Chapter 245 - A Long Journey and Mishaps

“Now there are no outsiders here anymore; why doesn’t Madame speak the truth! That way, I can determine what appropriate action to take, lest there be anything that I didn’t consider appropriately,” Li Huayuan said, his expression respectful.

When the young wife heard this, she glanced at Han Li, who was scratching his head and smiling bitterly, then finally opened her mouth and said:

“In the past two years, I unintentionally heard a few pieces of information concerning this matter, but whether they’re true or not, I don’t know. From hearsay, this Martial Senior Hong Fu’s female disciple is not restrained at all in the matters between males and females; when she was in the Qi Condensation stage, she had unclear relationships with numerous males. People have even privately fought for her, almost leading to disciples from the same sect killing each other. In the end, Martial Senior Hong Fu flew into a rage when she found out, grounding her to the confines of her cave and increasing supervision until she established her Foundation, at which point she was released again. But not too long after, word spread that she had gotten into a relationship with the young master of the Feng Clan and seemingly intended to cultivate as a pair with him. However, Martial Senior Hong Fu hates people from the Feng Clan the most, so she naturally would not agree to this matter and locked her up again. In the past two years, no such news has spread. Because there was no solid evidence to support these claims, I never paid any attention to them. Thus, when Martial Senior Hong Fu took her disciple along to visit, I didn’t think about this matter. Now, seeing Han Li’s extremely unhappy appearance, I felt that it was somewhat strange and suddenly remembered the rumors.”

The young woman’s somewhat apologetic remarks caused both Han Li and Li Huayuan to become slightly dazed upon hearing them.

Li Huayuan had never expected that the young woman surnamed Dong would actually have such a sloppy reputation, yet he had so hastily agreed to Martial Senior Hong Fu’s requests; how could this be a good thing! Likewise, Han Li naturally did not expect that this young woman not only had an unclear relationship with Senior Martial Brother Lu, but she actually had such a long string of lovers that! Even Han Li did not know how extensive it was. This rendered him to speechless once again.

“Wife, are you speaking the truth? Is Martial Senior Hong Fu’s disciple’s reputation really so poor?” Li Huayuan asked in disbelief. He could restrain himself no longer and stood up, then began to pace anxiously around the room continuously.

This was no longer simply a question of whether or not Han Li was willing to pair cultivate anymore. If he really allowed his own disciple to accept such a woman, his own reputation would definitely not improve.

“I don’t know. Because this matter was somewhat carelessly mentioned by someone else, perhaps even the person who told me this doesn’t know whether it’s true or not!” The young woman sighed helplessly.

Upon hearing these words, Han Li rolled his eyes and cried out loudly in his heart: “What do you mean, you don’t know if it’s real or not? At least this little girl definitely had an unclear relationship with ‘Senior Martial Brother Lu’, otherwise how could he so easily try to kill his former female companion?”

Of course, Han Li wouldn’t say these words out loud; instead, he stood awkwardly in the same spot, acting as if he were saying “as long as you know about this matter, I’ll be okay, Madame”. This caused Li Huayuan to immediately feel a headache coming on upon seeing him.

Now that he knew about what had happened, Li Huayuan naturally would not force Han Li to agree to this matter; even he had intentions of reneging. However, this Martial Senior Hong Fu was not a person to carelessly slander. In addition, his reason for reneging was not appropriate to talk about plainly. How could he not feel incredibly vexed?

After Li Huayuan paced around the room a number of times, he still couldn’t think of any strategies. After his eyes slanted, he discovered that Han Li was still standing to the side, eagerly awaiting for his reply as his master; he couldn’t help but feel even more dispirited in his heart and said with no happiness:

“You can return first; when your master’s wife and I have discussed this matter, we will let you know how we are going to deal with this matter, alright?”

Anxiously standing to the side, Han Li was also worried that the other person wouldn’t care about the facts of the situation, forcing him to agree to this matter of pair cultivation. But now, upon hearing Li Huayuan’s instructions, his heart relaxed, knowing that this matter would most likely not go through.

Thus, he agreed extremely happily and slipped out.

Then, Han Li hurriedly flew away from the cave under the watchful gazes of Song Meng and Wu Xuan, who were standing guard outside the large lobby.

Han Li finally received Li Huayuan’s voice transmission talisman after three uneasy days. In the end, upon hearing the results of the negotiations between his master and Martial Senior Hong Fu, Han Li couldn’t help but look up at the sky and let out a huge sigh!

......

Half a month later, in front of Green Ripple Cave’s waterfall, Li Huayuan and his wife, as well as Female Immortal Hong Fu, were all there to send two people off. These two people were about to undertake a long journey but wore somewhat stiff expressions, only submissively answering incessantly. They did not possess any of the excitement that people who were about to take a long journey would normally have.

This male and female pair was Han Li and Female Immortal Hong Fu’s disciple Dong Xuan’er.

“Han Li, on this trip you two must be careful and help each other out! I heard that the cultivation world hasn’t been so peaceful lately, and cultivators will often disappear. At first, it was just Qi Condensation disciples, but recently even Foundation Establishment cultivators have been involved in accidents!” Although Li Huayuan had only exhorted Han Li simply with a few sentences before the two of them left, Han Li still felt quite moved in his heart.

