Chapter 524: A Shameless Family

Chapter 524: Chapter 520: A Shameless Family

What was Ji Yuyan’s current level of strength? Even within the entire Ji Family, very few were stronger than her! So, upon hearing this, she simply smiled faintly and said, “It’s fine. It doesn’t matter if she refuses to show me any courtesy.”

Ji Changgeng sighed softly. ‘The young miss still has the same temper as always,’ he thought. ‘But you’ve been away from home for so many years. This household, from top to bottom, has long since been marked by others!’

If Ji Yuyan hadn’t left home so quietly all those years ago, Ji Changgeng and a group of other Ji Family servants would have been able to remain by her side. Therefore, from an emotional standpoint, Ji Changgeng still favored her, even though she had been gone for nearly a century.

Ji Changgeng led Ji Yuyan and Qin Li toward a sunny, sheltered courtyard. A river flowed in front of its gate.

Ji Yuyan said to Qin Li with a hint of sadness, “When I was a child, I loved to play and catch fish in this river.”

Qin Li gazed at the forest of Tree Lotuses all around them. Hundreds of meters high, they had only leaves, no flowers or fruit. He sighed internally. Ji Yuyan was considered a super genius of the Ji Family; he wondered why they had never looked for her after she left all those years ago.

‘Does the Ji Family really have so many masters that they don’t care about losing one like Ji Yuyan?’

Just then, a few more old Ji Family servants like Ji Changgeng spotted Ji Yuyan and came over to pay their respects. To these loyal old retainers, the young miss was the one true heir to the Ji Family Valley!

Even if she had been away for a century, it was as if she had merely been traveling. As long as the young miss returned, this home was still hers!

However, there were clearly those who saw things differently. One of the confidants brought by Ji Yuyan’s aunt also recognized her at a glance and scurried away to report.

Before long, Ji Yuyan’s aunt appeared, accompanied by a long-faced man and a plain-looking, long-faced woman. They blocked Qin Li, Ji Yuyan, and the others at the gate of the courtyard where Yuyan had once lived.

“Well, well, look who it is. If it isn’t my dear niece, returned at last.”

Ji Yuyan’s aunt was quite flirtatious. Her seductive eyes roamed over Qin Li a few times as she purred with a laugh, “And you’ve even brought a husband back with you? Your taste is certainly excellent! What a handsome young man!”

Ji Yuyan’s brow furrowed slightly. Before she could speak, the long-faced woman stared at her and said coldly, “Ji Yuyan, what are you doing at my home? You want to enter my courtyard?”

The long-faced woman and the long-faced man beside her looked remarkably similar, as if cast from the same mold. The man didn’t speak, but his eyes swept lecherously over Ji Yuyan’s body a few times. Then, with a venomous glare, he shot a few furtive glances at Qin Li.

With their powerful Divine Sense, how could Qin Li and Ji Yuyan not feel the man’s gaze? But neither had any intention of acknowledging them.

“Your home?”

A faint, mocking smile touched the corners of Ji Yuyan’s lips. “I’ve returned to retrieve some things from my childhood,” she said. “Listen carefully. I am not here to fight with you over anything. My parents are gone. There is nothing left for me here.”

“Oh, listen to you! This is your home, dear!” Ji Yuyan’s aunt said, shooting another flirtatious glance at Qin Li. “Man is just being childish. She is your younger sister, after all…”

“Enough. I have no interest in this. As I said, I only want to retrieve a few things from my childhood. You don’t need to be so tense. Once I have them, I will leave.”

At this, Ji Yuyan’s aunt exchanged a glance with the long-faced man. They both saw a flicker of doubt in each other’s eyes. She had already been involved with this man and was carrying his child before she married into the Ji Family. That was why, after touching her only once, Ji Yuyan’s father had refused to ever touch her again.

The main reason Ji Yuyan’s aunt had married into the Ji Family was for the Tree Lotus Fruit! But alas, man proposes and God disposes. Ji Yuyan’s father doted on his daughter so much that he gave her every single Tree Lotus Fruit in the entire Ji Family Valley to consume. By the time the aunt married in, the Tree Lotus Fruits were all gone!

Ji Yuyan’s aunt was bitterly disappointed. Before marrying in, she had given many expensive gifts to the Ji Family’s upper echelons in an attempt to secure the Tree Lotus Fruit as a matter of course.

This aunt of Yuyan’s had been more favored in her own family than Yuyan’s mother had been. As a result, her dowry was filled with valuable objects.

This was the main reason why, after Ji Yuyan’s parents died suddenly and violently, her aunt was able to openly bring her lover into the Ji Family Valley without anyone in the Ji Family raising a fuss.

The Ji Family was a great clan. To them, as long as everything within their domain remained under the leadership of the Ji Family Patriarch, it was acceptable.

The cause of Ji Yuyan’s parents’ deaths was very strange. They had no injuries and had not been poisoned; they were simply dead. If word of this got out, it would be a significant blow to the Ji Family’s reputation.

