Warden of the Beast World: Everyone is a Hakimi

Ye Tang slid off Chi Heng's back and stepped into the courtyard of the Vermilion Bird Clan's main residence. Her first reaction was—no way, they're already taking her to meet their parents?

She was still wearing that casual short-sleeved shirt she'd just thrown on, her hair a mess from the wind at high altitude, and she hadn't even prepared a decent gift. This was completely different from what she'd imagined meeting the parents; shouldn't she at least have changed into something formal?

"Xiao Heng, you're still so impetuous even after getting married." A loud voice came from deep within the main house. Chi Xiong pushed open the ebony door and walked out with steady steps. His gray hair was neatly combed, and his red eyes were just like Chi Heng's, only with a touch more of the composure that comes with experience.

He immediately noticed the unstable aura emanating from Chi Heng—it was the SS-level mental energy fluctuation that had just broken through and hadn't yet been fully contained.

"You... broke through?" Chi Xiong paused, his voice trembling with disbelief.

"Yes, Grandpa!" Chi Heng took Ye Tang's hand and led her forward a step, raising his chin high. "Grandpa, this is my wife, Ye Tang."

"Hello, Grandpa." Ye Tang bowed respectfully with a well-behaved smile on her face.

"Good, good, good child." Chi Xiong said "good" three times in a row, his eyes full of love and gratitude as he looked at Ye Tang. In the history of the Vermilion Bird Clan, there are only a handful of geniuses who have broken through to the SS level.

The fastest was the clan leader two generations ago, who married the Holy Mother of the Beast God Temple and broke through the shackles at the age of fifty-seven with the help of the Holy Mother's bloodline power.

Chi Heng is only thirty-five years old this year, and after spending just over a month with this young female, he broke through from S+ to SS level. This is not talent, but opportunity.

"Xiao Tang, on behalf of all the members of the Vermilion Bird Clan, thank you." Chi Xiong bowed solemnly, his white hair trembling slightly in the wind. This old man, who had led the Vermilion Bird Clan for nearly a century and had never bowed to anyone in his position as Minister of the Imperial Security Department, lowered his white-haired head to a young female who had just come of age.

"Grandpa, I didn't do anything. It's Chiheng's own good behavior." Ye Tang quickly stepped forward and supported the old man's arm. She just fed him on time every day, made his favorite desserts and snacks, gave him catnip, and stroked his fur after he fought with Youlie. These are all things that any zookeeper would do.

Chi Xiong straightened up, took Ye Tang's hand, and sat down at the stone table in the courtyard. He began to recount Chi Heng's "great achievements" from childhood to adulthood as if they were his own treasures. From setting fire to the ancestral hall when he was 3 years old to tearing the ceiling off the Ministry of State Security's archives room last year, he was a complete troublemaker. His mouth was dry from talking, and he picked up the teacup on the table to drink.

"Grandpa, please speak slowly." Ye Tang took out a tea set from her spatial storage, brewed a pot of tea with spiritual spring water, and presented it to Chi Xiong with both hands.

Chi Xiong took the teacup and took a sip. A refreshing, sweet taste slid down his throat, instantly invigorating him and even smoothing the fine lines around his eyes. He looked down at the clear tea, then up at the smiling female before him, and sighed, "You know, he's so capable of causing trouble, even landing himself in prison, and he still managed a breakthrough. Are you sure it's because he's ambitious?"

"Grandpa, if I hadn't tormented myself into prison like this, would I have met Xiaotangtang?" Chiheng interjected indignantly.

"That makes sense." Chi Xiong stroked his beard, having to admit that although this brat hadn't done much of a proper thing growing up, he was incredibly lucky. Getting into trouble and ending up in Zero Prison, yet still managing to meet his destined person—his luck was simply unbelievable.

"Grandpa, this proves even more that Chiheng is truly promising. You see, real combat is the best teaching. Chiheng has been in so many fights since he was a child. Although he's caused a lot of trouble, every single one of them has been real combat experience. S+ level combat power can't be developed by locking yourself in a training room; it's something he earned with every punch and kick. Without the foundation he's built over so many years, even if he had the opportunity, he wouldn't be able to handle it." Ye Tang analyzed earnestly, counting on his fingers, his tone like he was giving an end-of-year performance report, but his eyes revealed a sincere admiration.

