Who Is Stronger, You or My Mother?

In everyone's eyes, the Xiao Family's claim that they wanted to kill Ye Tianming was a pretext. Their real goal was to seize the Transcendent Civilization's inheritance.

Without someone taking the lead, they might not have dared to act. After all, that was the Xiao Family, a second-tier noble family whose ancestor had once had ties to the Guanxuan Sword Master. Even among the other second-tier noble families, they were special!

But with Li Zheng leading the way, they were no longer afraid.

That was the Li Clan, after all!

Though the Li Clan was only a second-tier noble family, their ancestor had been the Inner Pavilion's chief grand secretary back in the distant era of the Mortal Sword Master. She was a true elder who had served under two rulers. Even the Guanxuan Sword Master had to respectfully call her aunt when he saw her.

Moreover, though the Li Clan was only a second-tier noble family, it had an excellent reputation throughout the Guanxuan Universe. Its members never formed factions or took official posts in Guanxuan Academy, and once the clan's young people came of age, they usually went to seek their fortunes in other universes.

For that very reason, they were well liked throughout the Guanxuan Universe.

With the Li Clan taking the lead, the others naturally no longer had any reservations about crossing the Xiao Family.

Ye Tianming glanced at the people who had responded before finally settling his gaze on the man before him named Li Zheng. He asked inwardly, Tower Ancestor, do you know the Li Clan?

Little Pagoda said, "I know a little... What do you want to ask?"

Ye Tianming said, "I know very little about the noble families and sects in our Guanxuan Universe. I think I should learn more about them."

Little Pagoda said, "There's no need to go out of your way to learn about them. Increasing your strength is what matters most. If one day you become as powerful as your mother, then you'll..."

At that point, he hurriedly stopped.

Damn it!

I said a little too much.

Ye Tianming asked inwardly, Is my mother very powerful?

Little Pagoda said, "Mm."

He was unwilling to say anything more.

Ye Tianming asked again, "Tower Ancestor, who's stronger, you or my mother? I know it must be you, Tower Ancestor..."

Little Pagoda hurriedly said, "No, no, no, I... Let's not talk about that."

Ye Tianming was speechless.

In the distance, Xiao Lin and Gu Qi had stopped fighting. Neither could do anything to the other.

Xiao Lin glared at Gu Qi, his gaze sharp enough to kill.

But Gu Qi wasn't the least bit intimidated.

Xiao Lin turned to look around. Everyone was watching him now, and he had naturally heard what Li Zheng had said earlier. His gaze fell on Li Zheng. "Brother Li, you know about the grudge between my Xiao Family and this man."

Li Zheng said calmly, "Xiao Lin, we have no intention of interfering in the matter between your Xiao Family and Young Master Ye here. But we've now reached an agreement with him to jointly explore the potential of the little pagoda in his possession. So if you touch him, you'll be crossing us!"

Xiao Lin narrowed his eyes. "Brother Li, my Xiao Family and your Li Clan have never had any grievances. Must you do this?"

Li Zheng shook his head. "Xiao Lin, stop bringing up the Xiao Family at every turn. As I've already said, our goal is the Transcendent Civilization's inheritance."

Xiao Lin said in a low voice, "After I kill him, my Xiao Family won't claim the inheritance. Will that do?"

Li Zheng said, "No."

Xiao Lin struggled to contain his anger. "What do you mean?"

Li Zheng stared at Xiao Lin. "If we let you kill him now, wouldn't we lose face?"

"Exactly!"

Gu Qi suddenly burst out laughing. "Xiao Lin, do you think you're the only one who cares about face? Don't use your Xiao Family to pressure us, either... Honestly, dragging out your family to frighten people at every turn is truly embarrassing!"

Xiao Lin's expression turned extremely ugly, but Gu Qi continued, "If you're unhappy, we can keep fighting one-on-one. If you want to call for help, then go ahead. You make it sound like we have no one to call."

Xiao Lin clenched his fists and glared at Gu Qi, the killing intent in his eyes almost tangible.

Just then, a man beside him tugged at his sleeve. "Brother Lin, we can't fight. If we do, we'll offend everyone here. Then we won't be able to give an account when we return..."

Offend everyone here!

Xiao Lin was suddenly startled. Only now did he realize that everyone present was hostile toward the Xiao Family. If he really fought and clashed with these people, he would surely have hell to pay when he returned.

The man beside Xiao Lin added, "He has to leave eventually."

After a long silence, Xiao Lin suddenly turned to the crowd and cupped his fists. "Everyone, I, Xiao Lin, have offended you in many ways earlier, and I hope you'll forgive me. My Xiao Family bears none of you any ill will. We only wanted to kill this man, nothing more. But since he's of use to you now, my Xiao Family is willing to give you face and leave him alone for the time being."

With that, he turned and left with the Xiao Family's people.

It had to be said that his words considerably improved the crowd's impression of him and the Xiao Family.

Li Zheng glanced at Xiao Lin and his departing companions, then turned to Ye Tianming. Ye Tianming said, "Everyone, I'll be returning to the Central Divine Province shortly. If you trust me, you can come directly to Guanxuan Academy there to find me. If you don't, I'm willing to hand over the little pagoda and let everyone choose someone else to keep it!"

The crowd exchanged glances. Who would they choose?

Just then, a man said, "There's no need to choose anyone else. You keep it!"

The others nodded in agreement. It wasn't that they trusted Ye Tianming; it was simply because he had no backing and was easier to control.

