“Do you have any idea what you’re doing? If you dare lay a hand on the dragon horse, you’ll bring a killing disaster upon yourself — one a petty little lord like you can’t possibly withstand.” The men on the ground bluffed and threatened through their fear.
“Oh, I’m so frightened,” Ye Fan said, walking forward. The crops were knee-high, still tender saplings — a sweeping expanse of lush green — yet a great swath of them had been destroyed before they could even grow. This was the lifeblood of the villagers. No wonder even the old men had been enraged.
“You… what do you think you’re doing?”
Bang!
Ye Fan swung out a kick, sending a man flying like a sandbag — dozens of meters through the air — until the man crashed down outside the fields, immediately followed by screams like a pig being slaughtered.
“Ahh…”
“Treating us like this — you’re bringing disaster down on yourself. You won’t end up well!”
“What a racket.” Ye Fan glanced at the man he had kicked to the roadside, then continued to pace through the fields, making his way toward the remaining few.
“Don’t… don’t come any closer! We’ll compensate for the damage!” These men were all thoroughly terrified now. Already wounded and crumpled on the ground, they had no way to dodge.
“Where did that courage go from earlier? Losing your nerve now?” Ye Fan was unmoved. He walked up and raised a foot, kicking them one after another. His strength was immense, and these men all flew like little chicks — each soaring dozens of meters before crashing down onto the dirt road outside the crops.
Thud, thud…
A whole cluster of tumbling figures, and though these men were cultivators, immobilized as they were with no ability to actively defend themselves, they hit the ground hard enough to roll their eyes back — wailing ceaselessly.
Two of them even lost consciousness outright. The remaining four each had bones broken, groaning without pause, their entire bodies convulsing and trembling uncontrollably.
The villagers all stared with their mouths hanging open. This sixteen or seventeen-year-old young city lord — who normally looked so bright and cheerful — had just kicked an entire group of villainous men one by one into the air, leaving everyone thoroughly astonished.
“City lord brother has such great strength!”
“City lord brother took care of all the bad people — little snotty kid, you can stop crying now!”
A group of children all cried out at once, their tears not yet dry, looking every one of them like little painted cats — yet their expressions were so genuine, joy and sorrow and everything in between written plainly on their faces, radiating a simple and unaffected purity all their own.
“Don’t come any closer…” The men were utterly terrified now. Seeing Ye Fan walk out of the fields, every one of them trembled, struggling to drag themselves backward.
Bang, bang…
Ye Fan raised a foot and launched into a fierce barrage of kicks. He had no sympathy for people like these. The sound of cracking bones rang out as if he were wringing chickens and ducks — the men howled miserably.
“We’ll compensate! Stop kicking!”
“We apologize! Have mercy, please!”
The whole cluster of rolling figures screamed for all they were worth, genuinely afraid that Ye Fan would kick them to death. By now they had all figured it out: this man before them was utterly fearless and brazen — even more domineering than their own masters. They had truly provoked someone they couldn’t afford to mess with.
Even so, one or two of them still harbored a hard bone, continuing to spit threats right up to this point: “Treating us this way, you won’t end up well. Forget a little lord like you — even a prince would have to think twice!”
“You think I was raised on fear?” Ye Fan said nothing further — two kicks flew out, and on the spot he crippled the Wheel Sea of both men. Their entire cultivation dissipated into nothing, and their Dao Palace was struck into chaos, leaving them unable to ever cultivate again.
“You… ah…” At this, everyone went pale with horror, all of them prostrating themselves on the ground, kowtowing ceaselessly and crying bitterly for mercy.
“Please have mercy on us — we will never dare again.”
“Good sir, be magnanimous and do not hold this against us.”
The wiser ones began kowtowing to the villagers in the fields in apology, saying, “We’re sorry — we were wrong. Please, good villagers, forgive us.”
Under the intimidation of this figure who was like a little demon king, every last trace of their arrogance vanished. They completely surrendered, begging desperately, terrified of leaving their lives behind in this place.
Ye Fan asked casually, and the men answered every question without daring to conceal a single word. They had indeed come from the immortal mountains — they were grooms in service to the geniuses of the Qishi Mansion, responsible for tending the exotic beasts.
“Quite a fine air of authority you have — a few stable hands, and you swagger about throwing your weight around everywhere. Disappear from my sight immediately!”
Ye Fan had no goodwill toward them whatsoever. With a cold snort, the men scattered like pardoned convicts, stumbling and tripping over each other as they turned and fled.
“I already said — that dragon horse stays behind…” Ye Fan said calmly, standing outside the fields.
