Chapter 111: Use Me as Bait

Night fell, and the Deng family compound gradually grew noisy.

Jar after jar of fine wine was carried into the great hall, and countless delicacies were set upon the round tables.

Lin Rou took her seat accompanied by Deng Mingxu, while Jiang Chengyun sat beside them with an air of swagger.

The two exchanged a furtive glance.

Shen Yi did not understand the habits of noble houses, so he simply kept up his aloof persona, using his supposed illness as an excuse not to come—convenient, too, for puffing up the prestige of the so-called "Lin family" of Yushan Prefecture.

"What a pity."

Deng Mingxu tugged helplessly at the carefully chosen set of splendid blue robes on his body, though inwardly he breathed a sigh of relief.

Compared with the natural bearing of the young master of the Lin family—even though he had done his best to appear polite, that faintly unapproachable air clearly showed the Deng family was beneath his notice.

Just standing there in casual clothes made the hearts of bystanders turn cold three degrees; no matter how he dressed himself, he still looked shabby.

Fortunately, his great-grandfather was still around to hold up the family's presence.

So long as that old man was still here, the Deng family would remain a second-rate power in Qingzhou.

Thinking of this, Deng Mingxu instinctively looked toward the seat of honor, but instead of seeing his great-grandfather, he saw his father walking over escorting a flashy woman in red.

The woman's face was fox-like and seductive; if not for the dust-stained air about her, she would have been a beauty who outshone them all.

The more he looked, the more familiar she seemed.

As if remembering something, Deng Mingxu ground his teeth in secret—Father, couldn't you stop making a fool of yourself!

He was hosting Miss Rou, and the old man had brought along a top courtesan—what for!

Lin Rou and Jiang Chengyun also changed expression; the former awkwardly lowered her head, while the latter slightly narrowed his eyes, a few shades of coldness appearing.

If you can't hook the young one, you set your sights on the old.

This was a firm decision to compete with him for her.

"..."

Xiao Qiangwei slowly took her seat and casually shot the two of them a provocative glance.

Lin Rou shrank her neck.

"Miss Rou, are you cold? Quick, fetch me a fox-fur cloak! Wait—no fox fur, it's too flashy, bring a sable cloak instead."

Deng Mingxu pointed at the mulberry tree while cursing the locust tree, decisively making his stance clear.

"Thank you."

Lin Rou answered softly, only feeling her back grow much colder...

The little farce was quickly passed over, but once everyone had taken their seats, a problem suddenly became apparent.

Apart from Shen Yi, the one absent was the figure who should have been sitting in the seat of honor.

Jiang Chengyun and Xiao Qiangwei both raised their eyes at once, a strange glint passing through their gazes.

Compared with the great hall's hubbub, the small courtyard was rather quiet.

Shen Yi sat alone in the courtyard, a cup of plain water and a plate of sauced meat before him.

On the panel, numerous martial arts flashed before his eyes.

He quietly calculated the greatest burst of strength he could now produce.

The several martial arts obtained from the Inspector General—even against a half-step Core Formation master like the abbot of the Jin Gang Sect—could still display some power.

The Bodhi Jin Gang Body at the Perfection realm also provided decent self-defense.

The main thing was still the Heavenly Demon Yama External Pill.

Based on Shen Yi's observations along the way, the level of danger he sensed from Jiang Chengyun was roughly the same as that from the Flood Dragon Lord who went by the alias Zhang Hengzhou.

Both had probably reached the realm of "Core Condensation"; if they could take one more step upward, they would achieve so-called Core Condensation Perfection, and could begin Embracing the Core to Nurture the Spirit.

If the Heavenly Demon External Pill were counted as his own cultivation.

Then Shen Yi and these two should belong to the same realm of martial artists, but in reality that wasn't quite the case—after all, Jiang Chengyun certainly commanded no small number of Core Condensation martial arts, while the Flood Dragon Lord possessed the talent and body of a yao.

In a real fight, he might be crushed.

Using these two as the benchmark, anyone a tier weaker than them should be within his ability to fight.

Unfortunately there was no reference point; relying on pure imagination to compare was really not very reliable.

"..."

Shen Yi picked up a piece of sauced meat, gently placed it in his mouth, then turned his head to look outside the courtyard.

