“We are here to terminate the agreement.” The ancestor uttered coldly.
“Oh?” Li Qiye smiled, unintimidated.
“The princess is young and naive, which is why she agreed to the bet despite not being able to represent herself on something so serious since she’s a member of Wooden Sword.”
“So you wish to renege.” Li Qiye didn’t find this surprising.
“Mind your words now.” A different ancestor was unhappy with Li Qiye’s choice of words.
“No, you should be minding your words. This is my territory, not Wooden Sword.” Li Qiye chuckled and gave him the side-eye.
The third scowled but managed to restrain his anger.
The first to speak began again: “We’re not unreasonable, of course. If you agree to terminate the bet, we will compensate you handsomely.”
“Compensate me? Do you not realize how utterly ridiculous this is?” Li Qiye burst out in laughter.
His wanton laughter soured the ancestors’ expression. This attitude could only be viewed as contempt for both themselves and their kingdom. This was unacceptable.
“Please fix your attitude.” One ancestor uttered coldly, clearly unhappy.
“No, you’re the ones that need to reflect on your stance. Your kingdom is indeed a bit famous on the continent but take a look at yourselves then me. In my eyes, your kingdom is on the verge of declining, and as for you all? A bunch of impoverished old men daring to talk about compensating me with your meager coins? This is akin to beggars wanting to satisfy me, the richest man in the world. How is this not hilarious?” Li Qiye shook his head and retorted.
The ancestors’ expression became unsightly and glared at Li Qiye.
“How are you going to compensate me? A few hundred million Dao Lord Refined Jades? Actually, that might be too much for you, and even in that case, do you think I would actually give a damn? I have billions and billions of Dao Lord Refined Jades, this is not taking into account the lower-level jades. So in short, I don’t think you have what it takes.” Li Qiye added.
Li Qiye boasted about his wealth just like a parvenu. Nonetheless, they had a hard time retorting since he was indeed the richest in the continent or perhaps all of Eight Desolaces.
There were levels to having money as well. To be frank, once one got rich enough, everything they did became acceptable. Even their fart would start smelling good.
Li Qiye looked at the group, one by one, before smiling: “One sliver of my wealth is enough to feed your entire kingdom for three generations. So what can you offer me? Dao lord weapons? I have more than ten. Merit laws? Nah, I just inherited an entire library of dao lord merit laws, I’m about to give them to my servants.”
The ancestors were speechless while listening to him.
“We are indeed overestimating ourselves in terms of wealth.” Pineleaf Sword Lord said: “No one can match you in this regard so there’s nothing we can offer.”
He knew that Li Qiye was telling the truth. That legacy simply had everything. Even the Sea Emperor Sword Kingdom couldn’t compete with him.
“Your Majesty, you’re lowering our morale…” An ancestor whispered to their king.
Pineleaf waved his hand and said: “I’m merely telling the truth, we need to accept this.”
The first ancestor took a deep breath and told Li Qiye: “Wealth is not everything in this world. Power trumps all.”
“Time for force when diplomacy doesn’t work? Is this a threat?” Li Qiye waited for him to finish.
“That’s not what I’m trying to do.” The ancestor replied: “As the saying goes, wealth incites greed. Everyone desires your legacy so if we both take a step back and team up, you’ll gain safety and more room to grow.”
“I’m not looking down on you but the reality is that I don’t even need to do it myself to subdue all of you right now.” Li Qiye chuckled.
“You!” The ancestors became furious.
They came prepared this time and brought several top ancestors from their kingdom. They thought that they would be able to face any opponent – even the richest man in the world.
Thus, his contempt towards them was unacceptable.
“We might not be on the same level as Sea Emperor but not just anyone can prance in front of us.” The first ancestor responded: “If Young Noble Li wishes to spar, so be it…”
“Don’t act so tough now.” Li Qiye smiled and ordered: “A’zhi, teach them a lesson.”
A man in gray suddenly appeared next to Li Qiye like a specter.
He wasn’t physically present before but he heard Li Qiye’s call and rushed over in the next moment.
Both the king and the ancestors became alarmed right away. The sitting ancestors all stood up because the newcomer was just too fast. They didn’t see how he got there at all. Even someone as powerful as the king shuddered.
“Affirmative.” A’zhi bowed towards Li Qiye then stared at the opponents: “Come all at once, don’t waste my young noble’s time.”
His nonchalant tone expressed his indifference towards the group. The latter had never been treated this way before.
“I hope your identity warrants your arrogance.” An ancestor strongly responded.
“I don’t remember my name anymore but dealing with you bunch won’t be a problem. If your Poplar Paragon is still alive, then he might be able to fight me.” A’zhi said.
His answer froze the entire group.