by Dragon King
At this time, Hao Ren closely looked at the jealous gaze of this ‘West Ocean’s Young Master’!
“Little Zi, I’ll talk to the East Ocean ‘thoroughly’ after the party’s over!” when Zhao Yanzi and Hao Ren were about to leave, Oldman Zeng said solemnly.
170 Wouldn’t Want a Gold Mountain!
Zhao Yanzi ignored Oldman Zeng and dragged Hao Ren away from his table. Hao Ren felt the coldness from Oldman Zeng’s eyes when they turned around.
When Hao Ren was an ordinary human, West Ocean couldn’t do anything to him because of the Inspectors. However, he had broken through to Kan-level now, which meant that he was qualified to become a member of the Dragon Tribe and Zhao Yanzi’s fiancé. Since he was now a cultivator and no longer a mortal, it wasn’t against the rules to fight against a cultivator.
Zhao Yanzi and Hao Ren went back to their table for a break. It was not easy to walk around and greet all the guests at their tables.
“Look at you… You got all sweaty. Why don’t you go freshen up your make up and get changed,” Zhao Hongyu was worried about Zhao Yanzi.
“Um…” Zhao Yanzi stood up.
“I’ll go with you,” Hao Ren stood up as well.
She turned around to him and didn’t reject his suggestion. They got out of the banquet hall and headed towards the dressing room through the corridor.
Boom!
A ray of white light flashed over and blocked their way.
Zeng Yitao, who was in his black and white polka dot shirt, appeared in front of them.
Zhao Yanzi’s face turned cold immediately. “Get out of the way!”
“Zi, you should be marrying me! We are the right match!” Instead of getting out of the way, he shouted out to her passionately.
“I’m not marrying you!” She was still cold. “I will call for my Third Uncle if you still don’t move!”
Zhao Yanzi’s threat had its effect. Zeng Yitao moved a few steps aside since he knew how powerful her Third Uncle was. Even his grandpa, who could defeat anyone in the West Ocean, wouldn’t be able to beat her Third Uncle here.
However, he didn’t give up and pointed at Hao Ren. “You are choosing him, a Kan-level dumba*s, to be your future husband?”
“Kan-level? Humph, you might not even be able to defeat him!” Zhao Yanzi said.
Zeng Yitao remembered how Hao Ren defeated Qin Shaoyang when they first entered the lobby. He narrowed his eyes.
Hao Ren looked at Zeng Yitao, who he was meeting for the first time. He seemed to be a high-schooler. However, his must had gotten the arrogant characteristic from his grandpa. On top of that, the status of ‘prince’ had made him even more unscrupulous.
Zeng Yitao stepped forward and said, “Zi, as long as you marry me, I can give you mountains of gold and silver. But what does he have!”
“No one cares about your gold mountains and silver mountains! Get out of the way!” She gritted her teeth as she was getting mad.
Zeng Yitao took out a coral, which was shining with purple light, from his Xumi Ring. He said to her, “This is my gift to you, Zi, a purple coral that has been around for 10,000 years!” He pointed at Hao Ren, “What did he give you?”
Hao Ren was stupefied as he remembered that he forgot to get her something for her birthday.
Zhao Yanzi was stupefied as well. But she immediately took out her phone and pointed at the little chain tied to the end of it, “This is his gift to me.”
Hao Ren remembered it was what he got her from the little shop outside of LingZhao Middle School. He blushed a little out of embarrassment as it was only worth five yuan.
“Hahaha…” Zeng Yitao laughed out loud, “This cr*p? I can buy you millions or billions of them if you want!”
“Who wants it from you! I only want this one he got me! It’s better as long as he got it for me!” Zhao Yanzi reached out her hand and knocked the purple coral in his hand over.
Zeng Yitao quickly reached out to catch it, but it still fell onto the floor. Although the carol was ten thousand years old, it was extremely fragile. The coral broke into pieces when it hit the floor.
Not wanting to bother with him any further, Zhao Yanzi dragged Hao Ren to the dressing room not far from them.
Hao Ren secretly smiled at her.
“It’s better as long as he got it for me!” Knowing she was only saying that to piss Zeng Yitao off, Hao Ren was still a little touched by her remark.
