Chapter 79: Sudden Change

"Big Brother Lv, should we follow them?"

Shen Yuan asked.

Lv Fang glanced at the Shen family private troops around them and said, "It seems we don't have a choice. I had planned to pay a visit tomorrow, but since we've run into them, it wouldn't hurt to go meet him."

Saying that, he followed after them.

Shen Yuan also hurried after them. She had assumed meeting Shen Kangbo would be extremely difficult, never expecting it to be this simple.

One ahead, one behind, the group arrived at the foot of a mountain.

This great mountain lay to the east of Wuyin City. Shen Yuan had asked around the day before; the mountain was called Shen Family Mountain, and only direct members of the Shen family lived on it — no outsiders were permitted inside.

Shen Xiaoqi suddenly stopped, grabbed Shen Dadan's ear, and tugged it upward. "Owowow! Master, what did I do wrong this time?"

What did she do wrong?

Shen Xiaoqi's lips moved slightly as she sent a voice transmission:

"Just now, in front of everyone, how could you blurt out everything? Didn't I tell you before? The Old Ancestor has the idea of an arranged marriage, but it's not yet certain. Now the whole city knows — you idiot!"

Shen Dadan reached down to hold the hand tugging his ear and said meekly:

"Master, you're the one who said a real man should be bolder. Next time I'll try to talk less. My ear is really about to fall off."

Shen Xiaoqi released him and turned to look at Lord Wenguan and the maid before her. He was even younger than she had imagined.

A person like this had written the elegant Dream of the Red Chamber?

Truly astonishing!

Shen Xiaoqi had read Dream of the Red Chamber and liked it very much, but she was quite unhappy that Lv Fang had written Lin Daiyu to death. When she read that chapter, she had cried her heart out.

If Lv Fang had been by her side at that moment, he would surely have gotten a vicious beating from her.

She already didn't like him, and then Shen Xiaoqi happened to learn that her grandfather intended to marry her off to Lv Fang — she couldn't accept it!

The twenty-year-old Wen Guan Hou was indeed quite legendary, but she truly couldn't fancy him.

After meeting him this time, she fancied him even less — he was as thin as the Shen Dadan she had picked up.

"Let's have a fight!"

Shen Xiaoqi had a brilliant idea: beat up Lv Fang once, and he wouldn't dare to dream such wild dreams.

Lv Fang shook his head and said, "That doesn't seem very fair. You're a sixth-rank martial artist, and I'm a seventh-rank, second-tier scholar. No matter how you look at it, I'd be at a huge disadvantage."

Shen Dadan laughed happily. "Fair? If Master weren't stronger than you, would she still beat you up? You don't even get that?"

"..."

Lv Fang opened his mouth, at a loss for words.

"Shut up!" Shen Xiaoqi snapped. This brat — why did he have to blurt everything out? It seemed some things shouldn't have been taught to him. She smiled at Lv Fang:

"Whether we fight or not, I wasn't asking your opinion."

Lv Fang smiled faintly. "I believe you're not the unreasonable type."

Shen Xiaoqi sped like wind and lightning to Lv Fang's front. Her sturdy arm drew back into a full moon, and instantly, the thunderous roar of tigers and leopards exploded, carrying with it a crackling, booming sonic force as it blasted toward his face.

What a slow reaction!

Lord Wenguan was nothing special after all.

Just as Shen Xiaoqi thought this, the smile on her face vanished, replaced by gravity. She felt the air around her seemed to have gained weight.

The fist she had thrown out grew unbearably heavy, as if a great mountain rested on her arm.

Crack!

She tensed her entire body to resist the gravity, and the stone beneath her feet cracked under the pressure.

Her fist stopped dead, a little over an inch from the tip of Lv Fang's nose.

It wasn't that she didn't want to punch through — it was simply too heavy. Just holding her fist up had already drained every ounce of her strength.

"I told you — you're definitely not the unreasonable type."

Lv Fang laughed and stepped back two paces.

