Chapter 130 (Patreon)

The room fell into silence. Xie Jin, Bao Si, even Jiang Lie quailed and froze like deer in the headlight. The meeting having taken a turn none of them could anticipate. Chen Haoran’s mind furiously raced. Xi Wangmu was a valid connection. Why? The obvious answer immediately presented itself—the Chen Family. What kind of connection was it, though? She had seen his face before. She knew him by name. Had they met before? Had they spoken? How well did she know his predecessor? He had a connection to her, which meant they had some kind of official relationship. Was she his servant? Or his Master, perhaps? He immediately ruled those out. She was too disrespectful seeing him. Even Song Yuelin, menace that he was, never directly referred to him by name as Xi Wangmu did.

He noted just how long it took for her to connect his face and name. She had known his name but didn’t associate him with the Chen Family until she saw his face, and even then, it took her a minute. That boded well for Chen Haoran. Whatever the nature of their connection, it didn’t seem to be a particularly close one.

Xi Wangmu sneered. “Of course, I should have known Gold-Eater wouldn’t give the technique to any random junior. Why are you here?”

What else could it be? Sworn friends? Allies? No, it’d be impossible for her not to immediately recognize him if they were that close.

There was a sudden chill in the air. “I asked you a question, Chen Haoran.”

Right. Time to channel his inner Song Yuelin.

Chen Haoran casually met Xi Wangmu’s gaze. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was me you were speaking so rudely to.” He sauntered over to the table and stared down at her. “Since when was I someone you could be rude to, Xi Wangmu.”

Xi Wangmu raised an eyebrow. The cold fingers of her sense pierced through his chest. The Yellow Dragon roared in anger at the invasion. Xi Wangmu disdainfully smiled. “So you decided to play with fire and let a foreign spirit in your body, and now you think you’re worthy of respect. Am I supposed to be impressed?”

Chen Haoran ignored her. “How long are you going to keep me standing?”

Xi Wangmu pursed her lips and waved at the chair. “Sit.”

He kicked out the chair and fell into it, leaning back and crossing his legs. The abrupt noise caused the other three to flinch. When Bao Si had been sitting in this chair, she’d had a perfect straight-backed posture, a diplomat at work. Chen Haoran, on the other hand, looked like a gangster who had wandered into a UN meeting.

“You must really think you’ve done something special,” Xi Wangmu said. “I admit, it’s a bit surprising to see you’ve reached the Liquid Meridian Realm. You’ve gone from being a major disappointment to your father to an ordinary one. Congratulations.” She finished off the last of her tea. “Now. What brings Chen Qitao’s dog son to Zumulu? I believed you were left to rot in the north, no?”

Her insults went in one ear and out the other. The man who would have been insulted by them was long gone now. Instead, he analyzed them. Compared to how she insulted Bao Si by treating her as a child, Xi Wangmu’s insults toward him were of a much more pointed nature. It highlighted just how different his status was from Bao Si in Xi Wangmu’s eyes.

Chen Haoran snapped his fingers over his shoulder at Jiang Lei. “Tea.”

Jiang Lei paused, cautiously looking at Xi Wangmu before slowly bringing the tea cart over and setting a new cup for him. Chen Haoran ignored Jiang Lei’s intense scrutiny. He ignored the holes Xie Jin’s and Bao Si’s eyes were boring into him. He ignored Xi Wangmu’s question once again. When Jiang Lei finished pouring the tea, he grabbed the cup and downed it like it was cheap swill. He didn’t even need to channel any qi to avoid scalding his tongue. A dense peach flavor spread throughout his mouth, and a peach-pink qi washed over his meridians, easing the strain they had accrued from the Yellow Dragon’s autonomous cultivation.

“Not bad,” Chen Haoran said, smacking his lips. He took the teapot from a perplexed Jiang Lei and stood to fill up Xi Wangmu’s cup. Xi Wangmu regarded him calmly as he poured.

And poured.

