Chapter 374 Protagonist, Ye Shaoji!
“Slurp~~”
In a private room on the second floor of Youzi Residence, Ye Anping held his teacup with a speechless expression, took a sip of tea, and felt a mix of emotions in his heart.
Even though he had used Si Xuanji’s jade pendant to conceal his aura, how did Feng Yu Die notice him?
It’s truly unreasonable…
It seems he’ll have to move again soon, otherwise, if Feng Yu Die told her junior sisters, the three of them would absolutely show up immediately.
Ye Anping let out a soft sigh and, holding the edge of the window, wanted to secretly glance at the situation in Youren Pavilion again.
However, before he could even pull the window open, a small, golden figure phased through.
Xiao Tian poked her upper body through the window:
“… …”
Seeing Xiao Tian suddenly pop in, Ye Anping, who was about to put down his teacup, froze with his hand in mid-air, his face full of speechlessness.
Xiao Tian blinked her eyes, and a flicker of surprise flashed in their depths. She twisted her body and shouted down to Feng Yu Die on the street below:
“Yu Die!! Come up quickly!!”
“Hmm? Who is it?”
“The roasted chicken you’ve been longing for!!”
?
Ye Anping’s eyes twitched slightly, but before he could speak, Feng Yu Die below the window leaped up from the street, clung to the windowsill, pushed open the half-closed window, and with a flip, crawled into the room.
When Feng Yu Die heard Xiao Tian speak, she was still wondering what “longed-for roasted chicken” meant. Upon seeing Ye Anping holding a half-full cup of tea at the table, perhaps due to being too excited, her eyes widened slightly. Looking at Ye Anping’s face, she blurted out:
“Ye Shaoji?!”
?
“”
A vein in Ye Anping’s forehead couldn’t help but throb, his eyes twitched slightly, and he retorted in a threatening tone:
“What?”
“Ah…” Feng Yu Die started, then sheepishly chuckled, scratching the back of her head. “Hehe… slips of the tongue. Young Master Ye, why didn’t you say hello to us just now?”
“It was inconvenient.”
“Junior Sister Pei and Senior Sister Xiao are here too. Oh right, did you see them just now? I’ll go call them over!!”
Feng Yu Die blinked and turned, clinging to the window and shouting towards Youren Pavilion:
“Pei… Mmph—”
Seeing her like this, Ye Anping couldn’t stand still. He got up, covered her mouth with his left hand, grasped her neck, and pulled her back from the window.
Then, he used his spiritual power to “slap” the window shut. He lowered his head, glaring at Feng Yu Die, who was leaning against his chest:
“Don’t call out.”
Feng Yu Die looked at Ye Anping’s fierce gaze and nodded aggrievedly:
“Wuwu…”
Only then did Ye Anping release her mouth, return to his chair, raise his hand, sniff his left hand, and with a look of disgust, pulled out a handkerchief to wipe away the saliva.
“Don’t tell my junior sisters that I’m here.”
“Oh…”
Feng Yu Die sat down opposite the table, pursed her lips slightly, propped her chin in her hands, and began to scrutinize Ye Anping’s face. She couldn’t help but squint and curl her lips, a silly smile spreading across her face:
“Hehehehehe…”
Listening to her silly laughter, Ye Anping glanced up at her and couldn’t help but sigh. Three years had passed, but Feng Yu Die was still as silly as ever, truly not having changed at all.
“What are you laughing at?”
“Seeing Young Master Ye makes me feel very reassured, hehe…”
Feng Yu Die thought for a moment and then quickly said:
“I thought I might run into that demonic cultivator from before in this town! But it turned out to be you, Young Master Ye. Oh right, Young Master Ye, you probably don’t know yet? We encountered a Gu poison cultivator in Yulu Town to the north. Junior Sister said they were very similar to that Grand Tutor of the Gu Poison Sect from Wu Xi Town back then…”
“Oh? Junior Sister said that?”
“Yes.”
Ye Anping was somewhat surprised. It was one thing for Feng Yu Die’s intuition to be sharp, but he didn’t expect his junior sister’s intuition to be so accurate this time. This eased his mind considerably.
“Then I can rest assured.”
“Rest assured? By the way, why are you hiding from Junior Sister Pei and the others? Junior Sister Pei and the others miss you so much.”
Ye Anping took a sip of tea and glanced at Xiao Tian, who was sitting silently at the table with a mischievous grin. He ignored it and calmly replied:
“There’s no rush to meet. They won’t grow if they’re always by my side. Consider the demonic cultivator incident this time as training. You three deal with that person yourselves.”
“Ah…”
“What ‘ah’? A mere demonic cultivator, and the three of you can’t handle it?”
“It’s not like we can’t handle it… it’s just that when you’re not here, I always feel like something is missing, and I don’t feel safe.”