Zeng Yitao slowly straightened up his body from trying to catch the purple coral. He saw them walk away hand-in-hand and realized that sweet Zhao Yanzi would be someone else’s girlfriend from now on. It made him mad.
As the prince of the West Ocean Dragon Palace, he could get any beautiful girls he wanted. However, this Zhao Yanzi wouldn’t even let him touch her.
As long as Zhao Yanzi was married into the West Ocean, it would be an actual unite by marriage between the East and West Ocean. If the princess of the East Ocean lived in the West Ocean, the resources and business of the East Ocean would all automatically become those of the West Ocean’s.
Therefore, fulfilling his grandson’s wish was one reason why Oldman Zeng wanted him to marry Zhao Yanzi. More importantly, it was out of the consideration of their benefits.
However, the East Ocean had already found themselves a Fuma, which made it completely impossible for Zhao Yanzi to marry into the West Ocean. This had ruined their entire plan.
Hence, Oldman Zeng was so mad that he halted his hundred years of seclusion cultivation to come to Zhao Yanzi’s birthday party and put pressure on them.
Zhao Yanzi slammed the door after they got to the dressing room. The makeup artist, stylist, and hair-dresser all came to her in a hurry. “What do you need, Ms. Zi?”
“I want to get changed and have my makeup redone,” Zhao Yanzi said.
They didn’t dare waste any time after seeing how bad of a mood she was in. They led her into another huge dressing room and prepared several dresses for her to choose from. A few minutes later, Zhao Yanzi got out of the room in a black silk tank top.
Hao Ren was a little shocked when he saw her petite body looking so charming in the outfit.
With the excellent techniques of the hair-dresser and the makeup artist, her face appeared to be cuter than before, and her tied-up hair made her look elegant.
She had this aura already. Who knew how unimaginably elegant she would become when she got older.
“Fuma Hao, let us fix you up a little as well,” they walked to Hao Ren and said in excitement.
Hao Ren had quite some alcohol just now, and he was a little dizzy with a weird look on his face. He was pushed into the room and got changed into the clothes that they handed over to him.
Then, he went to the dressing table, and they adjusted his hair and covered the blush up with makeup.
He was wearing the most formal outfit, a good quality black tuxedo with a white bow tie. There was a shirt with both ends tilting up underneath the tuxedo. The sleeves were French inspired with gold buttons on the pleated sleeves. On his feet were black silk socks and leather shoes.
When Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi reappeared in the banquet hall hand in hand, their ‘matching outfit’ astonished everyone.
Zhao Yanzi suddenly looked mature, and Hao Ren looked dignified and majestic.
The bright light shot right in front of them as most of the guests started to applause loudly.
What a perfect match! A talented man and a beautiful woman! It made everyone jealous.
The slight blush on Zhao Yanzi’s face made her even more charming!
Hao Ren coughed twice to calm himself down. It was the first time that he experienced something like this. However, with Zhao Yanzi’s arm around his arm, he had to keep his temperament and try not to make a fool of himself.
The two of them went back to the main table under everyone’s stare. Their faces were both red when they sat down.
Zhao Hongyu covered her mouth to hide her satisfied smile, and Elder Sun in the c
orner of the hall gave Zhao Hongyu a big thumbs-up. Obviously, it was all her plan.
“It’s so embarrassing, Mom!” Zhao Yanzi sat down and complained.
Even though she said that, her back straightened when she walked down the banquet hall with Hao Ren; she didn’t want anyone to look down upon her.
Same went for Hao Ren. Seeing everyone’s eyes on him and Zhao Yanzi, he put on a better show out of the nervousness. Zhao Hongyu’s arrangement was meant to emphasize that Zhao Yanzi was already taken!
At the few West Ocean tables beside them, Zeng Yitao had already shown his furiousness through his eyes. The elders could still keep calm as Oldman Zeng held his words back in flames of fury. Since many representatives of many forces were present, he had to hold back.
Causing problems during the party would be unwise. However, what East Ocean just did was an act against West Ocean in Oldman Zeng’s opinion.
At the main table, Zhao Hongyu was glad to see how red Zhao Yanzi was. She moved over secretly and asked, “Is Ren handsome today, Zi?”
