I Won't Be a Man Until I Kill You

After entering through the castle's back gate, Dongbo Xueying returned to his room in the main keep like a phantom. He set down the Flying Snow Divine Spear, then hurried downstairs to the living room.

Inside the living room.

Zong Ling was entertaining Lord Si An.

"It's only been a month, and there's already a Mage Tower on Snow Stone Mountain!" Lord Si An said, holding a cup of hot tea. "The mightiest knights and mages in Yi Water City have all gathered on Snow Stone Mountain."

"It's only Yi Water City. Compared with some of the powerful experts out in the wider world, it's nothing," Zong Ling said with a smile.

Whoosh.

A gust of wind swept through as a boy in black strode in.

Lord Si An turned to look. His eyes lit up, and he immediately stood, smiling. "My lord."

"Lord Si An," Dongbo Xueying said quickly. "There's no need to stand on ceremony. Please, sit."

Once they were seated, Dongbo Xueying immediately asked, "Lord Si An, about my parents..."

"You should have faith in Dragon Mountain Tower's intelligence network. It's the best in the world," Lord Si An said. "But I must warn you to stay calm."

"Stay calm?" Dongbo Xueying's heart sank. Beside him, Zong Ling's expression changed as well.

"Please, go on," Dongbo Xueying said, keeping his expression calm.

Lord Si An knew that the young lord couldn't possibly be calm inside. He sighed to himself and got straight to the point. "Your mother is doing all right. She's a direct descendant of the Moyang Clan, and her elder brother, Mo Yangchen, is the youngest Silver Moon Rank grand mage in the clan. So your mother has only been confined to a forbidden place in the Moyang Clan called Thunder Tide Cliff. She's a little lonely, but she has everything she needs and can devote herself to studying magic. I heard she even advanced to Meteor Rank grand mage."

"A Yu has always been gifted. It's no surprise she was the first of us to reach Meteor Rank," Zong Ling said with a slight nod.

"What about my father?" Dongbo Xueying asked anxiously.

If his mother was all right, did that mean his father was the one in trouble?

"Your father..." Lord Si An hesitated. "Back then, your mother fled the clan because she refused to accept the marriage they'd arranged for her. The Moyang Clan later chose another talented girl from the direct line and married her off instead. That girl's father was named Moyang Chenbai. He couldn't protect his daughter back then, and he never got over it. After she was married off, he spent twenty years cultivating and has now reached Silver Moon Knight. With the help of the clan's Alchemy Armor, he can wield Title-level strength. We at Dragon Mountain Tower even gave him a Bronze Token!"

"Moyang Chenbai has always resented what happened back then, and he hates your mother. He believes that because your mother ran away, his daughter was forced to marry an old man," Lord Si An explained.

"How can you blame my mother for that? After she fled, wasn't it the Moyang Clan's leaders who married his daughter off?" Dongbo Xueying snapped.

"He doesn't dare challenge the clan chief's authority, so he takes his anger out on your mother," Lord Si An said. "Your mother has your uncle's protection, and she's confined at Thunder Tide Cliff, so he can't do anything to her. But your father is serving penal labor... So Moyang Chenbai has been venting his hatred on him."

Dongbo Xueying's face had turned livid. His fingers dug into the armrest, pressing into the wood.

"Your father was sentenced to a hundred years of penal labor at the Moyang Clan's Alchemy Workshop at Dongxiang Lake, where he has to do exhausting, menial work. Moyang Chenbai often arranges for people to torment your father. He even has the mages at the workshop heal him again and again, so he won't die," Lord Si An said. "Without those repeated treatments, your father probably wouldn't have lasted three years at the workshop."

Crack!

The armrest Dongbo Xueying gripped finally burst apart in his hand. His eyes blazed with murderous fury. "Damn him! Damn him!"

In his memories, his father stood as tall and imposing as a mountain...

The father who had trained him harshly, and the father who had doted on him...

"Moyang Chenbai! Moyang Clan!" Dongbo Xueying's blood surged through his body, and a savage aura rose from him.

Zong Ling was furious too, his face dark.

Lord Si An had said it briefly—

But they both understood. Penal labor was torment enough, and Moyang Chenbai had gone out of his way to have people torment Dongbo Lie. Even with Dongbo Lie's body as a Heaven-Rank Knight, he couldn't endure it without mages repeatedly healing him?

Dongbo Xueying's chest burned with rage, his fury churning inside him.

"Moyang Chenbai, I swear I won't be a man until I kill you!" Dongbo Xueying seethed with murderous intent. But with an outsider present, he wouldn't shout those words aloud.

Shouting would do no good.

He had to act!

"What about the Moyang Clan? What about Mo Yangchen? They just watched him torment my father?" Dongbo Xueying asked.

"The Moyang Clan doesn't care whether your father lives or dies. As for Mo Yangchen, he did ask people to look after your father, but it was no use. For one thing, Mo Yangchen has to devote himself to studying magic. For another, Moyang Chenbai has a Bronze Token, so his standing in the clan is in no way inferior to Mo Yangchen's. Besides, he specifically sends people to torment your father. Mo Yangchen can't protect him every moment," Lord Si An said.

"What's more, Mo Yangchen cares about his sister. He doesn't feel anything for your father."

Dongbo Xueying gritted his teeth as he listened.

He understood.

He understood all of it.

But he still hated them. He couldn't accept it.

"How can I save my parents?" Dongbo Xueying asked urgently.

"According to what we've learned, the Moyang Clan enforces its rules with extreme strictness. No one can defy them. Your mother is confined in a forbidden place, and your father is at the clan's Alchemy Workshop at Dongxiang Lake. Outsiders can't get in, and there's no way to rescue your father," Lord Si An said. "There's no hope of finding a way around it."

"What if I don't try to find a way around it?" Dongbo Xueying asked.

"The simplest way, relatively speaking, is to secure an Honorary Marquis title for your father," Lord Si An said. "A marquis holds an extremely high status. Even extraordinary beings can't arrest one as they please! The Moyang Clan's Pseudo-Transcendence couldn't bear the consequences of imprisoning or killing a marquis!"

A marquis.

It was a rather special title.

Titles below marquis, such as count and baron, could be bought easily with money. But a marquis title couldn't be bought, and marquises were extremely rare.

Normally, a family could only obtain one when an extraordinary life was born into it. The extraordinary life could designate one family member to receive the marquis title, which could be inherited for a thousand years. After that, it would naturally be demoted to a count's title.

So...

Generally speaking, a marquis represented the nominal head of an extraordinary family. As for the extraordinary expert himself, he no longer needed a title.

That was why marquises could not be imprisoned or killed. A Pseudo-Transcendence had no authority to do so. Even a true extraordinary being would pay a steep price for it.

An Honorary Marquis title could not be inherited. It was generally awarded to those who had rendered great service to the Empire. Its holder had nearly the same authority as an hereditary marquis; the only difference was that the title could not be passed down.

"If your father becomes an Honorary Marquis, your mother will become a marquis's wife. Then the Moyang Clan will have to stop all punishment at once. They'll have to end her confinement and his penal labor, and they won't be able to offend them in the slightest," Lord Si An said.

"How can I obtain an Honorary Marquis title?" Dongbo Xueying asked quickly.