Dust Realm Sub-Lord

"You're... Zhang Yuan."

The White-Robed Girl looked him over from head to toe, then called out Zhang Yuan's name.

Zhang Yuan was surprised. "You know me?"

A flicker passed through the White-Robed Girl's bright eyes.

He doesn't recognize me?

Oh, of course he doesn't. He certainly wouldn't recognize me.

"Of course I do. The Bian Kingdom's Third Princess's Consort—who in the Capital City doesn't know you?" the White-Robed Girl said with a cold laugh.

Understanding dawned on Zhang Yuan.

As the only fool in the entire Capital City, now married to the Bian Kingdom's Third Princess, his name had surely spread far and wide among the Inner City's aristocratic clans.

So this was what it meant to have a far-reaching reputation.

Then the White-Robed Girl added, "Not only that, I also know that the Princess's Consort is betrothed to a daughter of the Eastern Bian Li Clan."

Zhang Yuan frowned and quietly retreated two steps, putting Xiao Yuanjun in front of him as a shield.

"Who are you?" Zhang Yuan demanded.

Aside from himself, only the Li descendants in Cloud Province City knew about his betrothal to a daughter of the Eastern Bian Li Clan.

The White-Robed Girl before him belonged to the Eastern Bian Li Clan.

"Li Huixi of the Eastern Bian Li Clan."

Li Huixi answered with a smile, introducing himself.

Li Huixi? Why didn't I hear of anyone by that name at the Li Residence? Could he be someone's illegitimate child too, like Li Zhongshuang?

Zhang Yuan pondered inwardly, his gaze involuntarily drifting above Li Huixi's head to inspect his tags.

An extraordinarily radiant tag, shimmering with seven colors, came into view.

[Dust Realm Sub-Lord].

A multicolored tag!

Zhang Yuan was stunned. This was the first multicolored tag he had ever seen. Even Xiao Yuanjun's [Greatest Qi Refiner of All Time] was only gold. If something of that caliber could not qualify as multicolored, just how rare were multicolored tags?

It seemed Li Huixi was no illegitimate child, but a true prodigy the Eastern Bian Li Clan had kept hidden.

Still, what did [Dust Realm Sub-Lord] mean? Did it represent aptitude or comprehension?

Zhang Yuan sank into thought. Li Huixi had only this one tag, leaving him no other tags from which to deduce the meaning of [Dust Realm Sub-Lord].

Li Huixi asked with a smile, "May I ask when the Princess's Consort intends to marry into our Li Clan? Surely you don't mean to make our Li Clan Daughter come after the Third Princess?"

"I've never even met that Li Clan Daughter, and the betrothal was forced on me. How could such a betrothal count?" Zhang Yuan said.

He and the Eastern Bian Li Clan were mortal enemies, yet they expected him to return and marry the Li Clan Daughter? They certainly had some beautiful dreams.

"The Marriage Contract stands as proof. How could it not count?" Li Huixi countered.

"If I say it doesn't count, it doesn't count. A little brat like you should stay out of grown-up affairs," Zhang Yuan declared, his words firm enough to chop nails and cut iron.

An official one rank higher could crush a man to death, and an adult was clearly one rank above a child.

This youngster clearly knew nothing of worldly affairs or how badly the Eastern Bian Li Clan had harmed him. He could not be bothered to argue seriously with him.

"Who do you think you are? You say it doesn't count, so it doesn't? I say it counts, so it counts!" Li Huixi said.

The corner of Zhang Yuan's mouth twitched.

He had to admit, Li Huixi's manners were truly appalling—the worst of any aristocratic clan descendant he had met.

"Fine, fine, fine. Everything you say is right." Zhang Yuan chuckled, brushing him off.

He had come for the [Iron Chain Baleful Force], not to argue with Li Huixi over whether the betrothal counted.

Li Huixi clearly refused to accept that, but since Zhang Yuan had already said he was right, he could find no retort. After racking his brains, he could only swallow his anger.

"You're here for the [Iron Chain Baleful Force] too? I can tell you that the Eastern Bian Li Clan has already reserved it. You won't get it," Li Huixi said.

Zhang Yuan raised an eyebrow. "Reserved it? Does your Eastern Bian Li Clan really carry that much weight? As I see it, you fall short of the Western Bian Chu."

