Danyang

Although traveling by carriage and horse was not as convenient or quick as flying on a sword, as long as one kept moving forward, they would eventually reach their destination. On this evening, Li Shiwen finally arrived with his convoy at Danyang City.

Upon reaching Baqiao Bridge, court officials came to welcome them, following North Chu etiquette. Li Shiwen dismounted and went through the formalities before directly entering the palace to have an audience with the emperor. Meanwhile, the Li family matriarch Yang Yanqi came to greet the others. Except for Li Shiwen, the rest of the Li family members including Li Shiyin, Qin Ran, and Yu Chi Zhen followed Yang Yanqi to the Li residence.

As they arrived at the gates of the Li residence, before Qin Ran could react, Li Shiyin jumped down from his arms and reached out to pull him, saying with a smile, "Master, Master, come down quickly."

He roughly knew what his silly disciple was up to, as it was the same thing she did last time in Wuyi City, directly pulling him to meet Li Zhan. He didn't resist and followed her lead, dismounting and running with her to Yang Yanqi's carriage.

The silly disciple climbed onto the carriage to help Yang Yanqi, with her upper body inside the carriage and her lower half outside, her long legs and plump bottom right in front of him. That bottom was quite voluptuous, and Qin Ran thought... what would happen if he gave it a smack right now.

Li Shiyin quickly helped Yang Yanqi out of the carriage, and excitedly introduced Qin Ran: "Mother, this is my master!"

She presented Qin Ran as if showing off a treasure.

Qin Ran felt a sense of unexpected honor... Was he really that precious?

He glanced at Yang Yanqi and immediately realized that Li Shiwen and Li Shiyin had inherited their looks from her.

Li Shiwen was very tall, but the guy actually had a handsome face with sharp features. Tall, handsome, strong, and from a good family, he was originally a perfect winner in life. Li Shiyin was the same - tall with long legs, curvaceous, beautiful, with meat in all the right places and none where it shouldn't be.

... He just didn't know where these two inherited their brains from, as Li Zhan was clearly not stupid.

He bowed to Yang Yanqi and said, "Greetings, Aunt."

Yang Yanqi stepped down from the carriage with Li Shiyin's help and looked Qin Ran up and down.

Unlike Qin Ran's discreet glance, she was like a mother-in-law examining a potential son-in-law, scrutinizing him from head to toe, taking in every detail.

Qin Ran had the appearance of a scholar, without the arrogant air of an immortal or expert. Instead, he had a gentle and profound demeanor, looking as if he had read extensively. Qin Ran's appearance pleased her very much.

Their Li family was a military family, but she had no intention of finding another son-in-law from a military background. Because if everyone in the family was rough, what was the point of bringing in another rough person? Would they just fight at home all day?

They precisely needed someone more cultured.

Just look at the names Li Zhan chose for Li Shiwen and Li Shiyin - both containing "shi" (poetry). And look at Li Shiwen's wife, Yu Chi Zhen, a young lady from a scholarly family.

Qin Ran's scholarly air greatly satisfied Yang Yanqi.

... Come to think of it, it was precisely this family atmosphere that made Li Shiyin fall for Qin Ran.

Yang Yanqi could also see that Qin Ran was actually nervous, which she found amusing.

Her daughter had been taught so well, so obviously her master wouldn't be a simple cultivator. But how could one tell that this young man before her was an immortal expert? He looked just like a young lad meeting his girlfriend's parents for the first time. This made Yang Yanqi like Qin Ran even more.

His nervousness showed that he cared a lot about Shiyin, so Yang Yanqi knew that Qin Ran truly liked her daughter.

She smiled and said to Qin Ran, "You are Shiyin's master and an immortal from the Sword Path Sect. I should address you as Immortal, while you should call me by my name."

Hearing this, the genuinely nervous Qin Ran thought Yang Yanqi didn't like him. He frowned and looked at Yang Yanqi, only to see her smiling. He then realized it wasn't what he had thought.

... Just look at Li Shiyin's unruly little devil personality, and one could deduce what kind of person Yang Yanqi was. She was clearly joking with Qin Ran.

Qin Ran couldn't see through it at the time and replied stiffly, "Given my relationship with Shiyin, I'd still prefer to call you Aunt."

"Your relationship with Shiyin? Aren't you master and disciple?" Yang Yanqi asked.

Qin Ran was at a loss for words.

"Oh, Mom..." Li Shiyin glared at Yang Yanqi, not allowing her mother to bully her master.

