Chapter 4953 — I Will Remember This

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"Well, well—so the honored Town Master Chang really is a man of such blunt candor. You dare fasten a chamber pot like that onto my head in front of everyone. Tell me, when did my reputation become so sterling? Has even the Town Master begun to think me some soft-natured fool?"

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"No, no, no—the Guild Master misunderstands. This is no chamber pot. My wife and son were beaten to this state. I merely wish to demand a reasonable and just explanation. I do not wish to be taken for a muddled fool or a spineless wretch. I trust that is not excessive?"

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"Whether it is excessive is not for you to decide, Town Master Chang," Zhuang Yifan said with a shake of his head.

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"Quite right—this is the League branch's territory, so naturally the Guild Master has the final word. Then what does the Guild Master wish to say?" Chang Minghui fixed Zhuang Yifan with a cold stare.

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Though he was inferior to the other man in both strength and authority, he was, after all, the Town Master of Dingcheng and the foremost figure of the Yellow-Rank Sea Region's alchemical holy land. Just as Zhuang Yifan had earlier sought Zang Zili's help, even the Yellow-Rank Academy League had to accord him a measure of deference—more than half the pills the League used were supplied by Dingcheng. That was why Chang Minghui could speak with such confidence.

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"What I say hardly matters. What matters is what Master Lin says," Zhuang Yifan replied, nodding toward Wei Zhao with a smile.

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"Master Lin? The Guild Master calls this fellow surnamed Lin 'Master'?" Chang Minghui was taken aback. Anyone whom Zhuang Yifan addressed with such a term of respect was no ordinary figure—even an ordinary seventh-rank alchemist would not qualify. As he recalled it, Zhuang Yifan had first used that honorific only after his wife, Zang Zili, had advanced to become a Mystic-rank, first-grade alchemist.

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Which meant this fellow surnamed Lin was also a Mystic-rank, first-grade alchemist? How could that be!

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Zhuang Yifan paid Chang Minghui no mind and merely turned his smiling gaze back to Wei Zhao, every inch a man ready to follow Wei Zhao's lead in whatever he chose.

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In truth, had he not just learned that Wei Zhao stood a chance at breaking through to Mystic-rank, second-grade alchemist, Zhuang Yifan would not have gone so far as to humiliate Chang Minghui, however willing he was to shield Wei Zhao. The man was, after all, master of an alchemical holy land, and his wife Zang Zili was a Mystic-rank, first-grade alchemist. To offend him for the sake of a mere Mystic-rank, first-grade alchemist would clearly not be worth it. But a Mystic-rank, second-grade alchemist was an altogether different matter.

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Even if Wei Zhao were only a prospective Mystic-rank, second-grade alchemist, that was enough for Zhuang Yifan to stake his fortune on him without hesitation. As for Chang Minghui and Zang Zili, they held little personal value to him—he could deal with them as he pleased or kick them aside as he pleased.

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At that moment every eye in the hall was fixed on Wei Zhao. No one knew how this young man, whom Zhuang Yifan treated as an honored guest, would respond. Zhuang Yifan and Chang Minghui were both among the few great powers of the Yellow-Rank Sea Region, and Wei Zhao had just become a legendary prodigy. Today's affair was a rare piece of theater.

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"Town Master Chang, is it?" Wei Zhao glanced at Chang Minghui and said mildly, "You say you wish to weigh my worth?"

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"That's right. Do you have the nerve to move against my wife and son, yet lack the courage to answer now?" Chang Minghui looked at Wei Zhao with contempt. He did not believe for an instant that Wei Zhao could have killed Zang Zili. The more Zhuang Yifan shielded him, the more it proved the fellow had a guilty conscience!

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"It is not a lack of courage—do not misunderstand me, Town Master Chang. I simply have no interest in doing something so foolish as to pit myself, a mere early Mystic Ascension cultivator, against a fine expert of your late Mountain-Opening stage. What do you take me for, Town Master Chang?" Wei Zhao smiled without a care.

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Refusing was the only natural course. Even dealing with Zang Zili—the weakest sort of early Mountain-Opening cultivator—had been hard enough. Now he was to face a late Mountain-Opening expert brimming with killing intent. If one sought death, this was no way to go about it.

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"Naturally, I take you for a head full of shit. Otherwise, how would you dare lay hands on my wife and son?" Chang Minghui sneered.

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Wang Xinyan and the others all glared at him in fury, but Wei Zhao himself merely shrugged as though it were nothing, raising a hand to signal the women to relax. There was no need for them to lose their tempers now. They were all guests here, after all—Zhuang Yifan was the only host, and only the host's words carried weight.

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"Chang Minghui, I'd say it's your head that's full of shit!" Zhuang Yifan did indeed erupt, his expression turning ugly. He had already declared Wei Zhao his honored guest, yet Chang Minghui dared to speak so insolently in public—plainly he did not regard the League Guild Master as worth a thought!

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"What did you say, you surnamed Zhuang?" Chang Minghui's long-pent fury exploded in an instant. At any other time he would never have dared provoke Zhuang Yifan like this, but now rage consumed him, and he had never been a man of forbearance. That he had held himself in check this long was already remarkable restraint.

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"Heh heh. What I mean is that you may take your leave now. Otherwise, you may find yourself singed by the fire you start. You surely know my temper well enough by now, don't you, Town Master Chang?" Zhuang Yifan regarded Chang Minghui with a smile that was not quite a smile.

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The moment the words fell, a wild gale erupted across the hall. Everyone present paled in unison. Once an expert of Chang Minghui's late Mountain-Opening caliber began to act without restraint, everyone there would be caught in the blast, and in the worst case a great many would be maimed or killed.

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Yet before the crowd could scatter and flee, the gale ceased as abruptly as it had begun—and this time it was not Zhuang Yifan who quelled it, but Chang Minghui himself who forced it down.

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"Guild Master Zhuang, I will remember this day's affair," Chang Minghui said coldly, looking at Zhuang Yifan and then sweeping his eyes over Wei Zhao.

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His fury was at its peak, yet he had not entirely lost his reason. If he dared to start a brawl here, Zhuang Yifan—with a strong hand as ruthless as his—might well kill him on the spot and reach into Dingcheng, that alchemical holy land, in the bargain!

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It was not impossible; it was entirely likely. Perhaps Zhuang Yifan's protection of the fellow surnamed Lin today was meant precisely to provoke him into a brawl. Zang Zili, the Dingcheng Academy's chief alchemist, had already fallen. If he, the Town Master of Dingcheng, were to come to harm as well, no one in Dingcheng would remain to hold the situation together. Zhuang Yifan would certainly seize the chance to reach in—the Academy League had long drooled over that fat prize. (To be continued.)