As they watched Old Master Tang leave, the onlookers' mouths twitched violently.
This shameless old man! Your grandson beat Liu Quan until he spat blood and couldn't get up for ages, yet you claimed someone was bullying your grandson?
If that counted as bullying, what would you call it if someone actually beat your grandson up?
While Cloud City buzzed with discussion of the incident, Old Master Tang had already hauled Tang Yan back to the Tang Family estate.
"Boy, you can cultivate true qi now?" Inside the study, Old Master Tang finally lost his restraint, grabbed Tang Yan by the shoulders, and shook him with all his might.
His grandfather's excitement gave Tang Yan a headache. "Yes. If I couldn't, I probably would've been beaten to death today."
"What happened? Wasn't your dantian destroyed?" Tang Ling pressed urgently.
"Well..." Tang Yan hemmed and hawed.
Seeing that Tang Yan seemed to have something he couldn't reveal, Old Master Tang suddenly recalled the powerful aura that had briefly appeared at the Tang Family estate over a month ago. It had vanished so quickly that he had thought he was imagining things, leaving him suspicious and uncertain for quite some time. Could some secluded master have saved his grandson?
"A little over a month ago, I met an old man. He said we shared a profound bond of fate, then gave me something to eat, and I could cultivate afterward. He also taught me some cultivation methods, but he's always preferred peace and quiet and doesn't want to get tangled up in worldly disputes, so he told me not to mention him. I tried persuading him to stay with our family and enjoy himself, with all the wine and meat he wanted, but that old geezer had a strange temper..." After hemming and hawing for a while, Tang Yan finally invented an explanation.
He had expected his grandfather to keep questioning him, but Old Master Tang suddenly rapped him on the head. "You little brat! You're surrounded by blessings and don't even know it! A man of such virtue and standing has his own principles. He doesn't wish to be burdened by the mortal world. He healed your dantian and even taught you cultivation methods. Never mind failing to call him your honored master-you actually called him an old geezer?"
Tang Yan stared, dumbfounded, at his grandfather's reprimand. He had casually made up an excuse, and his grandfather believed it?
Tang Yan had no idea what Tang Ling was thinking, but many things finally fell into place in Tang Ling's mind. No wonder he had sensed a powerful expert's aura that day. No wonder his grandson could cultivate. No wonder his grandson seemed to have changed so much...
Thanks to Tang Yan's well-intentioned lie, all those baffling questions finally parted like bamboo beneath a blade!
"All right. Since your master doesn't want you telling others, keep this secret!" Tang Ling waved a broad hand and magnanimously stopped questioning him.
Today, Tang Yan finally understood what it felt like to hit the mark with a crooked shot. This worked just as well; it saved him having to invent more excuses.
"You may go. Don't go out too much these days, and get my permission every time before you leave." Old Master Tang waved his hand, and Tang Yan turned to leave.
"Yan can cultivate again. I wonder whether the City Lord will dredge up the old matter of him molesting the City Lord's Daughter..." Standing in the study and watching Tang Yan leave through the window, Tang Ling clenched his fists. "As long as I have a breath left, I'll keep standing in front of you!"
The moment Tang Yan left his grandfather's study, he suddenly thought of Xiao Cui. She still had his Spirit Whirlpool Fruit. Had she brought it back?
Just as Tang Yan was about to rush off in search of Xiao Cui, burning with impatience, he heard her call out, "Young master, I'm over here!"
When he saw that Xiao Cui was still holding that hideously ugly Spirit Whirlpool Fruit, Tang Yan finally relaxed.
"Here, young master!" Xiao Cui handed him the Spirit Whirlpool Fruit, then looked at him expectantly.
Tang Yan didn't disappoint her. With a hearty laugh, he said, "Aren't you keeping all my banknotes for me? Just take a hundred taels."
"Thank you, young master." Seeing that Tang Yan had kept his promise, Xiao Cui immediately beamed.
The moment he touched the Spirit Whirlpool Fruit, the Pill Cauldron in his dantian began trembling again. Eager to discover why the Heaven-Earth Creation Cauldron was reacting, Tang Yan hurried toward his room with the fruit in his arms.
"The young master seems awfully fond of that rotten fruit. His tastes really have been getting stranger lately."
After reaching his room, Tang Yan sat cross-legged on his bed, curiosity stirring within him. Could this Pill Cauldron want to eat the fruit? But even if I wanted to feed it to you, how would I do that? Do I have to swallow it before you can eat it?
Everyone had curiosity, and curiosity could kill the cat. When Tang Yan released a wisp of true qi to wrap around the Spirit Whirlpool Fruit, the Pill Cauldron inside his dantian palace shuddered violently. An immense suction surged out, and his hands were suddenly empty.
"Holy shit, it really ate it!" Tang Yan couldn't help swearing!
He hastily looked inside his dantian and froze again. He seemed able to establish a faint connection with the Heaven-Earth Creation Cauldron. He could actually... see inside it!
At the bottom of the cauldron lay a mass of chaotic mist. The Spirit Whirlpool Fruit had actually taken root in it, and its formerly withered exterior had regained its luster.
Damn! It's alive?
Sensing the waves of vitality emanating from the Spirit Whirlpool Fruit, Tang Yan found it unbelievable. Could herbs actually be grown inside this cauldron? He glanced around and spotted several ordinary medicinal herbs. He tried channeling true qi to draw two of them inside, but even after a long while, the Heaven-Earth Creation Cauldron showed no response.
Could this cauldron actually be picky about which spirit herbs qualified to enter it?
He then tried taking the spirit herb out, and sure enough, he could do so effortlessly.
After amusing himself by repeating the process several times, Tang Yan finally left the Spirit Whirlpool Fruit inside the cauldron.
Setting aside his playful mood, Tang Yan decided not to consume the Spirit Whirlpool Fruit yet. Swallowing a spirit herb directly would certainly have an effect, but combining it with other medicinal herbs and refining it into a pill would bring greater benefits.
Now that he had revealed his strength, someone with ulterior motives would likely stir up trouble over his previous molestation of Lin Dongxue.
What if someone spread a rumor that the Tang Family's eldest young master had attempted to rape Lin Dongxue, but the City Lord's Residence feared the Tang Family's strength and dared not act rashly, allowing Tang Yan to remain at large without suffering the slightest punishment?
If that really happened, the reputation of the City Lord's Residence would surely suffer.
To restore its reputation, the City Lord's Residence would come after him again.
And the Liu Family would certainly be that scheming party. Besides, many minor families in Cloud City depended on the Liu Family. At a single command, those families would spread the rumor far and wide, stirring up a storm throughout the city in no time.
Carefully analyzing the consequences of revealing his strength today, Tang Yan swiftly searched for a countermeasure.
The Tang Family was surrounded by enemies on all sides. If it surrendered part of its power to ease relations with the City Lord's Residence, it would suffer losses, and the other major families would likely seize the opportunity to take advantage of it.
After being gnawed away by several major families, how much strength would the Tang Family have left to survive in Cloud City?
To prevent that from happening, he had to start with the City Lord's Residence. Tang Yan paced a few steps around his room, then suddenly recalled a rumor. An illness had left scars on the City Lord's wife's face, and she had sought treatment without success. She now rarely visited the places she had once loved frequenting, and even when she did, she covered her face.
Although few people knew about this, the Tang Family, as one of the four great families, could naturally confirm that the information was true.
And in Tang Yan's memories, there happened to be a pill particularly suited to removing scars-the Scarless Pill.
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