Chapter 551 - 321: Return

The evening air in the narrow back alleys of the Ye Family compound was dim and quiet.

A thin layer of dust hung over the gray cobblestones, disturbed only by the steady, careful footsteps of the young man carrying his heavy burden.

Ye Fan kept his chin up and his eyes looking straight down the path. His arms burned with exhaustion, the muscles in his forearms trembling under the weight of the silver-haired woman resting against his chest, but he refused to loosen his grip.

He bypassed the broad front gates where the armored clan guards stood with long spears, slipping instead through a narrow, wooden side door usually reserved for kitchen workers and manure haulers.

From there, he took the winding, overgrown stone path that led toward the eastern corner of the estate—the drafty, abandoned quarters near the stables where nobody bothered to look twice.

Yet, unseen by his mortal sight, the air just above his left shoulder was far from empty.

Wei Zhingyi, currently in a tiny spiritual form, floated near her body, arms crossed, observing Ye Fan as he carried her through a courtyard house.

She was barely the size of a thumb, hovering weightlessly in the cold air like a pale, translucent doll carved from clear crystal.

Nine wispy, spectral tails fanned out behind her miniature back, swaying slowly like smoke in a windless room.

Her tiny, silver fox ears stood straight up, twitching at every creak of the floorboards, every distant bark of a guard dog, and every scrape of Ye Fan’s cloth shoes against the gravel.

Her little face was cold, sharp, and totally devoid of the weakness that plagued her battered flesh below.

Although she was currently unable to move her body, her spiritual strength is still so strong that not only can she sense her surroundings, but if she wanted to, killing this boy with a thought would be no trouble.

A Heavenly Saint was not an insect that lost its teeth just because its shell was cracked.

If this boy harbored even a sliver of rotten intent, if his breath hitched with dirty thoughts, she wouldn’t even need to lift a finger.

A single sharp spike of her soul energy, fired straight into his brain, would turn his mind into lukewarm mush before his next step touched the dirt.

She had lived for a thousand years, and she had seen the true nature of men when they found a helpless woman in the dark.

Emperors, righteous monks, young scions from noble clans—underneath their fine silks and pretty words, most of them were just rutting beasts waiting for a chance to take what wasn’t theirs.

Now, her clothes were shredded, her pale skin was exposed to the evening breeze, and she was lying limp in the arms of an ordinary youth with nobody around to stop him.

Her tiny, spectral eyes narrowed into thin, cold slits.

A tiny, needle-thin spark of silvery soul fire danced at the tip of her miniature index finger, primed and ready to drill clean through the back of his neck the second his hands wandered where they shouldn’t.

But Ye Fan’s gaze never even drifted downward.

Not once.

He didn’t peek at her torn collar, he didn’t squeeze her waist, and he made sure his hands only touched the thick, bundled fabric of her outer dress and the outer sweep of her heavy, limp tails.

Every step he took was measured, respectful, and deliberate.

However, his mind was screaming with alarms, reminding himself over and over of the red warning letters that had flashed on the blue screen by the river:

She can feel everything.

He wasn’t an idiot. He had read enough books in his past life to know that high ranking cultivators had pride higher than the clouds.

If he acted like a hungry dog right now, his newly bound investment tool would turn into his funeral bell before he even got his first payout.

The silver spark at Wei Zhingyi’s fingertip would have severed his spinal cord without leaving a single bruise on the skin.

Unknown to him, the tiny fox woman watched with raised eyebrows as the youth kicked open the rickety wooden door of his small living quarters, stepped inside, and nudged the door shut behind him with his heel, never letting his hands slip by even a fraction of an inch.

The room was simple and poor.

A single wooden table with three legs supported by a flat stone, a low stool, an old clay jug of cold water, and a narrow wooden cot pushed against the paper window.

The room smelled of dried grass and bitter herbs, but the floor was swept clean of dust.

He walked over to the wooden frame with careful, heavy steps.

Gently, as if he were laying down a fragile piece of thin glass, Ye Fan lowered her down.

He supported her neck with his palm until her head rested softly against the straw-filled cloth pillow, then carefully unfolded her legs so they lay straight.

He took her nine bruised, silver tails and arranged them neatly along the edge of the mattress so they wouldn’t hang down and drag on the cold floorboards.

He stepped back three paces, let out a long, ragged breath, and wiped the heavy sweat from his forehead with the rough sleeve of his gray shirt.

"How pitiful," he whispered toward the sleeping body, keeping his voice quiet and respectful. "Don’t worry, nobody comes to this corner of the yard. I will fetch a basin of clean water to wash the mud from your wounds."

Ding!

The cheerful, ringing chime sounded inside his brain, accompanied by a bright flash of azure light right in front of his nose.

The blue square unfolded like a scroll.

[Congratulations to the Host!]

[First Investment Action Successfully Completed: Basic Shelter & Safe Harbor!]

[Target: Wei Zhingyi has been placed in a secure environment without breach of dignity.]

[Evaluating Target’s Status and Investment Grade...]

[Base Investment: Act of Mercy and Protection.]

[Critical Return Multiplier Triggered: 500x Return!]

[Gift Distribution: Awarding Host with 1x ’Pure Marrow Washing Elixir’ and 1x ’Heavenly Concealment Talisman’ (Grade: Saint)!]

[Items have been safely deposited into the Host’s System Inventory!]

[Ding! Target’s internal impression updated.]

[Target Wei Zhingyi’s Affection: -50 -> -49 (Extremely Wary -> Wary).]