However, Martial Senior Hong Fu’s words to the young woman were a big eye-opener to Han Li.

“During this entire trip, you have to listen to your Senior Martial Brother Han’s words and behave yourself. If anything happens this time, don’t blame me on not speaking my feelings as your master.” Martial Senior Hong Fu’s extremely blunt words caused the young woman’s face to turn deathly pale, and she repeatedly nodded her head, wearing an extremely pitiful appearance.

Han Li and Dong Xuan’er both flew into the air on their magic tools, then flew towards the south, disappearing along the horizon.

As Li Huayuan watched the dots of light from these two people slowly disappear, he suddenly and somewhat anxiously said to Female Immortal Hong Fu:

“Does Martial Senior really have the faith to allow those two people represent you and me at the Yan Clan’s Treasure Seizing Assembly? You surely know that those two have only just established their Foundations not too long ago. They don’t even stand a chance!”

“What, does Martial Junior Li fear that not sending competent disciples will damage your reputation, or are you regretful about the “Yin Yang Tower” treasure talisman that the Yan Clan is taking out this time?” Female Immortal Hong Fu rebuked, glancing sideways at Li Huayuan; this caused him to laugh bitterly.

“Of course my husband does not have this intention. But I wonder, why didn’t Martial Senior Hong Fu send out her strongest disciples? Han Li and young lady Dong, when compared to those true Foundation Establishment experts, definitely won’t withstand even a single blow. Does Martial Senior want to use this opportunity to pair the two together?” the young woman gently explained for Li Huayuan after gently laughing once.

“Junior Martial Brother Li, your wife really is a good wife! It’s not like I didn’t have this kind of intention. Of course it would be best if she could develop a relationship with your disciple along the way! However, this was not my original intention; my main purpose is still for Xuan’er to experience some setbacks during this trip to the Yan Clan and kill off some of her arrogance. I heard that the Yan Clan has a young woman with heavenly spiritual roots who will also be attending this Treasure Seizing Assembly. In this way, Xuan’er will be able to realize the difference between her and true geniuses instead of believing that she is extraordinary among female Foundation Establishment cultivators and not knowing how things really stand.”

“Because she was the only descendant of my deceased elder brother, I’ve pampered her too much! She actually dared to do such indecent things, creating such scandals by mixing with a few male disciples? She completely corrupted her clean reputation as a woman! If I hadn’t examined her body many times to ensure that she had preserved her virginity, I would’ve exterminated her with one palm, lest others think that our Dong Clan produced such a dishonest woman.”

The red-clothed woman said these things coldly, but at the very end it seemed as if her words were referring to something. This caused Li Huayuan and his wife to glance at each other, having understood the meaning in her words, their faces revealing awkward expressions!

One day, Li Huayuan and his wife had gathered up their courage to stammeringly bring up the matter of reneging on the arrangement with this Martial Senior Hong Fu. In the end—greatly outside of his expectations—this Martial Senior of his, whose temper was normally not too good, actually let out a soft sigh and agreed. This caused the two of them to become extremely happy!

However, Hong Fu still raised one condition, which was that Han Li would accompany Dong Xuan’er on a trip outside to attend the upcoming “Treasure Seizing Assembly” hosted by the Yan Clan.

The State of Yue’s number one clan, the Yan Clan, had invited disciples of Core Formation experts from the few neighboring states to gather together in their “Treasure Seizing Assembly", most likely to improve relations with all the Core Formation cultivators and benefit the Yan Clan’s future expansion. They had even taken out the legendary “Yin Yang Tower” treasure talisman this time to serve as the number one prize; of course, there were also a substantial amount of other unique treasures, magic tools, and spiritual medicines.

Thus, many Core Formation cultivators who received the invitation all sent out their strongest disciples to attend this great assembly. After all, that “Yin Yang Tower” treasure talisman was something that even Core Formation cultivators greatly coveted!

Of course, because of distance constraints, the chance that Core Formation cultivators outside of the State of Yue would send people to participate was not too high. Instead, it was still cultivators from the state that made up the majority of the participants.

When Li Huayuan heard the other person’s conditions, he initially felt that to allow Han Li to participate with his weak cultivation base in this year’s great assembly was truly too big of a waste!

However, upon considering it once more, he realized that his two strongest disciples were out taking care of business and would not be able to rush to this year’s great assembly. If he were to send other disciples, they definitely wouldn’t stand a chance at taking first place. Even if they were to reach other rankings and received a few magic tools or the like, he looked upon them with disdain! Thus, he agreed.

Li Huayuan and his wife originally believed that this matter was over, and so they had wanted to say their goodbyes and then leave. But who know that Female Immortal Hong Fu suddenly wanted his wife to stay for a while, saying that there were a few matters that she wanted to discuss with her alone? Having said this, she only chased out Li Huayuan, who had a stomach full of doubt.

In the end, half a day later, the young master’s wife, upon returning from Hong Fu’s cave, told Li Huayuan something that left him dumbstruck.