Strongest War Emperor

Ye Xue’s expression was ghastly, her face pale and bloodless. After a long moment, she said in a low voice, ”Enough nonsense. Let’s go!”

Of course, Xu Daolin had no idea just how important these people were, but Ye Xue knew perfectly well.

She had been in the Imperial Capital for over a year. How could she not recognize these guys as its little tyrants?

One was the youngest son of the Divine Blade General, another was the young master of the Divine Marquis Mansion, and there was even a Little Commandery Princess, a favorite of the Empress...

She, Ye Xue, couldn’t afford to provoke a single one of these five people!

The City Lord’s Mansion could only throw its weight around in a place like Celestial Phoenix City. Compared to factions like these, it wasn’t even in the same league.

Even if her father, Ye Xiao Zheng, saw these people, he would likely be falling over himself to curry favor, not daring to oppose them in the slightest.

Ye Xue’s mind was a complete mess...

She knew that Shen Moran seemed to be friends with them, but she had never imagined that Moran would actually bring them to Celestial Phoenix City. And on top of that, they seemed to be on excellent terms with Shen Lang!

Just as a sullen Xu Daolin sheathed his longsword and started toward the stairs with Ye Xue, she suddenly froze.

At the top of the stairs, a woman in a long blue dress and a veil was gracefully approaching, followed by a man and a woman.

”Huh?” This time, it was Yin Kuang’s turn to be stunned. The normally imperious young man suddenly looked like a mouse that had seen a cat. Without a second thought, not even saying goodbye to Shen Lang, he crashed through a window with a WHOOSH and fled...

If he reacted that quickly, how could the others be any slower?

In almost the same instant, the Little Overlord Five-Man Team scattered in every direction, leaping out of the various windows.

The sounds of their heavy landings and the angry shouts of the crowd below rose up from the street, which descended into chaos.

Shui Qingwu blew out a frustrated breath, causing her veil to flutter. She huffed, ”They’re fast runners, but you can run, you can’t hide. Now that I’m here, how many more days do you think you can stay hidden?”

With that, she walked over to Shen Lang’s table and asked politely, ”Excuse me, Young Master Lang, may I sit here?”

Shen Lang rolled his eyes and was about to speak when Cai Ying rushed forward from behind him, slamming her palm on the table. ”My lady, why are you being so polite to him?” she said fiercely. ”This bastard still owes you several hundred Spirit Stones! Do you really need to ask his permission for a seat? Hey, you... Lang Buqun, go squeeze in with him. This spot is by the window, and there are only three seats!”

As she spoke, Cai Ying sat down in the last remaining seat and gestured for Lang Buqun to squeeze in with Shen Lang.

”A lot of people over there were scared off, there are plenty of empty seats. Is there really a need to fight me for this one?” Shen Lang said with a wry smile.

Shui Qingwu smiled sweetly. ”This spot has good feng shui. We wouldn’t deign to sit anywhere else.”

Standing at the top of the stairs, Ye Xue’s face paled several more shades, her expression growing even uglier.

She hadn’t recognized the veiled Shui Qingwu at first, but she was very familiar with Shui Ying and Lang Buqun, who followed her. ’Even Shui Qingwu is here, and she seems to know this Shen Lang quite well...’

She could rack her brain until it broke, but she still couldn’t figure out how this good-for-nothing Shen Lang, who had supposedly never even left Celestial Phoenix City, had gotten involved with people like them.

If Shen Lang’s relationship with them was truly that deep, they would have to think twice about moving against the Shen Family.

The City Lord’s Mansion was in no position to contend with the power backing Shui Qingwu.

”Let’s go!” Ye Xue, now completely devoid of the arrogance she had upon arriving, lowered her head and hurried down the stairs.

The third floor of the restaurant finally returned to normal, and the lively chatter started up again.

However, most of the patrons were now casting peculiar glances, sneaking peeks at Shen Lang’s table from time to time.

Shen Lang had acted ruthlessly, crippling a guard from the City Lord’s Mansion and even daring to threaten the City Lord’s daughter. That alone was enough to give these people something to gossip about for days.

And while Shui Qingwu wore a veil, her peerless grace was something an ordinary person could never hope to imitate.

One didn’t need to see the face behind the veil to guess that she was a world-class beauty.

Furthermore, her very appearance had sent Yin Kuang’s aggressive group scrambling out the windows in terror, adding to her mystique in the eyes of the crowd.

”Waiter! Get over here and clear this away. My lady wishes to order a new meal!” Cai Ying called out to the server cowering in a corner.

Shen Lang had just reached out with his chopsticks when Cai Ying snatched the plate and tossed it, where it landed perfectly in the hands of the approaching waiter.

”Damn it, I haven’t even had one bite!” Shen Lang fumed.

’What is this? Can’t a guy even get a meal around here?’

In the moment he was stunned, Cai Ying and Lang Buqun had already cleared the table, leaving only the jar of Daughter Red Wine in his hand.

Shen Lang stared at the bare table, speechless. With a long sigh, he lifted the jar and began to drink directly from it.

Just then, footsteps sounded on the stairs, and a portly Lin Feng and a lean Su Hen came up.

The moment the two of them reached the third floor, their eyes landed on Shen Lang and Shui Qingwu. They immediately dashed over without a shred of decorum.

