The Young Man Had Gone Mad

"Father!" Li Zifeng was more excited than ever before. Yanhuang Academy had always been his dream, and now he stood only one step away from it.

"Not bad." Li Yanfeng patted his shoulder. He had never been a man of many words, but every word he spoke carried exceptional weight.

"It was Father's guidance that made it possible," Li Zifeng said hurriedly.

Now was the moment to reveal the result. Beneath the gaze of the entire city, Li Yanfeng faced the crowd and formally declared, "Today, I formally establish Li Zifeng as the heir, the successor of Lihuo City."

"Zi Feng, even with the achievements you have today, you must not grow arrogant or complacent. The road ahead requires caution in word and deed, one step at a time." A rare glimmer of pride shone in Li Yanfeng's eyes.

This declaration was enough to shake everyone present to the core, for it showed that the City Lord had utterly abandoned his former heir. It also meant that Li Tianming, who had won everything here four years ago, would vanish from sight from this day onward, as good as dead.

"Congratulations, City Lord! Congratulations, Young Lord! Two blessings arriving together! And with the Yanhuang Order, that makes three blessings at the door!" Zhao Ding, commander of the city guards, rose to his feet atop the Wind-Listening Tower and took the lead in offering congratulations.

Everyone was watching Li Yanfeng. No one noticed that, in a corner, a youth in white suddenly stood and walked toward the Wind-Listening Platform!

The Wind-Listening Platform was not far away, and the white-clad youth moved incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, he had leaped onto it.

No one would be foolish enough to interrupt the joyous moment between Li Yanfeng and his son, so no one stopped him. By the time they noticed, it was already too late.

"Li Tianming..."

When the people saw the youth's face clearly, their expressions froze in astonishment, and even their voices trembled.

No matter what, this youth, the stain upon Lihuo City, should not have appeared here—especially at such a critical moment, when he had been stripped of his position as heir while his younger brother had just inherited it!

More importantly, today was City Lord Li Yanfeng's wedding day. On such a joyous occasion, a figure like a rat crossing the street had walked into the center of attention. To put it bluntly, it was like a lump of shit crashing onto the Wind-Listening Platform.

For a time, the murmurs of the crowd buzzed like flies around the ears.

"What is he doing here? Does he not have a brain?"

"What proper thing could you possibly expect someone like him to do?"

"The City Lord must be furious. Today is his wedding day. Luckily, Li Tianming's sickly crippled mother did not come."

"Someone should hurry up there and drag him away."

In everyone's eyes, Li Tianming seemed to have become a man stripped of his heirship, heartbroken to the point of losing his mind.

But they had underestimated Li Tianming.

He had not come today for the position of heir at all. He held no attachment whatsoever to that position, nor to all of Lihuo City.

When he raised his head, Li Yanfeng had already turned around. He narrowed his eyes, and in the next instant, a terrifying aura crushed down upon Li Tianming.

Before his eyes, Li Yanfeng seemed to transform directly into a colossal beast that blotted out the sky and covered the earth, looking down at him coldly from on high.

If this had been more than ten days ago, Li Tianming would likely have collapsed flat onto the ground, finding even the slightest movement difficult.

But now, he was the beastmaster of the Primordial Chaos Giant Beast. When it came to pressure from sheer presence, no matter how strong his opponent was, the nobility in his bloodline still allowed him to endure it. Even if the road ahead was like a swamp, he persevered until he stood before Li Yanfeng!

"Have you gone mad? Someone, hurry and drive him down! Even beggars have come running here now." Li Zifeng's face darkened. He was about to receive the Yanhuang Order, and naturally his mood soured when he was interrupted at such a moment.

At Li Zifeng's command, quite a few guards immediately stepped forward, including Ma Chaoyuan, who was drenched in sweat, since he was the gatekeeper today.

But with a wave of Li Yanfeng's hand, the guards retreated. He was a man who valued face above all else. Since Li Tianming had already appeared, having him dragged away would be too ugly.

Though Li Yanfeng appeared gentle and amiable, Li Tianming understood him. The more mild he acted, the more it showed just how deeply he loathed Li Tianming at this moment.

"Just rest and recover in peace. What are you doing here? Zi Feng has such a promising future ahead of him. As his elder brother, you can choose to support him." When Li Yanfeng spoke, the entire venue fell so quiet that not even a whisper could be heard.

At least before so many people, he could not appear too biased.

"Zi Feng is quite good. He has great talent in cultivation, stronger than I was back then. But before he receives the Yanhuang Order, I want to give him one more test." Li Tianming's tone was calm. He had not lost his mind and become hysterical as people had imagined.

Father and son spoke as equals, hidden currents surging beneath the surface. Yet at least they had not torn off all pretense and made the scene unbearably ugly, turning it into a laughingstock.

Today was a joyous day, and face was what mattered most. There were even friends from other cities, from the Flame Capital, and even from Thunder Lord Manor in the Wind-Listening Tower.

