Very quickly, the news that the Zhenbei Marquis Manor intended to marry off their prodigal only son, Chu Feng, to the Protector Duke’s granddaughter and Great Qian’s female killing god, Ye Hongluan, swept through the entire capital like a Category 5 hurricane within half a day.
For a time, the entire city was in an uproar. Countless people were shaken by the news.
At this moment, in one of the centers of the storm… the Protector Duke’s Manor.
The atmosphere was as heavy as iron.
Inside the discussion hall, Ye Tianxiong, the white-haired Protector Duke clad in a python robe, sat radiating authority without anger. He stared fixedly at Chu Tianlong standing below, trembling with rage, his tiger-like eyes burning with towering fury.
“Chu Tianlong! Your Chu family has gone too far!”
Ye Tianxiong slammed his palm onto the wooden table beside him. The solid surface instantly cracked, letting out a strained creak.
“Your wastrel son spends his days fighting cocks, walking dogs, and indulging in debauchery, utterly uneducated. The entire capital knows he’s a useless trash! What right does he have to covet my granddaughter?!”
Facing Ye Tianxiong’s thunderous fury, Chu Tianlong, the War God of Great Qian, remained expressionless. His tone was calm as he replied, “Protector Duke, your words are biased. Though my son is young and unruly, he is still the heir of my Zhenbei Marquis Manor. He is more than worthy of Miss Ye.”
“Moreover…” Chu Tianlong’s gaze suddenly sharpened, “this time, it was your grandson Ye Hao who nearly beat my son to death! If my son hadn’t been lucky enough to survive, your Protector Duke’s Manor would no longer exist by now.”
His voice wasn’t loud, yet the chilling killing intent within it caused the temperature of the entire hall to drop sharply.
This was not a threat… it was a statement of fact.
If Chu Feng had truly died, with Chu Qingcang’s insane protectiveness, he would have flattened the Protector Duke’s Manor without hesitation.
Ye Tianxiong’s face alternated between pale and flushed, his chest heaving violently.
He knew exactly what kind of person Chu Qingcang was… a madman who had crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, someone who even dared to point at the Emperor’s nose and curse him.
“That was my grandson acting recklessly in the heat of the moment!” Ye Tianxiong gritted his teeth. “Medical expenses and compensation… my Protector Duke’s Manor will not be short of a single coin!”
“Compensation?” A cold smile curled at the corner of Chu Tianlong’s lips. “Does my Chu family lack what little you have?”
He stepped forward, his aura pressing heavily. “Today, I’m only here to deliver a message. My father has issued a final ultimatum… your Protector Duke’s Manor must either agree to the marriage… or prepare funeral arrangements for your precious grandson.”
“You dare!” Ye Tianxiong roared in fury. The terrifying killing aura of a veteran battlefield general erupted like a waking lion.
Chu Tianlong did not retreat an inch. The iron-blooded killing intent of the War God surged upward as well, colliding fiercely with Ye Tianxiong’s aura.
Boom!
An invisible explosion seemed to resound in the air. The ground between them cracked inch by inch.
All the servants in the manor trembled under the oppressive pressure, not daring to approach.
Just as the tension reached its peak and a battle was about to erupt…
A cold voice, clear as ice and snow, sounded from outside the hall.
“I’ll marry.”
The voice was not loud, yet it entered everyone’s ears clearly, carrying an unquestionable force that instantly extinguished the raging fury in the hall.
Chu Tianlong and Ye Tianxiong both turned toward the entrance.
At the doorway stood a stunning figure dressed in red combat attire.
She was tall and graceful, her long black hair tied neatly behind her head, revealing a smooth and radiant forehead. Her features were exquisitely beautiful, as if sculpted by the heavens themselves. Her skin was like snow, her brows like distant mountains, her eyes like cold stars.
However, her breathtaking face was covered with an eternal frost. In her phoenix-like eyes, there was not the slightest ripple of emotion… only endless indifference and lifeless stillness, as though nothing in the world could enter her sight.
