"King of Hell, please bear witness: ever since you killed the former Master, Hell Gate has been left without a leader. Power struggles within have torn it into multiple factions, none submitting to the others. There have even been numerous violent clashes. If this continues, the disintegration of Hell Gate is only a matter of time."
The bald, fat man prostrated himself on the ground, speaking at lightning speed:
"None of us in the upper echelons of Hell Gate want to see a millennium-old legacy destroyed overnight. After conferring, we have concluded that in the world today, only you are qualified to be our Master, and you are the only one to whom we will submit."
With that, he banged his head hard against the ground with a loud thud!
Immediately, every single member of the Hell Gate leadership followed suit, kowtowing so fiercely they smashed all the paving stones outside Ye Huan's courtyard gate.
As they kowtowed, they pleaded:
"We beg the King of Hell to assume the position of Master..."
The scene before them was so grand and astonishing that it left Yaoji and Hongluan petrified on the spot!
"Hurry up and agree!"
Recovering her wits, Yaoji rushed to Ye Huan's side, shaking his arm and urging:
"If you don't accept, they're going to smash every single tile in front of our house with their skulls! Besides, I'd say they're pretty sincere, and being the Master of Hell Gate sounds rather dashing—just say yes!"
At these words, every senior member of Hell Gate was profoundly grateful to Yaoji's ancestors down to the eighteenth generation.
"King of Hell, if you refuse, we will kneel right here until we die, kowtowing until our last breath," the bald, fat man declared fiercely.
Hearing this, the Hell Gate leaders accelerated their kowtowing, the rapid *thud-thud* of heads striking stone forming a chilling melody.
"You should just agree," Hongluan advised as well.
Initially, upon learning that Ye Huan was not the Hell Gate Master, she had breathed a sigh of relief.
Yet upon discovering that the current Hell Gate was fractured into countless factions locked in endless infighting, she worried that such an evil organization, once splintered, would inevitably unleash chaos upon the world—and quite possibly spill over into Huaxia.
Though holding the reins of Hell Gate would undoubtedly elevate the King of Hell's global deterrence to even greater heights, that outcome was still far preferable to Hell Gate plunging the world into turmoil.
"Very well," Ye Huan sighed, yielding reluctantly.
Snap!
The frantically kowtowing Hell Gate leaders instantly straightened their upper bodies, their faces erupting in wild ecstasy and excitement.
Six years!
The King of Hell had finally agreed to assume the mantle of Hell Gate Master!
How deeply moving!
"Get up, all of you," Ye Huan said.
Snap!
Every single senior member of Hell Gate sprang to their feet in unison, then collectively cast a look of profound gratitude toward Yaoji and Hongluan.
At this, Hongluan's heart soared with joy; by urging the King of Hell to accept the position of Hell Gate Master, she had unwittingly won the gratitude of the entire Hell Gate leadership.
That way, if Hell Gate ever attempted to stir up trouble in Huaxia in the future, they would surely show her some respect.
With that in mind, Hongluan removed her duckbill cap and face mask, ensuring that all the Hell Gate leaders could clearly see her face and understand precisely who had helped them—none other than Hongluan, one of the eight Guardian Gods of War of Huaxia.
Meanwhile, seeing the grateful looks directed at her by the Hell Gate higher-ups, Yaoji's imagination wandered down a very different path.
In her view, the King of Hell was bound to have numerous women in his life, and as his favored concubine, she was inevitably destined to be dragged into palace intrigue.
Now that the most powerful faction at the King of Hell's disposal—Hell Gate—had leadership universally indebted to her, Hell Gate would undoubtedly stand firmly on her side when the palace infighting began.
With that realization, Yaoji suddenly felt that her campaign to claim the title of Queen to the King of Hell would be smooth sailing!
"Aside from the intelligence division, everyone else in Hell Gate is to enter a state of complete silence," Ye Huan commanded.
"Understood!" chorused the Hell Gate leaders.
