“Eighth Young Master, Concubine Chen, having dinner…” Ye Cai said with bows and nods. Chen Jiuniang’s official title had long been squeezed out by others, so everyone just called her “Concubine.”

“Mm, Uncle Cai.” Ye Kong put down his chopsticks. He was generally quite polite to people and asked, “Coming this late – is something the matter? Have a seat.”

“This old slave should remain standing,” Ye Cai said. He knew well that this boy had a standard dog’s temperament – his face could flip in an instant – so he didn’t dare sit. Standing properly, he said, “Second Mistress was worried you’d be inconvenienced without servants here, so she had this old slave send over two serving maids…”

“Oh, then please thank Second Mistress for her kind intentions. However, we’re used to managing on our own and don’t need servants,” Ye Kong quickly declined. It wasn’t that he found the two maids ugly, but rather he didn’t want others to know he was a cultivator.

If he accepted the two maids, they’d quickly discover his secret. Servants gossiped terribly – within a day the whole manor would know, and then the entire city would hear about it. Wouldn’t that be seeking death? If high-level demon cultivators came, Ye Kong would have no way to deal with them.

But Ye Cai didn’t understand his thinking and assumed he was unhappy. He hastily explained, “This old slave deserves death! How can Eighth Young Master, with your noble status, do trivial chores yourself? If there were any slights in the past, please don’t hold it against this old slave.”

So I’m a noble now too? Ye Kong found it amusing and waved his hand. “Uncle Cai, look what you’re saying. You’re busy inside and out every day – it’s hard enough. What would I hold against you? But we really don’t need these two maids…” Seeing that Ye Cai still wanted to ramble on, Ye Kong rolled his eyes. “I said no means no. How many times do I have to say it?”

These people only responded to this approach. Seeing his anger, Ye Cai immediately didn’t dare even breathe loudly. He thought to himself: Sister Ma with all her flesh got beaten half to death, and I’m nothing but bones – I can’t withstand three punches or two kicks from him.

He hurriedly dismissed the two maids. The maids in these great manors had quite high aspirations – who didn’t want to rise from branch to become a phoenix? With Eighth Young Master’s reputation soaring like the sun at midday, if he took a liking to them…

The two maids weren’t without such thoughts. They’d even dressed up before coming. Who knew this boy wouldn’t even look at them and just sent them back? Naturally they felt displeased. Though they didn’t dare contradict him to his face, after returning they spread rumors that this boy had no interest in women – either his psychology was defective or his physiology had problems.

Though the two maids gossiped behind his back, they inadvertently helped Ye Kong by dispelling many maids’ thoughts, so they wouldn’t come pestering him proactively.

But that’s beside the point. As for Ye Cai, having sent away the two maids, he now smiled ingratiatingly at Ye Kong, seemingly wanting to say something but not knowing how.

Ye Kong felt the hairs on his spine rise from that smile. Could this old fellow be waiting for a tip? Screw his immortal ancestors! Does he think this young master has money to burn? Didn’t do a damn thing and already wants a tip!

Ye Kong had it wrong. Even if you gave Ye Cai the courage, he wouldn’t dare actively ask for a tip. Actually, he’d come to give Ye Kong money.

Ye Cai carefully pulled a large sealed packet of silver from his clothing and placed it on the table, smiling obsequiously. “Eighth Young Master, in the past this old slave… worried you’d spend recklessly, so I secretly withheld a bit from your allowance. Actually, this old slave had good intentions… I’ve been keeping it for you all along. This old slave hasn’t touched it at all.”

Ye Kong immediately understood. This was the silver the old fellow had previously embezzled from him! It looked like two hundred taels – the old bastard’s hands were really quite black! And he still had the nerve to say he was keeping it safe!

“Worried I’d spend recklessly? Then why bring it out now? Keep storing it,” Ye Kong said, his expression unfriendly.

Ye Cai trembled in fright, thinking: He originally didn’t know about this, and here I am bringing it out – aren’t I creating trouble for myself, confessing without being asked?

The old man hurriedly knelt down, begging pitifully. “Eighth Young Master, this old slave was momentarily confused and became greedy. Please, considering this old slave has worked hard for the Ye Manor for decades, spare me this once.”