”Well, well, well! I saw the venomous look in Ye Xue’s eyes and knew she must have run into you, Young Master Lang! It’s a shame we were too late to see the show. It’s all this damn merchant’s fault for dragging me away to look into that auction...” Su Hen said to Shen Lang, though his eyes were fixed on Shui Qingwu.

Lin Feng was far more composed. He gave Shui Qingwu a single glance before calmly asking, ”Young Master Lang, you sent for us. What’s the matter? Weren’t we supposed to be gathering materials? Did the plan change?”

Shen Lang took the Crystal Card Sima Qing had given him from his ring and tossed it to Lin Feng. ”There’s some money on here. It should be enough for you. The materials we were supposed to procure before—triple the quantity of everything... Young Master Heng, what did you mean just now? Why did you say that seeing the venomous look in Ye Xue’s eyes meant you’d find me here?”

”Ah, Young Master Lang, you really are completely oblivious, focused only on your naps, aren’t you? You don’t know about the situation between Ye Xue and your sister? Ye Xue is in love with Chu Qingcheng, but Chu Qingcheng doesn’t like her back. Instead, she likes your sister. So, that woman hates your sister to the core, and by extension, she hates you too... In all of Celestial Phoenix City, the only people who could bring that kind of venomous look to her face are you and your sister. There’s no one else.”

CRACK!

The small wine jar in Shen Lang’s hand instantly shattered. Wine soaked his robes as a sharp Killing Intent erupted from him, startling Lang Buqun, who was sitting beside him.

”Whoa... What’s wrong? Young Master Lang, why do your eyes look so terrifying?” Su Hen, thinking he’d misspoken, asked timidly, ”What... what did I say?”

Shui Qingwu glanced at Shen Lang in surprise, then said softly, ”Cai Ying, the private room Yin Kuang and the others were in is free now. Go tell the waiter we’ll be moving there. These two are my friends; we’ll all go over together.”

Taking a long breath, Shen Lang reined in his aura, slowly returning to his previous demeanor. ”It’s nothing,” he said faintly. ”I just figured a few things out.”

Shen Lang’s thoughts turned to his father being afflicted with the Demon Corpse poison.

He had already analyzed the matter of his father, Shen Haotian, being poisoned. It was connected to the City Lord’s Mansion. The Demon Martial Artist controlling the Demon Corpse was most likely hiding in the City Lord’s Mansion itself, or somewhere in Celestial Phoenix City under its protection.

He had followed the clues and managed to sort out all of this.

But there was still one thing he hadn’t been able to figure out.

Was the Xu Family’s message—notifying his father about the discovery of Shen Clan Members at Black Wind Ridge—part of the plot, or merely a coincidence?

Based on his analysis, the possibility of it being a coincidence was far too small, while the likelihood of a plot was extremely high.

After all, the ones who delivered the news were the Xu Family, who had been at odds with the Shen Family for years. And the Xu Family were nothing more than loyal lapdogs of the City Lord’s Mansion.

But if it was a plot, there were some things that didn’t add up:

First, why would the City Lord’s Mansion want to target the Shen Family? The Shen Family was just a minor power dependent on the City Lord’s Mansion. What made them worthy of such an elaborate scheme?

If the City Lord’s Mansion wanted to eliminate the Shen Family, they wouldn’t need to go to such great lengths, much less risk exposing their collusion with Demon Martial Artists.

Second, if the City Lord’s Mansion was truly targeting the Shen Family, why had everything been peaceful for over three years since the incident? Why hadn’t the City Lord’s Mansion made any further moves against them?

Third, Shen Lang remembered his father saying that when Xu Daolin’s father came with the news, he hadn’t revealed it to any other Shen Clan Members. He had very specifically told only Shen Haotian, the Clan Leader, and even urged him not to let the information get out.

It was mulling over these inconsistencies that had caused him to lose control of his emotions just now!

No matter how he looked at it, this didn’t seem like the City Lord’s Mansion targeting the Shen Family...

It was more like they were targeting his father, Shen Haotian, personally!

And they were using Demon Martial Artists and a Demon Corpse to do it—a classic case of killing with a borrowed knife.

But Shen Lang simply couldn’t imagine why the City Lord’s Mansion would want to target his father, let alone use such a method.

The City Lord’s Mansion was filled with experts. Dealing with a single Martial Artist at the Qi Martial Realm Seventh Heaven should have been incredibly simple. They could have just sent people to ambush him on the road; there was no need to make things so complicated.

However, this mystery that had been weighing on his mind now suddenly began to unravel. The answers to many things he couldn’t understand seemed to be falling into place!

And the answer was Ye Xue!

Ye Xue loved Chu Qingcheng, but Chu Qingcheng had eyes for no woman other than Shen Moran.

Shen Lang actually knew a little about this. After all, Celestial Phoenix City wasn’t that big, and Chu Qingcheng was one of his closest childhood friends.

But he had never thought it was that serious. Besides, apart from sleeping, he had no time to worry about such matters.

But Su Hen’s words had just reminded him... A moment ago, when Ye Xue sat across from him, he had caught the venomous look in her eyes.

He had been slightly taken aback at the time, but now, with Su Hen’s reminder, everything suddenly became crystal clear...

’If Ye Xue was behind all of this, then... she deserves to die!’ Thinking of the inhuman suffering his father had endured for more than three years, the aura around Shen Lang turned violent.