"Disperse, all of you!" Ye Huan flicked his hand dismissively.
Yaoji, Hongluan, and the entire Hell Gate leadership froze in unison.
With a new Master of Hell Gate taking office, was there not supposed to be an inauguration speech?
Just a single command and that was it?
"What? Would you all care to stay for dinner?" Ye Huan glared at them.
Shuddering, the Hell Gate leaders scrambled back into their vehicles and sped away in a flash, vanishing without a trace!
Ye Huan walked over to the Butler, the chef, the gardener, the maid, and the driver, looked them up and down, and asked with a smile:
"It's been a year—are you all doing well?"
When he had been cast into God Trapping Prison a year ago, these five had arrived here to manage the estate.
"Everything remains as it was, though without the master, the house has felt a bit lonely," the Butler said respectfully.
"With the master away, my cooking lost all its passion!" the chef complained.
"That's the truth; when the master isn't here, the chef's food tastes absolutely dreadful," the maid chimed in."Master, the gardener has planted so many vegetables around the house that he's turned the entire garden into a vegetable patch. You really should do something about him," the driver complained.
"Driver, what is that supposed to mean? I'm growing these vegetables so that when the Master returns, he can have some fresh, organic greens. Have I done something wrong?" the gardener retorted.
Watching the five of them bickering just as they always had, Ye Huan felt as though he had returned to the days when he lived with them. It felt warm, and it truly felt like home.
Yaoji ran over to lodge her own complaint:
"Ming, that..."
She suddenly realized she didn't know what to call Ye Huan. As the future favorite concubine of the King of Hell, calling him "King of Hell" directly felt too distant, but calling him "Ye Huan" didn't feel appropriate yet.
She decided to skip the title and complained directly:
"I am the butler you personally appointed, but these five won't even acknowledge me. They don't respect my authority as butler at all."
Ye Huan chuckled. "I did appoint you as my butler, but I never said you were the butler *here*. I have hundreds of homes all over the world."
Yaoji’s eyes lit up. "Do you mean you want me to be the head butler for all of your homes?"
Ye Huan: "???"
How had this girl’s imagination become just as warped as Lin Xi’s?
Watching Ye Huan and the others laughing and chatting, Hongluan’s image of the King of Hell began to crumble. She had never imagined the King of Hell in his daily life could be so kind, so grounded, and so full of human warmth.
"Hongluan, come inside and have a cup of tea!" Ye Huan turned to her and invited.
"Alright!" Hongluan agreed readily.
The group walked into Ye Huan’s home together. Meanwhile, Lin Xi had just arrived at the Lin Group president's office.
As she sat down, she couldn't help but think that Ye Huan—that cheap, lecherous, scumbag animal—must not have seen that girl in the duck-billed cap for a long time. With Ye Huan’s character, he would certainly go to the girl’s place or take her to a hotel to get intimate.
"Judging by the time, that scumbag Ye must have arrived at her place by now, or he’s already checked into a hotel with her, showered, and is getting ready for business. If I call him now and ruin his fun, it’ll drive him crazy!"
A brilliant plan to torture Ye Huan blossomed in Lin Xi’s mind. She immediately took out her phone and dialed his number.
Back at the mansion, Ye Huan and the others had just walked in, and the housekeeper and servants were busy boiling water for tea. Ye Huan invited Hongluan to sit down and took a seat opposite her. No sooner had he sat down than Yaoji moved to his side, pressed tightly against him, and hooked her arm around his.
Yaoji was still wearing her white bathrobe, and with a sideways glance, Ye Huan could see the deep, pale expanse revealed by the V-neck.
Hongluan was stunned. She thought to herself, *The King of Hell just got his marriage license with Lin Xi, and there’s already a Yaoji in his home? This man is a total player!*
Nonetheless, she asked aloud:
"You returned to Pengcheng—was it really just to repay Lin Tai for saving your life, marry Lin Xi, and live as a son-in-law in the Lin Family? Is there no other motive?"
