Eldest Senior Brother Was Always the Coolest

In the Yin Clan's secret chamber, Li Ziye discovered the whereabouts of the Essential Arts of Heavenly Craft. Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately rushed forward.

"Roar!"

Beside him, seeing the intruder about to steal the treasure, the dwarf roared and charged forward as well.

Li Ziye darted past the fallen wooden rack and snatched the green wooden box off the floor, then twisted aside to evade the claws striking from behind.

With a crash, the dwarf lunged over, his claws smashing the fallen wooden rack to pieces.

A step away, Li Ziye kicked the dwarf before him and used the force to retreat again.

The dwarf grunted, steadied himself, and immediately lunged again.

"Still coming? This young master won't be playing along!"

Li Ziye sneered and swung his sword to drive the dwarf back, then pushed off once more and withdrew through the stone doorway.

Bang!

After leaving the secret chamber, Li Ziye grabbed the two stone rings with both hands and pulled the stone door shut.

"Roar!"

The dwarf slammed into the stone door and roared in frustration.

With the stone door shut, the entire secret passage fell quiet again. Li Ziye opened the green wooden box in his hands, and the sight of the incomplete scroll inside let him breathe a small sigh of relief.

Finally got it!

"Young Master."

Just then, Yin Kuang hurried over from outside the secret passage and said urgently, "Hurry, Young Master! Someone's coming!"

Hearing this, Li Ziye put away the incomplete scroll and hurried outside.

Outside the Yin Clan's ancestral hall, a handful of servants approached. After the fire was extinguished, Old Master Yin had also begun to suspect that someone had deliberately set it and had sent the household's people around to check for anything unusual.

Inside the ancestral hall, Li Ziye saw the servants approaching through the heavy rain outside and said gravely, "I'll draw them away. Take the chance to leave. Don't expose your identity."

With that, Li Ziye rushed out of the ancestral hall and darted toward the outside of the Yin estate.

"Someone's over there! After him!"

A servant spotted Li Ziye, shouted, and immediately led the others in pursuit.

Seeing this from inside the ancestral hall, Yin Kuang immediately stepped outside and took the opportunity to leave.

In the Yin Clan's front courtyard, Li Ziye hurried along and slipped out of the estate amid the confusion.

Outside the estate, Old Master Yin and the others were still thanking Yan Xiaoyu for his help and did not notice Li Ziye.

Above them, the rain gradually grew much lighter. The sudden downpour had come quickly and left just as quickly.

This made the Yin Clan and the people on the street believe all the more that the Divine Son of the Divine Oracle Hall had brought this rain.

A miracle!

Other than a miracle, the Yin Clan and the people no longer knew how to describe it.

After emerging from the Yin estate, Li Ziye headed straight for the carriage nearby. With the scene in such chaos, no one paid attention to someone as inconsequential as him.

One person, however, was an exception.

Yan Xiaoyu!

Amid everyone's admiring gazes, Yan Xiaoyu suddenly frowned and looked toward the youth approaching nearby.

This sense of discord was so familiar.

Strange!

Nearby, Li Ziye climbed into the carriage and immediately left in it without lingering at all.

"Everyone, I have something to attend to. I'll take my leave for a while."

Outside the Yin estate, Yan Xiaoyu said this with a smile, then turned and followed.

No, something was wrong with that youth.

As these thoughts passed through his mind, Yan Xiaoyu quickened his steps and pursued the carriage ahead.

Outside the Yin estate, Old Master Yin and the others were utterly baffled, unable to understand what had happened.

The carriage rumbled along the capital's streets, circling several times before finally heading toward Li Garden.

Inside the carriage, Li Ziye took the incomplete scroll out of his robes, grinning so widely he could not close his mouth.

"You're drooling. Wipe it off!" Hongzhu said beside him.

"Hmm? Oh!"

Hearing her, Li Ziye instinctively reached up to wipe the corner of his mouth. Then, realizing he had been tricked, he looked up at the woman wearing a faint, teasing smile before him and said sheepishly, "It wasn't easy getting this, so I'm a little excited."

"It's just a tattered book. Is that really necessary?"

Hongzhu said irritably, "We're almost at Li Garden. Let me wipe the stuff off your face."

"All right."

Li Ziye nodded, then obligingly leaned his big face toward her.

Hongzhu reached out, but just as she was about to remove the medicinal substances from his face, her expression suddenly grew serious, and she looked behind the carriage.

Something was wrong!

"What is it?"

Noticing the change in her, Li Ziye asked.

"Someone's behind us!"

Hongzhu spoke quietly.

Hearing this, Li Ziye's expression grew serious. They had already been very careful, deliberately circling the area several times, yet someone had still set their sights on them.

"Who is it? Are they strong?" Li Ziye asked quietly.

"To have followed us this long without me noticing, their cultivation must be above mine," Hongzhu said gravely.

Li Ziye was startled. Sister Hongzhu had considerable talent in martial arts and had long since opened her second Divine Repository. She was only a hair away from the middle stage of the Second Realm. If this person's cultivation was above hers, did that not mean they were at least in the middle stage of the Second Realm, or even the late stage?

As for the Third Realm or Fourth Realm, Li Ziye did not consider those possibilities. They would never have been able to detect the movements of someone at that level.

"What should we do?" Li Ziye asked gravely.

"Pretend we haven't noticed and keep going."

Hongzhu answered. The young master's safety mattered most. This person had followed them all this time without attacking, presumably only wanting to learn their identities. If they beat the grass and startled the snake, they might instead provoke this person into attacking.

Against an expert like this, she was not confident she could keep the young master safe.

