The extraordinary Ye Fan

The Wu Family.

Tang Ning watched Wu Haoqiang building with blocks and pressed him. "Haoqiang, how did your uncle save you that day?"

"Nuannuan said he took my comic book and made a paper person to track me down. Once he found me, he brought me out," Wu Haoqiang said impatiently.

"What was that paper person all about?" Tang Ning asked.

"A paper person is a paper person! Mom, you've asked me so many times already," Wu Haoqiang complained.

Tang Ning smiled awkwardly. "I just couldn't quite remember."

Wu Haoqiang looked at Tang Ning with concern. "Mom, you're so young, but your memory's already bad. That's not good!"

Tang Ning shook her head helplessly. "Your dad should be home soon. I'll go out and check."

"Ning, you called today and told me something happened to Qiang. What happened this time?" Wu Sihan asked worriedly as he set down his briefcase.

"It was a close call, but he's fine. I took him shopping today, and as we passed a veterinary clinic, a sick dog ran out and almost bit him. Then the Jade Pendant he was wearing gave off a flash of light and sent the dog flying. You know the one-the Jade Pendant Ye Fan gave him," Tang Ning said.

The memory still left Tang Ning shaken. The dog had been over a meter tall, with a mouthful of teeth that looked incredibly sharp. One bite might well have taken his leg off.

When Ye Fan gave Wu Haoqiang the Jade Pendant, Wu Haoqiang had asked whether it could send a car flying if he got hit. At the time, she had thought the uncle and nephew were talking nonsense. How could a Jade Pendant send a car flying? Yet today, right before her eyes, it had actually sent a huge German shepherd flying.

Wu Sihan looked at Tang Ning. "Are you sure you didn't see wrong?"

"How could I? The dog flew right in front of me! It hadn't even hit anything-it just went flying. After it repelled the dog, Haoqiang's Jade Pendant seemed less lustrous than before," Tang Ning said.

Wu Sihan frowned. "Who knows where Ye Fan's run off to? When he comes back, we can probably ask him."

"I don't think Ye Fan is ordinary at all! You know that turtle? It's very intelligent, and it has an enormous appetite. It's not like other turtles," Tang Ning said.

Wu Sihan was speechless.

Ever since Ye Fan brought the turtle over, Wu Haoqiang had been fixated on it, visiting and feeding it every day.

The Bai Family, Capital City.

"Grandpa, wasn't there a letter that came with the Jade Buddha?" Bai Yunxi asked.

At the mention of the letter, Bai Shiyuan bristled with anger. "How did you know? Did you run into that fellow?"

"He went to the ancient tomb with me," Bai Yunxi said.

Bai Shiyuan frowned. "That fellow really does seize every opportunity."

"Grandpa, let me see the letter," Bai Yunxi said.

With a grim expression, Bai Shiyuan took out the letter and handed it to Bai Yunxi. Reading the message stirred something in Bai Yunxi. To think his hot-tempered grandfather hadn't immediately burned such an outrageous letter.

Bai Yunxi looked at the letter. "I see."

Bai Shiyuan couldn't help feeling surprised at Bai Yunxi's reaction. Even after reading such a letter, Bai Yunxi hadn't flown into a rage. "So he really was the one who wrote the prescription."

Bai Shiyuan nodded. "That's right."

Bai Yunxi fell silent for a moment. "It seems I owe him a favor."

"Yunxi, did that prescription help?" Bai Shiyuan asked.

Bai Yunxi nodded. "It did help a little." After taking the prescribed medicine, his insomnia had improved, and he no longer felt the cold as badly.

Bai Shiyuan looked at Bai Yunxi, feeling that something about him was odd.

The Xiao Family.

Madam Xiao watched Xiao Chi pacing around the living room and said helplessly, "Why are you wandering back and forth like that? Can't you sit still? What happened?"

"I met a little brat on this trip! He really deserves a beating." Just mentioning Ye Fan made Xiao Chi's temper flare.

Madam Xiao looked puzzled. "If he's so annoying, just ignore him."

"The problem is, annoying as he is, he seems to have some real ability!" Xiao Chi said.

"Real ability? Is he very knowledgeable?" Madam Xiao asked in confusion.

Xiao Chi waved a hand. "Nothing like that. He's not knowledgeable, but he's full of strange, mystical nonsense. I can't explain it to you. I need to talk to old Bai."

Madam Xiao nodded. "All right. Take some pastries to Yunxi for me."

Xiao Chi nodded. "Sure."

The Bai Family.

"Old Xiao, has age addled your brain?" Bai Shiyuan asked irritably, his hands trembling as he looked at Xiao Chi.

Xiao Chi looked at Bai Shiyuan in exasperation. "Then what do you suggest?"

"I don't know either, but some lunatic says Yunxi has to sleep with him if he wants to live, and you actually believe him? You'd even listen to a lunatic like that?" Bai Shiyuan snapped.

"What else can I do? That lunatic said Yunxi couldn't be with women, and Yunxi tacitly admitted it. Do you think I want this?" Xiao Chi said, suppressing his anger and lowering his voice.

