Under the suppression of Song Jiao’s “Coldness of Yi River”, Li Guanshu was only able to mobilize his Spiritual Qi to Level 5 of Qi-refining, not to mention every time he mobilized his Spiritual Qi, he would hurt himself, so Li Guanshu’s strength had dropped significantly.

While after the last fight, Li Ye had made it clear how much the three green lotuses had improved his cultivation. The current, Li Ye had no pressure to fight against the cultivators whose cultivations were one level higher than his own. Instead, he relied on the combination of his Dragon Qi, the green lotuses, the Luke Sword, and the cultivation methods for “Purple Clouds from the East”.

If his opponent lacked in good magic treasures or cultivation methods, he could crush them easily. With his current cultivation at a Level 4 of Qi-refining, when faced with a master of Level 6 Qi-refining, he wouldn’t be able to win, fortunately, he could retreat safely.

Therefore, when he had chopped Li Guanshu with his sword, he’d had no pressure at all.

Song Jiao came to Li Ye’s side and looked at him from top to bottom as if she had just met him for the first time.

Her bright eyes rippled in surprise and she praised him with a smile. “When you began to fight with Li Guanshu, I had been worried that you would be hurt by his deadly attack. To be honest, when Li Guanshu had used the Forbidden Spell of ‘Nine-roar Rousing Pythons’, I was stunned. If you had moved a bit slower, I wouldn’t have been able to control the red python.”

“And then, when Li Guanshu begged for your mercy, I thought that you would have hesitated. I haven’t seen you over the last few years and already you have such a decisive disposition and superb fighting skill. Besides, your cultivation method is very powerful… Was Yuan Tiangang’s inheritance so powerful that it was able to change a person completely?”

Li Ye smiled and said, “Aunt Song’s ‘Coldness of Yi River’ is much more powerful.”

He dodged answering Song Jiao’s question directly, which was equivalent to a default admittance. He had no choice but to let Yuan Tiangang take responsibility because the people in this world knew little about the cultivation methods of “Purple Clouds from the East”.

Hearing Li Ye’s flattery, Song Jiao smiled brightly. Her orchid fingers pointed at him through the air as she said seductively, “You are a really sweet pervert.”

Li Ye blushed and wanted to know when he had become a little pervert. But faced with Song Jiao’s beauty, he didn’t bother to argue and decided to poke fun at her instead. “If I’m sweet, how can I be a little pervert?”

Song Jiao was stunned momentarily, she had not expected that Li Ye would suddenly make fun of her. She giggled. “It turns out that you are a bold little pervert since you now dare to talk glibly with Aunt Song.”

Song Jiao was so enchanting that Li Ye had licked his lips.

He had been cultivating for so long that he hadn’t been afraid of anyone since his transmigration. Had he been the son of Li Xian, he would have been awed by Song Jiao. However, Li Ye was not in awe of Song Jiao, and he smiled as he said, “You say that I have talked glibly with you. Doesn’t that mean that you are also talking glibly with me? It seems that I don’t lose anything!”

Song Jiao had noticed when Li Ye had licked his lips, so she understood his joke. Immediately, her face reddened, and she became angry from embarrassment. However, she did not want to admit that she had been flirting with this “mindless” Li Ye. She was too sophisticated, and she was unwilling to lose her dignity.

So, Song Jiao shifted her long legs and swayed her small waist as she walked towards Li Ye, exuding charm. Her face, which was more beautiful than a peony, hovered two inches from Li Ye’s nose. She stared intently at Li Ye, her eyes filled with “killing intent”. She threatened, “Are you, little pervert, attracted to my beauty? Do you want Aunt Song to teach you how to become better at flirting?”

Song Jiao had been “aggressive”, while Li Ye remained as steady as Mount Tai. He thought that he was an experienced libertine, and her words and her behavior were in total disregard to his manhood. Without a word, he moved his head forward and bit at her plump, red lips.

Being a true master, Song Jiao responded quickly. Immediately, she flew backward a few steps and did not allow Li Ye to succeed.

His actions startled her and she became frightened and completely lost. Song Jiao opened her crystal-like eyes wide as she stared at Li Ye, stunned. In any case, she had not thought that Li Ye would be so bold. She said angrily, “You flirtations playboy!”

Li Ye, who was succeeding in this game, lifted his chin and he was very pleased with himself. He knew that her cultivation was higher than his, but that was all. If she wanted to flirt with him, she would lose without ever knowing how she had lost. When he saw Song Jiao staring at him, Li Ye winked and said in a “carefree” tone, “How can a pervert’s flirtation be called a flirtation?”

Thanks to fighting side by side just now, their relationship had become closer. Moreover, because she had flirted with Li Ye first, Song Jiao could not really be angry, which gave Li Ye the opportunity to “show off”. She was aggrieved, but there was nothing else she could do. The beauty, who had thought so highly of herself, could not threaten Li Ye with telling on him to his father, could she?

The beauty wondered in her heart. “This little guy was docile and weak when he was a kid. How could he be so fearless now… Prince An did not mention this to me before. Should Yuan Tiangang’s inheritance be blamed for this? No, it should not. I haven’t heard that Yuan Tiangang was a libertine, but how come his inheritance made people look like this…”

At this moment, Song Jiao had become very embarrassed and while she had been deep in thought about saving her dignity, there was a loud sound from the mountain. Suddenly the earth shook and rumbled as if a thousand stones were rolling down the side of the mountain.

