Rumors Fiercer Than Tigers! Imaginations Are Deadliest

"A secluded chamber?" Ye Qingzhou asked to confirm.

"Mm." Ye Xinlan nodded gently and asked in confusion, "Is there a problem?"

"No problem." Ye Qingzhou could hardly say that hearing the words "go to a secluded chamber with a girl" had triggered him.

"Then let's go." Ye Qingzhou washed his hands in the basin of water a maid had brought, then stood up to lead the way.

The training rooms for the Ye Clan's core disciples were extremely high-grade. They were built entirely of jade that maintained a constant temperature, with a thick layer of special blue jade slabs covering the floor. The four walls were also engraved with some rudimentary formation patterns that could draw the energy of heaven and earth together.

Ye Qingzhou led Ye Xinlan inside and pointed at the scroll on a nearby desk. "The Crimson Flame Bodhi Scripture is right here. You can study it without worry."

Ye Xinlan crossed to the desk in a few steps and eagerly picked up the scroll.

But rather than hurry to examine it, she looked at Ye Qingzhou, who hadn't followed her over, and asked in confusion, "Aren't you going to study it with me, Cousin?"

"It wouldn't be proper for a man and a woman to be alone together." Ye Qingzhou maintained proper boundaries, his gaze already sweeping toward the weapons rack against the wall. "You study first. I'll go practice a Dou Technique. It's fine if I study it after you're done."

Now that he had grasped the basics of the cultivation method, it was time to put learning a Dou Technique on the agenda.

He planned to practice the high-level Xuan-class Dou Technique he had borrowed from the library yesterday, the Fire Python Heavenly Dance Spear Technique. When the rewards were calculated at midnight, he could also increase his gains through the diary.

"We're only studying a cultivation method together. What's wrong with that?" A bewildered look appeared on Ye Xinlan's face.

"Aren't you afraid people in the clan will start gossiping?" Ye Qingzhou raised an eyebrow.

"Who in the clan would dare gossip about me?" Ye Xinlan blinked in bewilderment.

Ye Qingzhou: "..."

He had forgotten that the First Elder was fiercely protective of his own. He had even declared that no one was to disturb Ye Xinlan's cultivation or her study of alchemy before her coming-of-age ceremony.

"Cousin, a straight body casts no crooked shadow." A serious expression appeared on Ye Xinlan's little face. "You're a disciple of a collateral branch, and you broke through to Da Dou Shi at sixteen. Your cultivation talent might even surpass mine. If we cultivate the method together and compare what we've learned, we can grasp the basics faster."

Ye Xinlan was wholeheartedly focused on improving both her own strength and Ye Qingzhou's.

"I'll tell you the truth." Ye Qingzhou clasped his hands behind his back and said seriously, "I've already grasped the basics. From here on, I just need to keep practicing until it becomes instinctive. I don't need to spend any more time studying it."

"What!?" Ye Xinlan couldn't believe her ears. "Cousin, you only got the Crimson Flame Bodhi Scripture last night. Even if you started cultivating it then and kept going until now, it's only been eight hours at most, and you've already grasped the basics!?"

"Mm." Ye Qingzhou nodded slightly. "So there's no need for me to study it anymore."

"I don't believe it." Ye Xinlan immediately sat down at the desk and unfurled the scroll. "Cousin, come explain it to me. If you can prove you've really grasped the basics, I'll let you go practice your Dou Technique."

"All right." Ye Qingzhou thought it wouldn't take much time to prove it, so he walked over to the desk.

"Look at this line..." Ye Qingzhou began explaining it to Ye Xinlan, word by word and sentence by sentence.

After gaining a preliminary understanding, Ye Xinlan tried cultivating as the method described, controlling her Dou Qi as it traveled through a full cycle along a special path and at a special rhythm.

Ye Qingzhou held his hand an inch above Ye Xinlan's dantian and released his soul power to sense the circulation of her Dou Qi.

"That's too fast at the Three Yang Meridian."

"You don't need this meridian."

