Chapter 74: Engagement On Hold

“Spare him!”

Upon hearing this voice speak, the five Shadow Servants all flew into motion. Three of them immediately hid themselves, while the other two placed their blades near Zhou Qingkuang’s neck and midsection, demonstrating their impeccable coordination.

A person descended from the sky. It was Gu Xuanmian.

“Uncle, save me!” Zhou Qingkuang howled when he saw Gu Xuanmian appear.

Gu Xuanmian shot him a glance and frowned slightly before turning to Long Shaoyou and saying, “Prince Long, would you be willing to spare this man on my behalf?”

Long Shaoyou chuckled. “Patriarch Gu, are you going to ask me to pardon him without first looking into what happened?”

Gu Xuanmian replied, “I don’t need to ask. I already know what the situation is. Qingkuang was wrong in this matter, and I apologize to you on his behalf.”

Long Shaoyou said, “This isn’t something that can be resolved with just an apology, don’t you think?”

“I understand,” Gu Xuanmian replied. “The Gu Clan is willing to make concessions as long as your demands aren’t too excessive.”

Long Shaoyou rubbed his chest as he stood up. He tilted his head in thought for a moment before saying, “Fine. I only have three conditions. First, this person will belong to me from now on.”

He pointed at Miao Changqing.

“Him?” Gu Xuanmian was surprised.

“Yes, him! From this point onwards, he belongs to me. How I deal with him is my problem,” Long Shaoyou demanded.

“Alright.” Gu Xuanmian agreed. Miao Changqing was just an underling, anyways, and didn’t even belong to the Gu Clan. He had no reason to interfere on Zhou Qingkuang’s behalf in this matter.

“My second condition is that he needs to kneel to me and apologize.”

Gu Xuanmian frowned. “The apology goes without saying, but does he really need to kneel?”

Long Shaoyou sincerely replied, “Patriarch Gu, I was just sitting at home minding my own business when disaster came looking for me. Is just an apology really enough? If that were the case, then there would be a lot less conflict in this world. Or is the Gu Clan planning on forcing......”

Gu Xuanmian raised his hand. “You don’t need to say anything else. I agree. What’s your third condition?”

“The third condition......” Long Shaoyou walked over and picked the cyan leaf off of the ground, and then drew a vial of blood from Zhou Qingkuang’s body and laughed. “This should be enough.”

Gu Xuanmian sighed as he said, “Alright, I can agree to that as well.”

“No, you can’t!” Zhou Qingkuang howled. “Uncle Gu, don’t make me kneel; don’t let him take away my clan’s treasure......”

Gu Xuanmian sighed. “You were the one who made the mistake, so the consequences are also yours to bear. Qingkuang, do what you must.”

As he spoke, he gestured once, causing a formless energy to wrap around Zhou Qingkuang. The people around him were forced to retreat.

Then, Gu Xuanmian placed him on the ground. Under his control, Zhou Qingkuang knelt on the ground. Gu Xuanmian made his precise control quite obvious, suggesting to Long Shaoyou that it wasn’t that he didn’t have the power to do things forcefully but rather that he just didn’t want to.

“You still haven’t apologized!” Gu Xuanmian barked.

As if someone had hit him in the back of the head, Zhou Qingkuang felt his consciousness tremble as he stuttered out, “I was wrong.”

He kowtowed in apology.

Long Shaoyou said with a slight smile, “Very good. Patriarch Gu is truly fair and impartial. Shaoyou thanks you.”

Gu Xuanmian harrumphed and waved his sleeves, taking Zhou Qingkuang with him as he flew away.

Gu Xuanmian’s voice came floating down from the sky. “This matter is finished. In the future, Prince Long and your friend beside you, please do not come asking for my daughter’s hand anymore. The Gu Clan’s territory is small and does not have enough space for an extravagant clan like the Long Clan.”

As he spoke, he flew away.

Long Shaoyou was a bit surprised. “He knows you.”

Su Chen’s figure appeared from the shadows. “He just knows that there was someone instructing you, that’s all — he doesn’t know that it was me specifically. Also......”

Su Chen paused for a moment.

