"Underworld King, since you killed the former Sect Master, Hell Gate has been left without a leader. Internal infighting for power has split the faction into multiple pieces, with no one willing to submit to anyone else. There have even been numerous violent clashes. If this continues, the complete collapse of Hell Gate is only a matter of time."
The bald, heavy-set man groveled on the ground, speaking with extreme rapidity:
"We, the upper echelons of Hell Gate, do not wish to see a millennium of foundation destroyed overnight. After much deliberation, we have concluded that in this world today, only you are worthy of serving as our Sect Master, and you are the only one to whom we will ever submit."
With that, he slammed his head against the ground with a resounding thud!
Immediately, all the high-ranking members of Hell Gate began kowtowing in unison, smashing the stone tiles outside the courtyard gate of Ye Huan's house to pieces.
As they kowtowed, they pleaded:
"We beg the Underworld King to assume the position of Sect Master..."
The scene before them was so grand and shocking that Yaoji and Hongluan were left petrified where they stood!
"Hurry up and agree!"
Recovering her wits, Yaoji rushed over to Ye Huan, grabbed his arm, and shook him urgently.
"If you don't agree, they're going to smash every single tile in front of our door with their heads! Besides, they seem quite sincere, and being the Sect Master of Hell Gate sounds pretty cool. Just say yes!"
Hearing this, every single high-ranking member of Hell Gate felt a surge of profound gratitude toward Yaoji's ancestors for eighteen generations.
"Underworld King, if you do not agree, we will kneel and kowtow here until we die," the bald, fat man declared fiercely.
With that, the high-ranking members of Hell Gate increased the speed of their kowtowing, striking the ground with a rhythmic, bone-chilling *thud-thud* sound.
"You should just agree," Hongluan advised as well.
Initially, upon learning that Ye Huan was not the Sect Master of Hell Gate, she had breathed a sigh of relief.
However, upon learning that Hell Gate was now fractured into numerous warring factions locked in endless infighting, she grew deeply concerned. Once an evil organization like Hell Gate splintered completely, it would inevitably wreak havoc across the world, and there was a very real chance the turmoil would spill over into Huaxia.
Although wielding control over Hell Gate would elevate the Underworld King's global deterrence to an even higher level, that was still vastly preferable to Hell Gate plunging the world into chaos.
"Very well," Ye Huan sighed, relenting with apparent reluctance.
*Snap!*
The high-ranking members of Hell Gate, who had been kowtowing frantically, all straightened their upper bodies at once, their faces flushing with wild ecstasy and excitement.
Six years!
The Underworld King had finally agreed to assume the position of Sect Master of Hell Gate!
It was simply too moving!
"Get up, all of you," Ye Huan said.
*Snap!*
Every single high-ranking member of Hell Gate sprang to their feet in unison, and then collectively cast a look of profound gratitude toward Yaoji and Hongluan.
Seeing this, Hongluan felt a great surge of joy. By persuading the Underworld King to accept the position of Sect Master of Hell Gate, she had unintentionally won the gratitude of all its top leaders.
That way, if Hell Gate ever stirred up trouble in Huaxia in the future, they would surely give her some face.
With that in mind, Hongluan removed her duck-billed cap and surgical mask, allowing all the high-ranking members of Hell Gate to clearly see her face, ensuring they knew beyond a doubt that it was Hongluan—one of the Eight Nation-Protecting War Gods of Huaxia—who had helped them.
Meanwhile, when Yaoji saw the grateful looks directed at her by the Hell Gate executives, her train of thought veered off course.
In her view, the Underworld King would inevitably have many women in the future, and as his favored consort, she would undoubtedly be dragged into vicious palace intrigue.
Now that the most powerful force in the Underworld King's hands—Hell Gate—had all its top members feeling indebted to her, Hell Gate would undoubtedly stand on her side when the palace infighting began.
At this thought, Yaoji suddenly felt that her campaign to claim the title of the Underworld King's Queen was going to be a breeze!
"Aside from the intelligence division, all other members of Hell Gate are to enter a state of complete silence," Ye Huan ordered.
"Understood!" chorused all the high-ranking members of Hell Gate.
"Disperse, all of you," Ye Huan commanded with a wave of his hand.
Yaoji, Hongluan, and the entire leadership of Hell Gate froze collectively on the spot.
A new Sect Master of Hell Gate taking office, and he wasn't going to give an inaugural speech?
Just a single command and that was it?
"What? Do you lot want to stay for dinner?" Ye Huan glared at them.
The high-ranking Hell Gate members shuddered, scrambled back into their vehicles, and sped away in a blur of dust until not a trace of them remained!
Ye Huan walked over to the butler, chef, gardener, maid, and chauffeur, looked them up and down, and asked with a smile:
"It's been a year. Have you all been well?"
