I'll spank you~

"Tsk, that's truly outrageous. I feel like once you become a Titled Douluo, no one on the entire Douluo Continent will be a match for you."

A trace of smugness appeared on Dugu Bo's face.

After all, Ji Hongchen had promised to marry his granddaughter. In that sense, they already counted as family.

But that still wasn't enough.

A sense of urgency welled up inside Dugu Bo.

Yanzi wasn't a little girl anymore, and her love was still one-sided. Time waited for no one.

Besides, Yanzi was already nineteen. At her age, his son had already been born a year earlier, yet she still wasn't in the least bit anxious.

It looked like he would have to resort to the old method.

Jian Chen Xin, meanwhile, looked envious. He simply wondered whether Ji Hongchen's Martial Soul could be inherited. If it could, the title of the world's strongest tool Martial Soul would likely change hands.

Three days later.

Ji Hongchen first paid a visit to the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect.

He didn't have many rare minerals on hand.

He planned to raid the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect's treasury first, then return home to cultivate at his leisure. After all, he now had another Sun-Piercer to upgrade, and the resources required were staggering.

Jian Chen Xin went to find Ning Fengzhi first.

Before long, Ning Fengzhi emerged with a walking stick. His face looked more weary, and his formerly refined bearing now carried a touch of world-worn exhaustion.

In just half a month.

No one knew what the sect master of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect had been through.

"Ahem, Hongchen, you're back."

Ning Fengzhi smiled and beckoned to him.

But Ji Hongchen quickly noticed that Ning Fengzhi's smile was somewhat strained, and his hands were trembling slightly.

Yikes~

Just how hard has he been working?

He'd better not die in bed!

"Father-in-law, you..."

Ji Hongchen hesitated.

Ning Fengzhi waved a hand. "It's nothing. I'm just a little tired, but it's no big problem. I have a feeling things will get better soon."

Forget it.

Let Ning Fengzhi do as he pleased. Trying to make babies every day was still better than running around stirring up trouble.

Ning Fengzhi had already learned of Ji Hongchen's talent.

He decided on the spot to increase his investment.

"Hongchen, here are fifty million Gold Soul Coins as support from our Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect. There are also the metals and minerals the sect has collected recently. Take them all."

"Thank you, Father-in-law."

Ji Hongchen accepted the Storage Soul Tool.

A sweep of his mental power revealed the vast quantities of metals and minerals lying inside.

The Gold Soul Coins were piled into a small mountain.

Leaving Nine Treasures City.

Ji Hongchen returned to Heaven Dou City.

When they arrived home, Dugu Yan stood at the entrance with Ye Lingling to welcome them.

"Grandpa, you finally remembered to come back?"

Seeing Dugu Bo return only after several months, Dugu Yan spoke with some displeasure.

She had already reached level forty.

However, following Ji Hongchen's instructions, she hadn't absorbed a Soul Ring. Over the past few days, she had been using whale rubber to steadily strengthen her body, aiming for a ten-thousand-year ring for her Fourth Soul Skill.

At that thought, Dugu Yan's gaze fell on Ji Hongchen.

When she discovered another woman at his side, she immediately turned her head away in a huff.

Seeing this, Ji Hongchen stepped forward.

"Yanzi, I've prepared a little gift for you."

"A gift?"

Dugu Yan looked at Ji Hongchen in confusion.

Ji Hongchen flipped his hand, and a blue pill appeared in his palm. "This pill can increase your mental power and help you resist the soul shock from a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring."

Dugu Yan accepted the pill.

Her face flushed slightly as she looked at Ji Hongchen, and her heart fluttered.

How could I talk to him like that? Wasn't I too rude?

"Ahem, Yanzi, Grandpa needs to go into seclusion to cultivate for the next few days. Home won't be a suitable place for you to stay, so why don't you stay at Hongchen's house for now?"

The moment Dugu Bo finished speaking.

Three gazes landed on him in unison.

