Immortal of the Nine Realms

There was complete silence as all eyes in the Palace of Great Peace followed Fang Chen’s figure, as he walked up to the emperor and bowed to him.

Then, Fang Chen turned to Li Daoye and said, “Don’t scare others.”

“Young master, that bastard wanted to behead me! Plebeians like him should take a pee and look at their reflection! What gave that bumpkin the confidence to act as if he owns the world?!” Li Daoye scoffed as he stowed away his fireball. His voice was filled with disdain reminiscent of that of a superior state toward a lower state.

Ji Lengyue understood, for that was how he viewed Great Xia and the other vassal states too. His face turned livid, and the Nightmare Knights behind him stared at Fang Chen and Li Daoye with a hint of fear.

“I’ll deal with this,” Fang Chen said with a smile. He stepped forward and looked at Ji Lengyue, “You’re Chillwater’s Ji Lengyue, right?”

“Indeed,” Ji Lengyue replied with a careful tone.

“I heard Zhou Xiu is a descendant of your Ji Clan?” Fang Chen asked.

Ji Lengyue eyed Li Daoye in doubt. There was a moment of silence before he replied, “He’s merely a bastard of our Ji Clan.”

The crowd frowned. That’s not what you said earlier!

Great Xia’s officials were shocked. They could tell that Ji Lengyue was intimidated by Li Daoye!

“Ah, that explains why he thinks lowly of other people’s lives. It’d be too much to expect decorum from a bastard child.” Fang Chen nodded. He turned his attention toward the corpse placed in front of the imperial court. “Is that Zhou Xiu’s corpse? Who brought this filth into the Palace of Great Peace?”

A few people looked at Xiao Shence. A few people looked at the emperor. Most people looked at Ji Lengyue. But not a single person replied to Fang Chen’s question.

“Xiao Shence, why are you standing in a daze? Dispose that filthy thing right now!” Fang Chen frowned.

Xiao Shence shook at the mention of his name. He hesitantly glanced at the emperor, and only when the latter subtly nodded did he personally pick up Zhou Xiu’s corpse and throw it outside.

Neither Ji Lengyue nor the Nightmare Knights behind him muttered a word about this.

A smile slowly emerged on the empress’ face. She had no idea how Fang Chen had become acquainted with someone from a grade-6 state, but the tables had turned on Chillwater.

The Fang Manor was no longer in a weaker position.

“Old Master, did someone disturb your seclusion training?” Fang Chen turned to Fang Zhentian and asked.

Xiao Shence and Yan Beihan widened their eyes.

Before Fang Zhentian could say a word, Fang Chen turned to Old Huang and Tie Ma and angrily questioned, “Who disturbed my grandfather’s seclusion training? My grandfather has been ailing from the internal traumas he sustained from fighting for Great Xia, and it was only in recent days that he got some peace and could recuperate from his wounds, but someone still wants to bother him.”

“Young master, it’s Xiao Shence and Yan Beihan,” Old Huang played along.

“Slap them,” Fang Chen ordered.

“Yes, young master.”

Old Huang and Tie Ma nodded. One marched up to Xiao Shence, whereas the other marched up to Yan Beihan. They raised their hands and dished out slap after slap on their faces.

Both Xiao Shence and Yan Beihan felt incredibly humiliated, but neither of them fought back. Instead, they stood their grounds and withstood the slaps.

All of the officials fell silent. Li Guozhu,Tao Mingsheng, and the others dared not utter a word.

The emperor glared at Fang Chen, and Fang Chen looked back at him with placid eyes.

Nothing could be heard in the Palace of Great Peace aside from Old Huang and Tie Ma’s slaps.

The Valiant Defenders and Imperial Guards were infuriated, but they could only helplessly watch as their commanders were publicly humiliated.

Moments later, the emperor finally retracted his gaze and casually remarked, “Fang Chen, they were only acting under orders. This should be enough punishment for them.”

“Since His Majesty has forgiven them, I’ll let this matter go,” Fang Chen replied with a nod.

Old Huang and Tie Ma stopped their slapping and returned to Fang Chen’s side. By then, Xiao Shence and Yan Beihan’s faces were swollen like pig heads.

Be it the imperial court’s officials or the rear palace’s concubines, they were deeply shaken by what they were witnessing. Fear engulfed them when they looked at the dignified youth standing upright at the center of the room.

There was no question Fang Chen had overstepped his boundaries, but not even the emperor was rebuking him for it. Given so, who else would dare to speak up against him?

Would Tao Mingsheng dare? Would Li Guozhu dare?

Of course not.

That was the reason everyone was intimidated by Fang Chen. There was no way to curb him.

Those from the Fang Manor felt exhilarated by the comeback. The younger Fang Clansmen even burst into laughter, though they were quickly silenced by warning glares from Fang Chen’s mother.

Xia Yu was shaken too. He stared fixedly at Fang Chen’s every move, though he would glance at Li Daoye every now and then before falling into contemplation.

“Ji Lengyue, did you bring the Nightmare Knights here to stand up for Zhou Xiu?” Fang Chen looked at Ji Lengyue as he calmly asked.

All of the faces in the room tensed up. We’re getting to the real business now!

Ji Lengyue took a deep breath before a smile emerged on his lips, “Our emperor has heard about the war between Longdu and Great Xia and was worried, so he sent me here to take a look. Longdu and Great Xia are our vassal states, so it’s only right for us to check the situation.”

“Our deepest apologies for having worried Chillwater. Great Xia is faring well, though Longdu did suffer terrible losses,” Fang Chen earnestly replied.

The Longdu scholars turned awful as if someone had stuffed dog turd into their mouths.

“Longdu deserves it for launching a surprise attack on Great Xia. I’ll warn them against such behavior in the future. Outsiders will see us as a joke if we keep engaging in infighting.

“Speaking of which, I heard that Greenpine has been causing trouble for Great Xia. I can drop by and give them a warning. Greenpine might not be our Chillwater’s vassal state, but I believe that they’ll at least settle down on our account,” Ji Lengyue said with an amicable smile.

The officials breathed a sigh of relief.

Ji Lengyu had decided to give in, so it was unlikely he would make things difficult for Great Xia. This was thanks to the daoist from the grade-6 state, who was now a guest in the Fang Manor…

“There’s no need for that,” Fang Chen replied with a chuckle. He glanced at the Nightmare Knights behind Ji Lengyue and asked, “Are you really just here to take a look? Aren’t you going to hold a military exercise?”

“Military exercise?”

The crowd was startled. Now that they thought about it, Chillwater used to hold military exercises together with Great Xia and the other vassal states, though Great Xia no longer participated in those since their crushing defeat five years ago.

Sometimes, Greenpine would participate in these exercises too.

“Yes, we intend to hold a military exercise too,” Ji Lengyue was perplexed as to what Fang Chen was up to, but he decided to play along for now.

“What a coincidence. It has been a long time since Great Xia held a military exercise. Why don’t we have our soldiers train together with Chillwater’s Nightmare Knights?” Fang Chen suggested with a smile.

The crowd was shocked.

Ji Lengyue eyed Li Daoye.

“A grade-6 state won’t participate in a grade-8 and grade-9 state’s military exercise,” Li Daoye rolled his eyes and snorted.

“Very well.” Ji Lengyue nodded, though there was a hint of ire in his eyes.