When he was sent to Trapped God Prison a year ago, these five had arrived here to look after the place.
"Everything is just as it was, Master, though the house has felt a bit lonely without you," the butler said respectfully.
"With you gone, Master, my cooking lost all its passion," the chef chimed in.
"That's the honest truth. When the Master isn't here, the chef's cooking is utterly atrocious," the maid remarked bluntly.
"Master, the gardener planted a bunch of vegetables all over the property. He turned the lovely garden into a vegetable patch, and you really need to do something about him," the chauffeur complained.
"Chauffeur, what is that supposed to mean? I planted those vegetables so that when the Master returned, he could have fresh, organic, pollution-free produce. Did I do something wrong?" the gardener retorted.
Looking at the five of them acting just as they always had, Ye Huan felt as though he had stepped back into the days they had spent living together—it was warm, and it truly felt like home.
Yaoji ran over and chimed in with a complaint:
"Ming, listen..."
She suddenly found herself at a loss for how to address Ye Huan. As the Underworld King's future favored consort, calling him "Underworld King" directly sounded far too distant, but calling him "Ye Huan" wasn't quite appropriate yet either.
So she simply launched straight into her grievance:
"I am the butler you personally appointed, yet these five people completely ignore me. They don't respect me as an authority figure at all."
Ye Huan chuckled. "I did make you my butler, true, 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 Grand Butler of all your homes?"
Ye Huan: "???"
How did this young woman's imagination run just as wildly astray as Lin Xi's?
Watching Ye Huan and the others laughing and chatting, Hongluan felt her mental image of the Underworld King suddenly shatter.
The Underworld King in everyday life turned out to be so approachable, so down-to-earth, and so full of domestic warmth.
"Hongluan, come inside and have a cup of tea," Ye Huan said, turning to look at her with an invitation.
"I'd love to!" Hongluan agreed readily.
With that, the group entered Ye Huan's house together.
Meanwhile, Lin Xi had just arrived at the president's office of the Lin Group.
Once seated, Lin Xi found herself thinking about that cheap, scoundrelly, beastly bastard Ye Huan, and how he and the girl in the duck-billed cap must not have seen each other for a long time.
Given Ye Huan's usual behavior, he would undoubtedly go to the girl's house, or take her to a hotel room, and then do *you-know-what* with her.
"Going by the timeline, scumbag Ye should have reached the girl's place by now, or already taken her to a hotel, showered, and gotten ready to do the deed. If I call him right now and ruin his good time, it'll drive him absolutely crazy!"
An ingenious plot to torture Ye Huan suddenly sprouted in Lin Xi's mind.
She immediately took out her phone and dialed Ye Huan's number.
Back at the mansion, Ye Huan and the others had just stepped inside, and the butler and maids were busy boiling water to make tea.
Ye Huan invited Hongluan to sit down and took a seat right across from her. No sooner had he sat down than Yaoji squeezed in beside him, pressing tightly against his side and wrapping her arm around his.
Yaoji was still wearing a white bathrobe, and a sideways glance from Ye Huan was enough to catch a glimpse of the deep, snowy cleavage visible down the V-neck.
Hongluan was dumbfounded. She thought to herself that the Underworld King had only just registered his marriage with Lin Xi, yet he already had a woman like Yaoji here—this man was truly a playboy!
Aloud, however, she asked:
"When you returned to Pengcheng, was it really just to repay Lin Tai for saving your life, marry Lin Xi, and move into the Lin family as a live-in son-in-law? Did you have no other motives?"
These were the very words Ye Huan had told her on the drive back, but she simply didn't believe them.
The dignified Underworld King acting as a live-in son-in-law? Was that even possible?
"I—"
Before Ye Huan could answer, his phone suddenly rang. Seeing that it was Lin Xi calling, he immediately answered.
Lin Xi: "Scumbag Ye, right now, immediately, at once: stand on your head and sing to me."
Lin Xi deliberately amplified her voice to disgust Ye Huan, intending for the girl in the duck-billed cap to hear and drive a wedge between them.
Her plan succeeded!
As a War God, Hongluan's hearing was naturally superior to ordinary people's, and combined with Lin Xi's raised voice, Hongluan heard every word with crystal clarity.
Hongluan was utterly horrified. She thought Lin Xi must have a death wish—how dare she call the Underworld King a scumbag, and even order him to stand on his head and sing? Was she trying to get herself killed?
At that thought, Hongluan was frantic with anxiety. If the Underworld King decided to kill Lin Xi, there was no way she could stop him!
"Is that the little wimp you're supposed to marry?"
Not only Hongluan, but Yaoji, who was clinging to Ye Huan's side, had also heard Lin Xi's voice and chimed in.