Chen Jiuniang, soft-hearted, couldn’t bear to watch. She interjected, “Kong’er, Uncle Cai has always been good to us mother and son. Now that [Read on Jormuntl]the silver is returned, don’t hold it against him anymore.”

“Yes, yes, thank you Concubine Chen. I won’t dare again.”

Actually, Ye Kong was just scaring him.

He nodded and lectured, “There’s a song that goes well: What you ate of mine, spit it back out; what you took of mine, give it back. But don’t feel too bad about it – you should know, having the chance to spit it out and give it back means you’re still lucky… If they won’t even let you spit it out, that’s when you’re truly in trouble!”

“Yes, yes, yes. This old slave absolutely won’t be greedy again. Thank you, Eighth Young Master, for not pursuing the matter.”

“That was close…” After leaving Ye Kong’s courtyard, Ye Cai finally wiped away his sweat, cursing, “‘What you ate of mine, spit it back out; what you took of mine, give it back’… What kind of song is that? Whoever wrote it is seriously lacking in virtue.”

Never mind Ye Cai. As for Ye Kong, he handed the silver to his mother. He still had several thousand taels from Fan Jiushe in his storage pouch – he didn’t care about this bit of money at all.

Chen Jiuniang, however, felt delighted. Not because she was money-grubbing, but because she’d finally saved enough money to get her son a wife. Even if Ye Kong wanted to marry someone now, it wouldn’t be too shabby, right?

Unfortunately, Ye Kong had no intention of taking a wife. If he were to marry, it would have to be another cultivator in the future. At night they could dual cultivate; during the day they could dual rob. Plus, their lifespans would be similar – that’s what you’d call growing old together!

Otherwise, if he married a mortal, when he was still young and vibrant, she’d already be old and decrepit. Going out, people would think she was his grandmother.

Another example: cultivating to Nascent Soul stage should give you eight hundred years of life. Your own lifespan has barely started ticking down, and your partner has [visit our site]already died. Marry another – she dies. Marry another… Damn it, is holding funerals fun or what?

So cultivators generally married cultivator wives. Even someone like Wanxuan True Man, whose advancement was hopeless, would still marry a female cultivator with similarly hopeless advancement. They generally wouldn’t consider mortals. Why? Cultivator plus cultivator – the next generation has a much better chance of having spiritual roots!

This is to say male cultivators generally wouldn’t consider marrying mortal beauties. Conversely, female cultivators were even less likely to marry mortal handsome men. Stories like the Seven Fairies and Dong Yong, or White Snake and Xu Xian – these were extremely rare. The probability of such stories happening in Cangnan Continent was infinitely close to zero.

Those female cultivators would rather remain spinsters their whole lives than marry mortals. They wouldn’t even consider male cultivators whose realms were slightly lower than their own.

But I’m getting off track. Back to the story.

Ye Kong returned to his room. He knew deeply that to survive and live better, he could only keep getting stronger. Only through unceasing cultivation could he become stronger. Climbing up one layer meant becoming a bit safer.

However, before cultivating, he needed to set up the formation. Normally, formation setup required formation flags, sand tables, and the like, but Ye Kong didn’t have those things. All he had was a formation talisman confiscated from Fan Jiushe.

Formation talismans were also a type of spirit talisman. The principle was to seal a formation array into talisman paper. During use, it was activated with spiritual power – convenient, effortless, and perfectly suited for cultivators who didn’t understand formations.

However, formation talismans also had defects. Their biggest flaw was that once deployed, they couldn’t be moved. If destroyed, they couldn’t be repaired either.

Unlike formations set up with formation flags, which could be picked up and moved to different locations at any time, if broken or damaged by someone, they could be reset. Or you could fine-tune and modify the formation’s size, range, structure, functions, and so on.

Formation talisman arrays didn’t possess these capabilities. After use, the formation talisman disappeared stolen content and the formation array became fixed.

Of course, opening and closing the array could still be controlled. As long as there were spirit stones to maintain it and it wasn’t destroyed, this formation could exist for over a hundred years.

