Chapter 338: Finalizing the Treaty
Chapter 338: Finalizing the Treaty
"Father!" Feng Xing exclaimed, seeing her father collapsing right after a fit of coughing.
Zheng Ru and Feng Lei immediately rushed in their direction, and so did all the other nearby elders and clansmen.
"Father! Wake up! Can you hear me?!" Feng Xing cried out with anxious confusion in her voice.
Meanwhile, a variety of thoughts were rushing past Feng Lei’s mind as he saw his father’s collapsed state, making him freeze in his spot.
"Father!" Feng Xing shook her father’s body while crying out loud, seeing that he wasn’t responding to her words at all.
Tears started trickling down her face as the expression of all the elders and other clansmen standing around them turned grim.
It was at that moment that Zheng Ru made his way through the crowd until he was right next to Feng Xing’s sobbing figure.
Sitting on his knees, he placed his cheek close to Feng Jun’s mouth the next second while closely observing his chest movement.
He soon felt a subtle sensation of something gently hitting his cheek, which was immediately followed by Feng Jun’s chest barely lifting by a few millimetres.
Seeing this, Zheng Ru’s eyes immediately brightened.
"He’s breathing! The Patriarch is still breathing, so he’ll be fine! We have plenty of good doctors, so your father will be fine, Xing’er! There’s no need for you to worry..."
Hearing Zheng Ru’s words, not only Feng Xing and Feng Lei but also all the other clan members took a breath of relief.
It was also at that moment that all their eyes focused on Zheng Ru, who had come forward earlier, when they all had been consumed by their thoughts.
Huo Tianyang’s words earlier had truly hit a mark in their hearts, swaying them into believing that it was truly Zheng Ru who was the cause of everything that had happened to their clan and to themselves.
Therefore, seeing that he was trying his best to comfort Feng Xing at the moment, they all couldn’t help but feel a prickly feeling in their chests.
A feeling so intense that they wanted to curse themselves for ever having such thoughts, as from the start, their clan never had the choice to refuse the Huo Clan’s engagement proposal anyway. It had been forcefully thrust upon them.
It wasn’t Zheng Ru’s fault, nor was it Feng Xing’s fault for falling in love with him...the ones at fault were themselves. If they weren’t weak, then none of this would have happened.
"Death over humiliation..."
No one was sure who it was, but one among them suddenly said a phrase that resonated with each one of them.
"Death over humiliation..."
From one it became two, which was followed closely by the third person and the one after that.
"Death over humiliation..."
"Death over humiliation..."
"Death over humiliation..."
Before long, all the members of the Feng Clan began chanting the words at the top of their voices, making even the ground tremble with fervent emotions that were rising from deep within their hearts.
All their gazes were directed straight towards Huo Tianyang, who was standing next to the Imperial envoy, and Feng Haoran, witnessing the scene with a frown evident on his face.
TIIING!
Taking the sword off his scabbard the next second, he declared with an irritated snort, "If all of you are so adamant about dying, then be my guest!"
However, just when a Qi-infused swing was about to be sent in the clan member’s direction, Huo Tianyang was stopped by the Imperial envoy.
"...Patriarch Huo, think carefully and look behind you. If you lose your temper here, then your actions will become the very reason for the Huo Clan’s extermination."
Hearing those words, Huo Tianyang naturally looked behind to see the uncertain expressions written on the faces of his elders and a few clansmen, which somewhat helped with clearing his head a little.
Seeing this, the Imperial envoy continued, "While I may have allowed you to threaten them with remarks earlier, something which you can use even now, be sure that if you act on any of those remarks, then I’ll have no way of stopping you from becoming a victim of the emperor’s rage."
The Imperial envoy stated with narrowed eyes.
"Are you sure that I won’t kill you if you keep talking to me in that tone?" Huo Tianyang asked while glaring back at the envoy.
"I’m pretty sure that Patriarch Huo is well aware of the consequences of killing an Imperial envoy." The envoy calmly replied, completely unaffected by the glare.
