Chapter Thirty-Four: Aftermath Ripples

  When Yue Yu and Ran Li walked out of the Black Cloud Mountain from the other side of the entrance, even with Ran Li's great strength, they were almost crushed to death. Behind him, he carried several large bundles of spoils of war. The herbs only accounted for a small part, and the rest was mostly the corpses of demon beasts.

  Or it was the fragrance of the medicinal water on their bodies that had faded, which made them extremely unlucky this time. They bumped into five or six second-level demonic beasts one after another. Yue Yu then let Ran Li bring their corpses together, and with the strength of the two, if they didn't gain anything after entering the mountain, it would only raise suspicions.

  However, this delay caused them to miss the time to leave the mountain. Seeing that it was already too late to return to the city, they had no choice but to rush towards their home in a nearby village before nightfall.

  As soon as he entered the small village where the tenant lived, Yue Yu was stunned. This time, Yue Zhangshi actually didn't care about the business in the city and brought all the hired martial artists to search for his trail. And when Yue Zhangshi saw Yue Yu return intact, the first thing she did was slap him hard and then hugged his head and cried bitterly.

  Yue Yu's face was pretending to be innocent and wronged, but deep down, a wave of irrepressible warmth rose up, and for the first time, she began to reflect on whether her behavior of running to Hei Yun Mountain alone with Ruan Li this time was appropriate.

  He secretly smiled wryly, feeling that his bond with this family was getting deeper and deeper. Especially with Zhang Shi, he had unknowingly developed a deep affection for her, as if they were connected by blood.

  On the second day when they returned to the city, Yue Youcheng's disappearance seemed to still be unknown to anyone. The atmosphere of the entire Yue family's castle was also peaceful and calm. It wasn't until they entered the city that Yue Yu and Ruan Li discovered a few suspicious and uncertain glances, which quickly disappeared. The two exchanged a smile, both eagerly anticipating the storm that was about to rise.

  In the following days, Yue Yu was unusually honest and not only gave up his plan to continue collecting medicine outside the valley, but also did not step out of the south gate of the Yue family castle. This was not only to avoid worrying about Yue Zhangshi, but also because he was preparing to analyze the Gale Wind Technique of the Fengyue Xuanhu fox and the reason for the formation of the demon power crystal.

  Yue Yu's days returned to normal, except for the one hour of martial arts practice at the training grounds every day. Otherwise, he spent almost the entire day in his base behind Tiger Ridge Mountain.

  However, the old martial artist who came to guide Ran Li was increasingly dissatisfied with the two of them. Ran Li's martial skills were progressing at a tremendous pace, far beyond his expectations. But precisely because of this, he became more and more displeased with Yue Yu's actions. He thought to himself, "You can abandon yourself if you want, but why do you have to ruin this promising young talent, Ran Li?"

  In the eyes of the old master, if he had more time to teach Ran Li, this little guy's strength should be even more astonishing!

  This made Yue Yu feel extremely helpless, thinking that maybe he should also hide his true strength like Ran Li. From what he had learned about this old martial artist named Yue Youfeng in the past few days, he was a very upright person and would not do something as underhanded as secretly sabotaging him. However, because of this, he became even more worried. This old man was so dedicated to the clan that if Ran Li performed too outstandingly, he might directly propose to the elder council to forcibly take Ran Li away from him.

  It can't be denied that although he was initially annoyed by this big guy, following him around was really troublesome. However, up until now, many things have unexpectedly become inseparable from this little fellow.

  It had been seven days of uneventful routine, but on this clear morning, as Yue Yu left the training grounds, he felt that something was off. On his way to the North City Gate, although the atmosphere wasn't exactly tense, Yue Yu noticed that the family warriors and servants with mountain patterns embroidered on their chests were almost all pressing their weapons, their faces extremely vigilant as they stared at every passerby on the road.

  The reason that made them so vigilant. Apart from the great enemy entering the border, there were only a few deaths of martial artists including Yue Youcheng. The martial artists belonging to the family totaled only over a thousand, and three of them died inexplicably at once, one of whom was a precious mid-level martial artist, how could it not make the high-level officials of the Yue family furious?

