"Wei Zhong?"
Wu Mei's pupils contracted slightly as she saw the pale-faced man waiting at the foot of the mountain, exclaiming, "Why are you here?"
The pale-faced man, called Wei Zhong by Wu Mei, simply smiled at her and said, "Princess Chang, I heard you went to Tianyin Temple, and I happened to be nearby, so I thought I'd come see you. I didn't expect you to actually be here."
"What do you want?"
Wu Mei stared intently at Wei Zhong, instinctively taking a step back, appearing to be quite wary of this man.
"His Majesty heard that you were holding a martial arts competition to choose a husband in the martial world and found a spouse. Your actions have damaged the royal dignity, so His Majesty wants me to bring you back," Wei Zhong said with a smile, never once looking at Ye Ling.
The martial monks who had descended from Tianyin Temple, intending to go to the town to buy materials to repair the Buddha statues, had extremely expressive faces upon seeing Wei Zhong block Ye Ling and Wu Mei. They all moved to the side, their eyes filled with sympathy.
It was unclear whether they were sympathizing with Wei Zhong or Ye Ling.
"I..."
Wu Mei had not expected Wei Zhong to appear here and directly reveal her identity, which left her momentarily at a loss.
Wei Zhong continued to smile at Wu Mei, saying, "Princess Chang, His Majesty does not wish to escalate matters, so I came alone this time without alarming anyone from the martial world. If Princess Chang does not come with me, those around you will likely be in danger."
"At that time, everyone in the world will know that Bai Lu Quan Wu Mei is the current Princess Chang."
"You dare to threaten me?" Wu Mei was startled and immediately glared at Wei Zhong, anger welling up in her eyes.
"Of course not," Wei Zhong said, but from his expression, he was not afraid of Wu Mei at all.
"I am merely following orders. Princess Chang, please do not make things difficult for me."
Hearing Wei Zhong's words, Wu Mei sighed slightly, realizing she could not escape. She smiled at Ye Ling and said, "Husband, thank you for your trouble these past few days... The martial arts competition was my impulsive act and should not be taken seriously. From now on, we shall go our separate ways."
"I do not wish to involve you in court matters."
With that, Wu Mei walked towards Wei Zhong.
However, as soon as Wu Mei took a step forward, Ye Ling blocked her path.
"Husband?" Wu Mei looked at Ye Ling's tall figure and was stunned.
Wei Zhong's eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at Ye Ling and said, "Wang Li Ren, do you know what you are doing?"
Wei Zhong had naturally investigated Ye Ling's identity before coming here.
In his eyes, as the Chief Eunuch and the Commander of the Imperial Guards, the so-called Azure Demon Swordsman Wang Li Ren was no more than a fly he could crush with a single finger!
A trivial, insignificant character.
"Of course, I know. While I do not consider myself Wu Mei's husband, since she is by my side, I will protect her."
"Husband!" Wu Mei exclaimed.
"Therefore, no matter whose dog you are, if you insist on threatening Wu Mei, I will take your life, and the lives of your masters." Ye Ling smiled lightly at Wei Zhong, speaking terrifying words.
"How audacious!"
A cold killing intent flashed in Wei Zhong's eyes. "Although my mission this time is only to bring the Princess Chang back, do you truly believe that because you have the Princess Chang protecting you, I wouldn't dare to kill a nobody like you, a fledgling nobody?"
As Wei Zhong uttered these words, the expressions of the martial monks watching the commotion became even more fascinating.
The last person who had threatened to kill Ye Ling was their abbot.
Now, their abbot was still lying in the infirmary, and it was unknown how long it would take him to get out of bed.
Although Wei Zhong's strength was decent, his ranking in the "Jianghu Heroes Record" was only twelfth, weaker than their abbot.
Even with Wei Zhong's deep background, the martial monks, having witnessed Ye Ling's strength, did not believe Ye Ling would be someone who feared powerful authority.
With Ye Ling's strength, if he were to rebel, he might be able to overthrow the Wu Dynasty directly!
Hearing Wei Zhong's threat, Ye Ling merely smiled, extended his hand towards Wei Zhong, and beckoned with his finger, saying, "If you can do it, then try."
"You court death!!!"
A sharp glint shot from Wei Zhong's eyes. He suddenly lunged at Ye Ling, his five fingers forming claws, attacking Ye Ling's vital points with phantom-like speed.
The surrounding martial monks could only see a blur of Wei Zhong's afterimage!
"So fast!"
*Slap!!!*
As the martial monks exclaimed in shock, a loud slap followed immediately.
Wei Zhong's fair face took a heavy blow, and he flew backward, spitting out teeth.
*Bang!!!*
As Wei Zhong spun several times in the air and crashed heavily to the ground, the jaws of the martial monks nearly dropped to the floor.
They looked at Wei Zhong's swollen, pig-like head and realized that Ye Ling had actually shown their abbot some respect when they fought.
Ye Ling had at least used a branch as a weapon.
Yet, against Wei Zhong, Ye Ling had delivered a completely unskillful, extremely brutal slap.
The onlookers could imagine the devastating physical and psychological blow Wei Zhong had just suffered.
"You, you..."
Wei Zhong staggered to his feet. After being slapped by Ye Ling, he was completely dazed and couldn't comprehend what had happened.
From childhood, he had never experienced such a thing, not even His Majesty had treated him this way!
Endless rage surged from Wei Zhong's chest, threatening to drive him completely insane!
"You lowly wretch, how dare you treat my noble body so crudely! I will never forgive you!" Wei Zhong's effeminate face contorted completely as he stared fixedly at Ye Ling. A delicate sleeve dart extended from his cuff and lunged towards Ye Ling's neck with extreme speed!
*Chii!!!*
The moment Wei Zhong drew the sleeve dart, his entire arm flew off. Scarlet blood splattered onto the face of a martial monk watching nearby, scaring the others into retreating.
Before Wei Zhong could even react, he felt a soul-piercing pain.
The next moment, he realized his clean clothes were soaked in blood.
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
A pig-like scream erupted from Wei Zhong's mouth. He then clutched the severed stump of his arm and rolled on the ground.
Wu Mei, standing behind Ye Ling, stared dumbfounded at Wei Zhong writhing on the ground, unable to imagine that the man currently screaming like a pig was a powerful minister in the current court whose words could decide life and death with a single utterance!
"Master! I got the letter of introduction!"
At this moment, Bai Lan, who had obtained the letter of introduction from Fa Yun, descended the mountain. She happened to see Wei Zhong rolling in a pool of blood and was momentarily stunned. She asked Ye Ling, "What happened here?"
"Just some insignificant character who didn't know his place came looking for trouble and I dealt with him casually," Ye Ling said with a smile to Bai Lan, not considering Wei Zhong to be any sort of expert.
In reality, it wasn't entirely Ye Ling's fault for being so arrogant...
In Ye Ling's eyes, whether it was the strong individuals ranked in the "Jianghu Heroes Record" or the common folk in the villages, they were all the same.
They were too weak, causing Ye Ling to no longer be able to distinguish their specific strengths.
Upon hearing Ye Ling's words, Wei Zhong, still rolling on the ground, spat out three mouthfuls of blood. Overcome with rage, he was about to faint.
He fumbled in his robes, pulled out a signal flare, and shot it into the sky, roaring, "Wang Li Ren... I, Wei Zhong, swear that I will have your entire clan executed!!!"