Yang Yanqi looked at her silly daughter and couldn't help but want to laugh. She shook her head and said, "Call me whatever you like. I don't understand the affairs between you cultivators, which are different from the mortal world.

"But let's not stand here anymore, let's go inside."

As she spoke, she began to lead everyone inside.

At this moment, Yu Chi Zhen came down from the carriage behind, carrying Chasing the Wind, and walked over to them.

Li Shiyin saw this and laughed, "Wow, Chasing the Wind, you're so lazy! Such a big guy and still needs to be carried."

Chasing the Wind, lying lazily in Yu Chi Zhen's arms, opened his eyes with a face full of disdain, glanced at Li Shiyin, and said, "I'm only four years old. Oh, the new year has passed, so I'm only five. I'm still a baby."

"Shame on you!" Li Shiyin teased, pinching Chasing the Wind's face.

Hearing the cat in Yu Chi Zhen's arms speak, and hearing Li Shiyin call him Chasing the Wind, Yang Yanqi realized this must be the great white tiger from Dan Peak that Li Shiyin had always talked about.

She looked closely at Chasing the Wind and found that this cat was also very handsome.

"Isn't Chasing the Wind supposed to be a tiger?" she asked in confusion. "How did he turn into a cat?"

"Mom, you don't know, he's a divine beast!" It was Yu Chi Zhen who explained to Yang Yanqi, "When Chasing the Wind was in Wuyi City, he was huge, even taller than a house. But he knows magic and can shrink himself."

"So Chasing the Wind is that powerful?" Yang Yanqi marveled.

The lazy little cat couldn't help but show a smug smile.

Yang Yanqi found him really adorable and wanted to hold him too. She reached out and said, "Come, let this old woman hold you too."

Chasing the Wind was not shy around strangers. Seeing that he was popular, he was overjoyed and was about to jump into Yang Yanqi's arms himself.

It was Yu Chi Zhen who had good reflexes, quickly handing him over to Yang Yanqi.

Yang Yanqi had an even more spacious bosom, and Chasing the Wind felt even more comfortable, his cat eyes narrowing in contentment.

Yang Yanqi stroked him lovingly and smiled at Qin Ran, "When the siblings were little, there was a big dog at home, also named Chasing the Wind. That Chasing the Wind played with them and grew up with them, but in the year Shiyin turned ten, Chasing the Wind died of old age..."

Qin Ran felt that Chasing the Wind was much more popular than himself, and he felt a bit jealous.

Hearing Yang Yanqi's words, he looked at Li Shiyin, understanding why she had unhesitatingly named Chasing the Wind when he asked her to give him a name back then.

No wonder he thought at the time that it sounded more like a dog's name than a cat's - it really was a dog's name.

"Hehe!" Li Shiyin giggled and ran over to hug his arm.

"Oh, so I'm a dog..." Chasing the Wind mumbled with narrowed eyes.

"Wrong!" Li Shiyin laughed. "You're not even as good as a dog!"

"Woof!" Chasing the Wind barked fiercely at her.

The group entered the Li residence with laughter and chatter. As for the carriages and horses, the servants would take care of them.

They had just returned from the battlefield, and the Li family, being a military family, had their own set of rituals to dispel the blood energy, evil energy, and other inauspicious energies from the battlefield. Of course, these were similar to stepping over fire basins and sprinkling willow branch water.

After going through a simple version of these rituals, they proceeded with the welcoming ceremony for their triumphant return.

In fact, Li Shiyin and Qin Ran were cultivators and didn't believe in these things, because whatever blood energy or evil energy, those negative things might not even be as powerful as they were. But this was just a custom, a ritual, so they didn't say anything and went along with it.

Yang Yanqi had prepared a sumptuous dinner in advance. After driving away the evil, they all sat down in the main hall and formally began the dinner.

Although the Li family was a military family without too many formalities, they were still one of the top families in North Chu. Even if many rules were omitted, on an occasion like this, when taken seriously, there were still some things to observe.

Qin Ran, in this life, was born into a family of ordinary North Chu commoners. Although the Qin family had moved from the village to the town in recent years thanks to his behind-the-scenes support, they were still far from a prestigious family like the Li's.

So tonight's dinner gave him a feeling of being like Lin Daiyu entering the Jia family mansion.

... In a daze, he had become Lin Daiyu, dazzled by the Li family's fancy banquet.

Fortunately, his silly disciple was always by his side, quietly teaching him, so he wouldn't appear out of place.

"Could it be that you were also born with jade in your mouth?" Qin Ran whispered in Li Shiyin's ear.

