"Little Brother Dixian, you... you're too amazing..."
Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan snapped back to reality and hurried to Li Dixian, their faces filled with pleasant surprise.
A sword cultivator's physical body crushing a direct descendant of the Strength Clan!
This was absolutely unheard of!
At this moment, Yu Tianheng, Yufeng, Oslo, and the Shi Brothers pushed their way to the front of the crowd.
When they saw Li Dixian stepping on Tai Long, the five were first surprised.
Then they quickly ran over.
"Sword Wine, what happened?!"
Li Dixian lifted his foot, looked at Tai Long struggling to get up, and smiled:
"It's nothing."
"He wanted to compare strength with me."
Yu Tianheng and the other four gave Li Dixian a collective thumbs-up.
"Sword Wine is awesome!"
Sword Wine didn't even draw his sword, he just crushed Tai Long with his physical body!
He was so strong he had no friends!
"Sword Wine, this is Huangdou Academy. If anyone wants to spar with you, our brothers will block them for you."
Yu Tianheng said, winking at Yufeng and the other three.
The four immediately stepped forward with playful smiles.
They helped the bewildered Tai Long up and walked towards a secluded corner.
"So you're the kid who wants to compare strength with us brothers?"
"Come, come, let's have a few more rounds, brothers!"
Li Dixian smiled and waved his hand at Yu Tianheng.
"Thanks."
This scene was very much like the bad students forming gangs at the school gate in his previous life.
Li Dixian let out a soft whistle, ignoring the worshipful gazes from all around.
He left Huangdou Academy with Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan.
After bidding Dugu Yan farewell at a fork in the road, Li Dixian and Ye Lingling headed straight for the Ye Manor.
The young girl had been quite lively at the academy just a moment ago.
However, as her footsteps crossed the high threshold of the Ye Manor, her demeanor changed.
Coolness and poise, like invisible shackles, once again wrapped her tightly.
Li Dixian couldn't help but frown.
Ye Lingling lived the way her mother expected her to, but there was not a trace of her own vitality.
It was still the familiar winding corridor. Li Dixian followed Ye Lingling to a reception hall of extremely high specifications.
The floor was paved with green bricks, so polished that they reflected people.
Four vermilion lacquered pillars supported carved beams and painted rafters.
A full wall of begonia flower paintings on the east side, half-hidden behind emerald green bamboo curtains, added a touch of elegance and tranquility to the hall.
Seeing Li Dixian enter the hall, Madam Ye, dressed in a purple gauze dress with pink and white begonia flowers printed on the hem, quickly rose.
"Young Master Dixian has arrived, please take a seat quickly."
Her voice was gentle, with just the right amount of warmth.
Facing the Ye Family Head's enthusiasm, Li Dixian's expression remained calm, and he took his seat as instructed.
Exquisite dishes were quickly laid out on the table.
Li Dixian's gaze fell on Ye Lingling. She only picked up the plate of plain vegetables in front of her, her green satin sleeves perfectly covering her wrists, her movements as precise as a pre-set program.
That rigid poise almost made her seem not alive.
Li Dixian's brow furrowed even deeper.
When Ye Lingling ate noodles with him, she already knew how to choose what she liked.
But those shackles, deeply ingrained, would never be broken as long as the root of the Ye family remained.
Li Dixian felt helpless, because he had no standing to criticize how Madam Ye raised her daughter.
"Young Master Dixian, are the dishes not to your taste? I will immediately order the servants to remake them."
Madam Ye noticed the displeasure between Li Dixian's brows.
Li Dixian put down his jade chopsticks. "No need."
He looked up, his gaze directly meeting Madam Ye's. "Family Head, if you have something to say, please speak frankly."
Madam Ye was stunned by Li Dixian's directness. Her slender brows slightly furrowed, unable to figure out what had displeased him.
After a brief moment of thought, Madam Ye elegantly rolled up her sleeves and used the serving chopsticks to place a dish for Li Dixian.
"I heard that Ning Fengzhi will arrive in Heaven Dou City tomorrow."
