163: Who is the God King?

"Hmm?"

Chen Qingxuan was stunned for a moment.

But before he could explain, he saw Lin Tang avert her eyes in shame as her delicate hands began to loosen her collar. "I already expected this day would come, but I didn't expect it to be so soon... Come on, spend your sweat on me to your heart's content tonight... I'll just treat it as a dream."

"Wait...?"

Chen Qingxuan's eyes widened, and he hurriedly raised his hand to stop her. "Miss Lin, don't take off your clothes!"

Lin Tang raised her blushing face. "What? Do you prefer to take them off yourself... or do you need me to cooperate and pretend to resist first... and then you rip them off yourself for more feeling?"

"?"

Chen Qingxuan was dumbfounded.

Rip them off myself... what kind of nonsense is this?

Facing her shameful and resigned expression, Chen Qingxuan couldn't help but ask, "Is it possible that in Miss Lin's eyes... I'm the kind of hypocrite who takes advantage of people in distress?"

Lin Tang's expression shifted. "Aren't you? You used the excuse of building a statue to return our star vein just to make me set down my burden, so that when you make a request... I wouldn't have to worry about the gazes of my clansmen?"

"Holy crap... you've even created a closed loop of logic?"

"...Then hurry up."

"No, I was just using an interjection!"

Chen Qingxuan was speechless.

At this point, he could only explain: "You've misunderstood. I asked if you had time tonight because I wanted to consult you about some matters."

"What about the second half of the night?"

"If we can finish talking early... of course I'll go to sleep in the second half of the night."

"Let's talk after we sleep then!"

Lin Tang bit her lip in shame.

At this moment, Chen Qingxuan laughed speechlessly, looking Lin Tang up and down as she stood there full of bashfulness. "I don't know if I should say this... but I feel like it's not that my mind is wicked, but rather that you're the one who can't wait?"

"Huh?"

Lin Tang raised her crimson face.

Meeting her startled gaze, Chen Qingxuan said seriously, "I've just never been to the Star River Ruins before. As a newcomer, I wanted to find someone to learn more about the situation. I felt you were a suitable candidate, so I asked if you were free tonight... but why is your head full of that stuff?"

Lin Tang placed a hand on her chest. "You just... wanted to ask me things?"

"Otherwise? Sleep with you?"

"I..."

Lin Tang froze.

After confirming that Chen Qingxuan wasn't just pretending to be a gentleman, the blush on her face deepened instantly. "No... Young Master Chen, I'm sorry... I thought you... To be honest, even now I can't believe that just by helping you build a statue, you'd return the star vein to us... I really couldn't believe such a good thing existed... I thought you had other ideas."

Chen Qingxuan shook his head with a wry smile. "I can understand why you'd find it hard to believe, but why did you have to think in that direction... couldn't you suspect I had some other conspiracy?"

"Because..." Lin Tang bit her lip in shame and said guiltily, "Because today, I felt the way you looked at Zhiyu... wasn't quite normal... I was a bit afraid you had ideas about her... If that were the case... I'd rather you were targeting me."

"Hey, hey, hey, that is pure slander!"

Chen Qingxuan immediately grew anxious.

Other things could be laughed off, but this was absolutely not okay!

Meeting Lin Tang's apprehensive gaze, he said sternly, "How was the way I looked at her not normal? I just thought she was pitiful, and she reminded me of a little girl I helped years ago... It was a gentleman's agreement, and I've never wavered... You'll be struck by lightning for saying such things!"

"Young Master Chen, please don't get so worked up."

"How can I not be worked up? If people who don't know me heard this... they'd think I'm some beast who loves eating Purple Pills."

"I, I know I was being shallow."

Lin Tang was frightened.

She truly hadn't expected Chen Qingxuan to react so violently, like a fox whose tail had been stepped on.

"Shallow, you are indeed far too shallow."

Chen Qingxuan took a deep breath in anger and pulled out a cup of grape juice to calm himself down.

Lin Tang stood nervously to the side, her fingers pinching the hem of her clothes; she had never seen him so enraged.

But she knew very well that Chen Qingxuan didn't even care about the Du Family. If he were truly provoked... he would never show mercy to the Lin Family.

This was the law of the jungle!

After a long while.

Chen Qingxuan pointed to the side and said, "Sit down, I want to ask you some things."

"My apologies, Young Master Chen. I hope you won't mind my rudeness just now," Lin Tang said as she walked over nervously. "Whatever you ask, I will tell you everything I know."

Chen Qingxuan didn't waste words. "First, introduce what kind of existence Dragon City is within the Star River Ruins."

Lin Tang replied truthfully, "There are a total of Three Kingdoms and Eight Capitals in the Star River Ruins, which means three Great Empires and eight Small Capital States. Dragon City belongs to the Cloud Kingdom, one of the three Great Empires..."

Chen Qingxuan interrupted, "Wait, what does 'Three Kingdoms and Eight Capitals' mean? Is it three countries or eleven?"

"Strictly speaking, there are only three Empires," Lin Tang explained. "But the eight Small Capital States are all Ten-Thousand-Year Families. Their foundations are enough to rival an Empire, so they are naturally unwilling to be driven by one. The Empires can't do anything about them either, so they could only carve out Capital States for them to control themselves. The eight Small Capital States are effectively the eight Ten-Thousand-Year Families."

"Ten-Thousand-Year Families... those really are behemoths!"

Chen Qingxuan stroked his chin.

In the entire Cangyun Continent, families that could last for a thousand years were as rare as phoenix feathers or dragon horns, yet in the low-level region of the Star River Ruins, there were actually eight Ten-Thousand-Year Families.

And these eight ten-thousand-year-old monsters were still suppressed by the three Great Empires.

This was enough to show how intense the competition in the Three Thousand Divine Provinces was.

At this point, Lin Tang asked in confusion, "Young Master Chen, the coexistence of Empires and Capitals isn't limited to the Star River Ruins. This situation is prevalent throughout the Three Thousand Divine Provinces. How could you not know?"

Chen Qingxuan snapped back to reality. "I'm the one asking you."

"Oh."

Lin Tang nodded slightly.

Soon, Chen Qingxuan asked again, "Then these Capital States—the Ten-Thousand-Year Families—do they also participate in the Immortal Assessment?"

"Hmm?"

Lin Tang blinked upon hearing this.

Meeting Chen Qingxuan's curious gaze, the suspicion on her face grew. "Young Master Chen, isn't the Immortal Assessment only for the top hundred provinces? A low-level province like the Star River Ruins wouldn't even have the qualifications to participate, and even if we did, we couldn't possibly compete with the experts from those places... You should already know these things, right?"

It wasn't surprising that Lin Tang was suspicious; after all, even children in the Three Thousand Divine Provinces knew this.

Moreover, an Immortal Assessment had just concluded a few decades ago.

This was like just walking out of an exam room and having the student next to you ask—what subjects did we just test?

Wasn't this just looking for trouble?

"Cough, of course I know," Chen Qingxuan coughed lightly and pretended to be casual. "Only the top hundred provinces can participate in the Immortal Assessment, how could I possibly not know that!"

"Then why did you ask?"

"I like asking, is that okay?"

"It's okay!"

Looking at Chen Qingxuan's prideful manner, Lin Tang suppressed a smile, feeling much more relaxed than before.

But before she could relax for even two seconds, Chen Qingxuan's next question made her brain buzz.

"Who is the God King?"

I love you all!