"High treason..."
"You mean you're going to wage war on Chess Mountain on charges of high treason?"
Yu Youxian looked at Li Chen as though wondering whether he was joking. Clearly, even she felt that this justification would not hold water.
But when she saw the murderous look on Li Chen's face and the sharp light gleaming in his eyes, she froze for a moment. "You're serious?"
Li Chen said, "Of course I'm serious. How could matters of war and state be a joke?"
Yu Youxian raised her head to look up at him, only to find most of his body concealed in shadow.
He sat precisely at the boundary between light and darkness, his features sharply defined as though carved by a blade. A soul-piercing edge shone in his eyes.
Yu Youxian's heart trembled involuntarily. Only then did she suddenly realize that the man before her was no longer the wandering rogue cultivator she had once known. He had grown into a regional overlord capable of standing on equal footing with her grandfather.
A man like him already stood at the pinnacle of the wards' martial world. His word carried the weight of nine bronze cauldrons, more than enough to command the livelihoods of thousands upon thousands-and even decide whether they lived or died.
Yu Youxian's expression involuntarily grew solemn as well. She asked, "Why do this all of a sudden?"
Li Chen said, "Those people at Chess Mountain have been copying my Myriad Realms Marketplace for a long time, siphoning off our profits. Until now, I've never had the time to settle accounts with them. Now that I want to begin crafting the Heavenly Hero Divine Crane, this gives me the perfect excuse to get some money out of them."
Understanding dawned on Yu Youxian.
In the end,