1202 War
"What will you even get out of this?! Tell me, Patriarch Cui!" Xi Meili continued to shout at him.
Patriarch Cui nonchalantly shrugged as he responded, "Nothing much. Just some of the Xi Family's treasures, a third of the Ancient Dragon City, and Xi Mingze."
"What? My mother?" Xi Meili had a baffled look on her face.
Patriarch Cui grinned at her reaction, and he clarified, "I have fancied her for a while now. In fact, I've had my eyes on her even before she met your father. Unfortunately, I was not strong enough to attract her attention."
"And you consider yourself a dragon?! What a disgrace! You sully our race with your mere existence! Even a wild beast has more morals than you bastards!" Xi Meili stared at him with killing intent flowing from her eyes.
"As dragons, it is our nature to desire power— to rule over everything within our gaze." Patriarch Liang spoke with a stern look on his face, "Once we consume the Xi Family, we will become royalties through the Blood Cleansing Ceremony! After that, we will finally leave this prison of a world and conquer the outside world and its humans!"
"The Blood Cleansing Ceremony…?" Xi Meili muttered as she realized something. "So this is your real motive. You want to acquire the Dragon Ancestor's blood so that you will have a royal bloodline!"
"Everything else is merely a bonus." Patriarch Liang showed a grim smile.
"You will not get what you want." Xi Meili said with gritted teeth.
"Oh, is that so? And what are you going to do to stop me? Run from here and scramble back to your parents to tell them? If that's what you want to do, I won't stop you."
"What are you…" Xi Meili was speechless and doubtful that he would really let her leave just like that.
Patriarch Liang shrugged with an arrogant smug on his face, "I already told you. We're fully prepared to take on the Xi Family, so it won't matter what you do now. Why else would we be doing this so blatantly?"
"..."
As much as Xi Meili hated to admit it, Patriarch Liang was right. Although the Xi Family may have a decent chance of victory if they fought with the Azure Dragon Family, that did not account for the Emerald Dragon Family's assistance.
If the Azure Dragon Family and the Emerald Dragon Family worked together, the chances of the Xi Family winning was slim to none.
Naturally, this did not account for Yuan's participation, either.
Xi Meili knew that if Yuan assisted them, their chances of winning would rise significantly. However, she has no intention of forcing him to fight for her family, as she would not be able to forgive herself if he were to get hurt because of it.
"You could leave, but I wouldn't suggest it." Liang Xuan suddenly spoke, and he continued before Xi Meili could say anything, "If you leave now, your brother and father will surely die. However, if you stay here and become my woman, I will spare their lives."
"..."
After a moment of silence, Xi Meili suddenly sneered with a smile, "Sorry, but that's impossible."
"Impossible?" Liang Xuan frowned.
"That's right. I already gave my heart to someone else, so I cannot be with you. Though, even if I didn't have that person, I still wouldn't want to be with you." Xi Meili calmly responded, leaving him speechless.
Liang Xuan was left utterly speechless by her response. He couldn't believe that she would be able to say such a thing when her brother and father's lives were at stake.
"A-Are you serious?" He had to confirm it.
"Does it look like I am joking?"
"You'd be willing to let your father and brother die over something like that? You're much more selfish than I thought."
"Don't act like you've already defeated us." Xi Meili sneered in disgust.
"So you think you can win against us? Ahahaha! You're also much more foolish than I thought!" Liang Xuan burst out laughing.
Xi Meili didn't say anything else and started walking away.
"Are you sure that is your decision? If you walk away now, you won't be my wife, but my slave once everything is over." Liang Xuan said as he stood still and without any intention to stop her.
"The moment you leave this courtyard, we will send our armies to the Ancient Dragon City." Patriarch Liang spoke in a nonchalant voice before sipping on Xi Meili stopped moving, and without turning around, she spoke in a cold voice, "I, Xi Meili, won't be threatened by anyone."
And without saying anything else and without any hesitation, she flew out of the courtyard.
"Father, is it really okay to let her leave like that? We can still catch her right now." Liang Xuan turned to look at his father with a doubtful face.
"It's fine. The Xi Family cannot stop us. They don't have the power to do so." He said before turning to look at Patriarch Cui, "Get your people ready. We're going to war."
Patriarch Cui nodded with a serious expression before disappearing from the scene.
Meanwhile, Yuan was still at the restaurant filling his mouth with food.
"Yuan, I have an offer for you." Azure suddenly looked at him and said.
"What kind of offer?" He said after swallowing a mouthful of food.
"I would like to hire you."
Yuan raised an eyebrow. "For what kind of work?"
"I'd like you to work for me. To put it bluntly, I want you to become mine." Azure said with a charming smile on her face.
The others in the room stared at her with wide eyes. They didn't expect her to be so straightforward in public.
"I may not have the most influence in my family, but I do have plenty of influence as someone from the Azure Dragon Family. Of course, you will be more than a servant. You will be akin to something like a concubine. What do you say?"