The crowd in the square parted like flowing water. Then, a group clad in Yao Clan robes slowly entered. Strange and faintly disdainful gazes continually swept back and forth over Old Yao. At their head was an elderly man with a somewhat gloomy face and thin lips like knife blades. This man was Yao Wangui, the Yao Clan elder Xiao Yan had encountered outside the Demonic Flame Space years ago—the one who oversaw punishment within the Yao Clan and bore deep grudges against Old Yao.
"Yao Chen? Tch, isn't he just a useless wretch expelled from our Yao Clan?"
"You're already this old, yet instead of quietly staying put, you insist on coming to the Yao Clan to humiliate yourself."
"Exactly. Hehe, Elder, with your status, what is there to say to a discarded man like him?"
Having heard Yao Wangui's earlier words, those surrounding him understood that he held an extreme dislike for Xiao Yan and Old Yao. At once, flattering bootlicking rose one after another. Within the Yao Clan, Yao Wangui held an exceptionally high position. If one could earn his favor, their own standing in the clan would soar accordingly. Thus, there had never been any shortage of such people around him.
Yao Wangui greatly enjoyed this rather unusual sensation of being fawned over by the masses. Therefore, wherever he went within the clan, he was always followed by a large group of flatterers. Some of them did not even know the people they mocked, but they were skilled at reading expressions. So long as Yao Wangui looked displeased, they naturally would not hold their tongues. Besides, within the Yao Clan, could anyone truly dare do anything to them?
As these people showed no mercy with their words, the looks they cast toward Xiao Yan and Old