The morning grassland air was exceptionally fresh. Looking out, the greenery stretched endlessly like oil paint, as if they’d stepped into a painting. Distant green mountains rose hazily, with wisps of cooking smoke drifting up. A shepherd boy drove a few small beasts to graze. What a peaceful, tranquil scene.

A pair of young people lay snuggled together on the grass, which felt like a plush carpet. Ye Kong stroked Lu Qin’s thin, warm back and asked, “I heard you earned great merit this time?”

Lu Qin replied bashfully, “Not at all. They did everything. I almost got caught.”

“That’s exactly what I want to talk about. How dangerous! You were bold and reckless. After going in, you neither identified the enemy situation nor observed the environment. Mistake after mistake. What if something had gone wrong?”

Hearing Ye Kong’s concerned criticism, Lu Qin didn’t argue back. Instead, she lay quietly against him, smiling faintly.

“Don’t do that again!” Ye Kong said.

“I know,” Lu Qin answered crisply. But in her heart she thought: For Brother Ye Kong’s sake, what’s a little danger?

Ye Kong sighed. Thank goodness nothing had really happened to Lu Qin, or how could his conscience rest? Such a good little girl.

“What about the Fan family people?” Ye Kong asked again.

“All killed.” Lu Qin shuddered slightly at the memory and burrowed deeper into Ye Kong’s embrace before continuing. “We didn’t kill them right away. They were all taken to an old house outside the city. Then my brothers took people everywhere to take over the Dragon-Snake Gang’s fighting arenas. The gang members were already unhappy with the Fan brothers, so when they heard Fan Jiulong was captured, they all voluntarily surrendered.”

“They kept busy until evening. It was already dark, and you still hadn’t come back. My brother and General Liu got anxious. Following your arrangement, they beheaded one person every incense stick, and by midnight they’d beheaded the last one, Fan Jiulong.”

“Ah…” Ye Kong sighed deeply. People said Cangnan Continent folk were cold and ruthless, that killing entire families was commonplace. He, this transmigrator, had only been here two years and had already wiped out one family.

From his heart, Ye Kong wasn’t a cruel person. Especially with innocent old people and children, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. But he also couldn’t be too merciful. If you spare them today, they’ll kill you tomorrow. If you leave them alive, someday they’ll definitely come to slaughter your entire family. Ye Kong absolutely wouldn’t allow that to happen, so with the Fan family, he had to eliminate the roots completely.

Lu Qin thought about the killing scenes and couldn’t help sticking out her little pink tongue, then continued her account. “After killing them, you still hadn’t returned. Everyone got worried again. By midnight, they couldn’t stand it anymore and said they wanted to go find you. But this grassland is too big, and they feared getting lost in the forest. General Liu said to wait until dawn to search…”

Thinking how everyone had waited all night, Ye Kong’s mood lifted slightly. Although Cangnan Continent people were emotionally distant and cruel by nature, there were still people who worried about him, who cared about him.

He asked tenderly, “You didn’t sleep all night either?”

Lu Qin replied, “Of course not. You don’t know how worried I was with you gone…” Saying this, she felt embarrassed and couldn’t continue. Her beautiful eyes dodged about, and she lowered her head.

On the grassland, various oddly-shaped little grasses bore drops of fresh dew. In the crystalline visit our site reflection of the dewdrops, one could see two young people pressed tightly together.

“Brother Ye Kong, tell me about your situation.” Having just tasted sweetness, Lu Qin’s face flushed red as satin. Not daring to raise her head, she quickly changed the subject.

“Mm, alright. This time I really almost didn’t make it back.” Ye Kong took two breaths of fresh air.

Actually, back on Earth, Ye Kong had tasted this flavor before. But as a street hooligan, what good girls would associate with him? They were all delinquent girls, prostitutes, or female thugs. Though Ye Kong never lacked women, he’d never tasted the flavor of love. This kiss with Lu Qin made his resolve waver again. But thinking of the future, he still restrained himself from the next step.

Then Ye Kong recounted his fierce battle with Fan Jiushe. The little girl listened nervously, constantly biting the beauty mark at the corner of her mouth, eyes wide, afraid to miss any exciting parts.