Hearing Zhang Yuan belittle the Eastern Bian Li Clan, Li Huixi merely smiled calmly and pointed toward Li Jiejian in the distance, who stood like a crane among chickens amid the aristocratic clan descendants.

"Do you know why the Capital City's aristocratic clan descendants now all gather around our Eastern Bian Li Clan?" Li Huixi asked.

Zhang Yuan shook his head.

He had already been puzzled by that. Whether in reach of influence or lineage strength, the Western Bian Chu seemed stronger in every way. So why was the Western Bian Chu revolving around the Eastern Bian Li Clan instead?

"There's no other reason. It's simply because our Li Clan's True Lord has graced the Bian Kingdom's Capital City with his presence," Li Huixi explained.

The Eastern Bian Li Clan's True Lord has come to the Capital City?

This Li Huixi might be young, but he knows quite a lot.

Zhang Yuan's eyes lit up, and he immediately pressed further. "Hasn't the Western Bian Chu sent a True Lord to the Capital City? As far as I know, the Western Bian Chu has three True Lords."

"The Chu Clan naturally has a True Lord here as well. As for your question, all I can say is that even among True Lords, there are differences," Li Huixi said.

Even among True Lords, there are differences.

The little brat certainly knows how to put on airs.

Having learned what he wanted to know, Zhang Yuan's mood brightened considerably. He offered sincere praise. "You really do know a lot."

Both the Eastern Bian Li Clan and the Western Bian Chu had True Lords in the capital.

That would greatly reduce the Bian Empress's chances of victory.

"You don't need to tell me that," Li Huixi said, folding his arms across his chest.

Zhang Yuan continued, "In that case, do you know where the Western Bian Chu's Golden Core True Lord is?"

Heaven truly never cut off every path.

He had been ready to stake everything on the Bian Empress winning. Who would have thought that the moment he came out, he would encounter Li Huixi sharing intelligence?

Fate was truly wondrous beyond words. Or did he really possess such deep fortune predestination?

"I do. At the Chu Residence in the Inner City. Why are you looking for the Chu Clan's True Lord? If you need something, you'd be better off going to our Li Clan's True Lord," Li Huixi said, seemingly without any guile, answering whatever he was asked.

"Nothing in particular. Just asking," Zhang Yuan said casually, fobbing him off.

Go find the Li Clan's True Lord? Go there to die?

If he knew where the Li Clan's True Lord was, he would make sure to run far, far away.

"Zhang Yuan, stop chatting. Your master has already calculated the karma of the [Iron Chain Baleful Force]. Let me seize it for you."

At that moment, Xiao Yuanjun, who had remained silent while deducing karma beside them, interrupted their conversation.

Li Huixi glanced sideways at Xiao Yuanjun and asked, "Is this your master?"

"Indeed, she is my honored master," Zhang Yuan said.

Li Huixi nodded. "Mm, quite young. She has hope of becoming a Heavenly Being."

Having reached perfection in qi refining at eighteen, she might well break Dongfang Caibai's record and become the youngest Foundation-Building Heavenly Being in the Bian Kingdom's history.

In recent years, aside from the Eastern Bian Li Clan, talented people had emerged one after another among both the great aristocratic clans and the countryside's rogue cultivators, with prodigies rising together.

Zhang Yuan did not object, nodding in agreement.

Xiao Yuanjun had two gold tags, one of which was [Greatest Qi Refiner of All Time]. If she could not attain the rank of Foundation-Building Heavenly Being, who under heaven could?

Saying she had hope of becoming a Heavenly Being was quite right, but whether Xiao Yuanjun was young deserved a question mark.

Even if Xiao Yuanjun was not an old immortal who had returned to youth, her tenth-turn qi refinement cultivation in the Gang Sha Path must have required several decades of Daoist attainment, surely?

Zhang Yuan had only recently become a cultivator, and his thinking remained that of a typical mortal.

Several decades of Daoist attainment might count as young to a cultivator, but in the mortal world, that meant being past fifty, with one foot already in the grave.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, a deafening crash resounded from the center of the crowd.

Its tremendous force was like a thunderclap, accompanied by repeated sounds of chains being dragged taut. Even at the edge of the crowd, Zhang Yuan found it deafening and piercing to the ears.

Something was burrowing up from underground!