After Xie Chen returned to the palace arranged for them, Xin Jia, Mo Li Qing, and the others, adhering to the schedules of the righteous path practitioners, were seated cross-legged in their rooms, cultivating. Meanwhile, Kan Hua, that wretched scoundrel, was lugging a high-capacity camera to the palace maids’ quarters, gleefully filming them as they prepared for sleep.

Regarding this, Gu Xie Chen could only look up to the heavens and sigh in exasperation, letting the fellow have his way. Fortunately, the scoundrel was only capturing glimpses of accidental exposure, not engaging in midnight flower plucking; by hook or by crook, one could vaguely consider it a form of 'honor among thieves.' Gu Xie Chen couldn't bring himself to interfere with this most basic of life's pleasures.

The very next morning, Fu Ya.Ming sent maids to invite Gu Xie Chen for breakfast.

It was the same grand banquet hall as the night before, the same few individuals, and even the positions of the ability users standing behind Jin were unchanged.

The breakfast was sumptuous, exquisite, and delicious. Especially a congee brewed from pale green fragrant rice—not only was it sweet and smooth, but it also contained faint spiritual energy, causing Gu Xie Chen and his party to praise it endlessly. Even Kan Hua, who usually required meat with every meal, heaped accolades upon this thin gruel. He repeatedly beckoned the maids to refill his bowl, devouring sixty-four bowls in total before finally setting down his bowl with satisfaction, immediately proceeding to sweep through about a hundred pounds of roasted meat and other fare.

Fu Ya.Ming watched Gu Xie Chen’s group devour their food like a whirlwind, but the shock and astonishment behind her smile were impossible to conceal.

After two bowls of the congee, Gu Xie Chen looked helplessly at his companions seated beside him, offering a stiff, awkward smile.

At this breakfast, Kan Hua had been quite reserved, managing to consume only about a hundred pounds of roast meat. But the four Mo Li Qing brothers—perhaps having gone too long without tasting mortal food—were shouting as they stuffed countless provisions into their bellies. A rough estimate showed that each of the four brothers had put away at least half a ton of food. They finally managed to put down their chopsticks only because they had to maintain the dignity befitting the Four Heavenly Kings.

As for the five brothers of Xin Jia... if the Four Heavenly Kings were shamelessly gorging themselves, what could one expect from them? When the Four Heavenly Kings abandoned pretense to feast wildly, could five Yellow Turban Warriors possibly maintain an air of elegance, refinement, or noble bearing? Especially considering their sheer size; sitting in their chairs, they towered over the nearby Ya Fike servants by half a head!

If Xin Jia and his brothers were still Celestial Immortals as they once were, this might be excusable; Immortals require far less mortal sustenance. But the current Xin Jia group were cultivators re-establishing their path. They possessed the realm of Immortals, yet their strength and physical bodies were currently only at the cultivator level! Thus, each of the five brothers effortlessly packed away a full ton of food.

Gulp~ ~ ~, letting out a prolonged burp like thunder that lasted a good twenty seconds, Xin Jia patted his stomach, which showed no sign of distension, and grinned at Gu Wu Chen: “Venerable One, a full stomach and satisfied appetite, truly gratifying! Sweet, so sweet. This porridge is excellent, the rice is good, the water is superb, and the heat control is just right. Ah, a master, truly a master!”

Gu Xie Chen smiled faintly, then turned to Fu Ya.Ming, who was frozen rigid in her seat, and chuckled, “My apologies, Your Majesty, for the coarseness of my subordinates.”

Fu Ya.Ming smiled gently and replied, “It is the honor of the host when guests find delight in the provisions. Actually, today I wished to discuss the serious matters concerning our alliance with you.”

