"Would you believe me if I said I'm not from the Thousand Leaf Sect?" Yang Kai asked with a grin, eyes fixed on Luo Jin.
Beside him, Ye Qinghan and Du Xian wore strained expressions, constantly wiping cold sweat from their foreheads, their anxiety plain to see.
Luo Jin took in the scene, his brow furrowing slightly as he spoke in a deep voice, "Then how should I address you, sir?"
Though Yang Kai was only at the second level of the Dao Source Realm — a full minor stage below his own cultivation — the young man didn't look particularly old. At such an age with such strength, Luo Jin felt he couldn't afford to dismiss him too lightly. To be safe, it was better to probe this person's background first.
"Yang Kai!" Yang Kai didn't so much as glance at Luo Jin as he spoke, his gaze locked on the bride's reaction the entire time. "Lingxiao Sect… Yang Kai!"
"Lingxiao Sect? What sect is that?"
"Do we have such a sect in the Southern Domain? I've never heard of it."
"Maybe it's from one of the other domains. The world is vast, and there are countless sects — it wouldn't be strange to have never heard of one."
The surrounding guests began to whisper among themselves. Even Ye Qinghan and the others furrowed their brows in thought, but not a single person had ever heard of the Lingxiao Sect. Their curiosity was piqued.
And when the bride heard Yang Kai's introduction, her delicate body trembled violently, as though her mind had been struck by something.
Seeing this, Yang Kai's eyes lit up. His suspicion grew ever more certain.
The moment the bride had attacked Chai Hu earlier, Yang Kai had noticed that her power fluctuations felt oddly familiar — as if he recognized someone. Now his guess solidified a fraction more.
Luo Jin, who clearly had never heard of the Lingxiao Sect either, scowled at the words. "Young Brother Yang, do you perhaps have some objection to this lord's ceremony? Why not share it with me, so I can hear it?"
Yang Kai flashed a broad smile. "Not really any objection, to speak. I'm simply rather curious about the bride's appearance… City Lord, if you wouldn't find it presumptuous, might you ask the bride to lift her veil and let us catch a glimpse of that peerless beauty?"
The moment those words left his mouth, everyone stared at Yang Kai with odd expressions. A bride lifting her veil before entering the bridal chamber? That simply wasn't done. On her wedding day, a woman's veil was only removed by the groom after the ceremony and their retirement to the bridal chamber. That was custom. That was etiquette. To break it was to invite misfortune upon the household.
If the bride could freely show her face on the wedding day, what would be the point of the red veil?
Still, though everyone knew this, the truth was that they were burning with curiosity about the bride's appearance. They all wanted to see her face. No one had the nerve to say it out loud, however — and now, hearing Yang Kai speak up, they couldn't help but look forward to what might happen.
Luo Jin's eyes brimmed with authority as he stared straight at Yang Kai. After a long silence, he let out a hearty laugh. "Young Brother Yang is quite the joker! You must have felt the atmosphere was far too tense and decided to tease this old man. I appreciate the sentiment!" He clasped his fists in a courteous gesture, but his eyes radiated unmistakable menace — the look of a man saying, *Keep pushing and you'll regret it.*
His words had barely faded when Yang Kai laughed in reply. "City Lord misunderstands — I'm not joking. I genuinely want to see what the bride looks like!"
The smile vanished from Luo Jin's face in an instant, replaced by an expression as dark as still water.
Yang Kai, however, seemed not to notice at all and continued on his own. "Everyone knows that the City Lord has been blessed with great fortune — fourteen beautiful concubines at home, slender or voluptuous, each one a treasure. You enjoy the blessings of a man among many, yet no one has ever seen what those City Lord wives actually look like. Every time they go out, they're shrouded in black silk veils with guards clearing the way, so no one can glimpse their true faces. But I imagine everyone here agrees — those wives must all be absolute beauties. Only such looks could be worthy of the City Lord's majestic bearing."
Luo Jin listened and laughed again. "Young Brother flatters me!"
*So the kid isn't here to cause trouble after all,* he thought, *— he's here to suck up. If that's the case, I might as well play along a little.*
"This is already the fifteenth City Lord wife. You can't keep stringing people along forever, can you?" Yang Kai winked at Luo Jin with exaggerated flair. "Why not take this opportunity, with guests gathered from all four directions, and let everyone feast their eyes? Fulfill our little wish! If you did that, we'd all get to bask in the City Lord's good fortune. Who knows — maybe we'd all be blessed with endless romantic luck and enjoy the same blessings as you, eh? What does everyone think?"
Though the guests hadn't interjected and simply listened quietly, quite a few showed expressions of eager anticipation, clearly hoping to see the bride's face.
Luo Jin chuckled. "Young Brother, this lord and all my wives are bound by mutual affection — a union ordained by heaven. If you're looking for romantic fortune, I'd sincerely recommend you visit the Thousand Gold Tavern in our city. You're sure to find satisfaction there — plenty of lovely ladies to go around!"
The moment those words came out, the surrounding guests erupted in laughter, charmed by Luo Jin's wit.
But some caught the underlying meaning — *These wives of mine aren't tavern girls. What gives you the right to gawk at them? Keep running your mouth and you're insulting me. Don't blame me if I lose my temper.*
"All right, the auspicious hour is nearly passed. Let the ceremony continue!" Luo Jin waved his hand, ready to put an end to this tiresome farce.
Yang Kai took a sudden, forceful step forward and spoke in a low, heavy voice: "What if I insist on seeing the bride?"