Marriage

Jiang Mingxuan's expression turned horrified. He lowered his head in disbelief to look at the broken half of the sword in his hand and muttered, "I lost? How could that be?"

No wonder he was so shocked. Su Chen's Sevenfold Waves of One Sword had contained a full seven layers of power, each layer more tyrannical than the last!

Only because Jiang Mingxuan was at the Ninth Layer of the Qi-Attraction Realm and had used a Yellow Grade Middle Tier sword technique had he been able to receive all seven layers of power without injury!

But even so, the longsword in Jiang Mingxuan's hand could not withstand the impact of all seven layers of power and was sliced cleanly in two.

Jiang Mingxuan's heart had suffered an enormous blow as well. He simply could not accept the reality of being defeated by Su Chen across an entire realm.

In contrast, Su Chen showed no joy after defeating Jiang Mingxuan. He merely frowned and muttered to himself, "My cultivation is still too low!"

Merely cutting off Jiang Mingxuan's sword was still not enough to satisfy Su Chen.

The Sevenfold Waves of One Sword was already immensely powerful, but restricted by Su Chen's Eighth Layer of the Qi-Attraction Realm cultivation, the power this martial technique could unleash remained limited.

Su Chen knew that his next step should be to raise his cultivation as quickly as possible.

Still, Su Chen also knew that defeating Jiang Mingxuan across a full realm and severing his sword was already an utterly astonishing achievement.

"Xiao Chen!"

Xu Yin had watched the entire match from the sidelines, her heart pounding in fear all along, terrified that Su Chen might be hurt. Now that the duel had finally ended, she hurried over in several quick strides, grabbed Su Chen by the shoulders, and carefully inspected him from head to toe for injuries.

Only after confirming that Su Chen was unharmed did Xu Yin let out a breath of relief. She lifted her head and smiled at him, pride shining in her eyes. "Xiao Chen, you've given your aunt such a wonderful surprise!"

Although Xu Yin was a martial artist, she was ultimately still a woman. At first, she had not thought so far ahead regarding Su Chen. As long as he was safe and sound—

—then it did not matter even if Su Chen remained an ordinary person.

But Su Chen had consecutively defeated Jiang Minghao and Jiang Mingxuan in the match just now. That stunning performance forced Xu Yin to begin reassessing her nephew.

At this moment, in Xu Yin's eyes, Su Chen seemed to have unknowingly taken on a veil of mystery.

"Su Chen, thank you!" Jiang Tingyi followed behind Xu Yin and spoke softly. Though her voice was faint, Su Chen heard her clearly.

Su Chen smiled faintly, but his gaze shot toward Jiang Shan in the distance. "The wager we agreed on earlier can be honored now, can't it?"

At that moment, Jiang Shan's expression was truly a spectacle—iron gray streaked with blue, blue tinged with green. His eyes were so gloomy that water seemed ready to drip from them as he said in a low voice, "Good. Very good, boy!"

Even if Jiang Shan had been given a hundred chances beforehand, he never would have predicted that his pride and joy, Jiang Mingxuan, would be defeated across a realm by a mere Eighth Layer Qi-Attraction Realm brat!

Yet Su Chen completely ignored Jiang Shan's murderous gaze and said calmly, "I trust that the head of the Jiang Family would not be someone who goes back on his word. Besides, it is only a small wager."

Was that a small wager?

That was a full thousand Lesser Origin Pills!

Jiang Shan forcibly suppressed the urge to curse. Though his heart was bleeding, he still instructed the servant beside him in a deep voice, "Give them to him!"

"What?" Jiang He was greatly alarmed and hurriedly stopped him. "Big Brother, how can we really give them to them?"

That was a full thousand Lesser Origin Pills, equivalent to the combined two-year allocation of the first branch and third branch!

Giving such a massive amount of Lesser Origin Pills to the second branch would leave both the first and third branches severely weakened!

"Shut up!" Jiang Shan's face darkened. "Give them to him. Do not delay the important matter that comes next!"

Hearing this, Jiang He could only close his mouth unwillingly.

It seemed that the important matter Jiang Shan spoke of was extremely significant to the two of them.

Not far away, Su Chen took in every word of their conversation, yet his expression remained indifferent, without the slightest ripple. ??

Before long, Jiang Shan's servant ran back and reported, "First Master, there are nowhere near a thousand Lesser Origin Pills in the storehouse."

Jiang Shan looked at Su Chen. "You heard him as well. Gathering a thousand Lesser Origin Pills will be somewhat difficult. We will need some time."

"Three days," Su Chen said.

Jiang Shan nearly ground his teeth to pieces, but in order not to delay the important matter ahead, he could only say, "Three days it is."

At Su Chen's request, Jiang Shan wrote out an IOU on the spot, clearly stating that the first and third branches would gather one thousand Lesser Origin Pills within three days and deliver them to the second branch.

With the written note in hand, there was no need to fear Jiang Shan and Jiang He reneging on the debt.

It had to be said that Jiang Shan was deeply calculating. Just moments ago, his face had been livid and his heart had felt as though it were being carved apart, but now he had already swiftly regained his normal expression, as if the person who had lost a thousand Lesser Origin Pills was not him at all.

Even Su Chen admired such endurance.

Compared with him, Jiang He was clearly far less composed. Having lost a thousand Lesser Origin Pills for nothing, all his fury and distress were written plainly across his face.

Su Chen had to admit that seeing Jiang He's expression—as though he had swallowed a fly and become constipated—was quite satisfying.

However, when Su Chen thought of the "important matter" Jiang Shan and Jiang He were about to discuss, he already had some guesses.

But in his previous life, this matter had not come so quickly. It had only happened some time after the clan assembly.

It seemed that some changes had occurred in this life. Perhaps those changes were related to his rebirth as well.

Perhaps more and more events would change in the future.

Jiang Shan cleared his throat, his face having already returned to its earlier calm. "Next, the second matter of today's clan assembly!"

As he spoke, Jiang Shan paused briefly and glanced at Xu Yin, his gaze carrying a trace of imperceptible chill.

Xu Yin's heart jolted, and a sudden sense of foreboding rose within her.

She could not explain why she felt this way. Could the second matter Jiang Shan intended to mention have something to do with her?

"Second Sister-in-law, Tingyi is fifteen this year. She is already a young lady," Jiang Shan said, yet instead of getting to the point, he appeared to be making casual conversation with Xu Yin.

However, those casual words set alarm bells ringing in Xu Yin's heart. She abruptly raised her head and stared at Jiang Shan in disbelief.

Jiang Shan chuckled, as though none of the conflict between them had ever happened, and said with great warmth, "Tingyi has reached the age for betrothal. A few days ago, Third Brother and I arranged a marriage for Tingyi. Since we are gathered for this clan assembly, we might as well let you know."

"Betrothal? You arranged a betrothal for Tingyi?"

Xu Yin was utterly shocked and blurted out, "Who is the other party?"

Jiang He, standing beside them, had already grown impatient. He quickly cut in, "The other party is Wang Sheng of the Wang Family! The Wang Family will come to present the betrothal gifts in three days!"

The words had barely left his mouth.

Smash!

The crisp sound of a teacup shattering suddenly rang out.

Jiang Tingyi had been so utterly horrified that the teacup in her hand slipped directly to the ground and shattered!