Chapter 55: Gathering of Heroes

  The top floor of Quanjude was fully booked, with a group of young talents and beauties seated around the tables, two people per table, with exquisite dishes and fine wines on the table.

  The young man at the top was a handsome and elegant youth with clear eyebrows and bright eyes, enthusiastically chatting with everyone while clinking cups.

  "Isn't the lockdown lifted? Hasn't he come out already? Can I take it as... a disguised refusal?" The third prince, Zhou Liangren, did not have the arrogance of royalty, but was instead very calm and gentle.

  "Yes!" Pang Hai and Ren Lingfeng cleanly sold out Tang Yan.

  "My younger brother's misbehavior has brought shame upon us, and now the Third Prince is laughing at us." Tang Qian raised his cup in a toast and apologized to the Third Prince.

  "This isn't being unruly, it's having no regard for anyone!" Yang Ruyan said in a neither hot nor cold tone, her voice not loud but clearly transmitted into the ears of everyone present.

  "Little sister, don't be rude." Yang Xingwei rebuked in a low voice, he could ignore Tang Yan, but couldn't not give face to Tang Qian.

  "As Smoke Sister said, Tang Yan was previously promiscuous and arrogant. Recently, he has become even more overbearing and unbridled. Now, he even dares to refuse the invitation of the Third Prince! The Tang family is indeed very bold!" Li Shoujian took a sip of wine and coldly glanced at Tang Qian.

  He didn't dare to provoke the powerful young master of the Tang family before, but now that the two families are at odds and he has become a laughing stock, he no longer has any reservations.

  Tang Qianping calmly said: "My younger brother is confined at home, it's because our father doesn't allow it, not that I'm intentionally refusing."

  Li Shoujian said indifferently: "Closed? What a closed, what time is there to post a battle notice?"

  Tang Yan was in... Just as Pang Hai was about to continue spilling the beans, he was shut down by Tang Qian's subtle yet piercing gaze. He smiled awkwardly and stood there quietly, not daring to make another sound.

  "I want to confirm one last time." Dong Leiming's fingertips unconsciously touched the wine glass, making a metallic ringing sound. His eyes looked at Tang Qian, but his tone was directed at Pang Hai and Ren Lingfeng: "Is Tang Yan sure he wants to challenge me?"

  "Definitely!! Very definitely!"

  "You don't know life or death!" The room was filled with bursts of snickering, and those who hadn't personally witnessed Tang Yan defeating Li Shoujian still thought it was just a trick. Moreover... Dong Leiming wasn't someone to be compared to Li Shoujian, his powerful reputation was earned through challenge after challenge, he was a battle maniac.

  Tang Qian is quite arrogant, isn't he? He has also fallen down in front of him before.

  The third prince gently shook his feather fan and smiled at Tang Qian: "I've already heard about the affairs of your family's younger brother, how come you still want to be modest in front of me?"

  Tang Qian bowed respectfully and said: "I dare not."

  The third prince smiled softly: "In my opinion, the challenge match is set for today, and I'll be the witness. How about it?"

  Everyone looked at each other and smiled with amusement: "Agreed!"

  Dong Leiming said calmly: "He dares to come, then he will be here."

  Tang Qian slightly furrowed his brow, not because he wanted to protect Tang Yan, but because he was certain that Tang Yan would suffer a crushing defeat in front of Dong Lei. Today's gathering was different, with everyone tacitly agreeing to humiliate Tang Yan, which meant losing face for the Tang family. As the eldest young master of the Tang family, he couldn't just stand by and do nothing.

  "Tan Qian, what's your opinion?" The Third Prince looked at Tan Qian, his tone inquiring, but who dared to refuse?

  "I hope Brother Dong will show mercy." Tang Qian said to Dong Lei, who was also willing to let Tang Yan be arrogant for a while, taking the opportunity to see what his true strength was and whether he could pose a threat to himself.

  The third prince laughed loudly: "Go ask again!"

  In the private room of the wine house, after receiving the news, Du Yang's face turned solemn and said: "This time things have gotten out of hand, there must be someone behind the scenes stirring up trouble. They want to humiliate you in front of the prince. What do you say? Are you going to take it or not?"

  Ailin made a final reminder: "Dong Leimeng has excellent innate talent, loves to fight, and is the only son of the principal. He may have several life-saving martial arts techniques. This time, with the third prince presiding over, and the new generation of various aristocratic families as witnesses, if you lose, it will be very miserable, and it will easily leave a psychological shadow on your future martial arts cultivation."

  Du Yangdao said: "I just want to ask you one sentence, are you ready?"

  Tang Yan didn't expect things to come so suddenly, and was actually counterattacked by the opponent, grasping the initiative. The reason why the agreement was set three days later for the challenge was to have time to get familiar with this ancient war knife, now it seems... unavoidable. "Let's go!"

  "Ms. Ailinda, the instructor? How did you end up here?" As Tang Yan walked into the top floor of Quanjude with a black puppy in his arms, everyone's gaze fell more on Ailinda behind him, astonished that this female instructor known for her cold elegance was following Tang Yan.

  The third prince, Zhou Liangren, showed a surprised expression, and then looked at Yang Ruyan and several other beauties, and couldn't help but feel that this barbaric land actually had such beautiful women, which were not much worse than those in the capital.

  Zuo Qiu, Jiang Le and Zhu Tiangan noticed Du Yang behind Tang Yan, a very talented and gifted 'junior', who was said to have experienced a spiritual vein anomaly and would soon receive the academy's key training. How could he be friends with Tang Yan, this kind of rich second-generation?