The men had no choice but to stiffen their necks and comply. They led the other exotic beasts away and left the dragon horse behind, not daring to breathe too loudly, terrified of provoking this malevolent star any further.
“Everyone, tonight I’m treating you all to dragon horse meat,” Ye Fan announced with a grin.
Far in the distance, the servants stumbled, nearly pitching forward. What sort of person was this — he was actually going to eat a dragon horse? That was a rare beast worth tens of thousands of catties’ worth of spirit stones. To slaughter it and eat it like donkey or horse meat was more than they could bear to imagine.
“What a lunatic!” The men fled without looking back, not wanting to linger a single moment longer. They felt as though they had encountered some kind of monster — someone absolutely not to be trifled with.
“We can’t let this go. When we get back, we’ll tell the Commandery Princess everything. She’ll have that bastard lord’s head!”
“Damn him! This definitely isn’t over. He beat us half to death and now he’s going to eat the Commandery Princess’s dragon horse. The gall — he’s tired of living!”
The men raged inwardly as they departed, disappearing into the ancient mountain range on the horizon.
“Will this cause trouble?” Er Gouzi’s elderly father asked tremulously, straightening up with great difficulty, afraid this would bring disaster down on them. His broken bones had been set, but blood stains still covered his body.
“Nothing will happen. At worst, they’ll come after me. Come on — dragon horse meat for everyone. It’s a great tonic,” Ye Fan said with a smile.
As evening fell, several silhouettes came tearing through the sky. One among them was especially beautiful — descending through the blazing red sunset like a heavenly maiden come down to earth, her long skirts billowing, her dark hair streaming, her entire figure bathed in a faint golden radiance.
In the ancient village below, a group of children looked up at the sky, and all of them cried out at once.
“Look! A fairy! What a beautiful sister!”
“A fairy has come down from heaven — she’s come to our village!”
A group of children clapped their hands and shouted. The little snotty kid called out to Ye Fan, urging him to come take a look too.
Ye Fan was surprised. He hadn’t expected Princess Yudie to come. Half a month had passed without seeing her, and she had grown even more beautiful and ethereal than before — through the evening glow she was no different from a fairy, her garments swaying as she descended to the earth.
Beside her were two men and one woman. The men were tall and commanding, the woman beautiful as a flower — all of them carrying themselves with uncommon distinction.
“How did Princess Yudie come to be here?” Ye Fan asked with a smile. He did not recognize the other three.
“I came to see whether you’ve settled in comfortably here,” Princess Yudie replied with a smile, a jade hairpin nestled among her cloud-like hair, from which drifted the phantom of a divine phoenix — hazy with soft radiance — setting off her pure and spirited grace.
“I am quite well here, thank you for the Princess’s concern,” Ye Fan said with a smile.
“I happened to hear that you confiscated Commandery Princess Qi’s dragon horse — I don’t know whether that’s true or not,” said Princess Yudie. She was counted the third most beautiful woman in the Central Region, her luminous eyes flowing with a captivating charm that was simply arresting.
“That is correct — I did,” Ye Fan confirmed with a nod.
“Where is it?” Princess Yudie asked.
“There — right there, in that big iron pot, that’s what’s cooking,” Ye Fan said without the slightest concern, nodding in that direction.
“What — it’s in the pot?!”
“You mean that thing simmering in the big iron pot is the dragon horse?!”
Princess Yudie and the three beside her were all utterly dumbfounded and speechless. Princess Yudie in particular stood with her cherry lips parted wide, an expression of pure disbelief on her face — a different sort of beauty in its own way.
“You actually went ahead and ate the dragon horse?”
They all stared at him as though he were some kind of creature from another world, truly at a loss for words. None of them had ever encountered anyone like this. It was a dragon horse — a descendant of a divine beast, incredibly rare and precious.
And this man in front of them had actually gotten a big iron pot and braised it, just like stewing dog meat — a first in their experience of humanity, leaving them completely without words.
“It’s a great tonic — it has a thread of dragon blood inheritance. Since all of you happened to arrive just in time, you’ll have a share of the good fortune too,” Ye Fan said with a smile.
“We… we didn’t come to eat horse meat!” one of the men beside him said, feeling that the person in front of him was profoundly unconventional.
“We came hoping to speak on your behalf and return the dragon horse, to defuse the situation before it grows. Otherwise, once Commandery Princess Qi comes out of seclusion, she absolutely will not let this go,” Princess Yudie said.
“I’ve already put it in the pot. The most I can do is send her back a bowl of horse meat — let her try it for herself,” Ye Fan replied.
“…” Everyone was genuinely defeated by him.
