"NO!" Yun Hai had fallen to his knees, his eyes wide in disbelief. "This can't be possible! It just isn't!"
"Believe it, dad." Yun Jian Tian sighed. "You and bro were blinded and deceived by Jian Shen. They must be laughing their heads off, thinking they could make use of us to deal with Hei Ye. And when we failed, they will have no qualms in cutting us off and denying all connections."
"But…but he's supposed to be trash!"
"If you truly believe that despite all evidence to the contrary and witnessing his intelligence, charisma and strength right in front of your eyes, then you're just as deluded as Jian Shen."
Yun Hai trembled at his son's words, unable to suppress his despair. He looked up as father-in-law approached him with a smirk.
"So…are you finally going to serve me your head on a silver platter?"
"T…this isn't over yet!"
"Oh, so you're going back on your word now?" Father-in-law watched his erstwhile rival intensely. Yun Hai gulped and looked away. His eyes blazed defiantly and I somehow had the feeling he was plotting something. A rebellion, perhaps? A coupe d'état? There was no way he would submit to this result, even though I won it fair and square.
Such was the personalities of cultivation story villains. I ought to know. I'm one of them.
To everyone's surprise, though, Yun Hai simply lowered his head and nodded.
"Fine. I'll offer my head to your judgement tomorrow, as promised. But please give me a day to arrange my affairs. There are a few things I must do back at home before I offer up my life."
"That's all right," father-in-law conceded, evidently caught off guard. "I'm not such a cruel man as to deny you that."
"Thank you." Yun Hai cupped his hands and bowed. However, despite him thinking that nobody could see, I caught a glimpse of his smirk.
The bastard was definitely planning something.
However, father-in-law didn't seem to notice. Acting the part of the benevolent and merciful castellan, he allowed the Yun family to return and make the necessary arrangements. I watched them leave, my eyes narrowed.
That was fine. Father-in-law could continue playing the role of benevolent castellan. All the undesirable jobs could be left to me to do. Nobody else had to dirty their hands now that I was here. I was the villain, after all.
"Husband! We did it!"
Lan Bei Er rushed toward me and wrapped me in an embrace, sobbing in joy. I patted her head and stroked her hair, smiling.
"Thank you! Thank you so much! If it weren't for you, it would be difficult for the Lan family to hang onto the role of castellan!"
"I merely provided assistance. Most of the work was done by you."
"Now, now. You don't have to be humble." Father-in-law shook his head and greeted me with a smile. "You did most of it…all of these, from the Golden Eagle Express delivery service to your poetry – they were all your ideas. You laid out the groundwork and did all the heavy lifting. You did everything!" He nodded at Lan Bei Er. "I can see why Bei Er chose you as her husband. My daughter really has a good eye."
"Father…" Lan Bei Er hid her blushing face against my chest.
"Thank you for everything, Hei Ye." Mother-in-law was also present, having watched the whole thing beside father-in-law. "We're proud of you as our son-in-law. The Lan family is honored to have you marry into the family."
"The honor is mine."
"Well, enough of all this humility and passing the credit around." Father-in-law cleared his throat and raised a hand. "Let's celebrate! I'll have my servants prepare a feast! Guys! Gather around and return to the manor! Tonight, nobody goes home until we're all drunk!"
"Oh!" Everyone shouted, cheering raucously. Evidently it wasn't just the servants and staff of the Lan family. We were inviting the normal civilians of Azure Cloud City to join in.
The celebrations went late to the night, with everyone indulging in good food and wine. Father-in-law almost kept his promise, ensuring that everyone only went home when they were drunk.
I was an exception. I didn't drink wine, refraining from it on "religious" grounds. Not only that, I had things I had to do that night, which was why I couldn't afford to get drunk. It would be bad because I suspected something was brewing in the Yun Estate.
"Husband…"
Lan Bei Er was muttering, her head lolling about. She had drunk quite a bit and had gotten drunk. Damn. She was trying to circle her hands around my neck and kiss me, but I held off. Not because I wasn't attracted to her, but because now wasn't the time. Also, I didn't want to take advantage of her. I would prefer to be intimate with her when she was sober.
