"Clap—clap—clap—"
Just as Yue Zhuoying felt victory within his grasp, clapping sounds suddenly echoed from within the Yue family’s residence.
Yue Zhuoying immediately scanned his surroundings, detecting no anomalies. His reaction was swift; he turned, preparing to flee.
"Buzz—"
At that moment, a broken sword descended from the sky. Yue Zhuoying, caught completely off guard, was impaled through the thigh by the sword and fell to the ground. Blood continued to gush from the wound.
"Who is it?"
Yue Zhuohaoh and Yue Zhuoqi shouted towards their surroundings.
"Stop asking. If I'm not mistaken, it must be Ye Bufan," Yue Zhuoying said, beads of cold sweat forming from the pain, addressing Yue Zhuohaoh and Yue Zhuoqi. "We probably can't escape."
"You're smart." Ye Bufan descended from the sky, landing beside Yue Zhuoying.
"I couldn't sense any presence. Only someone of a higher realm would be undetectable to me. And at this point in time, the only one who could appear at our Yue residence is you."
Yue Zhuoying clutched his wound, panting as he spoke to Ye Bufan.
Ye Bufan nodded. This Yue Zhuoying indeed possessed some intelligence. He had even managed to uncover the secret that Yue Zhuohaoh and Yue Zhuoqi were martial artists, indicating he was capable. However, the power within the Yue family did not lie with Yue Zhuoying; otherwise, with time, he would undoubtedly grow formidable.
"Ye Bufan, if you kill us, our ancestor will definitely not let you go once they hear the news," Yue Zhuohaoh declared.
"I know you have an ancestor, but he cannot appear immediately. What you should be thinking about now is not how to threaten me, but how to escape from my hands," Ye Bufan replied.
"Can we escape?" Yue Zhuoqi asked.
"You certainly cannot escape," Ye Bufan stated. "Therefore, I won't waste any more words with you."
With that, Ye Bufan formed a sword-wielding gesture and controlled the sword remotely. Yue Zhuohaoh and Yue Zhuoqi reacted by attempting to flee, but it was too late. The broken sword flashed, and the three men met their end on the spot.
Immediately after, Ye Bufan took out his phone and called Jin Yuchen, instructing him to handle the aftermath at the Yue family.
With the matters in Huzhou resolved, Ye Bufan prepared to head directly to the capital. The bounty on the martial world still had one target left: the Jin family.
Upon receiving Ye Bufan's call, Jin Yuchen knew that the day of his and his father's comeback was imminent, and his heart surged with excitement.
"By the way, Mr. Ye, that young lady has been wanting to see you," Jin Yuchen said to Ye Bufan.
"Yan Yitong?" Ye Bufan was surprised that after just one meeting, she still wished to see him.
"Did she say why?" Ye Bufan inquired.
"No," Jin Yuchen replied.
"Then we'll see after I've finished my business in the capital," Ye Bufan said after a moment of thought.
"Yes." Jin Yuchen responded.
Huzhou was very close to the capital. Once news of the Yue family's demise spread, the Jin family would undoubtedly implement a series of defensive measures as a precaution. Therefore, Ye Bufan decided against traveling by plane or other rapid means of transport, opting for overland travel instead.
On one hand, Ye Bufan wanted to facilitate his cultivation. On the other hand, he intended to exert psychological pressure on the Jin family members.
According to the information Jin Yuchen had provided about the Jin family, they had an ancestor, likely at the Half-step Grand Martial Saint level. Whether he had broken through to Grand Martial Saint was unknown.
Jin Yuchen hoped that Ye Bufan would eliminate the current head of the Jin family, thus avoiding a mutually destructive conflict. As long as Jin Yuchen could take over the Jin family, the previous grievances with Ye Bufan could be resolved. After all, as long as the Jin family operated smoothly, the ancestor would typically not concern himself with worldly affairs.
Ye Bufan vanished into the night, heading from Huzhou towards the capital. Following the continuous mountain ranges, he flew on his sword, traversing the great mountains towards the capital.
The next morning, as the sun slowly rose from the horizon, news of Huzhou had already quietly spread across the internet.
"The Yue family is gone."
"Really? Could it be that Ye Bufan did it?"
"There's no news at all; it was very sudden. Now, the families in Huzhou are dividing up the Yue family's assets."
"That's amazing! I feel like it must be Ye Bufan."
Discussions rippled across the internet, and Ye Bufan's whereabouts became the subject of widespread speculation.
"Did Ye Bufan leave any message about where he went?"
"With the Yue family fallen, the next target must be the Jin family in the capital."
"Holy cow! If he really went to the capital, then Ye Bufan has truly stirred up a hornet's nest."
The Ye Bufan whom everyone was speculating about was, at that very moment, on a cliff, absorbing the spiritual energy from the heavens and earth, as well as the purple qi from the morning sun.
Just as Ye Bufan had told Mingyuan Daoist previously, the spiritual energy in the world had been increasing exponentially recently, and Ye Bufan's body was greedily absorbing it.
"Roar—"
From a forest in the distance, the cry of a strange beast could be heard, followed by silence.
A few minutes later, the beast's cry sounded again, this time closer to Ye Bufan.
Ye Bufan slowly opened his eyes, immediately sensing a fluctuation of true qi.
...
"Hah! Meteor Fist!"
"Thousand Hand Phantom Sword!"
In the forest, two figures, a man and a woman, darted back and forth. Between them was a snow-white, long-haired wolf, about half a person's height, and when it stood up, it was roughly as tall as a person.
"Senior brother, this wolf is a bit strange. It doesn't seem like an ordinary wolf at all," the girl with the sword said to the boy beside her.
"Grrr—"
The long-haired white wolf swatted away the girl's sword with a claw and lunged towards her.
"Junior sister!" The boy threw dozens of punches at the long-haired white wolf, but it remained unharmed. In fact, it used its hind legs to kick the boy in the stomach, sending him flying.
The boy struggled to get up from the ground. The girl was still crying out to him for help.
"Senior brother! Ah! Save me quickly!"
The girl's voice was choked with tears as she used all her strength to keep the long-haired white wolf from approaching her.
The boy rushed forward a few steps, then hesitated and stopped. He looked at the wolf, which was about his age, and shouted to the girl, "Junior sister, wait for me! I'll go back and get our sect members to help. Wait for me."
"Senior brother!"
Watching the boy flee without looking back, despair filled the girl's eyes. As her strength dwindled, the long-haired white wolf seized the opportunity and lunged.
"It's over." The girl closed her eyes, awaiting the arrival of death.
However, the next second, the girl found that the long-haired white wolf had gone silent.
She opened her eyes and discovered that, at some point, another person had appeared beside her...