He saw an old man in a loose white robe wandering in unsteadily, set the wine jar in his hand down on the table, and let out a wine burp: "You have meat but no wine, I have wine but no meat—how about we just pool them together?"

"And you are?"

Shen Yi asked knowingly—after all, within the entire Yong'an City, there should be only one person capable of letting him sense a hint of threat.

Jiang Chengyun and the others had made so many preparations; it wouldn't do to spoil their plans.

"Just an idle old man on the verge of death in this courtyard."

Deng Jianyuan chuckled, a faint flush on his gaunt cheeks.

Perhaps fearing Shen Yi might overthink it, he added another line: "I'm too old; the heavens are calling me home."

Listening to this protest-too-much explanation.

Shen Yi smiled faintly, sidestepped to make room, and said lightly: "No need for wine, please."

Anyone who could live so many years, and as a local power at that, having some inkling was perfectly normal.

"You're from Yushan Prefecture? I've never been there."

Deng Jianyuan did not press the wine on him either, drinking on his own; his face grew redder, yet his eyes grew brighter: "When I was young I had no chance to go, and now I'm too old to dare go—so many people are watching me; the moment I leave, they panic."

"Go on."

The old man suddenly hugged the wine jar, turned around, and stared blankly at Shen Yi: "Do I still have a chance to go?"

"……"

Shen Yi fell silent for a moment, somehow feeling that if the other party did entertain such a thought, Jiang Chengyun would probably be the first to act and pin him down in a chair.

Fortunately, Deng Jianyuan did not seem to expect an answer. He waved his hand: "Forget it, I don't want to go either. Yong'an City is pretty nice—if it could stay this nice forever, that wouldn't be bad."

After those words, the old man became much more normal.

Like an ordinary thin, small old man, he began to reminisce: "When I was as young as you, I was too lazy to properly learn martial arts. For everything, I only learned just enough—great mastery seemed too much trouble, having a small mastery barely sufficient was fine. I just had good luck…"

Shen Yi did not feel the other party was being deliberately modest.

After all, second-rate powers were almost all like this—either getting lucky with a fortuitous encounter, or walking some unorthodox path. When the ancestor was around, it was the peak; once he fell, the family could almost never replicate a second venerable Nascent Core Realm practitioner, and slowly it fell to third-rate.

"Alright, thanks for listening to this useless old man ramble. Usually I can't find anyone to talk to—young people these days rarely have your kind of patience."

Deng Jianyuan shook the wine jar, let out a burp, stood up with a smile, and casually took the last piece of braised meat: "I'm off."

In the courtyard it was just him again—one cup of plain water, one plate…

Shen Yi stared at the empty plate and fell into thought.

Well, at least now he had a reference point. It turned out the Nascent Core Realm was not all as strong as what he had seen before—this old man gave him a sense of crisis only about forty to fifty percent greater than the abbot of the Jin Gang Gate.

Even placing him in the tier of "Forming an Embryonic Core" was somewhat of a stretch.

Lacking methods, without killing moves—this was the norm for martial artists of the jianghu. For an institution like Zhen Mo Si, which combined core-formation methods with corresponding martial arts, and even prepared the Martial Temple's tempering, systematically cultivating Nascent Core Realm experts was simply unimaginable to jianghu people.

Not long after, Jiang Chengyun returned from outside with Lin Rou, his expression somewhat unsightly.

"……"

Lin Rou, hands behind her back, softly advised: "Boss Jiang, what's the rush? If you're really worried their old ancestor discovered something, if it really comes to it… just make a move and teach him a little lesson."

Jiang Chengyun did not retort, saying indifferently: "What I'm worried about is Xiao Qiangwei."

After all this preparation, it was for these three tiger cubs who would very likely break through to the Nascent Core Realm. If possible, he did not want to give away a single one.

After a few casual exchanges, the few each returned to their rooms to rest.

The next morning.

At the cockcrow hour.

A group of Deng family members clustered around the old ancestor and stood at the courtyard gate.

One saw him in splendid attire, a gaunt face bearing the dignity of Yong'an City's foremost expert, his grey-streaked hair meticulously groomed, bearing extraordinary poise—where was last night's desolation?

……

(End of chapter)