Otherworldly Evil Monarch

Even if not for the monk’s sake, but for the Buddha’s… since he’d already stolen the heart of the old fellow’s granddaughter… what was a mere birthday gift? Whether it was to return a favor for Miao Qing Cheng or to give his woman some face, he wouldn’t be calculative against this old fellow this time!

Since Jun Mo Xie had made up his mind, he no longer hesitated and stepped forward with a suave smile and was about to speak.

Unfortunately, another old fellow at the side stood out first and spoke with a faint smile. This was the Gu Family’s Gu Yun Yang. “Esteemed Manor Lord, I wish you many happy returns on your grand birthday. But this one has a matter to ask. Last year, Manor Lord said that you would have a double happiness birthday this year and would select a talented youth from among the younger generation to be paired with the young lass Xiao Miao… I wonder how Manor Lord intends to choose?”

As he said that, a strange smile appeared on Gu Yun Yang’s old face. At the same time, the faces of the other old fellows also twisted a little.

All of these old fellows were seasoned foxes. How would they not be able to understand the situation in front of them? Miao Xiao Miao’s defensive tone a moment earlier had already highlighted many things. Although a marriage alliance with the Miao Manor would be a great help to their families, but if they ended up offending the future powerhouse of the Misty Illusory Manor, it would not necessarily be worth it. Moreover, they can’t even be sure that they would be able to gain a marriage alliance with the Miao Family. Speaking up now might instead cause them to end up in a bad spot.

Miao Jing Yun narrowed his eyes and laughed aloud. “Everyone here knows that this old man had indeed said those words last year. A man lives by his word, and this old man will naturally not go back on what I’ve said. Hm… let’s just do it like this, apart from our own Miao Family, all seven great families are here today, including all the most outstanding youths of our generation. The only regretful thing is that the ones from the Zhan Family… aren’t here…”

Zhan Wu Yun’s face twitched slightly at this. The two most promising youths of the Zhan Family had already been turned into a pair of corpses. As for the others, they were all too disappointing. Even if they came, they would only be a joke. What was the point of coming in that case?

Miao Jing Yun continued. “So after this, we’ll just let my precious granddaughter choose from among all these promising youths…”

The moment his words came out, the entire hall became noisy.

The eyes of many talented youths were blazing with fire as they prepared themselves.

Only Meng Xian Ru, Li Xing Yue, and the others were not excited as they smiled bitterly to themselves. Old man, you can keep pretending; your granddaughter had already made her choice long ago. Today’s selection is nothing but a formality to fulfill your promise. Looks like the rest of us are just fated to accompany the future Crown Prince to read…

“Since everyone had already presented their gifts, we’ll place all the gifts together. After Young Master Mo has presented his gift, this old man and Xiao Miao will personally choose together. Whoever’s gift satisfies both of us the most will be the son-in-law of our Miao Family…”

Miao Jing Yun smiled lightly and waved his finger. The table on the side was filled with presents, stacked full of presents. With a single glance, there were at least over a hundred.

When these words came out, another commotion washed over the entire hall!

As far as birthdays in the Misty Illusory Manor, as all of those old fellows were very long lived, there were basically too many birthday celebrations every year. All of them were just giving each other face, taking the chance to meet up for a chat and drink. How many people would truly take out the precious stuff as presents…

This was basically an unspoken rule in this place. Although Miao Jing Yun was the Manor Lord, and he was celebrating his 500th birthday, so it was slightly more grand than normal, and the people who attended are more, the gifts would not be that much more precious than normal.

Which of these old fellows would not have a 1,000th birthday? Although a 500th birthday was still a huge landmark, what was it worth? If the birthday ‘boy’ was not Miao Jing Yun, the Manor Lord of the Misty Illusory Manor, how would there be such a grand celebration!?

Most of the youths simply stood there, staring at the gifts that their families had sent with wide eyes and open mouths. At this time, they did not even have the ability to complain… My dearest ancestor, ah… aren’t your gift a little too simple? No, it’s simply outright cheap… How could that broken stuff gain me the graces of the beauty? Didn’t you always say that the best materials should be used for the knife’s edge? How come you didn’t put in any effort this time? Such a great chance was completely wasted…

Countless people were beating their chest with regret…

Li Xing Yue looked at Jun Mo Xie who was standing beside Meng Xian Ru, and saw that the two’s faces were completely calm, as if they were not affected at all. Laughing bitterly in their hearts, Meng Xian Ru, Zhang Qi Yun, and the others exchanged a glance and smiled bitterly, not knowing if they should be laughing or crying.

This Manor Lord was truly… too good!

But wasn’t it a little too much?

It’s your present, but you’re going to choose together with your granddaughter… and it’s choosing the one that she likes the most? Was there even a point in thinking about the results? No matter what this Great Prodigy Mo brings out, even if it’s a pile of sh*t… your granddaughter will still say that it’s the best present… what are we competing about…

“What do you like?” Jun Mo Xie rubbed his nose helplessly. From the looks of it, that old fellow is intent on forcing this Young Master to the end today. Even if this lass Xiao Miao is willing to speak up for me, this old fellow will surely not let me off easily… And this was clearly a planned attack by all those old things! And it’s clear that they’d just formulated this plan not long ago!

