to the ground within three days. Not even a single brick will be left. Do you believe me or not?"
Wang Tian’s gaze was sinister and his expression arrogant. This was the source of his courage—the reason why a mere First Layer Martial Master dared to swagger into the Ye family estate and act so outrageously.
The Ye family Patriarch’s expression shifted several times. After a long moment, he gritted his teeth and reluctantly retracted his aura, a look of defeat on his face.
It wasn’t just him; the other members of the Ye family also looked crestfallen.
Such was the power of one of the great families. A mere Martial Artist of the Xuanwu Realm had come, and they didn’t dare to lay a finger on him. What a disgrace.
"Hahaha, so this is the great Ye family? Nothing special." Wang Tian’s arrogance was boundless. He sneered, "I’ll stand right here and let you attack me. Does anyone in the Ye family have the guts? A bunch of wastes. Cowards."
Every member of the Ye family clenched their fists, their eyes spitting fire. They all wanted nothing more than to beat Wang Tian to a pulp, but none dared to face the consequences.
"Uncle Tian is truly a master of the Wang family! So magnificent! He’s suppressed the entire Ye family all by himself, and not one of them dares to move." Li Yue stood up, shamelessly flattering him while dripping sarcasm on the Ye family.
Yet, before the sound of her voice had even faded—
SLAP!
A crisp slapping sound suddenly echoed through the hall. Everyone saw a flash of a palm, which landed loud and clear across Wang Tian’s face. He was sent flying like a broken sack, tumbling twice on the ground before coming to a stop.
