In the *Heavenly Pavilion*, Ye Anping and Ye Ao sat cross-legged opposite each other on the couch next to the window. Kong Yulan brewed a pot of tea and then sat beside Ye Ao.
Tea leaves floated in the pot, and the fragrance filled the whole room.
There's an old habit of telling a story over a pot of tea.
The couple looked at Ye Anping eagerly, waiting for their son's story.
After organizing his thoughts, Ye Anping took a deep breath and said, "Sister Pei doesn't know about men and women yet, so she mistook sleeping together as something intimate. When we were in the ***Dragon House***, because of my excess yang energy, I had no choice but to sleep with her in my arms, just like when we were children. That's all."
Ye Ao frowned and asked for confirmation, "You're not lying, are you?"
Kong Yulan added, "Ping, if it's done, it's done. Just say it, I won't scold you."
Ye Ao continued, "Well, a man should stand tall and take responsibility even if he makes mistakes. He should actively think of ways to make amends and not to escape. When you were little, you were mischievous, but I thought you knew better so I didn't say much. But this matter..."
Ye Anping sighed, shook his head, and steered the topic away. "Every word I said is true. Besides, there wasn't much time for that kind of thing in the ***Dragon House*** at that time."
"What happened in the ***Dragon House***?"
"The demonic cultivators of the ***Demonic*** Sect invaded, and the Master of the House, Immortal Master Li, fell... A lot has happened. An official announcement should be released soon."
"The ***Demonic Sect***... Hiss..." Ye Ao took a deep breath and frowned. "First, there was the Grand Master from the ***Magical Poison*** Sect, now it's the ***Demonic*** Sect. The world is changing indeed. And how come you're there every time something like this happens?"
Ye Anping forced a smile and answered, "It's pure coincidence."
With a worried look, Kong Yulan took Ye Anping's hand. "Anping, remember, in the future, if you encounter demonic cultivators again, stay away. You don't need to show off your strength. Let those powerful cultivators handle the matters of demonic cultivators. We should just live our own lives because staying alive is what matters most. Don't think about sacrificing your life."
"Tsk, Yulan, it's not that simple. This matter of demonic cultivators concerns the entire Immortal Realm. Even if we are a small sect, we still have to contribute if we can. Ping knows this in his heart."
Kong Yulan ignored him disdainfully and continued, "Ping, just remember this: if you get into any trouble that you can't handle yourself, come find me. I will protect you no matter what."
"Um."
Kong Yulan smiled, then took the teapot and poured some tea into Ye Anping's cup before asking, "Well, enough with these things for now; let's talk about something good instead. By the way, Ping, you're at the age to get married too, right? Aren't you affected by the yang excess? Didn't Elder Wang say that you should take a few concubines?"
Ye Anping replied after a pause. "Mother, there's no rush about that matter."
"Why is there no rush? Didn't you say you had to sleep with little Pei because of your yang energy? Then, marry little Pei. She grew up with you, so we could have the wedding banquet in our ***Hundred Lotus*** Sect, which would be convenient, right? If you want to get married again later, we can arrange another wedding. That young lady of the ***Black Star*** Sect and that white-haired girl with the Holy Emperor bloodline..."
Ye Ao glanced at Kong Yulan and interrupted her. "Yulan, this won't work. If Ping really wants to marry those two, then the first wedding ceremony must be with Miss Xiao, the second one with Miss Feng, and only after that can we have little Pei... We need to follow proper etiquette. Miss Xiao holds the most weight here; if the Holy Emperor hadn't already died, Miss Feng would come first..."
"But Ping likes little Pei the most; he even hugs her to sleep."
"Just look at mortal emperors; their favorites are usually not the empress but noble consorts. So when it comes the time for us to give some ranks, they will go to little Pei..."
...
Looking at his parents arguing over this issue, Ye Anping had a headache. He slapped the table and frowned. "Stop!! Father, Mother, my marriage is my own business. I will consider it myself, and it's not a topic for now. With the invasion of demonic cultivators and the impending chaos in the world, my sister and I should focus on cultivation instead of getting married and having children. This is for our own safety and future planning."
Since he used the greater good as an argument against personal feelings, Ye Ao and Kong Yulan couldn't find reasons to refute it.
Ye Ao smiled and took a sip of tea. "Well, you can figure it out yourself. We are not a big family anyway. As the Young Master, you should take charge of your personal matters."
"Right."
Then, he seemed to remember something and turned his head to look at the desk in the center of the pavilion. He picked up a jade slip from there and placed it in front of Ye Anping.
"Speaking of your marriage, there's this jade slip... Anping, take a look, would you?"
"My marriage?"
Ye Anping frowned, glancing at the jade bamboo slip, and was surprised to see a golden spirit sword emblem carved on it. This should have been sent by the ***Moon Shadow Sword*** Sect.
The ***Moon Shadow Sword*** Sect was located at the border between the **Southern Region** and the **Western Region**, thousands of miles away from the ***Hundred Lotus*** Sect. Moreover, the ***Hundred Lotus*** Sect was a third-rate small sect not even worth their attention. Why would they send a jade slip here?
Ye Anping did not rush to check the contents of the jade slip. He lowered his head in contemplation and suddenly realized that it was probably because they had heard that the ***Black Star*** Sect had given the spirit stone veins in the **Dragon Cloud Valley** to the ***Hundred Lotus*** Sect, thus, they wanted to 'make contact'.
This move was like trying to invest. Because they thought the ***Hundred Lotus*** Sect would develop greatly in the future, they wanted to invest in them while they were still at their inception.
