## AST 1256 – Who Is The Pathetic One?

Qing Shui pretty much understood some of the issues while they were on the road. Although it was the Emperor City, it was too vast. Other than the Royal Family, there were also many great aristocrat clans. With all these powers united, even the Royal Family would fear them. Besides, without these clans, the Royal Family wouldn’t be able to develop smoothly and steadily either.

The Hu Clan was a reputed clan in this region and was definitely a powerful clan. The fact that Hu Yiya could go to the Heaven Secrets Academy with the Royal Family to participate in the exchange competition proved just how powerful the Hu clan is currently.

The Royal Family wasn’t entirely made up of their own people, perhaps their own people only made up for even less than one third. However, the truly powerful figures within it were the people among the Royal Family. The bloodline that flowed within their body was noble and a powerful inheritance.

The Hu Clan couldn’t be considered the best clan, but they were almost there. The number of clans that was able to completely suppress the Hu Clan could be counted on two hands.

Qing Shui had known these people because he had been introduced to them previously; they were the aristocratic clans around this area. There were countless aristocratic clans in the Imperial City. These clans joined hands with each other, forming a rope. Otherwise, it was possible that they would be eliminated.

These aristocratic clans cooperated with each other but also competed against each other at the same time. It was possible that the previous generations were rivals to each other while the current generations cooperated with each other. The previous generations may cooperate with each other while the current generation is also great friends with each other and would also compete with the young masters and young ladies of the rivaling clan.

Among Hu Yiya’s group, the Hu Clan and Bei Clan were the most powerful in strength. Among the Bei Clan, there was a boy with the name Bei Gele. The Hu Clan and Bei Clan were on great terms with each other and could even consider each other friends.

Bei Gele and Hu Yiya were about the same age, only separated by a few months. So he could only address Hu Yiya as Sister Ya. However, his cultivation was a little stronger than Hu Yiya’s.

They were not from the main branch of their clans but were the youngest ones among their generation. Even if they were very talented, they were still too young to influence their clan’s aspirations for now.

But at the same time, no one dared to do anything to them either, due to their clan’s reputation.

“Brother Qing, what is your cultivation? Sister Ya cannot stop praising you.” Bei Gele glanced at Qing Shui with eagerness in his eyes, but Qing Shui could tell that there was no malice in them.

“Why? Do you want to try fighting me?” Qing Shui asked with a smile.

Qing Shui wasn’t actually older than him, but with the height of his realm, even Hu Yiya thought that Qing Shui wasn’t that young even though he didn’t really seem old to her. Among the great clans in the West Oxhe Continent, some of the younger generations got married around 200 years old but that didn’t mean that they were definitely virgins.

Aristocratic clans got engaged very early. Some of them could engage at the age of 20 or even 16. This kind of engagement could be considered as getting married and they could live together. Basically, if the clans were well-matched in terms of social status, a divorce was very unlikely to happen, unless the other party was a lot more powerful than the other.

After the children from aristocratic clans got married, they didn’t give birth to a child at too early age. But of course, most of them were couples of older husband and younger wife. Although it was difficult to get pregnant when one got more powerful, the child that they bore at this time would have talents that were above average instead. Such was the power of clan inheritance.

“I would love to. But I have something else I’d like Brother Qing to help us with right now.”

“Stop it. Qing Shui didn’t come all the way here to help us. If you continue with this I won’t allow you all to follow us.” Hu Yiya said directly, the tone of her voice left no room for further discussion at all.

Qing Shui didn’t have to guess to know that it was most likely because they had some conflicts with the children of other clans, and Hu Yiya and the rest were probably in a vulnerable position.

Bei Gele shook his head without a choice, but Qing Shui only nodded at him.

Although nothing was said, Bei Gele was still smiling happily. This nod had actually already spoken for itself. To have one more person is to gain another power. Besides, he had a feeling that Qing Shui’s strength was even more powerful than his own, though it was just a hunch.

“How annoying!”

When Qing Shui heard Hu Yiya’s voice, he instantly understood it along with the other nearly twenty people who were closely following them. Qing Shui rubbed his nose. He got himself into something like this upon meeting them.

Hu Yiya stopped walking and turned around to give Qing Shui an embarrassed look. “We are actually on our way to fight those people today when we ran into you by coincidence. Qing Shui, please leave at once. I will go find you in a bit.”

Qing Shui looked at Hu Yiya seriously and discovered that her gaze was very sincere. Although she seemed a little seductive, she was still being very serious.

“With you and Brother’s relationship, do you think I can just leave? Can you explain to me what is going on?” Qing Shui said with a smile.

“Sigh. The fellow who leads them is Chen Fuding of their Chen Clan. The Chen Clan and my clan are about the same level. Chen Fuding likes me, so he had his clan come to my clan with a marriage proposal. You know that I wasn’t going to agree to this, besides the people of my clan doted me too, so we refused them politely. Even so, it was inevitable that this was like a slap on the Chen Clan’s face. Although we can’t fight over this, the relationship between our clans definitely is not going to be good. Chen Fuding also accused me of humiliating their clan, so we would fight every time we see each other.”

By the time Hu Yiya finished speaking, the other party had appeared about five meters away from them. Qing Shui looked at the man who was quite good looking. He was standing tall and straight across them. His skin was fair, he had a straight nose and a pair of bright eyes that had a hint of lasciviousness and evilness in them.

“Hu Yiya. I’ve told you that I’d beat your people up every time I see you. I’ll have you know that missing out on a man that is as outstanding as I is your biggest loss,” Chen Fuding said arrogantly.

