Chapter 354 - 168: May I Ask for Your Name, Master? I... Am Xu Longxiang

Chapter 354: Chapter 168: May I Ask for Your Name, Master? I... Am Xu Longxiang

’Prefecture Official Ye Luan, Ye Ningzhi’s Master?’

When the disciples who had entered the Mansion Courtyard at the same time as him revealed the background of the woman in the crane-patterned robe, Ji Xiu’s expression flickered.

Ye Luan.

That name... He was familiar with it.

Moreover, the moment the woman named Ye Luan appeared, she had shown no fear, even though she knew Gao Ye was from the Dan Mountain Gao Clan—a genuine Noble Clan. She had confronted him head-on and chosen to protect Ji Xiu.

Ji Xiu immediately felt a sense of goodwill toward her, but it was quickly followed by a strange look in his eyes.

He had previously heard some stories from Granny Shi.

His own Master, Duan Chenzhou, had been forced into a mismatched marriage by his Ancestral Master, Wang Xuanyang, first tying the knot with Xie Fuyao, the daughter of a Giant House.

At the same time, he also had some entanglements with a woman who was a Prefecture Official, the successor of the Jinghong Sword Sect—one of the six great pillars of Jiangyin.

That woman was none other than Ye Luan.

It was said that she had fought his Master in the Martial Dao dozens of times in her life and had never once won.

This had also indirectly led to what happened with Ye Ningzhi. Upon hearing that Duan Chenzhou had taken on a disciple, she had volunteered to come to Anning to wash away her Master’s Sect’s past shame. Ultimately, she was defeated by him, and the two had ended up on friendly terms.

As he secretly considered these Key Points, Ji Xiu couldn’t help but sigh inwardly:

’But why does this scene feel so familiar?’

Staring at the inexplicably familiar scene, Ji Xiu thought to himself.

It seemed that before, at the Beicang Marquis’s Mansion, when he had encountered Xie Zhinan, the daughter of a Giant House, driving her magnificent carriage into the inner courtyard with great arrogance...

Xie Fuyao, whom he had directly addressed as ’Master Xie’, had appeared just like this to get him out of trouble.

Now, here at the Mansion Courtyard.

Another woman with ties to his Master had appeared?

’Should I just bow and pay my respects? Would that be a better move?’

Based on the principle that one could never have too many backers, and that calling her ’Master’s wife’ wouldn’t cost him anything, Ji Xiu mulled it over. ’At worst, it’ll just give my Master—wherever he is now—another headache.’ Just as he was pondering whether to leverage his Master’s name once more...

On the other side of the courtyard, along the long corridor.

The few Mansion Official Instructors who had been standing together watched the scene with varied expressions.

"The Dan Mountain Gao Clan... That Young Lord just had to run into this kid named Ji Xiu, of all people."

"Sigh, a promising talent who could get a Grade A on both evaluations for the Martial God Stele... we haven’t seen one of those in Jiangyin for many years."

"To have the foundation to attain an Immortal Robe and a Divine Thought before the bone age of twenty—the requirements are just too strict."

"Now one finally appears, and of all the rotten luck, he runs into the sole successor of a Noble Clan!"

"If he were just from a Noble Clan, that would be one thing."

"But this Gao Ye is the real deal. He showed prodigious talent from a young age and was personally designated as the successor by his clan’s Ancestor. He’s more than worthy of the title ’Young Lord’!"

"As a Master, to risk offending a future noble and take on a student who, despite having some talent, they’ve never met before... it’s just not worth it."

Instructor Qin Chuan, who had previously sent one of his disciples to extend an olive branch to Ji Xiu, wore a regretful expression.

Beside him, Yao Hong, who had been in charge of the Martial and Divine Stele assessments, also shook his head and sighed.

"Ye Luan’s action is too unwise. To offend a Noble Clan for a talented student... and what’s more, it’s the Dan Mountain Gao Clan, who intend to move to Jiangyin Prefecture and could potentially rise above the Thirty-Six Professions in the future..."

"If someone targets the Embroidery Lineage’s business in the future, how will they survive?"

As the two were discussing this, a Prefecture Official in a yellow robe—with a hooked nose and sunken, dark-circled eyes—overheard and sneered faintly.

"What other reason could there be?"

"That kid with the surname Ji is Duan Chenzhou’s disciple."

"Back when Duan Chenzhou was at the Power Barrier, he was incredibly arrogant. He caused a huge stir with the Realm Gate incident in East Canghai and stole the show when he wiped out the Chaotic Heaven Bandits, thoroughly overshadowing all the prominent figures of his generation."

"Other heirs of the Grand Lineages and successors of the Schools who fought him back then would end up losing an arm or a leg if they lost."

"This was especially true on Daoist School Street."

"Countless people stepped onto the fighting stages, signed Life and Death Contracts, and ended up being crushed by him as he climbed over numerous Schools to claim the title of Daoist School’s Top Card. Who among them could possibly look upon Duan Chenzhou favorably?"

"And yet, Ye Luan supposedly lost to him dozens of times without a single scratch, as if she were deliberately asking Duan Chenzhou to spar with her. Who would believe there was nothing fishy going on between those two?"

"Now that her old flame is dead, leaving behind a disciple with no one to rely on, she sees him being bullied and naturally can’t bear it. Of course she’d want to help him out."

Hearing these undisguised, mocking words, Qin Chuan and Yao Hong exchanged a glance, their brows furrowing almost imperceptibly.

However, remembering the man’s identity, they didn’t say anything more.

This man, named Huang Hong, was from the Medicine Shop. Though from a branch family, he was very ambitious, made a name for himself early on, and became a Mansion Official Instructor. Even the old patriarch of the Medicine Shop had acknowledged his branch of the family.

Now, three generations of the Medicine Shop’s Direct Lineage—sons and grandsons—had been completely wiped out by Ji Xiu and his Master. All that remained were the side branches of the family.

Among them, Huang Hong had become a Prefecture Official. Within the vast Medicine Shop, he was one of the strongest contenders for the position of Medicine Shop Master after Huang Ai.

Barring any accidents, perhaps in twenty or thirty years, when the old patriarch of the Medicine Shop’s Huang Family passed away, the title of one of the Jiangyin Nine Lords, a Master of the Great Lineage, would fall to him.

Therefore, it wasn’t worth starting a conflict with such a person over a few disagreeable words.

Seeing Ye Luan step forward, Huang Hong wasn’t satisfied with just a few verbal jabs. His mind began to churn.

’The old man’s direct-lineage sons and grandsons are all dead and gone. He must hate this kid’s guts.’