“Hold on!” Jin suddenly interrupted Fu Ya.Ming: “Sister Fu Ya, let’s slow down the discussion about your alliance with Your Excellency Gu. Lord Xie Chen, you’ve pondered my proposal from yesterday all night—have you reached a conclusion? Gu Xie Chen asked with ‘great surprise’, “What proposal? Are you challenging this rustic like me to a duel?” Jin’s pair of eyes once again shimmered with that peculiar, eerie light, two deep vortices slowly turning in the depths of her pupils. Jin chuckled softly, “No, the duel was just a joke. What I meant was the invitation to become Chief Guest Elder. What are your thoughts on becoming the Chief Guest Elder of our Broken Hook? If you have any conditions, we can negotiate!”

Fu Ya.Ming angrily kicked Jin under the table and hissed, “Jin!”

Jin winked at Fu Ya.Ming and smiled, “Sister Fu Ya, you can form an alliance with Lord Gu, and I can still invite him to be the Chief Guest Elder. There’s no contradiction!”

Gu Xie Chen merely smiled and remained silent, quickly calculating the potential gains and losses in his mind.

Having eaten his fill, Kan Hua glanced at Gu Xie Chen, then at Jin, whose eyes were darting about, clearly scheming. He suddenly burst into loud laughter: “Any condition at all?”

Jin’s eyes lit up. She picked up the dining table again, kicking several serving plates stacked before her flying. She roared with laughter, “Any condition at all. Gold, beautiful women, power—anything is possible. Do not underestimate our Broken Hook Ability Users’ Group. Though we are a pirate group, we support over several hundred civilizations ranked three stars and below!”

Gu Xie Chen was astonished and looked at Fu Ya.Ming with confusion. Fu Ya.Ming nodded slightly, confirming that the Broken Hook Ability Users’ Group did indeed possess such vast hidden potential among the lower-level civilizations.

Kan Hua let out a strange, sneering chuckle, and excitedly hopped onto the dining table, winking slyly at Jin, teasing her, “Then, how about offering yourself in marriage? My junior brother, your Lord Wu Chen, Lord Gu, has always been single. I swear on the soul of our Master, he has never even had a single lover. Heh heh, what a rare, innocent young man!”

Gu Xie Chen was furious and immediately grabbed Kan Hua’s lower leg, intending to yank him off the table.

Jin was enraged and flew up, kicking Kan Hua viciously in the abdomen.

Fu Ya.Ming, for some inexplicable reason, felt a sour discomfort in her heart and couldn't help but steal a few glances at Gu Wu Chen’s face.

Kan Hua caught Jin’s flying kick firmly and laughed smugly, “Junior Brother, don’t pull carelessly. If I fall, it doesn’t matter, but tripping this ‘Great Beauty’ will cause trouble!”

Gu Xie Chen’s ten fingers were clamped around the muscle of Kan Hua’s calf, and he was about to apply force to drag him down, but upon seeing Jin gripping Kan Hua’s ankle so tightly, the strength in his hands inevitably slackened.

While he hesitated, a high-speed shuttle suddenly landed directly on the lawn beside the banquet hall. Through the transparent walls, several Ya Fike soldiers could be seen frantically pulling two medical pods from the vessel. The previously pale green culture fluid had been stained dark red with fresh blood. Gu Xie Chen, with his sharp eyes, saw at a distance of several hundred meters that the ones lying inside were Ling Hu and Huo Mu, covered from head to toe in dozens of large and small wounds.

Weren’t they supposed to be receiving the three thousand warships that the thirteen kingdoms had ceded to Gu Xie Chen?

Fu Ya.Ming had also solemnly sworn that according to the customs of the Xiong Xing Alliance nobility, those three thousand warships could be obtained easily?

Then what were Ling Hu and Huo Mu’s injuries about?

A blaze of fury rose from Gu Xie Chen’s heart. His body flashed, and he instantly appeared hundreds of meters away; no one saw how he crossed the distance.

Jin was stunned, crying out in disbelief, “Instantaneous movement? Is he truly a Space Element ability user?”

