Chapter 21: The Path to Greatness Is Ever Higher

Ninety percent of the people in the room appeared to be in a daze, including my fellow police academy classmates seated at my table, who seemed to have lost all ability to think, as if they were collectively petrified.

“He doesn’t agree? Who is he to disagree when they’re getting married?”

Even Tie Ningxiang, who was sitting next to me, was caught off guard by my unexpected outburst. She grabbed the hem of my suit and whispered, “Gao Jian, have you gone crazy?”

“His name is Gao Jian?”

“What’s his background? How dare he interfere with the wedding of the Jiang family heir!”

“I haven’t heard of anyone like him in Jiangcheng. Could he be the son of some wealthy businessman from another province?”

“Looking at his plain attire, he doesn’t seem like the child of a tycoon.”

The hall was filled with undercurrents as various elites focused their discussions on me.

“Gao Jian, don’t do something foolish!” Ye Bing on the stage appeared a bit embarrassed, clutching the wedding ring on her finger, fearing the situation would spiral out of control.

As for the groom, Jiang Chen, his face was tense and unpleasant. Born with a golden spoon in his mouth, he has been adored by everyone since childhood. Yet this person had disrupted this important event several times, making him feel embarrassed and uneasy.

“What does he want to do? At this point in the wedding, is he planning to steal the bride? Never mind whether Ye Bing is willing or not; how can the eleven security teams in this entire building let him leave unscathed?”

As the inheritor of Jiangjin Real Estate, Jiang Chen was by no means a fool, and most of his former rash behavior was just an act.

Jiang Chen stared straight at me. Before this, he had never regarded me as someone important, after all, one was a top-tier prodigy living at the apex of society, while the other was just a gray-collar worker who relied on running an adult store for a living, seemingly a lowly figure amounting to a rat sewer.

The atmosphere was tense as the meticulously designed wedding program was disrupted, and the MC scrambled to find the right words to diffuse the awkwardness. Just as he was about to use his eloquence to save the situation, Jiang Chen snatched the microphone from his hand.

“I have some impressions of you. Your name is Gao Jian, right?” Jiang Chen’s voice echoed through the speakers placed around the hall, creating a feeling of being “ambushed from all sides”.

I stood by the table, ignoring him, and lit a cigarette in silence.

“This guy is so calm…”

“He’s the first person I’ve seen who dares to denigrate the Jiang family in public.”

“Secretary Zhang, gather information on this person for me when we get back.”

The wedding was attended not only by Jiang’s business partners but also by their competitors. The old foxes seemed to have sensed a hint of something unusual.

Realizing that I had no intention of responding, Jiang Chen’s face grew even worse. Unlike me, he was the main character today, representing Jiangjin Real Estate, and he couldn’t afford to lose face here.

Stepping down from the stage, this handsome and wealthy groom approached me. “I’m not an unreasonable person, Gao Jian. If you disagree, you have to give me a reason, right? Well said. I accept it. But if you’re deliberately causing trouble, don’t blame me for calling security.” His words were well-reasoned and unhurried, worthy of a young master from the Jiang family.

I exhaled a puff of smoke, looking at his twitching eyes, knowing that the anger in his heart was brewing and that he was enduring it. “Do I really need a reason to disagree? Okay, then. don’t think you have the means to give Ye Bing happiness.”

“What?” Jiang Chen could hardly believe his ears. This bastard actually said that he couldn’t give Ye Bing happiness?

“If I can’t give her happiness, do you think you, a person who smokes cheap cigarettes that cost five yuan a pack, can give her happiness?!”

“Jiang Chen has been treating me well. There is no man in this world who cares for me more than him,” said Ye Bing, walking over in her wedding gown before she came to a sudden halt. She seemed surprised to see so many guests at the table, as she had only invited me and didn’t know about the others, who had been brought in from other cities by Jiang Chen.

“The man who supposedly wants to take care of you for a lifetime is the same man who, on your most important day, plans to transfer the ghost child that was fostered on him to you. Is this what you call love?” I spoke in a soft voice that was only audible to Ye Bing, Jiang Chen, and the Tie Ningxiang next to me.

“What are you talking about?” The two women were confused, but at this moment, Jiang Chen’s face changed color. He could no longer conceal his anger and panic.

“He never liked you; he just saw you as a convenient tool, much like this new suit I just bought. I don’t actually like wearing formal attire, and I’ll throw it away once I leave here.”

“Nonsense!” Jiang Chen’s fists clenched hard, and his heart was filled with turmoil. Keeping ghost childs among wealthy families was a secret that couldn’t be revealed, and once exposed, it would be difficult to handle.

“Gao Jian, it’s no use saying anything now. Please stop bothering me. I also wish you can find your own happiness in the future, okay?” Ye Bing was confused and thought I had come forward because I wanted to be with her.

