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"I don't need anything from the family. I'll leave with Ping'er and Ning'er. Don't worry."
"From now on, I am still Zhou Yan, but I have nothing to do with the Zhou Family."
"Elder, you've already crippled my cultivation, so you can rest assured. In this life, I'm destined to be ordinary, you needn't bother with such a move!"
"I unleashed all my potential to act against them because a man may die but cannot be humiliated!"
"As for Xiao Xu, a lowly maid dares to be so disrespectful to me, losing respect and inferiority, and since the master was not strict enough in discipline, I punished her on their behalf, which is not wrong! As you said, since I haven't left the Zhou Family, a maid should not insult me!"
Zhou Yan spoke calmly, clutching the statue tightly in his hand.
This seemed to be the time he spoke the most that night.
Yet these words plunged the scene into silence once again.
"Ping'er, Ning'er, let's go."
"Yes, young master."
Ping'er glanced at everyone on the scene, seemingly wanting to remember all their hideous faces silently.
The pale, sickly girl, Ning'er, said nothing and silently came to Zhou Yan's side, reaching out to support him as he was about to collapse.
The three of them turned and gradually left.
The footsteps of the young man, supported by two frail girls, left footprints stained with blood, stretching from the tranquil courtyard to the distance.
It was like a sense of solitude gathered and dissipated here, extending to the ends of the earth with no end in sight.
"Preaching Elder, his Bishui Swordsmanship and cultivation were quite formidable, and he moved extremely fast."
After a long silence, Zhou Lingyi did not glance at the dead maid Xiao Xu but suddenly said something rather unusual.
"His sealing was set by 'him,' and in this world, besides 'him,' no one can undo it, rest assured."
The Preaching Elder said, sighing sadly, then continued, "This time, I also felt his aura was somewhat enduring, he unleashed potential, showing such strength was not unusual, after all, Zhou Wangchen was no ordinary genius, and it was not that Zhou Yuntian had no talent, but the timing was wrong. At that time, Zhou Wangchen could not wield even one percent of his ability, so Zhou Yuntian's victory didn't mean much. Zhou Yan is Zhou Wangchen's son, having some talent is also normal. Now that I have dispersed the energy he gathered, he has no chance left. Currently, Zhou Yan cannot die, at least not by our hands, for the matter of Zhou Wangchen is not completely resolved, and that Ning'er, with extremely mysterious origins, was brought back by Zhou Wangchen and seems not easy to deal with, so it's best to stay put for now."
The Preaching Elder analyzed.
He did not conceal these words from the talented third-generation disciples in the courtyard.
"Yes, Elder has considered everything thoroughly. Now that this matter has come to an end, I also need to train hard, hoping that when people from the Great Zhou Family come in a month, I can be taken seriously."
Zhou Lingyi nodded.
"Elder, won't Zhou Yan go out and talk nonsense or come to cause trouble after a month?" Zhou Xian asked with some inexplicable concern.
Thinking of Zhou Yan's fierce eyes, he always felt that this person was not as simple as he thought.
"He has already lost his potential and cultivation, he has no chance! Moreover, by that time, the area around the family will also be under strict guard. Although he is a member of the Zhou Family, no one outside knows he is Zhou Wangchen's son, right?"
Elder Zhou Wuyan smiled calmly, as if everything had already been arranged.
"Ah… Elder is wise!"
Zhou Xian felt relieved at once, with a look of malicious pleasure in his eyes, as if Zhou Yan's current plight brought him immense satisfaction.
"But Elder, aside from us, the family is very united, won't they doubt? Besides, the family head grandfather is quite partial towards him, what if…"
Zhou Cheng was still worried about another aspect.
"The family head doesn't need to worry. As we said, Zhou Yan is a waste, Zhou Wangchen a genius. Who do you think the family head would choose? As for the future, things will be arranged, don't worry.
As for the concern about other family disciples publicly questioning the facts, it's also easy to solve.
We can say that this is the family's way to train talents and arrangements were made from childhood; in fact, Zhou Lingyao is the real child of Zhou Wangchen, but for fear of him being too arrogant, they deliberately concocted this story. The 'Zhou Yan' is simply a picked-up orphan from outside with no Zhou Family bloodline and, being a disgrace to the family, has been abandoned."
These words of the Preaching Elder left the three present enlightened, thinking this approach was extremely clever.
"These words shouldn't have been said to you, but for Lingyi's sake, I spoke frankly; don't spread them around. Moreover, in the eyes of the Great Zhou Family, sending someone from here to them doesn't really matter; what matters is whether the one sent indeed has talent. Moreover, this doesn't necessarily mean only two spots, as long as the requirements are met, three or four isn't a problem. Cheng'er, Xian'er, I have high hopes for you two, strive hard for a month, a lot can change."
