Wenren Lurui’s wits returned after a short stupor. She nodded: “The twenty-eight countries on this continent are under the jurisdiction of the Crouching Dragon Cliff, including small factions like our two clans and Soaring Hawk.”

“Twenty-eight countries? Looks like the cliff’s power is growing.” Li Qiye smiled and said.

Lurui nodded: “Ever since the Sky Dragon King took over the cliff, it continued to grow. Recently, after the king came out from isolated cultivation, she shocked the entire Mortal Emperor World with her unfathomable power. Many great powers in the Grand Sea were convinced by her and became friends with the cliff.” [1]

“Sky Dragon King? Who is that?” Li Qiye found this surprising.

Lurui gave him a strange stare because not just in the Crouching Dragon Continent but all of the Grand Sea has heard of the Sky Dragon King. Someone who hasn’t heard of her must have been a complete rookie.

“The Sky Dragon King is the current sect master of the cliff. Her name is Wolong Xuan.” Lurui eventually replied. [2]

“Wolong Xuan.” Li Qiye smiled and said: “Sky Dragon King, a dragon presiding over the sky; quite a domineering title.”

“The dragon king’s prestige is considerable. Some say that she is the strongest in the cliff so of course, her title is domineering. In the contemporary, she and the Heaven Suppression Goddess of the citadel are known as the two supreme geniuses of the Grand Sea. Everyone says that she is qualified to compete for the Heaven’s Will.”

Lurui said with a longing expression. She once desired to be someone like the Sky Dragon King or the Heaven Suppression Goddess, able to walk freely in this world. If she had such power, her fate wouldn’t have been at the mercy of others.

Unfortunately, she could only think about it. Though the Wenren Clan was a mighty power compared to ordinary citizens and cultivators in Renowned, they were only a tiny sect compared to a behemoth like the Crouching Dragon Cliff.

Moreover, Lurui’s constitution wasn’t bad but it was no match for real geniuses. Because of this, she knew that she would never become a character like the dragon king. A dream it shall remain.

“The Heaven’s Will, huh?” Li Qiye only chuckled.

Lurui eventually returned from her yearning and said solemnly: “Young Noble Li, run now. This is all I can do.”

“No rush.” Li Qiye said flatly: “On the contrary, I don’t have anything to do right now so I can join in on the fun. I’m the type who becomes a bit agitated when there’s nothing to do.”

Lurui couldn’t convince him any further. In the end, she looked at him and wondered what was his plan for joining the fray. She eventually sighed and left with Huaiyu.

The Heaven Suppression City wasn’t far from him. At this moment, he was wondering if that city was ready to meet its fate. However, this prompted him to think even more carefully about whether he was ready to massacre the place.

Of course, he knew that Gu Zun would never give up and would never leave the city or stop coveting the treasury!

“Lil Blackie, though you have promised someone before, I won’t show mercy this time. If Gu Zun tries to stop me, I’ll kill him mercilessly as usual. Don’t blame me for not being considerate. The city is also the culmination of your effort and mine as well, but if it tries to stop me too, it will turn into ashes. I won’t mind massacring them all!”

His leisure eyes gazed towards the far distance and became quite profound and emotionless. Anyone would piss in their pants after seeing this glare.

“In this lifetime, I shall not yield for anyone and will never allow them to cross my bottom lines. Lil Blackie, you need to pray for the fool to wise up. I have spared him once already, this was already merciful beyond my own creed.”

He could enter the city now if he wanted to. However, he was still hesitating on whether he was mentally prepared to kill them all.

Of course, massacring was trivial to Li Qiye. The act itself wouldn’t be difficult at all. However, the dragon king spent too much effort on this city. This was someone who had absolute loyalty and paid too much for him. This was the reason for his hesitation. Otherwise, he would have already taken charge of the city.

***

In the afternoon, just like Lurui has said, Wenren Jianshi came again with two experts behind him this time.

“Brother Li, father wishes to see you.” He was still very polite towards Li Qiye.

“Well, as the saying goes, even an ugly daughter-in-law will have to meet her in-laws eventually. I should also see my father-in-law.” He chuckled at his own joke.

When he stood up, the two experts behind Jianshi immediately came forward and pushed down his arms.

“If you don’t remove your dog hands, they shall fall on the ground.” Li Qiye leisurely told the two of them.

Their expression sank and was about to become angry but Jianshi immediately smoothed things over: “Don’t worry, Brother Li won’t run away because if he wanted to, he wouldn’t wait till now.” Having said that, he stared implicatively at Li Qiye.

The furious experts couldn’t do anything but to let go and stood to Li Qiye’s left and right.

“Let’s go then. It’s nice to be able to see father-in-law.” He leisurely said.

Finally, under the escort of two experts and Jianshi leading the way, Li Qiye entered a chamber and saw the Wenren Clan Master, Jianshi and Lurui’s father.

Jianshi’s group left right after bringing Li Qiye here.

The clan master was a dignified old man wearing a large robe while sitting in the master chair. He had the bearing of a leader.

His old eyes were fixated on Li Qiye the entire time. They were sharp to the point of seemingly flaying meat from his body.

Li Qiye didn’t mind at all and coolly sat down.

“What is your name?” The clan master spoke coldly just like his demeanor. If he wasn’t maintaining the style befitting of a clan master, others would actually think that he might cut down Li Qiye’s head at sight.

Of course, he was already polite and merciful enough to not kill someone who impregnated his daughter.

“Surname Li, no need to say the rest.” Li Qiye smiled while looking around.

“Such big tone!” The clan master angrily shouted after seeing his attitude.

“I’ve always been like this. If you have something to say, go ahead. After all, I know that you don’t want to kill me right now since my life is still useful to your clan.” Li Qiye nonchalantly replied.

“You!” The livid clan master glared at him while clenching his fists. Sure enough, if Li Qiye didn’t have some use left to them, he would have killed him already!

In the end, he suppressed his anger and said: “You are courageous indeed, no wonder why my daughter likes you.”

Li Qiye couldn’t help but smile. There was no doubt about the clan master’s lack of knowledge regarding the situation.

“But your courage is misplaced.” The clan master coldly said: “Seducing my daughter and breaking this marriage alliance, this is a crime deserving of death! No one will be able to save your life.”

“Is that so?” Li Qiye was still unperturbed.

The clan master started to feel a little strange after seeing the calmness in Li Qiye. He wondered where this brat was getting his courage from? There was no sign of nervousness or shock at all.

“There’s no repentance for your crime. Our Wenren Clan still hasn’t killed you because we are merciful. I can also forego your mistake...” The clan master said slowly.

1. This non-attribution of gender pronoun comes up a lot and some readers wonder why I do it in this manner. Usually, titles are gender neutral because I don’t know if it is a male or a female without context. So if I attribute english gender pronouns based on the character, it means that I have to do it consistently across the entire novel. In this case, when you see king for the first time, you will think its a male automatically. If the author decides to reveal that it is a woman later, I would have to go back and change every single pronoun, including he to she. As you can see, this will be very problematic. Another problem is that King is not interchangeable with Queen and Empress. Queen often implies being married to a king, not being in charge of her own country. Empress would work in this case, but the raw character is not on the same level as Empress. It looks like the title of Empress is special since it is reserved for Empress Hong Tian only. Also, this same ambiguation exists in the raw as well and could be used as a literary device. That’s why titles are gender neutral, not just because I’m lazy.

2. Wolong = Crouching Dragon, Xuan = a pretty type of jade