Before Niu Dali could finish speaking, Ye Xuan vanished and reappeared right in front of him, standing mere inches away.
In the blink of an eye, Ye Xuan seized Niu Dali by the throat and hoisted his massive, two-hundred-pound frame effortlessly into the air.
Ye Xuan’s grip felt like a pair of giant steel pincers. Completely powerless to resist, the tremendous force choked the words right out of Niu Dali. All of his previous arrogance vanished instantly, replaced by a deep, undeniable flicker of terror in his eyes.
Cloaked in the phantom of the Divine Demon Statue, Ye Xuan radiated an unstoppable, god-like, and demonic aura.
He had to admit, this kid had guts! As a member of the Niu Family, this was the very first time Niu Dali had encountered such a fiery, unyielding young man.
It took a long moment for Niu Dali to catch his breath before he wheezed out, "Patriarch Ye... are you truly going to let your family members run wild like this? If he dares to lay a finger on me, I guarantee the Ye Family will no longer rule Hongtu Town! You will become a thing of the past, just like the Fang Family."
Clearly, he wasn’t addressing Ye Xuan. His eyes had shifted sideways, glaring at Ye Zeyun, who stood behind Ye Xuan.
Before Ye Zeyun could even open his mouth, Ye Xuan said coldly, "Sorry to disappoint, but I am the Patriarch of the Ye Family."
"Huh?" Niu Dali’s expression twisted into one of utter shock. He wondered, "This young man is the Patriarch?"
"Were you threatening me just now?" Ye Xuan continued. "Unfortunately for you, I detest threats more than anything else. Especially those involving the lives of my entire family. You are simply courting death!"
Ye Xuan tightened his grip. The last time Ye Wen was beaten, he had temporarily swallowed his anger. He never expected this Niu Dali to remain so brazen. Now, the man was actually threatening his entire clan.
How could he tolerate this?
Niu Dali’s face instantly flushed crimson. If this continued, Ye Xuan would snap his neck with his bare hands.
"Don’t kill me... Please, don’t kill me..." he gasped, completely panicked. He absolutely did not want to die here.
"Patriarch! You can’t!" Ye Zeyun finally cried out, seeing that Ye Xuan was truly about to deliver a killing blow.
Ye Xuan remained silent, merely turning his head to shoot Ye Zeyun a cold glance.
Ye Zeyun immediately explained, "Hongtu Town is no match for Niu Family Town. Do you know how many subordinate factions like ours they have under their control? Eighteen!"
"Eighteen?!" Ye Xuan raised an eyebrow, visibly surprised.
"Yes! Even if Niu Family Town doesn’t directly intervene, merely ordering their subordinate towns to attack us would put the Ye Family in grave peril. We cannot afford to provoke them!"
"Please reconsider, Patriarch," Ye Yiwei and the others chimed in, their expressions equally solemn.
They were well aware of Ye Xuan’s usual style of doing things: if someone showed hostility, he would kill them! But Niu Family Town was not the Fang Family. The gap in strength between the two was simply too vast.
After a moment of thought, Ye Xuan finally loosened his grip.
Niu Dali collapsed to the floor, gasping desperately for air. Between ragged breaths, he raised a finger to point accusatorily at Ye Xuan and the rest of the Ye Family. But before he could even utter a single harsh word, Ye Xuan suddenly lifted his foot and delivered a savage kick directly to Niu Dali’s knee.
CRACK.
Niu Dali’s right leg snapped instantly.
But Ye Xuan wasn’t finished. He aimed for the left leg and kicked out again, as casually as if he were striking a ball.
CRACK.
With another sickening sound, the left leg bent into a gruesome ninety-degree angle. Now, both sides were perfectly symmetrical.
"You... you actually... you..." Niu Dali bared his teeth in excruciating pain from the floor. He wanted to say more, but he was too afraid that this unpredictable kid would suddenly attack him again. Forcing his mouth shut, he cradled his mangled legs, preparing to set the bones himself.
"Was that really necessary?" Ye Zeyun sighed from behind, still feeling that Ye Xuan was acting too impulsively.
