Chapter 168: Junior Sister, Silence is Golden, But One Roar Becomes Famous
The sun slanted west, a gentle breeze parting the lingering clouds.
Ye Anping and the others arrived back just as dinner was being served.
At this time, the mountain path of the Hundred Lotus Sect was bustling with disciples, most of whom were rushing to the mess hall for meals. Occasionally, one could spot female disciples gathered in pavilions along the roadside, enjoying snacks.
Because Ye Anping and Pei Lianxue were now wearing the sect uniforms of the Xuan Xing Sect, most disciples they encountered would politely make way and then cup their hands, saying, “Greetings to all seniors of the Xuan Xing Sect!”
Only when they encountered some older disciples could Ye Anping hear, “Young Master, Miss Pei, you’re back~”
Ye Anping was quite impressed along the way. He marveled that in just one year, the Hundred Lotus Sect had developed to such an extent. Judging by appearances, the sect now had over a thousand disciples.
A year ago, the Hundred Lotus Sect had only a few hundred disciples.
Although he couldn’t remember every disciple’s name like Li Longling did for the Chi Long Mansion, Ye Anping could recognize if someone was a disciple of the Hundred Lotus Sect just by seeing their face.
Now, there were many unfamiliar faces within the sect, and the old Hundred Lotus Sect uniforms seemed to have been updated, completely different from the one he had in his storage bag.
The sect was a scene of prosperity, which made him feel very relieved, giving him the exhilarating feeling of cultivating land and becoming wealthy.
However, every time he felt pleased with the sect’s development, his father would always deliver a shocking surprise like a bolt from the blue.
On the Sect Square of the Central Peak, a huge statue, a hundred feet tall, had been erected, depicting his father.
In the Spirit Pet Hall, five or six disciples were gathered around a pure-blooded red-crowned crane worth over 900,000 spirit stones, helping it clean its droppings and groom its feathers.
…
Setting aside the statue, it was reasonable for a sect to build a statue of its Sect Master. Apart from being a bit gaudy, there was nothing wrong with it.
But what was that pure-blooded red-crowned crane worth over 900,000 spirit stones?
Ye Anping had looked into it before.
In this world, spirit pets and mounts, apart from immortal beasts like dragons, phoenixes, and Xuan turtles, were mostly just for show. They didn’t have the various additional attributes found in games.
The bird was indeed beautiful, and riding it looked ethereal and flew stably.
But besides that, it had no other advantages.
Riding a bird in battle was a suicidal move, and riding it while fleeing was even more suicidal. That thing didn’t fly any faster than the shoddy flying sword in his hand.
If Ye Ao had bought a spirit pet worth a hundred thousand or so as a mount to maintain his image at sect gatherings, Ye Anping wouldn’t have said anything. But 900,000 spirit stones?
Buying a stinky bird to keep at home, and then arranging for several disciples to clean up its excrement…
The Hundred Lotus Sect might not have become a top-tier sect, but his father already had the ambition of a top-tier Sect Master.
—Mother, why don’t you rein in my spendthrift father?
Ye Anping walked along the mountain path towards the Tian Ge, his expression growing increasingly grim. Occasionally, he could feel Liang Zhu casting confused glances at him.
He could guess what Liang Zhu was thinking at the moment:
As the saying goes, like father, like son; a son’s character is usually not much different from his father’s.
Liang Zhu was probably wondering—how could a cultivator who was so extravagant and wasteful, and so unaware of himself like his father, have raised such a resourceful, outstanding, knowledgeable, humble, and capable person like him?
“Sigh—”
Before reaching the Tian Ge, Ye Anping sighed, telling Liang Zhu and A’ting to wait outside, while he entered with his junior sister first.
Just as he was about to step onto the stairs to knock on the door, he suddenly noticed Pei Lianxue, who had been holding his hand, looking nervous, her head lowered, murmuring something.
“Junior sister?”
Pei Lianxue was startled and slowly raised her head, pursing her lips.
“W-what’s wrong?”
“You’re asking me what’s wrong?” Ye Anping looked at her cheeks strangely, amused and exasperated. “Why are you so nervous? This is our home.”
“Mm… My senior brother’s and my home…”
Pei Lianxue bit her lip, nodded slightly.
Then, she took a deep breath, patted her cheek as if to encourage herself, and mentally repeated the words she had been thinking about on the way. She exhaled:
“Hoo— Okay! Let’s go!”
?
Although Ye Anping felt a little confused, he didn’t dwell on it. He led his junior sister up the steps and knocked on the door.
*Dong dong dong—*
“Enter!”
*Creak—*
He opened the door with both hands, and a faint scent of sandalwood wafted out.
Ye Ao was sitting at the spirit jade desk in the center of the Tian Ge, fiddling with jade walnuts in his hand while circling and drawing on documents with a brush. He looked up at the entrance, then lowered his head to deal with the documents. But after a moment, thinking something was amiss, he suddenly looked up again.
“Ping’er?! Pei girl?! Why are you back?”
“Can’t we come back?” Ye Anping knit his brows and walked forward. “Dad, where’s Mom?”
Ye Ao quickly got up and walked in front of Ye Anping, scrutinizing him. His eyes widened in surprise, and he asked,
“How are you already at Mid Foundation Establishment? You haven’t been out for half a year, have you?”
“I encountered some opportunities. Where’s Mom?”