Since she was right next to Ye Huan and neither of them had lowered their volume, everything she said was heard loud and clear by Lin Xi on the other end of the line.
It made Lin Xi so furious she could spit blood—that girl in the duck-billed cap had actually called her a little wimp!
Poor Hongluan ended up taking the blame for Yaoji.
"Mm," Ye Huan grunted, replying to Lin Xi with a dark expression:
"I'm busy right now. Can I sing it later?"
Convinced that the caller was the "Queen," Yaoji was overjoyed. She figured the Queen was courting death, providing the perfect opportunity for her, the favored consort, to step up.
Just as she was about to stir up more trouble, Lin Xi's voice came through again:
"No! Right now, immediately, at once—sing it while standing on your head! And don't sing any of those disgusting, hooligan songs. Sing... sing *Conquest*."
Hearing this, Hongluan turned as pale as a sheet. Lin Xi really had grown tired of living! Calling the Underworld King a scumbag was one thing, and ordering him to stand on his head was bad enough, but now she actually dared to make him sing *Conquest*.
It was over, completely over. Lin Xi was a dead woman, and the entire Lin family was doomed!
"This is going too far!"
Yaoji finally found her opening. Suppressing her excitement, she said indignantly:
"How can that little wimp act like this? Being able to marry you is like smoke rising from her ancestors' graves. Not only is she ungrateful, but she calls you a scumbag, orders you to stand on your head and sing, and has the audacity to ask for a humiliating song like *Conquest*! Why marry a woman like that? Are you planning to enshrine her like an ancestor? I suggest you call off the wedding."
Lin Xi heard every single word Yaoji said, as Yaoji's volume was simply too loud to miss.
She immediately fired back:
"Who are you calling a little wimp?! *You're* the little wimp, your whole family is full of little wimps! Marrying me is what brings smoke from scumbag Ye's ancestral graves. You're the only one who treats him like a treasure—in my eyes, he's nothing more than a lump of stinking dog crap."
Hearing this, Yaoji was thrilled. She turned to Ye Huan and said:
"Did you hear that? Did you hear what she said? She cursed you as stinking dog crap! Can you put up with that? Well, I certainly can't. Just give me the nod, and I'll go wipe the floor with her right now."
Watching Yaoji and Lin Xi get into a cross-country shouting match over the phone, Ye Huan was so amused he almost laughed out loud. However, he knew very well why Yaoji was acting this way, and he could easily guess Lin Xi's petty little schemes.
"Are you going to start or not?" Lin Xi's urging voice came through.
"Alright, alright, I'm starting. I'll start right now!"
Ye Huan glanced at the pale-faced Hongluan and said with a smile.
Lin Xi: "Turn on video call. I want to watch you stand on your head and sing *Conquest*."
With that, she hung up and immediately sent a video request.
Ye Huan handed his phone to Hongluan and said:
"Could you hold this for me? Make sure you get a good angle!"
With that, he walked over to an open space in the living room and flipped upside down into a handstand.
Hongluan stood dumbfounded, her mind blank. She wondered if this was a fake Underworld King; otherwise, how could he possibly do something like this?
"Is it recording yet?" asked Ye Huan from his upside-down position.
"Oh, oh..."
Hongluan hurriedly accepted the video request from Lin Xi and stepped forward to keep the camera aimed at Ye Huan.
*"Finally, you found a way, to decide who won or lost. The price of victory and defeat, is that we shatter together..."*
Ye Huan belted out the song while balancing on his hands.
Hongluan felt a visceral shock ripple through her. *Holy crap, he's actually singing it!*
On the other side of the phone, Lin Xi stared at Ye Huan through the video feed, momentarily stunned. Why was scumbag Ye still fully clothed?
Had she miscalculated the time? Were scumbag Ye and the girl in the duck-billed cap just catching up, planning to warm up their relationship before taking a shower to 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 dragged all over the place by that little wimp for hours. Go take a shower after you finish singing."
*A shower? They're going to take a shower...* Lin Xi grew excited and announced:
"Alright, I have things to do now. Stop right there for today."
She abruptly cut off the video call, intending to wait until Ye Huan had finished his shower and was either just about to start doing the deed with the duck-billed-cap girl, or was already in the middle of it, before calling back and making Ye Huan stand on his head and sing again.
"I'm going to drive you crazy!" Lin Xi thought viciously.
Meanwhile, Ye Huan stopped his upside-down singing and said:
"I suppose I do need a shower. Hongluan, wait here a moment; 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 Underworld King and Lin Xi?"
Yaoji curled her lips. "Intimate soulmates!"
Hongluan drew in a sharp breath. The legendary super assassin Yaoji turned out to be quite the rascal. She asked:
"Did the Underworld King really come to Pengcheng just to marry Lin Xi?"
"What else did you think?"