Shen Xiaoqi immediately felt the weight on her lift. She withdrew her trembling fist and let out a long sigh:

"Worthy of your name as Wen Guan Hou. I'm no match for you. But I truly don't like you, so when you see the Old Ancestor, I hope you won't agree to the proposed marriage."

"I promise you."

Lv Fang agreed readily.

Shen Xiaoqi breathed a sigh of relief, turned, and walked toward Shen Family Mountain, saying:

"You're here to see our family's Old Ancestor about the widespread promotion of the Great Zhou Literary Gazette, right? I'd advise you not to waste your breath. The Old Ancestor has said he won't get involved in this matter."

Lv Fang shrugged. "Do what one can, and leave the rest to fate."

Shen Xiaoqi didn't reply and headed toward Shen Family Mountain. Shen Dadan hurried to catch up, reached out to grab the hem of her clothes, and said in a lowered voice:

"Master, you're really not going to beat him up first before letting him see the Old Ancestor?"

Beat him up?

Shen Xiaoqi wanted to as well, but the moment they had faced each other just now, she understood — Lv Fang's strength was far greater than she had imagined. If they really fought, she truly wasn't his match.

This fellow was awfully strange.

Right — it must have been the ancient divine ability he obtained in the Lower Upper Realm.

……

Shen Family Mountain, the summit.

An elegant courtyard's grand hall.

"I'm really about to meet Shen Kangbo. Will I do, dressed like this?"

Shen Yuan said, fidgeting uneasily.

Lv Fang smiled. "Are you certain you're his daughter?"

"Of course I'm his daugh—" Shen Yuan paused, her little face reddening, and said coyly, "Brother Lu, I didn't mean to deceive you. The reason I disguised myself as a man is that it's more convenient for traveling the jianghu."

"I understand."

Watching Shen Yuan's reaction, Lv Fang really didn't think it looked fake. Could she actually be the illegitimate daughter of the Shen family's old ancestor?

While he was pondering, a burst of laughter full of vigor rang out.

"Hahaha… Wen Guan Hou, truly a man of outstanding bearing. No wonder you were ennobled at such a young age."

A seventy-year-old elder, accompanied by Shen Xiaoqi, walked in. He stood a full seven chi and five cun tall, wore a tall jade crown on his head, and was a robust old man with an immortal's bearing.

Even though he was old now.

One could still faintly make out the handsome features of his youth.

"Shen Old Ancestor."

Lv Fang rose and offered a salute, wondering to himself—could being tall and robust be the Shen family standard? Shen Kangbo and Shen Xiaoqi standing together really did look quite alike.

Shen Kangbo had just sat down across from them.

Shen Yuan's expression grew agitated, and she stammered, "Shen… Kangbo, do you remember Wen Yuwan? I… am her daughter, Shen Xiaxuan."

Shen Kangbo studied her for a moment, then shook his head:

"You do indeed look very much like an old friend of mine, but I can say with certainty that you are not my daughter. I do not know any Wen Yuwan."

Shen Xiaxuan shook her head repeatedly, her face furious: "Impossible! My aunt told me that you are my father. Otherwise, why would I travel thousands of miles to find you?"

Shen Kangbo knit his brows and looked toward Lv Fang.

Lv Fang shrugged and said, "I'm not entirely sure. Perhaps there's some misunderstanding in the middle. If it's really not the case, it's actually quite good to clear things up face to face."

Justice Xiao Qi said angrily, "My family's old ancestor says it's not, then it's not. Lord Wenguan, you brought a maidservant who claims to be from the Shen family to my Shen family mountain—did you do it on purpose?"

Shen Kangbo said, "Xiao Qi, you must not be rude to Lord Wenguan. How about this—I'll have someone investigate the whole story and see where the misunderstanding lies. Lord Wenguan, what do you think…"

His words cut off abruptly.

Shen Kangbo's face turned a dark purplish color, and he opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood.

The blood was black, boiling and bubbling like scalding water.