"How do you know he was telling the truth? Yunxi never explicitly said so," Bai Shiyuan said through gritted teeth.

Xiao Chi frowned at Bai Shiyuan. "Then in all these years, have you ever seen Yunxi get close to anyone?"

Bai Shiyuan fell silent. "We'll discuss this later. Yunxi is only nineteen, anyway. There's still time. Let's watch a little longer. This has to depend on what Yunxi wants. Do you think he's interested in that reckless brat?"

Xiao Chi frowned. "He seems to treat that boy differently."

On the bus ride to the ancient tomb, that brat Ye Fan had traded a Jade Pendant for his seat. On the return trip, Ye Fan had claimed that seat first and called Yunxi over to sit beside him. Yunxi hadn't refused.

"Differently? You must have seen wrong. Yunxi is very hard to get close to," Bai Shiyuan said.

Xiao Chi nodded. "That's exactly why I'm worried!"

Bai Shiyuan opened the door and found Bai Yunxi sorting medicinal herbs.

"What are you doing? Are all these herbs a gift for someone?" Bai Shiyuan asked.

Bai Yunxi nodded. "Yes!"

Suspicion flickered in Bai Shiyuan's eyes as he examined the lush-rooted lingzhi, the enormous lingzhi, and the fully formed fo-ti on the table.

Bai Shiyuan looked at Bai Yunxi. "Don't tell me you're giving these to that brat Ye Fan!"

Bai Yunxi nodded. "I owe him a favor. I have to repay it."

"That doesn't mean you need to give him such an expensive gift! Just give him two crates of apples!" Bai Shiyuan said fiercely.

Bai Yunxi was silent for a moment. "Apples wouldn't be enough."

"What does that brat deserve anything expensive for?" Bai Shiyuan demanded angrily.

The Wu Family, Cang City.

Wu Sihan came in carrying a box. Tang Ning looked at him. "What's in that box?"

Wu Sihan shook his head. "I don't know either, but it's for Ye Fan."

"For Ye Fan? Who would send him something?" Tang Ning asked in surprise.

Wu Haoqiang jumped out. "If it's for Uncle, it must be something good!"

"There's no sender's name, but it was shipped from Capital City," Wu Sihan said.

Tang Ning thought for a moment. "Should we open it and take a look? If there's anything perishable, we can freeze it for him before it goes bad."

Wu Sihan nodded. "Good idea."

Wu Sihan opened the box and was immediately stunned by its contents.

"These are actually..." The box contained ginseng over a hundred years old, lingzhi, and cordyceps-all valuable medicinal ingredients.

"These must be worth over ten million altogether, and even with money, you might not be able to get them. Who has Ye Fan gotten to know?" Tang Ning asked in bewilderment.

"I don't know either. We'll give them to him when he gets back," Wu Sihan said.

Wu Sihan had never believed in ghosts or gods, but Ye Fan's inexplicable rescue of Wu Haoqiang and the dog that had mysteriously been sent flying had shaken his long-held view of the world.

Tang Ning nodded. "All right."

Ye Fan darted through the mountain forest. Without the archaeological team slowing him down, he moved swiftly.

After searching around the mountains, Ye Fan did indeed find several useful spirit herbs.

By the time night fell, Ye Fan had reached the archaeological team's former campsite.

The team had left in such a hurry that they hadn't packed up their tents or other things, so Ye Fan simply stayed in a tent to rest.

After dark, Ye Fan built a fire and roasted a snake on a skewer.

"You certainly are brazen! You ruined my plans yesterday, and today you're back again!" The Palace-Dressed Zombie appeared before Ye Fan. Corpse spots covered her face, making her look terrifying.

Ye Fan glanced at the Palace-Dressed Zombie. "The feng shui here is good, so I'm planning to cultivate here for a while. How about we stay out of each other's way?"

"Stay out of each other's way? You ruined my plans, and now you're prancing around right under my nose, yet you have the nerve to say that?"

A skull formed from black energy shot toward Ye Fan. Condensed from ghostly energy, it brimmed with bloodlust, hatred, greed, and other negative forces.

The corners of Ye Fan's mouth lifted slightly. He neither dodged nor moved, and the skull disintegrated the instant it struck him.

The palace-dressed woman screamed. Ye Fan smiled. "What an idiot! You actually used a soul attack against me."

He possessed a nine-colored divine soul, a soul said to belong only to gods. Ordinary soul attacks were utterly useless against him.

The palace-dressed woman glared fiercely at Ye Fan, then turned and fled. Ye Fan watched her leave without pursuing her.

She had the Eighteen Guards' Prince Consort on her side. If he pursued her, he could easily end up surrounded. Still, that princess's ghostly soul had been injured, and it would probably take decades for her to recover completely. For now, she likely wouldn't have time to trouble him.

Ye Fan looked toward the ancient tomb, a flicker of eagerness in his eyes. He vaguely sensed that something he needed lay inside, but he didn't want to venture down there just yet.