Ye Xiwen followed the attendant into Qingfeng Trading Company when a sudden shout stopped them both. "A'Wen!"
Ye Xiwen turned to look and saw Wang Lie striding over with delight written across his face. He laughed heartily. "So it's you, kid!"
"Greetings, Fourth Young Master!" The attendant bowed to Wang Lie.
"Fourth Young Master... this trading company belongs to your family?" Ye Xiwen was taken aback. He knew Wang Lie's family was a major power at the foot of the mountain, but he had never expected them to own Qingfeng Trading Company.
"That's right. Why are you here?" Wang Lie looked at Ye Xiwen in puzzlement.
"I accepted an escort mission, so I came here," Ye Xiwen said.
"You accepted this mission?" Wang Lie's expression turned somewhat grave. "All right, you can go. I'll take over from here."
After Wang Lie dismissed the attendant, Ye Xiwen spoke again. "What exactly is going on? Your family actually offered three thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones for this escort mission!"
"The reward this time isn't actually being paid by our family," Wang Lie said. Three thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones was no small sum for any force, let alone for just one person. If there were a few more people, the amount would directly exceed ten thousand.
"Our family is actually a trading company under the Tian Yuan City City Lord," Wang Lie explained slowly. "For years, our family has been gathering medicinal herbs and various other things for the City Lord's Mansion!"
"This time, we're escorting a batch of medicinal herbs to the City Lord's Mansion. The rewards are all being paid by the City Lord's Mansion. If our family had to pay them, it would truly sap our vitality!" Wang Lie said.
"What kind of medicinal herbs are so important that the City Lord's Mansion values them this much?" Ye Xiwen asked. Although Tian Yuan City was merely a small city on the borderlands of the Dayue Kingdom and could not compare with the great cities in the heartland of the Dayue Kingdom, it still had a population of over two hundred thousand. Including its affiliated towns, the total population exceeded five hundred thousand. The lives and deaths of those five hundred thousand people lay in the hands of the City Lord's Mansion. Moreover, it was close to Green Peak Mountain, where medicinal herbs were plentiful. With the City Lord's Mansion's strength, what medicinal herbs could possibly warrant such importance?
"I don't know either. Even my old man keeps it under wraps, so how could I possibly know?" Wang Lie said with a bitter smile.
Ye Xiwen could more or less understand. Wang Lie's family was not as harmonious as the Ye Family. Wang Lie's father had built up a considerable fortune, and Wang Lie had three ambitious elder brothers above him. Wang Lie was the youngest son, born to a maidservant. By the time he was born, his three elder brothers were already adults and had established considerable power of their own. Even his nephews and nieces were about his age. In truth, Wang Lie held little status in the Wang Family, which was why he would rather spend most of his time training bitterly on Green Peak Mountain than return home.
"I originally wanted to ask you for help, but I couldn't find you this past month," Wang Lie said.
"I went to the back mountain to train," Ye Xiwen replied without concealing anything.
"You're practically a cultivation maniac now!" Wang Lie said. Although he had been unable to see through Ye Xiwen's cultivation since their last meeting, Ye Xiwen's aura had clearly become ever more unfathomable over the past month.
Ye Xiwen smiled without speaking. Wang Lie's talent was actually quite good; otherwise, he would not always have advanced a little faster than Ye Xiwen. He was simply lazy by nature and muddled through his cultivation. Otherwise, he would have reached the Houtian Fifth Stage long ago.
As the two chatted and laughed, they arrived at a hall on the second floor of Qingfeng Trading Company. More than ten martial artists stood in small groups of three or five around the hall, each talking among themselves. They were all experts Qingfeng Trading Company had hired for this mission.
"Well, if it isn't Wang Lie?" Suddenly, a richly dressed young man walked over from among the dozen martial artists.
Wang Lie's face darkened. In a low voice, he explained to Ye Xiwen that this was his eldest brother's eldest son, Wang Ding, who had never gotten along with him.
"Tsk, tsk. Don't tell me this is the martial artist you found? The fuzz on his face hasn't even fallen off yet. Has he been weaned?" Wang Ding laughed without restraint.
"Hahahaha!" Wang Ding's words made the martial artists burst into laughter.
"You lot have eyes but fail to recognize Mount Tai! He's the champion of our Yi Yuan Sect's Sect Internal Competition!" Wang Lie said, his face flushed red.
"Hahaha, I've heard of Yi Yuan Sect's Sect Internal Competition. Even its champion is only the champion among Inner Disciples—a pack of pups who have never seen the world. Have they ever seen blood? I could take on five of them by myself!" A burly martial artist in his thirties laughed loudly.
The other martial artists wore expressions of agreement. Although Yi Yuan Sect enjoyed a great reputation, to these lone martial artists who licked blood from knife edges and traveled north and south, Yi Yuan Sect's disciples were nothing more than flowers raised in a greenhouse.
Every one of these martial artists was at least at the Houtian Sixth Stage. There was even one at the early Houtian Eighth Stage. Each had a fierce aura; they were all men who had seen blood and killed people.
Suddenly, Ye Xiwen moved. His figure flashed, and he stepped as if a heavenly immortal treading the void. In an instant, he appeared before the arrogant burly martial artist and brought a palm down upon him.
Bang! The burly martial artist was struck squarely. Several of his teeth shattered, and his body flew out like a kite with its string cut. He slammed viciously into the wall, creating dense spiderweb-like cracks before rolling down, his life or death unknown.
"You're courting death. Is Yi Yuan Sect something you can slander as you please?" Ye Xiwen said expressionlessly.
Silence!
The hall was so quiet that a needle dropping could be heard.
A martial artist at the Houtian Sixth Stage Peak had been slapped into a state where his life or death was unknown by Ye Xiwen.
The many martial artists were stunned. Then several of them immediately flew into a rage.
"He actually dared to hit Fourth Brother!"
"Cripple him!"
"Break every bone in his body!"
The martial artists nearby all erupted in anger and lunged at Ye Xiwen. Every one of them was at the Houtian Sixth Stage Peak or even the Houtian Seventh Stage, their momentum fierce and menacing.
Ye Xiwen showed no fear whatsoever. Stepping with Heavenly Immortal Steps, he charged forward as Thunderclap Hand erupted instantly.
Bang! One martial artist was struck by Ye Xiwen's palm and screamed as he was sent tumbling out the window.
Bang! Another martial artist was kicked by Ye Xiwen and slammed viciously into a pillar.
These martial artists were simply no match for Ye Xiwen. In just a few moves, he knocked every last one of them to the ground.
Today, I heard about something called Baidu Index. I searched it up and found that the most readers of my book were in Zhejiang, followed by Guangdong, Shanghai, and the surrounding areas. Ninety percent were male, yet there was surprisingly still ten percent female. The largest groups were university students and IT workers between the ages of twenty and twenty-nine. It seems the readers' age range has risen!
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