"Li Tianming, what kind of joke are you making? You're just a lump of mud, and you want to add a test for me?" Li Zifeng grew anxious. In the middle of his moment of glory, a lump of shit had suddenly come crashing down. It was an awful experience.

"On such a joyous day, watch your language. Are you so afraid because you're worried you can't pass my test?" Li Tianming asked with a smile.

Honestly, it was difficult to imagine them speaking with such mindsets under such contrasting circumstances. The one who should have been calm as drifting clouds and gentle wind ought to have been Li Zifeng, while Li Tianming should have been weeping bitterly.

"Stop making trouble. Go back and rest." When Li Yanfeng said this, it actually meant he had run out of patience. His expression remained mild, but his gaze was exceedingly dangerous.

This was a warning. If Li Tianming continued causing trouble, then he could only sacrifice a little face. After all, Li Tianming's identity was special. If he chose to fight until the fish died and the net broke, he could always leave Li Yanfeng without face.

He had not expected this mother and son to be so oblivious to good and evil. He had already given them a chance to leave safely.

"I'm not joking with you. I'm still under twenty years old, and I still meet the participation rules for the Yanhuang Academy Selection. The rules never say that because I received the Yanhuang Order four years ago, I cannot receive it again today!" Li Tianming stared straight into Li Yanfeng's dangerous eyes and, before the masses, firmly and clearly stated his true purpose!

The moment those words came out, they caused a stir—followed, of course, by merciless sneers.

"This child has gone completely mad after suffering so many blows," Zhao Ding, commander of the city guards, said.

"He's lost his mind now, hasn't he? Your people actually let him in. This is going to be troublesome," Gao Qingyuan, an instructor from Lihuo Academy, said.

"I'd say he wants to die, so he came to take revenge on the City Lord."

"What an ungrateful wretch. Has he forgotten who raised him? What happened at Yanhuang Academy was because he drugged someone and committed a beastly act himself. Who can he blame?"

For a moment, discussion erupted everywhere. People felt that Li Tianming had achieved his aim—he had indeed put Li Yanfeng in an awkward position.

Everyone knew just how much Li Yanfeng valued his reputation!

The only one who could still laugh was Li Zifeng. He froze for a moment after hearing this, then threw back his head in laughter. "Brother Tianming, do you want to challenge me with the body of a mortal, let me kill you, and allow you to die with a little honor?"

"Do you dare accept my challenge?" Li Tianming asked.

"Of course I have no problem with it. But you aren't a child anymore. After you lose, you're not allowed to throw a tantrum and roll around on the Wind-Listening Platform!" Li Zifeng knew the current situation was somewhat awkward, and that it was not easy for his father to handle.

So after speaking, he hurriedly said to Li Yanfeng, "Father, don't worry. I won't kill him. Let me symbolically defeat him, then drag him away. Since he's targeting me, it's more appropriate for me to act."

He believed that handling it this way would help ease his father's burden. After all, if his father or someone else dragged Li Tianming away, it would always give outsiders a sense of "unfairness."

"Mind your limits." Li Yanfeng naturally did not want this trouble to grow any larger. Given the difference in their strength, Li Zifeng could easily subdue him, knock him unconscious, and take him away.

His lifebound beast was dead, and nearly all his Beast Essence had leaked away. How could a mere mortal defeat a beastmaster at the Seventh Layer of Beast Pulse Realm!

After saying that, Li Yanfeng did not spare Li Tianming another glance. With a leap, he flew up to the Wind-Listening Tower and smiled at the guests. "Everyone, I have truly made a fool of myself. You have all heard what happened to my son. It is truly a family scandal that I dare not spread abroad."

"City Lord Li need not feel embarrassed. Every family has a scripture that is difficult to recite. This child does not understand the City Lord's painstaking intentions and has come out to make trouble. We parents have truly done all we can," said an important figure from the Flame Capital.

"Fortunately, Zi Feng has turned out rather well. My lord, let Zi Feng deal with it. He will make Tianming understand that turning back is the shore," said Lady Mo, Li Yanfeng's second wife.

As for Lady Huang, she knew that Li Tianming had recovered some of his strength. But since she had not spoken of it at the beginning, it was even less possible for her to say anything now.

"Liu Qing?" After Li Yanfeng took his seat, he noticed that his newlywed wife was watching the Wind-Listening Platform, seemingly quite interested.

"Brother Feng, though your eldest son is said to have lost his lifebound beast, his bearing and manner of speech do not seem quite so unbearable." A crystalline light flickered in Liu Qing's beautiful eyes.

"He's merely pretending to be calm. I understand him." It was as though volcanic magma churned in Li Yanfeng's belly. The fury throughout his body was simply hidden beneath his refined and courteous exterior.

"Brother Feng, there's no need to be angry. Just treat it as watching a show. Everyone knows what this child did. No one will use this to gossip about you," Liu Qing said softly.

"You understand me best." Li Yanfeng narrowed his eyes as he watched the scene below.

As expected, the two sons were now like the point of a needle against the tip of an awl.