A Dish Best Served Cold (The Man In Rage)
Chapter 1135 An Utter and Complete Defeat

The Xur family's final trump card, whom they had taken such great care to summon to their aid, had kneeled before Ye Fan and called the latter his master. What was this world coming to?

After a brief moment of shock, Wu Wei-Tao quickly calmed down.

There was a severe look in his eyes as he stared at the young man who stood proudly and with his hands folded behind his back. The wariness and doubts he had about Ye Fan grew.

"Ye Fan, how many secrets do you have hidden?" Wu Wei-Tao realized that he didn't know Ye Fan at all.

He had thought that he had understood the man.

But he now realized that he knew nothing about Ye Fan at all.

A deathly silence continued to reign in Haiyuan Restaurant.

The earlier scene had shocked everyone into utter silence.

They had no idea what to say. In fact, they dared not utter a word.

Of them all, Xur Jun-Lin had suffered the greatest blow.

His son had been turned into pulp. The help that he had anticipated had declared his loyalty to Ye Fan instead.

He felt like the Jade Emperor who had called for help from the Buddha when the Monkey God had barged into his courts and begun thrashing his palace. When the Buddha arrived, instead of helping him, he had slapped the Jade Emperor's wife instead, then called the Monkey God his father.

This was an absolute farce.

The old general was ready to burst into tears from sheer anger and aggravation.

He stood frozen to the spot.

His face was absolutely pale.

The scene that had just unfolded before him had struck him like a bolt of lightning.

He couldn't believe what he had just seen.

"Long Bai-Chuan, what are you doing? Are you mad? You're the Military God, the head of the military and the commander of the three armies. How can you call this man your master? You should be kneeling to me if you are to kneel to anyone! I'm the one who made you who you are today. I'm the one whom you're indebted to. Without the Xur family's help, you wouldn't be where you are today. Get up! I command you to kill this man. Take him down immediately!"

Something had finally snapped in Xur Jun-Lin when he had seen Long Bai-Chuan kneel before Ye Fan.

He began yelling at Long Bai-Chuan like a madman.

Long Bai-Chuan didn't give him the time of the day at all. With a single blow, he sent

Xur Jun-Lin flying.

He had injected only one-tenth of his strength into that attack.

The general would have been killed instantly otherwise.

Long Bai-Chuan continued speaking to Ye Fan in the utmost respectful tone.

"I received Han's instructions yesterday and hurried to Yunzhou as soon as I could. But I still arrived too late, after the Xur family had. I failed to arrive in time to protect you. Please forgive me, Dragon Master!" Long Bai-Chuan lowered his head guiltily.

"You may get up. You might be late, but you still arrived in time to carry out your duty. I won't punish you for your lateness. But make sure there isn't a next time. I don't want my Dragons to be incompetent fools who don't know how to turn up on time," said Ye Fan sternly and in an uncompromising tone.

Cowed by Ye Fan's authority, the Military

God remained on his knees and did not say a word.

Long Bai-Chuan was one of the four Dragons of the Dragon God Hall.

Each Dragon was charged with their separate duties. One commanded political power, another, wealth, the third, military might and the last, death.

The Sun Dragon, Xue Ren-Yang, held the fort in Yanjing and was given command over the Dragon God Hall's political power.

The Rock Dragon, Iwai Zen, resided in Japan and wielded the Dragon God Hall's wealth.

Long Bai-Chuan, on the other hand, was the River Dragon, the Dragon who had the three armies under his command and held immense military might in his hands.

Ye Fan had instructed Han to contact Long Bai-Chuan and get the latter to hurry to Yunzhou to offer his protection.

Ironically, the Xur family had requested

Long Bai-Chuan's aid at the same time.

The series of coincidences had led to the shocking turn of events that had unfolded earlier.

Of course, without Long Bai-Chuan's aid, Ye Fan could still have handled the Xur family on his own easily. He simply had to get his hands dirtier and expend a little more energy in the process. But he wasn't going to complain if an easy solution were to present itself to him.

He needed Long Bai-Chuan's help with Operation Sparks too.

After long and careful consideration, Ye Fan had finally decided to activate this agent that he had buried deep in the Chinese military.

"Why? Give me a reason why you're doing this, Long Bai-Chuan. Hasn't the Xur family treated you well? I've always treated you like one of our own. I was the one who recommended you for the position of commander of the three armies. You owe me a debt. Why have you betrayed me and called him your master instead? Why? Did the Xur family not treat you well enough? Did I not treat you well enough?" roared Xur Jun-Lin, his voice heavy with resentment as he interrupted Ye Fan's reprimand.

He didn't understand what was going on. He simply couldn't.

How did things end up like this?

The victory that he had believed was within reach had slipped right through his fingers. He had been the one who had suffered a complete and utter defeat.

He was the founding general of the nation and the patriarch of one of the most powerful families in Yanjing. But he had been trampled under the feet of a young man.

The three special troops that had been his pride and joy had been utterly thrashed by Ye Fan's Green Dragon Force. They remained immobile on the ground.

His final trump card, Long Bai-Chuan, had betrayed him and declared his loyalty to Ye Fan instead.

"Why? Why did things end up this way?"

Xur Jun-Lin's eyes were bloodshot and looked crazed.

Long Bai-Chuan appeared unaffected by Xur Jun-Lin's furious interrogation. His reply seemed cold and heartless. "You're right. I do owe you a debt for your recommendation. But the good that I've done for the Xur family over these years would have paid off that debt. There would have been others who would have done what you had done for me. I had proven myself strong and worthy. No one could beat me then. If you had not recommended me for the position of commander, someone else would. I would have gotten to where I am today anyway."

"There are many like you, but only one Dragon Master. The Dragon Master made me who I am. Without him, I would still be a farmer in the countryside. He was the one who gave me strength and allowed me to reach where I am today. I have pledged my life to protecting the Dragon Master from everyone, and that includes you."

Every single word that Long Bai-Chuan had uttered was like a dagger to Xur Jun-Lin's heart.

Despair overcame Xur Jun-Lin. He knew that he had lost this battle against Ye Fan. The Xur family had lost. It had been an utter and complete defeat!