Expressionless, Ye Xuan replied, "We’ve already offended him, so what’s the point of being polite? I want to make it absolutely clear to him that this is the Ye Family’s territory, and killing him would be effortless. No matter how dissatisfied he is, he has to swallow it while he’s on my turf."
Finishing his words, Ye Xuan looked over at Ye Ling’Er. "Ling’Er, go fetch Ye Wen."
"Okay." Ye Ling’Er followed Ye Xuan’s instructions without a second thought. After all, her brother would never do anything to harm her.
"Xiaoyu, let’s go together," she said, pulling Hua Xiaoyu along as they went to find Ye Wen.
After the two girls left, Ye Xuan retracted his Divine-Demonic Battle Body and stared down at Niu Dali from above.
For some inexplicable reason, Niu Dali couldn’t even muster the courage to meet Ye Xuan’s eyes. It felt as though Ye Xuan was the one with an incredibly powerful background, not him.
"Your name is Niu Dali, right? Did you see that my Ye Family just became the overlord of Hongtu Town and figure we’d be easy targets? Is that why you tried to take advantage of our situation by arbitrarily doubling the tribute so you could pocket the difference? I don’t know what the rules are in Niu Family Town, but embezzling tribute is undoubtedly a major crime, isn’t it?"
"Embezzling?" Ye Xuan’s words left Ye Zeyun and the others stunned.
That made sense! Could Niu Dali’s sudden demand to double the tribute really be his own unauthorized scheme? Why hadn’t they considered this possibility before?
On the floor, Niu Dali’s expression shifted slightly. It was obvious that Ye Xuan had hit the nail on the head.
"It seems you really did act on your own accord!" Ye Xuan sneered. "So, tell me, should I report this little scheme to the Patriarch of the Niu Family?"
"No!" Niu Dali panicked, all traces of his former arrogance completely wiped away.
"So it really was a lie!" a Ye Family member exclaimed.
"Thank goodness a lot of our Spirit Medicines were destroyed during the battle. The Ye Family didn’t have enough resources on hand anyway. If we did, we might have actually handed them over! Does this mean we don’t have to give him any more medicine?"
"No, you still have to pay," Niu Dali hastily interjected. "The tribute amount did increase, but it wasn’t doubled."
Ye Xuan asked coldly, "If it wasn’t doubled, then how much is it?"
"It’s... an eighty percent increase."
"Eighty percent?"
"Even at eighty percent, we still can’t scrape together that much Spirit Medicine." The Ye Family members continued to frown deeply.
"Eighty percent, you say?" Ye Xuan’s expression carried a hint of mockery.
"Brother, I brought Ye Wen!" Ye Ling’Er’s voice rang out.
Beside her stood Ye Wen, leaning heavily on a pair of crutches. After seven days of recovery, his legs hadn’t fully healed, but he was at least able to hobble around.
"Perfect timing." Ye Xuan smiled faintly and waved him over from afar.
"Patriarch, why did you call Ye Wen here?" Ye Yihe asked in confusion, unable to hold the question in any longer.
Ye Xuan didn’t explain, simply waiting in silence for Ye Wen to arrive.
Once he limped over, Ye Wen also asked, "Patriarch, why did you send for me?"
Instead of answering, Ye Xuan simply pointed at Niu Dali on the floor.
"It’s him... how did he..." Ye Wen’s face immediately fell into profound shock.
At this, Ye Xuan finally spoke up. "Ye Wen, I told you that day that I would make him pay double for the suffering he inflicted on you. I, Ye Xuan, never make empty promises. Now, it’s your turn to deal with him personally. Raise your right hand and slap him as hard as you can."
Slap him.
Ye Xuan’s words echoed in Ye Wen’s mind like a blaring alarm bell. His eyes widened in sheer disbelief. This bearded man clearly held a very high status—someone the Ye Family absolutely could not afford to provoke.
How could he possibly dare to slap him?
Noticing Ye Wen’s hesitation, Ye Xuan spoke again. "I told you to slap him, so slap him."