Chapter 78: Chapter 70: She Is the True Number One Beauty of the Outer Sect, Ye Ming the Cowherd
"Young... Young Master Jiang..."
Chen Ning never imagined that even after shrinking back as far as she could and completely hiding her face, she would still be noticed by Jiang Lan.
Her voice stuttered and trembled, unable to conceal the panic and unease in her tone.
Her once-charming eyes were now filled with terror and trepidation. Her oval face was ashen, and her delicate hands clenched into fists. She trembled from head to toe in fear.
"Hm? Not bad looking at all."
"You’ll do." Jiang Lan nodded, seemingly satisfied.
"Young... Young Master Jiang, I have a fiancé. Please... please spare me..."
The color drained from Chen Ning’s face. Her legs went weak, and she nearly collapsed to the floor.
Zhao Dieyi hadn’t expected Jiang Lan to take a fancy to this junior sister of hers either.
"Jiang Lan..."
She gritted her teeth, wanting to try and dissuade him. She recalled that this junior sister was from the Chen Family of Bei Yan, a reputable Cultivation Family.
If something were to happen here, she, as the leading senior sister, could not escape the blame.
"Are you perhaps offering to take her place, Zhao Dieyi? That would be acceptable."
However, Jiang Lan merely shot her a glance and smiled faintly.
Zhao Dieyi choked on her words and immediately fell silent.
Jiang Lan turned back to Chen Ning, leisurely tilting her chin up with his folding fan. "A fiancé? How about I send my men to drag him here, break his legs right in front of you, and then ask him if he agrees?"
"I don’t like it when people defy me."
Chen Ning’s face grew even paler, her lips trembling.
Suddenly, an idea struck her. As if grasping at a lifeline, she pointed frantically at a figure behind her who was also cowering with her head down. "Young Master Jiang, Junior Sister Chu Chan is far more beautiful than I am! She’s known as the number one beauty of the Outer Sect."
"It’s true! If you don’t believe me, you can have her raise her head. You’ll understand as soon as you see her..."
Upon hearing Chen Ning’s words, it wasn’t just Zhao Dieyi who was stunned.
Even Chu Chan, who had been hiding in the back, froze. She never thought Chen Ning would redirect the disaster onto her at a time like this.
The color slowly drained from her lowered, luminous, melon-seed-shaped face. Her delicate hands clenched so tightly that her knuckles cracked with a soft CRACK.
"Oh? Is that so?"
Jiang Lan seemed surprised. He shifted his gaze and commanded, "Lift your head."
"Young... Young Master Jiang..."
Chu Chan bit her lip and did as she was told, forcing herself to remain calm. But her pale face and trembling hands betrayed the turmoil in her heart.
She had large eyes, framed by long, thick lashes that sparkled with Spiritual Energy. Her black hair cascaded down her shoulders. Though her dress was simple and unadorned, she was exceptionally beautiful, her looks in no way inferior to Zhao Dieyi’s.
"Indeed, not bad at all." Jiang Lan’s eyes lit up as he voiced his approval.
Seeing this, Chen Ning finally let out a long sigh of relief. She then shot Chu Chan a look of mocking schadenfreude.
’She felt a surge of relief at her own cleverness. Back in the Sect, Chu Chan’s beauty always outshone mine. But now? What good end can she possibly meet after catching the eye of this profligate heir?’
Chu Chan’s heart sank into despair. From the corner of her eye, she cast a pleading glance at her senior sister, Zhao Dieyi.
However, Zhao Dieyi seemed not to notice her gaze. Her eyes were fixed on some distant point, as if she hadn’t seen a thing.
Despair instantly flooded her heart.
...
’The rumors are true. This profligate heir is outrageously arrogant and domineering, completely unrestrained...’
’Isn’t he afraid of making needless enemies for the Prime Minister’s Mansion? Isn’t he afraid that if he offends too many people, he’ll just get slaughtered on the road one day?’
’What a fool. He has no sense of restraint whatsoever.’
