"Alright, considering you poached Ye Qizhen last year, I'll let this score slide for now. Get out."
"Speak, "Li Heng said impatiently, waving his sleeve.
Zhou Yi felt as if she had been granted a pardon and quickly turned to leave.
Li Heng looked bitter and resentful. He just couldn't understand why Yan Shuai valued Jiang Fan so much. Last year, when Ye Qizhen emerged as Spirit Master, Yan Shuai repeatedly instructed them to recruit her, but it seemed that Yan Shuai didn't value her as much as he did Jiang Fan.
His fingers tapped the table rhythmically, and his gray eyebrows furrowed into a caterpillar shape.
After a long while, he muttered to himself.
"Does this Jiang Fan have some unknown secrets?"
The scene changes.
The Lan Family.
Wearing a simple training uniform, Lan Shengxue walked through the winding corridor, stepped onto the white jade steps carved with auspicious beast patterns, and strode into the carved wooden door.
Inside the grand hall, filled with the opulence of a wealthy family, the white-haired patriarch of the Lan Family, with one hand holding a string of sandalwood prayer beads and the other sipping freshly brewed tea, looked exceptionally relaxed and content.
When the old man saw Lan Shengxue striding towards him, a kind smile appeared on his face, showing none of the majesty of a powerful family head.
To outsiders, he was just an ordinary old man, a loving grandfather who doted on his granddaughter.
" Little Shengxue, you've come at the perfect time. The tea is freshly brewed. Come and try it, and see if Grandpa's tea-making skills have improved?"
Lan Shengxue stopped less than three meters away from the old man, her expression cold and stern.
"Grandpa, I want to go to the Dragon Abyss Secret Realm to cultivate."
One sentence was enough to cause the old patriarch of the Lan Family to change his expression slightly, "Why do you suddenly want to go to the Dragon Abyss Secret Realm?"
The Dragon Abyss Secret Realm is a secret realm for the core members of the Lan Family family or highly talented collateral descendants to cultivate. Similar to the Zhou Family Secret Realm, it is rich in spiritual energy, and cultivating inside for one day is equivalent to cultivating outside for several days.
However, the interior is also fraught with dangers, and for Lan Shengxue, whose strength is only at the Mid-Stage First Rank, it is too early to go in now.
Lan Shengxue is his granddaughter. He watched her grow up and knows that she is a very composed girl who would never overestimate herself.
"I want to improve my strength as soon as possible!" Lan Shengxue said resolutely.
The old patriarch of the Lan Family had wise and shrewd eyes that revealed some clues.
What triggered you?
When asked this question, Lan Shengxue frowned slightly, looking somewhat reluctant to answer.
The more she acted this way, the more curious the old man became.
Lan Mingxi wasn't in a hurry and just waited quietly.
A short while later, half of a small head peeked out from behind the door frame.
"What else could it be? It's because of Brother Fan, of course!"
Lan Shengxue turned around and gave her younger sister a disapproving look.
Lan Mingxi looked at her two granddaughters and asked, "Is it Jiang Fan who saved Xinyu at Fortress No. 31 a while ago?"
"That's right, it's him!"
Lan Xinyu walked in from outside, talking as she went, ignoring her older sister's warning look, and continued talking.
"Grandpa, haven't you heard that Brother Fan broke through from Late-Stage First-Rank Martial Artist to Middle-Stage Second-Rank Martial Artist in just two months? It was this that spurred on my sister, which is why she's so eager to break through as quickly as possible, not wanting to fall too far behind and not even be able to see the other person's back."
" Xinyu!" Lan Shengxue raised her voice and warned again.
Lan Xinyu stuck out her tongue and quickly took her short legs to Lan Mingxi's side for protection.
Lan Mingxi smiled and stroked his beard. "So that's how it is. I was wondering why you suddenly wanted to go to the Dragon Abyss Secret Realm. Turns out it's because of budding romance—"
He swallowed the rest of his words under Lan Shengxue's gaze.
Lan Shengxue said speechlessly, "Grandpa, you've been corrupted by that girl Xinyu. She's always making silly jokes about me. Jiang Fan and I aren't in that kind of relationship. We're just ordinary friends who have done each other a favor."
"Is that all?" The old man was somewhat skeptical.
Lan Shengxue added, "At most, we can add one more: comrades-in-arms who fought side by side with us during the beast tide."
"Oh, just comrades-in-arms? That puts my mind at ease. Otherwise, I'd be stuck at home worrying all the time that my good cabbage has been eaten by wild boars outside."
Lan Mingxi smiled with narrowed eyes, her heart easing slightly.
The precious pearl I raised with such care and effort is not something some wild boy from the outside can easily claim.
He had heard about Jiang Fan to some extent; he was indeed quite prodigious, but only for now. He wasn't optimistic about his future.
This child is too flamboyant. The tallest tree in the forest is bound to be felled by the wind. Being too prominent is not a good thing.
Compared to Jiang Fan, he had a higher opinion of Ye Qizhen, who was Spirit Master, and their families had been on good terms for generations and knew each other well.
Most importantly, Ye Qizhen is Spirit Master, and her future is bright, far surpassing Jiang Fan's.
Just as Lan Mingxi was thinking this, his little granddaughter, who was lying on his lap, opened her adorable big eyes and spoke.
"Grandpa, how could you call Brother Fan a wild boar? He's clearly such a good person, the best man in the world. If Sister really doesn't like him, I do."
Upon hearing this, Lan Mingxi's kind and gentle old face immediately began to crack.
"What do you know about good men, you little kid? No man in this world is any good."
After he finished speaking, he noticed that both his granddaughters, one big and one small, were staring at him with strange looks and indescribable expressions.
"Uh... cough cough!"
Lan Mingxi cleared his throat, composed himself, and gently stroked Lan Xinyu's head with his large, calloused hand, his eyes filled with tenderness.
" Little Xinyu, what Grandpa means is that you're still young and don't understand many things. How can you distinguish between good and bad people? It's true that Jiang Fan saved you, but that doesn't mean he's a good person."
"Hmph!" Lan Xinyu stopped lying on Lan Mingxi's lap and glared angrily at her grandfather.
" Brother Fan is such a good person. Anyway, if my sister won't marry him, I'll marry him when I grow up!"
Lan Mingxi "..."
So, this Jiang Fan is either trying to steal his eldest daughter's cabbage, or he's trying to steal his youngest daughter's Little White?
Is it not okay to not arch?
Thinking of this, Lan Mingxi felt boundless resentment towards the boy she had never met.
at the same time.
"Achoo!" Jiang Fan sneezed loudly.
The fat guy, who had just finished showering and had a towel wrapped around his waist, joked, "Thinking, cursing, and muttering, Brother Fan, do you think some girl is thinking about you? Let me guess, do you think it's Senior Huang Ying?"
Jiang Fan ignored him and continued with his own business.
"It must be. Senior Huang Ying Ying's gaze towards you is very ambiguous. Even a blind person could see that she's interested in you." The fat man didn't care whether Jiang Fan paid attention to him or not, and continued talking.