Although he was saying that in a very serious tone, Qing Shui couldn’t hold back his laughter and instantly broke out laughing.

“Brother Qing, you also think it’s funny?” Bei Gele asked Qing Shui with a smile.

“It’s not really that funny, but it’s fitting to come out from an idiot’s mouth,” said Qing Shui in a serious tone.

Qing Shui’s statement had definitely dished out enough damage. The countenance of Chen Fuding, who stood across them, instantly turned livid as he looked at Qing Shui. After glaring at him for a few moment, he put on a fake smile. “Who are you? I’ve never seen you before. I’d advise you to stay out of this.”

Qing Shui didn’t expect the other party to remain so prudent. Although he was furious, he suppressed his anger rather than instantly going into a frenzy. He understood that it was possible that he would be paying a hefty price if he was rude and impetuous to someone without knowing them well yet.

“You don’t have to care who I am. Don’t you think you are being a big idiot to say something so gallantly like that to a girl? Do you think it’s a very glorious thing to do?” Qing Shui couldn’t hold back from lashing out at someone who was so shameless and narcissistic like him. Watching them shrivel was the most pleasurable thing.

“This is a matter between the Hu Clan and Chen Clan. If you stop getting yourself involved, I won’t hold you accountable for humiliating me just now. Otherwise, you will regret this.” Chen Fuding didn’t say anything too overboard up even to this point.

He only wanted to see Qing Shui’s reaction and was trying to investigate his background at the same time. After all, there were some people whom he couldn’t afford to offend.

“You can’t disgrace the Chen Clan even more than this. For a man like you to find trouble with a single lady every day on your own accord, don’t you see how perverse you are? Don’t you realize that everyone is looking at you pitifully? You’re indeed pitiful.”

“Shut up. You are the pitiful one. I am the young master of Chen Clan. Who dare to say I am pitiful?” Chen Fuding yelled loudly, attracting the attention of many people around them.

“The truly pitiful man is a person who isn’t aware that they are being pitied by the others. That’s the most pathetic part. The Chen Clan have so many sons, why are you the only one who is doing something like this?”

“That’s because she…” Chen Fuding couldn’t bring himself to say that she refused a marriage.

“You’re doing this just because she didn’t accept the marriage proposal from your clan, don’t you think that you’re being too petty? For you to do something like this just because someone isn’t attracted to an idiot like you will only make others think that you are even more pitiful. Look at your seniors. They didn’t do something like this because they knew others will only find them pathetic. Why didn’t anyone from the Hu Clan step out when you bully a girl from their clan like this? That’s because the Hu Clan also think that you’re pathetic. Although there’s a saying that goes: a pathetic man certainly has something to be despised, the pathetic man certainly has a pitiful side too…”

Qing Shui felt that he was kind of like Tang Monk right now, but he saw that sheen of sweat on the other party’s forehead despite the fact that it was snowing right now…

“Am I pathetic?”

“Am I pathetic??”

………

Cheng Fuding suddenly asked the people around him. The men in this world were actually male chauvinists. Men have always been regarded as superior to women. Only some powerful women could escape this fate but no matter where they go they would find themselves still trapped in this in the end.

When these people thought about it, they really found him to be quite pathetic. However, their target was still Hu Yiya, so they were all looking at each other, unsure of what to do.

Hu Yiya was also looking at Qing Shui in shock. “I thought you have quite a decent cultivation but it seems like your mouth is even better. You have already driven him crazy by only speaking. Usually, it’s us who go crazy when he speaks.”

It would be strange for a lady to not be driven mad when they met someone who was as shameless as Chen Fuding. From the first sentence Chen Fuding spoke, it was already evident that his shamelessness and narcissism had already attained a very high level.

“Young Master Chen, since he had already said that we are pathetic, why don’t we beat him up and let him be the pathetic one?” A youth at the back stepped forward and spoke.

“That’s what I wanted to hear. It’ll be merrier for all of us be pathetic together. Since I have been criticized as pathetic today, go beat him up and show him who is the pathetic one.” Chen Fuding hissed through his teeth.

He didn’t mind to be called shameless, narcissistic or anything of the sort. He was born with a sense of superiority, so he wouldn’t pay any attention to what the others said about him. Yet Qing Shui had destroyed his sense of superiority with all that talk about how men are always regarded superior than women earlier. Without that sense of superiority, it felt as if he was standing here bare naked while everyone watched him. It even made him feel pity for himself.

However, they only knew the next level of pathetic when they started fighting. Qing Shui immediately used his spirit energy to restrict the other party’s speed and reaction. They were instantly left with a bloody nose and a swollen face after about ten of Hu Yiya’s people went up to throw their punches at them.

All these time, it had always been Hu Yiya’s people who got beaten up. But this time, they realized that the opponents were actually weak and were a lot more inferior to how they usually were. They unleashed the anger that they had been suppressed over a long period of time, putting Chen Fuding and the rest at their mercy.

Qing Shui didn’t join in the fight. He only watched how the opponents got beaten by nearly ten of Hu Yiya’s people until each of them had at least a few broken bones. No one was going to die in a fight like this as their objective was to humiliate the other party. Perhaps it was because they had been suppressed for a long time and had no idea why the opponents had low endurance today, hence the opponents ended up with a few broken bones.

They were mainly aiming at their opponents face in this fight. There was nothing better than letting them leave with a bloody nose and a swollen face, looking just like a pig’s head.