These four words struck like a drop of water falling into a pot of boiling oil.
Unlike the latter, which sent scalding oil splashing in every direction, the former made the whole place go instantly silent! The silence lasted only a brief moment before a hot-tempered man stepped forward. "What do you mean by that, National Teacher? Are you mocking us as a rabble?"
There was a hint of threat in his voice.
He knew the National Teacher was sinister and powerful, but that didn't mean the man could sneer right in their faces and trample their dignity underfoot. If they swallowed this insult—being called "a rabble"—without a word today, how could they ever show their faces again?
The man known as the National Teacher only laughed.
"You don't even understand what 'rabble' means? Do I have to explain it to you myself?" The man's hair was silver-white, and his voice was as aged as an eighty-year-old's, yet his face was extraordinarily youthful. Judging by his appearance alone, he looked no older than twenty-five or twenty-six.
Those words only further inflamed the other man's anger.
"Y-you old bastard, you've gone too far!"
He was so furious he could barely speak without trembling.
Driven by rage, he whipped out his sword and pointed its edge at the National Teacher. His face dark with fury, he shouted, "I don't care who you are. Only blood can wash away today's humiliation. Do you dare?"
Then he glanced around, his gaze passing over Wu Xian.
He saw that the lord he and his Lineage had served with unwavering loyalty for years was merely standing by, making no move to stop the affair or calm anyone down. His heart sank to the bottom, as if he'd fallen into an icy pit, chilling him to the