“Leaving now will be quite difficult.” Pei Mianman’s voice came from right beside his ear.

Zu An jumped in fright. “You got dressed that quickly?”

Pei Mianman’s smile dripped with charm. “I can take them off even more quickly. Do you want to see?”

Zu An was momentarily speechless. “I’m going home to tell my wife that you’re trying to seduce me.”

Pei Mianman rested an elbow on his shoulder. She said with a smile, “Go ahead and rat me out, then. Let’s see who Chuyan believes—me or you.”

Zu An felt slightly miffed at that.

He still gave his own reputation a solid B grade. However, anyone else would have definitely chosen to believe Pei Mianman.

“If you want to strip, then please, by all means.” Zu An replied, refusing to show any weakness.

Pei Mianman scoffed and moved her arm away. “I just wanted to test you for Chuyan’s sake. Pah! Just another scumbag!”

Zu An looked at her beautiful and sweet appearance. This really is a troublesome little demon… no, wait, a massive demon.

The two of them joked around a little more before returning their attention to the main matter at hand.

A worried expression appeared on Pei Mianman’s face when she saw the endless number of figures moving about outside. “I might be able to get out if I wasn’t injured, but now…”

Even though she didn’t finish her sentence, her meaning was obvious enough. Her chances of making it through were slim to none. If they ended up drawing the attention of the mysterious expert, that would be the end for her.

Zu An pondered for a moment before saying, “I have a way to help you draw away everyone’s attention. You have to seize that chance to get away.”

Pei Mianman was alarmed by his suggestion. She hurriedly shook her head. “No! Chuyan would never forgive me if something were to happen to you.”

Zu An said with a smile, “Don’t worry, I have my own ways. I won’t be in any danger.”

His confident tone dispelled Pei Mianman’s doubts. This guy was full of weird tricks anyway. “Be careful, then,” she said.

Zu An nodded. He left quietly through the window and headed towards a pond he remembered passing by earlier.

Once he was near enough, he summoned Blue Mallard. The water surged powerfully, creating a wave that was several dozen meters in height.

The huge disturbance immediately alarmed everyone in the Wei clan estate. All the guards who were carrying out the search nearby rushed in the direction of this new threat.

Satisfied, Zu An made to leave. However, he hadn’t even taken half a step before his body suddenly froze. A shriveled elder was flying right towards him.

The terrifying waves of ki pouring out from him instantly identified him as the person who had wounded Pei Mianman.

Damn it! How could I be that unlucky?

When the other party noticed him, Zu An immediately broke out in cold sweat.

The elder frowned. Just as he was about to make a move, Wei Dabao hurried over and quickly said to him, “Father, that is a guest in our estate! He is the Chu clan’s young master Zu An…”

When he heard these words, the elder’s eyes lit up. “You are that Zu An?”

“Zu An pays his respects to elder!” Zu An’s heart was pounding. The other party seemed to have heard of his name before.

That was probably not good news. Being on the mind of a terrifying expert was enough to make anyone uneasy.

“Not bad, not bad.” That elder gave him a casual once-over, but didn’t say anything else.

“Young master, why are you here?” Wei Dabao asked Zu An.

Zu An reacted quickly, immediately coming up with an excuse. “I couldn’t fall asleep, so I came out for a walk. Who knew that there would suddenly be such a huge disturbance? I came here to check out what was going on.”

He had clearly just come from the pond, yet his words implied that he was heading towards the pond. However, thanks to his acting skills, no one saw through this small discrepancy.

Wei Dabao smiled sheepishly. “The estate is in a bit of a mess today. Apologies if we’ve disturbed your rest.”

“Uncle is too polite. What’s going on in the estate?” Zu An asked in puzzlement.

“A small vermin got in. It’s nothing major,” said Wei Dabao. “Young master, please return to your room and rest.”

“I’ll leave you all to it, then.” Zu An bowed respectfully and headed back to his room.

Wei Dabao watched his departing figure. “Adoptive father, do you think he is the one who started that disturbance?” he asked.