"No..." Li Shiyin smiled and whispered back to Qin Ran, "Master, you're silly. Of course, I was born holding a sword!"

"That person is called Baoyu, and you're called Baojian," Qin Ran replied softly.

"What Baojian? That sounds awful!" Li Shiyin wrinkled her nose. Unfortunately, she didn't understand Qin Ran's reference, otherwise she could have retorted with "Qin Daiyu."

Watching the master and disciple whispering in front of her, Yang Yanqi smiled and asked, "Where are you from, young Qin?"

She had just called him Immortal, and now she was calling him young Qin. Now you know where Li Shiyin's silly deer personality (little witch personality, muddle-headed personality) came from, right?

"I'm from Qingyuan," Qin Ran replied. Although he joked about being Lin Daiyu entering the Jia family, he wasn't actually Lin Daiyu. He not only had a delicate mind but also possessed real powerful abilities. Now, meeting his mother-in-law, despite a moment of shyness, he responded quite composedly. "I wonder if Auntie knows of it."

"Qingyuan? Is it near the Hengduan Mountains?" Yang Yanqi asked. "Shiwen was stationed nearby before."

"Yes, it's in that area."

"In recent years, that place has often suffered calamities..." Yang Yanqi said with concern. "Is your family doing alright?"

Qin Ran nodded and replied, "I keep in touch with my family regularly. They're all fine."

Hearing this, Li Shiyin realized that Qingyuan had been occupied by Xuan Qin, and asked Qin Ran, "Master, are they... really okay?"

"Before I came to Wuyi City, I went to Qingyuan first and made arrangements for them," Qin Ran replied. "You don't need to worry."

"Master, you should have taken me to see them," Li Shiyin said. "If we're going to get... married..."

She blushed, her voice trailing off, unable to continue.

"To avoid bringing them trouble, I actually haven't been back for many years..." Qin Ran shook his head. "Even if... they don't need to know."

Li Shiyin looked at Qin Ran, suddenly feeling that her master seemed to have a very distant relationship with his family.

"You've already decided to get married?!" Yang Yanqi, who had caught Li Shiyin's words, suddenly asked.

Li Shiyin was startled. Marriage? Her face immediately turned red, and she lowered her head without answering.

Qin Ran met Yang Yanqi's gaze and smiled, "We are cultivators... whether we get married or not isn't that important. There's no need to rush."

As soon as he finished speaking, he felt a sharp pain in his waist. He looked down to see Li Shiyin, face red and turned away, pinching his flesh.

This truly is a woman's innate skill! He couldn't help but marvel.

"It's still better to get married..." Yang Yanqi pretended not to see their little interaction and asked, "How old are you, young Qin?"

"I'm thirty in nominal age," Qin Ran replied.

"That's indeed not young..." Yang Yanqi said. "You can hold the wedding at our Li family. If you don't object, I'll go and ask for an auspicious date tomorrow."

So fast? Qin Ran was also surprised and quickly said, "There's no need to rush."

His waist was attacked again.

Gritting his teeth, he continued, "Firstly, we're still young and have a long life ahead; secondly, Shiyin hasn't formed her Core yet. It would be better to get married after she forms her Core."

"I can form my Core anytime!" Li Shiyin said through clenched teeth.

Qin Ran glared at her. Form a Core my ass.

"What's getting married?" At this moment, Chasing the Wind, who was squatting next to Yang Yanqi and eating heartily, asked.

Chasing the Wind could eat a lot, and Yang Yanqi liked it very much, constantly giving Chasing the Wind meat. She just loved children with good appetites... otherwise, how could Li Shiwen have grown so big?

"You're too stupid, it's hard for me to explain clearly!" Li Shiyin hurriedly replied with a red face.

Yang Yanqi filled Chasing the Wind's bowl with dishes and smiled, "Do you call him dad? Dad means father, which means your father is going to find you a mother."

Chasing the Wind blinked its big eyes and pretended to be innocent, asking, "Is mom mother?"

"Hm?" Yang Yanqi didn't quite understand. She looked at Qin Ran, who seemed to know what was about to happen and covered his face. She then understood and replied to Chasing the Wind, "I suppose so!"

"Then isn't Shiyin mom!" Chasing the Wind smiled. "When dad taught me to speak, he told me to call Shiyin mom."

"Swish swish swish..."

Several gazes in the room turned towards Qin Ran.

Qin Ran's face immediately turned as red as a monkey's bottom. His powerful physique granted him powerful toes, and he dug out a small villa with his toes on the ground.