"Don't be alarmed, and don't try to circulate your True Qi. The Fire Evil Poison is already gone-though not, I assure you, by the method you're imagining. Your clothes were changed too, but my maidservant saw to that. In a few days I'll refine some Pills for you, to help you recover your strength."

A gentle voice drifted over. Zi Yun lifted her head and saw it was precisely the youth from before.

"How did you cure the poison?" Zi Yun trusted Tang Yan not at all, and her voice came out cold.

"Why should I tell you? All you need to remember is that you weren't violated. If you don't believe it, feel for yourself." Tang Yan shrugged and went on:

"I know what you're about to say-tell me, or you'll kill me. But your Dantian can't channel True Qi right now, so you can't beat me. And don't go threatening me with your own death either. That trick doesn't work on me."

At such shameless words, Zi Yun was nearly choked with fury. Yet she truly felt none of that... discomfort, and the heart she'd been holding in suspense finally eased a little. She glared at him. "As if you'd dare. But if I ever learn you did anything to me, I won't let you off."

Tang Yan looked thoroughly displeased. "First, I'm the one who saved you. If you don't trust me, go ahead and end yourself. Second, don't threaten me. Annoy me, and I'll throw you out of my home. You're this pretty and can't even truss a chicken-if some street thug has his way with you out there, don't come blaming me."

Zi Yun's cheeks puffed out with anger, but she had sense enough to clamp her mouth shut-and cursed Tang Yan ten thousand times in her heart.

Only when she fell silent did Tang Yan speak again. "Stay in the Tang Family for now. Once your strength returns, leave or stay as you please. I have cultivation to attend to."

With that, he walked out of the room.

Watching his retreating figure, Zi Yun sat alone in the room, lost in thought. Could it truly be that this world held a Liu Xiahui-a man who could keep a woman in his lap and never once be moved?

......

Lately, the smiles on Old Master Tang's face had grown noticeably more frequent.

His son had been missing for years, and his grandson had never amounted to anything. The Tang Family's want of an heir had become a deep affliction in Tang Ling's heart.

Then Tang Yan's Dantian was crippled, snuffing out the old man's last hopes. After that, he had wanted only to pour out his every last bit of strength to shield his grandson into a lifetime of peace.

And now, of all things, Tang Yan had stumbled into a freakish stroke of luck-taken a mysterious master, mended his Dantian, and climbed all the way to Origin Rank Eighth Grade. Just like that, the old man's days had something to look forward to again.

He felt decades younger. Several potted miniatures he hadn't touched in years were now brought out each day for trimming.

"Master! Master!" Just as Old Master Tang was fussing over a pot of orchids in his study, Uncle Mo came bursting in.

Old Master Tang knew his old friend's temperament well. Unless something truly urgent had happened, Uncle Mo would never be so reckless.

"Brother Mo, calm yourself, calm yourself. What's happened? Did that boy Tang Yan stir up trouble again?"

"No, no!" Uncle Mo was beside himself, his old face glowing with excitement. "The Young Master hasn't caused trouble-he's earned a great merit!"

"A merit? What merit?" Relieved it wasn't trouble, Old Master Tang pressed for more at once.

"Remember how the Eldest Young Master scolded the guards at the practice grounds last time, then took charge of their training? You recall that, don't you?" Uncle Mo asked, all secretive.

"Stop drawing it out. What about those guards?" Old Master Tang urged.

"All one hundred and twenty of them-just today, every last one broke through his old realm and stepped into Yellow Rank First Grade!" Uncle Mo cried out.

"Aiya, what a fuss over nothing. Advancing is perfectly ordinary. Raise the rewards for whoever broke through and encourage him properly." Old Master Tang waved a hand impatiently-then it struck him, and his whole body went rigid.

He seized Uncle Mo and roared, "What did you just say? One hundred and twenty guards, all of them at Yellow Rank First Grade? Is this real?"

"Cough, cough-Master, calm down, take it slow. I only heard it from that boy Yanjun myself. I got so worked up I ran straight here to report it. Who knows whether it's true." Shaken back and forth by Tang Ling for so long, Uncle Mo felt his old bones were about to come apart.

"Come on, no more talk-let's go see for ourselves at the practice grounds!" Old Master Tang grabbed his old companion's hand and hurried out.

That boy Yanjun was an upright sort who had never once been careless on weighty matters. Old Master Tang couldn't believe Yanjun would toy with him over something like this, and in his heart he already believed it seven parts in ten. It was only that a hundred and twenty guards all reaching Yellow Rank at once-such a grand sight he had never dared even to imagine.

The two old men rushed to the practice grounds. Before they even stepped inside, they felt the dense aura pressing out from within. Tang Ling and Uncle Mo traded astonished glances. Both had already set foot into Earth Rank and could read shifts in the surrounding aura with perfect clarity-and quite a few of the auras inside, were those not the very mark of Yellow Rank?

Forcing down his shock, Tang Ling drew a deep breath and pushed open the gates of the practice grounds.

"Greetings, Master!"

"Greetings, Uncle Mo!"

At the sight of the two old men entering, the assembled guards saluted as one.

Tang Ling smiled and nodded to them, then asked in a clear, ringing voice, "I hear every one of you has advanced in strength?"

"Replying to the Master-all one hundred and twenty Tang Family soldiers have entered Yellow Rank First Grade!" Mo Yanjun came running over, his own face touched with excitement. He swung his head around and bellowed, "Form ranks!"

Whoosh! In moments, the hundred and twenty men stood on the open ground with heads high and chests out, ranked in flawless lines, brimming with momentum.

"On my command-one set of Tang Family Fist!" Mo Yanjun roared. "Ready! Begin!"

"Ho! Ha! Ha!" At Mo Yanjun's order, the Tang Family soldiers struck out with Tang Family Fist as one. A hundred and twenty Yellow Rank martial artists gathered their Qi and drilled in unison; a gale of force rolled out across the grounds, the scene staggering in both sound and power.

Old Master Tang had long since been struck dumb, sweeping his gaze from man to man. This one was Yellow Rank-and this one too-this one as well, Yellow Rank! Yellow Rank... every single one of them was Yellow Rank!

By the time he had carefully passed his eyes over all one hundred and twenty Tang Family soldiers, his stare had gone glassy, as though he were caught in a dream.

Uncle Mo fared no better. Hearing Mo Yanjun's report that morning was one thing; seeing a hundred and twenty Yellow Rank martial artists with his own eyes was another, and the shock in his heart was beyond words.

"Well done! Well done!" Old Master Tang praised again and again. He was, after all, a man who had weathered great storms. Crushing down the wild joy and shock in his chest, Tang Ling called Mo Yanjun over and asked in a low voice, "Yanjun-these guards, how exactly did their strength rise so high?"

A man who had carved his way into Yun City's four great families by sheer force was no fool. For more than a hundred men to all reach Yellow Rank in a single night defied all sense-they must have stumbled onto some other fortune.

"Yanjun, hurry and tell us what happened." Uncle Mo pressed from the side as well.