However, based on his understanding of the ***Moon Shadow Sword*** Sect, they definitely didn't just come over to invest.
After thinking of this, Ye Anping reached out to take the jade slip and read it with his spiritual sense.
There were a thousand characters written on the jade slip, but no matter how he looked at it---left or right, up or down---Ye Anping could only conclude this:
---Human trafficking.
The ***Moon Shadow Sword*** Sect hoped that Ye Anping would marry into their family as the husband of the Eldest Lady of the sect, Yun Yiyi.
In return, the ***Moon Shadow Sword*** Sect would give the ***Hundred Lotus*** Sect a thousand fine spirit swords, a hundred magic weapons, a hundred thousand pills, and countless heavenly materials and earthly treasures. In addition, there were five million spirit stones as a betrothal gift. They would even send an elder of the ***Moon Shadow Sword*** Sect to personally come and train the disciples of the ***Hundred Lotus*** Sect...
These "betrothal gifts" could be said to hit right at the sore spot of the ***Hundred Lotus*** Sect.
They now had a spirit stone vein, and because of this, there was a surplus of spirit stones.
However, spiritual swords, pills, magic weapons, heavenly materials, and earthly treasures were still in short supply.
To acquire these items individually was not a problem, but if you wanted to purchase them in large quantities, the situation was different.
For this reason, the ***Hundred Lotus*** Sect needed to send people to negotiate with various sects to establish trade routes.
This could not be achieved without several years of effort.
Lastly, having an elder from the ***Moon Shadow Sword*** Sect come personally and serve as an outer trainer was more than the ***Hundred Lotus*** Sect could ever ask for.
The ***Hundred Lotus*** Sect did need an elder from a large sect to come over to teach and help improve the quality of the disciples' courses. However, it wasn't easy to convince an elder from a large sect to come to a small sect like that, to teach.
It was equivalent to inviting teachers from a famous school to teach in the countryside; teaching that would last for decades.
In other words, as long as Ye Ao sent him to the ***Moon Shadow Sword*** Sect, the ***Hundred Lotus*** Sect could save decades of development.
Ye Anping withdrew his spiritual sense and placed the jade slip back on the table. Then, looking at his father's wry smile, he shook his head and asked, "So, Father, you want to send me there?"
"Well, sending you over there would save our sect at least several decades of effort. Unfortunately, your mother doesn't agree."
Hearing this, Kong Yulan narrowed her eyes and reached out to grab his ear. "What do you mean, 'I don't agree, so you won't send him?' You old fart! Didn't you make a big fuss back then and throw this jade slip against the wall? You even broke my china vase with orchids."
"Hey, hey, hey--" Ye Ao grabbed his wife's hand and stopped her. "Can you show me some respect in front of our son?"
"Respect, my ass!!"
Speechless, Ye Anping picked up the teacup and took a sip. He thought for a while before asking, "Then again, that ***Moon Shadow Sword*** Sect's Eldest Lady, is she trying to control the ***Hundred Lotus*** Sect? She'll have the Young Master as a hostage and also send an elder over, who should be at *Nascent Soul* stage or above, right?"
Ye Ao replied, "They didn't say it openly, but it's probably what they think. But I'm afraid it's not just that. The disciple who delivered the jade slip also mentioned something."
"What did he say?"
"The Eldest Lady has seen your portrait and thinks you are very handsome. This should be one of the reasons."
"Well." Ye Anping nodded. "Yun Yiyi has good taste."
Kong Yulan agreed as well. "Our Ping is very handsome. Even other sects' young ladies are eager to marry him. Does she have a higher status than Miss Xiao?"
Ye Ao looked at the mother and son, feeling somewhat speechless. But thinking that his son looked like him, which also meant he was handsome himself, he quickly nodded.
"Well, anyway, I've decided not to reply to this jade slip. I'll just throw it away."
"Okay... I'll take it and throw it away later."
Ye Anping smiled and put the jade slip into his storage bag. He already had some plans in his mind now, and this jade slip might come in handy.
At this moment, Ye Anping remembered his sister and Liang Zhu, who had been waiting outside for almost half an hour. He quickly said, "By the way, Father, let me introduce someone to you. A sworn brother I made on the road."
"Huh? You even made a sworn brother?"
"Yes, he is quite a talented person. He is a rogue cultivator, very skilled in his work. His name is Liang Zhu. He is my eldest brother, and I am his sixth brother."
"Sixth brother?" Ye Ao paused. "Then, what about second, third, fourth, and fifth?"
"...They have returned to dust."
"I see... What kind of cultivation does he have?"
"You'll see." Ye Anping thought for a while and said, "You can ask him to go to Elder Qian to help. He is a Dharma cultivator, good at formations and spells. Anyway, all you need is to pay him a monthly salary on time. If you give him enough, he will be very useful."
"Where is he?"
Ye Anping got up from the couch, walked to the door, and opened it "Brother Liang, bring Ating in. They have agreed."
Liang Ating's legs were numb from standing on the steps, and she looked at Ye Anping with a resentful face. However, under Liang Zhu's reminder, she hastily changed her expression, replacing it with an innocent and cute childish smile as she was pulled by Liang Zhu into the *Heavenly Pavilion*.
"Master Ye, Madam Ye, I am Liang Zhu. This is my adopted daughter, Ating."
Liang Ating hurriedly hid behind Liang Zhu, nodded with a fearful face, and said in a small voice. "Hello, Master Ye... Hello, Mrs. Ye..."