"Rest well," I told her after placing her on the bed. Leaning over, I planted a kiss on her forehead after pulling the covers over her. She murmured something incoherently and flailed about, but I sternly pressed her back against the bed. "I'll be back."
And then I left to pay the Yun family a visit. By then, it was late dusk, just before dawn. Even though the sky was as dark as hell, there was bustling activity in the Yun Estate. Servants were hurrying around, carrying weapons, armor and armaments. There was an entire private army inside the Yun Estate, getting into formations. Commanders were shouting orders while flagbearers bore standards of the Yun family, as well as torches to light up the otherwise dark courtyard.
In the midst of it all, Yun Hai stood at the front, bellowing oratory to spur his soldiers onward.
"Today, we shall take Azure Cloud City! Azure Cloud City is ours! The Yun family's! The reign of the Lan family will end! We will seize the city and take power for ourselves!"
I knew it. They were planning a coup d'état. The morons.
With a single kick, I blew the doors open. All of the Yun family members, as well as their private army, swaggered in.
"Who is it?!" Yun Hai roared. I swaggered through the door and stopped, dancing and rolling my arms. Yun Hai's jaw dropped and he stared at me incredulously. "What…are you doing?"
"Imitating Tobey Maguire," I replied as I continued to dance, raising my hands and wobbling my body on the steps. "Have you guys watched Spiderman 3?"
"…what? Spider…what?"
"Anyway, that doesn't matter. You're all under arrest for staging a rebellion." I flicked my fingers at them just like how Maguire would have done. "No use denying it, all the evidence is around us."
"So what?" Yun Hai shot back. He bristled, jabbing his finger. "This is all your fault! If it weren't for you, the Yun family wouldn't have been reduced to this! This was our chance! Our chance to finally take the position of Castellan! Lan Tian Kong didn't have any sons, and his only daughter is just a healer! The throne of castellan was ours for the taking! But you had to butt in and ruin everything! Our lifelong ambition of becoming castellan…destroyed because of your interference!"
Staring at him coldly, I curled my lips into a sneer. "I missed the part where that's my problem."
The soldiers spread out in a semicircle, brandishing their weapons. I shook my head slowly and gestured at them.
"Put down your weapons and surrender while you still can. It's over. Your rebellion has failed."
"Hah!" Yun Hai snorted. "You want to stop us? Just you? You're just trash."
I narrowed my eyes and glared at him. "I'm gonna put some dirt in your eye."
"GET HIM!" Yun Hai shouted. All of his private army soldiers rushed forward with a bellow, thrusting their spears or stabbing their swords toward me. Qi swirled in the air as they prepared to launch their specific weapon techniques. Watching them calmly, I drew Abyssal Edge from my spatial pouch.
"That's a cute army," I said, cocking my head to the side. "Did your husband give it to you?"
Something I said must have caused Yun Hai to snap, for a vein burst in his temple and he roared almost incoherently. Perhaps he must have felt self-conscious, otherwise his reaction wouldn't be so extreme. "KILL HIM!"
There was no point hiding my true strength, not when I was going to kill all of them anyway. So I swung my black sword and unleashed Heaven and Earth Strike. A golden tsunami of qi rippled through the Yun Estate, devastating large parts of it and sending soldiers' corpses flying into the air. Using Shadow Steps, I then appeared right in front of a trembling Yun Hai, who had been blown off his feet at the edge of Heaven and Earth Strike and was scrambling away.
"That all you got?" I taunted with a shrug.
"You…you…what are you?!" He stammered, his eyes wide. Around him, wounded and dying soldiers groaned. A few of the unhurt ones, still loyal to the Yun family, tried to charge, but I obliterated them with a single blast from Abyssal Edge.
"You're trash, Yun Hai," I sneered as I looked down on him.