“What is it?” Long Shaoyou asked.

“The next time you listen to my commands, can you not act so smart about it? Anyone would be able to tell that someone is instructing you if you act like that.”

A sudden peal of laughter rang out.

Gu Qingluo also emerged from the shadows, carrying an Origin Formation Disk inside.

The Origin Disk recorded Zhou Qingkuang’s fight with Long Shaoyou and his appearance as he begged for mercy.

“He came to steal someone’s riches but was sent packing with his tail between his legs and even lost his personal subordinate, then was forced to kowtow and apologize! I want to see how Zhou Qingkuang will try and pursue the engagement like this,” Gu Qingluo said happily.

The reason why Su Chen had asked Long Shaoyou to propose these three conditions was solely to torment Zhou Qingkuang and humiliate him.

This way, even if Gu Xuanmian still wanted to have Zhou Qingkuang marry his daughter, as soon as the contents of this Origin Formation Disk were leaked, Gu Xuanmian would no longer be able to recognize him as a son-in-law anymore.

Of course, doing so would also offend Gu Xuanmian. However, because Long Shaoyou was acting as the strawman in this scenario, Su Chen got off scot-free.

This was the benefit of staying behind the scenes.

“Patriarch Gu isn’t someone who can’t see things clearly. I don’t think we’ll need to use this disk to resolve the problem,” Su Chen replied.

“So now I can be engaged to you?” Gu Qingluo’s eyes glowed with excitement.

“No. We’ve only annulled the existing arrangement, and we’re still a ways away from our own engagement. Destroying is always easier than creating,” Su Chen laughed.

“I don’t care.” Gu Qingluo crossed her arms. “You took my fiancé away, so you need to repay me with another.”

“So how about I give Shaoyou to you?” Su Chen laughed.

“Die!”

A swiftly aimed kick aimed at the seat of his pants.

———————————————————— 

Bang!

Zhou Qingkuang was tossed unceremoniously onto the ground.

At this moment, he had been returned to his own courtyard within the Gu Clan.

Gu Xuanmian said, his expression dark, “You have disappointed me greatly.”

Zhou Qingkuang felt his heart tremble as he knelt there. “Uncle, I know I was wrong. It was because I loved Qingluo too much that I did this! That bastard came to propose an engagement twice; I was worried that I was going to lose her! That’s why I wanted to teach him a lesson, but who would’ve known......”

“Shut your mouth!” Gu Xuanmian barked. “Do you take me for an idiot? You think I don’t know why you went after him? The ten million Origin Stones moved you, didn’t it? You wanted to try and steal them from him and make a huge profit? Did you not think that someone who could afford to bring ten million Origin Stones around with him would have strong people around? Even I might have some difficulty getting some kind of benefit from him, let alone you.”

When he heard this, Zhou Qingkuang was stunned. “But how could that be? You have seven Lotus Platforms, and are only a step away from reaching the Spirit Burning Realm.”

“That’s why I’m telling you that you don’t know anything!” Gu Xuanmian lamented. “Young Qingkuang, your father was absolutely right in giving you this name[1. Qingkuang’s name roughly translates to “youthful impulsiveness”.]. I didn’t have enough time to get to know you, so my understanding of you was incomplete. I didn’t expect that you were such a reckless and greedy person.”

Zhou Qingkuang could sense the undercurrents of Gu Xuanmian’s meaning. He said in shock, “Uncle, I know I was wrong. I won’t be like this in the future.”

Gu Xuanmian shook his head. “Qingluo didn’t like you from the beginning and even kept trying to avoid meeting with you. I was the one forcing her the whole time. It seemed like she was just about to give in too, but then you went and did something like this. Perhaps Gu Qingluo was correct, and you might not be the fiancé best suited for her.”

“Uncle!” Zhou Qingkuang began to yell desperately. “Uncle, I know I was wrong. Please, give me another opportunity!”

“Let’s put your engagement with Qingluo on hold for now,” Gu Xuanmian said as he waved his sleeves and left.

When he heard this, Zhou Qingkuang looked like someone whose spine had been removed as he crumpled to the ground.

All the color had drained from his face.