Tavern Conflict

Li Yating!

A beautiful, valiant young woman faintly appeared in Li Ye's mind. Li Yue was a cousin relatively close to him in kinship, while Li Yating was likewise a Li Family descendant and his older female cousin.

Whether Li Yue or Li Yating, both were among the most outstanding descendants of the Li Family's generation. But Li Yue was male and the eldest elder's grandson, whereas Li Yating was female and did not have as powerful a backing within the family as Li Yue. Yet her talent surpassed his by a notch!

"No, no, Brother Li has misunderstood what I meant. It's just that we all know that woman is no easy person to provoke. Everyone should still remember what happened three years ago, right?"

The moment Yu Wen Tianhua finished speaking, Wu Wenhao and Li Yue both stiffened, a trace of fear flashing rapidly through their eyes.

That amused Li Ye, who had been watching them from a corner. Of course he knew what had happened three years ago. He had even been one of those involved!

"Hmph! Times have changed! Even if she comes back, I won't fear her!"

Li Yue said in a deep voice, though there was a distinct note of forcing himself to be brave in his tone.

"Come to think of it, I wonder how that trash from three years ago is doing now. After that incident, it seemed no one ever saw him again. Could it be that he knew he had no face to remain in Wuzhou City and scrammed?"

Wu Wenhao suddenly spoke with a strange expression, leaving Yu Wen Tianhua and Li Yue both slightly stunned.

"You mean... that trash?"

Yu Wen Tianhua's expression became even stranger.

"Who else could it be?" Wu Wenhao shrugged, his gaze flicking faintly toward Li Yue beside him.

"Hmph! What face would that kind of trash have to return to the Lineage? He probably starved to death on the streets long ago! Hmph!"

Li Ye's gaze turned slightly cold in the distance. Naturally, he knew exactly who the three of them were talking about!

"You can't put it quite that way. Though that trash is worthless, he is still that man's son. What a pity. They say a tiger father has no dog son, yet what a pity for a peerless genius of a generation—the most outstanding person in your Li Family's history actually brought back such a trash son. I truly don't know why your Lineage gave that man the position of patriarch back then. Though he was powerful, he never took the family to heart, and his son turned out to be such trash! It would have been better to let Brother Li's father become patriarch!"

Li Yue's expression grew even colder. He had heard quite a bit about the Li Family's affairs back then from the elders, and resentment had long taken root in his heart!

"So what! That man was called the family's number one genius back then, but who knew whether it was all an empty reputation? One day, this young master will surpass him! As for that trash! Hehe! If he appeared before this young master now, I truly would like to humiliate him properly! That bitch protected him back then! If that trash dares return to the Lineage this time, I'll at least break one of his legs!"

The malice in his words made it sound as though he were not speaking of a brother from the same clan, but of a lowly slave!

"Whose leg did you say you were going to break?"

At that moment, an icy voice sounded from one side, making the three, who had acted as if no one else existed, pause in surprise.

Turning toward the source of the voice, Li Yue's gaze immediately narrowed! Yu Wen Tianhua and Wu Wenhao were clearly taken aback as well, but they swiftly exchanged a glance, mockery gleaming in both their eyes.

Speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao arrives!

"Trash, you still dare appear before this young master?!"

There was a viciousness in Li Yue's eyes that did not match his age, and the one speaking was Li Ye. He had not wanted to stir up trouble at this time, but these three had gone too far. Not only had they insulted his father, who was missing somewhere beyond, word after word calling him trash, but they had even threatened to break his leg?

"Li Yue, who did you just say you were going to break the leg of?"

Li Ye's gaze was cold. He was no longer the weak-tempered youth abandoned by the Lineage. They had insulted him so brazenly—if he could still endure it, could he even be called a man?!

"Say that again if you've got the guts?!"

Li Ye had never been someone who lost his composure easily, but neither was he a saint who could remain calm after being humiliated like this.

At this moment, the entire tavern fell silent, its formerly bustling atmosphere instantly vanishing due to his appearance. Every gaze turned in this direction. Quite a few people recognized this audacious youth at once, after all, the Li Family incident back then had caused quite a stir throughout Wuzhou City.

"Isn't that the trash son of Li Kainian, the Li Family's genius from back then?"

"Yeah, wasn't that trash driven out of the Li Family a few years ago? Rumor had it that he starved to death on the streets. Who would have thought he was still alive!"

Whispers rose from the surroundings. Everyone knew that forty years ago, a peerless genius had burst forth from the Li Family, nearly overwhelming the other two Great Families and reigning over all of Wuzhou City. It was because of that man's emergence that the Li Family had leapt in one stroke to the head of the Three Great Families.

"Li Ye? You're actually still alive?"

When Li Yue saw who stood before him, he was clearly rather surprised. But he immediately sneered, his eyes full of contempt and disdain, as though he were looking at a mangy stray dog on the street. His tone was scornful, and he gave a faint snort through his nose.

