Both men's hearts tightened in unison.
"The skies over the south are about to change."
Cui Yuan's voice was quiet, but to Lin Chiyan and Qu Zhengxin, it struck like thunder out of a clear sky.
Cui Yuan raised his eyes and swept an impassive gaze over them.
"I have decided to lead the entire Cui Family into the service of the Marquis of Chu."
He paused, his tone utterly level.
"The whole of Chu Province will be my calling card to the Marquis of Chu."
At those words.
Lin Chiyan's hand jolted violently around his teacup. Scalding tea splashed onto the back of his hand, but he never even noticed.
Qu Zhengxin sprang to his feet.
His wrinkle-covered face was now filled with boundless fury.
"Elder Cui, surely you're joking?!"
Even Qu Zhengxin's voice had changed pitch.
Serve the Marquis of Chu?
Li Xinge?
Others might not know what had happened, but how could the Qu Family not know?
Back then, the Gongsun Clan and the Qu Clan had sought to seize Tai Prefecture.
In the end, both clans' Divine Mansion Realm cultivators had fallen at the Devil Master's hands.
That left the Qu Family with no publicly known Divine Mansion Realm cultivator to hold the fort.
The Cui and Lin families had joined forces to suppress them.
Then Li Xinge had stepped forward as the head of the Li Family and lent the Qu Family a helping hand.
The Qu Family had been profoundly grateful to Li Xinge.
But what had it all come to?
The Devil Master was Li Xinge!
Li Xinge was the Devil Master!
The Qu Family, an ancient lineage passed down for thousands of years, had been toyed with in the palm of Li Xinge's hand.
They had been reduced to utter clowns, a