“But there were gains this time. There’s a magical artifact, spirit stones, and the spells I desperately needed.” Ye Kong took out spirit stones from the storage pouch to show Lu Qin.

“They’re so pretty!” Girls always had a special fondness for shiny things. She held the spirit stones, examining them constantly.

“It’s not about being pretty. These are spirit stones. They have many uses for immortal cultivators.” Ye Kong said with a laugh.

Each riding a horse, the two leisurely swayed along toward Southern Capital City. How clear the sky was, how soft the white clouds. Ye Kong also drifted in the feeling of romance, thinking that if he had a camcorder in hand, he’d look even more like a tourist.

However, the beautiful mood didn’t last long. When they rode into the city, one of the Lu brothers’ subordinates hurried up to meet them. “Bad news, Eighth Young Master! The brothers ​stolen content​are confronting the City Guard Office’s bailiffs!”

Ye Kong frowned, sensing something was wrong. He asked again, “Where? What happened?”

After the subordinate’s report, Ye Kong learned that everyone had worked hard all night. The Lu brothers had moved quite a bit of silver from Fan Jiulong’s lair. At Liu Changqing’s instigation, a large group of soldiers and gangsters had killed their way to Treasure Spring Pavilion, planning to replenish some energy with those women.

But on Cangnan Continent, just like on Earth, the girls were active at night. In broad daylight, at dawn, it was precisely when the girls slept. Treasure Spring Pavilion wasn’t open at all yet.

Those soldier-gangsters rarely had a chance to sample this place and feared that next time the big boss wouldn’t be willing, so they forced Treasure Spring Pavilion to open. Since they hadn’t coordinated properly, Treasure Spring Pavilion thought these people were causing trouble, and the confrontation escalated.

Later Liu Changqing came forward to talk. They discovered it was a misunderstanding and cleared things up. But who knew, at that moment someone unexpected showed up.

The City Guard Office’s chief bailiff brought a bunch of constables and insisted that the Lu brothers’ subordinates were disturbing public order. He wanted to take people back for questioning. This side refused to agree, so the two groups faced off.

Ye Kong frowned, thinking: These bailiffs are clearly making trouble out of nothing. And seeing Liu Changqing and these Ye family personal guards here, they still dared to be so forceful. Obviously there was another purpose.

“Little Qin, you go back and rest first. I’ll go see what’s going on.” Ye Kong sent Lu Qin off, then followed the subordinate on horseback to Treasure Spring Pavilion.

Moments later, Ye Kong arrived. He saw the crowd of onlookers three layers deep. Several soldiers stood outside Treasure Spring Pavilion. He didn’t know the situation inside, but there were no sounds of fighting.

Ye Kong’s heart settled slightly. He had the subordinate hold his horse while he mixed into the crowd, listening to those merchants and residents talk. Sure enough, he caught the thread.

“This is the new Righteous Official Chen giving these thugs a show of force!”

“I heard this new Righteous Official Chen is quite formidable!”

Ye Kong nodded. So a new City Guard had come and was demonstrating his authority. But this fellow had just provoked the Ye family, so he obviously had backing. Thinking deeper, if the Emperor had sent down someone like this to Southern Capital City, he was probably targeting Ye Haoran. The Ye family’s prospects didn’t look good.

After getting the information, Ye Kong didn’t hesitate further. He pushed through the crowd and walked out. The soldiers guarding the door saw him – “Eighth Young Master has arrived!” – and quickly let Ye Kong in.

Entering the main hall, he saw two groups of men standing left and right. On the left were mainly Ye family soldiers and Lu family gangsters. On the right were uniformly dressed bailiffs in black clothes and black hats. In the middle stood the madam, in a difficult position, not daring to offend either side.

“Eighth Young Master, these bailiffs are way too much! Really like dogs catching mice. If we hadn’t charged into battle to win this territory, you’d all still be slaves to the barbarians!” Liu Changqing came up to meet him. Halfway through his words, he turned and cursed at the bailiffs again.

“Alright, alright.” Ye Kong pushed Liu Changqing aside and walked before the bailiffs, smiling. “Taking a few people back for questioning? I’m afraid the person the City Guard most wants to take back is me, right?”