Chapter 189: The Chu Family Royal Court

"How could I possibly be wrong? When have I ever been wrong!?"

"Hmph! As the dignified Treasure-Seeking King, how could I be joking about a matter like this!"

"Come, come, come! Everyone follow me, let's go divide up this rare treasure!"

The young man waved his hand carelessly, and as soon as he finished speaking, he prepared to charge over.

But among the crowd behind him, a youth looked on with utter disdain and sneered:

"Pfft!"

"Treasure-Seeking King, my foot. I think 'Lying King' is more like it!"

Hahahahahaha!

The roar of laughter from the crowd behind him made the young man's face flush red; he turned back and shouted angrily:

"What Lying King? When have I ever lied!!?"

"In broad daylight, don't go spouting nonsense!"

It would have been fine if the young man hadn't said that; there weren't that many people laughing yet.

Once he said it, those who hadn't laughed couldn't hold it in anymore.

Hahahaha!

"What nonsense did I spout? Isn't it the truth?"

"Don't you think about it—what have you done in these past six months? How many times have you been wrong, you guy?"

The youth tilted his head, snorted through his nose, and began counting on his fingers:

"You said there was treasure at Wuling Shan, and we spent three days only to find a nest of wild rabbits."

"You swore up and down that there was treasure at Luoyan Ya, and we wasted a week, only to end up digging up a few bird eggs."

The youth spoke louder and louder, and the young man's expression began to change, shifting from initial righteous indignation to gradually looking away with a guilty conscience.

He also recalled what kind of 'glorious achievements' he had accomplished...

"You were even worse at Yingzhui Po, wasting half a month of everyone's time. You tell me, what did that 'lost ancient city' you spoke of turn out to be?"

"... A village."

"What? Speak up, I can't hear you!"

"Damn it! It was a widow's village! So what!?"

The young man's face turned bright red, and he roared in a 'might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb' manner:

"A lousy village with nothing left but old widows!"

Hahaha...

The youth also started laughing and mocked:

"Chu Hairen, what have you found this time? A nest of wild dogs? Or a nest of wild foxes? Hahaha..."

Amidst the erupting laughter, the red-faced young man, Chu Hairen, wanted to retort loudly, but after racking his brains for a long time, he couldn't think of any powerful comeback.

"This, uh, well, even the best horse stumbles! You guys shouldn't keep harping on other people's mistakes!"

After opening his mouth for a long while without a strong rebuttal, he could only stiffen his neck and stubbornly insist:

"You guys had a pretty good time too, didn't you!"

"Didn't I share the roasted rabbit with you? You didn't eat those bird eggs? In that widow's village, you didn't... hiss!"

!!!

Just as he was about to launch a 'mutually assured destruction' suicide attack, the young man felt several sharp gazes from the crowd and hurriedly changed his tune:

"... Nothing, nothing happened there, *cough cough*!!!"

Under the suspicious gazes of several women, Chu Hairen coughed forcefully twice, pretended nothing had happened, and said with a straight face:

"Anyway, I really feel like there is treasure here this time, you must believe me!"

Unfortunately, because of his extensive track record, Chu Hairen's words were not taken to heart.

After laughing for a long time, the middle-aged man who looked the oldest in the crowd coughed lightly and spoke up:

"Hairen, it's not that we don't believe you, really."

The middle-aged man's mouth twitched as he fought the urge to laugh out loud, and he continued with a straight face:

"It's just that we have already wasted too much time and cannot continue to delay."

"Everyone, you are all the pride of the Royal Court, not here to play around."

Those who rule the mortals of the four regions are all called Divine Dynasties, but in fact, their specific names vary.

Beiming is a Dynasty, the Western Desert is Spirit Mountain, there is the Southern Border Divine Dynasty, and the Eastern Wasteland is the Royal Court.

Unlike the centralization practiced in Beigan, the Eastern Wasteland is directly divided into many small kingdoms, all ultimately honoring the Chu Family Royal Court as supreme.

When one family speaks, there are bound to be a hundred families fighting for power.

Although the Eastern Wasteland is generally stronger than Beigan in terms of total strength, it has always lost more battles than it has won.

There is no other reason.

No one wants to honestly hand over their own foundation; everyone wants to watch others put in the effort and then happily take a share of the spoils.

The Li Dynasty can mobilize resources from all over the Northern Qian Divine Continent to combine the strength of Beigan to strike at external enemies.

But it is very difficult for the Chu Family Royal Court to control all its vassal states; being able to exert seventy percent of its ten-tenths strength is already very rare.

There are all sorts of frictions between the various vassal states, making it even harder to unite them.

"If we miss the timing of the war between the two regions because of treasure hunting, then there will be no way to answer to the King."

Speaking of this, the atmosphere among the group became much more serious.

"Beigan is weak and only knows how to struggle to produce strong individuals."

"Whereas my Eastern Wasteland is a land of outstanding people, where the whole population values martial arts and strong individuals emerge in large numbers."

The middle-aged man lowered his voice and said slowly:

"But... in the last three competitions, the Li Family has not lost a single time. Do you all understand what this means?"

"This is a disgrace! A great disgrace!"

"It is a disgrace to the Royal Court, and a disgrace to the Eastern Wasteland!"

A group of more than ten people all felt a powerful pressure upon them.

"Although the struggle between the two families is unknown to outsiders, can you endure the feeling of being suppressed by them like this?"

"Can you!!?"

"We cannot!!!"

The shouts of these dozen or so people sounded like the cries of tigers, leopards, and apes.

Roar!!!

The booming sound shook the mountains and forests, startling the birds and beasts into scattering and fleeing.

After the team leader said this, Chu Hairen could no longer make a scene and did not mention the treasure hunting from before.

"What a pity, I really thought we could discover treasure this time..."

Taking one last lingering look at the gently undulating Zizhushan, Chu Hairen withdrew his gaze with regret.

Next time,

I will come back to take a look when there is an opportunity next time.

He silently followed the group's pace, continuing to head toward their destination along the way.

The clan uncle was right.

They did not come to Beigan to play; they had serious business to attend to.

This farce did not last long; they returned to the established route and continued to set off toward Wentian.

But before they had traveled far, Chu Hairen's expression suddenly changed.

"Wait a moment!"

The group paused upon hearing this, and the youth who had spoken earlier turned his head impatiently:

"What is it again? Did you discover treasure again?"

"Shut up."

!!!

"You..."

Chu Hairen's serious tone made the youth's expression change; realizing something was wrong, he honestly shut his mouth.

Although this guy was usually not very serious and lacked airs, he was the leader of this generation of the Chu Royal Court.

In terms of status, he was much higher than everyone else present.

Otherwise, why would they be wasting time following him?

Staring at the pool of water they were about to approach, Chu Hairen said in a low voice:

"There is a Danger Star over there."