Tang Qingshan's words instantly sparked an uproar in the living room.
To settle the future successor of the Tang Group just like that was simply too rash.
Quite a few people felt a sense of injustice, thinking the old master's decision was unfair.
Yet upon seeing Tang Qingshan's icy expression, they swallowed back down every single word of argument they had prepared.
Are you kidding? To provoke the old master right now was practically asking for trouble.
Heaven knew whether he might banish them from the family in his anger.
"Since no one has any objections, this matter is settled. You are all dismissed."
Tang Qingshan swept his gaze across the crowd with a poker face.
Once everyone had dispersed, he turned his attention to Ye Wushuang, his face beaming with smiles.
"May I ask how my young friend is addressed?" Tang Qingshan asked with a smile, showing no disgust at his disheveled appearance.
"Ye Wushuang," Ye Wushuang replied indifferently.
"Matchless throughout the realm, what a fine name, full of grand ambition," Tang Qingshan said with bright eyes, offering a compliment.
With that, he solemnly bowed to Ye Wushuang. "Many thanks, young friend, for saving my life."
Ye Wushuang waved a hand and curled his lip slightly. "Cut the formalities and hurry up and give me my money."
"Saving your life and offending a Miaojiang Gu master into the bargain—I've taken a huge loss."
Hearing Ye Wushuang's mutter, the grandfather and granddaughter of the Tang family exchanged glances, both dumbfounded.
A reward of eleven million, and he called that a huge loss?
However, considering Ye Wushuang was his savior, Tang Qingshan kept the thought to himself and swallowed it down.
Tang Moxixi, on the other hand, darkened her face and scolded sharply, "You fellow, stop taking advantage and acting innocent! Eleven million, do you have any idea how many people work hard their entire lives and still can't make that kind of money?"
"What do young girls know? The Miaojiang Life-Plundering Gu is not something just anyone has. Since I broke the fellow's Gu arts, I'm bound to be hunted down for revenge."
At this, Ye Wushuang's expression turned bitter. "I was careless. If I'd known, I shouldn't have made a move. What if the other party is a Martial Supremacy-level Gu master? Then I'd have the money to earn it, but no life to spend it."
Martial Supremacy. This title made Tang Qingshan pause.
Then, as he carefully weighed Ye Wushuang's words, his expression changed in shock.
"You... you are actually a Martial Grandmaster?"
Recalling the sudden surge of warmth in his body moments ago, Tang Qingshan now understood—it was clearly the True Qi that martial artists dreamed of.
A mere youth who had actually cultivated True Qi—this was simply earth-shattering.
"That's right, I'm just a weak Grandmaster. If I get targeted by a Martial Supremacy, it's basically a death sentence."
Ye Wushuang wore a wretched expression.
Hearing Ye Wushuang admit to being a Martial Grandmaster, Tang Qingshan couldn't help drawing a sharp breath.
Yet very soon, a huge question mark appeared on his forehead.
A Martial Grandmaster... weak?
"Grandpa, this guy is a bit unhinged."
Tang Moxixi smiled bitterly and hastened to explain.
"When I was chased after getting off the train, the moment I ran into him, he was just this cowardly."
"He kept claiming he was only a Grandmaster and couldn't beat a Supremacy."
"He even mistook the ordinary people chasing me for Martial Supremacies and stood there begging them for mercy."
Tang Moxixi chuckled, feeling amused just thinking about those past events.
Having his shortcomings exposed made Ye Wushuang's old face flush. He argued indignantly, "I'm not being cowardly, I'm being prudent!"
"My third master said: grandmasters are everywhere outside, and grandmasters are a dime a dozen. With my little bit of strength, I naturally have to keep a low profile."
He was well aware of his own limitations and didn't want to court trouble.
Yet making money—big money—meant taking risks, and there was simply no helping that.
Tang Qingshan and Tang Moxixi couldn't help but laugh despite themselves. This fellow's third master was truly unreliable!
Without even figuring out the current situation of the martial world, she went around scaring an honest kid like that.
Tang Qingshan gave a dry cough and said, "Well... little friend Ye, is there any chance your third master was lying to you, and there aren't actually that many experts in this world?"
"Huh?" Ye Wushuang froze entirely.
His eyes landed on Tang Qingshan, filled with doubt.
At this point, Tang Moxixi chimed in, "My grandpa is right. There simply aren't that many powerhouses in this world."
"Ordinary people don't even know that martial artists exist. It's only because our Tang family has some roots in Jinling City that we've had the fortune to cross paths with such mysterious beings."
"Besides, you must have seen quite a few people after coming down the mountain. Weren't they all ordinary people?"
This remark left Ye Wushuang completely speechless.
Indeed, ever since coming down the mountain, he hadn't laid eyes on a single proper martial artist.
The most formidable ones he encountered were simply those men in black who chased Tang Moxixi.
Yet their combat skills were only slightly better than an ordinary person's, falling short of the threshold of martial artists by who knew how much.
"Little friend Ye, you wouldn't know this, but I once heard some secret lore from a martial artist friend of mine."
"The Huaxia martial world of today is already in decline."
"As long as one steps through the door and crosses the threshold of External Force, they become an honored guest of various major families."
"Cultivate Internal Force, and every major family will scramble to recruit you."
"And if you can reach Transformation Force, turning the internal force within your body into True Qi, the major families will go crazy over you and even resort to blows."
"As for Grandmasters accomplished in the martial arts who have condensed True Qi, they generally reign supreme over a region and are worshipped by all major families."
"The weak Martial Grandmasters you speak of are, in today's martial world, invincible myths, practically immortals among men."
Ye Wushuang remained silent, and only after a long while did he ask, "What about Martial Supremacy? How many of them are there in this world?"
"That... I only heard it from my friend, I don't know the exact number of Supremacies either."
Tang Qingshan gave a wry smile. "However, according to what he said, the Huaxia martial world currently has only thirteen grandmasters in total on the surface. I suppose Martial Supremacies, who are even stronger than grandmasters, must be even scarcer in number."
Ye Wushuang's face turned dark.
Putting together the explanations from Tang Qingshan and Tang Moxixi, and recalling the seductive smile on his third master's face when he left the mountain, it all clicked.
He finally realized that Zhuque, his third master, had simply lied to him.
The outside world wasn't terrifying at all.
And he was practically already at the ceiling of combat power in today's martial world.
Ye Wushuang couldn't help cursing up a storm. Because of a single remark from her, he had walked on thin ice the entire journey.
He didn't even dare peek at any pretty young ladies, terrified of being spotted by some chivalrous master who would then purge the wicked and uphold justice.
"Odious third master, when I get back, I'm definitely going to beat your bottom red!"
Ye Wushuang gnashed his teeth.
He felt like a complete clown, played for a fool without even realizing it.
Just as Ye Wushuang was drawing circles in his mind to curse his third master Zhuque, a strange sound suddenly rang out.
"Grumble~"
Ye Wushuang clutched his stomach, his face blushing slightly.
He had originally intended to make money to buy food, but instead blundered into saving Tang Moxixi and ended up following her all the way to the Tang family.
After running around busily for three hours, he hadn't managed to eat a single bite of food.
Fumbling in his pockets, Ye Wushuang scratched his head. "Hurry up and give me some money, I need to go eat."