“Don’t worry; ever since you left to study abroad, I haven’t had any expectations of you. I only came forward today to repay a favor. Back then, when I was involved in the Rainy Night Serial Murder Case and was arrested, you were the only one in the class who believed in my innocence,” Gao Jian explained.

“Why are you bringing that up now….” Ye Bing’s voice became softer, as if she were recalling that time from five years ago. “We’ve grown up since then.”

“Yes, it’s precisely because we’ve grown up that I’ll only give you a reminder instead of sacrificing myself to save you like I did in the past.” The ash from the cigarette fell eerily as I looked at Ye Bing, who was avoiding eye contact.

“Remember what I said just now; this should be our final conversation between you and me.”

There was no need to stay here any longer. I looked past the shocked “old classmates” and at the scheming “guests” in the hall.

Although this wedding banquet was extremely expensive, it didn’t have much of a festive atmosphere. In fact, I really wanted to grab the microphone from Jiang Chen’s hand and speak my mind, “With all due respect, everyone here is trash.”

Jiang Chen noticed that I was about to leave, and his face changed. If he let me go like this, it would bring shame to the Jiang family. However, if he tried to stop me, who knows what kind of trouble would arise, and the wedding would be disrupted.

Neither stopping nor letting me go, when I turned around, a hint of malice suddenly surfaced on Jiang Chen’s face.

“Since you’re here, don’t rush to leave. Sit down and have a drink!” He placed his left hand on my shoulder, and at that moment I felt like I was being stared at by a venomous snake. A strange chill slowly crept up on my back.

If I were watching on my large-screen cell phone right now, I would be able to see the ghost child raised by Jiang Chen crawling towards me along his arm, and those two deformed little hands were clearly preparing to poke into my eye sockets!

I shuddered, feeling a sense of familiarity. This feeling was quite similar to the night when the ghost in the Peace of Mind Inn grabbed my neck from behind.

As the ghost was about to attack me, I quickly formed a hand seal using the Heavenly Thunder Tunder method that I had used before. I curved my fingers inward, with my index, middle, ring, and little fingers pressed together, and my thumb pressed against the fingernails of the four fingers, which produced a palm thunder Talisman seal in one go.

“Gao Jian, there are some people you can never provoke, destined to look up to them for the rest of your life. Today, I’ll give you a taste of despair first, and I’ll slowly play with you to death later!” Jiang Chen moved away from the microphone and spoke through gritted teeth in a voice that only the two of us could hear.

“Your anger has finally exposed your true nature,” I thought quickly, realizing the coldness behind me was the result of Jiang Chen casting some spell under his breath. I silently invoked the thunder talisman technique that Half-Immortal Liu had taught me.

“Still acting tough? Today, I’ll collect some interest first! Pluck out his eyes!” commanded Jiang Chen.

The icy feeling felt like two knives stabbing into my eyes, but I couldn’t just sit and wait for death.

“Thunder command, swift as a spark, omnipotent in all directions, make me one with nature. Spirit treasure, heavenly mandate, spread throughout the nine heavens. Cut off the evil and trap the demons; slay a thousand ghosts! Disperse the wickedness and let the Dao essence last forever!”

I formed the thunder talisman seal with my hand and struck Jiang Chen’s arm. Although I had no talisman in my hand, the residual power of the thunder talisman embyro was infused in my palm.

To outsiders, it might have looked like a simple pat on Jiang Chen’s arm, but the residual power of the thunder talisman directly injured the ghost child, causing it to scream and crawl back into Jiang Chen’s body.

Under normal circumstances, the power of this palm strike would not have been as great. However, its potency in this instance was due to the fact that the sun was shining brightly today, at a time of peak positive energy and human vitality. It was a well-known fact that evil spirits were particularly weak during such times; hence, these ghost childs weren’t as frightening.

Rather than causing any harm to me, this clash had the opposite effect, causing the small ghost to cower back into Jiang Chen’s body instead. This led to Jiang Chen suffering from a backlash that resulted in him being depleted of both blood and energy.

“You!” Jiang Chen’s arm felt like it had been struck by lightning, causing him to recoil and take a few steps back before stumbling and falling to the ground, knocking over a dining table in the process.

To be honest, I never anticipated that the backlash from the ghost child would have such severe consequences. Nonetheless, Jiang Chen only had himself to blame for his actions, and I had no sympathy for him whatsoever.

“Do you, as the inheritor of Jiangjin Real Estate, intend to stoop to the level of those petty criminals who engage in deceitful schemes? It’s clear to everyone here that I only lightly tapped you.”

Looking down from a position of superiority, I observed Jiang Chen, who once appeared so invincible, now sitting on the ground, his pristine white suit soaked in a rainbow of colors from the spilled food, which made him greatly resemble a free-range chicken.