Ye Huan had told her this on the way back, but she hadn’t believed him. The formidable King of Hell, playing the role of a live-in son-in-law? Was that even possible?
"I..."
Just as Ye Huan was about to answer, his phone rang. Seeing it was Lin Xi, he answered immediately.
Lin Xi: "Ye, you scumbag. Right now, immediately, this instant—sing for me while doing a handstand."
Lin Xi had deliberately raised her voice, intending for the girl in the duck-billed cap to hear it and drive a wedge between them.
Her plan worked!
As a God of War, Hongluan’s hearing was sharper than an ordinary person’s, and with Lin Xi’s voice so loud, she heard every word clearly.
Hongluan was shocked. She thought, *Lin Xi has some nerve! Calling the King of Hell a "scumbag" and ordering him to sing while doing a handstand—is she looking for a death wish?*
This thought made Hongluan incredibly nervous. If the King of Hell decided to kill Lin Xi, she wouldn't be able to stop him!
"Is that the little shrimp you're going to marry?"
It wasn't just Hongluan; Yaoji, who was still clinging to Ye Huan, had heard Lin Xi’s voice as well. Because she was right next to him and hadn't lowered her voice, Lin Xi heard her perfectly on the other end of the line.
Lin Xi was absolutely furious. That girl in the duck-billed cap had actually called her a "little shrimp." Poor Hongluan was the one who ended up taking the blame for Yaoji's comment.
"Yes," Ye Huan nodded, his face darkening as he replied to Lin Xi:
"I’m busy right now. Can I sing later?"Yaoji was thrilled to confirm that the person calling Ye Huan was the Queen. She thought to herself that the Queen was courting death, making this the perfect opportunity for her, the favored concubine, to rise in power.
Just as she was about to instigate something, she heard Lin Xi's voice again:
"No. Right now, immediately, sing at once—sing it upside down. And don't sing those disgusting rogue songs. Just sing... sing *Conquest*."
Hearing this, Hongluan turned pale with fright. Lin Xi really had a death wish. Calling the King of Hell a scumbag was one thing, and ordering him to sing upside down was bad enough, but how dare she make the King of Hell sing *Conquest*?
It was over, completely over! Lin Xi was a dead woman now, and the entire Lin Family was in mortal peril!
"This is going too far!"
Yaoji finally seized her chance to speak. Stifling her excitement, she said angrily:
"How can this little cabbage be so ungrateful? Marrying you is the greatest stroke of fortune her family's ancestral graves could ever smoke from, yet not only is she unappreciative, she even calls you a scumbag, orders you to sing upside down, and makes it that intensely insulting song, *Conquest*. Why would you want to marry a woman like that? Are you planning to enshrine her like an ancestral deity? I suggest you call off the wedding."
Lin Xi heard every single word Yaoji said, because Yaoji's voice was simply too loud—it would have been impossible not to hear.
She immediately fired back:
"Who are you calling a little cabbage? You're the little cabbage, your whole family are little cabbages! Marrying me is the fortune smoking from the ancestral graves of that scumbag Ye Huan's family. You're the only one who treats him like a treasure; to me, he's nothing more than a lump of stinking dog shit."
Yaoji was thrilled to pieces. She turned to Ye Huan and said:
"Did you hear that? Did you hear what she just said? She called you stinking dog shit! Can you actually tolerate that? Because I certainly can't! Just give me the nod, and I'll go squeeze every last bit of yesterday's unshit crap right out of her!"
Watching Yaoji and Lin Xi start a shouting match across the airwaves, Ye Huan almost burst out laughing. Yet, he knew very well why Yaoji was acting like this, and he had also guessed Lin Xi's little scheme.
"Are you going to start or not?" Lin Xi's urging voice rang out.
"Alright, alright, I'm starting. I'll start right now!" Ye Huan glanced at the pale-faced Hongluan and smiled.
