After leaving the square, Austin headed straight to the Royal Palace where a large number of palaces
were located.
Austin's palace was located in that area too. Since he had been away from home for a long time, he
went straight to his palace.
As he approached his residence, he found over twenty men near the closed door. Some of them kicked
the door aggressively shouting, some spitted on the door and some even threw stones into the yard.
'What's going on in there? They are not my men.
Who dared to send them to stir up trouble in my palace?' he wondered.
Austin stood still and kept observing the mob. They acted in a bossy, rude manner.
The door opened, and out came a middle-aged man, followed by dozens of guards.
The man who took the lead was Mike. Before Austin had entered the Mysterious Nether World, he had
asked him to take charge of his palace.
"Guys, what's your business here?" Mike inquired with a little frown.
His voice was full of caution as if he was afraid of those people.
Austin was baffled. 'All those guys are at the eighth or ninth level of the Energy Gathering Realm
except one of them who is at preliminary stage of Earth Realm. Mike is a cultivator of the Earth Realm.
Why is he behaving like this?'
"Hmm. How dare you ask us? Send your men to clean up our master's yard. From now, you will assign
servants to tidy our master's palace. And you will also send a dozen maids to serve our master," the
guard at the preliminary stage of the Earth Realm spoke in a domineering manner.
It looked like he was the leader of those people.
"What? But I already sent people to do the cleaning this morning."
There was exasperation and resignation in Mike's voice.
"Our master, Soren, said that your men need to come over there to do the cleaning twice in a day—in
the morning and in the evening—from today onwards.
Besides, you need to pay us five thousand vital energy crystals daily instead of a thousand from now,"
the guard continued scornfully.
"Five thousand vital energy crystals every day!
You're going too far. We've already paid you a thousand vital energy crystals daily for a month. When
do we stop paying you?"
Mike responded indignantly.
"You speak too much. You should be thankful that our master allows you to live here instead of kicking
you out. Now what? You got a problem with that?
Our master said you either pay vital energy crystals or move out of here. If you defy him, our master
will take care of you in person. At that time, all of you will be dead or badly injured. That's all I can tell.
It's your decision now, old man," the guard snorted and raised his chin with contempt all over his face.
"The emperor granted this palace to our master. Who has given your master the authority to throw us
out?" Mike snapped, trembling with anger.
Obviously he was simmering with rage, but he was trying hard to control his temper as if there were
some concerns and reasons that bothered him.
The leader of the guards burst into laughter as if he had heard a funny joke.
"So what? There are hundreds of special guests in this place, and the emperor provided each of them
with a palace.
And that Austin is just a brat. He acts arrogantly and creates trouble only because he is stronger than
some people. Our master says he needs to teach him a lesson so that he will learn to behave himself."
"I see. But who is Soren?" Austin murmured curiously.
'Who the hell is Soren? Why did he ask Mike to pay him a thousand vital energy crystals and send
people to clean up his palace daily over the past month?'
Austin could tell by the guard's tone that Soren did this on purpose, probably to give him a hard time.
Since he had messed with many people, he speculated that Soren intended to confront him for some of
his enemies.
Meanwhile, he got to know that the palaces in the Royal Palace were inhabited by the special guests of
the royal family.
The so-called special guests of the royal family were cultivators with a good cultivation base whom the
emperor had recruited. The royal family provided them with a comfortable life, and when they were
needed, they would work for the emperor.
'When I won the first place in the Outstanding Talents Exchange Games, the emperor gave me this
palace. It looks like he planned to bribe me with this to be loyal to the royal family, ' Austin analyzed.
"It looks like Soren is one of the special guests of the royal family. But now that he has provoked me, I'll
make him pay a heavy price," he muttered.
Austin sneered in contempt before making his way to his residence.
"Are you giving us the vital energy crystals or not? I don't have all day. Don't try my patience," the
leader of the guards shouted at him because Mike didn't give him a reply.
"What is it, Mike? Why are there so many jerks shouting around here?"
Austin's voice reached Mike's ears.
Upon hearing the words, Mike was relieved and overjoyed. He looked in the direction where the voice
came from and saw a good-looking lad walking towards him slowly. It was Austin.
He gushed, "You're back, Austin!"
The arrogant guard was taken aback. He was surprised. With a stunned expression, he asked, "You're
Austin?"
He was bullying Austin's men in his palace, but didn't expect to meet Austin.
