Chapter 1675 — Cast Out of the House

But Wei Zhao's move left everyone present in an uproar! He had actually dared to lay hands on an envoy of the Mystic Elixir Sect—that was a slap in the face delivered before the whole assembly!

Even Bingtang felt a flicker of admiration for Wei Zhao now. The fellow truly was the sort to fly into a hero's rage for a beauty's sake. Had he not, back when she carried Feng Xiaoxiao off, raged like a bristling beast and fought her as though his life depended on it?

Most likely, that earlier strike from the Ice Palace envoy had crossed Wei Zhao's bottom line. Though she had blocked it for him, Wei Zhao had stored it away in his heart—and here was his retaliation, swift and sure.

What surprised even Bingtang was the cunning of his revenge. She knew Wei Zhao's hidden cards and the true nature of his alchemist identity, so his trick was no secret to her. But in the eyes of everyone else, it had become a genuine, baffling display of an alchemist's martial technique!

And so, whether it was the hidden Tang family, the hidden You family, or the Mystic Elixir Sect, all of them would now begin speculating about the background behind Wei Zhao: an alchemist who was also a skilled Earth-rank fighter, the man of the Ice Palace's future palace master—and one for whom even that future palace master was willing to play the lesser wife. Then what on earth was his true station?

Bingtang shook her head inwardly. Wei Zhao truly knew how to build a legend. What station did he have? If he had any standing at all, he would never have knelt at the gates of the Ice Palace for half a month, neither eating nor drinking, begging her for help!

"Waaah—yaaah—yaaah!" The Mystic Elixir Sect envoy scrambled up from the ground, so furious that smoke all but poured from his seven orifices. As an alchemist, his status was lofty and exalted; never mind out in the world, even within the Mystic Elixir Sect no one would dare treat him this way. When had he ever suffered such indignity?

Tang Lingtou was glaring at Wei Zhao as well. What should have been a fine birthday banquet had been thrust off course and reduced to this. Yet even now Tang Lingtou dared not strike out carelessly. Wei Zhao had dared to beat an envoy of the Mystic Elixir Sect—so what did that make Tang Lingtou?

Besides, if Tang Lingtou made a move, would the Ice Palace master move as well? Would Xiaoqing? Never mind that Xiaoqing was a skilled fighter of the mid Heaven rank—even if it were Bingtang alone, he and Old Master Tang and the Mystic Elixir Sect envoy together would be no match for her!

"Xiaoming, look at this child of yours! This is what comes of raising her in some backwater village. Tell her—if she still wants to acknowledge you and me as her parents, if she still wants to acknowledge this Tang family, then she'll listen to me and agree to the marriage with the You family, and all the unpleasantness before will be written off as done with!" Tang Lingtou had wanted to add a few more harsh words aimed at Wei Zhao, but on second thought he swallowed them. Who knew whether the fellow might suddenly lash out again?

What also puzzled Tang Lingtou was that Wei Zhao seemed to have formidable backing. Even Bingtang dared not openly oppose the Mystic Elixir Sect envoy, yet Wei Zhao had dared to wound him outright. Whose power was he borrowing?

If it was the Ice Palace's power, Tang Lingtou did not believe it. Wei Zhao was neither a fool nor blind to the situation; to still dare stir up trouble at a moment like this clearly meant he had something to rely on!

But before Xiaoming could say a word, the Mystic Elixir Sect envoy spoke first: "Tang Lingtou, give me a straight answer today—either he goes or I go! Either you drive him out, or I leave!"

The envoy had lost face badly today, but to recover it by his own strength was impossible. So he could only lean on Tang Lingtou's authority as host to drive Wei Zhao away, and salvage a little dignity in the process.

"Wei Zhao, I don't care what backing you have—this is a family matter of the Tang family. I ask you to leave at once!" Tang Lingtou said to Wei Zhao, his face dark.

"What's this, Tang Lingtou? You no longer welcome the Ice Palace's guests?" Bingtang asked coldly. The affair had escalated to this point, beyond even the Ice Palace's expectations. The relationship between the Ice Palace and the Tang family ended here.

Bingtang could not fathom which nerve in Tang Lingtou's head had misfired, that he would take it upon himself to arrange this bestowal of marriage. The man was plainly out of his mind!

"This..." Tang Lingtou merely dared not defy the Mystic Elixir Sect envoy's wishes and wanted Wei Zhao gone—but he had absolutely no intention of letting the Ice Palace leave with him.

"Tang Lingtou, my Mystic Elixir Sect and the Ice Palace are already implacably opposed. Whether I go or they go—make the decision yourself!" the Mystic Elixir Sect envoy said in a sinister, measured tone.

"This... Tang Yun, I ask you one more time: do you still acknowledge this Tang family?" A wave of sorrow washed through Tang Lingtou's heart. Had he known it would come to this, he would have agreed to the marriage alliance with You Xiaoxin long ago. Now it had come to this pass, and he could only cast one of them aside.

Weighing the pros and cons in his heart, Tang Lingtou decided to choose the Mystic Elixir Sect and the hidden You family. After all, the hidden You family was his wife's family, and the Mystic Elixir Sect was the hidden You family's patron. If he chose the Ice Palace, he would offend the Mystic Elixir Sect and lose the support of the hidden You family in one stroke—and the Ice Palace's meager support would seem paltry by comparison.

Besides, the Ice Palace had never held the hidden Tang family in any good opinion to begin with. So at this moment, casting them aside cost him nothing.

"Acknowledge the Tang family? We never acknowledged it in the first place! As for Aunt Xiaoming, naturally we'll take her with us," Wei Zhao said, looking at Tang Lingtou and speaking word by word.

"Fine. Very fine! Tang Yun, Xiaoming—the moment you step out that door, you will have nothing more to do with the hidden Tang family, and there will be no need to come back. I have no such daughter, and no such wife!" Tang Lingtou said with feigned regret. "You had best look after yourselves!"

"This is what has been in your heart all along, isn't it? Once we're of no more use, we can just be sent packing, is that it?" Wei Zhao regarded Tang Lingtou with mockery. "We can leave, and we'll leave right now. But I'll offer you one piece of advice: if today you were to humble yourself and beg Tang Yun's forgiveness for what you did to her all those years ago, perhaps she would still acknowledge you as her father, and perhaps one day, when trouble finds you, she might still pull you out of it! But I am the sort who bends to kindness and not to force. The more you carry on like this, the better—so be it. From here on, we owe each other nothing. Tang Lingtou, until we meet again!"

"Ha? I beg her forgiveness? Her pull me out of trouble? What a joke! Haha!" Tang Lingtou burst into laughter. "You're dreaming!"

"Heh..." Wei Zhao smiled faintly. "You may take it as a dream. Well, I've said my piece! Old Master Tang, happy birthday. I hope you'll still be able to celebrate it next year!"

With that, Wei Zhao took Tang Yun's hand and strode toward the door of the banquet hall—and not a single person dared stand in his way.

Tang Lingtou dared not. Old Master Tang dared not. To raise a hand now would be to truly make an enemy of the Ice Palace.

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