The saintess is pregnant, what does that have to do with me, a spoiled brat?

boom!

The heavy vermilion gates of the Ministry of Revenue were kicked open. The two door panels collapsed with a crash, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The guards in the courtyard were startled and drew their swords.

Xu Nuo stepped over the threshold and dusted off his clothes. Lin Hu followed behind with a dozen or so guards, looking fierce and menacing.

"Xu Nuo! How dare you trespass into the Six Ministries!" A clerk pointed at Xu Nuo and shouted.

Xu Nuo didn't even look at him, and slapped him across the face. A burst of energy shot out, sending the man flying more than ten meters before he crashed into a pillar and passed out.

"Where is Wang Yuan?" Xu Nuo's voice wasn't loud, but it carried throughout the entire front yard.

Inside the main hall, the newly appointed Vice Minister of Revenue, Wang Yuan, was holding a teacup when his hand trembled, spilling scalding tea onto his official robes. He stood up, his face ashen.

"The heir of the Duke of Zhenguo, what a grand display of power." Wang Yuan walked out of the main hall, followed by two gray-robed old men with sinister faces.

The expert sent by the Second Prince.

Xu Nuo glanced at Wang Yuan. He was in his early thirties, with a goatee and a calculating look in his eyes.

"You are Wang Yuan?" Xu Nuo walked up the steps.

"I am a third-rank official in the imperial court..."

"Did you cut off the supply of goods to Zuixianlou?" Xu Nuo interrupted him.

Wang Yuan sneered, "Young Master Xu is joking. It's their prerogative if the grain merchants don't want to sell their grain to Zuixianlou. As the head of the Ministry of Revenue, I can't force them to buy or sell, can I?"

"Did the Second Prince order you to do this?" Xu Nuo asked directly.

Wang Yuan's expression changed slightly, but he quickly regained his composure: "I don't understand what you're saying. Xu Nuo, this is the Ministry of Revenue, not your Duke of Zhenguo's residence! You publicly assaulted a court official; what is your punishment?!"

"A crime?" Xu Nuo smiled.

He suddenly moved.

Without a word, without warning, dark golden energy exploded beneath their feet, shattering the bluestone steps inch by inch.

The expressions of the two gray-robed old men behind Wang Yuan changed drastically.

"presumptuous!"

The two attacked simultaneously, their fourth-rank martial arts masters forming two walls of energy that blocked Wang Yuan's path.

He promised to deliver a punch.

The dragon-shaped aura roared.

Crack. The air wall shattered like glass. Two gray-robed old men coughed up blood, their arms broken, and were sent flying like tattered sacks, crashing through the wall of the main hall.

The entire room fell silent.

Wang Yuan's cold smile froze. He looked at Xu Nuo, who was so close to him, and his legs began to tremble.

Those were the Second Prince's top retainers! Two fourth-rank officials! Gone in a single move?

Xu Nuo reached out, grabbed Wang Yuan by the collar, and lifted him up.

"You...you dare to kill me? I am an official of the imperial court! The Second Prince will not let you get away with this!" Wang Yuan shouted, his voice trembling with fear.

"That's what Zhang Tingyu said when he died," Xu Nuo said calmly.

Wang Yuan froze, cold sweat instantly soaking his back. He recalled the horrific scene of Zhang Tingyu's entire family being executed last night. This纨绔 (wán kù, a spoiled, dissolute young man) before him was a complete madman.

"Can you understand me now?" Xu Nuo asked.

"Yes...yes..." Wang Yuan's teeth chattered.

"Write a warrant. Tell those grain merchants to deliver the grain to Zuixianlou within half an hour. If it's less than a pound, I'll cut off your arm." Xu Nuo threw him to the ground.

Wang Yuan scrambled to his desk, grabbed a brush, his hand trembling like a leaf, and quickly wrote down the order, then stamped it with the Ministry of Revenue's official seal.

Lin Hu stepped forward, took the warrant, checked it, and nodded to Xu Nuo.

"Your Highness, it's finished."

Xu Nuo walked to the desk and looked down at Wang Yuan, who was slumped in the chair.

"Lord Wang, you've delayed my Drunken Immortal Pavilion's business all morning. How are you going to settle this score?"

Wang Yuan was almost in tears: "I'll pay... I'll pay! Ten thousand taels!"

"Are you trying to send a beggar away?" Xu Nuo tapped the table.

"Fifty thousand taels! That's all I have!" Wang Yuan knelt down on the ground.

"Lin Hu, go to his house and get the money. If he's short even a penny, burn his house down." Xu Nuo turned and walked out.

"Yes!" Lin Hu grinned.

Xu Nuo walked into the courtyard, stopped, and looked back at Wang Yuan.