  "I'll bear witness for you." Elinda replied calmly to the crowd's curious gaze.

  She had already regretted coming to Quanjude when she arrived, the students' surprised and strange gazes made her face flush. She only followed Tang Yan, forgetting that she was a college instructor, and even forgot about Tang Yan's previous image. But now it's too late to say anything, she can only try to remain calm, otherwise... by tomorrow morning, she would be in trouble.

  "Third Prince, thank you for the invitation. Otherwise, I'd still be stuck at home under house arrest." Tang Yan smiled and made a bowing gesture with his fist, first saying something nonsensical to shut everyone's mouths and avoid trouble.

  As expected... Li Shoujian and the others all felt a bit stifled, just about to criticize Tang Yan's previous 'excuse' for refusing the prince, but unexpectedly this guy was quite clever. Regardless of the actual situation, now that Tang Yan has said this, no one can continue to entangle him in this aspect, otherwise they will only embarrass themselves.

  "Are you Tang Yan? I've heard of you, please sit down." Zhou Liangren stretched out his hand to gesture, without making any extra moves, he had made up his mind today to just watch the show.

  Tang Yan looked around the room, nodded to his elder brother Tang Qian, who was about to get up and ask the shopkeeper to add a stool next to him. However, Tang Yan took two steps forward and sat down beside Yang Ruyan: "Sister Ruyan, miss me?"

  "Who allowed you to sit next to me?" Yang Ruyan's face suddenly sank.

  "Hey, Big Uncle." Tang Yan greeted Yang Xingwei again.

  Yang Xingwei's eyes twitched slightly, with a feeling of being unable to cry or laugh.

  "Shameless!" Many of the young masters from aristocratic families who had a crush on Yang Ruyan glared at her indignantly.

  "I'll give you a word: scram! Yang Ruyan wanted to maintain her image, but this guy was really too damn annoying!"

  Tang Yan didn't mind, raised his wine glass and drank it all in one gulp: "Everyone, first meeting, please forgive me."

  "That's my wine cup!!" Yang Ruyan was both embarrassed and annoyed.

  "We're all going to end up getting married anyway, so there's no need to worry about these things."

  "Tang Yan, if you spout nonsense again, believe it or not, I'll tear your mouth to shreds." Yang Ruyan's expression was icy cold, revealing a clear intent to kill.

  After four months of consolidation and潜修, she successfully crossed into the second-order武灵境 half a month ago and is not afraid of Tang Yan! As for the news that Tang Yan defeated Li Shoujian, he always thought it was Tang Yan's trick. This kind of thing, he is good at it!

  "A beating is a sign of affection, scolding is a sign of love, I understand." Tang Yan's purely natural ambiguous words made the faces of all the men and women in the room turn extremely strange. Tang Qian even felt his face burning with embarrassment, while the Third Prince was slightly stunned, indeed a rare treasure from the border wilderness!

  Yang Ruyan was so angry that she couldn't speak, and now she finally realized that it was a mistake to support inviting Tang Yan over to suffer.

  "I like you when you're being fierce and feisty, it's very feminine."

  "Second brother!! Stop messing around!" Tang Qian coughed heavily, today he was in charge of the imperial prince's face, to a certain extent, the behavior of these young masters affected the empire's evaluation of their family, if they offended the prince because of Tang Yan's shamelessness, it would be very detrimental to the development of the Tang family.

  Details determine success or failure, Tang Qianxin's seal is a good example!

  "Tang Yan, it seems you've forgotten the main event today." Dong Lei Meng's face didn't look too good, today's focus was supposed to be on the challenge match, but this rascal came in and started flirting with women as if nothing was wrong.

  "Ah? Sorry, I forgot about you." Tang Yan sized up the opposing Dong Leiming, who had a straight figure, sword-like eyebrows and an eagle nose, looking stern and coldly handsome. Although he was very calm, he gave off a strong oppressive feeling that wasn't intentionally created - it was just his natural aura!

  Dong Lei's face slowly sank, did this kid intentionally play tricks on people?

  "I've recently encountered some strange things, and inexplicably became a martial artist. I vaguely completed the initiation ritual, and in a daze, I defeated Young Master Li Shoujian. I often have a feeling of being in a dreamlike state, as if it's not real." Tang Yan looked bewildered and innocent, while Li Shoujian's face turned green with rage. "Defeated by you in a daze? How infuriating!"

  Tang Yan didn't mind Li Shoujian's murderous gaze, and continued: "How can a second-stage Wu Ling defeat a third-stage Wu Ling? I'm really curious!! Really very curious!"

  "Tang Yan, you're too much!" Li Shoujian realized that this kid was intentionally mocking him.

  "Don't rush, see what he wants to do." The family brothers beside him quickly restrained him.

  "A few days ago, I suddenly had an idea - how real is my strength? How formidable am I? Thinking about it... I thought of Dong Xue. I hope we can have a good fight and see how long I can last." Tang Yan cleverly played with words, not mentioning winning or losing, but rather how long he could last.

  It means I'm no match for you, I just want to see how long I can hold on.

  Du Yang said quietly, "Dong Shixiong, you are only half a step away from Wu Zong. Tang Yan is just a second-grade Wuling master. I hope you can be slightly more mindful of your actions and not take things too far, lest someone loses their life."

  Dong Leiming slightly furrowed his brow, having almost forgotten this point - Tang Yan was only a second-tier Wu Ling! He had been walking all the way, always challenging those of the same level or higher, and had never fought with someone lower than himself.

  If it's really because of losing control and accidentally killing Tang Yan... things will probably be hard to wrap up.