Without another word, he glanced at Feng Zhengming, the Great Robe Inheritor of the Wind and Cloud Association, who had nimbly dodged aside and avoided falling into the water. Then, he turned and went back into the ship’s cabin.
Xu Li shook his head as he looked at Huang the Seventh Young Master from the Medicine Shop, who had volunteered to use the Medicine Shop’s influence to help him delve into the Earth Dragon Cave and find the Earth Treasure, the Jade Marrow Cold Lotus.
’I really couldn’t have stopped that Daoist, Fan Nansong, when he went berserk.’
Furthermore, the boy had brought this trouble on himself, which soured Xu Li’s opinion of him.
Even if his grandfather—one of the Nine Lords of the Upper Nine Professions that oversaw the Thirty-Six Professions and Hundred Trades and Livelihoods in Jiangyin Prefecture—were to come here himself, he couldn’t do a thing to Xu Li, no matter how much he doted on his only legitimate grandson.
So he remained silent on the matter, but before Xu Li could speak...
The drenched and silent Huang Xiuwen suddenly wiped the anger from his face and put on a smile.
"I’ve made a fool of myself in front of Mr. Xu."
"Brother Di Yuan, the previous Medicine Hall Master of the Wind and Cloud Association here in Anning County was a family-born son of my Huang Family’s Medicine Shop."
"It just so happens that Feng Zhengming of the Wind and Cloud Association wants to take control of Anning County’s Three Major Professions. This will make things convenient for our search for the Earth Treasure in the Earth Dragon Cave. You should go with him, and arrange for Mr. Xu to stay at the Medicine Hall."
"I will... go to the Wine Shop and inform Master Jiu, the County Magistrate. I have some history with Brother Jiu. It’s been a while, so this is a good chance to reconnect."
Seeing Huang Xiuwen’s expression, as if nothing at all had happened, Di Yuan narrowed his eyes.
’He certainly knows how to take a loss and move on.’
However...
’Can the arrogance of a Grand Lineage’s direct heir really be dismissed so lightly?’
Back when Di Yuan was in some poor, remote county, he had heard a local saying. The words were crude, but the principle was sound.
And that was...
The dogs that bite don’t bark.
But this was Huang Xiuwen’s problem. What the hell did it have to do with him?
With that thought, Di Yuan turned, his face a mask of warmth as he feigned concern.
"Of course. I already want to become Mr. Xu’s apprentice and learn his Qi Dao Alchemy Skill. It is only right and proper that I serve him and find him lodging."
"On that note, Younger Brother Huang, shouldn’t you go to the cabin for a hot shower?"
"You look..."
Huang Xiuwen tensed. In the freezing dusk, with its biting wind and flurries of snow, wisps of steam began to rise from his shoulder blades and spine...
After a long moment, once he had used his Qi and Blood to steam his clothes dry, he lowered his gaze and gave a small, shaking laugh.
"It’s nothing."
But beneath his lowered sleeves, his fists were clenched deathly tight.
...
「Ji Residence.」
As he followed Ji Xiu inside, Fan Nansong, who had traveled all the way from Flying Immortal Temple in Jiangyin Prefecture, finally understood.
It turned out that the one who inherited the legacy of the True Venerable of Ten Thousand Laws was not this boy named Ji Xiu, but his younger sister, Ji Wei!
The Daoist could have beaten his chest and stamped his feet in frustration. He had taken the Great Pill from his own disciple only to try and curry favor with the wrong person...
But seeing how close the siblings were, he could only try to find some solace in his frustration.
’This Ancestral Master is even willing to let her brother look at the Ten Thousand Laws Dao Seal Visualization Map... It seems their relationship is quite good.’
’If I think about it that way, pleasing the brother is the same as pleasing the sister, right?’
’Er, poor Xiaoyuzi. He’ll just have to swallow this bitter pill in silence.’
As he thought about the disciple he’d taken on for a fee, Fan Nansong was just starting to wonder where that disciple had taken the person this "Ancestral Senior Brother" wanted...
The next moment, a Jade-Horned Spirit Deer carrying a master and servant burst into the Ji Residence.
The moment she entered, her gaze fell upon Ji Xiu, with his tempered Golden Bone and formed True Flood Dragon Spine. The leader of the pair, Bai Shuo, her eyes shining brightly, whispered to herself:
’Exactly as I expected.’
She then immediately released a wisp of Dragon Seed Qi Essence, prompting Ji Xiu—who cultivated Mortal Transformation: Soaring Dragon Gate—to show a timely hint of "surprise."
Then, she leaped from the deer’s back and gracefully extended a slender arm toward Ji Xiu in a gesture of goodwill, smiling beautifully.
"Boss Ji, you... should know of my origins by now, yes?"
"And thank you, for what happened at the docks just now."
Abruptly, Bai Shuo’s expression turned serious.
"I see that your cultivation of your family’s Bone Tempering Technique has reached its final stage."
"Although I do not know how you obtained it..."
"Do you wish to break through the final shackles and achieve the Body Great Limit, Mercury Blood Silver Marrow?"
She saw Ji Xiu’s breathing clearly hitch for an instant.
"I can provide you with the method to break through the Second Great Limit."
"I only hope you can give me a promise in return. How about it..."
Bai Shuo got straight to the point, revealing just the tip of the iceberg before her words trailed off.
But in the rear courtyard, just as the cold wind howled and flurries of snow drifted down, a wisp of purple aura suddenly transformed into a vast river of qi, shooting straight into the heavens!
In that instant, Bai Shuo and Fan Nansong were both stunned.
"This is..."
"Someone has broken through the bottleneck to become a Qi Cultivation Grandmaster!?"