"You’re the one who’s presumptuous!" Yang Qi’s voice was even louder. "Do you really think the Sun Family can act with impunity? Kidnapping a young woman in broad daylight... do you have any respect for the law?"

Sun Wanguan turned to Yao Qing. "I’ll ask you one last time. Are you willing to go through with this engagement or not?"

Yao Qing seemed hesitant.

"Old Squad Leader, just tell the truth," Yang Qi said to Yao Qing with a reassuring smile. "I’ve already arranged for help. The Sun Family’s rules are not above the law! If you don’t speak the truth, it becomes difficult for me to justify helping you."

"I am not willing!" Yao Qing gritted her teeth, her gaze fixed on Sun Wanguan. "I have never been willing to marry into your family! And I certainly won’t be a tool to ward off your bad luck."

"Good. Good! Very good!" Sun Wanguan’s expression darkened. "The Sun Family has already sent out the announcements and spent a fortune. We have countless guests from both Longjiang and Jingnan Prefectures here for the ceremony. You tell me, how are we supposed to save face now? You must give our family an explanation!"

"That’s right, give us an explanation!" the members of the Sun Family roared in unison. The thunderous sound startled Yao Qing’s family, who, as ordinary people, had never witnessed such an intimidating spectacle.

"An explanation for what?" Yang Qi scoffed. "This is all your own doing. You’re just getting what you deserve! What is there to explain?

"Your patriarch, Sun Yu, is a domineering and unreasonable tyrant! He tries to forcibly abduct a young woman without any regard for her consent!

"And his grandson, Sun Bie, has been a womanizer since he was a boy, ruining his own health. Now he expects an innocent woman to bear the consequences!

"And you, Sun Wanguan," Yang Qi’s gaze sharpened, "you fat pig, you viciously attacked two elderly people. If they hadn’t received timely medical treatment, they’d already be dead.

"An explanation? You’re the ones who need to provide an explanation! You owe one to Yao Qing, and you owe one to Jingnan Prefecture!"

"You bastard! How dare you slander me! Father, kill him! I want him dead!" Sun Bie roared, coughing up another mouthful of blood.

Yang Qi gave a faint smile. "Slander you? Do your filthy deeds even require my embellishment? A simple search online turns up videos. Why would I need to slander you?"

In fact, the people of Longjiang Prefecture were well aware of Sun Bie’s history. He had once driven an innocent young woman to suicide, a scandal that nearly erupted in Jiang City. Everyone knew, but no one dared to say a word. After all, the Sun Family was one of the ten great families of Longjiang Prefecture; who would dare to cross them?

"Shut up!" Sun Wanguan bellowed. "Who the hell do you think you are, qualified to comment on my son? You’re a worthless, petty rogue! You have the audacity to come here and lecture the Sun Family? You truly don’t know your place!"

"Precisely!" Sun Yu rose to his feet, his cold eyes fixed on Yang Qi. "Trespassing at a Sun Family engagement ceremony, regardless of your reasons, is a heinous crime. According to our family rules, the punishment is death!"

As he finished speaking, the Sun Family’s experts moved to block all exits, cutting off any chance of escape.

Then, Sun Yu’s icy gaze fell upon Yao Qing and her parents. "Yao Qing, so you’re unwilling? Fine. The ritual to ward off ill fortune never said the bride had to be alive. We’ll just kill all three of you and hold the engagement ceremony with your corpses. Anyone who dares to oppose the Sun Family dies!"

Yao Qing’s parents trembled violently, while her uncle and aunt crumpled to the floor in a heap.

It’s over. It’s all over. We’ve offended the Sun Family... how could we possibly survive this?

Sun Bie’s mother looked down at Yang Qi with disdain. "You lowly peasant. Kneel and accept your punishment. Or must we force you? A worthless piece of trash like you has no right to even speak in the presence of the Sun Family!"

As the daughter of a prestigious and powerful clan, Sun Bie’s mother had always looked down on ordinary people. In her eyes, they were worth less than the poodle she kept. Her dog ate only the finest cuts of meat and drank the highest quality milk. Its food alone cost thousands daily—sometimes even tens of thousands—to say nothing of its other expenses. Could an ordinary person even imagine spending thousands, let alone tens of thousands, in a single day? They wouldn’t even dare to spend one thousand.

Yang Qi chuckled softly. "’Kneel and accept your punishment’? ’Lowly peasant’? Your Sun Family truly has no regard for the law, do you? Your family rules can condemn a man to death? Your family can divide people into upper and lower classes? Who gave you this courage? Was it money? Do you really believe that money lets you do whatever you want?"

Sun Yu sneered. "With money, you *can* do whatever you want! And we don’t just have money; we have power! The Sun Family’s rules *are* the law! If we sentence you to die, you die. What grounds do you have to complain?"

Arrogant. Contemptuous. Utterly lawless.

Yao Qing and her family were dumbstruck. They had naively assumed that these people would at least fear the law, that there was something that could protect them. But hearing Sun Yu’s words, they understood how wrong they were. For the Sun Family, arbitrarily condemning people and taking their lives was a casual, everyday affair. It was nothing new. They were completely unbridled in their arrogance.

Yao Qing was terrified. A wave of regret washed over her—not for herself, but for dragging Yang Qi into this mess. They were actually going to kill him.

"So in your eyes, strength is everything, is that right? It means you can do anything you please?" Yang Qi asked calmly.

"Exactly! As long as we are strong enough, we can do whatever we want!" Sun Wanguan declared with confidence. "Never mind beating those two old fools to death, what if we exterminated their entire family? Who do you think would dare to stand up for you?"

"I see," Yang Qi nodded. "So what you’re saying is, if someone were richer and more powerful than you, they would be free to trample all over the Sun Family and kill any of you at will. Is that correct?"

"Hahaha!" Sun Wanguan roared with laughter. "In Longjiang Prefecture, the ten great families are all connected. There is no one richer or more powerful than the Sun Family! If our family has a problem, the other nine will help. To make an enemy of the Sun Family is to make an enemy of all ten great families of Longjiang Prefecture!"

"Then the Sun Family... is finished," Yang Qi stated calmly.

"The Sun Family is finished?" Sun Wanguan froze for a second before bursting into laughter again. "That’s the most hilarious joke I’ve ever heard. Someone actually dares to claim the Sun Family is finished? How utterly absurd!"

"Hahaha!" The rest of the Sun Family joined in the laughter. In Longjiang Prefecture, they were invincible. Who could possibly touch them? It was beyond ridiculous.

"The one who will annihilate you... is me, of course," Yang Qi said softly. "Do you still not understand? Why do you think I dared to come find you all by myself? You didn’t really think I came here just to die, did you?"