"I never expected a piece of trash like you to have the nerve to show yourself. I truly feel sorry for that old ghost father of yours, giving birth to a trash son like you. You've utterly disgraced our Li Family!"

After saying that, Li Yue burst into unrestrained laughter, showing no regard whatsoever for their shared bloodline. It was as if the one standing before him was not his cousin, but a lowly beggar.

By reckoning, Li Ye and Li Yue were relatively closely related within the entire Lineage. Li Yue's grandfather, the current eldest elder, and the biological father of Li Ye's father—Li Ye's grandfather—were full brothers born of the same mother. Compared to the other descendants of the family, the two of them should have been considered of the same branch.

But clearly, in Li Yue's eyes, Li Ye was not even worth as much as a dog on the street!

"My apologies, but I'm alive and well. As for you, Li Yue, after not seeing you for a while, you've started to look a little more like a man and a dog. But your essence is still the same as before—you only know how to brag all day. If you don't brag for one day, you get so worked up you can't stand it, right?"

In the past, Li Ye would cower in fear whenever he encountered Li Family descendants. Let alone speak like this, he would not even dare raise his head. This attitude left Li Yue and the others utterly dumbfounded. Li Yue in particular, who knew Li Ye well, widened his eyes as though he could not recognize the person before him as the timid, introverted, trouble-fearing cousin from his memories. For a moment, he could not react.

Even Yu Wen Tianhua and Wu Wenhao were slightly surprised, though both soon revealed meaningful smiles.

"Didn't you say that if you saw me, you'd break my leg? I'm standing right before you now. Come on—let me see how much you've improved these past few years!"

Times had changed, and Li Ye was no longer the Li Ye of old. He was not afraid of these so-called young masters born with silver spoons in their mouths. Were they not merely relying on the bloodline inherited from their ancestors and their family backgrounds? He was a vampire, a noble of the night!

"Brother Li, it seems someone has looked down on you!"

Yu Wen Tianhua lightly waved the paper fan in his hand, looking indescribably suave and refined. But in Li Ye's eyes, he seemed so affected that it made him sick!

Especially that remark—the intention to sow discord was far too obvious, making this man's vicious mind all the more apparent.

"Shut up. What are you? Why are you butting in? Get lost!"

Li Ye's words immediately froze Yu Wen Tianhua's formerly elegant smile on his face. His eyes narrowed slightly, and a trace of ferocity flashed through them. Yet he quickly smiled again. "I am Yu Wen Tianhua of the Yu Family. This must be the Li Family's Third Young Master, Young Master Ye? Truly, hearing of you is not as good as meeting you; meeting you is even more impressive than hearing of you!"

To be treated so discourteously to his face and still remain so composed made Li Ye view him in a new light. Compared with Li Yue, whose face had already turned thoroughly livid, this young descendant of the Yu Family was clearly a notch better in scheming and temperament!

"Don't know you!"

Li Ye gave him no face whatsoever. The Three Great Families of Wuzhou City had never been allies. On the contrary, each wished to massacre the other's entire household and pull up the weeds by the roots. Yu Wen Tianhua in particular had not spoken much, but from the very beginning, he seemed to have been deliberately guiding something, whether openly or subtly.

"Brother Yu, it seems you too have been thoroughly looked down upon!"

The one who spoke was Wu Wenhao, one of the Wu Family's rising generation of geniuses. Though the three sat at one table, chatting and laughing as if their relationship were harmonious, only they themselves knew what their true relationship was.

"Hmph!"

Having his dignity brushed aside so openly, Yu Wen Tianhua's patience was indeed formidable. He did not reveal a trace of emotion, merely giving a faint snort. His expression cooled somewhat, and he said no more.

But at this moment, he and Wu Wenhao both turned their eyes toward Li Yue.

Clearly, the protagonists of this affair were not them, but the pair of Li Family brothers, Li Ye and Li Yue!

"Li Ye, you're courting death!"

Ice-cold light spilled from Li Yue's eyes. His aura rose slightly, and an oppressive force pressed directly toward Li Ye.

"What a powerful presence! Li Yue seems to have only just turned seventeen, right? Yet he's already reached the seventh level of the Spirit Martial Realm! A great family truly is a great family. At such a young age, his cultivation already rivals what ordinary people might achieve in thirty or forty years!"

There were quite a few Rogue Cultivator martial artists in the tavern. Feeling the aura emanating from Li Yue, they were all deeply shocked. On the Cloud Soaring Continent, the higher a martial cultivator's realm, the slower their cultivation progressed. Generally, reaching around Spirit Martial Tier Five by the age of twenty was already considered genius-level talent. Someone like Li Yue, who had reached the seventh level of the Spirit Martial Realm at only seventeen, could only possibly come from a family inheriting the powerful bloodline of its ancestors—and even then, he had to possess exceptional talent!

Seventeen years old, seventh level of the Spirit Martial Realm. Such strength and talent counted as outstanding even within the Li Family. Among his peers, practically no one could contend with him! That Li Haoran, Li Tianwu, and the others from before did not even qualify to carry Li Yue's shoes!