Her calm expression fell away to a frown, and there was a collective hitch of breath in the room as Xi Wangmu’s cup ran over and tea spilled onto the table. Before the tea could reach the edge of the table and fall in her lap, Xi Wangmu’s qi spiked. The tea immediately evaporated. Her cup and the teapot Chen Haoran was holding shattered into pieces and disintegrated.

“Boy.” Xi Wangmu’s voice was dangerously low. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Chen Haoran cocked his head. “I thought we’d already decided to dispense with face? Why are you getting so mad?”

Xi Wangmu’s qi did not stir or rise in any way, and yet Chen Haoran felt something akin to hundreds of cold blades touching his skin. The Yellow Dragon roared, and Chen Haoran let it fill him with the courage needed not to flinch. He was playing quite a dangerous game here. That was okay, though.  It was impressive seeing the things a person unconsciously revealed when they were angry. He was learning a lot, especially since he had Xi Wangmu’s meeting with Bao Si to compare.

“Since when did I become someone you could be so rude to?” Xi Wangmu said, parroting his earlier words. “Do you think that selling your soul and achieving a little success in cultivation means anything in my eyes? I was ruling the Peachwine when your ancestors were suckling their mother’s milk.”

“Yes, yes, you’re very old.” Chen Haoran said, ignoring the invisible blades. “Forgive me, though for thinking my ancestors got the better deal in the end.”

Xi Wangmu narrowed her eyes to slits. “You are testing my patience Chen Haoran. Do not think you are so valuable to your father that I won’t kill you right now.”

So if he were valuable to his father, then Xi Wangmu couldn’t do anything to him?

“Why so threatening? I was just giving you a reminder.” He placed a hand on the table and loomed over her. “Even the dogs of the Chen Family can’t be insulted by the likes of you, Xi Wangmu. Kill me? Have you asked my father’s permission? Do you really think a mere Crystal Transformation Realm is enough to make Chen Qitao take you seriously?”

Behind him, he felt three separate qi freeze in terror. Chen Haoran couldn’t blame them. What he was doing was worthy of death. He didn’t think a cultivator as old as Xi Wangmu would have many compunctions about killing someone for annoying her. Briefly, he thought about taking a step back but discarded the thought soon after. The more he controlled this conversation, the less likely it was that he’d be forced to answer something ‘Chen Haoran’ should have known. On his own, he wouldn’t have been able to do it. Xi Wangmu wasn’t wrong to say he had nothing worthy of her respect. Fortunately, he wasn’t alone. While he didn’t know as much as he would have liked about Chen Qitao, he knew enough to be willing to bet that his name would deter her as it did the City Lord.

Thankfully for Chen Haoran’s not-dying plan, Daddy Chen was indeed built different.

Xi Wangmu scowled at him but didn’t kill him for the affront. Chen Haoran took the opportunity to retreat and sit back down. His mind turned to the connection once again. Xi Wangmu was close to the Chen Family. If her foreign support was the Baghmar Republic, then the Chen Family was also probably supporting her plans in Zumulu. Her attitude toward him eliminated the majority of possible relationships she could have with him. He also eliminated the horrifying thought that they were married. No matter how ridiculous cultivators made things in this world, letting a 20-year-old marry someone in their four thousands was too far. Whatever their relationship was, it wasn’t something she and his predecessor negotiated themselves. That only left….

Chen Haoran leaned back in his seat and held up his hand in mock surrender. “Now, now, I didn’t come here to fight. We’re family, after all.”

If anything, Xi Wangmu scowled even further. “You are no child of mine.”

There was a strangled gasp that could have been Bao Si but more likely belonged to Xie Jin or Jiang Lei. Chen Haoran didn’t have the mind to figure out who, though. He was rather more preoccupied with the fact he was probably sitting in front of his stepmother, of all people.

“Chen Qitao, you wild asshole. What the fuck?”

Chen Haoran didn’t let his discomfort show on his face. Thankfully Xi Wangmu took a page from the shitty stepmother playbook. Things could have gone very wrong very fast had she and his predecessor been at all closer.