Unwilling to bother with Hongluan any longer, Yaoji got up and tiptoed upstairs to sneak a peek at Ye Huan showering.
Hongluan fell into deep contemplation. She still didn't believe that the Underworld King had come to Pengcheng purely to marry Lin Xi and become a live-in son-in-law.
Someone of the Underworld King's stature—how could he possibly lower himself to be a kept son-in-law?
Elsewhere, Lin Xi stared expectantly at the time on her phone. Twenty minutes later, feeling enough time had passed—after all, how could an impatient man take such a long shower?—she figured scumbag Ye must have already started with the girl in the duck-billed cap.
Just as she was about to call Ye Huan, her secretary burst into the office:
"President Lin, Jin Jiu, the chairman of the Jin Group, is here to see you!"
*He moved fast...* Lin Xi's heart gave a violent tremor, and she said:
"Show him in."
"Very soon!" The secretary immediately departed.
Shortly thereafter, a powerful, domineering middle-aged man with a slicked-back hairstyle kicked the door open, strode into the office, and demanded:
"Lin Xi, how did my son Jin Feiyu offend you? Why did you call the police to have him arrested?"
"I didn't call the police. The police initiated the investigation themselves," Lin Xi replied expressionlessly.
"Crap and nonsense!"
Jin Jiu cursed angrily, rushed up to Lin Xi's desk, slammed his phone down onto the surface, and raged:
"Look at this for yourself! This is surveillance footage sent to me by the manager of Shangyang Restaurant."
"Jin Feiyu brought people to the private dining room where your Lin family was gathered. They were the ones taken away from that room, and the men Jin Feiyu brought with him were carried out on stretchers, with blood all over their heads."
At that, Jin Jiu pointed at Lin Xi and roared:
"Lin Xi, oh Lin Xi! Jin Feiyu liked you so much, yet you beat up his men like this and had him arrested by the police. You are vicious!"
Lin Xi completely ignored Jin Jiu's fury, didn't bother to pick up his phone to watch the footage, and calmly replied:
"This morning, Grandfather asked me to pick someone up from the airport. On the way back, we were intercepted by four cars, and twelve blade-wielding thugs got out to kidnap me. I called the police and had them arrested."
"After I arrived at Shangyang Restaurant, Jin Feiyu brought people to my private room to cause trouble. Shortly after, the police arrived and took them away."
"According to the police, it was those twelve blade-wielding 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 with him had bloody heads and were unconscious, it's because Jin Feiyu ordered them to cripple the person I picked up from the airport, and they got beaten up instead."
Hearing this, Jin Jiu's heart sank to rock bottom. If things were truly as Lin Xi described, his son Jin Feiyu was in deep trouble this time.
He took a deep breath, softened his tone, and said to Lin Xi:
"President Lin, you and Feiyu are good friends, and he has liked you for all these years. I'm sure he sent people to kidnap you with no malicious intent—he was simply playing a joke on you. How about this: you and Feiyu settle this matter privately, and we won't trouble the police or the courts."
"Jin Feiyu was arrested for more than just kidnapping," Lin Xi said.
Jin Jiu froze. "What else did he do?"
"According to the police who arrested him, those twelve blade-wielding thugs confessed to many crimes he committed, including murder and abduction," Lin Xi said.
*Murder?*
Jin Jiu's expression altered drastically.
If that charge stuck, his son Jin Feiyu was finished!
"Lin Xi, you've ruined my son!"
Jin Jiu's expression twisted viciously, glaring at Lin Xi like a venomous snake as he gnashed his teeth.
"Director Jin, I don't quite 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 commit all those lawless acts?"
Lin Xi retorted without a shred of politeness!
"You..."
Furious, Jin Jiu pointed at Lin Xi and yelled:
"If you hadn't called the police to arrest those twelve blade-wielding thugs, they wouldn't have implicated my son, and my son wouldn't have been arrested! You are the root cause of all this. You ruined my son!"
"You're being entirely unreasonable!" Lin Xi snapped angrily.
"Is today your first day meeting me?"
Jin Jiu sneered, issuing a threat:
"Let me make this crystal clear, Lin Xi. I don't care what method you use; if I don't see Jin Feiyu before dinner tonight, you can prepare to meet your maker!"
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 in deep worry.
She knew very well what kind of man Jin Jiu was, and how much weight his words carried. If Jin Jiu said he would do something, he would undoubtedly follow through.
"Grandfather..."
Lin Xi called her grandfather, Lin Tai, told him about Jin Jiu's visit, and asked:
"What should we do now? Jin Jiu is a ruthless man who always keeps his word!"
Lin Tai replied: "Call Ye Huan and ask him. He'll have a way to deal with Jin Jiu."
"What can a butcher possibly do?" Lin Xi smiled bitterly.