Ye Tianming nodded. "Then you can have your families come to Guanxuan Academy in the Central Divine Province. Our academy head and I will work with everyone to explore the potential of this little pagoda."

Someone said, "All right, we'll go back immediately and tell our clansmen to head to Guanxuan Academy in the Central Divine Province."

In the sky, the crowd turned and left.

Li Zheng did not leave.

Gu Qi was about to leave when Ye Tianming suddenly said, "Brother Gu, wait."

Gu Qi turned to look at Ye Tianming, who smiled. "Brother Gu, if you're not in a hurry, please wait a moment. I'll take you both somewhere."

Gu Qi hesitated, then said, "All right."

Ye Tianming said, "Please follow me, both of you."

With that, he led the two men away.

Meanwhile, Xiao Lin and his companions had arrived outside. Xiao Lin stared at the ruins of the Transcendent Holy Land, and a Xiao Family man beside him said gravely, "Brother Lin, I just looked into it. Although Ye Tianming is only at the Major Tribulation Realm, his true combat strength may already rival someone at the Immortal Realm. He's already become a force to be reckoned with!"

Xiao Lin immediately snarled, "Notify the family at once and tell them the truth about him. No matter what, we must get rid of that bastard this time."

Before long, Ye Tianming led the two men into the hall from earlier. His intuition told him that the old man from the Transcendent Civilization surely had more to say.

Sure enough, when he arrived at the hall, the old man was waiting for him.

Ye Tianming bowed slightly. "Senior."

Li Zheng and Gu Qi looked curiously at the old man before them.

The old man stared at Ye Tianming and smiled. "You surprised me."

Ye Tianming said, "Senior, my brother left and never came back... Could you give me a little more?"

The old man smiled. "You sacrificed yourself and drew the crowd away, letting him leave with my Transcendent Civilization's inheritance, but he never returned... Do you regret it?"

Hearing the old man's words, Li Zheng and Gu Qi were both stunned and turned to look at Ye Tianming. They understood what the old man meant. Clearly, Ye Tianming and Mu Yong had been putting on an act earlier. The Transcendent Civilization's true inheritance was with Mu Yong, and now Mu Yong would not be coming back.

Li Zheng said gravely, "Young Master Ye, you don't have the Transcendent Civilization's inheritance?"

Ye Tianming nodded. "I don't. Everything I did earlier was just to protect myself. Please forgive me."

Gu Qi asked, "Then what about your little pagoda?"

Ye Tianming said, "I obtained it by chance."

Gu Qi said gravely, "The Myriad Stars Civilization handled this terribly. Everyone misunderstood you and ganged up on you, yet they did nothing at all. That's fucking shameless."

Ye Tianming shook his head. "I underestimated the value of the Transcendent Civilization."

With that, he looked at the old man before him. "Senior, could you give me a little more?"

The old man looked at him and smiled. "Of course."

Ye Tianming bowed deeply. "Thank you."

The old man opened his palm, and a storage ring slowly floated over to Ye Tianming.

Ye Tianming accepted the storage ring and bowed deeply again. Then he turned to Li Zheng and, without even looking inside, held out the ring he had just received. "Brother Li, I promised to give you something special earlier, but I was lying. I didn't have anything. I'll give you this storage ring to thank you for your cooperation and help just now. As for Brother Gu, I can only owe you a favor. If I don't die, I'll repay you in the future."

With that, he turned to leave.

"Brother Ye!"

Li Zheng suddenly called out.

Ye Tianming stopped and turned to look at Li Zheng, who smiled. "Do you know what's inside this storage ring?"

Ye Tianming shook his head.

Li Zheng looked at him. "Then you're giving it to me without even looking?"

Ye Tianming said earnestly, "Because I know that if I look, I might not be able to bear giving it to you."

"Ha ha!"

Li Zheng laughed. "You're really interesting. No wonder Nanling Zhao thinks so highly of you."

Ye Tianming was somewhat surprised. "Miss Nanling Zhao?"

Li Zheng nodded. "Miss Nanling Zhao founded the United Association, and I'm a member too. We spoke about you before, and she thinks very highly of you."

A smile appeared on Ye Tianming's face. "Please give her my regards."

Li Zheng opened his palm, and the storage ring in his hand slowly floated into Ye Tianming's. "The true inheritance of the Transcendent Civilization is in here."

Ye Tianming was stunned. He turned to the old man, who smiled without speaking.

Gu Qi suddenly smiled. "Brother Li, since this is the Transcendent Civilization's true inheritance, why don't you want it?"

Li Zheng glanced at the old man and smiled. "If Senior truly thought highly of me, I would naturally accept it. Unfortunately, the person Senior truly favors is Brother Ye. A gentleman does not deprive another of what is rightfully his."

The old man looked at Li Zheng and smiled. "You're very capable as well. But you have the Li Clan behind you. If my Transcendent Civilization's inheritance fell into your hands, it would ultimately serve only as a dowry for your Li Clan, so..."

Li Zheng nodded. "I understand, Senior."

The old man looked at Ye Tianming and smiled. "Little fellow, shall we talk somewhere else?"

Li Zheng immediately said, "Senior, we'll take our leave first."

But the old man said, "There's no hurry. Since this little fellow is now the inheritor of my Transcendent Civilization, and you helped him just now, that means you also helped my Transcendent Civilization. My Transcendent Civilization makes a point of repaying kindness..."

With that, he waved his sleeve, and two storage rings slowly floated over to the two men.

Gu Qi took one look, and his eyes went wide. "Holy shit..."