"Don't put much Dou Qi into this meridian, and slow it down."

Under Ye Qingzhou's hands-on guidance, Ye Xinlan found her understanding of the Crimson Flame Bodhi Scripture deepening.

At this rate, Ye Xinlan would successfully switch to the new cultivation method in just a few days.

This also showed that Ye Qingzhou really had grasped the basics of the method.

"Cousin, you're incredible." Ye Xinlan looked at Ye Qingzhou with her face full of admiration, a faint blush spreading across her cheeks.

"Not bad. I was just lucky, that's all." Ye Qingzhou smiled calmly, thinking that it was finally his turn to say those words.

"How is that luck?" Ye Xinlan shook her head like a pellet drum, her beautiful eyes shining. "Cousin, you're a complete genius. I never thought you'd grasp the basics in a single night. You're amazing."

He had a fangirl of his own now.

It felt great to hear such admiring words.

"Cousin, don't go practice your Dou Technique." Ye Xinlan reached out and grabbed Ye Qingzhou's arm. "Teach me to cultivate."

"All right... No." Ye Qingzhou suddenly realized he had nearly lost himself in Ye Xinlan's rainbow farts and refused firmly. "I have to go practice my Dou Technique."

"Teach me the cultivation method first," Ye Xinlan said urgently.

"No, I'm going to learn the Dou Technique."

"What if I give you a medicinal pill?"

"Cousin, you've misjudged me. I won't change my plans for a single medicinal pill."

"Then I'll ask a Dou Ling elder who cultivates the Fire Python Heavenly Dance Spear Technique to teach you. That'll be much faster than learning on your own, and I'll give you the pill too." Ye Xinlan upped her offer.

"Cousin." Ye Xinlan broke into a smile and said, "You're an excellent judge of character."

Ye Xinlan: "..."

She understood. This cousin's eyes lit up at the sight of money.

It didn't matter. As the First Elder's only legitimate daughter, she had plenty of money.

And so Ye Qingzhou stayed in the secluded chamber all morning, guiding Ye Xinlan in cultivating the method.

Some well-informed people soon learned of it, and the news spread through the clan.

"Have you heard? Miss Ye Xinlan took breakfast to Ye Qingzhou's courtyard to see him, and the two of them spent half the day cultivating together in a secluded chamber."

"Have you heard? Miss Ye Xinlan was passing Ye Qingzhou's courtyard when he called her into a secluded chamber to cultivate for half the day."

"Heard...? Miss Ye Xinlan went to Ye Qingzhou's secluded chamber to see him, and they spent half the day together."

"Heard...? Miss Ye Xinlan and Ye Qingzhou are together. The two of them did it in the secluded chamber..."

The rumors grew more and more outrageous as they spread, until they finally reached the First Elder, Ye Zhong.

"How dare he." Ye Zhong's beard bristled and his eyes widened. "Didn't I say long ago that no junior was to disturb Xin Lan's cultivation or her study of alchemy before she came of age? Which branch does this Ye Qingzhou belong to?"

"First Elder, there may be a misunderstanding." The elder reporting the news lowered his head and cupped his hands. "Ye Qingzhou belongs to Ye Fang's line, which became a collateral branch in his father's generation. He would address you as his great-grandfather. I doubt he'd have the nerve to lead the young miss astray."

"Go investigate and get to the bottom of this," Ye Zhong said coldly. "Xin Lan has excellent soul talent. If anyone in the Ye Clan can still become an eighth-tier alchemist and preserve our clan's standing in the Pill Tower, it's her alone."

"I absolutely will not..."

Before Ye Zhong could finish, Ye Xinlan's voice suddenly sounded from outside the door.

"Grandfather, Xin Lan requests an audience."

Ye Zhong immediately put on a different face, looking like a kindly old man as he said, "Come in."

Ye Xinlan pushed the door open and entered, panting, with an unusual flush on her face.

As someone who had been through it himself, what was there for Ye Zhong not to understand?

They were hard-his fists were rock hard!