Zheng Guanbao's face turned pale.
At this moment, he was without a doubt the biggest joke under heaven.
The marriage alliance that had been promised!
But the result? His fiancée had become someone else's fiancée.
Zhou Fuhai looked at Zheng Guanbao calmly. "Don't blame Niantang, and don't blame anyone else either. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for having such poor martial talent."
"Heh, my martial talent is too poor?"
Zheng Guanbao let out a bitter laugh. "If you all wanted to break off the engagement, you could've told me in private. I would never cling to Zhou Niantang.
But today we already announced this marriage to the world and invited so many guests to witness it. Yet you choose to say this now.
You aren't just breaking the engagement—you're deliberately humiliating me."
Zhou Fuhai frowned.
"Humiliate you?"
Zheng Guanxing sneered. "Zheng Guanbao, don't overestimate yourself. Just you alone—you're not even worth the effort to humiliate.
Father-in-law and Niantang only did this to avoid unnecessary trouble and to keep you from deluding yourself."
"No. From where I stand, you're the one overestimating yourself."
A calm voice sounded.
"Who?"
Zheng Guanxing's brows furrowed.
Everyone turned their heads at once.
When they saw who had arrived, many people were shocked.
Zheng Gongde quickly stepped forward and saluted. "Your servant Zheng Gongde greets the Crown Prince. I did not know His Highness would grace us with his presence. Forgive us for failing to welcome you properly."
"General Zheng, no need for such formality."
Yang Cheng spoke politely.
"Crown Prince?"
The Zhou family all looked shocked.
Zheng Guanxing's heart filled with irritation. "So it's the Crown Prince of Great Zhou. Is His Highness here to use power to suppress others?"
"Which of your eyes saw me using power to suppress you?"
Yang Cheng smiled.
Zheng Guanxing also smiled. "Not using power? Then are you saying that you truly believe Zheng Guanbao, this piece of trash, can be compared to me?"
"No, he can't be compared to you—because you're not even worthy of being compared to him."
Yang Cheng's words fell, and everyone around revealed strange expressions.
Everyone knew Zheng Guanbao was a useless one. How could he possibly compare with Zheng Guanxing?
"Your Highness?"
Even Zheng Guanbao himself panicked a little.
Yang Cheng's expression stayed calm. "Zheng Guanbao, as this palace's tiger general, show some courage. Whoever humiliates you—challenge them. Don't make this palace lose face."
Zheng Guanbao's eyes instantly reddened. "Your Highness, I will never let you lose face."
He turned toward Zheng Guanxing. "Zheng Guanxing, I challenge you!"
Zheng Guanxing laughed. "Come then. I'll stand here and let you hit me. When you're qualified to even get close to me, then we can talk about challenging me."
"Fine!"
Zheng Guanbao charged at Zheng Guanxing with sudden force.
Boom!
His cultivation erupted.
"This aura?"
"He's actually at the peak of Martial Master! Looks like Zheng Guanbao isn't such trash after all."
The crowd was stunned.
Zheng Guanbao was not yet twelve years old, and to reach this level of cultivation already placed him among the little geniuses.
Even Zheng Gongde was shocked—clearly he hadn't known that his own son had already reached this cultivation.
'I must not let His Highness down.'
Zheng Guanbao told himself firmly.
Before entering the Qingqiu Secret Realm, he had only been at the second stage of Martial Master.
It was all thanks to His Highness's cultivation guidance.
Inside the secret realm, following His Highness, he had gained many demon beast cores. Only then had he advanced to the peak of Martial Master.
In an instant, Zheng Guanbao unleashed all his strength against Zheng Guanxing.
"I take back what I said earlier. You're not exactly trash. But compared to me, you're still not worth mentioning."
Zheng Guanxing struck out with a palm.
Bang!
Zheng Guanbao was sent flying.
But he did not give in.
Again and again, Zheng Guanxing knocked him back. And again and again, Zheng Guanbao dragged himself up and charged at him.
This sight made Zhou Fuhai's heart stir with surprise.
It seemed Zheng Guanbao wasn't as worthless as he had thought.
If he had known this earlier, perhaps he wouldn't have agreed to cancel the marriage.
A hint of regret surfaced in his heart.
But only a hint.
Boom!
After countless clashes, Zheng Guanxing once more sent Zheng Guanbao flying.
Zheng Guanbao crashed to the ground, unable to get up right away.
"You're too weak."
Zheng Guanxing looked down at him in contempt.
Zheng Guanbao gasped for breath, his vision blurred by blood.
At this moment, Yang Cheng walked up to him.
Zheng Guanbao raised his head and looked at him.
Yang Cheng said, "If you don't want to spend your life trampled underfoot, then stand up for this palace!"
If it were anyone else, Yang Cheng would never be so harsh.
But Zheng Guanbao wasn't anyone else.
He carried the Vermillion Bird Dao Body.
Only by forcing him into the harshest adversity, drawing out his unyielding spirit, could that Dao Body awaken.
Many people looked on with sympathy.
Even Zheng Gongde.
If Yang Cheng weren't the Crown Prince, he would have stepped in to stop it.
"Hmph, Crown Prince of Great Zhou, Yang Cheng, you are truly merciless."
A cold snort rang out. "This man respects you, even worships you. Yet you treat him so coldly."
"He is already fighting with his life on the line, and still you push him without pity. Do you really want to force him to his death?"
"You need to understand, he's just an ordinary man with average talent. To reach his current realm is already rare."
Everyone was stunned at these words.
Who dared speak so boldly, openly mocking the Crown Prince?
"Who is it?"
"Such audacity! To show disrespect to His Highness the Crown Prince."
Many Great Zhou martial artists shouted in anger.
Then they saw a stunning young girl and an old woman walk in from outside.
"Hmph!"
The old woman snorted coldly.
Buzz!
In an instant, a crushing pressure spread out in all directions.
Those who had been shouting immediately felt their blood boil and their heads spin.
When they came to their senses, fear covered their faces.
A Martial Emperor!
This was absolutely the aura of a Martial Emperor powerhouse.
Ding!
[Shocking! God-Shattering powerhouse Tang Yun'er and Yang God powerhouse Tang Yuan have appeared in the Wasteland Realm.]
[Tang Yun'er is a prodigy of the Tang family, second only to Tang Wushuang among their younger generation.]
[More than 400 years ago, she casually gave some support to the Southern Guardian Prince's mansion. That alone gave them the courage to rebel, almost shaking the rule of Great Zhou's imperial clan.]
[Now, Tang Yun'er openly rebukes the host. This shows her great displeasure, a very dangerous matter for the host.]
[Host must immediately choose a response.]
[Option 1: Bow and scrape before Tang Yun'er, use any means to appease her anger. No reward for this choice, and all future rewards will be greatly reduced.]
[Option 2: Strike back against Tang Yun'er, suppress her with overwhelming force so she dares not offend the host. This choice is extremely difficult, but the reward is the Supreme-grade treasure 'Undying Golden Light.']
Tang Yun'er?
Yang Cheng's heart shook.
In the 500 years of his past life, he had once seen her from afar.
She was one of those unreachable prodigies, the kind who would command respect across all the myriad worlds.
He also remembered Cheng Junyi saying that Tang Yun'er was Tang Xingyu's cousin.
Tang Wushuang, the one who dug out Tang Xingyu's Chaos Bone, was her older brother.
Although Yang Cheng would not blame Tang Yun'er for Tang Wushuang's sins, he could not help but feel displeased toward her.