Simply standing there, she exuded an invisible aura of killing intent that made one feel as if they had fallen into an icy abyss.
This person was none other than Ye Hongluan!
“Luan’er, you…” Ye Tianxiong’s anger instantly turned into concern and urgency when he saw his granddaughter. “Nonsense! I will never let you marry that kind of wastrel!”
Ye Hongluan ignored him. She walked straight to the center of the hall, her icy gaze fixed on Chu Tianlong as she calmly repeated, “Go back and tell Duke Chu… I accept this marriage.”
Chu Tianlong frowned slightly. Even he hadn’t expected this famously unyielding female killing god to agree so readily.
Something was off.
He stared at her and asked in a deep voice, “Miss Ye, are you certain?”
“That’s right.” Ye Hongluan replied coldly, “But I have one condition.”
“A condition?” Chu Tianlong frowned. “What condition?”
At last, a faint curve appeared at the corner of Ye Hongluan’s lips… a smile so cold it carried endless mockery.
“One month from now is the once-in-ten-years Heavenly Dragon Ranking Tournament.”
“Have Chu Feng participate. If he can enter the top ten, I, Ye Hongluan, will don the wedding dress and enter your Zhenbei Marquis Manor.”
“If he cannot… then this marriage is canceled. From then on, all grievances between our two families will be wiped clean.”
“Otherwise, I, Ye Hongluan, will have no choice but to lead the Ye Family Army into battle against the Zhenbei Marquis’s 300,000 northern cavalry!”
The moment these words were spoken, both Chu Tianlong and Ye Tianxiong’s expressions changed.
The Heavenly Dragon Ranking!
This was a ranking established by the Great Qian Empire specifically for the younger generation, aimed at selecting talents and nurturing future pillars.
Any young talent under the age of thirty could participate. The top 100 would ascend the Heavenly Dragon Ranking, gain fame throughout the land, and earn the qualification to enter the royal arsenal to choose cultivation techniques and martial arts.
It could be said that the Heavenly Dragon Ranking gathered the most elite young geniuses of the entire Empire. The competition was brutally intense.
Anyone who could enter the top 100 was a monstrous genius carefully cultivated by major powers, with cultivation at least at the Meridian Opening Realm.
Those who could break into the top ten were monsters among monsters, each one a Innate Realm expert!
And what about Chu Feng?
A complete wastrel who had indulged in pleasure his entire life, with weak blood and qi, not even having reached 1st stage Body Refining Realm.
Letting him participate in the Heavenly Dragon Ranking Tournament… forget top ten, he probably wouldn’t even pass the first round of preliminaries before being kicked off the stage!
This wasn’t a condition… it was naked humiliation!
Ye Hongluan was using an open and undeniable method to tell the Chu family… your grandson is trash and completely unworthy of me!
“Luan’er, you…” Ye Tianxiong wanted to speak, but a single glance from Ye Hongluan stopped him.
Chu Tianlong fell silent for a moment before finally letting out a cold snort. “Good. Very good. I will relay Miss Ye’s condition to my father exactly as it is. Farewell.”
With that, he wasted no more time and turned to leave.
He knew this matter was no longer within his authority. The final decision would be made by that lawless old man back at the manor.
Watching Chu Tianlong’s departing figure, Ye Tianxiong sighed deeply and walked toward his granddaughter. “Luan’er, why go to such lengths? That old man from the Chu family is clearly unreasonable. Even if you refused, what could he really do?”
Ye Hongluan shook her head. A trace of fatigue and resolve, unnoticed by others, flickered in her cold eyes.
“Grandfather, our Ye family has declined in numbers, while the Chu family is powerful. If we clash head-on, we won’t gain any advantage. Moreover… this time, Ye Hao was indeed at fault.”
She paused, a hint of self-mockery in her tone. “Using an impossible condition to buy one month of peace, while also shutting the Chu family’s mouth and forcing them to back off… this is the best solution for now.”
In her view, asking Chu Feng, that useless waste, to break into the top ten of the Heavenly Dragon Ranking within a month… was even more absurd than the sun rising in the west.