"P…please…" Yun Hai begged, wetting himself as he stared up at me. He raised both of his hands. "I didn't know…I didn't expect you to be…this powerful…if I had known, we wouldn't have messed with you…or the Lan family…"
"You should have thought of that earlier."
"Please…" Tears were spilling from Yun Hai's eyes now, his voice quivering. "Please have mercy. Please forgive us…we'll never do this again…I'll call off the rebellion and submit myself to Lan Tian Kong's judgement. Just…just spare my Yun family…"
"You want forgiveness?" I retorted. "Get religion."
"N…no! Please!"
I kicked him, sending him flying through a wall and crashing to the ground amidst a rain of splinters. He howled in pain. I sauntered toward him.
"Stings, doesn't it?"
"P…please…" Yun Hai begged. Around us, the surviving Yun family soldiers rushed forward, but I blasted them with another Heaven and Earth Strike. What was left of the Yun Estate was blown into hell, bodies hurled into the air by the golden blast.
In just two strikes, I had annihilated the Yun family's private army.
"W…wait!" Yun Jian Tian was crawling through the wreckage, pleading. "Don't kill my dad!"
"Why?" I asked coldly, turning to him. "He despised you. You were an embarrassment to him."
"…excuse me?" Yun Jian Tian blinked, confused. Then his eyes widened. "Dad! No! Don't do it!"
Yun Hai was roaring, snatching a spear from the grip of a dead soldier and lunging at me. Without even looking at him, I swung Abyssal Edge, slicing the spear in half. The black blade continued on and cleaved Yun Hai's body into two. The upper half of Yun Hai goggled me before my reverse swing took his head off his shoulders. All three parts of Yun Hai crashed onto the ground, leaking blood.
If only I had a silver platter. I could finally serve my father-in-law Yun Hai's head.
"N…no…" Yun Jian Tian was staring at his father's corpse in horror. "Impossible…this can't be true."
I smiled and slowly shook my head, approaching the poor guy. "Look at little Yun Junior. Gonna cry?"
"You…!" Yun Jian Tian tried to get up, but I grabbed hold of him, lifting him up by the scruff of his neck.
"Don't worry. I won't kill you. I have no grudge against you, and you'll have to explain in detail to father-in-law why your family rebelled. If you were involved in this, then you'll be punished. If not, then it'll be a waste to kill you. As long as you distance yourself from this farce, the Lan family might even hire you. You're an intelligent person, you know what the right choice is."
Then I tossed him out of the ruined Yun Estate. For myself, I left through the devastated gate, half dancing out of the open doors and onto the path outside Maguire style. It involved me pointing my fingers from side to side and swaying and spinning about.
While I did so, the whole Yun Manor exploded behind me.
Damn, but that felt good, even if it was so cringe.
*
Far away, in the imperial capital, the elderly patriarch of the Inspired Mind Sect jolted upright with a gasp. He turned and stared into the distance, trembling.
"What is the matter, Master?" one of his aides asked, noticing his discomfort. The old man clutched the railing as he squinted into the night sky.
"I sensed a disturbance in the heavens," he replied sagely. "Is that…is that Heaven and Earth Strike? Have the demonic cultivators from Heaven and Earth Sect penetrated this far into our kingdom?"
"What? That cannot be!" The aide protested, ogling the patriarch. "We have received no reports of any assaults or invasion from demonic sects over the past few months! The orthodox sects were pushing them back! They should be on the defensive!"
"Yet I sense the use of such a powerful demonic technique. It is far enough, but unmistakably within the territory of our Huang Kingdom." The Inspired Mind Sect patriarch took a deep breath. "I believe the holy maiden is currently stationed in a city in that direction. Send her a message and ask her to investigate."
"Understood." The aide cupped his hands and lowered his head before turning to leave. The patriarch sighed heavily, his grip on the railing tightening.
"Is this an omen indicating an upheaval in the near future?" He mused to himself, shaking his head. "I can only hope the orthodox sects will be able to weather the storm, or the Tian Xuan Kingdom will fall into ruin…"