Chapter Forty-Five: Paying the Price!

"So, you're telling me they wouldn't let this Chen family member from the capital into the city, and now he's causing a scene outside?" Zhang Tianci asked, displeasure written all on his face.

The servant nodded.

"A bunch of good-for-nothings. Couldn't they just chase him away? Why is it getting noisier and noisier? Do I have to teach you how to handle everything?" Zhang Tianci covertly glanced at Chen Qing's reaction. Seeing that Chen Qing remained expressionless, he intentionally let out a cold snort to display his authority in front of him.

The servant smiled bitterly and replied, "Replying to the young master, one of the century-commanders actually went to drive him away, but who would have thought that this Chen family member from the capital is a ruthless character? He killed the century-commander right on the spot!"

Swish, swish!

Zhang Tianci and Chen Qing sprang to their feet simultaneously, astonishment etched across both of their faces.

"What did you say?"

Zhang Tianci doubted whether his ears were playing tricks on him.

"He killed a century-commander?"

The subordinate nodded.

A dense flash of fury instantly crossed Zhang Tianci's eyes.

The Prefect of Savage City commanded eight thousand elite soldiers; who would dare not fear him?

Killing a century-commander was equivalent to directly slapping the Prefect of Savage City in the face.

Since the Prefect of Savage City was Zhang Tianci's own biological father, slapping his father's face was no different from slapping his own face.

"How audacious! To dare kill one of my men—does he think this is Savage City, or does he still think he's in the capital?"

Zhang Tianci snorted coldly, then suddenly looked toward Chen Qing.

After all, Chen Xuan was a member of the main Chen family, and the collateral branch of the Chen family that Chen Qing belonged to held a pivotal and weighty position in Savage City.

Therefore, despite how furious Zhang Tianci currently was, he still had to give face to the Chen family and hear out Chen Qing's intentions.

"Young Master Qing, what do you think of this matter?"

Chen Qing's expression was gloomy. His original intention was to have the city guards block Chen Xuan outside the city to give him a harsh initial blow, refusing him entry and intentionally making things difficult for him. The goal was to wear down Chen Xuan's spirit so that he would be easier to control later on.

If he could be controlled, they would control him; if he couldn't be controlled, they would find a way to orchestrate an "accident" and eliminate him.

Even though Chen Qing had just been talking big about replacing them and harboring ambitious designs to take over the capital's Chen family, he knew very well in his heart that, given the current strength of the Chen family's collateral branch in Savage City, trying to replace the main capital branch was nothing more than a delusional daydream.

The capital's Chen family's control over its scattered outer branches had merely weakened; they were not completely finished. A lean camel is still bigger than a horse, and their influence remained deeply rooted.

If they truly wanted to make an issue of it, cutting off a limb to preserve the body and wiping out a disobedient collateral branch would still be more than effortless!

Therefore, Chen Xuan could die, but he absolutely could not die right now.

The man had just arrived from the capital and died immediately afterward—how would the members of the capital's Chen family view this?

How would the family head view this?

When the time came for the main branch to demand an explanation from your collateral branch, how would you give it?

However, if they quietly eliminated him after a period of time, the situation would be completely different.

By then, the collateral branch could easily fabricate excuses, claiming that Chen Xuan could not acclimate to the local environment and water, or that he had been poisoned by scorpion venom, or that he was assassinated by roving bandits.

Chen Qing's expression shifted uncertainly. He clenched his fists, relaxed them, and finally let out a cold laugh:

"It seems this Chen Xuan is a tough bone to crack. I wanted to break his spirit first, but who would have thought he would break mine instead?"

A trace of coldness flashed through Zhang Tianci's eyes as he raised his hand and made a slashing motion across his throat. "So, Young Master Qing's meaning is..."

Chen Qing shook his head and said, "First, dispatch more men to suppress his arrogance. As for his life, keep it for the time being."

Hearing this, Zhang Tianci nodded slightly. "Very well, we'll do as Young Master Qing says."

With that, he gave a look to the subordinate beside him.

The subordinate understood instantly, nodded, and quietly retreated.

Meanwhile, beneath the city gate tower.

A neat sequence of footsteps echoed from within the city. Moments later, a massive crowd of armed soldiers rushed out—numbering at least a thousand—and completely surrounded Chen Xuan and his group.

"Who dares to lay a hand on my men!"

A burly man riding a tall, spirited warhorse rode out from the ranks, a fierce and sharp aura emanating from his entire body.

"Lord Thousand-Commander, it's him!"

Immediately, a subordinate pointed a finger directly at Chen Xuan.

The Thousand-Commander's sharp, piercing eyes locked onto Chen Xuan instantly.

In an instant, the surrounding temperature seemed to drop by several degrees!

Anyone who could climb to the position of a Thousand-Commander in a place like Savage City was no ordinary person; they were undoubtedly forged in mountains of corpses and oceans of blood!

After all, Savage City was located at the border of the Great Gan Dynasty, a place plagued by perennial warfare, rampant roving bandits, and endless combat.

The century-commanders, thousand-commanders, and generals here were all thoroughly tempered veterans.

In truth, the century-commander who had just been choked to death by Chen Xuan was only killed so easily because Chen Xuan himself made the move.

Had it been anyone else—for instance, if Liu Jinyu had made the move—even though Liu Jinyu's cultivation realm was higher than the opponent's, the enemy possessed far more practical combat experience, and it would have taken at least a dozen rounds to secure a victory!

"We're finished, Big Boss. We've really kicked an iron plate this time."

"Lord Chen is far too reckless. How could he just choke a century-commander to death right off the bat? Now things have blown up into a huge mess."

The group of bandits from Raging Peak Stronghold all wore bitter expressions.

Back when they were robbing people on the fierce bandit mountains, they had always relied on superior numbers to act arrogantly and domineeringly over others.

Now look at this place—the other side had far more people than they did!

"Oh my, this soldier looks so fierce with those tiger-like eyes. Will my husband be at a disadvantage?"

Xu Ruolan was frightened by the sheer number of people at the scene, especially the Thousand-Commander, whose gaze was as sharp as a steel blade, making people completely unwilling to meet his eyes.

Li Xiuning and the others also wore expressions of worry. Things had escalated to this point; how were they going to clean up this mess?

Only An Muxue, who usually maintained a cold and expressionless face, actually revealed a faint, hidden smile at the sight of this predicament.

"So you're the one who killed my man?"

Seated atop his tall steed, the Thousand-Commander gripped a treasured sword and pointed it straight at Chen Xuan.

His voice was deep, resonant, and heavy, sounding just like a netherworld judge demanding someone's life.

"It was me."

Chen Xuan stepped forward, meeting the Thousand-Commander's gaze head-on.

The Thousand-Commander was slightly surprised, having not expected Chen Xuan to remain unfazed by his imposing aura.

However, that trace of surprise quickly morphed into fury.

Not only had the other party killed his man, but he also showed no fear whatsoever—if this wasn't blatant provocation, what was?

"A life for a life! Since you don't know what is good for you, I'll send you on your way!"

The Thousand-Commander drew his sword directly, preparing to strike.

"Wait!"

Liu Jinyu suddenly shouted aloud, "We are people of the Chen family! This lord here is even a direct descendant of the Chen family! Do you dare to strike us? Doing so means making an enemy of the Chen family!"

He truly had no other choice; he desperately wanted to avoid a conflict with these people and could only drag out the Chen family name, hoping it would instill some fear in this Thousand-Commander.