Ye Xuzhang was strolling through the streets with his wife when suddenly, there was a noise from above, and a wine glass came hurtling toward him. Not wanting to reveal that he knew martial arts, he didn't dodge and allowed the glass to hit him on the head.
"Ouch."
Ye Xuzhang winced in pain.
"What happened?" Qi Yixuan quickly rushed over in concern. When she saw the glass on the ground, she immediately understood everything. In her heart, she cursed, I told you to stage an accident, not to throw a wine glass! Couldn't you have used something lighter?
"Are you alright, husband?" Qi Yixuan said, her voice full of worry as tears nearly welled up in her eyes.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Ye Xuzhang replied, rubbing his head.
"Hey, Young Master, I'm so drunk that I accidentally dropped the wine glass. Please allow me to apologize."
From the top floor of Yunlai Inn, a beautiful, alluring woman leaned out of the window with a flirtatious smile.
Ye Xuzhang waved his hand, "Since it was an accident, there's no need to worry."
The woman giggled. "You're such a gentleman."
With a graceful leap, she jumped down from the building, landing lightly in front of Ye Xuzhang and his wife.
She gave a playful curtsy and smiled, "Young Master, you're truly handsome. I am Li Mei'er, here to apologize."
Li Mei'er? The head of the newly emerged sect, the Soul-Collecting Pavilion?
Ye Xuzhang never expected to meet her here.
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Ye Xuzhang cupped his hands in greeting. "So it's the famous Li Pavilion Master of Cangxi. I am Ye Xuzhang. It's an honor."
"Oh?" Li Mei'er's eyes lit up. "So it's Young Master Ye."
"Heh, I was actually planning to visit Ye Mansion to discuss some business matters with you."
"Since we've met by chance, there's no need to make that trip."
Li Mei'er gazed at Ye Xuzhang with longing eyes, her voice soft and seductive.
Ye Xuzhang couldn't help but smile wryly, knowing that this woman had taken a liking to him. Otherwise, why would she cancel a visit to Ye Mansion so easily just after meeting him?
He'd encountered similar situations before.
At seventeen, he had once been kidnapped by a female bandit, only to be saved by Daoist Tianfeng. Fortunately, he had escaped the bandit's clutches unharmed.
He could only hope Li Mei'er knew her limits.
Sighing, Ye Xuzhang replied, "Thank you, Pavilion Master Li. I still have some matters to attend to, so I must take my leave."
With that, he quickly took his wife's hand and walked away.
Li Mei'er was actually Mei Yu in disguise!
Qi Yixuan had been looking for a reason to have one of her subordinates take proper care of her husband. After considering various plans, none seemed suitable. Eventually, Mei Yu suggested the idea of pretending to have fallen for Ye Xuzhang. This way, she could properly offer him benefits without suspicion.
The chance encounter today was part of their long-planned strategy.
…………………………
In the following weeks, Mei Yu, using the name of the Soul-Collecting Pavilion, frequently sent large gifts to Ye Mansion. Sometimes it was rare treasures, other times it was large sums of money. She even helped Ye family secure several more jade mines.
Of course, she often invited Ye Xuzhang to meet, but each time he politely declined.
Sometimes when he went out, Mei Yu would find opportunities to "bump" into him, but Ye Xuzhang always maintained his distance and kept his decorum. As for the gifts, he didn't want to accept them, but members of the Soul-Collecting Pavilion were insistent and seemed ready to cause trouble if he refused.
In order to maintain peace for Ye Mansion, Ye Xuzhang had no choice but to accept them.
As time passed, Mei Yu and the others began to develop a certain respect for Ye Xuzhang.
"Haha, our son-in-law really is unaffected," one of them said.
"I've tried all sorts of tricks to tempt him, but he doesn't even look at me."
Xue Tong quipped, "Maybe you're too old. You've lost your charm."
Mei Yu shot him a glare and huffed, "Shut up!"
"I'm only over 200 years old, still in my prime!" she retorted.
The Great Evil King sneered, "Old monster."
Seven Fingers Divine Lord sighed, "Instead of wasting time with these useless comments, we should focus on finding that mysterious swordsman and the other powerful expert."
"We've been looking for so long, and still have no leads."
Xue Tong asked, "Do you think they've left Cangxi?"
Seven Fingers Divine Lord shook his head, "I'm not sure. Whether they've left or not, since the Cult Leader has given the order, we must keep searching."
The Demon Cult was at its wit's end over the two mysterious experts. After countless searches, they had still found no results.
Eventually, they gave up, all agreeing that the two experts had likely already left Cangxi.
Time passed quickly, and another six months went by.
A lot had happened in the martial world that year.
First, a mysterious swordsman killed Hun Tian Divine Lord and climbed to seventh on the Mysterious Ranking.
Second, two senior monks from the Mahayana Sect, Xuan Ye and Xuan Ji, had fallen. The Mahayana Sect blamed the Demon Cult for their deaths and joined forces with multiple Buddhist factions, clashing with the Demon Cult in nearly a hundred battles. There were casualties on both sides, but overall, the Demon Cult held the upper hand.
Third, Ye Xuzhang's ancestor, Ye Qingtian, returned.
Fourth, the Zhang family of Zhongzhou wiped out the Hun Tian Sect.
Fifth, by the end of the year, news spread that the Buddhist Sect had found the reincarnated Living Buddha. Once the Living Buddha consumed the Seven Treasure Relic, he would unite the entire Buddhist world.
This last piece of news caused great concern.
Everyone knew that if it were true, a great battle would soon erupt between the Buddhist Sect and the Demon Cult, shaking the very foundation of the martial world!
No one knew how many factions would be drawn into this conflict, nor how many lives would be lost.
In the meantime, Ye Xuzhang, though he had not triggered any new sign-in tasks, had made rapid progress in his cultivation, thanks to the immense power of the Ghost Valley Breath Control technique and the constant absorption of the Yin-Yang Essence from the wooden box, which continued to strengthen his inner energy.
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