Lin Xi: "Turn on the video call. I want to watch you sing *Conquest* upside down."
With that, she hung up and sent a video request.
Ye Huan handed his phone to Hongluan and said:
"Do me a favor and hold this. Make sure you get a good angle!"
He then walked over to an open space in the living room and inverted himself into a handstand.
Hongluan was struck dumb, her mind going completely blank. She wondered if this was a fake King of Hell, because how else could he possibly do something so absurd?
"Did you start yet?" the upside-down Ye Huan asked.
"Oh, oh..." Hongluan hurriedly accepted Lin Xi's video call request and stood up, aiming the camera at Ye Huan.
"Finally, you found a way to draw the line between victory and defeat. The price of winning and losing is that we both end up shattered to pieces..."
Ye Huan howled out the song while maintaining his handstand.
Hongluan thought to herself, *What in the absolute holy hell?* The man was actually singing!
On the other end of the video call, Lin Xi blinked in surprise when she saw Ye Huan. Why was the scumbag still fully clothed?
Could she have miscalculated the timing? Was the scumbag still chatting with the girl in the duckbill cap, planning to warm up their relationship a bit more before heading off to take a bath and do *you-know-what*?
At that moment, she suddenly heard Yaoji's voice coming through the phone:
"You've been on a plane for so long, and then that little cabbage dragged you running all over the place for hours. You should go take a bath after you finish singing."
A bath! They were going to take a bath! Lin Xi grew excited and said:
"Fine, I have things to do now. You can stop singing there."
She cut off the video call, planning to wait until Ye Huan finished his bath and was ready to get down to business with the girl in the duckbill cap—or perhaps once they had already started—before turning the video back on and forcing Ye Huan to sing upside down again.
"I'm going to frustrate you to death!" Lin Xi muttered viciously.
On the other end, Ye Huan stopped his handstand and said:
"I suppose I really do need a bath. Give me a moment, Hongluan, I'll be right back down."
"Okay!" Hongluan nodded. Once Ye Huan headed upstairs, she turned to Yaoji and asked:
"What is the relationship between the King of Hell and Lin Xi?"
Yaoji curled her lip. "A deep and intimate bond!"
Hongluan drew a sharp breath. The legendary super assassin Yaoji was truly as brazen as the rumors suggested. She asked:
"Is the King of Hell really in Pengcheng just to marry Lin Xi?"
"What else did you think?"
Reluctant to entertain Hongluan any further, Yaoji got up, tiptoed upstairs, and ran off to sneak a peek at Ye Huan taking a bath.
Hongluan fell into deep thought. She still couldn't believe the King of Hell had come to Pengcheng purely to marry Lin Xi and become a matrilocal son-in-law.
A being of the King of Hell's stature—how could he ever stoop to being a kept husband?
Meanwhile, Lin Xi stared expectantly at the time on her phone. Twenty minutes later, figuring that was about enough time—after all, how could an impatient man possibly spend longer than that in the shower—she assumed the scumbag had already started with the girl in the duckbill cap.
Just as she was about to call Ye Huan, her secretary abruptly knocked and pushed open the door:
"President Lin, Jin Jiu, the chairman of the Jin Group, is here to see you!"
He had tracked her down so quickly... Lin Xi's heart gave a violent shudder as she said:
"Please, have him come in!"
"Understood!" The secretary immediately withdrew.
Moments later, a powerful, imposing middle-aged man with slicked-back hair kicked the door open and marched straight in, demanding:
*Lin Xi, how did my son, Jin Feiyu, ever offend you? Why did you call the police to have him arrested?"*
"I didn't call the police. The police sought him out on their own initiative!" Lin Xi replied expressionlessly.
"Crap! Your mother's dog crap!"
Jin Jiu cursed furiously. He strode up to Lin Xi's desk, slammed his phone down onto the surface, and raged:
"Look at this yourself! This is the surveillance footage sent to me by the manager of Shangyang Restaurant."