Feng Yu Die averted her gaze, twirling a strand of her silver hair with her fingers, pursing her lips. Then she looked at Ye Anping’s face again, as if relieved.
She felt that Ye Anping, despite his words, would surely step in if they encountered any difficulties.
So she didn’t say anything further, her gaze shifting to the roasted chicken on the table that Ye Anping had only taken a few bites from. Her eyes lit up, and she quickly reached out, tore off half, and began to eat heartily.
“As expected, Ye Shaoji is delicious…”
“Swallow it first.”
“Gulp—” Feng Yu Die swallowed, licking her lips. “Your roasted chicken is the best. The roasted chicken on the road always feels like it’s missing something…”
“This is made by the innkeeper here.”
Feng Yu Die looked confused, tilting her head. “But… it tastes different. This one is just more delicious.”
“…”
Ye Anping frowned. He didn’t understand for a moment, but looking at Xiao Tian, who was covering her mouth and stifling her laughter while watching him and Feng Yu Die, a guess formed in his mind…
Could it be the karmic connection tied to the Heavenly Scroll of the Dao again?
A chill ran down Ye Anping’s spine. He slightly raised his head and looked at Feng Yu Die’s face as she gnawed on the roasted chicken. Her cherry lips were oily, her face was charming, and her golden eyes shone, resembling a flower swaying in the willows, radiant with youthful beauty…
*Slap*—
He suddenly felt his cheeks grow hot. Realizing what he was doing, he raised his hand and slapped his forehead, abruptly pushed open the window, and took a breath of the cold air from the street.
“Hiss—”
?
Feng Yu Die looked up in bewilderment:
“Young Master Ye, why did you hit yourself?”
“… To sober up.”
Ye Anping’s expression was dark, which only made Xiao Tian’s smile widen.
He glared at Xiao Tian and then quickly changed the subject:
“Speaking of which, what did Junior Sister and the others say to Xiyue?”
“Oh… Junior Sister Pei was saying bad things about you.”
?
Ye Anping was slightly taken aback. He immediately guessed what the content was likely to be, a doting smile appearing on his face.
Every time his junior sister acted protective of him, she used this trick.
When Junior Sister first arrived at Xuan Xing Sect, she acted this way towards Xiao Yunluo.
Later, when she went to Moon Shadow Sword Sect, she did the same to Yun Yiyi.
Six years have passed, and she still uses the same method to protect him. Can’t she think of a better way?
“Never mind… I’ll explain it to Xiyue later.”
Ye Anping shrugged slightly and, seeing that Feng Yu Die had almost finished the roasted chicken, said:
“Finish eating quickly and go back. Remember, don’t tell Junior Sister and the others that I’m here.”
“Mhmm…”
Feng Yu Die nodded slightly but showed no intention of getting up to leave, nudging her hands nervously.
Seeing this, Ye Anping frowned and asked, “What? You don’t want to leave yet…”
Feng Yu Die blinked and said, “Mhmm… It’s not that I don’t want to leave. Your roasted chicken is better. Are you living here? Then I’ll come over every day to eat roasted chicken…”
“Will that lead Junior Sister and the others here?”
“It’s fine! I’ll sneak over secretly! I won’t be discovered…”
“… Fine.”
“Hehe— Then prepare a roasted chicken for me every noon.”
“Mhmm.”
Feng Yu Die grinned, sucked on a chicken bone, stood up, and was about to jump out the window. But then she seemed to remember something, stopped abruptly, and turned to look at him.
?
“What is it now?”
“Mhmm… Congratulations on your Core Formation~”
Ye Anping was stunned for a moment and nodded slightly:
“… Thank you, you too…”
“Mhmm…”
Feng Yu Die smiled sweetly and leaped out.
However, somehow, her shoe caught on the windowsill as she jumped, and she lost her balance.
“—Aiya!”
With a cry of surprise, a dull thud came from the street.
“…”
Ye Anping pouted speechlessly and then let out a long sigh. He had no interest in peeking out to see and said with disdain:
“Tsk, not using the door… and she fell. She’s really a disgrace to Core Formation cultivators.”
However, he couldn’t help but curl his lips afterward, finding it rather cute…
But in the next moment, he quickly picked up his teacup and took a large gulp of tea.
In his heart, in the official dialect of the Southern Domain, he added: Cute my foot, she’s just an idiot.
Ye Anping took a deep breath, saw Xiao Tian still slumped on the table, smiling at him, and asked with a frown:
“Why are you still here?”
“Hehe— It’s not far anyway, I’ll just live here with you~”
Xiao Tian grinned and then asked, “Anping, don’t you think Yu Die has changed a lot?”
“Where has she changed?”
“Heh~ Think about the first time you met Yu Die, what was she like? What is she like now?”
“… Mhmm, from a Qi Refining Stage young cultivator to a Core Formation Stage great cultivator.”
