Chapter 4771 — Fiendish Temper Cannot Be Endured

"Gah?!" Ren Zhongyuan's mouth twitched as he watched Wei Zhao's performance. Judging purely by the aggrieved look on Wei Zhao's face at that moment, he might actually have believed he had flipped the man's table. What the hell was going on here?

The others were just as slow to catch on. Only Huo Yudie and Ning Xuefei were secretly laughing, because out of the corner of their eyes they had just spotted Liu Ziqi walking over.

"What is going on here? What sort of disgraceful racket is this?" Liu Ziqi demanded, her face full of authority.

In truth, given Liu Ziqi's strength, she could have grasped the situation perfectly without even being present. Now, watching Wei Zhao act with such a straight face, she nearly burst out laughing. But she also understood that Wei Zhao was creating an opportunity for her to teach Ren Zhongyuan and his lot a lesson. This bunch had grown more and more brazen, to the point that they no longer even respected her. It was time to give them a proper dressing-down.

"Vice Principal Liu, we were eating here perfectly peacefully when he came over and flipped our table—he did it deliberately to make trouble for us! I don't mind for my own part, but Feifei is the Western Island's princess. This concerns the honor of the Western Island, and it cannot just be let go!" Wei Zhao gave the other side no chance to speak at all, immediately seizing the opportunity to climb the pole and lodge his complaint.

"Is that so?" Liu Ziqi's brows knit at once, and an icy pressure descended over Ren Zhongyuan and the others. Her tone was forbidding. "Ren Zhongyuan, even if this ship was temporarily borrowed for you through your father's connections, it now carries the Eastern Continent's envoy delegation; it represents every Yellow-Rank academy in the Eastern Continent, not something belonging to your family alone. I hope you had best understand this clearly!"

"I..." Ren Zhongyuan's mouth twitched, and he was about to retort, but the other party gave him no chance to speak at all—his sentence was cut off before he had uttered a single word.

"Hmph. I have seen bold people, but this is the first time I have seen boldness carried to such stupidity. You dared to flip Feifei's table—what is the meaning of this? Are you trying to use this as an excuse to sow discord between the Eastern Continent and the Western Island's friendly relations, or are you speaking for your Ren family, preparing to declare war on the Western Island?" Liu Ziqi said coldly, looking at him.

Glancing at Wei Zhao, who was still standing nearby feigning grievance, Ren Zhongyuan went white with fury. His fists clenched with a cracking sound, and he wished he could tear this bastard to pieces on the spot. Yet in the face of Liu Ziqi's tirade, he could not utter a single word—he did not even dare to talk back.

He could not bear the great hat of destroying the relations between the Eastern and Western Islands, and as for declaring war on the Western Island on behalf of the Ren family, that was even more absurd. Even if the Ren family truly had some capital, compared with a colossus like the Western Island, it was no more than an ant beside an elephant's foot. The two were not remotely on the same order of magnitude.

"Still not going back to reflect on your mistakes? Do you really want to blow this up beyond all repair?" Liu Ziqi gave a cold snort and warned, "Remember, this is the last time. If there is a next time, there will be no need to trouble the Western Island—I will be the first to deal with you!"

After all, she was a giant of the Eastern Continent Academy. Before her imposing aura, a fine hand like Ren Zhongyuan, a cultivator at the great perfection of the Nascent Soul stage, had no choice but to submit; swallowing his fury, he could only slink away with his people.

He had seen it too: Liu Ziqi and Wei Zhao were plainly in league with each other. If he kept pushing back, he would not only gain nothing—he might well be dealt with even more harshly. That would be a loss too great to bear.

Before leaving, Ren Zhongyuan shot Wei Zhao a venomous glare. His eyes were full of rancor. This matter today was not over!

Looking at Ren Zhongyuan's bedraggled, drowned-rat appearance, then at Wei Zhao's aggrieved manner, Huo Yudie was momentarily speechless, then laughed. "Not bad acting! I never knew you could be so wicked before!"

"Wicked? I only did what he wanted to do himself," Wei Zhao said, pinching his nose with a chuckle.

"Come off it. I can see it now—he really did want to make a move just now, but he probably never meant to flip the table. After all, we were all sitting right there; no matter how bold he is, he wouldn't dare flip Feifei's table. He can't be that stupid," Huo Yudie shook her head.

"If Ren Zhongyuan had really dared to do such a thing, I wouldn't have settled for merely scolding him—I would have gotten serious," Liu Ziqi said. Looking at Wei Zhao's innocent expression, she could not help laughing as well. "I really didn't see it—you actually have such a quietly devious side to you."

At these words, Wei Zhao was about to clear his name, but beside him Ning Xuefei had already rushed to expose him. "Aunt Liu, Sister Huo, don't be fooled by his appearance. He may seem fine on the surface, but he's actually a terrible trickster. The first time I met him at the Far North Island, he cheated others out of hundreds of thousands of spirit jade..."

"Really? Feifei, quick, tell us how Wei Zhao cheated people—you still haven't told me about what happened at the Far North Island," Huo Yudie said, immediately interested. She pulled Ning Xuefei over to another table and urged her on.

Wei Zhao was momentarily speechless. Especially when he saw that even Liu Ziqi wore an expression of keen interest, he did not know what to say. The heart of gossip truly knows no distinction of age or rank—even a giant of the academy was no exception. He wondered whether Ning Shanghe, the Western Island's island master, was the same...

Here the flames of gossip blazed fiercely; over there, the bedraggled Ren Zhongyuan, retreating in defeat, grew angrier the more he thought about it. Along the way he smashed who knew how many things. He had thought that once aboard the ship it would be his territory, that everything would be his to manipulate as he pleased, that a specimen like Wei Zhao could be rounded or flattened at his whim. Who could have imagined that the moment he arrived, he would instead be played for a fool and left covered in dust and shame.

"This won't do. If we don't think of a way to win back our ground quickly, that brat will only grow more arrogant. It doesn't matter much for the rest of us, but Brother Ren, you'll be in a bad spot—if this drags on, Huo Yudie might really be lured away by that kid," Yi Xiaotian said with a frown, looking at Ren Zhongyuan's sorry state.

"I told you long ago that Huo Yudie is just a little slut. Even knowing full well that he's the Western Island's consort, she'll probably shamelessly throw herself at him. Then you, Brother Ren, won't stand a chance. Can you really swallow this insult?" Yao Jiali added fuel to the fire from the side.

"Of course I can't swallow it!" Ren Zhongyuan was grinding his teeth in fury. Yet at the thought of Liu Ziqi's warning just now, he felt somewhat uncertain. Helplessly, he said, "But that old woman Liu Ziqi is obviously protecting him. If we go at him openly, she may very well take the opportunity to truly fly into a rage—and no one can predict the consequences..."

Though Liu Ziqi was a woman, she was someone who had forced her way to the top through sheer hard strength, and her style of doing things was often more ruthless than any man's. Others dared not do anything to Ren Zhongyuan and his companions, but if it were Liu Ziqi—well, that was truly another matter. (To be continued.)