"Moreover, he is simple-minded and focused on his work. Once he sets his mind on a goal, he never looks back. If he likes fighting, he focuses on fighting; if he likes food, he focuses on food; if he likes someone, he treats that person with all his heart. Such qualities would be called recklessness in others, but in him, it is called childlike innocence. Our Chiheng is not a reckless man, but a wise man who appears foolish."

Chi Xiong was stunned, his hand stroking his beard frozen in mid-air. He had lived for nearly two hundred years, and this was the first time he had heard someone use "great wisdom appearing as foolishness" to describe his grandson, who caused the entire empire so much trouble. But judging from Ye Tang's expression, she wasn't flattering him; she genuinely felt that way.

Chiheng stood to the side, his eyes fixed on Yetang, his eyes slightly red, his tail wagging behind him like a fan. Little Tangtang said he wasn't a reckless fool, that he was wise beyond his years, that he was simple-minded and focused, and that once he set his mind on a goal, he would never turn back.

The only comments he'd ever heard since childhood were "reckless," "troublemaker," "brainless," and "needs to be disciplined." Even his grandfather could only sigh and clean up his messes.

Only Ye Tang, only his little wife, after he had fought for over thirty years, said that those fights were his practical experience, a foundation he had built up through his own hard work. It turns out that in her heart, he was so outstanding.

"Little Tangtang..." Chi Heng's voice was choked with sobs, his eyes were red, and his wings unconsciously stretched out from behind him, gently wrapping Ye Tang inside, as if he wanted to treasure her whole being.

"You're a lucky guy, kid." Chi Xiong was so pleased with himself that he patted Chi Heng's shoulder hard, so hard that Chi Heng staggered forward half a step, but his face was beaming like he had just eaten honey. "Xiao Tang, stay here today and have dinner with this old man."

"No, no need!" Chi Heng's expression changed, and he quickly waved his hand to refuse on behalf of Ye Tang.

He knew all too well what level his family's cook was up to. He had already experienced it once when he came back last time. He had been eating that combination of boiled meat with coarse salt and a nutritional supplement for over thirty years without feeling anything wrong with it. But after being spoiled by Ye Tang in Prison Zero, eating that stuff was practically torture for him.

He can eat it himself, but his little wife can't be treated like this.

"I asked Xiaotang, not you." Chi Xiong rolled his eyes at him, then turned his gaze to Ye Tang's face. His golden eyes, which had seen the world, held a hint of expectation and caution, like an ordinary old man who wanted to invite his granddaughter-in-law to his home for dinner but was afraid of being rejected. This was completely different from the imposing manner he had when he slapped Chi Heng earlier.

"Okay." Ye Tang readily agreed. She knew what Chi Heng was trying to stop her from doing, but since the old man had specifically asked her to stay for dinner, it would be unreasonable to refuse him on her first visit.

Besides, the satisfied expression on Akio's face when he took the tea from her made her feel that even if the meal was terrible, it was worth it.

"Granddaughter is still the best." Chi Xiong smiled so much that the lines around his eyes were drawn up, and he looked at Ye Tang with more affection than he looked at his own grandson, Chi Heng.

At the dinner table, the scale of the Vermilion Bird Clan's banquet was much higher than when Chi Heng last came back, after all, the old man had personally ordered that more dishes be added.

But the so-called "additional dishes" were just five dishes instead of three boiled meat dishes, plus three different flavored nutritional supplements and a large bowl of vegetable soup with only salt.

Chi Xiong sat in the main seat, with Chi Heng and Ye Tang sitting on either side, and several servants standing quietly by their side.

Without changing her expression, Ye Tang picked up a piece of roasted meat that was only sprinkled with coarse salt, chewed it in her mouth and swallowed it. She then picked up the nutritional supplement and took a sip, her expression completely calm.

Chi Heng sat beside her, watching Ye Tang eat the dish he had started to dislike after a month without even frowning, and felt a mix of bitterness and sweetness in his heart.

His little wife was so particular about cooking when she was in Prison Zero. She would brush three layers of honey water on roasted lamb chops, and make her sweet and sour pork with a freshly made sauce of hawthorn and rock sugar. Even her vegetable salads had to be drizzled with her own homemade dressing. But now she was eating this plate of boiled meat that even he could hardly swallow. He secretly vowed that next time he came back, he would renovate her kitchen beforehand.