Dugu Yan's pretty face reddened slightly, her eyes filled with shyness.

Ning Rongrong rolled her eyes at Dugu Bo. What a Poison Douluo-his abacus was clacking loud enough for everyone to hear.

Xiao Wu tightened her grip on Ji Hongchen's sleeve.

"Ahem, I have something to take care of at home. I'll be leaving."

Sensing that something was amiss.

Dugu Bo coughed dryly a few times, then left without looking back.

Watching Dugu Bo leave.

Ji Hongchen turned toward Dugu Yan. "Yanzi, stay at my place for the next few days. Besides, all three of you are about to break through, so you need to make the most of your time absorbing whale rubber."

"What about me?"

At that moment, Ye Lingling, who hadn't said a word, pointed at herself.

"Do I have to leave too?"

Damn, I almost forgot about quiet little Ye Lingling.

"Lingling can come along too. It's just normal cultivation, nothing special."

Ji Hongchen spoke in a perfectly serious tone.

Ye Lingling was only sixteen, but she had grown into a graceful young woman. Her face still retained its youthful innocence, with a hint of baby fat.

"Okay."

Ye Lingling walked over to Dugu Yan's side.

The four girls and one boy returned home.

Ji Hongchen first prepared the whale rubber for body tempering, then began handing out pills to the four of them for pill refining.

But that evening.

He called Ye Lingling into his room alone.

"Lingling, do you want to learn pill refining?"

"Pill refining?"

Ye Lingling looked at Ji Hongchen. "You mean those little pills you gave us today?"

"That's right."

Ji Hongchen nodded and continued, "The Ye Family is well versed in pharmacology. You should pick it up quickly. I can teach you."

He placed great value on the Ye Family's legacy of pharmacological knowledge.

If he could bring the Ye Family into his service, he could establish his own faction in the future, much like the Clear Sky Sect's four affiliated sects.

Ye Lingling took a deep breath and said earnestly, "I'd like to."

Ji Hongchen nodded in satisfaction.

Then he took out a pill furnace and lit a fire beneath it using some special plants.

"Come on, Lingling. Follow what I do."

Ji Hongchen taught Ye Lingling pill refining, guiding her hands himself.

Ye Lingling studied diligently.

Sometimes, her gaze drifted toward Ji Hongchen, and a blush rose on her cheeks.

"Ah~"

Ye Lingling cried out, her small hand trembling. A medicinal herb accidentally fell into the furnace and, in that instant, was reduced to powder by her hasty mistake.

"I'm sorry. I spaced out."

Ji Hongchen wiped her burned little hand and brought it to his lips to blow on it. "It's all right. That's normal when you're practicing for the first time."

"But if it happens again, I'll spank you."

Ye Lingling's face turned crimson, and she said coyly, "I understand, Brother Hongchen."

In fact, she was two years older than Ji Hongchen.

But standing beside him, she felt just like the little girl next door and instinctively wanted to call him her big brother.

No.

Ye Lingling, you need to show some restraint.

Ji Hongchen is the person Sister Yan likes.

But...

But would she really be content to give up just like that?

She had finally found someone she liked.

Ye Lingling bit her lip, her heart tangled in conflict. For a moment, she found herself caught between two impossible choices.

Smack!

A sharp sound abruptly broke her train of thought.

Ye Lingling felt a hard slap land on her bottom.

Turning her head, she found Ji Hongchen studying her. "Little Lingling, what are you thinking about? If you space out again, I'll punish you."

Ye Lingling hurriedly waved her hands.

Ignoring the pain in her bottom.

She scrambled to begin practicing with Beginner Pills.

"No, no! I'll definitely practice properly from now on."

She also made up her mind.

It wasn't as if the Heaven Dou Empire decreed that a man could only marry one woman. Swing the hoe well enough, and there was no corner of a wall that couldn't be dug out.

Besides, she only wanted to share Ji Hongchen with Dugu Yan.

They would still be sisters then.