The elder shook his head. He looked towards the pond and said, “The disturbance was something only a sixth or even seventh rank water element cultivator could create. He doesn’t have that level of cultivation.”

Wei Dabao exhaled in relief.

“I heard that he displayed great talent during the Clans Tournament between the Chu and Yuan clans. Is that true?” the elder suddenly asked.

Wei Dabao was surprised. He hadn’t expected this adoptive father of his to be so interested in Zu An. However, he still replied, “Indeed. He actually defeated Yuan Wendong, who was at the fifth rank. That result was a shock to everyone.”

The elder’s voice grew quiet. “Fifth rank? But from the fluctuations in his aura, he shouldn’t have reached the fifth rank yet.”

“Correct. It seems to have been his sword technique… or perhaps his movement technique that was rather peculiar,” Wei Dabao replied.

“Movement technique…” The elder’s smile took on a strange aspect, as if he already knew about this. “Do you know who his master is?”

Wei Dabao shook his head. “I haven’t heard of him having any masters. I only know that he’s learned some things from Brightmoon Academy.”

“Could it be that in Brightmoon Academy…” The elder muttered to himself, turning this information over in his mind.

“By the way, why does adoptive father have so much interest in him?” Wei Dabao probed.

“Just idle curiosity,” The elder said indifferently.

With that, he turned around and walked off. He had expected the presence of another intruder earlier. However, since the threat had vanished, so did his interest in these worldly affairs.

Idle curiosity? Wei Dabao obviously didn’t believe him. However, since his adoptive father said it was so, he didn’t dare press the issue.

When he was far enough away, Zu An finally released the breath he was holding. His back was completely soaked through—an instinctive reaction when facing such a powerful expert.

Sigh, I’m still too weak.

When can I speak and act as I please, and meet whoever I want to meet?

When he returned to his room, the gorgeous beauty was already nowhere to be seen. However, there was a slip of paper left under the blanket. Two words were written on it: ‘Thank you’.

There was also a faint imprint of her lips, made with the red lipstick she wore.

“This fox demon really doesn’t give up a single chance to tease me!” Zu An chuckled. He was exhausted from running around all night. He lay down on his bed and quickly entered the land of dreams, surrounded by the light fragrance of a beautiful woman.

…

The next morning, Zu An bid the Wei clan farewell. Old Mi was at his doorstep as soon as he returned to his room in the Chu clan. “I heard that you went to the Wei clan last night.”

“Yeah.” Zu An was startled. This fella was always in the estate. How did he have such quick access to information?

“Did you find it?” A hint of anticipation burned within Old Mi’s eyes.

Zu An awkwardly took a step back. He was getting gay vibes from this old man. “I looked around, but ran into a terrifying and mysterious expert, so I didn’t dare go any further.”

“An expert? How high was his cultivation?” Old Mi asked hastily.

Zu An gave him a rough comparison. “Many, many levels above me.”

Old Mi was silent for a moment.

He suppressed his anger and asked, “What did he look like?” His voice was unnaturally dark.

“He looked skinny and shriveled…” Zu An gave him a rough description of the elder’s appearance.

Old Mi’s expression grew extremely agitated. He immediately grabbed Zu An’s arm. “Did you show him your movement technique? Yes or no!”

Zu An’s arm ached from the grip of his fingers, which were like metal clamps. “I didn’t! I entered the estate using the pretext of seeing Wei Suo home! I didn’t need to use any movement techniques.”

Only then did Old Mi sigh with relief. “All right. That’s good. Remember, you absolutely must not display this movement technique in front of that man, and you cannot mention anything about me to him. Otherwise, it will be the death of you.”

“Okay…” Zu An nodded quickly. It seems most likely that Old Mi is the one this fellow is looking for.

What exactly was that thing that Old Mi was looking for, then?

Also, what is the story behind Old Mi? Why was he so scared of that person?

Old Mi turned away from Zu An, his eyes gleaming with a slight ferocity. I’ll have to bring forward my plans for possessing this fellow. Good thing the last two materials I needed just came in...