Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way - Chapter 204: Hidden Agenda

“Control yourself,” said Gu Suihan with a strange chuckle. He tapped the tabletop lightly, and a wave of qi spread outward like ripples on the surface of a pond.

Fang Rou, who was still in a daze from being too happy and excited, immediately shuddered and turned to look at Gu Suihan in horror. He gave her a mysterious smile, and she slowly lowered her head.

She knew that Gu Suihan was warning her. She was still his maid, and she must never forget how to behave as one in that position.

“Hmm? That’s it? Your woman was bullied, and you’re still in the mood to act like you’re not bothered by it?” murmured Gu Suihan with some disappointment.

His tone was calm, but it was clear that he was trying to incite something.

“I don’t know how a piece of trash like you managed to reach Foundation Establishment, but a piece of trash is a piece of trash.” Wang Chunyang had no idea that Li Yu was an MC whom Gu Suihan was training. He unfolded his folding fan with a flourish, and an icy wind that felt like knives and arrows turned into a rush of freezing air that moved toward Li Yu at the entrance.

“I didn’t have to do much for that to happen. The winds change direction anytime – back then, the Wang family humiliated me and cursed at me. I’m going to collect some interest on this debt from you first!” Li Yu snorted, then spun around and stomped so hard on the floor that a huge crater appeared. He made it past every obstacle in front of him and made it to Wang Chunyang like a fish swimming in water. He threw a punch out, and his internal energy solidified into a beast that roared as it lunged for Wang Chunyang’s chest.

“Humph, that’s nothing.” Wang Chunyang was clearly not as weak as he looked. He clenched and released his left fist multiple times like he was creating a huge suction force, which was able to block the oncoming attack. He opened his folding fan with a flourish, the mountains and meandering rivers painted on it gushing out as though they had come alive. His control over the scenery from the fan turned into hundreds of rivers that were like ropes as they surged at Li Yu.

“Thunder Moves the Heavens…” Li Yu gave a low shout as his fist suddenly unleashed a mighty vibrating force. There was a low humming sound as he broke through the oncoming attack easily like hacking through bamboo. He ignored the bloody wounds that the water on himself had inflicted and threw a punch straight at Wang Chunyang’s waist.

“Humph. Not bad, not bad.” Wang Chunyang paled terribly and stumbled backward. The three bodyguards behind him quickly formed a human wall between the two young men. He slowly wiped the blood on his lips away and had a scowl on his face as he snorted, “It won’t be long before the Fengyang Clan Ranking will start ranking everyone again. I’ll admit defeat today, but I hope I’ll see you again when the ranking happens.”

With that, he glared at Li Yu one last time, then turned and left.

They were in a commandery, after all, and there were formidable cultivators in charge here, so nobody dared to really fight too hard. If someone ended up dead, that would be going against the Qin Empire’s laws. The two men had exchanged blows just to see how good each other was. And after a few blows, it was Wang Chunyang who bowed out first after suffering a small loss.

Immediately after Wang Chunyang left, the stern look on Li Yu’s face disappeared. He groaned a little as he moved his body slightly and looked down sadly at his torn clothing. He then looked up again with a determined look on his face. “Rou’er, I will save you from this place. Once I get into the Ranking and prove myself, I will beg the family to redeem you.”

Fang Rou’s body trembled a little, and she did her best to hold back the tears that were on the brink of rolling down her cheeks. She pursed her lips and kept her head down. She didn’t even dare to let a sound out.

“Hoho, the Li family? Do you think you’re capable of doing that? I’ll look forward to that…” said Gu Suihan with a snort, like the good antagonist he was. He rapped his knuckles on the table and said, “We’re eating, and you don’t have a seat at this table. So, get lost.”

“Why, you…”

Li Yu immediately spun around to glare furiously at Gu Suihan. The fire burning in his eyes looked sufficient to raze the whole restaurant to the ground. Thankfully, he still had a brain. The last bit of rationality in his head kept warning him that Gu Suihan was someone at Origin Core, which was a level he was no match for right now.

After that voice in his head went on for a while, he finally took a deep breath and glanced one more time at Fang Rou, who continued to keep her head down. He clenched his fists hard, gritted his teeth, then left the restaurant.

“Those who should be eating, eat. Those who should be drinking drink. Today’s meal is all on me!”