  Yue Yu's heart was filled with a cold smile, and it wasn't until now that he realized Yue Youcheng and the others were missing. This Yue family is really slow to react. However, considering the ancient environment, it's still passable.

  Ran Li also gradually realized the abnormality, and smiled with a silly expression while winking at his young master. Yue Yu glared at him with annoyance, then pretended to be unaware and continued walking forward. However, they had only taken a few steps when a large group of people suddenly appeared from a cross street in front of them. The one riding the dragon qilin horse at the forefront was none other than their clan leader, Yue Yunjie. Judging by his direction, he should have just come out of the city lord's mansion not long ago. Beside him, the scar-faced man with a sword, who was also riding a dragon qilin horse, was Yue Yunwen, and like his older brother, had an iron expression. Behind them followed a large group of silver-line warriors.

  Yue Yu hastily retreated to the side, but when Yue Yunjie saw him, his expression only slightly hesitated before urging the dragon and unicorn horse to come over. Yue Yu was suddenly taken aback - this elder uncle of his had only seen him once since he woke up a few months ago. At that time, there were no kind words for him, instead he was scolded by Yue Zhangshi for being poorly taught. So he thought that this uncle would not bother with him. But looking at Yue Yunjie's expression, it was unexpectedly warm and friendly.

  "Xiao Yu, I heard you've been practicing martial arts less frequently lately?"

  Yue Rongjie was about forty years old, with a dignified appearance and a face as red as rouge. Probably due to his long-term grasp of power, when he spoke at this moment, although his expression was calm, there was still an air of unyielding authority that brooked no disobedience.

  "Respectfully addressing Uncle! I, your junior nephew, have come to realize that in the path of martial arts, there is no longer much future for me. Therefore, recently I have been converting my studies to pharmacy ——"

  Yue Yu stood up straight, and he didn't have any psychological barriers towards this patriarch of the Yue family. Whether it was age or strength, they were all worthy of respect. However, what he was more concerned about at this time was his surroundings. As Yue Yunjie asked his question, countless pairs of eyes in the vicinity focused on him.

  He noticed behind Yue Yunwen, a slender man with some resemblance to Yue Fang, staring coldly at this. Judging from his identity and status, he should be that Jin Dazhizhi without a doubt.

  "Change the habit of taking medicine?"

  Yue Yongjie glanced at Ruan Li, furrowed his brow and shook his head before suddenly laughing and patting Yue Yu's shoulder heavily. "It's fine like this! However, apart from pharmacy, you also need to learn more about business from your mother. If you can manage the family's medicine shop properly, your future achievements won't necessarily be inferior to those of the trueborn children——"

  Yue Yu was even more surprised, Yue Yunjie's true son, full name Yue Yizhen. He is his eldest son, the legitimate eldest grandson of the main house. Now he has already become a sixth-level martial artist, just one step away from entering the ranks of high-level martial artists, and even has the potential to be a congenital master. To mention him with such a person, it's really an extremely high evaluation, what is Yue Yunjie thinking?

  Yue Yu's first thought was whether Yue Zhangshi had done something again in the past few days. However, at this time, it was impossible to ask the clan elder in front of him.

  He humbly spoke a few words, and he gradually saw it too. Although Yue Yunwen still looked down on him, as the head of the clan, Yue Yunjie was eager to take this opportunity to have a good talk with him about their uncle-nephew relationship. However, since there were urgent matters that had not been dealt with yet, he only gave some simple encouragement and instructed Yue Yu to go back and greet his wife, Lady Zhang, before leaving on horseback again.

  As he watched these people fade into the distance, Yue Yu couldn't help but laugh dryly. In his heart, he was guessing the reason for the sudden change in attitude of this clan leader towards him. His own true strength could not be exposed so quickly, could it be that the few low-level martial artists hired by his family were involved? This seemed even more impossible——

  Just as he was deep in thought, within Yue Yu's line of sight, someone else galloped away from the group of martial artists and rushed straight over.