“Why are you asking this, Mom!” Zhao Yanzi pouted unhappily.
As the birthday girl today, everyone had to go along with her wishes. Zhao Hongyu took her question back and stopped teasing her. However, she did think that Hao Ren looked very good with Zi in his suit.
Knowing how Zhao Yanzi was, Zhao Hongyu knew that the day Zhao Yanzi admits Hao Ren was handsome would be the day she admits that she liked him.
Hao Ren kept smiling beside Zhao Yanzi because people kept looking over at them. Many hermits and elders in the mountains came to the party not knowing that this little princess of East Ocean already had a Fuma.
Cheers and laughter lasted until the end of the party.
Zhao Guang and Zhao Hongyu were at the door to see everyone off as the guests left the Star Light Restaurant one by one. The elders whom Zhao Hongyu picked up during the day all left by flying in the night. The city was crowded, like a forest of steel. They had trouble finding this place, but it was a piece of cake for them to return to their places of seclusion.
The people of West Ocean Dragon Palace were the last to arrive as well as the last to leave.
Seeing that the couple had seen all the guests off, Oldman Zeng and his people stood in the lobby, not ready to leave.
“What? You don’t want to leave after you have already scrounged enough food?” Zhao Kuo stared at Oldman Zeng from the lobby and said loudly.
“Don’t be rude, Zhao Kuo!” Zhao Guang scolded him quietly. As long as it was still within the day, the West Ocean Dragon Palace was still their guest.
“Dragon King Zhao, I think we still need to discuss some things,” Oldman Zeng stepped forward and said directly.
171 Who Does Zi Belong to!
Since all the guests had already left, Zhao Guang thought for a bit and reached out his right hand. “Please!”
They left a few people guarding the entrance while Zhao Guang, the elders, and about 20 important figures of West Ocean went upstairs into the meeting room on the third floor.
Zhao Hongyu took Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi along with them.
Instead of sitting down at the long desk in the room, the two groups of people seated themselves in the greeting area of the room. Oldman Zeng and Zhao Guang each sat in an old-fashioned wooden armchair in the middle, and the others either sat beside them or stood on the side.
Zhao Guang took the chair on the east side while Oldman Zeng took the one on the west side across a rosewood tea table. Beside Zhao Guang seated Zhao Kuo, then it was Zhao Hongyu, Zhao Yanzi, and Hao Ren. All the elders of the East Ocean were standing.
On Oldman Zeng’s side, his grandson, Zeng Yitao, was beside him while the elders were standing as well.
Although they weren’t at the long desk, the two groups of people positioned themselves in two obvious opposite sides.
“What does Elder Zeng have in mind to discuss?” Zhao Guang picked up a cup of green tea after he had sat down.
“I’ll be upfront with you, Dragon King Zhao. You knew that we would be proposing a marriage plan to Zhao Yanzi on her 15th birthday, yet you still put on this show. What is it that you are trying to pull?” Oldman Zeng threw a question at Zhao Guang without even touching the cup of tea in front of him.
“Oh, that? I’m not sure what you are talking about,” Zhao Guang took another sip and said calmly.
“Humph! Don’t play dumb with me. West Ocean had informed East Ocean two years ago that we will hold a magnificent wedding for Zhao Yanzi. We would have the engagement ceremony when she turns 15 and the marriage when she turns 18!” Oldman Zeng said, clenching his fists.
“Old b*stard! Who are you to say that she will marry into West Ocean? When did Zi ever agree?” Zhao Kuo shouted abruptly.
Peng!
Oldman Zeng smashed his palm into the rosewood tea table, leaving a deep palm print.
“What are you East Ocean trying to do by secretly setting up a marriage!” He shouted.
Boom! Pa!
Zhao Kuo smashed his palm on the table as well, and the tea table turned into pieces immediately.
“When did you have a say in what we decide to do in East Ocean!” Zhao Kuo roared.
The atmosphere suddenly got intense, and both sides were on the edge of starting a fight. Although East Ocean had a master like Zhao Kuo, the average strength of the people on West Ocean’s side was higher than that of East Ocean’s!
Oldman Zeng took a few deep breaths and said coldly, “You would be facing a war if you don’t give us a satisfying answer.”
