Not long after Ye De walked out, his face was pale and his body was trembling. He looked at the envoy and said, "Sorry, we won't be able to accept your gifts, Mr. Rong."
Han Rong and all the elders of the House Ye were stunned. No one could fathom what had happened inside the hall for him to change his decision so quickly. Anyone could tell that he wanted to form a marriage alliance with the Derus Empire. What happened that he had to change his decision?
Ye Dong and all the elders of the House Ye tried to persuade him, only turning pale with fright when Ye De roared at them with crimson eyes.
Han Rong left House Ye. His everlasting smile had vanished for long. Instead, there was only a cold look on his face, eyes spitting fire. He'd never felt so humiliated in his life. He won't take this lying down. He'd make House Ye pay the price in blood.
He even thought about kidnapping Leng Yueyan, but dropped the idea as soon as he remembered the principle of the Sage Monarch Academy. The principle was an existence that even his Derus Empire could not afford to provoke. Why'd such an existence remain in such a rundown place? He could not understand.
***
After dealing with Ye De, Leng Yueyan went to find Qin Meng. "What, he didn't come here?" said Leng Yueyan, as she stared at a fatty in front of her. He was one of Qin Meng's roommates. He told her his name was Yan Yunjie.
"Yes," replied Yan Yunjie. "Boss goes to the Alchemy Department every day in the morning and comes back before lunch. Now the sun is already about to go down, but he's yet to come back."
A worried look flashed on her face. She eyed the three boys in front of her and said, "Wu Hui, go to the House Qin. Yan Yunjie and Zeng Hong, you two search for him in the academy. Inform me immediately if you find or hear anything about him."
"Don't worry, sister-in-law," said Yan Yunjie and patted his chest comically. "We'll definitely find the boss."
She'd have burst into a peal of laughter if it was another time, but at this moment, her eyes were only filled with worry. She felt as if her world was turning dark and colourless without him.
After sending Yan Yunjie and the others, she went to the cafeteria. She discovered Qin Meng had left soon after she was gone. She also learned about the harsh words that Ye Fa had spoken to him—if she wasn't busy searching for Qin Meng, she'd have gone to teach that prick a lesson of a lifetime. She'd warned him again and again, but he still dared to be so presumptuous.
Leng Yueyan went to the Alchemy Department, only to be disappointed once more. She walked out dejectedly, and was just thinking about where he could go, when Yan Yunjie dashed towards her. "Si-sister-in-law—"
"Calm down first," she said, looking at the out-of-breath Yan Yunjie, covered in sweat and dirt.
Yan Yunjie nodded and collapsed on the ground. It was only sometime later he started speaking again. "Boss was last seen in the Scripture Pavillion and then in the Logistic Department, and spent all the credits that the academy had given. He bought many herbs and elixir formulas from there. However, after that, he seems to have vanished."
Leng Yueyan's eyes flashed and looked in the distance and muttered, "Where are you, Qin Meng?"
***
Burning Wilds covered one-fourth of the land of Yorel, blazing hot in the day, and freezing cold at night. It had the word 'burning' in it because there was a mountain range in the desert, where there was a volcano that was spitting lava and fire all the time—because of that volcano, people called the mountain range the Burning Mountain Range and Burning Wilds to the desert as it was also filled with wild and vicious beasts.
Not many people dared to adventure inside the desert.
But today, a boy, around the age of sixteen, entered Burning Wilds, face determined and nervous and excited. He wore black trousers and a black shirt and over the shirt he wore a duster.
He was Qin Meng.
First were his parents and then Grandpa Hu, and now they were even trying to take Yueyan from him. All of this was happening because he was too weak. No more weakness. No more painful memories. He'd no longer allow anyone to take anything from him. Not now, not ever.
Even if he needed to fight to death, he'd not let anyone take Leng Yueyan away from him. She was the only important person left in his life—who cared about him. That's why he decided to venture into Burning Wilds, to fight, to practice, and to become strong.
At this moment, he was sitting inside a cave as cold gusts of winds howled outside, bringing sand and debris and dust with them. He tried to look in the sky from the cave, but couldn't see anything other than sand; no clouds, no stars, no Gildor and definitely no Elyria.
[Note: Gildor and Elyria are two moons in this world.]
Qin Meng sighed and muttered with a worried face, "I wonder if everything is alright with Leng Yueyan."
He didn't want to leave her in that kind of situation, but then he realized he was no more than an ant in House Ye's eyes. He could not help himself while facing someone like Ye Fa, so how'd he help her in front of the entire House Ye?
He needed to turn this setback into his motivation, and that's what he did. He gnashed his teeth and then closed his eyes, arriving in the boundless space.
He looked at the magnificent cauldron and muttered, "I hope you won't disappoint me."
Then all kinds of medicines appeared in front of him which he had purchased from the Logistic Department in the academy.
Now was the time to realize if his theory was correct or not.