Chapter 529 Trouble Stirs In Austin's Palace

After leaving the square, Austin headed straight to the Royal Palace where a large number of palaces were located.

Austin's palace was located in that area too. Since he had been away from home for a long time, he went straight to his palace.

As he approached his residence, he found over twenty men near the closed door. Some of them kicked the door aggressively shouting, some spitted on the door and some even threw stones into the yard.

'What's going on in there? They are not my men.

Who dared to send them to stir up trouble in my palace?' he wondered.

Austin stood still and kept observing the mob. They acted in a bossy, rude manner.

The door opened, and out came a middle-aged man, followed by dozens of guards.

The man who took the lead was Mike. Before Austin had entered the Mysterious Nether World, he had asked him to take charge of his palace.

"Guys, what's your business here?" Mike inquired with a little frown.

His voice was full of caution as if he was afraid of those people.

Austin was baffled. 'All those guys are at the eighth or ninth level of the Energy Gathering Realm except one of them who is at preliminary stage of Earth Realm. Mike is a cultivator of the Earth Realm. Why is he behaving like this?'

"Hmm. How dare you ask us? Send your men to clean up our master's yard. From now, you will assign servants to tidy our master's palace. And you will also send a dozen maids to serve our master," the guard at the preliminary stage of the Earth Realm spoke in a domineering manner.

It looked like he was the leader of those people.

"What? But I already sent people to do the cleaning this morning."

There was exasperation and resignation in Mike's voice.

"Our master, Soren, said that your men need to come over there to do the cleaning twice in a day—in the morning and in the evening—from today onwards.

Besides, you need to pay us five thousand vital energy crystals daily instead of a thousand from now," the guard continued scornfully.

"Five thousand vital energy crystals every day!

You're going too far. We've already paid you a thousand vital energy crystals daily for a month. When do we stop paying you?"

Mike responded indignantly.

"You speak too much. You should be thankful that our master allows you to live here instead of kicking you out. Now what? You got a problem with that?

Our master said you either pay vital energy crystals or move out of here. If you defy him, our master will take care of you in person. At that time, all of you will be dead or badly injured. That's all I can tell. It's your decision now, old man," the guard snorted and raised his chin with contempt all over his face.

"The emperor granted this palace to our master. Who has given your master the authority to throw us out?" Mike snapped, trembling with anger.

Obviously he was simmering with rage, but he was trying hard to control his temper as if there were some concerns and reasons that bothered him.

The leader of the guards burst into laughter as if he had heard a funny joke.

"So what? There are hundreds of special guests in this place, and the emperor provided each of them with a palace.

sk our men to break their hands and legs before letting them leave," Austin said to Mike coldly.

He would show no mercy to those who bullied his men in his palace.

Mike followed the order. He instructed thirty guards of Austin's palace to surround those guys who were about to leave and beat them up.

Soon screams were heard in front of the door. Austin's crew had been bullied by those guys, and they were angry at them. After getting their master's order, they punched those provocative guards to their heart's content to get even with them.

The moment Austin got inside, all of his guards, maids and servants ran to him with great delight. They were about to kneel before him but he stopped them with a wave of his hand.

He felt uncomfortable with those practices and rituals. He even detested them. It was troublesome to him.

With rapture evident on their faces, they greeted him, "Master, you're finally home!" They were cheerful to see him again.

Tears of joy filled up the eyes of several servants.

Apart from delight, a trace of anger and mortification was visible on their faces. It was apparent that they had suffered a lot during their master's absence.

Austin observed his servants discreetly and detected their emotions. 'It looks like Soren's men have dropped by here often and have been hard on them, ' he surmised.

Evan and Herbert made their way to Austin the moment they were informed of their friend's return.

"Tin, you're finally back!" they exclaimed with joy.

"What happened to both of you?" Austin asked with furrowed eyebrows.

The bruises on their faces caught his attention. It was evident that the two had been beaten up.

Herbert's right arm and foot were wrapped in thick bandage, which suggested that he had been badly hurt.

"You must avenge me. Look at me. I was a handsome young man, but now I look like hell.

It is all because of Soren. He sent people here and stirred up trouble. I was upset with what his men did and fought with them. As a result, I ended up like this," Herbert whined.

'Soren again, ' Austin thought, fury rising in his eyes.