The next moment, he tried to get rid of his shock, and the haughty expression appeared on his face
again.
"Austin, here you are! Our master, Soren, has asked you to come over and kneel before him. Since
you're new here, my master wants to help you learn some rules," the leader of the guards said smugly.
'Not surprising to see that he is such a coward. He is acting so aggressively because of his master, '
Austin sneered.
"Who the hell is Soren? I've never heard about that loser before. How dare he ask me to bow to him?"
Austin said dismissively.
The group of guards who were surrounding the door flared up instantly at his remarks as if he had
insulted the person they worshiped the most.
"Do you have any idea what you're talking about?"
"How dare you!"
"What a rude guy!"
The leader of the guards went ballistic. Pointing at Austin, he thundered, "That's so rude of you!
You have the guts to insult our master! You're as good as dead, brat. Just wait!"
"Hmmm!"
Austin's face was calm and he raised his hand.
It happened in an instant and the overbearing guard received a hard slap on his face.
A loud noise cut through the air.
It was so quick that the guy who got slapped didn't even realize what had happened. The right side of
his face started swelling up. He fell on the ground and blood seeped out through his teeth.
"You're just a nobody. How dare you behave so aggressively? You're being ridiculous," Austin said
defiantly, shaking his head.
In fact, he lost interest in dealing with those cultivators at the Energy Gathering Realm. If the guard
hadn't behaved in such a domineering manner, he wouldn't have made a move against him.
After all, those cultivators at the Energy Gathering Realm were too weak for Austin. If Austin got
serious, he could kill a hundred cultivators of that level with one blow.
The guard struggled to lift himself up from the ground but failed. The others helped him up. Glaring at
Austin, he hollered furiously, "You.. Bastard! You have the nerve to hit me! You are going to pay for this!
I swear!"
While he uttered, his teeth started to fall out by the impact of that slap from Austin. As a result, bloody
spittle flew out from his mouth when he spoke.
Austin was getting impatient and wanted to stop him before he could finish his words.
And another slap landed on the guard's face. Another deafening sound echoed around. The guard tried
to dodge it but he couldn't move an inch due to Austin's strong power.
As a result, he could do nothing but watch Austin's hand fall on his face.
This time the left side of his face started to swell up and he was thrown into the air by the impact.
Blam! He fell on the ground over thirty meters away from where he had been. He moaned in pain while
covering his puffy face.
"Tell your master to get his ass over here and apologize to me by kneeling before me. Otherwise, he
will be in a lot of trouble," Austin warned gravely.
He was in no mood to waste time on those people. He turned around and walked into the yard of his
palace.
"Let's get inside first.
And about those guys still standing there, ask our men to break their hands and legs before letting
them leave," Austin said to Mike coldly.
He would show no mercy to those who bullied his men in his palace.
Mike followed the order. He instructed thirty guards of Austin's palace to surround those guys who were
about to leave and beat them up.
Soon screams were heard in front of the door. Austin's crew had been bullied by those guys, and they
were angry at them. After getting their master's order, they punched those provocative guards to their
heart's content to get even with them.
The moment Austin got inside, all of his guards, maids and servants ran to him with great delight. They
were about to kneel before him but he stopped them with a wave of his hand.
He felt uncomfortable with those practices and rituals. He even detested them. It was troublesome to
him.
With rapture evident on their faces, they greeted him, "Master, you're finally home!" They were cheerful
to see him again.
Tears of joy filled up the eyes of several servants.
Apart from delight, a trace of anger and mortification was visible on their faces. It was apparent that
they had suffered a lot during their master's absence.
Austin observed his servants discreetly and detected their emotions. 'It looks like Soren's men have
dropped by here often and have been hard on them, ' he surmised.
Evan and Herbert made their way to Austin the moment they were informed of their friend's return.
"Tin, you're finally back!" they exclaimed with joy.
"What happened to both of you?" Austin asked with furrowed eyebrows.
The bruises on their faces caught his attention. It was evident that the two had been beaten up.
Herbert's right arm and foot were wrapped in thick bandage, which suggested that he had been badly
hurt.
"You must avenge me. Look at me. I was a handsome young man, but now I look like hell.
It is all because of Soren. He sent people here and stirred up trouble. I was upset with what his men did
and fought with them. As a result, I ended up like this," Herbert whined.
'Soren again, ' Austin thought, fury rising in his eyes.
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