The great hall was so quiet that a falling pin could have been heard.
Ao Tong finished reading the contents of the Jade Slip, his expression deeply conflicted. His subordinates were even worse, their faces deathly pale as they exchanged glances.
The Imperial Lord had killed an elder of the Ying, and the Ying intended to wage war against him.
The heavens were about to change.
"Such nerve!!!"
Just then, an angry roar exploded through the great hall.
Everyone turned toward the sound and saw Zhou Yan's face livid, veins bulging at his temples. Even Murong Li beside him jumped in fright.
"What colossal, mongrel nerve!"
"The mere Ying dare question the rightful sovereign!? I say they've already signed their own death warrant!!"
"Ungrateful! Wolves with savage ambitions! Disrespectful of their sovereign! Usurpers and rebels!"
He rattled off more than a dozen insults without even pausing for breath.
"'Wage war against the Imperial Lord'? Wage war against your granny's leg!"
"Brother Zhou..." Xie Changsheng tried to interrupt.
Zhou Yan shook off Xie Changsheng's hand and kept going:
"The Ying ancestor? More like the loach ancestor! Pah! Just wait until we reach the Dragon Domain! I'll beat him to death!"
"Give him the Immortal-Binding Rope treatment! Tie him up with a bow! Show him there's always another heaven beyond the heavens!"
"Strip off his dragon scales for armor, pull out his dragon tendons for a belt, saw off his horns for wine cups..."
"Ahem!" Xie Changsheng coughed loudly. Together with an exasperated Song Chi, he grabbed Zhou Yan by either arm and dragged him back.
"All right, all right. Enough, enough. We get it, we get it..."
Ao Tong watched Zhou Yan, who was still struggling and shouting something about "capturing the Ying ancestor alive," and was utterly dumbfounded.
His subordinates