"If you want me to let you go, it's not impossible," Ye Bufan said with a calm smile. "I can only keep one of your Yang family members. Discuss it among yourselves and give me your answer."
"No need to discuss! Just keep me. I alone am enough. As long as I'm alive, the Yang family's lineage will remain. Their deaths don't matter," Yang Xiuwen said, staring at Ye Bufan with fear in his eyes.
"Scoundrel!" Yang Weiguo and Yang Xuancheng cursed in unison.
Yang Weiguo wanted to move over and slap Yang Xiuwen, but he was old. The Gu poisons from the Hundred Gu Elder had made all the poisoned people's faces green and lips purple. The Gu poison was continuously devouring their lives. Ye Bufan estimated that without timely treatment, they would only live for another ten minutes at most.
Yang Xuancheng used all his strength and pounced on Yang Xiuwen, beating him fiercely.
"Dad! You were the one who said, 'As long as the green hills remain, there will be wood to burn.' Why are you hitting me now?" Yang Xiuwen said with a look of defiance.
Yang Xuancheng snorted and said, "I let you go so you would have a chance to revive. But now you can't escape, and you're afraid of death in front of a villain like Ye Bufan. How could my Yang family produce a bastard like you."
"My Yang family has backbone. We cannot lose our backbone," Yang Weiguo said, angrily pounding the sofa behind him. "During the War of National Defense, I was captured and tortured by the enemy, and they tried to pry military arrangements from me. I didn't utter a word, but when it comes to you, you've become a coward."
"Grandfather, he who knows the times is a wise man. As long as I am alive, the Yang family is not finished," Yang Xiuwen was still trying to make excuses for his cowardice.
"Shut up! My Yang family does not have a coward like you," Yang Xuancheng glared at Yang Xiuwen.
Seeing this, Yang Xiuwen sneered and said to Ye Bufan, "Mr. Ye, they are all going to die sooner or later. I am young, so just spare my life."
"Good." Ye Bufan smiled slightly and gently tapped Yang Xiuwen's forehead with a finger.
"Chi--" True qi entered Yang Xiuwen's forehead, and he immediately collapsed.
"Xiuwen!" Yang Xuancheng looked at Yang Xiuwen, his heart filled with mixed emotions at this moment.
Yang Weiguo glanced coldly at Yang Xiuwen and said, "A coward is unworthy of being a son of my Yang family."
Ye Bufan's gaze fell on Yang Weiguo. Although the Yang family was rotten, Yang Weiguo's patriotism deeply moved Ye Bufan. Chu He had specifically instructed Ye Bufan before leaving that if possible, he should spare Yang Weiguo's life.
"Your Yang family has repeatedly tried to take my life. All of this began because my engagement with the Liu family caused your Yang family to lose face," Ye Bufan said. "I have killed two of your Yang family members and crippled all your male descendants. From now on, the grievances between my Yang family, myself, Ye Bufan, and the Chu family will be settled."
With that, Ye Bufan drew out golden needles from his spatial jade pendant and used his mental power to control them from a distance, inserting them into the bloodlines of the Yang family members to expel the Gu poison one by one.
Immediately after, Ye Bufan's mental power fully spread out, planting a mental imprint deep within the minds of all the Yang family members.
This was a mental power spell that Ye Bufan learned after breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage, also known as a slave imprint. Those who have a mental imprint planted will be controlled by the caster. They cannot harbor any killing intent towards the caster, otherwise, they will suffer a backlash from the mental imprint and die.
Yang Xuancheng and Yang Weiguo still wanted to resist, but they were like ants to Ye Bufan.
Then, Ye Bufan severed the tendons in the hands and feet of Yang Weiguo and Yang Xuancheng, leaving them only enough strength to hold a bowl normally.
"I am not convinced, Ye Bufan, I will kill you!" Yang Xuancheng roared at Ye Bufan.
Immediately, he collapsed on the floor in pain, howling continuously. Yang Weiguo rushed forward worriedly to hold Yang Xuancheng.
"Ye Bufan, no, Mr. Ye, please spare my son," Yang Weiguo knelt before Ye Bufan.
Ye Bufan's mental power entered Yang Xuancheng's mind again, and Yang Xuancheng slowly recovered. At this moment, his gaze towards Ye Bufan was filled with terror.
"Your brains have been imprinted with my mental mark. As long as you harbor any killing intent towards me, you will suffer a backlash and die instantly," Ye Bufan said. "If I hadn't come out to plead for you, your entire family would have been dead tonight."
Ye Bufan's voice was calm, but to all the members of the Yang family, it was the voice of a grim reaper controlling their destinies.
Outside the villa, the roar of cars could be heard.
The people arranged by Chu He arrived outside the Yang family villa and took all the Yang family members away. The future lives of the Yang family would be arranged by Chu He.
With the Yang family matter resolved, the engagement contract matter came to a temporary end. The next day, under the arrangement of Chu Mengyao, Ye Bufan's side also issued a statement, mainly stating that Ye Bufan officially canceled his engagement with the Liu family from this day forward, and there would be no further connection between the Liu family and Ye Bufan.
The Liu family's business plummeted, and they eventually fell out of the ranks of the eight great families. Overnight, two of Jinhe's eight great families disappeared, and the hierarchy was reshuffled.
The Jin family thus rose to become Jinhe's number one powerful family, the Chu family second, and Wang Xinyan's family also entered the top five.
In addition, Chu Mengyao also transferred five companies from the Chu family's enterprises to Ye Bufan's name as a gift, ensuring a steady stream of wealth into Ye Bufan's accounts from then on.
Liu Sheng and Liu Ruoyan were unwilling to give up. For several consecutive days, they came to Xiangshan Villa to find Ye Bufan, but Ye Bufan refused to see them. In the end, Liao Yuan also came and stood outside the villa, scolding Ye Bufan loudly.
Finally, Wang Xinyan came forward to face Liao Yuan, and the two almost got into a shouting match. Later, Liao Yuan was escorted out by the security guards hired by Wang Xinyan.
During his time in the Yang family's early days, Ye Bufan confined himself to the villa to cultivate. Additionally, Zhu Zizhen would visit Ye Bufan periodically, both to resolve issues in his cultivation and to deliver medicinal herbs to Ye Bufan.
These medicinal herbs were used by Ye Bufan for alchemy. After witnessing the auction of the Pu Gou Dan at the Jin Fang auction house, Ye Bufan decided to refine Marrow Cleansing Pills to see the response, and also to have the aged Zhu Zizhen undergo a marrow cleansing.
The refinement of the Marrow Cleansing Pill was relatively easy, and Ye Bufan successfully refined it that day. After Zhu Zizhen returned, he consumed the Marrow Cleansing Pill and expelled all the impurities from his body.
With the help of the Marrow Cleansing Pill, Zhu Zizhen successfully touched the threshold of cultivation and entered the early stage of Qi Refining.
The remaining Marrow Cleansing Pills were given by Ye Bufan to Zhu Zizhen to send to Jin Fang for appraisal and auction. The appearance of the Marrow Cleansing Pill alarmed the high-level officials of Jin Fang, and news of it exploded across Da Xia. Even some foreign families, upon hearing about the Marrow Cleansing Pill, specially rushed to Huaxia, intending to bid for it.