In the end, Wen Jiu was forced into only being able to watch the young girl from afar, his lonesome figure keeping watch at a strictly measured distance away from the rest of the group.
The handsome man glared at the cold moon tinged with mockery, his cheeks puffed with air to express his frustration.
Brother Yang had long since obtained a fantastic wife, Brother Tang had a secret little lover whom he kept away from everyone, whilst he had stayed wholly vegetarian for his entire life!
Eat!
He wanted to eat meat for once, alright!?
"The path of cultivation is truly difficult, ah…"
The laments of a single man silently echoed throughout the empty and desolate plains, the raw emotion and desire prompting the grass to sway with disgruntled annoyance.
Away from the group in the other direction compared to Wen Jiu, two figures stood side to side as they glanced at the completely darkened sky of the night.
One was a budding youth of his generation, whilst the other had already established his identity in the complex and tumultuous world of the jianghu.
They were Tang Shiqi and Yang Jian respectively, though they were unaware of a curious eavesdropper creeping besides them.
"So, young man, who are you, really?"
Yang Jian deeply intoned with a stern glance as he stared at Tang Shiqi, an imposing aura expanding from his body to nearly pressurize Tang Shiqi into the ground.
The handsome man's eyes flickered with a harsh sharpness, albeit a tinge of doubt flashed within.
"What does Honorable Yang wish to know about?"
Tang Shiqi willed his legs to stop buckling from the stress imposed onto his entire body, his eyes meeting directly with Yang Jian's gaze.
The youth's countenance was devoid of emotion, cold and expressionless as though he was the ambassador of the lonely moon hanging in the midnight sky.
At such a spectacle, Yang Jian's eyes narrowed in surprise.
"You have the same spiritual fluctuation as Yunhe, though yours is significantly weaker than his," the handsome man enunciated in a slow voice.
"Why is that? Who are you, and why were you glancing at him with hostility earlier in the day?"
The nighttime breeze rustled against the grass, lightly brushing the two's hair with a pleased smirk. Tang Shiqi took a deep breath, his heart flashing with a cold sensation as his hands curled into tight fists.
"What does Honorable Yang wish to do with such information?" the youth fought to keep his voice even and emotionless.
"I will decide after discerning the truth of the situation," Yang Jian increased the pressure emanating from his cultivation base, his lips twitching at the pale but resilient countenance of the youth before him.
"I cannot allow harm to come to my brothers, but I will not disappoint Brother Shen's intentions in bringing you along. Surely, you and that young lady must be an incredibly important asset to the Shen Family, if they are willing to send Haoren to as a personal escort."
As he finished speaking, the handsome man retracted his aura, his cold and imposing figure illuminated by a brief ray of moonlight.
Feeling the aching sensation in his muscles abate, Tang Shiqi released a clenched breath of relief, his brow flooded with sweat.
"My surname is Tang."
That was the first sentence he had uttered to the three people who had joined their journey after their encounter with the Earth Giant.
"Your Brother Tang Yunhe, is my Tang Clan's main branch's Junior Uncle. Seventeen years back, before I was born, Tang Yunhe raped and crippled my mother before my father as an act of revenge."
On the youth's countenance, flashed a cold expression suffused with a rage originating from the lower passageways of the underworld.
An imitation of an aura reflecting a malevolent intent emanated from Tang Shiqi's body, though it lacked the necessary cultivation to fully manifest into the world.
"Oh?" Yang Jian intoned, his brows raised in surprise.
"Yunhe had indeed informed me of such an event before. So, what happened next?"
Tang Shiqi's eyes narrowed at the handsome man's nonchalant expression and demeanor, his heart nearly flooding with rage and triggering his deepest secret to flare its head towards the unforgiving world.
The youth took a deep breath to steady his emotions, to detach his heart from the painful memories of his past.
"My father wasn't affected much, nor was his wife; only my mother suffered harm from that incident. Since Tang Yunhe of the main branch had committed such an evil act, everyone else of the branch clan followed suit, be they of the same generation, or older."
