34: Chapter 34 The President Submits

Silence.

Inside Zhaoyang Hall, there was not a sound.

Li Xuan's words were as casual as if he were asking about the weather today.

Yet, they exploded in the minds of Su Wanli and Su Muxue like a thunderclap.

"You, marry me."

The wild joy that had just surged onto Su Wanli's face froze instantly.

The muscles on his face twitched uncontrollably.

He even suspected that he was too excited and was hallucinating.

Marry his daughter?

This was not taking advantage of a crisis.

This was humiliation.

Who was Su Wanli? He was the supreme controller of the Tianbao Chamber of Commerce in the Eastern Wasteland.

With a single command, he could make the economy of this land tremble.

His daughter, Su Muxue, was the treasure he held in the palm of his hand, the future successor of the Tianbao Chamber of Commerce.

Even if the other party could destroy the fleet of Ziyang Holy Land, they could not treat his daughter with such contempt.

Rage flared in Su Wanli's heart.

He looked up abruptly, his eyes struggling, filled with coldness.

"Senior, this joke is not funny."

Su Muxue, standing behind him, trembled.

Her face, which already lacked color, turned deathly pale instantly.

Her eyes were filled with shock, confusion, and the sting of humiliation.

She was accustomed to the gazes of others—be it amazement, greed, or pity.

But she had never imagined that one day she would become a commodity, treated as a "medical fee" for a cure.

She bit her lower lip hard, her nails digging into her palms, a wave of sorrow washing over her heart.

"Young Miss!"

A hoarse yet powerful voice rang out.

The grey-robed old man, who had been standing behind Su Wanli like a shadow, raised his head.

His eyes were cloudy, his face covered in age spots, and he looked as if he were near death.

But as soon as he raised his head, the aura belonging to a powerhouse of the Marquis Realm erupted violently.

Kuying.

Su Wanli's personal bodyguard, a sixth-stage Marquis Realm expert.

He was also the strongest person in the entire branch of the Chamber of Commerce, aside from Su Wanli.

He had never married, had no children, and had long regarded Su Muxue as his own granddaughter.

Now, seeing Su Muxue humiliated, he could no longer hold back.

"Young man."

Kuying stepped forward, blocking the path in front of the Su father and daughter.

His cloudy eyes stared fixedly at Li Xuan, his voice icy.

"Our President respects you as a Senior; that is your good fortune. But do not push your luck and speak lightly of our Young Miss."

"Anyone who dares to insult my Tianbao Chamber of Commerce is already a rotting corpse in a grave!"

Before his voice had faded, his Domain power of the sixth-stage Marquis Realm transformed into an invisible tide, crushing down heavily toward Li Xuan.

He did not dare to attack directly.

But this warning was enough to put immense pressure on any Marquis of the same rank and make them retreat in the face of difficulty.

In his view, this young man was at most a junior who had just entered the Marquis Realm.

Today, he would let this ignorant brat know what it meant for there to be people beyond people.

However, the scene he wanted to see did not appear at all.

Li Xuan did not change his expression, did not gasp for air, and certainly did not beg for mercy.

Inside Zhaoyang Hall, it remained quiet.

Li Xuan did not even lift an eyelid, leaning lazily on his rocking chair.

His slender fingers tapped rhythmically against the armrest.

The Domain power of Kuying, which was enough to crush mountains, vanished the moment it blew before him.

Kuying's face instantly flushed red.

This was dismissal.

Naked, blatant dismissal.

He felt as if he had punched cotton, choked up to the point of vomiting blood.

"Junior, you are courting death!"

Kuying was thoroughly enraged.

He roared, his internal mana gushing out, and his Domain power surged again, transforming into an invisible giant hand that grabbed fiercely toward Li Xuan.

But at this very instant.

Thump.

Li Xuan's fingers, which were tapping the armrest, stopped.

The entire world seemed to have been pressed on the pause button.

The wind stopped.

The light solidified.

The dust floating in the air froze in mid-air.

An absolute will, centered on Li Xuan, descended suddenly.

This was not power, nor was it a Domain.

It was a declaration.

Declaring to this world that here, I am the Heavenly Dao.

I am the only one.

The supreme Domain of the Peak ninth-stage Marquis Realm revealed the tip of its iceberg.

The moment Kuying's violent Domain power touched this "will," it could not even stir up a single ripple.

In an instant, it vanished into smoke and clouds.

The look of rage on Kuying's face froze.

