Chapter 2: Little Sister Has Grown Up
From the _Heavenly Pavilion_ of the **_Hundred Lotus_** Sect, a long sigh was heard. "Ah…"
A middle-aged man in a pink robe sat cross-legged in the Lotus position, his brows furrowed and his face full of worry. This person was the Patriarch of the **_Hundred Lotus_** Sect, Ye Ao, who was in the middle stage of the _Core Formation_.
In this **Zhouxing Heavenly Realm**, internal cultivation masters who could reach the stage of _Returning to the Void_ were everywhere. A simple cultivator like him, in order to produce results, could only hide on a small mountain and try to survive.
Ye Ao did not seek longevity and power. He only wanted the happiness and well-being of his family so that he could live out his old age in his **_Hundred Lotus_** Sect with peace of mind and one day, be able to embrace his grandchildren.
But now that not a shadow of his grandchildren was in sight, he was pretty pissed off with his son.
"Ah…"
Next to him, a woman who was tying her own hair heard Ye Ao sighing and turned to glare at him. She was Ye Ao's wife, Kong Yulan.
"What's with the constant sighing, old man? It's annoying."
"It's that boy Ping! I'm worried about him, ah..."
"What's wrong with our Ping?"
Ye Ao said solemnly, "That child is old enough to marry, but with his temperament, what girl will be willing to marry him?"
Kong Yulan glanced at him and said, "Ping is so handsome. There are plenty of girls who want to marry him."
"What nonsense." Ye Ao gave her a blank look, "That child torments little Pei every day. Do you know what outsiders say about him? That he's a tyrant who enjoys bullying girls."
"Who dares to say that? I'm going to kill them later."
"Heh, everyone within a hundred miles says so. Even the little monsters raised in the mountains know about it. You go kill them all."
"..."
Ye Ao let out a long sigh. "Back then, I saw that the girl in the Pei family was well-behaved, and her spiritual root was quite decent, so I brought her here to the **_Hundred Lotus_** Sect, thinking that if Ping grows up and cannot find a wife, I can prepare her, but what happened next? Our Ping has been harassing her since she came here. It's been going on for almost ten years, and now I'm too embarrassed to tell her about my marriage plan."
Kong Yulan shrugged nonchalantly and asked, "Didn't he say he was helping her cultivate?"
"Do you believe what he says? What kind of practice is that, breaking people's bones and letting them freeze outside in winter?"
"Practice is hard." Kong Yulan also sat in the Lotus position_ _and said indifferently, "I heard that was how monks practiced thousands of years ago. And besides, didn't that girl finish her _Qi Refining_ training last month?"
“...”
"Eh?" Ye Ao suddenly froze, blinked, and looked at her. "What the hell? Has she already finished _Qi Refining_ training? Really?"
Kong Yulan spread her hands and replied, "Why would I lie to you? At the age of fourteen, she had reached perfection in _Qi Refining_. And it's not often that you see that, even among those big clans. Obviously, our Ping is a very good trainer."
Ye Ao remembered that Pei Lianxue was just an ordinary three-spiritual root. How could it be possible for her to complete _Qi Refining_ training at the age of fourteen? Could it be that his son's messy cultivation method really works?
But didn't that kid learn those cultivation methods from the novels? If the things in the novels were so useful, then all the secret practices of the ancient scriptures should be discarded.
Ye Ao was silent for a while, then suddenly thought of something.
"Something's not right. That kid is only at the third stage of _Qi Refining_, but his spiritual root is better than that Pei girl. Does that mean that Ping is better as a trainer? How can a boy so young be so good at mentoring?"
— "Patriarch, it's not good!"
Xiaodie's voice suddenly came from outside the _Heavenly Pavilion_. Ye Ao pointed with his sword finger and opened the door hurriedly.
Seeing Xiaodie rushing in in a panic, he asked, "What's the matter? Did that rascal throw little Pei off the mountain again?"
"...No." Xiaodie seemed to have run all the way here and was out of breath.
"Then, did he poison her?"
"...No...he didn't."
"So what happened? Speak!!"
"I...ah- ah-"
Kong Yulan couldn't hold back and slapped Ye Ao on the head.
"Old man, don't you see that she ran all the way here? Let her calm down."
She got up, walked over to Xiaodie, patted her back, and asked, "Xiaodie, what happened? Speak slowly."
