Chapter 889: Plotting a Rebellion

Around two hours later, the conference hall had become quite rowdy and chaotic.

Around a dozen men that were dressed in all types of attire were seated around a huge stone table, and each of them was holding a black stone goblet full of scaled beast blood while conversing spiritedly with one another.

Chen Yang was seated near the main chair at the head of the table, gently stroking his goblet with one hand, while his other hand was concealed up his sleeve. Even though everyone else was drinking, he refrained from doing so, and even when an acquaintance proposed a toast to him, he would only bring the goblet to his lips before setting it down again.

Placed on the stone table beside him was a covered black box, making it impossible for anyone to glean its contents.

Right at this moment, a tall and imposing man with tusks jutting out of his mouth approached Chen Yang with a smile as he asked, "Why has City Lord Du suddenly ordered you to gather all of us here? Is there something important to be announced? How about you tip me off in advance?"

"I would love to tell you, Captain Mou Lin, but honestly, I have no clue myself. Rest assured, once everyone's, all will be revealed by City Lord Du himself," Chen Yang replied with a smile.

Right at this moment, the doors of the hall were opened, and three people made their way inside.

One of them was none other than the horned man who was responsible for overseeing the ninth area's arena battles, and he was accompanied by the two crimson-robed scribes.

As these people entered the room, a young man standing beside Chen Yang informed him through voice transmission, "Brother Chen, everyone's here now aside from the few who are out on hunting trips."

Chen Yang nodded in response, and the young man departed from the conference hall, closing the stone doors behind him.

Even after the newly arrived trio took their seats, Chen Yang was still in no hurry to speak, merely observing everyone in the hall in silence.

After a long silence, a red-faced devilish man with a pair of horns on his head finally ran out of patience, and he asked, "What's the meaning of this, Chen Yang? You summoned all of us here, saying that City Lord Du has something important to announce, so why is he still not here?"

The commotion in the hall quickly died down, and everyone turned to Chen Yang to hear his response.

"Why so impatient, Captain Xiong Pei? Just let City Lord Du take his time, and have some more beast blood while you wait. It's not every day that City Lord Du is in such a generous mood to allow us to drink this stuff," Chen Yang said with a smile.

The man by the name of Xiong Pei duly obliged, raising his stone goblet for another sip of beast blood.

Only after everyone had finished their drinks or were close to doing so did Chen Yang rise to his feet, then strode over to the main chair that was designated solely for Du Qingyang before sitting down on it.

Initially, no one noticed, but it didn't take long before everyone caught sight of what he was doing, and a tense silence instantly descended upon the entire hall.

The man by the name of Mou Lin instantly sprang to his feet as he yelled in a furious voice, "How dare you sit there, Chen Yang? Do you have a death wish?!"

Immediately thereafter, two more captains rose to their feet with enraged expressions as well.

"Stand up right now, you bastard!"

Chen Yang remained completely unfazed, stretching lazily before getting into a more comfortable position on the chair.

"Hold on a second, everyone. Like I said, City Lord Du has something important to announce today," Chen Yang said as he slowly swept his gaze over everyone present.

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Everyone else in the hall was perplexed by Chen Yang's strange actions, and they all waited in silence for him to continue.

"Du Qingyang feels like he's unworthy of the status of city lord, so he's passed it onto me."

The entire hall instantly erupted into a raucous frenzy upon hearing this.

"What the hell did you just say?" Xiong Pei yelled as he sprang to his feet once again.

"What right do you have to covet the position of city lord?" someone else yelled.

"Are you trying to rebel, Chen Yang?" Mou Lin interrogated in a furious voice as he kicked his stone chair aside.

"He must be insane!"

A loud thump rang out as Chen Yang slammed a hand down onto the stone table and rose to his feet.

A series of cracks instantly appeared on the table, and everyone immediately sprang to their feet in alarm.

"You can ask City Lord Du himself to see if I've gone insane or not," Chen Yang said in a cold voice.

"Where is City Lord Du right now? I want to see him!" Mou Lin yelled.

"As you wish," Chen Yang said as he pushed the black box beside him onto the ground, and its lid immediately fell off upon impact to reveal its contents, namely Du Qingyang's severed head.

Everyone was astonished to see this, and Mou Lin rushed over to the head with his eyes wide with incredulity, then brushed aside the head's disheveled hair to reveal the face of none other than Du Qingyang.