"Jin Feiyu took men to the private dining room where your Lin Family was staying. They were the ones dragged away from that very room, and the men Jin Feiyu brought were carried out on stretchers with blood all over their heads."
Pointing an accusing finger at Lin Xi, Jin Jiu roared:
*Lin Xi, oh Lin Xi! Jin Feiyu liked you so much, yet you had the people he brought beaten into a state like that, and even had the police arrest them. You are truly vicious!"*
(Please exit the transcoding page and download the app to read the latest chapters.)
Chapter 15: The Tragic Past of the King of Hell
Lin Xi completely ignored Jin Jiu's fury, not even bothering to pick up his phone to look at the surveillance footage. She said calmly:
"This morning, grandfather asked me to pick someone up at the airport. On the way back, we were intercepted and pursued by four vehicles. Twelve armed thugs got out and tried to kidnap me. I called the police and had them arrested."
"After I went to Shangyang Restaurant, Jin Feiyu brought men to my private room to make trouble for me. Shortly after, the police arrived and took them away."
"According to the police, it was those twelve armed kidnappers who confessed to Jin Feiyu's criminal acts and provided the evidence, which is why Jin Feiyu was arrested."
"As for why the men Jin Feiyu brought had blood on their heads and were unconscious, it was because Jin Feiyu ordered them to cripple the person I picked up from the airport, and they ended up getting beaten back instead."
Hearing this, Jin Jiu's heart sank to the bottom. If things were truly as Lin Xi described, his son Jin Feiyu was in massive trouble this time.
Taking a deep breath, Jin Jiu softened his tone and said to Lin Xi:
"President Lin, you and Feiyu are good friends, and he has liked you for so many years. I'm sure he didn't mean any harm by sending people to kidnap you—he was purely joking around with you. How about this: you and Feiyu settle this matter privately, and we won't trouble the police and the courts with it."
"Jin Feiyu was arrested for much more than just kidnapping!" Lin Xi said.
Jin Jiu was startled. "What else did he do?"
"According to the police who arrested him, those twelve armed thugs who kidnapped me confessed to many crimes he committed, including murder and abduction," Lin Xi said.
*Murder?*
Jin Jiu's face drained of color.
If that charge stuck, his son Jin Feiyu was completely finished!
"Lin Xi, you've killed my son!"
Jin Jiu's expression twisted into something ferocious. Glaring at Lin Xi like a venomous snake, he gritted his teeth and said:
"Uncle Jin, I don't understand what you mean. Did I tell Jin Feiyu to send people to kidnap me? Did I tell Jin Feiyu to commit murder? Did I tell Jin Feiyu to do all those lawless things?"
Lin Xi fired back without holding anything back!
"You..."
Branding her with a trembling finger, Jin Jiu flew into a rage:
"If you hadn't called the police to arrest those twelve armed kidnappers, they wouldn't have confessed about my son, and my son wouldn't have been arrested! You are the root cause of all this—you are the one who ruined my son!"
"You're being completely unreasonable!" Lin Xi shouted angrily.
"Is today the first day you've met me?"
Jin Jiu sneered coldly and issued a threat:
"Let me make this crystal clear, Lin Xi. I don't care what method you use, but if I don't see Jin Feiyu before dinner tonight, you can just wait to die!"
With that, he snatched his phone off the desk and stormed out in a rage.
Lin Xi slowly sank back into her chair, her brows furrowed tightly as worry filled her heart. She knew very well what kind of person Jin Jiu was, and she knew the weight behind his words. Whatever Jin Jiu said he would do, he would certainly do it.
"Grandfather..."
Lin Xi called her grandfather, Lin Tai, and recounted how Jin Jiu had confronted her. She asked:
"What should we do now? Jin Jiu is a ruthless man who always follows through on his threats!"
Lin Tai replied: "Call Ye Huan and ask him. He has a way to deal with Jin Jiu."
"What kind of way could a butcher possibly have?" Lin Xi gave a bitter smile.