Chapter 142 (2): Dongfang Order

A sense of foreboding instantly welled up in An Ruoxing's heart. He could tell that Fang Che was itching for an excuse to escalate the situation.

Zhu Qiyun took a side-eyed glance at Fang Che, and a hint of jealousy flashed through his eyes.

"So what? Can a woman not have male friends just because they're married? I'm just trying to get to know her. Surely you're not so insecure that you're going to forbid her from speaking to other men!"

Fang Che's smile gradually faded, and the other two southeastern representatives, the Warlord tier Wang Zifang and the Emperor tier Yan Sen, were also glowering at Zhu Qiyun with hostile expressions.

"Get out of here, Zhu Qiyun!" An Ruoxing snapped. "You've already caused more than your fair share of trouble for the Zhu Clan! Have you still not learned your lesson?"

"I just wanted to get to know this young lady here. How is that going to cause trouble for my clan?" Zhu Qiyun sneered. "Is that meant to be a threat? I've never been threatened in Three Rivers City before. I suppose there's a first time for everything."

One of the young men behind him began walking directly toward Ye Meng with a provocative expression as he challenged, "Where's this trouble that you speak of?"

An Ruoxing was furious, and he was just about to lash out, but Fang Che beat him to the punch.

He knew that if An Ruoxing would only teach the young men an inconsequential lesson, and that wasn't enough for him.

In his eyes, these scoundrels delivered a much crueler and more consequential punishment.

The Guardians had no place for scum like them, and he resented these imbeciles even more than he did demonic church members.

Whenever he saw people like them, he thought of all of his countless deceased comrades who had sacrificed themselves to protect the continent.

My comrades and I haven't sacrificed our lives to protect this type of trash! If these people are willing to be so brazen in broad daylight with so many people around, how depraved must they be in private with no one else around?

With that in mind, Fang Che knew what he had to do.

He just so happened to be missing contributions to the One Heart Church and the Church of the Self-Righteous, and these walking contributions had served themselves up to him on a silver platter!

He stepped forward without any hesitation, planting his right foot firmly down onto the ground as his killing intent surged forth in a bone-chilling wave.

He let loose a thunderous roar as released his killing intent and baleful qi without any reservation, instantly inundating the group of young men and the guards behind them in a wave of death and madness.

From their perspectives, heaven and earth had abruptly crumbled into nothingness around them. The world was robbed of all light, and the gates of hell creaked open right before their very eyes, releasing hordes of malicious spirits and other unspeakable creatures of darkness.

All of a sudden, it was as if they had been plunged into the deepest depths of hell, and their faces turned deathly pale, while their minds went completely blank.

The abrupt eruption of killing intent and baleful qi was enough to make even Zhao Shanhe and An Ruoxing shudder, and they had to fight back the urge to spring back in retreat.

The group of young men had already collapsed to the ground, having soiled their pants with excrement, and the guards behind them were barely faring any better.

Even the ten horses had collapsed to the ground and were trembling uncontrollably.

Xue Wanshi had been the top first-year prodigy of Celestial Being Warrior Academy, yet even he had been reduced to a nervous wreck in the face of Fang Che's baleful qi.

Not only were these young men far inferior to Xue Wanshi, Fang Che's cultivation base had grown from the pinnacle of the General tier to the second-rank King tier since then, and the young men had no chance of keeping their minds intact.

***

Zhao Shanhe and the others immediately turned to Fang Che with incredulous expressions.

They didn't even have to check on the young men to know that they had been permanently disabled.

Their mental faculties had been completely decimated beyond repair, and even if they could be cured, there was no way that their clans would waste such precious natural treasures on troublemakers like them.

Essentially, these young men were as good as dead.

"You've gone too far, Fang Che! Do you know how much danger you've just put yourself in?" Zhao Shanhe yelled.

Old Man Shen took a surprised glance at Zhao Shanhe.

He could sense that Zhao Shanhe's words were laden with concern for Fang Che, and that was a very uncharacteristic display.

An Ruoxing briefly exmained the conditions of the ten young men, but sure enough, they were completely beyond saving, and he shook his head in a resigned manner to indicate as much.

They were still alive, but they had been reduced to braindead vegetables who may as well have been dead.

"I'm not putting my life on the line day in, day out to protect scum like them!" Fang Che said in a cold voice. "They're a disgrace! Perhaps their punishment should not be so severe by law, but in my eyes, they deserve nothing short of the death penalty! I know that there are many people like them in the world, and I'm not going to go out of my way to punish them one by one, but if any of them cross my path, then I'll do the world a favor and get rid of them for everyone's sake!"

