"Uh, I don't think I know your name yet."
Ye Qingyun had walked the two women out of the courtyard when he suddenly asked.
Chu Yanyu paused, remembering that she, too, still seemed not to know the name of the expert before her.
"My name is Chu Yanyu. May I ask your name, young master?"
"My name is Ye Qingyun."
Ye Qingyun?
Chu Yanyu repeated the name to herself.
He truly was an expert beyond the mortal world. Even his name was so plain and unadorned, yet free of vulgar convention.
"My name is Xiaoqing."
Xiaoqing hurriedly spoke up beside her.
Ye Qingyun smiled.
Chu Yanyu quickly pulled Xiaoqing away, leaving in some embarrassment.
Ye Qingyun watched the two of them leave.
"They're pretty enough, but they sure can eat."
Ye Qingyun shook his head and returned to the courtyard.
Meanwhile, at the foot of the mountain, mistress and maid were walking along.
"Commandery Princess, why were you so polite to that fellow? You even gave him the princely estate's gold token."
Xiaoqing asked in puzzlement.
"That man is definitely an expert beyond the mortal world. Didn't you see that dog? Its strength was terrifying. And all those wondrous things inside his house were simply unheard of."
Chu Yanyu still felt lingering fear. "I only stayed there a little while, and I'm already about to enter the late Spirit Opening stage."
"You had no talent for cultivation at all, but haven't you become a martial artist now?"
"Every sign shows that he's unfathomable. I must befriend him. This is an enormous fortuitous opportunity for us."
Chu Yanyu's words left Xiaoqing thoroughly bewildered.
"Then why didn't you ask him to help us deal with the Song Clan, Commandery Princess?"
Chu Yanyu shook her head.
"For an expert like him to let us meet him at all was already an immense blessing."
"If I insisted on asking him for help, I would only displease him."
Xiaoqing gave an "Oh," only half understanding.
"Come on. Let's go back and tell Father about this."
Chu Yanyu immediately left Floating Cloud Mountain with Xiaoqing.
After the two women left, Ye Qingyun grew bored again.
His thoughts began stirring once more, and he really wanted to go down the mountain and look around.
But he was also very afraid of encountering danger below.
After thinking it over and over, he decided to look around the mountain first.
And so, Ye Qingyun took Damao wandering through the mountain.
Damao was quite cheerful, bounding about through the mountain.
Whenever he encountered a small mountain animal, Damao would immediately chase after it, frightening the little creatures into a chicken-flying, dog-leaping commotion.
Soon, Ye Qingyun had explored all of Floating Cloud Mountain.
It was a very ordinary mountain.
Still, the trip yielded a little something.
With an injured rabbit in his mouth, Damao followed behind Ye Qingyun, trotting merrily back to the courtyard.
At first, Ye Qingyun thought Damao wanted to eat the rabbit.
But after bringing the rabbit back, Damao actually did not eat it. Instead, he treated its injuries.
Who knew how a dog treated a rabbit's injuries?
In any case, he gave the rabbit a thorough licking.
He licked it until it was soaking wet.
After arriving in the courtyard, the rabbit soon became lively.
Ye Qingyun did not pay it much mind. He already kept a dog, so keeping a rabbit as well was no problem.
It could help relieve his boredom.
With his stomach growling, Ye Qingyun started cooking.
A big pot of hodgepodge stew was soon ready, filled to the brim with all kinds of meat.
Ye Qingyun carried it into the courtyard, and its fragrance immediately wafted everywhere.
Damao and the rabbit both crouched nearby, waiting for Ye Qingyun to share some with them.
Ye Qingyun picked out a large, meaty bone and tossed it to Damao.
Then he picked up a mushroom and tossed it to the rabbit.
Unexpectedly, the rabbit did not want the mushroom. Instead, it stared at the meat in Damao's mouth.
Amused, Ye Qingyun picked out a piece of meat and tossed it to the rabbit too.
The rabbit immediately began eating happily.
It was Ye Qingyun's first time seeing a rabbit that liked eating meat.
At the same time, three figures arrived together at Floating Cloud Mountain.
The three were two men and one woman, all very young and wearing matching clothes.
"That demonic beast fled into this mountain and vanished."
"It must be hiding on the mountain. It's injured, so it can't have gone far. Let's pursue it immediately."
"All right!"
The three immediately went up the mountain, searching all over its slopes.
Soon, they found traces of blood.
"It really is here!"
Delighted, the three followed the trail toward the mountaintop.
Before long, they found Ye Qingyun's place.
All three froze.
Someone actually lived here?
The three immediately approached, startling Ye Qingyun as he ate his hodgepodge stew.
Ye Qingyun looked at the three of them, utterly bewildered.
"Who are you?"
The only woman among them spoke.
"Who are you?"
Ye Qingyun set down his chopsticks and asked in return.
The woman was about to speak when the two young men behind her pulled her back.
"What is it?"
The woman looked at them in confusion.
The two young men wore grave expressions as they pointed at the rabbit eating meat beside Ye Qingyun's feet.
They sucked in a breath!
When the woman saw the rabbit, her expression changed as well.
This was the very demonic beast they had been pursuing so desperately!
To think it was here!
And it was eating meat beside this man's feet?
Seeing their reactions, Ye Qingyun grew even more tense.
These three look like trouble at a glance. I'd better be polite, or I might lose my life!
And so, Ye Qingyun hurriedly stood up and gave them a friendly smile.
His smile, however, made the three facing him somewhat nervous.
"There's no trace of a presence coming from him. He looks like a mortal."
The woman spoke hesitantly.
"Absolutely impossible. If he were a mortal, this rabbit demon would have eaten him alive long ago."
The tall young man spoke with complete certainty.
"Exactly. Someone living in a place where even birds don't shit can't possibly be a mortal."
The other young man, fair-skinned and plump, reached the same conclusion.
The woman felt rather bewildered.
No matter how she looked at him, Ye Qingyun seemed like a mortal.
"What brings the three of you here?"
Ye Qingyun asked, rubbing his hands together.
The tall young man immediately cupped his fist. "May I ask your name? Are you living here in seclusion?"
Ye Qingyun scratched his head.
Living here in seclusion?
I suppose so.
"Uh, my name is Ye Qingyun. I do live here."
The tall young man surveyed the surroundings.
They were very ordinary, very simple.
At a glance, it looked just like a place where some expert beyond the mortal world would live in seclusion.
"Sir, have you seen a rabbit demon?"
The tall young man asked deliberately.
Hearing this, the rabbit gnawing on meat nearby shuddered.
Damao, who was gnawing on a bone beside it, cast the rabbit a sidelong glance.
Under Damao's gaze, the rabbit did not dare move at all and could only obediently keep eating its meat.
"A rabbit demon? What rabbit demon?"
Ye Qingyun knew nothing whatsoever about any rabbit demon.
The tall young man pointed at the rabbit.
Ye Qingyun found it funny.
Wasn't this just an ordinary rabbit?
What rabbit demon?
He immediately walked over and picked up the rabbit.
The rabbit appeared extremely docile.
"You mean this little thing? My dog brought it back in his mouth. It was injured at the time. It's not the rabbit demon you're talking about."
Holding the rabbit, Ye Qingyun approached the three.
The three immediately looked as though they faced a formidable enemy, appearing extremely nervous.
After all, they had only barely managed to wound it by sacrificing one of their sect's treasures.
Otherwise, given this rabbit demon's strength, even the three of them together would have struggled to fight it.
Yet in this man's hands, the rabbit demon was actually so docile?