When Shen Lian woke up, his limbs were weak, waves of fatigue washed over him.

　　When one was focused on one’s task, one’s concentration would temporarily overwrite any physical limitation.

　　Upon the completion of the task, the physical reaction such as fatigue would set in immediately.

　　Naturally, Shen Lian fainted from the overexertion. ‘It has been a long time since I last felt such exhaustion,’ Mister Su smiled and thought to himself.

　　The loquat tree in the Su’s Fort swayed, as though it was shivering in fear from being judged by an invisible being.

　　Mister Su appeared along with Shen Lian and he frowned.

　　“You devil, as if it wasn’t enough that you went to have fun at the mortal realm, you even brought back an illegitimate child with you!” a woman spoke.

　　“I hope your brain is as well-endowed as your breasts. I was barely gone for a year, how could I father a son of this age?” Mister Su replied with a bitter smile on his face.

　　“It might be from way back.” The woman snickered, but she was nowhere to be seen.

　　“Even if I were to father any children, it would be with you.”

　　“Scram, did I say I want to have a child with you? Unless you kill this boy, otherwise I wouldn’t believe your words.”

　　“That won’t do. Why don’t I chop off this loquat tree so that you can blow off some steam?” Mister Su glanced at the psychic loquat tree.

　　The loquat tree lowered its treetop in fear.

　　“Why would I want to chop off this tree? It’s not as though we need more firewood. I see something really is up with this boy then,” the woman spoke in a slightly angered tone.

　　A red light flashed across the sky. It was a flame-made phoenix, and there were hints of the phoenix’s howl.

　　The surrounding time-space seemed melted into half and was extremely twisted.

　　Mister Su did not mean what he said about chopping of the tree, of course. He just said it to calm his wife down. He knew that his wife would not be angered by the sight of the tree after hearing that.

　　Though, he would not allow Shen Lian to be killed. Even though he was not afraid of the person, he would clearly be in the wrong.

　　Mister Su waved his sleeved and absorbed the flaming phoenix as though he had created a void.

　　Unexpectedly, his sleeve was caught on fire. ‘To think that she had cultivated the Nanming Lihuo to this extent, I wonder if she would dominate over me in a few hundred more years,’ Mister Su thought.

　　The moment he thought of that, he wished he could go into a solitary retreat immediately. If words were to get out that he could not beat his wife in a fight, he would be embarrassed to death.

　　Casually, he flung Shen Lian away. He blew out a stream of white air and extinguished the flame.

　　The phoenix’s howl could be heard in the arbor.

　　In a flash, a woman dressed in palace attire appeared. She had the mark of fire phoenix between her brows. “What’s the fun in mortal realm? It’s so murky and dirty, only you can stand it. Don’t even think of coming home before cleaning yourself at the Sky River,” she said while wrinkling her nose.

　　As though she could not stand the murkiness of the mortal realm, the woman in palace attire glared at Mister Su before disappearing. She did not even bother herself with Shen Lian’s whereabouts.

　　Actually, she was more than capable of telling that Shen Lian was not biologically related to Mister Su.

　　“You should leave. Who knows, one day she might burn you down in anger. Find somewhere to shapeshift, and the arbor is all yours now.” Mister Su patted the trunk of the loquat tree and shook his head.

　　The Su’s Fort was shrunk to palm-sized, and it was sitting on Mister Su’s palm like a toy.

　　The loquat tree stood next to Mister Su, and Mister Su tossed the instrument at the branches of the loquat tree.

　　Shortly after, Mister Su turned into a rainbow and soared into the clouds.

　　…

　　Shen Lian woke up to find his body slightly chilly. He realized that he was in a lake.

　　The chilliness from early spring was still in the air and the water was cold.

　　He could not help but let out a sneeze.

　　With his physical condition, he was basically unaffected by cold and heat. Nevertheless, he sneezed.

　　That said that he had been in the water for so long that his Qi and blood were unsmooth.

　　His limbs were frozen and his Qi and blood flow were sluggish. The cold seeped into his body.

　　Shen Lian swam and struggled to reach the shore from the lake.

　　It was not until the next day that he found out that he was on the grounds of Mingjian Peak. The lake that he fell into was called the Mirror Lake.

　　The surface of the lake dazzled under the sun, it was clear as a mirror.

　　The owner of Mingjian Peak was not an unreasonable landlord. The folks around the area held the past and current owners of Mingjian Peak with high respect.

　　The current lord of Mingjian Peak, Lord Ye was once a Jinshi ¹ , but he did not take up an official post. Apparently, he had never fought with anyone in his life.

　　It was rumored that Lord Ye did not know Kung Fu and was a scholar through and through.

　　Everything at the peak was managed by Ye Liuyun.

　　This was why Old Lord Ye ² was so free.

　　It was a chilly day, the flowers were still not in bloom. However, the moon was bright seeing that the fifteenth of the first lunar month was not long ago.

　　As a child, Ye Liuyun was not particularly fond of sunny days. He did not want to be seen too clearly.

　　However, that ceased to bother him. There were not many able-bodied men who were better than him anymore.

　　Ever since he inherited the Mingjian Peak, he had been successful in his every endeavor.

　　Despite his great reputation and impressive track record, his was merely eighteen years old – not a lot older than Shen Lian.

　　Due to his capabilities and maturity, a lot forgot about his actual age and thought that he was in his twenties.

　　One would expect an eighteen-year-old to be carefree. However, the common characteristics of a youth were not found on Ye Liuyun.

　　Ye Liuyun enjoyed drinking tea, as he found it calming and soothing.

　　Compared to Ye Liuyun, Xiao Zhu’s behavior was more fitting for someone of their age. However, she was just too self-centered and did not take human lives seriously.

　　Given her social status as a high-born lady, her behavior was not unexpected.

　　Xiao Zhu was doing something that she absolute hated – drinking tea with Ye Liuyun.

　　The steam from the tea rose between Xiao Zhu and Ye Liuyun. The moonlight filtered in and was distorted by the steam. The light was flowing in a strange manner.

　　“The plum blossoms thrive in the wintery forest, not mingling with the plums and peaches to be reduced to secular; Suddenly, the refreshing fragrance permeates through the night, It scattered became the new spring of the world. What do you think of this poem?”

　　“Sounds alright to me,” Xiao Zhu yawned as she replied.

　　“This poem was written by your little lover, Shen Lian. Father liked it very much and thought within the next ten years, there wouldn’t be a better poem written on plum blossoms than this. I liked it too,” Ye Liuyun said with a cheery tone.

　　“The guest was served with tea instead of liquor on a cold night, the bamboo stove was boiling red; The moon was the same as usual, which accentuated the beauty of the plum blossoms. Brother Ye, what do you think of this poem as compared to the one before?” As soon as the sentence was finished, a shadow appeared, blocking the moonlight from outside.