"There you go again with your cryptic words," Li Tianzi said, giving his father a side-eye. "Just tell us if Tianming should still go through with the marriage."

The situation had developed in a way that nobody had imagined. They initially thought that Nullity would make incredible gains after Tianming won the bet, but the Adjudicator's involvement had enraged Tianming to the point that he slaughtered all the troops, causing Violetblitz and Yueling to suffer irrecoverable losses. It was looking more and more likely that the wedding ceremony would create the kind of opportune moment for an enemy to exploit.

"Having the initiative or not makes a huge difference. Even if they find an excuse to make a move, it still wouldn't be reasonable by any stretch. The Realm of Chaos is more than their side and ours. There are many other sideliners who might pick sides based on each side's actions," Wei Jing said.

"I don't care about that. If it really comes down to fighting, nothing but power and advantages will make a difference. For now, it's true that our army is far from rivaling theirs. If the wedding is canceled, we can avoid the worst-case scenario of all-out war by depriving them of this excuse. I don't think it's a huge loss, since we've already successfully humiliated them. There's no need to follow through with the wedding ceremony," Li Tianzi said.

"Tianming, what do you think, being the central figure to all this?" Li Muyang asked.

"What do you think he'll say? There's no way he'll let those four delicious pieces of meat go now that he got his hands on them," Li Tianzi said.

"Hey, you're supposed to be the older brother! What kind of older brother talks about his younger brother like that? The four female imperatores are respected figures, so you shouldn't speak of them like that either," Wei Jing said before she turned to Tianming. "Let's see what your little brother says about this."

Tianming found this familial atmosphere rather pleasant. He was growing to like it more and more. Unlike before, he actually had an older brother. He found it weird at first, but as time passed, he came to enjoy having an actual sibling. Having lived most of his life without one, it felt truly different.

Smiling, he said, "All in all, I feel like Yueling and Violetblitz will have plenty of excuses to use to justify an attack on us. The only thing they really need to carry it out is the okay from the two figures that are backing them."

"See? Your little brother already understands far more than you do," Wei Jing told her older son.

"Nonsense. All he is thinking about is how tasty the meat will be," Li Tianzi said, rolling his eyes.

Tianming almost lost it. "Stop with your nonsense. Do you remember how we intentionally added the time limit for the wedding ceremony? If we don't organize it within the limit, they'll be able to say that we're giving up. This is not the time to give up, but to fight. We have to tell everyone who sides with us that we will not back down. Otherwise, nobody would support us. That's why we have to organize the wedding ceremony! Everything else beyond that such as making children doesn't really matter. The wedding is our signal to the rest of the Realm of Chaos that we have the four ladies under our control! They are my concubines!"

Wei Jing nodded. "I think Tianming speaks sense. Morale is really important. We must press on so that they'll pull back somewhat. If we pull back, we'll help their morale grow instead. With how badly they want revenge, any sign of our weakness can be the spark they need to start a war."

"Come on, we all know that you just want more grandchildren," Li Tianzi said.

"Bad boy!" Wei Jing snapped.

Naturally, Li Tianzi was only joking. From his expression, he seemed to agree with Tianming's assessment. Whether there was a justification for a war didn't matter as the Adjudicator and his partner had the final say. Showing weakness before that happens would spell their end.

"In other words, we have to toughen up and humiliate them as reasonably as possible," Tianming said.

"How do you even humiliate someone reasonably?" Li Tianzi could no longer make sense of this.

Tianming laughed. "It's easy. Didn't I tell you to treat the spoils as a gift? I also mentioned we should host the grandest wedding possible, right? Let's take it all back. I'll keep all the spoils and do only the bare minimum for the wedding. We won't invite a single guest. They'll become my wives after they offer mom and dad tea." [1]

Li Tianzi's eyes widened when he heard it. "Little Bro, did something go wrong during your rebirth? Your four pieces of roast chicken will lose all their face if you go through with that."

"We all know that they hate us to the bone and pray for our extermination. Who cares about their face?" Tianming had seen what Yueling was really like after this incident.

It was a mistake to think that they were passive and agreeable just because they were a world of powerful women. Based on what happened with the Primospirit Ancestral Tree and everything that transpired in the Ruinless Zone, their every move was made with the most savage intent. Fortunately, Tianming turned things around on them.

He didn't treat them like prey for his harem but rather the strongest foes he had to face in the Realm of Chaos. The four imperatores and the entities that back them held the greatest sway in the Realm of Chaos.

It was a rare thing for Tianming to hold the moral high ground over them. Given the disparity in their power, fighting on the moral front was just as important.

At this point, Li Muyang said, "We'll do as you say and organize the most pitiful wedding we can. When we go pick the brides up, we'll also do it without any fanfare. We'll have Qingqing's clone go pick them up since she's the main wife."

"Dad, you truly are cruel to let his main wife pick up four more for her husband. You won't even let her true form go," Li Tianzi said.

"It's not as complicated as you think. First, we don't have to worry about the clone being killed. Additionally, Qingqing knows that Tianming loves her and has no feelings for those four insane women from Yueling. Isn't that right, Son?" Li Muyang asked.

"Ah, of course! Nothing at all!" Tianming agreed.

"We should also not bother with any auspicious dates. In fact, we'll pick an inauspicious one for the pickup," Li Tianzi said, snickering.

"That's right! Find dates that spell bad omens for the brides. Maybe deathly ones," Tianming added. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Li Tianzi stared at him before shooting him a thumbs-up. "As expected of you. Since you returned, the atmosphere in our family has completely changed."

"No need to praise me." Tianming stood up and stretched lazily before turning to Li Muyang. "Come to think of it, if the forces of Yueling and Violetblitz attack Nullity, what are our odds?"

Li Tianzi said, "Violetblitz has two factions that don't get along, the violetblitzian race and the flamemaple race. There's no way that the violetblitzians would send all their forces out to attack us. If they dare to, Imperator Feng would take over the entirety of Violetblitz Starcage."

1. TL Note: A key part in traditional Chinese weddings is offering the parents tea. ☜