A war!
A war in the world of cultivation!
Not only the elders of East Ocean but also the elders of West Ocean shivered.
There hadn’t been a large war in the cultivation world for over 600 years. Due to the ascendance of the human cultivators and the establishment of Dragon Tribe’s Inspector System, there hadn’t even been a single kill in the near 100 to 200 years!
Both East and West Ocean Dragon Clans were of great power, so the inspectors wouldn’t be able to stop a war between the two.
Six sects of the human cultivators were involved in the war 600 years ago, and all sides lost half of their masters and elites as a result. Although the Dragon Tribe wasn’t officially involved in the war, it was still affected and lost 16 Qian-level Masters.
Oldman Zeng’s remark implied how serious he was!
It would cause huge consequences if this matter around Zhao Yanzi caused a war between the Dragon Clans!
Zhao Guang stopped Zhao Kuo who wanted to speak and kept calm as he asked Oldman Zeng, “What do you want?”
“Cancel the marriage between Zhao Yanzi and this kid and let her marry into West Ocean after three years,” Oldman Zeng said firmly.
His stern attitude showed how certain he was about this. It also demonstrated what status Zhao Yanzi would have if she were to marry into West Ocean.
Hearing this, Zhao Yanzi was so mad that she tried to stand up and say something, but Zhao Hongyu stopped her.
Zhao Guang knew that West Ocean wanted to take advantage of East Ocean, and they could find just any excuse to do so. It was true that Zeng Yitao was fond of Zhao Yanzi, but he was rude and unreasonable, not to mention that he was a womanizer and a bully who had no good characteristics at all!
How could Zhao Guang let his baby girl marry such a prince!
Zhao Guang didn’t want to give in, so he put the teacup on the table as he said lightly, “That is impossible.”
“You…” A strong power raised from Oldman Zeng’s body. He had always thought Zhao Guang was a pushover and had no idea that he would be so strict on the issue involving his daughter.
But… He didn’t dare to announce the war.
Both East Ocean and West Ocean had thousands of years of history, and a war wouldn’t do West Ocean any good even if they won.
Although it seemed like South Ocean and North Ocean weren’t doing anything, they were both monitoring the relation
ship between East Ocean and West Ocean.
Oldman Zeng’s body slightly trembled as he said,” Alright, I will give you another month to decide…”
“That wouldn’t be necessary because Zi has found her future husband, and we respect her decision. So, we won’t consider letting her marry into West Ocean,” Zhao Guang said lightly.
Hearing this, Zhao Yanzi looked at Hao Ren on her side and blushed.
“I wasn’t the one who chose him… But I guess Hao Ren would be better than Zeng Yitao…” she thought to herself.
Hao Ren, on the other hand, was listening to the discussion quietly and analyzing the relationship and situation between East Ocean and West Ocean.
He now understood why he was made into the Fuma as he was the key to cut off West Ocean. Otherwise, it would have been hard for East Ocean to reject the marriage proposal due to the relationship between the two clans.
But now, since Zhao Yanzi had chosen the Fuma ‘herself’, and the Fuma had successfully become a member of East Ocean Dragon Clan, it would be arbitrary for West Ocean to argue on that.
If Zhao Yanzi weren’t taken and East Ocean rejected West Ocean’s proposal, East Ocean would be to blame for embarrassing West Ocean. However, if Zhao Yanzi were already taken yet West Ocean wished to marry her forcefully, it would be West Ocean to be blamed for interfering with other people’s relationships.
No matter what, East Ocean was standing on the side of justice now. If West Ocean were to start a war on purpose, most neutral forces would be on East Ocean’s side.
Hao Ren had reached Kan-level before Zhao Yanzi’s birthday party. It might not seem like a huge deal, but it was a significant contribution strategically.
“Good… Good… Good…” Oldman Zeng stared at Zhao Guang and said it three times in a row. He understood that although they were more powerful, East Ocean was better than them strategically. Also, East Ocean’s land business was more prosperous than West Ocean’s, and they were more successful in drawing other powers over to their side!
East Ocean had been planning on this ever since a few months ago, and Zhao Yanzi’s birthday party was only a demonstration of their capabilities.