You could see quite a few martial artists from the Jianghu standing in front of the gates of the palace, shouting to challenge Yan Fuhai.
Good thing Wei Hongfang, that Grandmaster, is keeping watch at the front.
Otherwise, Yan Fuhai probably wouldnât have the peace to calmly restore his mental state at all.
Honestly, with Yan Fuhaiâs status, all it would take is a single command to clear out every martial artist in the Imperial City.
But the Jianghu has its own rules.
If Yan Fuhai really did that, itâd probably just make even more martial artists gather in the Great Qian Imperial City.
The Fourteen States of the Worldâhow many heroes roam the Jianghu? Thereâs no way to kill them all.
Yan Fuhai needs a quiet environment to heal, no way for him to stir up a big fight.
So, this leads toâ
Wei Hongfang can only act like some big sucker, handling these problems for Yan Fuhai, running back and forth inside and outside the palace every day; sometimes, heâs just finished defeating one opponent and hasnât even made it halfway back.
Outside the palace, more Jianghu heroes start yelling again.
These peopleâjust for a bit of fameâreally arenât afraid of dying, huh?
Until finallyâ
Some folks started coming just to challenge Wei Hongfang himself, after all, heâs a Grandmaster, and the Nine-Thousand-Year of Great Qian, no less.
If you can beat Wei Hongfang, thatâs a chance to become famous throughout the land.
As for all thisâ
Ye Liuyun is more than happy to watch, no interest in getting involved; isnât sitting back and watching the show more fun? Plus, the Talent Entries from these Jianghu heroes arenât bad quality.
Though so far, he hasnât seen any purple-grade ones.
But there are plenty of blue and green Talent Entries, and the accumulated experience from these is still considerable.
If folks insist on finding their own doom, why should Ye Liuyun bother persuading them otherwise?
Following a "donât waste, donât want" mindset, Ye Liuyun just recycles all the Talent Entries from these people.
...
The Embroidered Uniform Guard has had a lot more free time lately, too.
Since theyâre all busy keeping order in the Imperial City, they havenât been solving cases much.
"How come you have time to come see me today?"
At night, Ye Liuyun returned to his residence and saw Lv Lan waiting inside.
Ye Liuyun was used to it by now.
This isnât the first time Lv Lanâs come to his house anyway. If you didnât know, youâd think sheâd made herself at home.
While speakingâ
Ye Liuyun handed the Embroidered Uniform Guard robe to XingâEr, who was standing obediently nearby.
"Iâve already had someone warm a pot of wine for husband!"
These days, whenever Ye Liuyun gets back from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he always has a couple drinks to relax.
He nodded, and Ye Liuyun casually strolled into the courtyard.
Lv Lan followed closely behind.
She spoke in a relaxed tone:
"You know how it isâlots of folks coming to challenge the old Emperor lately, and those people are all that old dog, the Nine-Thousand-Year, sent over. So the palace guards have gotten way more lax recently."
"Before, Wei Hongfang used to send extra people to keep tabs on His Majesty, but lately thereâs been none of that. As the Emperorâs bodyguard, Iâve had it much easier!"
The people Wei Hongfang arranged were well-hiddenâ
But for someone like Lv Lan at Innate Perfection, itâs pretty easy to spot them.
Latelyâ
Guess Wei Hongfangâs just been too busy, hasnât had the time or energy to look after these matters.
Just as well, Yan Shuzhu told Lv Lan to get some rest and not tire herself out too much.
No other place to go eitherâ
So Lv Lan came to see Ye Liuyun.
Once in the courtyard, Lv Lan naturally sat opposite Ye Liuyun.
"Youâ"
She was about to say somethingâ
But when she looked up at Ye Liuyun, Lv Lan suddenly frowned like sheâd found something strange.
"Your cultivation?"
She hadnât noticed earlierâ
But now, after looking more closely, she realized she couldnât sense any inner strength from Ye Liuyun at all, he just seemed totally like an ordinary person.
"Are you hurt?"
Lv Lanâs first reaction was that Ye Liuyun must be injured.
That must be why there was no sign of inner strength at all.
Seeing Lv Lanâs nervous expression, Ye Liuyun smiled and waved his hand.
"No, just that Iâve had a breakthrough latelyâgained some new insight in Concealing Breath, thatâs all!"
He finished speaking, and Ye Liuyun simply circulated his inner strength for a bit.
Seeing this, Lv Lan finally relaxed a bit.
"As long as youâre okay!"
Ah, Concealing Breath, that explains it. Still, to trick even an Innate Perfection martial artist like her, that concealment is seriously scary.
Butâ
Sheâd just relaxed a bit, but then realized something and froze.
"Wait, what do you mean by âhad a breakthroughâ?"
Suddenly recognizing something off about what Ye Liuyun had said.
What exactly had the breakthrough beenâhis Concealing Breath skill, or something else?
"My realm!"
Ye Liuyun answered naturally.
He trusted Lv Lan, and besides, Ye Liuyun never had any intention to hide his abilities.
Playing dumb or pretending to be weakâ
Ye Liuyun figured, if you pretend for too long, you really do become a pig.
This Concealing Breath skill just happened to be handy, so Ye Liuyun used it. Otherwise, he wouldnât bother scheming to hide his cultivation level.
Putting in all that effort to improveâ
And then hiding away like some sneaky bastard? Might as well not train at all and save the headache.
...
Ye Liuyunâs nonchalant reply made Lv Lan fall silent.
She couldnât help but recallâ
The last time sheâd learned Ye Liuyun had broken through to late-stage Grandmaster.
Was that half a year ago? Noâwait, maybe just a month?
This breakthrough speedâisnât it a little too outrageous?
Sheâs been around Yan Shuzhu, seen plenty of promising young talents.
But compared to Ye Liuyunâ
Any kind of genius just pales in comparison; next to him, itâs like there arenât any other talents in the whole world.
...