Xiaodie took several deep breaths before she calmed down and said, "Young master is about to be killed by Miss Pei."
"Ah?!" Kong Yulan was shocked, and the ponytail that had just been tied came undone instantly. "What?!"
"Young master is about to be killed by Miss Pei..."
Xiaodie repeated, but she didn't get to finish her sentence.
In a flash, Kong Yulan turned into a beam of light, shouting, "Ah! My son!" while breaking through the skylight of the _Pavilion_ and flying out.
Ye Ao stared blankly at the skylight he had repaired the day before yesterday and sighed while covering his forehead.
"Damn it, why does this woman insist on going through the skylight if there's a door?!"
...
Ye Anping lay on the ground, looking at the blue sky. Although his whole body was in great pain, he was extremely satisfied in his heart. Seeing the little girl he raised with so much difficulty become a Phoenix, he felt just like an old father proud of his daughter's achievements.
Right now, he had a sword fight with Pei Lianxue in which he demanded to fight to the death. After ten attacks, he had a dozen broken bones and spat blood on the ground while she only lost a few strands of hair.
Currently, there was still a large gap between Pei Lianxue and Wu You, but the victory lay in the perfection of his training plan.
Those poisons and magic weapons Wu You had at his disposal were now completely ineffective against Pei Lianxue.
At that point, as long as they found a good moment before the other party could react, which was a sword through the heart in a swift action, the crisis of the **_Hundred Lotus_** Sect would be completely defused.
Pei Lianxue crouched next to him, poked his face twice with her finger, and asked with a smile, "Brother, are you still alive?"
Ye Anping turned his head and looked at her with a relieved look.
"The ignorant little girl has grown up and is able to mercilessly beat her big brother. I am really relieved."
"Brother, have you developed some weird hobbies?" Calmly, Pei Lianxue pinched his face and asked, "Doesn't it hurt?"
"This pain is nothing compared to dying in that man's hands."
Pei Lianxue sighed. "Here you go again. Who are you talking about? Even if it's as you said, and the demonic cultivator will come up the mountain, aren't the Patriarch and the elders there too?"
"They can't beat him."
"If even the Patriarch can't beat him, how can I beat him? I'm only practicing _Qi Refining_."
"Heh." Ye Anping, who was lying on the ground, smiled crookedly. "For ten years, you have been training to fight that man. As long as we find the right opportunity, it will be impossible for him to escape."
"So, you fed me poison, threw me off the mountain, and left me to freeze in the snow..."
"Yes, look at you now. You are invulnerable to all poisons, your body is stronger than an accomplished cultivator's, and your vital energy is abundant. Isn't that a great achievement?"
"..."
Pei Lianxue's eyelids twitched.
Until Ye Anping said that, she didn't feel that way. But now, she suddenly felt that it was a miracle she had survived so far.
She was left in the dens of monsters, frozen in ice-cold springs, and fed countless poisons. Several times, she even thought she was going to be killed by this Ye Anping.
Looking at him, beaten by her to the point of breaking bones, Pei Lianxue was quite happy and felt a sense of revenge.
However, she didn't know why she felt a little flustered for no reason.
Although this rotten person made her childhood miserable, whenever she was bedridden or injured, he was always by her bedside and gave her those priceless pills from the Patriarch...
Pei Lianxue couldn't even tell whether Ye Anping was treating her well or not. She looked at him in confusion and suddenly felt a little irritated in her heart.
And feeling agitated, she couldn't help but kick Ye Anping.
"Ah...!"
Because she was unable to control the power of her kick, she caused Ye Anping to spin three-and-a-half times in the air before falling to the ground.
Pei Lianxue crossed her arms over her chest and turned her head, cursing. "Hmph, nasty brother."
"..."
After waiting for a while, seeing that Ye Anping did not reply, Pei Lianxue's heart trembled.
She didn't kick her brother to death, did she?!
She frowned and called out softly again, "Brother? Are you still alive?"
"..."
Ye Anping still didn't respond, lying motionless on the ground.
This time, Pei Lianxue's face turned pale, and she hurried over.
But when her hand touched Ye Anping, he suddenly turned around and punched her in the face, dislocating her jaw with a 'click'.
"How many times have I told you to keep your guard up? If I were that person, wouldn't you be dead now?"
A row of blue veins popped up on Pei Lianxue's forehead as she grabbed Ye Anping and threw him over her shoulder.
"...Brother, go to hell!!"