Awakened: The Spirit King!

Chapter 112: Bad Rumors!

Xie Yong was angry at the stubborn and careless attitude of his eldest son.

Xie Tong wanted to tie the red thread with the priestess of the outsiders, who was not only the daughter of the Grand Priest but also the third main enemy of the empire, meaning 99% of the citizens wanted her dead.

Yet, his son, the soon-to-be grand commander of the north and the first greatest adversary of the outsiders had fallen in love with the enemy princes!

If they didn't keep it a secret, a huge population of the empire would turn against Xie Tong and him alone.

At that time, Xie Yong would find it hard to save him.

After all, if he tried to fight for his son, the royal family would charge the Xie Manor and all its members of committing a capital crime.

Xie Tong had no intention of hiding his admiration and love for the woman he had mistaken as his non-existent treasure!

Xie Yong felt extremely distressed!

"That bastard son of my mine, does he think this father of his has no say in the army? Tomorrow I will make contact with the commander of the northern garrison and tell him to break his legs if he dares set a foot outside the empire's boundary!"

Failing to notice Xie Ye in time, Xie Yong stomped his foot on the floor and angrily let out a torrent of abusive words at his eldest and most willful son, who had returned to the border city more than ten thousand miles away, the veins of his temple bulging vividly.

Xie Ye glanced at the steamed carb-like face of his master before moving his head to the right and meeting Xie Yang's eyes.

Xie Ye squinted his eye at him as if asking him what caused this mess of a situation.

'What's going on here, young master? Why is the family head exploding like a volcano? Who angered him?'

As he took a sip of fruity spiritual wine, Xie Yang replied to Xie Ye with a meaningful look.

'You've known him longer than me, brother. Can't you tell?'

Xie Ye shifted his gaze to his master and had a good look at him.

Xie Yang had seldom seen his father so angry, so he didn't realize that amidst Xie Yong's blazing anger, there was an even greater disappointment, which Xie Ye was familiar with as he had seen it many times.

It was evident to Xie Ye from Xie Yong's face that he was angry at the eldest young master for one reason or another.

It wasn't the first time Xie Ye had encountered such a situation, so he knew that throwing some light of goodness at Xie Tong in front of Xie Yong would pretty much put an end to it.

Thus, he didn't hesitate before saying, "Master, you're not as young as you used to be. Being angry at your age doesn't suit you well. In the past, miscommunications and misunderstandings led to the creation of a rift in your relationship with Eldest Young Master. Things became better after you two sat down in a single room and talked it out, realizing that you've greatly misunderstood each other. Ah!

I am not good with words. What I mean to say, please don't be angry with the eldest young master. I'm sure he means well!"

Xie Yong turned around and saw that the one preaching to him to calm down was Xie Ye.

He frowned and said, "You don't know a thing about what he did wrong this time, yet you're still lecturing me for his sake. Your guilt hasn't lessened after leaving the army. When will you learn to stop blaming yourself for his mistakes?"

Xie Ye lowered his head and kept mum.

Xie Tong had refused to accept Xie Yong's foster son as his brother for several reasons, but the main ones were that they didn't share the same parents, blood, or nationality. Instead of criticizing Xie Tong and changing his mindset, Xie Ye blamed himself, for he believed that he was in the wrong for recognizing Xie Yong as his father and taking the spot of a noble child in the Xie Manor.

To reduce his guilt and lessen his self-blame, each time the two fought, he would accept that he was in the wrong, and each time Xie Tong made a mistake, he would apologize to Xie Yong in his stead!

Xie Yang coughed, expressing this awkward situation made him feel significant discomfort.

Xie Ye's silence made Xie Yong feel like he had wrongfully bullied a child, and he felt terrible.

Xie Yong turned his back to him, walked back to his spot, and sat down. "Since you're finally here, don't miss out on this feast. While I know for a fact that none of them will be to your liking, you can benefit from consuming them."

"All the dishes here are excellent, brother." Xie Yang smiled at Xie Ye and waved him to sit on the empty spot next to him. "I'm sure you'll like them."

Xie Yong raised his eyebrow for a split second.

Xie Ye gave him a pleading look, and Xie Yong effectively stopped from telling Xie Yang about the genetic defects of Xie Ye.

"En." Xie Ye nodded, still not telling him that he lacked the sense of smell and that his taste buds were equally as insensitive as his typical stern face.

Xie Ye didn't immediately start digging in.

Instead, after taking off his gloves and the daggers he had never unsheathed in Xie Yang's presence off his back, he cupped his hands towards Xie Yong and said, "Sorry, master, for not arriving at the banquet at the mentioned time."

"Don't worry about it." Xie Yong asked, "That aside, What delayed you?"

There was no trace of anger in his expression or voice.

Xie Yong trusted this capable son of his a lot and knew that there must be a reason behind his late arrival.

After all, Because he was once a soldier for years, Xie Ye was very punctual. Unless there were a situation, he would never fail to fulfill his master's request on time.

Although Xie Ye didn't want to attend this banquet because it was his master's request and desire to have him participate in this family event, he changed his mind, meaning he was bound to be among Lin Hua's well-wishers.

However, because something came up, he couldn't arrive on time.

What was that something?

He thought for a moment before deciding to lay it all out.

Even If he doesn't, someone else will soon.

"Guys from outside the city were making trouble at the tournament site and crowded streets. I found out about that while on my way here. Because most shadow guards were off duty and the city guards weren't strong enough to deal with those hooligans dressed like gentlemen, I went to take care of them personally."

Xie Ye's face looked stern, but it was actually stiff, and he was evading meeting their eyes while explaining what troublesome situation he had come across after dressing up in black linen with gold to them.

Xie Yong tapped his finger on the edge of the cup full of purple wine three times, determining that Xie Ye was lying to him or hiding something from him.

"Then, how did you deal with them?" Xie Yong questioned.

Xie Ye replied, "About that, father, I managed to apprehend some of them with the help of the city guards but most escaped. My abilities are lacking. I couldn't stop them."

Xie Yang said, "They must be capable if they escaped from you."

Xie Ye was a spirit grandmaster with killing intent at a terrifying level. Not many cultivators in the empire could escape his hands. Those who could, especially in the north, weren't many.

Xie Ye shook his head to express his objection to his words.

"Not really. Those thugs escaped using teleportation scrolls."

Xie Yang seemed to realize something as his eyes widened and his lips parted open into a round shape.

"Oh, they aren't strong, just backed by the filthy rich."

Xie Yong started tapping his finger on the cup again, looking moderately vexed. "They seem to have entered the city with ill intent. Did you interrogate them?"

"En, I did." Xie Ye said, "After I interrogated them, they told me that they were innocent rogue cultivators, and they only tried to cause us trouble on behalf of a certain someone named the Messiah."

He drank the wine while recalling how he made several people miss their pants in fear.

Was he so scary?

He only scared them for a good whole minute with a portion of his killing intent and picked up a torture device to break their fingers when one of them gave up and yelled out everything he knew and begged him to spare him.

Of course, Xie Ye didn't inflict them with pain as he wasn't a maniac, and he didn't want to dirty his clothes with blood today.

"What were they doing in the streets, harming people?" After staying silent for a moment, Xie Yang questioned Xie Ye.

Xie Ye placed down the cup on the table before replying, "Spreading rumors."

After hearing his words, Xie Yong's eyebrow raised once again. "Exactly what kind of rumors?"

Xie Ye sighed.

There was no way for him to hide it any longer.

If he did, his master would question his loyalty.