Behind the carriage, Yan Xiaoyu followed quietly, his moon-white robes unstained by a speck of dust. His steps seemed unhurried, yet he remained firmly behind the carriage all the while.

He wanted to see just where this carriage was going.

"Hyah!"

Unexpectedly, just then, a dozen or so armored riders came galloping down the street ahead at tremendous speed. Without swerving or giving way, they charged straight toward Li Ziye and Hongzhu's carriage.

"Whoa!"

Seeing this from atop the carriage, the servant driving it hurriedly reined in the horse to move aside.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

The dozen or so armored riders thundered past. The general at their head wore blue-green battle armor, his figure tall and straight, his bearing extraordinary.

As the riders swept past, the general lowered his head and glanced at Yan Xiaoyu behind the carriage, a strange look flashing through his eyes.

From his clothing, this man wasn't from Great Shang. Could he be one of those charlatans from the Divine Oracle Hall?

After that brief glance, the general did not stop, leading his mounted guards away in a cloud of dust.

"Whoa!"

On the street, perhaps frightened by the armored riders' murderous presence, the big black horse pulling the carriage suddenly went wild. No matter how the servant soothed it, it would not calm down.

The frightened horse reared and bucked, and the carriage began jolting as well.

"Young Master, get down! The horse has bolted!"

Seeing that he could no longer control the horse, the servant driving the carriage could not help shouting urgently.

Before his words had even faded, the big black horse dragged the carriage into several stone steps in succession. Then the carriage lost its balance completely and overturned.

At the critical moment, Li Ziye grabbed the servant and leaped down from the carriage, rolling several times across the ground.

By comparison, Hongzhu looked much more graceful, breaking through the carriage with a palm strike and descending from the air.

On the quiet street, Li Ziye rose to his feet. Behind him, Yan Xiaoyu stood without a word.

The scene immediately turned somewhat strange.

Li Ziye very much wanted to keep pretending he had not noticed the person following them, but that was no longer possible.

Yan Xiaoyu!

Why was it this bastard?!

This was an opponent even Little Red Riding Hood dared not claim he could defeat. His cultivation had already reached the peak of the Second Realm, and he was not far from opening his third Divine Repository.

I couldn't beat him!

What should I do? Run?

But what if I couldn't outrun him either?

How about joining forces with Sister Hongzhu? Perhaps we might be able to win.

No, perhaps Yan Xiaoyu wasn't hostile toward us and wouldn't attack.

In that brief instant, a storm once again raged through Li Ziye's mind as he searched for a way out.

"Young Master, you're not hurt, are you?"

Just then, Hongzhu approached, signaling with her eyes as she asked.

Go!

"No. Let's go. We're not far from the prince's residence now. We'll walk back."

Li Ziye caught her meaning and answered in a raised voice, then pretended nothing had happened and continued forward.

The two hurried onward, not daring to linger for even a moment.

The Divine Son of the Divine Oracle Hall could be called the strongest of the younger generation, far beyond what ordinary people could handle.

They were not far from Li Garden now. Hopefully, there was still time.

Li Ziye screamed desperately in his heart!

Old Zhang, save me!

Little Red Riding Hood, where are you? Your big brother needs your help!

Amitabha, amen, hallelujah, bless us!

"You two, are you in such a hurry to leave?"

Unfortunately, neither Buddha nor God heard Li Ziye's cries. From behind them, Yan Xiaoyu's voice rang out, and his figure flashed past to block their path.

"And you are?"

Li Ziye forcibly suppressed the turmoil in his heart and asked with a broad grin.

Beside him, Hongzhu's expression grew serious as she secretly circulated her True Essence, preparing to fight.

"Yan Xiaoyu of the Divine Oracle Hall."

Yan Xiaoyu answered indifferently, looking at the two before him. "Now that I've introduced myself, shouldn't you two tell me who you are as well?"

"So you're the Divine Son."

Li Ziye smiled. "My apologies for not recognizing you. We're from King Xuanwu's Residence, ordered to deliver a birthday gift to Old Master Yin. We never expected our horse to bolt here. We've made fools of ourselves before you, Divine Son."

"Oh?"

Hearing this, a cold smile appeared at the corner of Yan Xiaoyu's mouth. "Since you're from King Xuanwu's Residence, I'll escort you both back and pay King Xuanwu a visit while I'm there."

"That won't be necessary."

Beside Li Ziye, Hongzhu spoke indifferently. "His Highness has business today and isn't at the residence. Please visit another day, Divine Son."

"Heh."

Yan Xiaoyu gave a cold laugh. "With all these evasions, you must have guilty consciences. I'll take you to see King Xuanwu right now and find out whether he recognizes you!"

As his words fell, Yan Xiaoyu darted forward, flawless white divine light swirling around him, his imposing presence astonishing.

Seeing this, Li Ziye and Hongzhu's expressions changed, and they immediately retreated.

The corners of Yan Xiaoyu's mouth curved slightly. He pushed off and pressed toward them again.

At that critical moment, a surge of sword intent suddenly soared skyward from the end of the street, and Vast Righteous Qi manifested in mighty, surging waves.

Whoosh!

The next moment, an ancient sword tore through the air and blocked Yan Xiaoyu's palm strike with a thunderous crash.

"The Taiyi Sword!"

Seeing the sword before him, Yan Xiaoyu's expression darkened, and he immediately turned toward the end of the street.

Bai Wangyu of the Confucian School!

There, amid autumn winds swirling fallen leaves, a young figure in white Confucian robes walked toward them from the end of the street. Each step was steady, his calm, composed expression showing not the slightest ripple.

Seeing the newcomer, Li Ziye was once again moved almost to tears!

It was Little Red Riding Hood.

You got to show off again!