Meanwhile, in a private room not far away, a young man in a dark blue robe, with a resolute, slightly tanned face and well-defined features, was using his Divine Thought to observe the situation outside.
As these thoughts ran through his mind, his eyes narrowed. It was as if he were muttering to himself, yet also conversing with another.
The aura of a soul materialized above his palm, followed by a fleeting flash of blood-red light.
At the same time, a deep, ancient voice echoed in his mind, "His bodyguards are quite strong, and he has a Sixth Realm master protecting him from the shadows. Of course he’s fearless."
"A Sixth Realm expert?"
The young man’s expression darkened. "Zhu Yun is destined to become the Saintess of the Jasper Pool Sect. For her sake, I can’t just stand by and watch this disciple of the Jasper Pool Sect die."
"If I let this continue, there’s no telling how that profligate heir will ruin this woman."
"Besides, if she found out I was here and did nothing, she would probably grow to resent me."
The deep, ancient voice seemed to chuckle.
"Heh, and here I thought you were solely devoted to the Dao. I didn’t expect you, of all people, to be swayed by a pretty face."
"But if you’re going to meddle in other people’s business, have you considered the consequences?"
Hearing this, the young man hesitated. The profligate heir outside was indeed arrogant and domineering, but he certainly had the backing to be so.
As the most powerful noble in the Great Xia today, there was truly no one in the entire Celestial Central Province who would dare to provoke him lightly.
"Old Ghost, you have many methods. I can only count on you to help me," he said, looking down at his palm.
"Let’s wait and see for now. This Drunken Immortal Residence seems to be one of his family’s businesses. Don’t act rashly on his turf," the deep, ancient voice replied.
The young man finally nodded, a sharp glint in his eyes as he began to ponder a strategy.
’If Old Ghost said that, he must have a way.’
’Still, I have to find a way to disguise my appearance. Otherwise, if I offend that profligate heir in Anyang City, it will be difficult to go after the inheritance from the Purple Mist True Monarch that Old Ghost mentioned,’ he thought to himself.
The Old Ghost had no name. As for why Ye Ming called him that, it was because the first time he became aware of his presence, he had been scared out of his wits, thinking he was some kind of ghost possessing him.
His name was Ye Ming, and he was originally just an ordinary cowherd from Woniu Village in the Great Yan Kingdom.
His parents had died young, so he had lived with his older brother’s family since childhood.
His aunt was cruel and insatiably greedy. She not only had his brother seize the fertile fields his parents had left him, but also kicked him out of the family home.
Ye Ming could only build a simple tiled hut outside the cattle shed, living alongside a few old oxen.
One day, while herding cattle, he accidentally fell into a strange cave and remained unconscious for three full days.
When he woke up three days later, he found he was accompanied by the being known as Old Ghost.
The entity called himself an Imperial Tutor. Due to an accident, he had been reduced to a single, immortal Residual Soul, drifting between worlds, his consciousness fading in and out.
Many years ago, he had been summoned by an Evil Cultivator who was refining a Soul Summoning Banner, and he had been slumbering within it ever since.
That Evil Cultivator, however, suffered a Qigong Deviation while in closed-door cultivation in his cave abode, and ended up perishing, his Dao extinguished.
Many years later, Ye Ming stumbled into that same cave abode, waking the soul sleeping within the Soul Summoning Banner.
At the time, Ye Ming had accidentally triggered a Restriction left behind by the Evil Cultivator. To save him, and to escape himself, the Old Ghost had no choice but to take up residence in Ye Ming’s body, borrowing his physical form.
Over the years, the two of them had traveled far and wide, adventuring everywhere, making their way from the Great Yan Kingdom to the Great Xia Dynasty, the hegemon of the Celestial Central Province.
As a Residual Soul who had drifted through various lands, the Old Ghost had personally witnessed the lives of many powerful experts, so he knew where their fortuitous opportunities and inheritances might be hidden.
Their appearance in Anyang City now was precisely to pursue the legacy left behind by a certain Purple Mist True Monarch from the Old Ghost’s memories.