“Brother, you’ve brought a great deal of trouble on yourself. Commandery Princess Qi loved that dragon horse most of all. If you go and eat it like this, she’ll come after you with everything she has!” the other man beside him said.
“I can’t really be blamed for that — they were far too contemptuous of the people here. Eating horse meat was the only way to vent the people’s anger,” Ye Fan said, not particularly concerned.
“Princess, your friend here is truly… unconventional,” the beautiful woman could only say.
“Immortals — please forgive us! It wasn’t the city lord’s doing at all — we were the ones who caused trouble,” said Er Gouzi, limping over, afraid disaster was about to come down on them. “The horse has already been stewed. Would you be willing to take our old donkey instead as compensation?”
Princess Yudie and the others looked simultaneously amused and exasperated. The lame old donkey standing not far away was already visible to them — offering it in exchange for a dragon horse would be enough to send Commandery Princess Qi into a rage.
“Forget it, forget it — I’m not getting involved in this,” the beautiful woman said, almost bursting out laughing.
“I appreciate everyone’s goodwill. But let’s not speak of other things for now — the dragon horse meat is already cooked through. Please, everyone, let’s eat together.” Ye Fan extended a warm invitation.
“Let’s not eat — we should go,” one of the men said.
“Don’t be in such a rush — you’ve already arrived just in time, I tell you. This dragon horse is an extraordinary tonic, absolutely wonderful. If you miss this, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life,” Ye Fan said, pulling them all back.
By the grove of ancient scholar trees, there were several stone tables and stone stools. The villagers had already tidied everything up and were bringing out large bowls and small dishes — the aroma of meat filling the air — alongside jars upon jars of aged wine.
In addition to the dragon horse meat, there were over a dozen roasted sheep as well — all brought by Ye Fan. Without them, a single dragon horse would not have been enough to feed the whole village, small as it was.
“Dragon meat!” A group of children cried out gleefully, filling the air with cheerful noise. The other villagers were all equally eager.
“Come, brothers and sister — let me pour you a drink.”
“This piece here is the finest cut from the dragon meat — everyone must try it!”
“And this is a dragon tendon — truly the most exquisite part — everyone have a taste.”
Ye Fan poured wine and served dishes with great enthusiasm. The ancient scholar trees rustled and swayed, the fragrance of wine drifting through the air, and the others found themselves drawn in before they knew it — eating away without realizing when they’d started.
“Now that we’ve all eaten the dragon meat together, I hope you’ll all be willing to look out for me when the time comes,” Ye Fan said with a grin.
Everyone immediately felt something was not quite right. One of the men said, “Brother Ye, you’re quite the schemer — treating us to dragon horse meat and dragging us into this with you, aren’t you?”
“How could I possibly be so scheming? Am I that sort of person?” Ye Fan said with perfect righteousness. “I only wanted to treat everyone to a meal. If word of anything comes your way in the future, just let me know — that would be more than enough gratitude.”
The two men were both suitors of Princess Yudie. The woman was Princess Yudie’s close friend. Even if they were not the sort Xiao Mingyuan was, they still couldn’t help rolling their eyes.
“Come, come, come — everyone don’t stand on ceremony. Dragon meat, fine wine — there is no greater pleasure in life,” Ye Fan said, continuing to pour for them without stopping.
“Brother Ye, I must warn you — that Commandery Princess Qi will definitely come after you the moment she comes out of seclusion.”
“That’s right — she raised that dragon horse with her own hands. She will not let you go. No amount of persuasion from others will make a difference.”
The two men, whose names were Cheng Hui and Zhang Wen, along with the woman named Li Xinyue, went into some detail about the situation.
“You may not know this — quite a few people in the Qishi Mansion have already heard. Word is going around that an unconventional lord has appeared outside our mountain gates, and many people want to come and see for themselves.”
“Exactly — eating Commandery Princess Qi’s dragon horse, of all things. Jaws have been dropping everywhere. A whole group of people are dying to come and see exactly who you are.”
Ye Fan listened to the news, stroked his chin, and said, “I’ve been running into a bottleneck lately. I need some fights. Just as long as they don’t all come at once.”
“I’m starting to think you’re actually looking forward to it!” Princess Yudie said, rolling her eyes at him without any patience. Her complexion was like the finest white jade, and her eyes were intoxicatingly beautiful.
“They’re coming to kill you — be careful,” Li Xinyue said.
“Ye Fan of Hut City — come out and face your death!” At that very moment, a shout rang out from the distant sky, reverberating across the whole of the Desolate Hut. The ancient scholar trees all swayed and rustled from the shockwave.