“I tire of your nonsense, Chen Haoran,” Xi Wangmu said. “Has Chen Qitao sent you here?”

He grimaced. It wasn’t an expression he had to fake.  “I’m not here by choice. Song Yuelin and I had a run-in with Shen Jianyu. Our operations up north have gone to waste now because of him.”

“Shen Qi’s son, was it?” Xi Wangmu pinched the air. The purpose of the motion was lost on Chen Haoran, however. “He’s considered talented among the current crop of imperial scions despite his low cultivation base. You weren’t wronged by being run off by him.”

Right. It seemed that his breaking away from Song Yuelin wasn’t common knowledge in the Chen Family yet. That was good. It saved him from several awkward questions. Unfortunately, Xi Wangmu had more to ask.

She pinned him with her stare. “That doesn’t explain why you’re interfering with the Basin.”

Chen Haoran shrugged. “When have I ever needed a reason to do what I do? I just found some interesting things to occupy my time.” He turned his head to spy on his friends. Jiang Lei was stupefied. The revelation of Chen Haoran’s relation to his Schools Founder apparently being too much for him. Bao Si and Xie Jin both stared at him like they were seeing him for the first time. Chen Haoran’s heart sank. He wasn’t looking forward to dealing with that conversation.

“What do you want?” Xi Wangmu bluntly asked, drawing his attention.

Chen Haoran blinked. “What ever do you mean?” No really. What did she mean?

“What will it take for you to not get in the way anymore?” Her eyes flicked to Bao Si.

It seemed she really did value Bao Si. Well, she’d have to if she wanted to install Bao Si as the ruler of Zumulu. Or maybe Xi Wangmu was that worried about him, or rather, who he represented. Xi Wangmu had asked if Chen Qitao had sent him here as if that was a bad thing, and Gold-Eater had also seemed to think Chen Haoran’s presence was some plan of his father. Was the Chen Family not as involved in Zumulu as he thought? Or was Chen Qitao being too involved the issue? Xi Wangmu was planning a rebellion. What rebel wouldn’t be worried about their foreign allies having too much influence in the new government they fought so hard to establish?

Chen Haoran made a show of considering Xi Wangmu’s words. His eyes slid over to Bao Si and caught her gaze. Her face was unreadable. He turned away. “I’ll leave that to you,” he said. “I’m sure you’ll come up with something satisfactory.”

Xi Wangmu didn’t look pleased, but it was hardly the worst thing he’d said to her so far. She flipped her hand, and a jade box appeared in her palm. She pushed it across the table. Chen Haoran casually lifted the lid and was immediately blasted with a fruity smell. Inside the box was a perfectly round and rosy peach.

“An 800-year-old Banquet Peach.” Xi Wangmu said. “Consuming it will make the body light and strong and will enhance vitality. If you want to be more than a disappointment to your father, then you’ll need this.”

Jiang Lei’s qi fluctuated when Xi Wangmu took out the peach, confirming that it was something valuable. Chen Haoran dropped it into his storage bag without a second glance. “A pleasure doing business with you.”

Xi Wangmu snorted. “Leave. The longer I see your face, the more my mood gets spoiled.”

Chen Haoran pushed away from the table. He didn’t need to be told twice. “Far be it for me to keep disturbing you then.” He threw his arms around Xie Jin and Bao Si. Even when they flinched, he didn’t remove his arms, just mourned and pulled them to the door.

Unfortunately, Xi Wangmu wasn’t finished. “Bao’er, you’ll receive your instructions soon. You may ask your master for more details.”

He could feel Bao Si tense under his arm. A feeling he wished he could replicate when he felt Xi Wangmu’s sense sink into his body again and hover over the snarling and snapping Yellow Dragon.

“Leave Zumulu before you lose control of that thing, and it kills you,” Xi Wangmu said. “It will trouble my daughter if I have to explain why you died in my territory to your father.”

Chen Haoran paused. The Yellow Dragon roared.

“Noted.”