Hearing those words, Huo Tianyang snorted in annoyance as his gaze fell on the several Feng Clan members who were still chanting at the top of their voices, all ready to charge to their deaths.
As his gaze passed through the crowd, it fell upon Feng Xing’s figure, who was sitting next to her father with a worried expression while in Zheng Ru’s embrace, and a vein appeared on Huo Tianyang’s forehead.
"Fine!" he exclaimed at the top of his lungs, causing everyone else to stop.
Seeing this, he continued, "I’ll change the third term then and mind you...this is the only time I’ll be making a concession."
As Huo Tianyang said those words, he turned towards Feng Haoran, who had been standing with a conflicted expression all this while and said, "If you’re still unwilling to comply, then this peace treaty will be annulled, and I’ll be taking all of your heads in return in order to satisfy my anger..."
Hearing these words, only a subtle furrow formed on the Imperial Envoy’s forehead as he had yet to hear the third term for himself. Therefore, interrupting Huo Tianyang, he said.
"State the third term, then, Patriarch Huo."
Hearing those words, Huo Tianyang glanced at the envoy with annoyance evident in his eyes and said, "For the third term, I want Feng Xing to be kicked out of the Feng Clan!"
"In your dreams!"
Feng Lei was the first to shout out his thoughts. He wasn’t the only one. Soon after, several similar responses were shouted out from the clansmen.
"...These ungrateful bastards."
Huo Tianyang couldn’t help but scowl when he heard their responses, acting as defiantly as earlier.
The next second, his eyes fell on Feng Haoran, who had been standing still like a puppet in front of him.
"Why aren’t you saying anything? As the Feng Clan’s Patriarch, isn’t your decision the final one?" he asked with a narrowed gaze.
"This..."
Feng Haoran couldn’t help but make a difficult expression as several voices from his clansmen urging him to refuse the term bombarded him from behind.
He knew that if he were to agree to such a term, then even if he were to become the Patriarch, he wouldn’t be able to earn anyone’s respect.
However, if he were to refuse it, then he was sure that he wouldn’t have a good end at all.
Therefore, caught between a rock and a hard place, he had no other choice but to try his best to think of a possible way out of this sticky situation.
Seeing this hesitation, Huo Tianyang couldn’t help but click his tongue in frustration.
’So that’s all he’s worth...’
With that, he tightened his grip on the sword’s hilt, getting ready to turn the entire place red.
Now that things have come to this point, saving his face as the Huo Clan’s patriarch is more important than the emperor’s warning.
’...It’s not like the Kingdom could afford to lose two noble clans simultaneously anyway,’ he snorted as his sword beamed with dense red light and scalding heat radiated all around.
Sensing the scalding heat that was being emitted by the blade, Feng Haoran could feel death knocking at his door, which made his mind work in overdrive, quickly thinking of a solution at that very moment.
The next instant, he exclaimed at the top of his voice, causing Huo Tianyang’s blade to stop.
"Protection! We’ll only agree to this term if the Huo Clan guarantees not to target Feng Xing when she’s out of the clan. Only then will we agree to it!"
Feng Haoran’s words caused all the Feng Clan’s members to stop for a second and think.
The more they thought it over, the more reasonable it felt, as with the Feng Clan’s state at the moment, there really wasn’t anything much the clan could contribute to Feng Xing, who was already at the Ninth Qi Absorption stage, apart from a safe place.
As a result, the defiance began to die out at a visible rate.
Meanwhile, hearing those words, Huo Tianyang also thought for a couple of seconds before agreeing with a nod.
"Fine. I agree to it."
The next second, he glanced at the Imperial envoy, who, not wanting things to escalate again, quickly noted down the third term and finalised the peace treaty by taking the two parties’ thumb impressions.
.
.
.
"These were the contents of the deal which happened that night..." Feng Lei finished explaining everything to Yi Chen.
"I see...but things didn’t end with just that, right?" Yi Chen asked after a brief pause, as Feng Lei still hadn’t told him about how Zheng Ru was injured.