My disciple, you are now invincible. Go down the mountain and wreak havoc on the world!

Ye Hongtu's expression changed repeatedly, and his eyes flickered incessantly.

He clenched his teeth so tightly that he refused to utter a single word.

Ye Xunhuan wasn't annoyed; he simply lifted his foot and gently ground it against the wound on the man's knee.

"ah--!!"

Ye Hongtu let out a piercing scream, nearly fainting from the pain.

"You don't want to tell me? That's fine too."

Ye Xunhuan slowly pulled a black token from the gauze on his knee, on which was engraved a strange character "幽".

"This is the communication token of the secluded pavilion, hidden in the gauze, probably meant to send a signal to those outside at any time?"

He reached out and took a small porcelain bottle from Ye Hongtu's arms, uncorked it, and smelled it.

"A hundred days of sleep plus a game of 'pulling the machine'?"

"Alas! The old man is truly blessed, having been poisoned by this kind of poison, which specifically depletes a martial artist's internal energy."

"Within a hundred days, silently and without a trace, he died of organ failure. Ye Hongtu, you have such a deep mind!"

"In the entire capital, apart from Youge, I'm afraid no one else has this."

"Tell me, is it reasonable for you, the second uncle of the Ye family, to be carrying the Youge Qianji Zui on your person?"

"And last night at three o'clock, you met with the third leader of Youge behind the rockery in the back garden, accepted thirty million silver notes from him, agreed to sell my position, and said that once you seize the Ye family's military power, you will open the capital's defense line and let the people of Youge in."

"What are your intentions in doing this?"

With each sentence Ye Xunhuan spoke, Ye Hongtu's face paled a little more.

He did all this with utmost secrecy; how could Ye Xunhuan have known?!

The clan elders were in an uproar, their eyes filled with fear and anger as they stared at Ye Hongtu on the ground.

"So it was he who colluded with Youge!"

"We've all been fooled by him! He's the traitor who let the wolf in!"

"They have wolfish ambitions! They're downright wolfish!"

Just then, the back door of the ward was suddenly pushed open.

Ye Zhong, dressed in a tight-fitting outfit, led a dozen or so Ye family elites in quickly, while Su Qingyuan, who was unharmed, was protected in the middle.

Her skirt was only slightly dusty, and her hair was a little messy, but her beautiful eyes lit up instantly when she saw Ye Xunhuan.

"Young Master!" Ye Zhong clasped his hands and bowed, his voice booming.

"As you instructed, my men guarded the side courtyard of the pharmacy. We intercepted the Youge people as soon as they made their move, capturing three of their leaders alive. We also subdued most of the outer guards! Miss Su is safe and sound!"

It turned out that Ye Xunhuan sensed something was wrong as soon as he entered the old house.

Under the pretense of wandering around looking for directions, he secretly gave a coded message to Ye Zhong, the old man's confidant, instructing him to secretly lead a group to keep an eye on the pharmacy.

He had long anticipated that Ye Hongtu would target Su Qingyuan.

After all, he may be terrible with directions, but he knows exactly how to fight and cause harm.

"It's good that you're alright."

Ye Xunhuan's cold expression instantly vanished, and he raised an eyebrow at Su Qingyuan, lollipop in his mouth, "Not scared, are you?"

Su Qingyuan shook her head. "No."

"Okay, I'll buy you ten grilled sausages with extra cumin and no spice later, to calm your nerves."

Su Qingyuan was both annoyed and amused. She rolled her eyes at him, walked to his side, and whispered, "Be careful, there are still Earth-rank Grandmasters outside."

"What's there to be afraid of?" Ye Xunhuan waved his hand dismissively, his gaze sweeping over the group of clan elders in the corner.

The clan elders who had just been shouting along with Ye Hongtu all knelt down in unison upon seeing this.

"Young Master, please forgive us! You were all blinded by this wicked wretch, Ye Hongtu!"

"Please, young master, have mercy on us this time!"

"We are willing to serve our young master as our master, and from this day forward, we will obey his every command!"

They kowtowed loudly, their expressions changing faster than turning the pages of a book.

Ye Xunhuan scoffed, stepped on Ye Hongtu's chest, leaned down slightly, and poked his swollen face with the remaining half of a lollipop stick.

"See, I told you so!"

He spoke slowly, his tone slightly mocking, "If I had known you were so fragile, I would have used less force."

"Look at yourself now, you look like the hornet's nest I poked on the mountain last time, you look awful."

Ye Hongtu was filled with anger and hatred. His chest was churning with blood and qi. Coupled with being stepped on and unable to breathe, his eyes rolled back and he fainted.

"Tsk, it's really fragile."

Ye Xunhuan withdrew his foot in disgust and casually wiped the dust off the candy stick on his clothes.

Yao Chen, who was standing nearby, quickly stepped forward: "Young Master, there are still hundreds of Youge assassins outside, and Chen Xuanfeng, a Grandmaster of Earth Rank, is downstairs. What should we do..."

"What's the rush?" Ye Xunhuan rubbed his stomach and frowned. "I'm hungry after fighting for so long."

"Where's the kitchen? Let me make two braised pork knuckles and cook a few bowls of rice to fill my stomach before I go down and deal with them."

"If I stand for too long, my legs will go numb, and I'll have even less energy when it's time to fight."

Upon hearing this, everyone in the room was stunned.

Even a Grandmaster-level expert outside is challenging you, and you're thinking about eating?!

Where did this gluttonous monster come from?

But no one dared to refute it.

Ye Zhong immediately replied, "I'll arrange it right away!"

Just then, a loud, angry shout came from downstairs, so loud it made the windows rattle.

"You arrogant brat! You killed members of my Youge Pavilion and injured members of my Ye family's direct line! I, Chen Xuanfeng, will today act on behalf of Heaven and subdue this monster!"

The aura of a Grandmaster of Earth Rank pressed down overwhelmingly, causing the elders in the room to turn pale again, and even breathing became more difficult.

Ye Xunhuan picked at his ear, about to speak, when a deafening engine roar suddenly came from outside the old house.

A dozen top-of-the-line luxury cars lined up and parked in front of the Ye family's old residence, their headlights dazzlingly bright.

The car door opened, and footsteps sounded in unison. A large number of bodyguards in black quickly lined up on both sides, exuding an imposing aura.

Immediately afterwards, a middle-aged man dressed in a dark-patterned Tang suit walked slowly into the courtyard with his hands behind his back.

His face was stern, his eyes sharp as an eagle's. He swept his gaze over the corpses of the guards and members of the Youge lying scattered across the courtyard, his brows furrowing slightly. Then he spoke softly, his voice not loud, but clearly carrying throughout the entire old house:

"The internal strife within the Ye family has disrupted the rules of the capital."

"I, Chu Xiaotian, will today uphold justice for your Ye family."

In the ward, Ye Zhong's expression changed drastically, and he looked up at Ye Xunhuan abruptly: "Young Master! The Chu family is the number one family in the capital."

"Chu Xiaotian, the head of the Chu family! What brings him here?!"

Ye Xunhuan, with a lollipop in his mouth, leaned out the window and looked down. Instead of panicking, his eyes lit up, as if he had discovered something new.

"Oh? Another one joining in the fun?"

He licked the sugar crumbs from the corner of his mouth, smiled innocently, and slowly twirled the lollipop stick in his hand.

"Perfect timing, let's eat braised pork knuckle together after we finish."

"To avoid being attacked wave after wave."

"I wonder if the Chu family patriarch and his men can withstand a fight?"