Fu Ya.Ming’s small mouth dropped open in shock, and her fair face suddenly flushed crimson.

Kan Hua let out a sharp yell, smashing through the crystal walls of the banquet hall as he rushed out, roaring, “Who the hell dared to injure our brothers?”

Xin Jia and the Mo Li Qing brothers strode out, and with a crash, one of the banquet hall’s walls completely disintegrated.

Gu Wu Chen swept his divine sense over the heavily wounded Ling Hu and Huo Mu, discovering that their internal organs were almost completely pulverized, kept barely alive by the advanced medical pods of the Ya Fike Kingdom. The attacker had been brutally severe; even Huo Mu’s and Ling Hu’s skull bones had been shattered into fine dust.

“Who did this?”

The Primordial Innate Beings, born of Heaven and Earth and nurtured by the Celestial Emperor, responded instantly to the stirrings of their minds, possessing great divine abilities and potent magic from birth. Thus, Innate Beings cultivated thousands of times faster than post-celestial beings, acquiring insights thousands of times broader. Since the mind of man is the mind of Heaven, Gu Xie Chen, having cultivated an Innate Body, was faintly aligned with Heaven and Earth. When anger stirred in his heart, the external world responded accordingly.

Layers upon layers of dark clouds suddenly swept in from all directions. Dozens of colossal, miles-wide whirlwind spirals rose from the ground with an ominous wail. Wind and clouds churned in the void, grinding fiercely against each other. Thunderbolts as thick as water vats roared down from the sky. With a series of cracking sounds overhead, countless streaks of lightning wove a dense electric net in the air.

With a wave of the Fu Yao Fan in his hand, a mist of white energy billowed out, the vast Tai Yin Qi, carrying a bone-chilling current, rapidly enveloped an area spanning several hundred miles.

With a torrent of lightning and thunder, countless ice pellets the size of thumbs rained down mercilessly, instantly turning the flowers and plants within the Ya Fike capital, the City of Glory, into a pulpy mess.

“Heavens, a Great Venerable! Absolutely a Seven-Star Great Venerable! The legendary Seven-Star Great Venerable!”

A strange smile crept across Jin’s exquisitely demonic face: “Not just a Space Element Great Venerable, but also Ice Element, Wind Element, and Lightning Element primal energies! Oh~~ Heaven, how can such a perfect man exist in the universe? A Great Venerable possessing four elemental energies! I love him, I adore him, I love him to death! I must marry him, I must marry him… even if it’s just to be his concubine, his lover, his secret paramour! Oh, I am too excited, too excited!”

A strange light flickered in Jin’s eyes, and she nearly lunged forward to cling desperately to Gu Xie Chen.

Fu Ya.Ming’s gaze also flickered. Her body trembled slightly, and she whispered to herself, “He is indeed an outstanding man… ruthless, cunning, and possessing such terrifying power. Is this the capability of a Seven-Star? Merely by becoming enraged, he can affect the climate over such a vast area—is this the strength of a Seven-Star Great Venerable? A man like this…”

“Ha!” Two beams of gray-white cold energy shot from Gu Xie Chen’s eyes. He threw his head back and roared, “Whoever injured my brothers, I swear to annihilate their entire lineage!”

With a sweep of the Fu Yao Fan, a torrent of Tai Yin Jade Flames, swirling with countless ice chunks, rushed toward the distance. A small hill over four hundred meters high within the Ya Fike royal palace, cultivated with countless rare flowers and exotic plants, exploded with a loud crash into countless ice shards, spraying dozens of miles away.

“He is the husband destined for me!” Watching this thunderous strike, Jin nodded forcefully.

“He should be my most crucial ally right now!” Fu Ya.Ming took a deep breath, a tempting blush spreading across her beautiful face.

Kan Hua gave a mournful look at the retreating backs of Fu Ya.Ming and Jin, then at Xin Jia’s enormous physique.

“Muscle man? Rage man? Hmm, which one should I choose?”