Chapter 61: Chapter 61: A Savage Beating
A look of terror spread across Wang Tian’s face as he stumbled backward, roaring in a desperate attempt to sound intimidating, "You dare lay a hand on me? Do you have any idea who I am?"
"Idiot!"
Ji Ling sneered and slapped the other side of Wang Tian’s face, making it swell up just like the first. His cheeks looked like two steamed buns.
"I’m Wang Tian, a steward of the Wang family! If you hit me, I’ll exterminate your entire family!" Wang Tian shouted, his terrified eyes wide. He sprayed blood as he spoke, his words muffled and slurred.
"Haha, the Wang family? The Wang family ain’t shit! Get him!"
Showing no restraint, Ji Ling and his two companions gave Wang Tian a vicious beating. They beat him until he was rolling on the ground, coughing up blood, his robes torn to shreds.
"Stop!" Li Haoran had finally found an opportunity to break away from Luo Zhan. With a twin-fisted attack, he blasted Ji Ling and his men back two steps.
"Patriarch of the Li family, you dare to attack me? Do you know the crime you’ve just committed?" Ji Ling said, raising an eyebrow.
Li Haoran had been about to strike again, but he hesitated at the sight of Ji Ling’s imposing, armored presence. Instead, he turned to help up Wang Tian.
After the thorough beating from Ji Ling and his men, Wang Tian was almost unrecognizable. His small eyes were squeezed into thin slits by his swollen flesh, and he had lost seventeen or eighteen teeth.
"That’s enough, Instructor Luo," Ye Xuan said faintly. "It’s fine. Let them scram."
The figure who had been suppressing Liu Tianjie, leaving him powerless to fight back, moved lightly and stepped aside.
"Ye Xuan, I’ll remember this," Wang Tian gasped, his tone filled with venom. Spitting blood, he pointed at Ji Ling and the others, enunciating each word, "And you lot! If you’ve got the guts, give me your names! If I don’t wipe out all your families, then my surname isn’t Wang!"
"Heh," Ji Ling sneered, announcing loudly, "Listen up. I am who I am, and I don’t hide it. Ji Ling, Captain of the City Guard’s First Division. If you, Wang Tian, want revenge, feel free to come find me at the Blue Moon City Guard Office. I’ll be waiting."
"Heh, me too. Chen Feng, Captain of the City Guard’s Second Division."
"Leng Dao, Captain of the City Guard’s Third Division. Come whenever you like. I’m just afraid you don’t have the guts."
The three men sneered as they spoke, simultaneously brandishing their City Guard Captain Tokens. The flash of the silver tokens made the Li family Patriarch, Li Haoran, tremble. ’To think I just confronted Captains of the Blue Moon City Guard!’
"You..." Wang Tian was also stunned speechless.
Ji Ling sneered relentlessly. "I’m honoring you by even slapping you. Your Wang family’s Second Master Wang Xuan and Fourth Master Wang Cong have already been thrown into the dungeons by my commander. And you, a mere steward, dare to act so insolently before Young Master Xuan?"
"Young Master Xuan crippled your Wang family’s genius, Wang Fei, and the Zhou family’s genius, Zhou Xuan, right at Xingxuan Academy. Neither the Wang family nor the Zhou family could do a thing to him. And you, a steward, are putting on airs here?"
"If Young Master Xuan hadn’t stopped us, we would have beaten you to death today, and the Wang family wouldn’t have dared to say a single word in protest."
"Now get the hell out of here! Or do you need us to ’invite’ you back to the City Guard Office for some tea?"
Under their barrage of questions, Wang Tian and his men turned deathly pale, too furious to speak. They shuffled miserably out of the Ye family’s main hall.
"Ye Xuan, what is all this?" Ye Batian watched everything unfold in silence. Instead of joy, a slight frown creased his brow.
"Grandfather, this is Instructor Luo Zhan from Xingxuan Academy. These men are captains from the City Guard. They are my escorts, assigned to see me home safely. Instructor Luo, Ji Ling, you may all withdraw for now. I’ll have my grandfather arrange accommodations for you shortly."
Luo Zhan smiled faintly. "Ye Xuan, call me if you need anything."
Ji Ling and his two companions were more direct, shouting in unison, "Yes, Young Master Xuan!" They then respectfully withdrew.
Seeing this, Lin Xuan and the others were dumbfounded. ’It’s the cold-faced instructor! He actually came back with Ye Xuan! Oh my god!’
"Ye Xuan, what in the world is going on? Why are City Guard captains acting as your escorts? Why did an academy instructor return with you?"
After Luo Zhan and the others had left, Ye Batian spoke up immediately, his tone grave and his brows knitted with worry.
All eyes of the Ye family members in the hall focused on him.
Ye Xuan smiled faintly. "Grandfather, don’t worry. I know what you’re thinking. You’re worried that I’m being used by someone with ulterior motives, that everything I’ve done is part of someone else’s scheme. But truly, these men are just my guards, nothing more. And Instructor Luo Zhan came back with me to ensure my safety. I’m not being controlled or manipulated by anyone. The conflict with the Wang family was my own doing."
The moment Ye Xuan’s words fell, Ye Batian’s body jolted, and he stared at his grandson in astonishment.
It was just as Ye Xuan had said. The moment he saw Ji Ling and the others, he had felt not excitement or joy, but worry and alarm. He was afraid Ye Xuan had become someone else’s pawn, used to pit their Ye family against the Wang family.