"City Lord Du!" Xiong Pei yelled in an alarmed voice, while everyone else was still reeling, unsure of what to do.

Mou Lin, Xiong Pei, and several others were glowing intently at Chen Yang with furious expressions, while the rest of the people in the room were looking on with shocked and dazed expressions.

The two scribes exchanged a glance with each other, and their hands were trembling as they pondered what to write as part of their conference records.

In contrast, the horned man appeared to be quite calm and collected.

"How dare you kill City Lord Du! You deserve to die for this crime!" Mou Lin spat through gritted teeth.

"Everyone, let's exact vengeance for City Lord Du by striking down Chen Yang where he stands!" Xiong Pei yelled.

Everyone exchanged a few glances with one another upon hearing this, but no one dared to make the first move.

As the lord of the city, Du Qingyang was a ruler who presided over others by force, so while there were some who were loyal to him, that was certainly not the case for everyone.

"I'm willing to support whoever can kill Chen Yang as the new city lord!" Mou Lin yelled.

In the wake of this declaration, the atmosphere in the hall changed slightly, and many people began to step forward to surround Chen Yang.

"You want to kill me? Is that something that you're capable of right now?" Chen Yang asked in a cold voice.

As soon as his voice trailed off, the doors of the hall were flung wide open, and the members of his hunting party charged into surround everyone.

"What do you plan to do with your pathetic little band of minions?" Xiong Pei sneered, and a series of profound acupoints began to light up over his body one after another.

However, all of a sudden, the light emanating from his profound acupoints began to flicker slightly, and all of a sudden, he collapsed to the ground.

Immediately thereafter, more and more people in the hall began to fall to the ground, and all that were left standing were Chen Yang and the members of his hunting party.

"There was White Profound Beast bone powder in that beast blood, wasn't there?" Xiong Pei said in a furious yet feeble voice.

Chen Yang picked up his goblet of beast blood, then strode over to Xiong Pei's side before pouring it over his face as he sneered, "Isn't it a little late for you to be making that realization?"

Xiong Pei heaved a long sigh before closing his eyes and succumbing to his own fate.

Chen Yang paid no heed to him, slowly passing him by as he asked, "So what'll it be, everyone? Will you remain loyal to a dead man and follow him to the afterlife, or live and enjoy this prosperous city with me?"

The entire hall had fallen deathly silent.

In the neighboring side hall, Han Li smiled as he said, "Looks like you were right, Fellow Daoist Gu. Chen Yang clearly already had a plan for today. It appears that he's asked us to stay in this side hall not because he truly needs our help, but instead because he wants to show off to us."

"I chose to collaborate with him precisely because I could tell that he had very lofty ambitions, to rise to the top. Working with someone like him can be very effective, but at the same time, it can also be a double-edged sword," Gu Qianxun said in an indifferent manner.

Following a brief silence in the main hall, Chen Yang's voice rang out once again.

"Rest assured, everyone. For those who are willing to follow me, I'll only give you more than Du Qingyang ever has. However, anyone who dares to oppose me will be struck down right here and now!"

As soon as his voice trailed off, he abruptly appeared beside a short and thin elderly man in a wraith-like manner, then stomped down heavily with his foot, reducing the elderly man's wrist to a mangled mass of blood, flesh and bone.

The man gave a muffled groan as his hand slowly unfurled to reveal a palm-sized white bone inside.

"The star bone of an Explosive Scaled Beast, eh? I never noticed that you were so loyal to Du Qingyang in the past, Fellow Daoist Wu Heng, certainly not to the point that you would detonate this beast bone just to wound me at the cost of your own life," Chen Yang mused as he picked up the white bone.

The elderly man gritted his teeth tightly as he replied in a feeble voice, "City Lord Du once saved my life. If I can't live to serve him, then I'll follow him to the afterlife."

"Chen Yang, do you really think that you can replace City Lord Du just by killing him? The envoys from the main city aren't going to acknowledge a traitorous piece of scum like you!" Xiong Pei sneered.

"When has the main city ever cared about any changes that have taken place in the subsidiary cities? As long as the offerings made to the main city are never delayed, they couldn't care less whether the lord of Green Goat City is Du Qingyang or me," Chen Yang chuckled.

Wu Heng knew that he was right, and a despairing smile appeared on his face as he sighed, "Just kill me."

Chen Yang duly obliged, slamming a fist down onto his lower abdomen, instantly causing his body to explode into countless pieces.