Innocence

"I am not yet married. Having invited you in today, Young Master Ye, allow me to sit behind the screen and share a drink with you. Would you mind?"

Zhang Pingping asked.

Her personal maid swiftly served the wine.

She set the wine table before the screen.

"I was presumptuous today. You are already generous not to blame me for my rashness, miss. How could I dare overstep?"

Although Ye Fan came from a butcher's family, he understood some basic etiquette.

"Allow me to toast you, young master, and wish you success in the martial examination, taking first place in the top grade."

Zhang Pingping raised her cup behind the screen as she spoke.

"Thank you, miss."

Ye Fan raised his cup and drank with her.

Under Zhang Pingping's flattery, he regained his confidence and drank more and more. Once the wine took hold, Zhang Pingping changed the subject, asking why he had angrily punched the wall earlier.

Ye Fan could no longer hold back. His pent-up frustration poured out like floodwaters bursting through a dike, surging a thousand miles. He no longer needed the maid to pour his wine.

He only felt his vision growing hazy.

The screen before him was removed, revealing a slender beauty seated there.

"Young master, come over here."

Wei Hong beckoned.

"Miss."

Unable to control the surge of blood within him, Ye Fan gathered Wei Hong into his arms.

Late that night.

Zhang Lingfeng personally escorted Guo Wei back to the martial hall and had Hei Hu arrange carriages to take Wu Yun, Ma Fei, and the others home.

Only then did he meet up with Zhang Pingping.

Standing at the window.

With the keen eyesight of his Dark Force cultivation, Zhang Lingfeng saw Ye Fan, reeking of wine, lying in Wei Hong's arms.

The sister and brother quietly left.

Early the next morning.

Zhang Lingfeng practiced his fists at the martial hall as usual.

Wu Yun, Yang Tao, and the others, who had no assignments to carry out, arrived at the martial hall one after another. Even Guo Wei rose at cockcrow to practice as usual.

"Where's Ye Fan?"

Not seeing Ye Fan in the courtyard, Guo Wei asked.

Although Zhang Lingfeng's exceptional constitution had greatly surprised him, Guo Wei had never neglected Ye Fan. Even his special attention to Zhang Lingfeng was also intended to teach Ye Fan a lesson.

To let him know that he was not the only person in the martial hall with the potential to break through to transforming Jin.

He hoped Ye Fan would cultivate as diligently as Zhang Lingfeng, break through to transforming Jin soon, and inherit his mantle.

Who would have thought Ye Fan would become even lazier than before? Zhang Lingfeng had arrived at the martial hall early to cultivate, yet the sun was already high and Ye Fan was nowhere to be seen.

"He doesn't seem to be here yet."

"Maybe he drank too much last night!"

"Junior Brother Ye was the first to leave last night. He shouldn't have drunk much."

Yang Tao, Zhao Hu, and Wu Yun spoke in turn.

"Master, Junior Brother Ye lives right next door to me. Why don't I have Xiaohu call him over?"

Zhang Lingfeng suggested.

"Leave him alone. He can come or not, as he pleases. If he's so capable, let him break through to transforming Jin through his own efforts."

Guo Wei said angrily.

He knew that although Ye Fan held a nominal post with the Yan Lineage, they had not assigned him any tasks.

Both he and the Yan Lineage understood that Ye Fan should focus on cultivating at this stage, so he could achieve the best results in next summer's martial examination. Only then could Ye Fan demonstrate his value.

Yet Ye Fan was actually wasting time he should have spent cultivating. It utterly disappointed him.

"Xiaohu, hurry and call Junior Brother Ye over. Tell him my master is angry. Hurry!"

Zhang Lingfeng went straight to the outer courtyard and called to Hei Hu.

"Right, on it."

Hei Hu quickly ran out.

Guo Wei practiced his fists to one side without stopping Zhang Lingfeng. Clearly, the deeper his affection, the sterner his reproach.

Though he said he wanted nothing to do with Ye Fan, he actually still hoped Ye Fan would hurry over. After all, he had poured so much painstaking effort into Ye Fan that he could not possibly watch him sink into decline.

