The Ancestral Hall of the Zhen Clan had never looked so prosperous, nor so rotten.
Crimson lanterns floated beneath the vaulted ceiling like drifting blood moons.
Tables groaned under mountains of spirit beast roasts glazed in thousand-year honey, phoenix-tail prawns still twitching with residual lightning qi, and jade bowls brimming with wine that sang when poured.
Immortal Officials from every corner of the Eastern Reaches mingled with sect elders.
They wore robes heavy in gold designs.
Meanwhile.
Li Qingmu stood alone in the side chamber of the patriarch as the air felt oddly sickening.
He never felt good about visiting this old beast.
But today he raised his voice at him.
"This doesn't make any sense!"
He waved his arms like a madman.
"You forced me to marry her! You threatened to wipe out my whole branch bloodline if I didn't! And now—now you dissolve it like it was nothing!? You choose to disgrace me in front of the entire Eastern Reaches!?"
Governor Zhen sat perfectly still on his nine-dragon throne of black gold.
Only his eyes moved.
Golden, vertical pupils that narrowed into slits.
A pressure descended.
Like the sky collapsing.
Like ten thousand mountains crushing a single ant.
Li Qingmu's knees slammed into the marble.
Blood trickled from his lips.
His bones creaked.
This is the aura of a King Realm expert!
"You… insignificant bug…"
The patriarch's voice was soft, almost kind.
"Dare raise your voice at this king?"
Everything in the luxurious room felt like a helpless little boat in a stormy sea.
"I gave an order. You obey. The moment you step out of this room, you are no longer my daughter's husband you dirty ungrateful thing. Is that clear?"
Li Qingmu's legs shook uncontrollably.
His fists, however, were clenched so tight his nails drew blood from his palms.
"I'm only treated like this… because I'm nobody."
He gritted his teeth as he stared at the floor.
If he ever gets the chance to be powerful he will not be kind to his enemies!
Patriarch Zhen actually laughed.
It was a low, rumbling sound that shook the teacups.
"Correct. Anyone I do not know is nobody. Your parents were nobodies. And because of your worthless blood, my sweet and delicate Rou'er and all her descendants will be drowned in obscurity."
He waved a hand, bored.
"Get out of my sight."
Li Qingmu opened his mouth.
"In your next life…"
The patriarch added, sipping his tea.
"Beg for richer parents."
The doors slammed open by themselves.
Li Qingmu stumbled out.
What he saw next was the grand vestibule.
Old immortals with white beards down to their belts reclined on silk divans, each with two or three plump, red-cheeked courtesans draped over them like blankets of flesh.
One gray-haired Nascent Soul elder had his face buried between the breasts of a laughing mortal woman easily three times his width, snoring peacefully while she massaged his scalp with spirit oil.
Li Qingmu's lip curled.
He shook his head and made for the buffet.
On the way he passed a circle of old officials crowding a single woman like flies on honey.
Grand Elder Song Yan.
Younger sister of a Heavenly General, rumored to be friends with a Prime Minister in the Lower Heavens.
Skin like frost, lips like blood, wearing moon-white robes that somehow made her beautiful body look too sacred to touch and yet very tempting all at once.
She is the most beautiful woman in the sect.
An old man with a face like a dried walnut was practically on his knees.
"Fairy Song, just one night—just tea in my mansion!"
"I'll gift you three cities in the Cloud Province!"
Another, fatter, sweating through his brocade.
"No, you must answer me first. I have money. I'll give you a thousand mu of top-grade spiritual fields! Just let this old man touch your hand!"
Song Yan lifted her teacup with two fingers.
Her expression is cold like ice.
"Touch my hand and I'll make sure to cut it off and feed it to my spirit koi. They like fatty meat."
The men laughed nervously, thinking it was a joke.
She wasn't joking.
Her phoenix eyes swept the crowd.
That was when she saw Li Qingmu.
He was staring straight at her face.
Not her chest. Not her waist.
Her.
Song Yan blinked, genuinely startled.
Men didn't do that. They groveled or leered.