Ye Kong now prepared to deploy this “Spiritual Cultivation Formation” in his room. This way, he wouldn’t fear disturbance during future cultivation, and no one could enter without his permission.

Taking out the formation talisman, Ye Kong didn’t rush to activate it with spiritual power.

Because this was his first time seeing a real Cangnan Continent spirit talisman, and as a future talisman master, he felt it better to study it first.

Holding the formation talisman, sitting under the oil lamp, he carefully observed the circuits and patterns on the formation talisman.

The creator of this formation talisman clearly was an expert, or at least experienced. Within the square-shaped talisman script, the lines varied in thickness, incomparably intricate, hooking and winding around, yet not a single stroke crossed another – like a perfectly designed circuit board, elegant, simple, and orderly.

Many silver lines wound around and around, twisting and spiraling, yet the talisman creator had still drawn them out in one continuous breath. Even the thickness of the lines showed no variation whatsoever.

“Truly, the mysteries within are extraordinary!” Ye Kong praised endlessly. Thinking about it, even in the cultivation continent, though bizarre and strange events were numerous, behind these events that exceeded human imagination, there were still certain principles.

There’s a saying that goes well: There’s no love without reason, no hate without reason, and certainly no scribbling randomly on paper twice and becoming invincible under heaven.

Even the miraculous cultivation continent had its unique theories, just like chemistry and physics on [noodles]Earth. They had patterns and reasons.

Just like this formation talisman in Ye Kong’s hand – why this line was drawn this way, why that line was so thick – these all had reasons. It absolutely wasn’t closing your eyes and scribbling twice that could manifest a formation array.

Ye Kong stared like an idiot at that combination of lines others couldn’t understand. Sometimes he nodded, saying, “So that’s how it is.”

Other times he frowned for a long while, examining it back and forth, finally slapping his thigh and exclaiming, “Excellent!”

The cool breeze rustled, flower trees swayed with a soft sound. In the vast Ye Manor, only a few lamps remained lit. Ye Kong was still staring obsessively at that circuit board… oh, formation talisman.

Also not sleeping was Second Wife’s quarters, where Xiaohong was reporting on her daytime probing of Ye Kong. However, she only emphasized Ye Kong’s cleverness and shrewdness, not mentioning those brothel conversations.

After hearing the report, Second Wife nodded thoughtfully and said, “From now on, go play at his courtyard when you have nothing to do. Watch what he’s doing. No matter what, I absolutely won’t believe an idiot suddenly became so smart, and his martial arts suddenly became so powerful. Nothing happens without reason!”

“Oh.” When Xiaohong lowered her head, her heart couldn’t help but feel a bit pleased. But immediately after, she became troubled and asked, “Eighth Young Master is very shrewd. What if he discovers we’re probing for information about him – won’t he become angry from embarrassment?”

Second Wife smiled. “He won’t. Don’t look at how he beats people and causes trouble all day – those are all people who offended him to his face. If we’re polite to his face, he absolutely won’t have the nerve to flip out.”

Xiaohong quickly offered flattery. “Second Mistress is truly formidable.”

“Learn from me in the future,” Second Wife said smugly.

“But he’s no easy mark either. We’re polite to his face while secretly investigating his secrets.” Xiaohong boldly added, “Then he’ll also be polite to our faces while striking from behind. Didn’t they say Ye Hai might have been secretly killed by him?”

“Haha, so you’re not stupid after all,” Second Wife laughed heartily, then her expression turned stern. “Where there’s danger, there’s opportunity. We’re not after his life – what’s there to fear? Even if he knows, I’m not afraid.”

Xiaohong felt depressed. But I’m afraid! That boy flips out in an instant. You can explain things to him and maybe it’ll be fine, but I’m afraid I won’t even get a chance to explain. At best, I’ll become Sister Ma the Second; at worst, I’ll go meet Ye Hai!

Second Wife apparently noticed Xiaohong’s fear and smiled. “I’m keeping him at the manor now precisely because I’m counting on him to help. How would I harm him? Actually, the purpose of investigating his secrets – if I say it out loud, it’s nothing much. If he discovers it, just tell him directly.”