Experts of Three Provinces and One Metropolis Gather

At this moment, Peter Ling steadied himself. Even though so many people had just arrived and the seats on Ryan's side were nearly full, Peter wasn't panicking—he still had the heads of the Tan Family and Xu Family, two of Jinling's top clans, on his side.

The Ten Great Clans of Goldridge—what a reputation! Just the prestige of one such clan could match at least half of Ryan's supporters. So even though Peter was startled, he wasn't flustered. He quickly regained his composure.

"No need to say more, and no need to overthink it. Our original plan stands—just do what we agreed on. Got it?" Peter glanced at the Tan and Xu Family heads, who were still calmly sipping tea. He felt plenty confident.

"Understood, sir!"

"Got it. That kid may have called in a bunch of people and come prepared, but if he wants to fight us, his crew is still green!" Linda Ling snorted. Her high-and-mighty, dismissive attitude was exactly the same as Peter Ling's.

"Sir, I think the auspicious hour has already passed!" The butler quickly reminded him. With all the chaos from the Seven Cities of Jiangdong crowd, the ancestral ceremony was running late.

"All right, I'll just..." Peter Ling cleared his throat, already back to being calm. But just as he was about to step up and speak, a Confucius Temple staff member hurried over, sounding anxious.

"Mr. Ling, Ryan's side sent word—they've still got more guests coming, and they want you to wait a bit!"

"What kind of important guest needs me to sit around waiting? I'm not waiting—it's already past the auspicious hour!" Peter Ling snorted, clearly no longer caring about the folks from Haizhou or Wuzhou.

But just then, the usher suddenly shouted, "From Dragonridge: Herb-King Simon Sun! Righteous Unity Sect Master Warren Yuan! Taiyi Sect Leader Daoist Master Xuanlong! Golden Sword Gate Master Franklin Fu!"

"People from Jiangdong and Jiangbei showed up too? Just how many connections does this kid have?" Peter Ling's heart skipped a beat.

The Tan and Xu Family heads, who had been calmly drinking tea, all set down their cups. The earlier arrivals weren't surprising, but the Dragonridge Herb-King and the three major Daoist sect leaders? Those were names they'd only heard about. In their circles, these people had real status—even if they went to invite them personally, they'd never get them all at once.

Clearly, even they were starting to realize they'd underestimated Ryan.

And among them, the Tan Family head Howard Tan was actually Eric Tan's father. His son had been publicly humiliated by Ryan—he'd known all along who was responsible. The fact that he personally came to the Confucius Temple today was mostly because of Ryan. He wanted his son to get justice, but he also wanted to see Ryan for himself.

He'd had his own plan, but now he couldn't help hesitating. Ryan's people just kept coming, one wave after another—and it looked like there was no end in sight.

Just as Howard Tan was thinking this, the usher called out again: "President of the Provincial Capital Chamber of Commerce and Chen Family head Jinbiao Chen! Hongyuan Group chairman Henry Lin! Vice Governor Howard Hao of East River State!"

The moment those names were announced, Peter Ling's face completely changed. These weren't just local big shots anymore—they were province-level heavyweights. Even the Tan and Xu Family heads stood up. These people could stand shoulder to shoulder with them, at least.

"What the hell did Ryan do to win over the whole East River Province? Did he climb up to someone really big?"

"Definitely! He must've latched onto some big shot. That kid's luck is off the charts!"

"No kidding, the whole province is showing up like they're on a pilgrimage. Whoever this big shot is, they've gotta be something else!"

......

Watching all these wealthy elites crowd around Ryan's table—so many that there weren't enough seats and people were starting to stand—Peter Ling's camp stared in disbelief. Peter himself was eaten alive with jealousy. He'd meant to use this event to establish himself as the true heir of the Ling Family, but now Ryan was stealing the spotlight.

"Ryan, cheer up—everyone's here, and the real show hasn't even started!" At that moment, Angie Chen hurried over to Ryan's side, acting super close.