Gu Suihan flicked his finger and dissolved the protective screen he had created earlier. The guests in the restaurant cheered and clapped when they heard what Gu Suihan said, and before long, the place was filled with lively chatter once more. But this time, all they talked about was how Li Yu had successfully turned the tables on Wang Chunyang and defeated the latter.

“The Fengyang Clan Ranking? Hoho, that’s not all, right? Why else would so many cultivators suddenly come here?”

Gu Suihan took the cup of wine that Taohua had refilled and fiddled with it while thinking. The wine inside seemed to be made from jelly, since it kept moving about but not a single drop spilled out. It was strange, yet marvelous to look at.

In all of Fengyang, there were three cultivators at Divine Soul, a conservative estimate of the number of cultivators at Nascent Change was probably a few hundred. There were probably as many stray dogs as cultivators at Origin Core. The various factions probably added to a hundred or more, but only 27 of them were able to boast of being one.

The Fengyang Clan Ranking was split into three categories. The lowest category was the Human Ranking, which included all the Foundation Establishment cultivators. It wasn’t worth talking about.

The Earth Ranking was mainly made up of Origin Core cultivators.

The Heaven Ranking was probably decided among those 27 factions. Rando wandering cultivators or cultivators from small factions weren’t even fart compared to these big guns.

Gu Suihan closed his eyes as he lay on his chair, but his mind never stopped thinking. He was very curious. Why was the Fengyang Clan Ranking attracting so much attention this time round?

After all, the Human Ranking kept changing. Only the very bottommost cultivators would care about it. As for the Earth and Heaven Rankings, these were rankings that would barely move even in a hundred years. Cultivators lived longer than tortoises and that wasn’t surprising at all.

This time round, all three Rankings were about to change. What was going on behind it?

He wasn’t interested in these Rankings at all. It was just a fight to the death between a bunch of idiots for a reputation that wasn’t even worth a single penny. Could such a thing really represent the caliber of a cultivation? Only an idiot would believe that.

Let’s just take Gu Suihan as an example. Based on his current caliber, as long as he was given sufficient time to plan and lay everything out properly, even a cultivator at Nascent Change was going to end up dead with no exceptions. But did that mean he was as strong as a Nascent Change cultivator? Saying that would be ridiculous.

Don’t do anything that isn’t meaningful. You think it was so easy to just suck some souls out and use them to heal your own? You might have just killed some fellow, but this fellow’s backers might have already found out who you are. The world of cultivators was not one that could be treated like a normal place. The number of unforeseen circumstances was staggering.

There were also all sorts of strange and rare secret techniques or techniques that were supposedly long extinct or banned a long time ago. The fellow you’re fighting might look like a lowly ant for one moment, then suddenly pull out some god level weapon from his pants and hack you to pieces.

If Li Yu made it into the Human Ranking, then the only benefit to him would be that he would no longer be called a piece of trash. At most, he might get some good opportunities and become more well to do in the future.

What if he managed to get into the Earth Ranking? For most people, this wouldn’t be possible at all, unless you threw dao weapons and spiritual weapons at your enemies like they were trash and buried them alive with it.

But don’t forget, Li Yu was supposed to be the OP MC with a golden finger.

“If a black sheep like him suddenly appears out of nowhere, would you guys leave some traces behind?” A warm smile slowly spread across Gu Suihan’s face. “You’d better not screw up. Otherwise, if I manage to sniff out your schemes, things won’t be as fun anymore.”

As for why Wang Chunyang purposely harassed Fang Rou earlier in the day…given his family background, surely he would have known what happened to the Li family over the past few years, right? Duh!

So, the reason for doing this probably had something to do with Gu Suihan.

The Wang family was taking this chance to check on the relationship between Gu Suihan and the Li family. Why else would the wealthy heir to the Wang family come all the way to this little restaurant of all places?

That proved that…the Wang family had plans to attack the Li family!

If Gu Suihan had taught Wang Chunyang a lesson, then the Wangs would probably give up their plans to attack the Li family, or…they would have to include Gu Suihan on their hitlist.

But to everyone’s surprise, Wang Chunyang had just said a few words when Li Yu suddenly burst in from nowhere.

The Wang family’s plan to test Gu Suihan went down the drain just like that…

But they could still tell a thing or two based on the attitude that Gu Suihan had displayed earlier, so their plan hadn’t failed entirely. They still managed to reap something after all.