Elder Zhou Wuyan advised sincerely once more.
Zhou Cheng and Zhou Xian were involuntarily excited over these words, to the extent of overlooking their own severe injuries.
…
Starry skies shone faintly; it was late into the night.
The desolate mountains were overgrown with thorny shrubs.
Two girls supported Zhou Yan, stumbling forward step by step.
Their dresses were torn by thorns, and their jade-like legs were stained with blood.
In the darkness, they couldn't see a direction, knowing only to keep moving forward.
This night seemed especially long, with darkness shrouding distant directions, like dawn's light was nowhere to be found.
Zhou Yan seemed completely unresponsive, like the walking dead, letting the two girls support him as they moved on.
Initially, there was a place arranged, seemingly a 'Forbidden Land,' but now, even such a place was no more.
The three of them had no crystal stones with them; besides, two were utterly defenseless, making survival in such a world incredibly tough.
"Miss Ning, why hasn't the young master awakened? His body is sometimes hot, sometimes cold… will he not be able to hold on?"
Ping'er's emerald green dress was soaked through with sweat.
"He… his heart meridian was injured by that Preaching Elder, afraid his meridians have snapped… he's beyond salvation for now."
The white-clad, pale girl Ning'er spoke in a dark tone, sighing involuntarily.
"Miss Ning, what… what should we do? It's all my fault, this lowly maid's, if not for me, the young master wouldn't be like this, I should be dead—"
Ping'er cried hysterically, tears uncontrollably flowing like a spring, soaking her collar.
Tears and sweat, unending, couldn't stop her sadness and heartache.
"Ping'er, it has nothing to do with you. If they wanted a reason, no one could stop it. In fact, Zhou Yan has been very restrained, otherwise with his stubborn past temper, he would have fought desperately already."
Ning'er's voice was gentle, with a unique comforting magic that gradually calmed Ping'er down.
"Miss Ning, I know you are the eldest lady of a prestigious family, can you teach me… swordsmanship? Whether medicine sword practitioners, body sword cultivators, array sword cultivators, or magic sword cultivators, it doesn't matter, as long as I can become strong, as long as I can… avenge the young master!"
Ping'er's words were firm, her gaze like a sword, filled with fierce energy!
She was an innocent, naive girl knowing nothing, yet life forced her into such a state.
"Don't worry, everything will get better."
Ning'er showed no great emotion, looking at Zhou Yan with gentle and tender eyes.
At this moment, she spoke and glanced around as if sensing something, then bent down, extracting a golden, gleaming elixir from an unknown place, intending to feed it to Zhou Yan.
But suddenly, her hand, white as jade, halted and slightly moved, retracting the elixir. At that moment, Ping'er was somewhat puzzled and confused, but the next thing she saw was Zhou Yan's body seemed to experience a gathering of primordial energy, as if burning like fire, and in a rapid alternation of cold and heat. Subsequently, this cold and heat energy directly formed a round circle, with an unknown arc at the center, and at both ends of the arc, there were two points of light!
Although they didn't know what it was, both Ping'er and Ning'er felt that this circle seemed to contain profound Dao laws within!
As they were still astonished and shocked, the arc rotated and merged into Zhou Yan's body; afterward, the purple-red and pale color on his face completely disappeared, replaced by an indescribable healthy hue.
"Young master, you're awake?"
"Zhou Yan, you're awake?"
As soon as he woke up, he heard two very gentle and excited voices beside his ears.
Zhou Yan showed a gentle smile, nodded, but didn't speak.
Earlier, he was neither unconscious nor gravely injured, but just generally hurt, yet he knew the situation was forced upon him, leaving him no choice but to find an opportunity to leave that Dragon Pond Tiger Cave, so he pretended to be seriously injured.
In reality, if not for the Breaking Void Internal Power changing his constitution, that shout from the Preaching Elder would have rendered him a cripple, so strictly speaking, his performance was the most reasonable.
Because of this, he was able to conceal the truth and escape the trap, otherwise, he wouldn't have had any chance to be alive and reach here.
He finally realized that some people in that family never had good intentions toward him!
On the way, fearing being tracked, he deliberately used the secret technique from the Nine Yin Nine Yang Mind Method to heal his injuries while locking his own aura. This special Earth-originating mental method combined the Yin Yang Qi Tai Chi theory and the essence of the Tao Te Ching, with such an effect being utterly extraordinary!
Along the way, not only did he completely deceive numerous powerful mind scanning attempts, but these scans were instead detected by him while leaving the opponents unaware!
Moreover, due to deploying the Bone Strengthening method from the Nine Yin Nine Yang Mind Method, Zhou Yan felt that not only were his injuries fully recovered, but he also made further advancements!
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