Chapter Seventy-Eight: Conflict

With a passerby pointing the way, the three of them naturally had a direction. They followed the path, asking questions along the way, and soon arrived at a guest room at the back of the mountain, where two men in black stood guard at the door.

Before the three could approach and speak, the two burly guards at the entrance spotted them.

“Who are you?” they barked, their first reaction to loudly rebuke and try to drive off these uninvited guests.

Ye Yan pressed down on his mask and smiled. “Does it matter who we are? What’s more important is who’s inside—that’s what I’m truly curious about.”

“Impudent… The identities of those inside are not for you to pry into. Don’t go looking for trouble,” the thinner guard snapped, drawing his nunchaku from his belt, making it clear he was ready to resort to violence if they didn’t know their place.

Ye Yan felt a wave of exasperation. He wondered why people these days all seemed so brash—first Zheng Mengping, then Zheng Guofeng, and now these two. Was courage really something that could be inherited?

Though he still didn’t know exactly who had taken Zhang Chulan, the arrogance of these two watchdogs gave him a good sense of things.

Bringing personal bodyguards to Mount Longhu, coveting the source of Qi—these facts made their identities plain as day.

Not bothering to waste words on these small fry, Ye Yan called out, “Sister Bao’er, go.”

As soon as he spoke, Feng Baobao, already poised to strike, leapt into action. With a spinning back kick straight out of “crow flies on an airplane,” the two guards were dispatched in the blink of an eye.

…

With the outside dealt with, it was time to confront those inside.

Ye Yan pushed open the closed wooden door and strode in, immediately seeing two old men, Lü Ci and Wang Ai, seated on wooden chairs.

Their eyes met, and the atmosphere instantly tensed—especially Wang Ai, whose posture grew awkward.

Ye Yan, however, remained calm and teased, “Well, well, what have I found here? Two shameless old dogs—did you know protein content is six times higher in beef?”

Before Lü Ci or Wang Ai could reply to this barbed remark, Lü Gong couldn’t sit still any longer.

He stormed, “You brat, how dare you speak to the elders like this? Do you know who these gentlemen are?”

Ye Yan simply curled his lip and looked at Lü Gong as if he were an idiot. “And do you know who I am?”

“How dare you show such disrespect! I’ll make you regret it right now—prepare to die!” Lü Gong shouted, activating his Soul Manipulation Art and charging blindly forward.

Seeing this, Lü Ci grew anxious and hurried to stop him. “Gong, don’t—”

But he was too late; Ye Yan’s fist had already crashed into Lü Gong’s face.

It was a heavy blow, sending Lü Gong flying back to slam into the wall. His head twisted aside, and he collapsed unconscious to the floor.

Ye Yan looked at Lü Gong’s limp form and shook his head in exasperation. Was this kid brainless? As a Soul Manipulator—a support role—he’d charged in like a reckless brute.

Were all Lü family members this rash? Ye Yan couldn’t make sense of it.

Meanwhile, seeing his own great-grandson knocked out before his eyes, Lü Ci’s fury flared.

“Young man, wasn’t that a bit much?”

Ye Yan cocked his head and smiled, his tone unyielding. “Too much? I think it was fair. If I didn’t kill your great-grandson outright, I’ve already given you enough respect.”

“You—” Lü Ci’s anger rose even higher at this brazen retort. He was, after all, one of the Ten Elders. It had been years since anyone dared speak to him this way.

“Don’t think you can act lawlessly just because you have some strength. There are plenty of gifted individuals in this world stronger than you,” Lü Ci warned.

“Is that so?” Ye Yan scoffed, his eyes full of disdain.

If the one speaking had been the Celestial Master, Ye Yan would have obediently conceded—some opponents were simply unbeatable. Might made right.

But Lü Ci? He was little more than a half-baked old fool, good for nothing but throwing his weight around. Other than bullying with authority, what else could he do? Useless in all things except stirring up trouble, and always leaning on his status.

Ye Yan had no patience for such people.

He brushed the dust from his sleeve, his tone calm. “Senior, are you not convinced? Why don’t you step up and try a few moves yourself? I’ve already seen your Soul Manipulation Art—now let me witness your Ruyi Force.”

“Of course, I still have a measure of respect for you, so I won’t bully you. If you can’t manage alone, both of you can come at me together.”

Even as he challenged Lü Ci head-on, Ye Yan didn’t forget to call out Wang Ai as well. He was one step away from declaring that everyone present was trash.

Being pointed out so abruptly, Wang Ai couldn’t help the twitch at the corner of his mouth. He’d been keeping silent, feigning deafness, yet still got dragged into it. This was too much.

But Ye Yan felt no burden at all in offending both Lü Ci and Wang Ai. His real enemy was the Wang family, but anyone with a bit of sense in the exorcist world knew that the Wang and Lü families were close allies.

These two old turtles gathering together—birds of a feather, not a decent one among them.

Since Lü Ci might well become a potential enemy, Ye Yan certainly wasn’t going to ignore him.

“Brother Lü, calm yourself,” Wang Ai quickly interjected, seeing Lü Ci’s temper about to boil over. It was one thing to be angry, but now was not the time to actually start a fight.

Though Ye Yan had just said he’d take them both on, Wang Ai wasn’t foolish. If it really came to blows with a sorcerer, who’d end up ganged up on whom was far from certain.

Having just soothed Lü Ci, Wang Ai now turned to Ye Yan. “Brother Ye Yan, please, calm down. It’s all a misunderstanding—what you saw was just a misunderstanding.”

“We brought Zhang Chulan here not to do anything to him, but simply to have a conversation with this promising young man.”

Wang Ai lied through his teeth.

Their intentions toward Zhang Chulan were obvious to anyone with half a brain. Still, for them to act so brazenly on Mount Longhu, they must have made certain preparations and not feared retaliation.

Ye Yan understood this well and knew there was little to be gained by holding them to account on this point. Moreover, he hadn’t come to make an issue of their so-called conversation with Zhang Chulan, but rather to approach matters from another angle.

“Let’s set aside what you wanted to talk about. I just want to know—before you summoned Zhang Chulan, did you inform the company, or the Celestial Master?”

“Or do you two believe your families are so powerful that you can bypass the company, ignore the Celestial Master, and directly target an employee of Everything Through Heaven, as well as the Celestial Master’s own chosen heir?”