[System Note: The target has acknowledged the Host’s restrained conduct. Keep up the good work!]

Floating above the pillow, the tiny spiritual form of Wei Zhingyi lowered her arms.

’Hmph,’ she thought to herself, her small ears flicking back as she looked at the panting young man. ’A mortal boy with little strength, but at least he knows how to keep his hands to himself. If he continues to behave, perhaps I will leave him a few cultivation and battle techniques when I heal enough to fly away.’

Down below, Ye Fan was standing in the middle of the room, staring blankly at the empty space where the blue screen floated.

His face was still calm, his lips pressed into a tight, quiet line, but underneath his plain gray cloth shirt, his heart was hammering like a wild war drum!

Five hundred times return! On the very first move!

A Pure Marrow Washing Elixir! That was a legendary medicine that the main family’s eldest sons only received once in their entire lives, after begging on their knees before the ancestral tablets for three days!

With that single pill, his above average channels could be completely remade, clearing out every speck of mortal grime and turning his body into a proper vessel for rapid cultivation!

And that Heavenly Concealment Talisman—a Saint-grade tool! If the old matriarch sent her trusted guards to search his room, he could slap that paper on the wall and hide this nine-tailed fox lady from their senses as easily as blowing out a candle!

And that was just from carrying her inside and putting her on a clean blanket! He hadn’t even washed her face! He hadn’t fed her medicine! He hadn’t bought her a single set of fresh clothes!

If he continued like this, slapping saints and suppressing emperors will be a piece of cake!

The dark clouds that had hung over his head for the past five years vanished like smoke in a gale.

Who cared if the matriarch wanted to throw him into the iron mines? Who cared if Ye Hongyan looked down on him from her high clock tower like he was a speck of dirt on her shoe?

With this system spitting out hundreds of rewards for every small gesture, and a 9th Stage Heavenly Saint sleeping right on his bed, the entire province would have to kneel when he walked past within a few short years!

Ye Fan took another deep breath, pushed the wild grin down before it could show on his face, and turned toward the wooden bucket by the door.

"I’ll bring the warm water right away, senior," he murmured softly to the sleeping fox woman, his eyes bright with pure ambition as he stepped out into the evening shadows.

*

*

*

At the same time, in the Imperial Academy.

The front yard was wide enough to hold ten armies.

It was paved entirely with smooth, white dragon-bone stone that had been polished until it mirrored the gray sky above.

Nine massive bronze pillars, each thick enough that twenty grown men holding hands could not wrap around them, stood around the edges of the square, wrapped in heavy iron chains that reached into the stone floor.

At the front of the square, standing on a raised marble terrace three steps above the ground, stood the Ten Sages.

Venerable Sky Cloud stood in the middle, leaning heavily upon a plain wooden staff, his long white beard drifting across his chest in the cold wind.

His old fingers gripped the polished wood of his staff tightly, his gray brows knitted as he stared into the swirling vortex in the middle of the sky.

Beside him, the other nine sages stood with their hands tucked into their wide robes.

None of them spoke. The usual proud chatter about test scores, medicinal herbs, and sword forms was gone.

They simply waited in the cold draft, their boots planted firmly upon the stone, their eyes fixed on the empty air.

Behind the terrace, standing in neat, endless rows across the white flagstones, were thousands upon thousands of master teachers.

There were old men in gray robes who had spent centuries teaching ancient history, middle-aged sword masters with notched scabbards tied to their waists, pill-makers smelling of sulfur and dried roots, and hall masters holding long iron tallies.

Behind them stood tens of thousands of junior instructors and outer court guards holding tall brass spears, their red banners flapping heavily against the morning wind.

RUUUUUUMBLE.

A low, deep sound rolled through the clouds as a massive circular rift tore open in the air.

It was not a small spatial door; it was a gaping mouth hundreds of miles wide, burning with gold and purple thunder that sheared the surrounding mists into flying ribbons.

BOOM!

The sky cracked open, and the senior students stepped out first.

Descending through the swirling storm like thunderbolts falling from heaven came the senior disciples—the elite seniors of the Nirvana Rebirth Realm.

The entire front yard fell dead silent.

Not a single elder dared to breathe.

The Nirvana Students marched one by one, and finding the spot to stand and wait for the announcements.

Then, following them was the Spirit Ascension students.

Haoran stood at the front of the hroud, his tall, slender frame draped in pristine robes that did not bear a single speck of dust, grease, or blood.

His hands were clasped loosely behind his back, his posture as easy and relaxed as an emperor strolling through his private flower gardens after a light rain.

He did not release his spiritual aura, yet the space around his boots seemed to warp and fold, radiating a deep, unmovable presence that pressed down upon the hearts of the Ten Sages like a stone tablet.

Following the Spirit Ascension students, the Nascent Soul students also walked out, led by Huo Yue and Gu Xunyi, and the other heirs and heiresses of the Immortal Lineages.

And lastly, the Golden Core students.

At this moment, Venerable Sky Cloud’s knuckles turned white around his wooden staff, his old chest tightened as his gaze met Haoran’s calm, unblinking golden eyes.

The old sage knew instantly that the young scion before him had grown far beyond the reach of the academy’s rules.

Finally, as the last transport skiff came to a halt, the entire student body, from the Nirvana seniors standing on the stone, to the Nascent Soul swordsmen circling the clouds, to the thousands of Golden Core fighters hovering above, looked down at the terrace where the Ten Sages stood.

No one spoke.

No one bowed.

Venerable Sky Cloud slowly lifted his hand.

"Welcome back, students."