After all, for such a vast and powerful family to be unable to determine the cause of death of its own members was a deeply shameful affair.

Therefore, the matter was suppressed indefinitely. The Ji Family investigated in secret for many years but found nothing. Combined with the fact that Ji Yuyan had already left, the case was eventually dropped.

“Retrieve things? What in this house is still yours?” the long-faced woman named Man demanded, looking at Ji Yuyan with a face full of jealousy. ‘Originally, those Tree Lotus Fruits should have been mine! I should have been the one to become a peerless expert, but this woman in front of me stole it all away!’

She lived here, and while none of the Ji Family servants dared say anything to her face, there was plenty of gossip behind her back. They said she was a cuckoo in another’s nest, that her entire family was shameless!

‘And it was all… because of the woman standing before her!’

Ji Yuyan looked at Man calmly, a hint of pity in her eyes. ‘This woman, who doesn’t belong to the Ji Family at all, has probably been under a lot of pressure living here, hasn’t she?’

But Man was utterly enraged by Ji Yuyan’s pitying gaze. She pointed a finger at Ji Yuyan and shrieked, “You bitch! What right do you have to look at me like that? Get out! This is my home!”

Ji Yuyan’s brow twitched. She looked calmly at her aunt—the woman who had destroyed her family.

Ji Yuyan’s aunt looked somewhat awkward. No matter how you spun it, Ji Yuyan was her own sister’s daughter, her niece. And she hadn’t returned with any ill intent, but merely to retrieve her own belongings.

She frowned at her daughter, who was blocking the courtyard gate, and said in a low voice, “Man, stop making a scene. Move aside!”

“I won’t! Why should I? This is my home! This is my home! This is my home!” Man roared frantically, as if making a stand and venting her frustrations all at once.

“Um… Yuyan, is there something you need? I can get it for you,” her aunt offered.

“That won’t be necessary!”

As Ji Yuyan spoke, her figure flashed and vanished from sight.

In that instant, a sharp glint flashed in the long-faced man’s eyes, but he made no move. He could feel that the young man who had returned with Ji Yuyan—the one who didn’t look particularly strong—was watching him with a strange expression.

The long-faced man hastily retracted his aura. For a moment, he had been stunned by the formidable power Ji Yuyan had displayed. ‘Someone who has eaten a Tree Lotus Fruit truly is different,’ he thought. ‘The Ji Family has no shortage of masters like her! But the next time the Tree Lotuses bloom is a hundred thousand years from now! A hundred thousand years! How could we possibly live that long? For this, I was even willing to sacrifice my own woman!’

‘The Ji Family has planned this well. In a hundred thousand years, this Ji Family Valley will certainly be theirs again!’

‘That’s why they’re indifferent to us occupying this place!’

‘If…’ The long-faced man’s eyes glinted. ‘If I could capture Ji Yuyan, engage in dual cultivation with her, and absorb the vast energy in her body, my power would surely skyrocket!’

‘Then, I could refine her very essence into an Elixir and consume it. It wouldn’t be long before I, too, could reach the Thunder Tribulation realm!’

Qin Li’s Innate Purple Qi sensed the malice surging from the long-faced man toward Ji Yuyan, and a murderous intent gradually rose within him. ‘If you behave yourself, I’ll let this slide. Yuyan can’t be bothered with any of you anyway,’ he thought. ‘But if you dare try anything, I will make you regret the day you were born!’

All of this took place in a flash, a mere fleeting thought in the minds of those present, each with their own agenda.

The long-faced girl, Man, was stunned for a moment. Then she shoved open her courtyard gate and ran inside frantically, shouting as she went, “Ji Yuyan, you despicable woman! You trespassed in my home, barged into my courtyard! There’s no woman in this world more shameless than you…”

Before she could finish her tirade, she saw Ji Yuyan standing there, quietly watching her. Her hand, fair and delicate, was smudged with a bit of dirt and held a foot-square wooden box.

It was impossible to tell what the box was made of, but after being buried underground for a century, it looked as bright as new! The beautiful lacquer paintings on its surface were lifelike and vibrant.

“Are you done cursing?” Ji Yuyan asked calmly.

“You…” Man was so furious she was speechless. ‘So my frantic rage was completely ignored by her!’ she realized. The feeling was worse than if Ji Yuyan had slapped her across the face! Her long face turned deathly pale with anger, making it seem even longer.

“If you’re done, then move aside. I’m leaving.” Ji Yuyan walked around the stunned Man and out the courtyard gate. She gave Qin Li a smile, but he could clearly see a trace of sorrow deep within her eyes.

“Let’s go,” Qin Li said.

“Wait,” the long-faced man suddenly said. “Yuyan, what are you doing with my wooden box?”

As soon as the long-faced man spoke, Man was instantly invigorated. She pointed at Ji Yuyan and shrieked, “You shameless bitch! What are you doing with my father’s box? Put it down!”

With that, she charged forward ferociously, trying to snatch the wooden box from Ji Yuyan’s hands.