Not a Lecher

"Help Father?"

Hearing Ye Yonglie's explanation, Ye Qingshi finally remembered what he had just said: the young man before her had awakened a Heart Manifestation?

"Doesn't that mean he's even more powerful than my father?" Ye Qingshi was astonished.

Although she had never practiced martial arts before, as the hall master's daughter, she had picked up some basic knowledge by being around it. At the very least, she knew far more about martial arts than Fang Can did.

She often heard her usually resolute father sigh unconsciously whenever he saw the Heavenly Secret Ranking in the Martial Hall.

After it happened enough times, she understood the reason behind his sighs: he had made no progress in martial arts for ten years. Aside from improving his skills, he seemed to have reached the limit of his talent.

"So this young man can help Father improve?" Ye Qingshi gazed at the handsome young man before her. Her slender fingers unconsciously pinched the corner of her green skirt as she wrestled with whether to agree to his request for assistance.

Of course, she could tell the young man was interested in her (not really). He probably wanted to get close to her by taking advantage of living nearby (he absolutely did). But propriety between men and women mattered; even if she wanted to help her father, she couldn't bring herself to go that far.

While she was still hesitating, Ye Yonglie had already made the decision for his daughter. "Yuan Dang, Li Fei, go tidy up a room for Young Hero Fang—the one to the right of Qing Shi's."

At that, Yuan Dang froze on the spot. He had to tidy a room for Fang Can so the man could get closer to his senior sister? That was just rubbing salt in the wound.

Fang Can smiled at the two disciples, Yuan Dang and Li Fei. "Sorry for the trouble. I didn't bring much luggage, so just make sure the room is tidy."

With Yuan Dang and his senior brother heading off to tidy the room, their faces full of resentment, Ye Yonglie smiled and said, "Qing Shi, Young Friend Fang has just arrived at the Martial Hall. Take him around the area for me and help him get familiar with the surroundings."

Even the slowest person would have understood what her father meant, but a father's word was law. No matter how unhappy she was, the girl could only suppress her feelings and say somewhat glumly to Fang Can, "Come with me. I'll show you around."

Seeing the girl's obvious displeasure, Fang Can followed her out of the hall with an impassive expression.

Only after they reached an empty corner did Ye Qingshi turn around with a cold look and point at Fang Can. "You..."

"I know what you mean." Fang Can cut her off before she could finish. "Master Ye thinks I'm interested in you, so he wants to bring us together. But you don't feel the same way and want to tell me to give up, right?"

"Uh—" Ye Qingshi stared at Fang Can's words, stunned for a moment. "That's right, so..."

"Don't worry. I'm a clean person, so I'm not all that interested in beautiful young women with basic biological needs."

Fang Can smiled politely. "Over the next few days, apart from sticking around you, I won't do anything inappropriate. You can tell the hall master that directly, too."

"You..." A faint flush of anger rose on Ye Qingshi's face.

This man was unlike anyone she had ever met. He'd already said everything she wanted to say. What was she supposed to say now?

Fang Can, however, remained calm. He knew that the only obstacle to staying by the girl's side was the Lieyang Hall Master.

In this ancient world of arranged marriages and parental authority, children had no control over their own lives.

That was even more true for Ye Qingshi, who had never practiced martial arts. She wouldn't even have a say in the most important decisions of her life.

Ye Yonglie was practically becoming Fang Can's filial son just to improve his martial arts. As long as Fang Can didn't go too far, there'd be no problem with him staying close to the girl.

So Fang Can had decided to lay his cards on the table from the start and tell her exactly where he stood.

"Then... what are you trying to do?" Ye Qingshi asked, her lovely, pale face full of confusion. "You say you don't like me, but you keep following me around. Don't you think that's contradictory?"

"It's not contradictory." Fang Can shook his head and answered frankly. "For the next few days, as long as it doesn't disrupt your life, I'm going to stay by your side. I hope you won't mind."

How could she not mind? Ye Qingshi fumed inwardly. The good impression she had just begun to form of him vanished at once.

She knew there was no reasoning with this blockhead. She decided to go back that evening and complain about Fang Can to her father, so he would send him away.

After using a string of sigma-male lines to kill the conversation, Fang Can fell silent and followed Ye Qingshi. All the while, he slowly circulated the Tiger-Subduing Dragon-Taming Golden Body, letting its vibrations reach every corner of his body.

And so, while Ye Qingshi led the way and Fang Can silently practiced his martial arts—two activities with absolutely no interaction between them—

After spending more than ten minutes showing him around almost the entire Martial Hall, Ye Qingshi heard Fang Can finally speak up. "Could you stop for a moment?"

"What did you say?" Ye Qingshi had been surprised to hear him speak at last, but she didn't understand what he meant.

Of course, you keep walking around, and it's messing with my signal for practicing. My cultivation efficiency keeps going up and down, Fang Can grumbled inwardly. But he worried that saying so might upset the girl and make her less cooperative.

After thinking it over, he said, "My cultivation method requires Miss Ye to stay by my side."

"Me? What does that have to do with me?" Ye Qingshi asked suspiciously.

"My martial arts efficiency is tied to my mood. The happier I am, the better the results." Fang Can stared at Ye Qingshi's breathtakingly beautiful face. "And Miss Ye is beautiful."

"Just as seeing something beautiful lifts your mood, I need to stay close to Miss Ye to improve my cultivation efficiency. This is my cultivation method. There's no other reason—I simply want to feel happy."

"W-what are you saying?" Caught off guard by the sudden compliment, Ye Qingshi took two steps back in embarrassment. Fang Can immediately took two steps forward, doing his best to keep the Wi-Fi signal from weakening.

"This concerns martial arts. I hope you'll allow me to stay by your side over the next few days," Fang Can said solemnly. Once his lechery was dressed up as martial arts, he sounded completely serious.

Because of the Idealist Martial Dao, this world had all sorts of systems and cultivation methods.

So Ye Qingshi couldn't tell whether he was dressing up his lechery as martial arts, or whether his cultivation really required it.

The girl stammered, "Then... y-you can follow me if you want."

"Then could I ask Miss Ye to stop somewhere and rest for a while, so I can cultivate using your peerless beauty?"

"W-well... There's a pavilion up ahead. I'm tired of walking too, so let's rest there for a bit." Two rosy patches appeared on Ye Qingshi's cheeks as she spoke.

The two of them entered the pavilion. Ye Qingshi sat upright on a stone bench and gently fanned her face, trying to dispel the heat.

As for Fang Can, true to his word, once the signal base station stopped moving, he calmly sat cross-legged and circulated his energy, practicing his technique as though no one else were there.