Upon hearing the sound, Song Jiao’s expression changed slightly, and she no longer thought about making fun of Li Ye. Now she stared at the other side.

Li Ye asked Song Jiao thoughtfully, “After Nangong Diyi destroyed Sangqingguan with three swords, someone flew up in the air and fought with him. Do you know the identity of that person?”

Song Jiao glared at Li Ye since she was still angry about the previous incident, but that was all. “I mentioned to you earlier that it had been the idea of Zhongnan Mountain to raise the pond of green lotuses in Niushou Mountain. This all related to the hero, Huang Chao, who had been supported by the Taoist sect. It was a big thing to destroy the foundation of the Tang Empire. Zhongnan Mountain would definitely send someone to take care of it. The person whom you saw earlier was the disciple of Zhongnan Mountain. If not, it would have been impossible for Nangong Diyi to be entangled for so long and not advancing with his cultivation, after he finished the ‘Three Buyue swords ‘.”

“It really did last long enough.” Li Ye nodded.

Song Jiao snorted. “In the Taoist temple of Niushou Mountain, there was an unknown old man whose cultivation was higher than Xu Qingfeng’s controlling the situation. It appears that these two people worked together to block Nangong Diyi.”

Listening to Aunt Song’s words, “Is Nangong Diyi very powerful?” Li Ye asked. Although he had been born in Chang’an and had grown up in Chang’an, he knew little about the mysterious Imperial Astronomical Observatory. What’s more, he was unable to make contact with such a master in his previous situation, so he only knew of Nangong Diyi by name.

“Nangong Diyi.” Song Jiao glanced at Li Ye. “When you hear someones name, you should understand what kind of master he is. If he has no outstanding cultivation, how dare he name himself Diyi (which means number one)?”

Speaking aloud and not waiting for Li Ye’s answer, she curled her lips and said in irony, “Of course, he chose this name for himself, indicating that he is a narcissist to the end.”

Li Ye gave Song Jiao a weird look when he noticed how her words were inconsistent. However, it was not hard for him to understand that Song Jiao was the most outstanding one among the existing disciples of the White Deer Sect. With such high cultivation and a good reputation, she was certainly unwilling to fall behind him. Obviously, she might have some criticisms of Nangong Diyi who had been so arrogant as to name himself Diyi.

So Li Ye echoed Song Jiao. “According to Aunt Song’s words, this Nangong Diyi should call himself Nangong Tianxiadiyi. If he wants to be the number one in the world, why not being frank?”

She knew his words were full of sarcasm, but Song Jiao was very pleased to hear that. The beauty smiled immediately, and she looked at Li Ye with appreciation. “I will admire him if he really dares name himself Nangong Tianxidiyi. Haha… You’re so…”

Song Jiao knew that Li Ye had been echoing her and he had said that to make her happy. She wanted to finish with a ‘you’re so sweet’, but the last word was not spoken. When she thought of the “unpleasant” experience of the two of them flirting with each other, she shut up immediately and glared at Li Ye. Finally, she chose her word. “Vicious!”

Li Ye burst out laughing.

In his opinion, even though he still had an opportunity to take advantage of Song Jiao’s words, he didn’t, because talking glibly about this kind of thing would be fun occasionally, but if he did it all the time, it would become vulgar and repulsive.

He laughed for a second and then he suddenly stopped. His expression changed slightly. “Oh, no! I have been here for so long. I have no idea how Shangguan Qingcheng and Wu You are doing!”

…

Shangguan Qingcheng’s situation had become dire.

During the great earthquake caused by Nangong Diyi’s three swords, she and Li Ye were forced to separate in order to avoid the flying Sword Qi, rocks, and rubble. Fortunately, she had survived the disaster, but she had been severely injured due to her power being low as a cultivator and her being at the beginning of Qi-refining and she had not been as lucky as Li Ye.

Shangguan Qingcheng treated her wounds simply as she hid behind the stone statue of Xuanwu carrying the stone tablet. She did not stay long since she was concerned about Li Ye’s safety and she returned to the place where Li Ye disappeared, according to her vague memory.

At that time, the Taoist temple was in chaos with its walls collapsing, houses being destroyed, and roads being broken. Occasionally, there were rocks rolling down and injured disciples were everywhere in Sanqingguan. Even with her full power Shangguan Qingcheng was unable to travel fast enough.

After running for a while, Shangguan Qingcheng had been unable to find Li Ye, but she had found that there were many cultivators in black star-and-moon robes rushing to Sanqingguan from all directions. She had been stopped by them. Fortunately, she had not worn a Taoist robe. After confirming her identity, they let her go. But along the way she had met several groups of such people, which had consumed a lot of her time.

Finally, she met Li Jing’an.

Li Jing’an, who was followed by a woman attendant, greeted her with a smile as soon as he saw Shangguan Qingcheng. She inquired about her situation and Li Ye’s whereabouts.

Shangguan Qingcheng did not know that Li Jing’an and Li Guanshu had colluded with each other. She wondered why he would be here unwounded, and she thought that he might have been saved by his attendant. As she answered two of Li Jing’an’s questions truthfully, she suddenly realized that she had a bad feeling, but it was already too late to retreat.