Peter Ling saw this and suddenly felt like he'd figured it all out.

"So that's it—he latched onto the Chen Family! No wonder so many people showed up; they're giving face to the Chen Family, not to him. How could some wild kid at eighteen possibly rally all the province's big shots? No way!"

Tommy Ling overheard this and felt both jealous and envious. He was supposed to be the Ling Family's heir, the future head of the clan, and he'd always dreamed of having a girlfriend as gorgeous as Angie Chen. But Ryan had somehow snatched her away. What did that loser have, anyway? Tommy honestly wanted to drag Angie Chen into his arms right then. She was famous as the Provincial Capital's beauty queen, and even back in Goldridge, Tommy had tried more than once to meet her.

"Who knows what shady trick he used to hook up with the Chen Family? It's nothing special—Chen's heiress must've just been confused for a moment and got tricked. I'll come up with a plan to mess things up for them!" Seeing Tommy's jealous face, Linda Ling leaned in to comfort him.

She clearly agreed with Peter Ling's theory: Ryan hadn't hooked up with the Su Family, but with the Chen Family—who were a hundred times more powerful. The Chen Family was one of East River Province's absolute top clans, and Jinbiao Chen was the Chamber of Commerce president. No wonder so many people showed up for him.

But just as Linda was plotting to send some hot girl to seduce Ryan and snap some photos to ruin his relationship with Angie Chen, Sophie Su suddenly walked over, grabbed Ryan's arm, and said, "Ryan, Angie is right—cheer up! Today's a big day for us, and for your parents too!"

This chapter isn't over yet~ Please click next page for more awesome content!

"That's right, Ryan, smile for us! If your parents' spirits could see you in the spotlight today, they'd be absolutely thrilled!"

"Exactly, Ryan! Give us a smile, or I won't let you off!"

......

With Sophie Su's gentle encouragement, Lily Liu, Cindy Sun, and even Rose Yates all came over. Each one was openly affectionate with Ryan, some nearly pressed up against him.

This scene was just unreal!

Linda Ling's face went completely pale!

Tommy Ling was so jealous he was about to cry!

Peter Ling felt like he'd been struck by lightning. This wasn't Ryan just climbing up the Chen Family tree—this was Ryan being crowned as the king of East River Province! All those beauties flocking to him, this was every man's ultimate dream!

"What exactly did Ryan do? Who is he, really?" Peter Ling kept asking himself, feeling like he hardly recognized his own nephew anymore.

Even an idiot could see it now—Ryan hadn't tried to curry favor with anyone. It was all these people who had come to him, their eyes full of sincere admiration.

"Wait, could this kid be connected to that huge Provincial Capital incident last month?" Suddenly Howard Tan snapped to attention, nearly dropping his teacup.

"You mean the Azure Dragon Society getting wiped out?" Stanley Xu broke into a cold sweat. Peter Ling perked up his ears, too—he'd vaguely heard about a big incident in East River Province, but all the news had been censored. The Jinling Military Region had taken over security, and every bit of information was locked down. But he knew enough to realize this was huge. Hearing two top local patriarchs discuss it, he listened even more closely.

"That's right, that incident. The one who destroyed the Azure Dragon Society was also named Ling, just like this young man. I heard he was from Harbor City too—it's probably him!" Howard Tan slapped his forehead, annoyed he hadn't thought of it sooner.

"No way, that's impossible!" Peter Ling was reeling. He'd spent the last ten years in Goldridge, barely keeping up with news from home. But now, hearing all this—and seeing everything today—it seemed like all the evidence pointed to Ryan!

Even so, deep down he just couldn't accept that the nephew he'd always looked down on was actually that suddenly famous prodigy.

One man had killed sixteen Void-Realm experts!

It was such a jaw-dropping event—how could it possibly be him?

But just then, the usher outside suddenly shouted in shock, "V-Void-Realm experts have arrived—and there's more than one..."