She spoke slowly, observing Li Dixian's reaction. "Young Master Dixian, why don't you stay at my Ye Manor for a few days?"
"How does the Ye Family Head know about my dealings with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School?" Li Dixian's tone was slightly cold. "Could it be that you investigated me?"
Madam Ye's expression remained unchanged. Her light purple eyes met his gaze frankly.
"Knowing yourself and your enemy is the only way to win."
"Is it strange that my Ye family pays attention to the movements of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School?"
"Young Master Dixian, if Ning Fengzhi comes to visit, it will inevitably be awkward for you to meet him."
"Why not stay temporarily at the Ye family, with Lingling by your side?"
Madam Ye pondered for a moment and continued:
"The current successor of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School may not be as good as my Lingling."
"What I said last time still stands. As long as Young Master Dixian is willing, you and Lingling can become..."
"The Ye Family Head is still the same as that day."
Before Madam Ye could finish, Li Dixian had already risen with a calm expression.
This Ye Family Head, for the sake of her long-cherished wish of "Nine Heart Begonia surpassing Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda," had become overly obsessive.
He flicked his sleeves and turned around. As he reached the threshold, his footsteps paused slightly, and his voice drifted into the hall.
"Ye Lingling, you don't have to be troubled. You and I are still good friends."
"It's just that from now on, don't invite me here again."
Ye Lingling's tense pretty face relaxed a little. She glanced at her mother's dazed face, her azure eyes dimming as they drooped.
Madam Ye stood frozen in place. After a long time, she let out a mournful sigh.
She looked at a fallen begonia flower on the flower wall to the east and slowly closed her eyes.
"Ye family... is it truly hopeless for that position of the number one auxiliary Spirit?"
Madam Ye's murmuring was filled with weariness and unwillingness.
Ye Lingling's slender hands clenched in her sleeves.
The suffocating oppression at home made her miss the time she spent eating noodles with Li Dixian at the noodle stall.
"Mother, I'm going to find Li Dixian."
As long as it concerned Li Dixian, her strict mother would never stop her.
Sure enough, Madam Ye, with her eyes closed, waved her hand weakly.
Ye Lingling lifted her skirt and quickly chased after him.
At the noodle stall, Li Dixian, cracking melon seeds, gestured with his chin towards the noodle vendor, looking at the beautiful young girl who had run up to him, panting.
"I ordered your noodles."
Ye Lingling was stunned at first. Then, a brilliant smile bloomed on her cool and delicate little face.
Two bowls of noodles were soon served.
Ye Lingling buried her face in the rising steam, eating the noodles in small bites.
"How is it?" The young man's smiling voice rang out. "Better than the delicacies at your house, right?"
Ye Lingling first nodded gently, then nodded again forcefully.
She still kept her eyelids lowered, listening to Li Dixian slurping his noodles, and occasionally cheering for the Storyteller's wonderful passages in the wine shed opposite.
"Li Dixian..." A muffled voice came from the noodle bowl.
"Hmm?" Li Dixian looked at Ye Lingling. The young girl bit her lip with her pearly teeth.
"Is my mother... very, very bad...?"
"Of course not..." Before Li Dixian could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by Ye Lingling's tearful voice:
"But... but I also feel so sorry for her... What should I do...?"
Crystal tears streamed down, dripping into the noodle soup.
In the end, Li Dixian couldn't tell Ye Lingling what to do. He didn't know the answer either.
The efforts and obsession of several generations of the Ye family had cultivated the reputation of "Heaven-Defying Spirit."
And Madam Ye obsessively wanted to make the "number one auxiliary" begonia flower bloom above this destiny.
This knot was difficult to untie.
After sending Ye Lingling back to the gates of the Ye Manor, Li Dixian returned to his small courtyard alone.
The next day, he rose very early and meticulously cleaned his house, inside and out.
He wiped the stone steps and arranged the miscellaneous items.
On the sandalwood table, tea and a chessboard were placed, as if he knew guests were coming today...