Looking at Gu Yun Yang and the other large family Patriarchs exchanging glances and smiling arrogantly, Jun Mo Xie could tell with a single glance that they were obviously working together!

And Miao Jing Yun was the one who orchestrated everything!

“Jun Ye, I also want to see what kind of present you have prepared for grandfather. Actually, I don’t even have to look to know that it must be the best, and I will definitely like it.” Miao Xiao Miao looked at Young Master Jun affectionately and said with a gentle smile.

Young Lady Miao had not purposely lowered her volume, and the two of them were standing where Li Xing Yue and the others were. This sentence was naturally heard clearly by all the young geniuses.

Li Xing Yue and the rest sighed heavily as they thought to themselves: was this still the same ice princess Young Lady Miao? Those words were a little mushy… wasn’t this grandfather and granddaughter pair just toying with their emotions by doing this…

Young Lady Miao naturally had her own plans. Grandfather, aren’t you intending to stir up some trouble? I know how to do that as well; as long as I acknowledged Jun Ye’s present, even if you said that you preferred another person’s present, the results will at most end in a draw. In any case, Jun Ye will definitely not lose!

“Young Master Mo, it’s your turn. Please take out your present for everyone to see.” Qiu Peng said in an arrogant manner.

This kid had been blinded by his desire and jealousy and had not noticed the faint undercurrents of the situation at all. When the Gu Family old master mentioned the matter of choosing a groom and old master Miao had not denied it, even purposely making things difficult for Great Prodigy Mo, even if Miao Xiao Miao insisted on leaning on his side, the matter would still not achieve the agreement of the Miao Family elders!

Although the presents on the table were all not anything precious, his family’s Longevity Pine Tree was the most special and had the most effort. From the way he saw it, he’d already gained a clear and stable advantage. The girl was destined to not be able to escape from his clutches!

“Speaking of gifts… I truly hadn’t prepared anything beforehand.” Jun Mo Xie took a step forward, completely disregarding Qiu Peng’s face, treating him as empty air. Smiling lightly, he said. “This junior’s family was poor, and I’d grown up without much material wealth and am unable to take out any proper presents… How about this, I once picked up two pieces of stones when I was outside, and they could barely be considered as rare items. I’ve kept them on me all these years, and since today is the grand birthday of the Manor Lord, this junior will present this stone as a gift to Manor Lord.”

What?!

A stone?!

To actually use a stone as a present…

The crowd instantly burst out with laughter!

What kind of rare item can a stone be? Stones can be found anywhere in the continent, and just a random stone that you picked up can be used as a gift? This was surely too ridiculous!

From the looks of it, things were going to be really interesting now. Even if Miao Xiao Miao wanted to be biased, she could not blindly turn the stone into a piece of gold right?!

Miao Jing Yun’s old face stiffened in an instant. This old man had already calculated perfectly. This brat could simply take out any random presentable thing, and he and his granddaughter would choose it no matter what, insisting that they liked it the most. Then, they could naturally round this matter up and make the engagement official…

But never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined that the kid would take out a piece of stone. What kind of logic was this…

Could it be that this kid decided to go back on his words, purposely using this kind of method to escape?

This matter had turned serious now!

On the side, Cao Guo Feng and the rest were all so anxious that they could hardly sit still. When they saw that Old Miao making things difficult for their disciple, demanding a present, they’d immediately gone to prepare. Bai Qi Feng had even dug out the huge precious gem on his sword and was prepared it to pass it to him secretly to use as a gift. Although it wouldn’t necessarily be the best, it was at least much more presentable. With Young Lady Miao’s help, it wasn’t a difficult thing to pass through this crisis…

But who would have thought that before they could even more, this kid would stand out by himself and declare that he was going to send up a stone as a gift… In that instant, Bai Qi Feng who had painstakingly dug out the gem on his sword was fuming so hard that his nose had nearly turned crooked…

Only Miao Xiao Miao was smiling calmly as a deep confidence sat in her heart. She’d already decided that even if Mo Jun Ye really took out a common pebble he’d found at the side of the road, she would hug it and declare that it’s the best item out of all the presents…

All the most priceless treasures in the world could not compare to a present that was given by a lover. Even if it was just a cup of air, as long as it was a gift from him, it would be the most precious thing in the world! With Miao Xiao Miao’s current status, would she still care about any rare treasures? Gems and diamonds may be precious, but weren’t they still just stones at the end of the day?

Under the disbelieving eyes of the crowd, Jun Mo Xie slowly reached a hand into his shirt. When he pulled it out again, there was really a piece of stone sitting on his palm. It was a very uneven and rough stone, only about the size of a fist. It could not be said to be round and could not be said to be flat. It wasn’t even squarish looking. Apart from looking somewhat sparkly, there was truly nothing unique about it…