“Hiss—” Ye Ao took a breath and said, “You brat, it’s rare for you to come back, and you only ask about your mother without asking about your father? Your mother is meditating upstairs.”
“Oh.”
Ye Anping replied, turned, and prepared to go upstairs, but Ye Ao stopped him.
He grinned, patted Ye Anping on the shoulder, then glanced at Pei Lianxue. He put his arms around both of them and led them out the door.
“Let’s go, let’s go, I’ll take you on a tour of the Hundred Lotus Sect. You haven’t been back for a year, and the Hundred Lotus Sect has changed a lot. Have you seen our Hundred Lotus Sect’s new mountain gate? Isn’t it beautiful?”
Ye Anping narrowed his eyes, saying nothing.
Pei Lianxue replied awkwardly,
“Mm… It’s beautiful.”
“Hey! That’s right, I said it was beautiful, and Pei girl thinks so too. Yulan always told me that the mountain gate was ugly. How can the mountain gate I spent over 600,000 spirit stones on not be beautiful?”
Ye Anping’s eyes narrowed into slits.
“Over 600,000? Did you tell Mom?”
“No, I told your mother it only cost 50,000 spirit stones.”
“…Oh.” Ye Anping raised an eyebrow, paused, and asked, “What about the red-crowned crane in the Spirit Pet Hall?”
“You saw it already?” Ye Ao raised an eyebrow, smiling and showing off. “I was planning to give you a surprise. Come on, let me take you two to try riding it. it flies very stably, and the feathers are very soft to sit on. Pei girl will definitely like it.”
Just as he was saying this, Ye Anping suddenly noticed a figure floating down from the second floor and arriving behind them.
He glanced over and realized it was his mother. His eyebrows shot up, and he quickly asked,
“Dad, how much did you spend on that crane?”
Ye Ao knitted his brows and retorted, “Why do you ask? It was quite expensive anyway.”
Ye Anping put on a conspiratorial smile like Ye Ao’s and winked at him.
“Dad, tell me, so I can broaden my horizons. Don’t worry, I definitely won’t tell Mom.”
“Mm… Alright.” Ye Ao smiled and drew an eight in his hand. “This much.”
“Eighty thousand?”
“Tsk… Add another one.”
Ye Anping feigned surprise. “One hundred and sixty thousand?! So expensive?”
Ye Ao shook his head, patted his back, and said,
“Ignorant boy, I bought the red-crowned crane for 880,000! Let me tell you, it’s a pure-blooded red-crowned crane, and its quality is extremely good. I had a connection from the Feather Beast Sect reserve it for me, and this was the friend and family price. If it were auctioned, it would cost at least 1.5 million.”
—”Oh?”
Kong Yulan’s voice came from behind the three of them.
Instantly, Ye Ao’s body stiffened. He tremblingly turned his head and saw his wife, whose veins were bulging on her forehead. He gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
“Yulan… Listen to me… Hey, hey, hey—”
Before he could finish his excuse, Kong Yulan reached out and grabbed his ear, interrupting him.
“880,000, right? What did you tell me last time? That an elder from the Feather Beast Sect gave it to you, huh?! I was wondering why they would give such an expensive item.”
“Hey, hey… It’s just that… we’ve become prosperous? Buying some…”
“Prosperous? 880,000, wouldn’t it be better to save it for Ping’er and Pei girl to cultivate? Wouldn’t it be better to add a dozen more alchemy furnaces or a few Spirit Gathering Arrays for the sect? You bought a bald, stinky bird?!”
“Yu, Yu, Yu… Yulan, you said it was comfortable when you sat on it last time, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t know that stinky bird was bought by you for 880,000 spirit stones. 880,000 spirit stones, sitting under your butt, are you comfortable?!”
Ye Ao raised an eyebrow. “I… I am comfortable.”
“Hiss—”
“Yulan, wait, wait, wait!! Hey— Hey— Pei girl, Pei girl, quickly help me persuade your master’s wife…”
“Ah… say…” Pei Lianxue was stunned. She was a little nervous. She took a deep breath. “My senior brother and I slept together…”
…
…
…
?
Ye Anping was initially watching the show, smiling as he watched his mother scold his father. But after his junior sister spoke, he couldn’t smile anymore. His eyes widened, and he looked at his junior sister in disbelief.
“Ah?”
Ye Ao and Kong Yulan, who were struggling with each other, suddenly stopped. Their eyes widened as they turned to look at her.
?
?
“Huh?” “En?”
Enduring the gazes of the three, Pei Lianxue only then realized what she had said. Her face blushed beet red, and she lowered her head, blaming herself. Her Uncle Ye asked her to persuade them, so why did she reveal this?
She had originally planned to say it later. She had been rehearsing what to say on the way, which was why she had been nervous the entire time.
Ye Ao and Kong Yulan stared at Pei Lianxue for a while, then suddenly shifted their gaze to Ye Anping, making his scalp tingle.
Ye Anping opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, hesitated for a long time, and then managed to utter a single sentence:
“This sleep is not that sleep.”
Ye Ao and Kong Yulan looked confused and shook their heads, indicating they didn’t understand.
Seeing this, Ye Anping hesitated for a moment, then turned and pushed Pei Lianxue’s back, pushing her out of the pavilion.
“Tsk, junior sister, you wait outside for a bit.”
*Slap—*
The pavilion door closed.
Pei Lianxue flinched and looked at Liang Zhu and Liang A’ting waiting below the steps. She quietly replied, “Okay…”
…