’I can’t believe it. Before I even said a word, Ye Xuan saw right through it. His mind is so sharp.’
"Hmph. You say you’re not being controlled, but who would believe that? Do you know what kind of figures City Guard captains are? For them to obey your commands... who do you think you are? Ye Xuan, spit it out! What is the real purpose of these people using you?" Ye Zhantang questioned him relentlessly, adding a sharp reminder, "Father, there’s definitely something strange about this."
"That is none of your concern," Ye Xuan said, glancing coldly at him. He then turned to Ye Batian. "Grandfather, the specific reasons why they obey me are complicated to explain. However, I can assure you they will not bring harm to our Ye family."
"’They won’t bring harm just because you say so?’ And what about that instructor from Xingxuan Academy? A mighty First Layer Earth Martial Artist—why would he come back with you? This group definitely has some kind of conspiracy! Father, you must see this clearly!"
Everyone was shocked and looked at Ye Xuan with suspicion.
It was indeed too strange. Previously, Luo Zhan had single-handedly suppressed the combined force of two First Layer Earth Martial Artists, Li Haoran and Liu Tianjie. Such strength was definitely on par with that of the Patriarch, Ye Zhanxiong, and ranked him among the top tier of First Layer Earth Martial Artists. For such a person to follow Ye Xuan and protect him... the mere thought was unbelievable.
For an expert as powerful as Patriarch Ye Zhanxiong to be protecting a useless disciple of the Ye family was like an emperor protecting a beggar. It would be bizarre if there wasn’t something fishy going on.
"Ye Xuan, Ye Yun, Ye Fei, the three of you also study at Xingxuan Academy. Do you know anything about this Luo Zhan’s background? Tell me in detail."
"Yes, Grandfather." Lin Xuan frowned. Despite his dissatisfaction with Ye Xuan, he answered honestly, "Luo Zhan is indeed an instructor at our Xingxuan Academy. He teaches martial skills. He joined the academy about six years ago, personally brought back from the Royal City by Dean Zhu Weichen. Before becoming an instructor, he was apparently a Captain in the kingdom’s Golden Lion Corps. He retired after being injured in a battle and accepted the Dean’s invitation to teach at the academy."
"What? A Captain in the Golden Lion Corps?"
"No wonder he has the air of a soldier about him."
"The moves he used earlier did have a military style."
A series of gasps echoed through the Ye family’s main hall.
The Golden Lion Corps was the most powerful elite legion in the Liuyun Kingdom. A Captain within its ranks was definitely a mid-level officer of unimaginably high status, someone ordinary people could never hope to meet. Even a retired Captain would still possess terrifying influence.
A Captain from the Golden Lion Corps and three City Guard captains from Blue Moon City were serving as mere bodyguards for a disciple of their Ye family. If word of this got out, no one would believe it. It was like something out of a fairy tale.
Every member of the Ye family was utterly dumbfounded.
Even Ye Batian was stunned. He gave a wry smile. Now, he was actually inclined to believe that Ye Xuan wasn’t being controlled and that these people had no ulterior motives.
The Ye family was merely a powerful clan in Cyan Mountain Town. A person capable of mobilizing such figures wouldn’t need such a complex scheme to deal with them. A single word from such an entity would probably be enough to wipe the Ye family out.
"Right," Ye Batian frowned again. "That City Guard captain mentioned earlier that you crippled Wang Fei of the Wang family and Zhou Xuan of the Zhou family. What was that about?"
This had happened only a few days ago. The Wang and Zhou families were busy negotiating with the City Lord’s Mansion, so it was normal that the news hadn’t reached them yet.
Ye Xuan then gave a brief account of what had happened.
After listening, everyone was stunned into silence.
"You... You’re dragging the family into the abyss! This won’t do! Father, we have to hand Ye Xuan over! If we don’t, the Ye family will surely be destroyed by his actions!" Ye Zhantang could no longer bear it and cried out in panic.
The other clan members looked at each other in dismay, their hearts filled with despair.
’My heavens! Not only did Ye Xuan fail to get the Wang family disciple to withdraw from the academy, but he also went and crippled the geniuses from both the Wang and Zhou families! It’s like he was afraid he hadn’t made them hate us enough!’
The Wang family alone had already put the Ye family in a precarious position, on the brink of destruction. Adding the Zhou family to the mix meant there was no point in even resisting. Under the pressure of two great families, no matter how much the Ye family struggled, they could not escape the fate of annihilation.
This troublemaker was simply too good at causing trouble.
"Impossible." Just then, Ye Xuan and the other two students suddenly cried out. "Ye Xuan, what are you trying to accomplish with these lies? From what I know, Wang Fei had already broken through to become a Spirit Martial Realm Samurai when we left! With your strength, how could you possibly have defeated him on the life-and-death stage?"
"That’s right! Zhou Xuan’s talent is no weaker than Wang Fei’s. Even the three of us combined are no match for them, so how could you possibly have beaten them?"
Ye Batian and the others grew suspicious as well. ’That’s right. We know Ye Xuan’s strength very well. He’s been stuck at the same initial cultivation level for years. How could he have caused so much trouble at Xingxuan Academy? Viciously beating up the geniuses of two great families one after another... it just doesn’t seem possible.’
Ye Xuan sneered, his voice dripping with contempt. "They’re just a couple of losers. What’s so impossible about it? Just because you can’t compare to them doesn’t mean I can’t. Look at you all, making a mountain out of a molehill."
