Chapter 2086: Required to Defeat Five Men

The five older brothers issued a challenge: if he wanted to marry their precious little sister, he had to defeat them.

Hua Jinyan gave a bitter smile. “And what exactly counts as beating you all?”

Cheng Guodong lifted his chin. “Have more money than me.”

Qin Xin smiled with narrowed eyes. “Just be a bit better than me at investing, that’s enough.”

Gu Yixing let out a cold laugh. “Can you be more popular than I am?”

Tao Shen pushed up his glasses. “Scientific research—can you do that?”

Tao Bin toyed with the latest weapon and giggled. “I’m not an expert at anything, but I can do a bit of everything, so I won’t make it hard for you. Just beat me in either weapon-making or martial skills, one of the two, and that’s fine.”

Five pairs of eyes fixed on Hua Jinyan. If this kid dared show even the slightest hint of retreat, then he was not someone they could entrust their sister’s life to.

Under the night sky, the man lifted his head. His eyes were deep and steady; his whole body radiated a leader’s aura. His face was resolute, his features sharp—not the current mainstream pretty-boy type, but the kind of hard-edged presence born for the top, awe-inspiring, trustworthy, making people feel safe.

Compared to frail, scholarly men, he was more like a General who strode across the battlefield.

Blade-like thick brows, a high, heroic nose straight as a Sword’s edge, lips with clear angles; when he turned serious, his gaze grew heavy, like an ancient well of a thousand years with no visible bottom, so deep it was impossible to fathom.

The five of them gasped in unison.

Gu Yixing coughed dryly. “Quit looking at us with that murderous gaze!”

Cheng Guodong: “We’re your future brothers-in-law, you know! Don’t look at us like we’re ants. Who do you think you are?”

Tao Shen frowned tightly.

Tao Bin leaned close to his real brother’s ear and muttered, “Got a little piece of intel—this year, the youngest General in Hua Country’s history appeared.”

Qin Xin was standing right beside Tao Bin; Tao Bin’s muttering landed in his ears, and Qin Xin drew in a deep breath.

He was the sharpest investor around, with the widest information network. He’d actually heard this news before, he’d just never taken it seriously at the time.

But now that the words came from Tao Bin’s mouth, their credibility shot up—because Tao Bin had come out of the army.

The five exchanged looks. In the end, Cheng Guodong stepped forward as their representative, working hard to project the aura of a big brother-in-law, schooling his face and voice into seriousness as he forced himself to say, “We’re not targeting you, specifically.”

“No matter who wants to marry away our precious little sister, we’ll make these demands.”

“After all, if you can’t even surpass the five of us, what right do you have to talk to us about protecting her?”

The five stood in a row, five pairs of eyes staring over without a shred of fear. This time, they did not flinch from the intimidation in Hua Jinyan’s gaze, but met it head-on.

Hua Jinyan’s lips curved, almost imperceptibly.

In that instant, it was as if he saw five colossal beasts before him, eyes firm, Majestic Lions who lived only to guard.

As if he was seeing, once again, those bygone days…

The Lion Tribe’s Majestic Lions guarding Little Beast Bai Bai.

Only that war… left the Lion Tribe with almost none of its people.

All these years, every night, he would enter dreams—just like Little Taotie had once entered those dreams—only from a different angle, entering from the War God’s vantage point to grasp the truth of what had happened.

Bit by bit he awakened the War God’s memories, and he came to understand how cruel that great battle back then had been.

Little Taotie had protected him by self-detonation, blocking for him the combined strike from five outsiders of the other Realm, and taking three lives with it; the remaining two were left covered in wounds.

When the Lion Tribe saw Little Taotie’s heroic self-detonation, those lions went mad. No matter the gap in strength, they all charged forward and dragged out the two injured enemies.

That was what bought the War God the time to seal the spatial rift, to block the entrance those outsiders from the other Realm used to enter the Three Thousand Worlds.