"Go back and tell the Second Prince. If he wants to play, I'll play with him. But he'd better pray he's lucky."

After saying that, he strode out of the Ministry of Revenue.

The Second Prince's Mansion.

boom!

The fine blue-and-white porcelain teacup was smashed to pieces.

The Second Prince, Li Chengqian, looked ashen-faced as he stared at Wang Yuan, who was kneeling below with a bruised and swollen face.

"Useless! Two fourth-rank guest elders couldn't even withstand a single move from him?!"

Wang Yuan kowtowed repeatedly, pleading, "Your Highness, please calm down! That Xu Nuo is not some spoiled brat at all; he has been hiding his true strength! His qi is extremely strange and domineering, definitely not that of an ordinary fourth-rank cultivator!"

Li Chengqian took a deep breath and forcefully suppressed the anger in his heart.

Zhang Tingyu died, and he had finally managed to promote Wang Yuan to the position of Vice Minister of Revenue, hoping to use this opportunity to cut off Xu Nuo's source of income. However, things turned out differently; instead of cutting off his income, he was extorted for 50,000 taels of silver, and even the gates of the Ministry of Revenue were kicked down.

That was a resounding slap in the face.

"Your Highness, this boy cannot be allowed to live," a staff member whispered. "The Duke of Zhenguo commands 300,000 Zhenbei troops. If Xu Nuo were to display such terrifying martial arts talent again, the Crown Prince would definitely try his best to win him over. That would be extremely disadvantageous for us."

Li Chengqian squinted his eyes.

"Kill him? How? The Primordial Holy Land sent two peak fourth-rank cultivators to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion last night, but their bodies were devoured by wild dogs in the mass grave this morning."

The advisor was shocked: "The Primordial Holy Land has failed?"

"This kid is really strange." Li Chengqian snorted coldly. "However, the Primordial Holy Land has suffered such a great loss, they will definitely not let it go. Let's hold back for now and see how Shen Qingyi makes her move."

The Shen family mansion.

Shen Qingyi stared at the secret letter in her hand, speechless for a long time.

The Holy Lord replied.

The letter was simple: suspend the pursuit of Xu Nuo and investigate the details of his martial arts techniques. If they could be won over, no cost would be too high. If not, the Holy Land would send a third-rank elder down the mountain in person.

To win them over.

Shen Qingyi's lips curled into a self-deprecating sneer.

The image of Xu Nuo grabbing her by the neck and stealing the spirit stones last night was still vivid in her mind. How could someone like that be won over? He was simply an uncontrollable beast.

"Holy Maiden." The old woman in black walked in. "I just received news that Xu Nuo stormed the Ministry of Revenue, beat up the Second Prince's men, and forced Wang Yuan to restore the supply of goods to Zuixianlou."

Shen Qingyi rubbed her temples.

"He's not afraid of causing a major upheaval at all."

"Holy Maiden, what should we do next?" the old woman asked.

Shen Qingyi stood up and walked to the window.

"Prepare the car. Let's go to Zuixianlou."

The old woman was stunned: "You still want to see him? He humiliated you like that last night..."

"I must obey the Holy Lord's orders." Shen Qingyi's eyes regained their coldness. "Moreover, I am becoming more and more curious about the secrets he holds."

Zuixianlou (Drunken Immortal Pavilion)

backyard.

Xu Nuo lay on the rocking chair and basked in the sun.

Li Wanning excitedly ran over, holding the account book.

"Promise! The supply has been restored! And those grain merchants have lowered the price by 30% to make amends!"

"As expected," Xu Nuo said with her eyes closed.

"What exactly did you do? How could Wang Yuan, that tightwad, suddenly open up?" Li Wanning asked curiously as he leaned closer.

"I reasoned with him."

"Isn't your way of reasoning a bit exhausting?" Li Wanning pouted. She had heard about the incident where the gate of the Ministry of Revenue was kicked down.

Xu Nuo opened her eyes and looked at Li Wanning.

"Ning Wan, who exactly are you?"

Li Wanning's heart skipped a beat, and his eyes darted around: "I... I'm just an ordinary person."

"Can an ordinary person recognize the spirit stones of Wanbaoge at a glance? Can an ordinary person find out that Wang Yuan is backed by the Second Prince?" Xu Nuo sat up and stared at her.

Li Wanning took a step back, biting her lip.

"I...I used to work in the palace, is it wrong for me to know some inside information?"

Xu Nuo didn't say anything, just looked at her.

Just as Li Wanning was about to break under the pressure, Lin Hu ran in from the front hall.

"Your Highness, the eldest daughter of the Shen family has arrived. She says she wants to see you."