Tang Shiqi's voice instinctively became laced with a dense layer of frost as he glared deeply into Yang Jian's flickering eyes.
"My mother, once a proud Second Wife of the Third Master of the Tang Clan's Seventh Branch, was degraded into that of a brothel's prostitute – no, even worse, following Tang Yunhe's despicable actions. Though I call that man who cast us out as father, I do not know my biological parent – only that my mother suffered in hell until she committed suicide the day after I was born."
The cold moon dropped a tear of sympathy towards the youth's apathetic voice and shivering heart, a thin ray of moonlight illuminating Tang Shiqi's glacial countenance.
The gentle breeze caressed his nape, and the slumbering tendrils of grass patted at the base of his foot to express their muted condolences.
"What will Honorable Yang do with such information?" the youth intoned with a scalding voice, before a cold smirk manifested on his countenance.
"I must inform Honorable Yang beforehand that it is impossible for Honorable Yang to partake in the actions of killing me at this moment, or preventing my revenge on Tang Yunhe in the future. Please have a good night."
Tang Shiqi bowed towards the handsome man, his figure quickly receding into the background as he walked towards the group.
Yang Jian remained standing as he gazed at the teardrop left by the moon, his furrowed brows relaxing with a heavy sigh escaping his throat.
"Yunhe didn't inform me of this, ah…"
–
In the Realm, there existed many famous entities who had engraved their mark into the foundations of the Realm.
Weakling half-step immortals who had ascended from mortal souls to become an immortal deity, those who were born in the immortal firmament to join the younger generation of the Realm's denizens, or those who were ancient monsters who had lived for an unmentionable span of time – a sea of names, identities, and destinies were mixed in the bowl that was the Realm into an indecipherable creation, yet a few names struck out regardless of their obscurity.
The founders of the Divine Palace, Demon Palace, the Halls of Templar and the Rose Blacksmith Association aside, even his master with her reputation as the Forsaken Goddess aside, there existed a single name and title that nobody dared forget.
Prime Minister, Fang Moyun.
Nobody was certain regarding the Prime Minister's origins, or from whom he had received his title.
As the Divine Spiritual Vein had accepted his declaration as Prime Minister, those of the Realm were forced to believe the veracity of his claim to the title that bestowed a massive amount of Authority.
Since the Divine Spiritual Vein had accepted the nomination of Fang Moyun as Prime Minister, that title was not one that was self-imposed, but bestowed by another.
But what was Fang Moyun's title as Prime Minister supposed to entail?
And who had given such a title to that man?
After hundreds of millions of years of inquisition and investigation, the Realm had come to the same consensus as before; everything they could determine about Fang Moyun's origins and the extent of his title's significance was either inconsistent or incorrect from the beginning.
Nonetheless, the unbelievable aspects of this Prime Minister further exacerbated his reputation as one destined to be remembered until the collapse of time.
An extraordinarily lust-driven man, one that could not be trumped by even the top aces of the Pavilion of Amorous Exchange.
Had it not been for this mysterious Prime Minister's ever-profound wife's restraint order, the Prime Minister would have intervened himself in every female immortal and mortal's interpersonal affairs, especially when it involved the exchange of romantic feelings.
Lust-driven reputation aside, Fang Moyun's influence was immense.
Immense to the extent that the Divine Palace, Demon Palace, Hall of Templars, and any other organization formed in the Realm had to bend their knee at his command.
Even his master had to give that incorrigible man some face, though Dongfang Yu had never seen the Prime Minister's countenance.
Hence, an accessory bestowed with the command of protection was highly sought after by those of the Realm.
Protection offered by the Prime Minister of the Realm; all conflicts involving the protected were to immediately cease, and any further attempts were to be quelled upon first thought.
Wherever they traveled, those protected by the Prime Minister's influence could only be Kings and detached from any conflict – given that they did not initiate it.
However… what was a jade pendant inscribed with Fang Moyun's protection order doing in a mortal world!?
And in the heart cavity of a natural disaster – the phenomenon known by the mortals as an Earth Giant!?