“I’m not talking about that~ I mean… Back then, Yu Die quite disliked you, but now she can’t leave you.”
“I know what you want to say.” Ye Anping rolled his eyes at it. “But, it’s impossible.”
“Wuwu~ What’s the big deal… You’ve already messed with so many girls, adding one more Yu Die isn’t much… Stingy! Pfft~~”
Xiao Tian stuck out her tongue, jumped up, and plunged into his forehead, disappearing without a trace, leaving Ye Anping with a dark expression in the room.
?
Is this a matter of stinginess?
Junior Sister, Yunluo, Yun Yiyi, Li Longling…
He wondered if his rice jar was still enough to feed them all…
“… Forget it.”
Ye Anping shook his head and stopped thinking about it. He went downstairs to get a pot of rice wine from the shopkeeper and sat alone by the window, passing the time.
The sun directly overhead slowly set on the horizon, and dark clouds gradually drifted over Baiyue Town, swallowing the shadows of the pedestrians on the street.
A light snow arrived as expected, dusting the town with a layer of frost.
The rice wine in Ye Anping’s pot was nearly empty when a flying sword suddenly flew from the direction of Tianfeng Immortal City.
Li Longling, holding a Fire Phoenix, jumped through the window and entered, taking off her bamboo hat that shielded her from the snow and sitting at the table:
“Anping.”
“Mhmm, how’s our bounty?”
Li Longling shook her head slightly, placed the Fire Phoenix on the table, and said:
“Just as you predicted, the assassins from the Northern Region couldn’t deal with them. In the past month, many famous assassins from the Northern Region have gone missing, most likely dead. The shop owner told me that by now, no one in the Northern Region dares to touch our bounty.”
Saying this, Li Longling took out a slip of paper, on which were written the names of the missing assassins.
Ye Anping took it and read it.
Black Sun White Yin, Seven Mysterious Sect Sword Master, Ghost Hunter Sect’s Yu Potian… A total of thirteen people.
He knew most of these names. In the game, they were all wild BOSSes on the Northern Region’s Hantian Kingdom map, and their strength was not to be underestimated. One of them was even a pseudo-Nascent Soul cultivator.
Although Ye Anping had expected this outcome, seeing the list Li Longling brought still surprised him. He sighed in his heart:
—Truly worthy of her. She actually managed to kill her way through the huge bounty set by me and Li Longling.
“As expected of Tian Sha, alas…”
Li Longling listened, tilted her head slightly, and smiled, “Anping, you know her so well, is it because she’s a girl? Anping, you really don’t refuse anyone, not even demonic cultivators.”
?
Ye Anping was speechless, then chuckled and said, “She’s the only demonic cultivator who managed to escape from my hands, so praising her isn’t wrong.”
“… So what should we do now?”
“To be honest, I don’t want to confront her directly,” Ye Anping said calmly, but then glanced out the window at Youren Pavilion and added, “but unfortunately… we’ll likely run into her.”
“Meaning, we can’t avoid it?”
“Mhmm…”
Feng Yu Die and Gu Mingxin are, in a sense, mortal enemies. In the game, after their first meeting, they always encountered each other in peculiar ways.
Furthermore, the concept of destiny had been proven with Yun Kunwu of Moon Shadow Sword Sect.
Ye Anping was certain that Gu Mingxin would accidentally end up near Tianfeng Immortal City and encounter them.
Rationally, a head-on confrontation would inevitably be a fierce battle that would be detrimental to both sides, but this matter was likely unavoidable.
If Gu Mingxin was bound to meet Feng Yu Die, then if he and Li Longling left with Feng Yu Die right now, they might run into each other on the way back.
At least near Tianfeng Immortal City, they still had the help of Xu Mulan and the Snow-clothed Guard…
Ye Anping pondered for a while. For now, he needed to quickly deal with the Gu cultivator who resembled “Wu You.”
“Longling, you don’t need to worry too much. Although Gu Mingxin is powerful, she must have been injured after encountering so many Northern Region assassins. I don’t believe she can still be jumping around right now…”
“I’m not worried.” Li Longling propped her chin and smiled, tilting her head. “At worst, I’ll die with Young Master Ye in the Northern Region. Wouldn’t that be romantic?”
Ye Anping tapped her forehead:
“… I won’t die that easily, and neither will you.”
“Then when we return to the Western Regions, Anping will marry me…”
Hearing the first half, Ye Anping quickly reached out to cover Li Longling’s mouth and frowned, “Such words should not be spoken.”
“Hehe~”
“You’re still laughing. Okay, let’s go cultivate and rest. We might not be able to sleep tonight.”
“Mhmm, as you say.”
Ye Anping drank the remaining rice wine in his cup, then stood up, put on the bamboo hat Li Longling had placed on the table, and looked out the window, pondering for a moment. Finally, he turned and walked towards the door.
… …