He then turned to the group of terrified guards as he declared, "My name is Fang Che, and I come from the White Cloud Prefecture Hall of Protectionists. I am traveling to Rocky City, and I will be making a stop in Three Rivers City. Go and tell that to your masters."

"Fang Che! What are you doing?" Zhao Shanhe yelled in a furious manner.

"I'm just protecting my wife, Chief Supervisor Zhao. I can't just stand by and do nothing while my wife is being harassed, can I?"

Zhao Shanhe heaved a forlorn sigh.

Clearly, Fang Che intended to completely blow up this incident and escalate it as much as possible.

"You're being too rash, Fang Che," An Ruoxing said in a meaningful and heartfelt manner. "One bad apple doesn't mean that the entire clan is bad. You've just made countless enemies for yourself."

Fang Che offered no response as he latched onto Ye Meng's hand before slowly making his way forward, and the terrified guards hurriedly parted to allow him through, all the while staring at him with fearful expressions as if he were some horrific demon.

"I do not fear life or death, nor do I fear the Guardians or the Church of the Self-Righteous! If their clans want to come after me for vengeance, then they can be my guest!"

An Ruoxing turned to Old Man Shen as he sighed, "Has he always been like this? As his senior, you should really tell him to rein in his temper a little."

"That bastard was harassing his wife! What was he supposed to do?" Old Man Shen snapped. "How about I harass Zhao Shanhe's wife and see how he likes it?"

Zhao Shanhe's expression instantly turned as dark as the bottom of a kettle.

How are you still finding a way to badmouth me? I didn't even say anything!

He gave a disgruntled harrumph before storming off after Fang Che, and everyone else quickly followed.

An Ruoxing trailed along at the back of the group, turning to the guards with a stern expression as he warned, "I advise you not to try and seek vengeance. Go and tell Zhu Yuntian that my name is An Ruoxing!"

***

In Three Rivers City, Fang Che's group of seven was gathered around a table in Three Rivers Restaurant.

There seemed to be an unspoken agreement between everyone not to bring up the earlier incident.

It simply wasn't worth dwelling on a bunch of worthless troublemakers, and even if their clans were to come after Fang Che, that was still not a worthy cause for concern.

"Why is this place called Three Rivers City?"

"Originally, this was the point where the three most prominent rivers on the continent converged. The Qin River flowed from north to south, the Ning River flowed from northeast to southwest, and the Han River flowed from northwest to southeast," An Ruoxing introduced. "Naturally, it stood to reason to construct a city where the three rivers met, and over the past few thousand years, the population of Three Rivers City has grown larger and larger, making it one of the top three largest cities of the continent.

"The earth here is very unique. If you dig down deep into the ground, you'll come to discover many different types of soil, all of which were carried here by the three rivers before being twisted and compacted. However, despite the thousands of years of compaction, the different types of soil remain distinct from one another, unable to fuse as one.

"Apparently, some of the soil deep below the surface has turned into jade-like materials over time, and they're mined up to be made into all types of trinkets that are sold for money. Sometimes, you'll even come across three-colored soil jade, which makes for beautiful viewing."

A nearby waiter overheard the conversation, and he smiled as he said, "We actually sell Three Rivers Jade in a counter at our restaurant. If you're interested, you can each go and pick out a piece for yourselves."

"What do you think? Do you want to go and take a look?" Fang Che asked as he turned to Ye Meng.

"Let's stay put for now," Ye Meng said with a concerned expression. "I'm sure there will be people coming after us after what you did outside the city, so it can't hurt to be more careful."

"What was I supposed to do then? Let those people go with a slap on the wrist?"

A disgruntled look appeared on Ye Meng's face. As a woman, she was even more resentful of those unscrupulous playboys than Fang Che was. Given how brazen they had been in approaching Ye Meng, it was clear that they were repeat offenders, and they had most likely already forcibly split up countless couples who had been powerless to resist them.

"No, I agree with what you did, Young Master. For a woman, the most terrifying thing is never death. Instead, it's scumbags like those people because their intention is to subject us to a fate worse than death."

"That's why I didn't hold back at all," Fang Che said. "In fact, I'm considering uprooting their clans as well."

"That probably won't be necessary. I don't think their clans will come after us. Deputy Chief Supervisor An declared his name to their guards before he left, and as long as the seniors of their clans aren't complete fools, they'll be sure to go around and do some homework. Once they find out that they're dealing with the deputy chief supervisor of the Southeastern Protectionist Headquarters, I'm sure they wouldn't come after us, even if it's within the walls of Three Rivers City."

"That's a real shame," Fang Che harrumphed. "I wanted to get rid of those clans myself, but it looks like I won't get to do the honors!"

Ye Meng was perplexed.

What's that supposed to mean?