The courtyard the Yan Lineage had given Ye Fan was about a quarter of an hour's walk from the martial hall. Hei Hu ran there and back, taking only a quarter of an hour for the round trip.

"Junior Brother Ye wasn't home. I called around his courtyard for ages, but only saw a few of his hired hands. They said Junior Brother Ye never came home last night."

Hei Hu reported upon running back.

Guo Wei involuntarily slowed the pace of his punches.

"All right, I understand. Go practice."

Zhang Lingfeng sent Hei Hu away, then went to Guo Wei's side and said, "Master, Junior Brother Ye might be with the Yan Lineage. He's a Dark Force expert and your disciple. No one in the eastern district would dare hurt him. You needn't worry."

"Worried, my ass. He can go wherever he likes. Leave him alone. Practice diligently, and don't waste your cultivation like him, or it'll be too late for regrets."

Guo Wei admonished.

"Yes, Master."

Zhang Lingfeng nodded.

He could only walk aside and earnestly practice the Iron Mountain Fist.

When he returned home for lunch.

A commotion came from the neighboring courtyard.

"Ye Fan, how could you refuse to take responsibility? My innocent body, you've already... If you hadn't promised me last night... Forget it. I'm not worthy of you. I'll end it all."

Flushed crimson, Wei Hong picked up a hairpin and tried to plunge it into her neck.

The wine and the drug had been rather potent last night. Ye Fan had only slowly awakened at noon. Seeing a beauty lying in bed, he had been scared out of his wits.

Primal Yang was a defensive lock for martial practitioners. As long as it remained intact, their blood and vitality would not easily leak away and could grow more robust.

Once they lost their primal Yang, their blood and vitality would show signs of depletion. Although cultivation and blood-nourishing medicinal soups could replenish them, without that defensive lock, the robustness of their blood and vitality would fall a notch short.

In fact, outsiders could not see any difference at all.

If Ye Fan did not say anything, even Guo Wei would not be able to tell.

But when breaking through to transforming Jin, a hair's breadth of error could lead a thousand miles astray. Sometimes, lacking just that tiny sliver of primal Yang was what caused the breakthrough to fail.

Thus, to achieve something in martial arts and break through to transforming Jin sooner, martial masters practicing introductory martial arts would all take care to nurture their primal Yang and would not readily release it.

Guo Wei regarded Ye Fan as his own son, so naturally he had told him about this. Ye Fan also took it extremely seriously.

Seeing the bloodstains on the thighs of the beauty in his arms and on the quilt, his entire worldview collapsed. He had forgotten everything that had happened last night.

Looking at the shattered screen, the overturned wine table, and the wine cups, flowers, fruit, and meat scattered across the floor, Ye Fan went completely numb.

"Don't. Don't do anything rash. Let me explain this to you slowly, but I have to go back to the martial hall first. All right?"

Ye Fan seized Wei Hong's wrist.

Tears streamed down Wei Hong's face. The hairpin left a bloody mark on her neck, and blood slowly seeped from the wound.

"Sis, I heard from our third sister that we have a guest. Why are you still not up? Sis, are you awake?"

Just then, Wei He's voice came from outside the door.

Ye Fan could not help starting in fright. If he was caught red-handed, he would never be able to explain himself.

"My brother belongs to Warm Breeze Hall. He manages a gambling house for Zhang Lingfeng and has become Elder Zheng's disciple. I, Wei Hong, am not someone you can casually defile. If you don't give me an explanation today, my brother will demand justice for me."

Wei Hong said.

"Warm Breeze Hall?"

Ye Fan's expression changed abruptly.

"Sis, someone's in your room."

As though he had heard something, Wei He kicked the door open and charged in from outside, just in time to see the disheveled Ye Fan gripping his sister's wrist and forcing her into a corner.

"Ye Fan, what did you do to my sister?"

Wei He flew into a rage and immediately unleashed Snatching Food from a Tiger's Mouth from the Black Baleful Intent Fist, punching toward Ye Fan's vital spot.

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