They never looked her in the eye like she was a person.
She was halfway to flaring her peak-Nascent Soul pressure when Li Qingmu simply… lost interest and walked past her toward the roast wyvern leg.
Song Yan's teacup paused at her lips.
『That young man…』
She discarded the thought and sipped her tea.
At the buffet, Li Qingmu was piling spirit pears and eggs onto a jade plate when a shadow fell over him.
"You must be beautiful Zhen Rou's old husband."
Official Wong.
Council member under the Governor.
Face like a toad that swallowed too many bribes.
Known for "borrowing" other men's wives and girlfriends with spirit stones and threats.
He is a bull who likes other men's partners!
Li Qingmu didn't look up.
"Yes."
Wong licked his fat greasy lips.
"Where is she? I'd love for the new and famous fairy to serve me personally tonight. Sit on my lap, feed me grapes and biscuits, the usual."
Li Qingmu's hand tightened around the serving tongs.
"You do realize that's my wife?"
Wong laughed, spraying spit.
"Wife? Hah! The real husband of the family has already agreed! She's mine to play with tonight!"
A calm voice drifted over.
It was proud and very aristocratic.
"Indeed. I believe Zhen Rou is my wife now. I may do as I please with her."
Ye Lingxiao stepped out from behind a pillar, sky-blue robes fluttering, golden fan snapping open with a crack. He was quite handsome in the way only the favored sons of heaven could be… long silver hair, immortal jade skin, eyes full of careless cruelty.
He smiled at Li Qingmu like one might smile at a cockroach.
"Look at you. Dirty robes. Short hair like a peasant. Skin rough from menial labor. Proof you were born in the dirt and will die in the dirt."
Official Wong saw his chance and groveled instantly.
"Young Master Ye speaks wisely! Kneel and apologize for your insolence, boy!"
Whispers rippled through the vestibule.
"That's the waste who married Fairy Zhen?"
"Dressed like a beggar. Tch, how disgraceful!"
"No wonder the marriage is dissolved tonight."
That's when Li Qingmu realized that everyone knew this would happen tonight.
Everyone had known for days.
They just hadn't bothered to tell the trash.
Across the hall, Patriarch Ye was seated on a dragon throne of white jade to watch everything with a small, satisfied smile as he drank.
Ye Lingxiao stepped closer.
He pinched the sleeve of Li Qingmu's robe between two fingers like it carried plague.
"Still wearing the same filthy robes from the Imperial Academy, eh? The last thing your dead parents bought you before they croaked in poverty—"
RIIIP!
He tore the sleeve clean off.
Patriarch Ye's smile widened.
『Good. Disgrace the peasant.』
That way he would never think to challenge them.
『As it should b—』
BOOM!
The entire hall shook.
Ye Lingxiao flew backward like a cannonball, smashing into a marble pillar hard enough to spiderweb it. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he slid down the wall and clutched his stomach with eyes wide in shock.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Li Qingmu stood in the center.
His fist was still extended as his knuckles smoked with a ghostly red aura.
Behind him, the illusory image of a two-armed Asura roared silently, blood-red eyes blazing as nine heavenly rings spun behind its head.
The Nine Heavens Tyrant Physique!
Gasps erupted.
"Body refinement!?"
"When did that trash—!?"
"That's not Golden Sun Pavilion's technique—I've never seen that aura!"
Ding!
[Host has rebelled against oppressive father-in-law!]
[Title Lost: Oppressed Son-in-Law]
[Title Gained: Fierce Guardian of the Family]
[You've achieved Mid Foundation Establishment!]
Li Qingmu lowered his fist slowly.
His torn sleeve fluttered to the ground.
He looked across the hall at Patriarch Ye, whose teacup had frozen halfway to his lips.
Then at Ye Lingxiao, coughing blood on the floor.
Then at the hundreds of staring immortals and officials.
And he smiled.
A small, cold, terrible smile.
He let the childish antics of Ye Lingxiao get to him.
He would surely be punished for his actions.
Yet he still spoke his mind.
"Zhen Rou is my wife."