The Xiao Estate.
"Damned Yang Qingyuan, and Yang Yitan too! What are you acting so high and mighty for? Sooner or later, I'll make your Yang family completely vanish from the Taoist League!"
Just as Xiao Tiansheng returned from outside with a gloomy expression, he ran right into Xiao Wan-cheng, who was scolding the servants.
Hearing his foolish son's low curses, Xiao Wan-cheng immediately dismissed the servants and beckoned to Xiao Tiansheng standing before him.
"Tiansheng, come here."
"Father..."
Xiao Tiansheng, who had looked so aggressive a moment ago, instantly deflated the moment he saw Xiao Wan-cheng.
"Did you run into someone from the Yang family when you went out just now?"
"How did you know, Dad?"
Xiao Wan-cheng glanced at Xiao Tiansheng and let out a silent sigh.
"Tell me, what is this all about?"
Under Xiao Wan-cheng's gaze, Xiao Tiansheng had no choice but to tell him everything that had happened on the street from start to finish.
Hearing this, Xiao Wan-cheng stroked his chin, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes.
"You're saying that the kid who attacked the Yang family's son-in-law at their wedding banquet not only didn't face any punishment, but even swaggered about out on the street?"
"Yes, Father! This is obviously a play put on by the Yang family themselves! If that Yang Qingyuan hadn't stepped in and knocked the son-in-law out that day, we would have already taken the man away directly. As long as the Yang family's son-in-law fell into our hands, we'd have ten thousand ways to splash this dirty water onto the Yang family!"
Xiao Wan-cheng's expression turned equally grim.
Though he certainly had stolen the spotlight at the Yang family's wedding banquet that day, that was not what Xiao Wan-cheng truly wanted.
What Xiao Wan-cheng wanted was for the Xiao family, in his generation, to rise and become one of the top elite clans of the Taoist League!
He wanted them to surpass even the One-Sword-Governs-All Wangquan clan and become the true rulers of the Taoist League!
As things stood in the Taoist League today, League Leader Wangquan Shouzhuo had been sickly since childhood and was utterly incapable of handling his duties or managing the League's affairs. If not for the fact that he was the head of the Wangquan family, the current wielder of the Wangquan Sword, and possessed formidable personal strength, he would have been dragged down from the position of league leader long ago.
Precisely because of this, Xiao Wan-cheng dared to act so recklessly by utilizing the authority of the Obsidian Inspector.
For he knew that the only families truly capable of threatening him were the Wangquan clan and the Dongfang clan.
One clan had a sickly head who could barely swing a sword a few times, and coupled with the current strength of the demon race, Wangquan Shouzhuo would never use his remaining strength to deal with his own people unless absolutely necessary.
As for the other, it was a rising star that had suddenly burst into prominence in recent years. Though called a clan, the entire Dongfang clan was essentially being propped up by a single person: Divine Fire Villa Master Dongfang Guuyue. When it came to deep foundations, their Divine Fire Villa fell far short!
Therefore, this special era was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Xiao Wan-cheng!
He had to seize every moment and use any means necessary to push the Xiao family upward. Otherwise, once the younger generation of the Wangquan family grew up and took over the Taoist League from Wangquan Shouzhuo, his Xiao family would never see another chance to rise!
Whenever he recalled the strength and poise displayed by the young Wangquan Babye at the Yang family's wedding banquet, Xiao Wan-cheng felt as though a fishbone was stuck in his throat.
It was an undeniable fact that brilliant talents frequently emerged from the Wangquan family. With Wangquan Babye around, the next generation of the Wangquan family was bound to flourish.
And looking at their own Xiao family by contrast...
At this thought, Xiao Wan-cheng silently glanced at his eldest son standing before him, Xiao Tiansheng.
"Sigh..."
"Father, why did you suddenly sigh?"
"It's nothing. Where is your second brother?"
"I don't know, I haven't seen him. Probably hiding in his room reading."
Hearing this, Xiao Wan-cheng let out another long sigh and continued, "Tiansheng, send people to investigate this Yang Qingyuan's background. I have a feeling his origins are not simple. It's very likely he will be our strongest card for bringing down the Yang family next!"
"Yes, Father!"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Tiansheng was instantly overjoyed.
He didn't care what was special about Yang Qingyuan's background; he only knew that he would finally be able to legitimately settle the score with the two fellows who had bullied him today!
On the other side, Yang Qingyuan naturally had no idea that the Xiao family had already quietly begun investigating his background.
After shaking off Yang Yitan and the Wangquan siblings, Yang Qingyuan followed his original plan and went to a tailor's shop to have a few fine outfits custom-made, before heading to a restaurant for a massive feast.
Ever since transmigrating into this world, this was the first time he had eaten his fill so thoroughly.
Let it be said that being wealthy felt truly wonderful...
As a gathering place for all sorts of people from every walk of life, the restaurant was naturally filled with the exchange of various intelligence and gossip during meal times.
Here, one simply needed to find any seat, order a plate of peanuts and a small jar of wine, and prick up one's ears to absorb all sorts of strange tales from across the land.
"Tell me, among the four acknowledged supreme demon monarchs in the world today—the Southern Emperor, the Northern Emperor, and the Eastern and Western Foxes—just who is superior?"
"That has to be the Southern Poison Monarch. I heard that old monster has roamed Southern Country for tens of thousands of years, his poison arts are unfathomable, and he has never been defeated to this day!"
"Who says so? Isn't the Western Desert's Sand Fox Emperor, Fan Yunfei, strong? I heard that back then, he single-handedly stood at the gates of Wangquan Manor, killed the current head of the Wangquan family with a single palm strike, and swaggered off afterward. Such a scandal was once regarded by the Wangquan clan as their greatest shame."
"By that logic, the Northern Mountain Demon Emperor, Shi Kuan, is no weaker either. With his own strength, he liberated the various demons of Northern Mountain, and his pair of iron fists are completely unstoppable!"
"Then what about that Queen of the Fox Demons, Tushan Honghong?"
"The Queen of the Fox Demons? Just the head of a bunch of match-making pimps—does she even deserve to be mentioned alongside those three as one of the Four Demon Monarchs? Who knows which idiot was the first to start calling them that..."
"Listen to me, back in the day, I actually went to... *hic*... Tushan with my senior brothers! That Tushan Honghong is truly, extraordinarily strong. With just a single punch, the strongest among us was knocked flat on the ground. And even more unbelievably, she actually caught all of our magical treasures with her bare hands!"
"Brother, are you drunk? Catching magical treasures with bare hands? Why don't you have that Tushan Honghong try catching the Wangquan Sword with her bare hands? If your treasures are useless, don't blame the demons for being too strong!"
"You might not believe it, but I've actually heard someone mention it before. Legend has it that Tushan Honghong's hands are known as the Absolute-Immunity Claws, and they can indeed nullify every magical treasure under heaven."
"Is it really that miraculous?"
"Why would I lie to you? It's not like I've never been to Tushan. But these Tushan fox demons are rather strange, too. Although they possess formidable strength, they never kill. Even if you swagger up to pick a fight, they just beat you up and chase you out, never harming anyone's life..."
"Hahaha, what a joke. Are there demons in this world that don't harm human lives? As long as it's a demon, it eats humans. That's something that can't be changed, just like a dog's fondness for eating shit."
"Brother, I have no objections to you cursing demons, but can you make that analogy just a tiny bit more appropriate?"
"Ahem, sorry, my bad..."