He was actually fixed in place, unable to move a muscle.

The next second.

Pfft!

A thick arrow of blood sprayed wildly from his mouth.

Immediately after, blinding blood poured out from his seven orifices—his eyes, nose, and ears simultaneously.

His cloudy pupils rapidly dilated.

Only extreme fear remained within them.

His Dao Heart was completely crushed in that instant.

This was not a gap in power; it was a chasm in the hierarchy of life.

The other party was simply not a "human"!

"Thump!"

Kuying's knees went weak, and he knelt straight down.

No, his whole body collapsed, slumped onto the ground, twitching uncontrollably.

"Hoo-hoo" sounds came from his throat; he wanted to beg for mercy, but he could not utter a complete sentence.

Beside him, Su Wanli felt his vision blur.

His pride-and-joy Marquis Realm guard had turned into a pile of mud on the ground.

What happened?

He didn't see clearly.

But he clearly felt a terrifying pressure that froze his Divine Soul, released and then retracted instantly.

In the face of that pressure, he was insignificant.

Su Wanli's mind went "buzz" and became blank.

A thought that terrified him immensely surfaced in his heart.

He finally understood.

He understood why that cloud-piercing ark of Ziyang Holy Land, those four Marquis Elders, and that Saint had vanished from the face of the earth here.

In front of such an existence, what difference was there between a Holy Land, a fleet, and a bunch of rabble?

And he, just moments ago, had actually dared to question the other party's conditions?

His own guard had even dared to attack him?

He was instantly chilled to the bone.

Cold sweat soaked his robes instantly.

His legs could no longer support his body.

With a sudden weakness, he also followed with a "thump" and knelt down.

No, he prostrated himself on the ground.

He dared not look up at Li Xuan again, only using his forehead to bang heavily, one after another, against the cold, hard ground.

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

Dull thumping sounds echoed throughout the hall.

"Senior, spare my life! Divine Being, spare my life!"

Su Wanli's voice became distorted and shrill from fear, laced with a crying tone.

"It is this lowly one who had eyes but failed to see! It is this lowly one whose heart was blinded by lard! To dare to question the Divine Being's decision!"

"This lowly one deserves to die! This lowly one deserves death a thousand times over!"

While frantically kowtowing and hysterically crying out, where was there any trace of the demeanor of a Chamber of Commerce President?

He finally realized what kind of terrifying existence he was facing.

Never mind him; even if the General President of the Tianbao Chamber of Commerce came, he would have to kneel.

A transaction?

Conditions?

The other party was not negotiating conditions with him at all.

That was giving him, and the entire Tianbao Chamber of Commerce, a chance to choose.

To live.

To die.

"For my daughter to be able to marry you, Divine Being, is a blessing she has cultivated for eight lifetimes!"

"I beg the Divine Being to show mercy! Give us a way to live!"

Su Wanli completely abandoned all dignity, begging incoherently.

He suddenly raised his voice and shouted with all his might: "If the Divine Being can cure my daughter, I, Su Wanli, am willing to bring the Tianbao Chamber of Commerce to serve the Great Xia forever and ever, and honor the Divine Being as my master! If I break this oath, may heaven destroy me!"

In the vast palace, only his heart-wrenching oath continued to echo.

Beside him, Su Muxue was stunned by the scene before her.

Her face was pale, and her body was trembling uncontrollably.

The father who sheltered her from the wind and rain, who seemed omnipotent, was currently kneeling humbly on the ground, kowtowing incessantly.

The powerful Senior Kuying was slumped not far away, life or death unknown.

And all of this was merely because the young man lying on the rocking chair had moved a thought.

Fear engulfed her.

But deep within this boundless fear, a strange feeling quietly sprouted.

She looked at that young figure who, from beginning to end, had not changed his posture; in her cold, clear eyes, besides fear, there was actually an extra glimmer of light.

For so many years, her life had only been filled with endless pain and despair.

But now, she seemed to have seen... light.

Perhaps, marrying such a god-like existence was not humiliation.

It was salvation.

"You are reasonably smart."

Li Xuan's calm voice finally rang out again.

Su Wanli felt as if he had been granted an amnesty; his whole body went limp, he collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.

Li Xuan slowly sat up, his gaze shifting from Su Muxue to Su Wanli.

"Remember what you said today."

"Go, prepare yourself."

"Tonight, we shall hold a wedding for your daughter and my Great Xia."