"The giant from Yaochi Sacred Land hasn't come looking for me these past two days. It seems the letter I sent out has had some effect."
"If I calculate the time now, the second letter to my little bride should be arriving soon as well."
Two days later, outside the city gates of Weicheng.
Chen Qiye looked at the familiar old city gates and muttered to himself.
"Qiye, you've already reached Weicheng, haven't you?"
"The Thirteenth Ancestor and I have already invited a supreme giant from the Tianqi Dynasty back with us. Just go on ahead back to your family, the Chen family. We will arrive in half an incense stick's time, and that giant from the Yuhua Dynasty will never dare to try and kill you!"
Just as Chen Qiye was deep in self-reflection, a weary yet slightly joyous voice suddenly rang out from the communication talisman.
"A giant from the Tianqi Dynasty?"
Hearing this, Chen Qiye's chaotic thoughts vanished like a receding tide.
Yesterday, Chen Qiye had received a message from his sect master and master, Xu Qingyun, telling him to come with peace of mind as absolutely no accidents would occur.
"My master values me to this extent? It seems a true Heavenly Dao giant might be even stronger than I imagined."
"The night before last, I had already used up all my Heavenly Dao Value on draws. Right now, I have six Heavenly Dao Fifty-Fifty Cards, two Absolute Defense Cards, and an ancient forbidden artifact that allows instant teleportation for a thousand miles, which I specifically begged the ancestral master of the back mountain for. Coupled with the giant master is bringing back... my safety should be guaranteed."
Chen Qiye quickly forced himself to regain absolute calmness. Facing the giant from the Yuhua Dynasty, it was only with these nine life-saving trump cards that Chen Qiye felt slightly at ease.
"In the future, I should still prepare more trump cards. I feel that without dozens of them, I won't have much sense of security when walking out in the world."
"The night before last, I already wrote another letter to my fiancée and sent more medicinal herbs and magical artifacts, and I also had news from the Immortal Lord Hall secretly passed over... Ah, that time I sneaked off to the House of Crimson Sleeves in my early years, my secret shouldn't leak out, right?"
Thinking of this, Chen Qiye suddenly grew a bit worried again.
As a transmigrator, he had merely been curious to see what the brothels of this world looked like back then, so he went out of curiosity, and then accidentally went a few more times.
"At the time, I only went to temper my Dao heart. Most importantly, I used disguise. Apart from the sect's big yellow dog, probably no one knew."
"Should I silence that big yellow dog? It's raised by master, so I suppose I can't kill it. I'll figure out a way later to brainwash it with a memory-erasing technique."
Muttering to himself, Chen Qiye lifted his feet and walked toward Weicheng.
Entering the city and walking through Weicheng's familiar streets and alleys, Chen Qiye still felt a sense of nostalgia in his heart.
Over the years, Weicheng hadn't changed much.
The small river in the city, the willows along the bank, and the bluestone-paved paths where the rain had just dried—children ran past laughing. In the cruel world of immortal cultivation, Weicheng could be considered a pure land of sorts.
After all, Weicheng was a borderland, far removed from many disputes.
However, just as Chen Qiye was revisiting old places and his heart gradually calmed down, upon reaching the door of his old home, the Chen family residence, he saw a crowd gathered outside.
"Chen Qiang, won't you just sign this agreement?"
"I have never developed any feelings for you whatsoever. You should know that the two of us are also an absolute impossibility. Once this agreement is signed, the two of us will have no further ties. Don't you think that by doing this, you'd at least still act like a man?"
Right in front of his own house, a young girl dressed in blue was loudly shouting something at his father.
Her long hair reached her waist, and while she could not compare to the peerless and icy-cold junior sister, she was nevertheless of superior beauty.
At this moment, her expression was cold and detached. As she looked at his father, she looked precisely like a goddess in her previous life gazing at a simp.
What is going on here?
At a time like this, shouldn't the household be bracing for a formidable enemy while waiting for the supreme giant of the Yuhua Dynasty to arrive?
What on earth is wrong with this woman?
"Chen Qiang, why don't you understand yet? You should be clear that there is nothing possible between us.""No matter what you say, you are still the head of the Chen family. Surely you don't intend to force her to marry into the Chen family? I..." The woman was still speaking, staring directly at the head of the Chen family as she continued.
Standing before his own front door, surrounded by a densely packed crowd and that rather attractive woman, Chen Qiye was utterly bewildered.
From the looks of it, was his own father chasing after this woman?
And was this woman here today to reject him?
What on earth was going on here?
Wait, no!
How was his father's cultivation level still only at the late stage of the Tianxuan Realm? Just yesterday, he had broken through from the Tianxuan Realm to the late stage of the Shenxuan Realm. Over all these years, why had his father only advanced by two minor realms?
Chen Qiye was a family-oriented person. Even though he was a transmigrator, he had grown up in this household since childhood. As an orphan in his previous life, Chen Qiye subconsciously regarded this place as his true home.
Over the years, he had frequently sent medicines and cultivation techniques suited for the Chen family back home. Logically speaking, since his father had already been at the early stage of the Tianxuan Realm twelve years ago, he should have broken through into the Shenxuan Realm by now!
"Older brother, you're back!"
"Wait, no, older brother, why did you come back? Why didn't you run?"
Just as Chen Qiye's mind was teeming with questions, a voice filled with surprise rang out from behind him.
However, that note of surprise lasted for less than a second before turning into sheer anxiety.
"You must be Third Brother? I haven't seen you in so many years, you've grown up this much?"
"What is going on with our family? What's happening at the front?"
Chen Qiye turned around to see a qingyi-clad youth of sixteen or seventeen walking anxiously toward him down the alley, and instantly recognized who he was.
The last time he had visited his old home, Third Brother had only been a five-year-old child. In the blink of an eye, twelve years had passed, and Third Brother had grown into a young man.
"Hey, never mind the family for now, Second Brother, you need to leave right away! The family already knows about what happened with you. People from the Yuhua Dynasty could arrive at any moment, so you must go quickly."
"These are some savings I've managed to put away over the years, older brother. Take them and run as far as you can. The Yuhua Dynasty..." The youth hurried forward, anxiously shoving a storage pouch into Chen Qiye's hand.
"The matter with the Yuhua Dynasty has already been resolved."
"My master has invited a giant from the Tianxuan Realm—no, the Tianqi Dynasty—and he will be here shortly. With him around, the giants from the Yuhua Dynasty wouldn't dare to commit murder. Don't you worry about that for now. Tell me what's going on out front?"
Chen Qiye did not reveal all his trump cards, using his master for the time being just to dispel Chen Yan's panic.
"Really?"
"Your master, the Sect Master of the Qingxuan Sect, was actually able to invite a supreme giant from the Tianqijie—the Tianqi Dynasty?"
Hearing this, the youth Chen Yan shook violently. Although he had grown up in a remote little border town like Weicheng, he knew a great deal about the major external powers, especially legendary and heaven-defying dynasties like that.
"Right, when has your second brother ever lied to you? Don't worry about me anymore; there is definitely no problem with my situation. Tell me what's going on with our dad instead—how did he end up mixed up with some woman?"
Seeing the crowd gathering ever denser in front of the door while his father's head sank lower and lower, Chen Qiye grew even more bewildered.
"True, Second Brother has never lied to me. Does that mean Second Brother's trouble is really solved?" The youth's tense body relaxed slightly, and a flash of surprise reappeared on his face.
Yet, after that moment of surprise, as he followed Chen Qiye's gaze to look toward his family's front door, an unnatural expression crept back onto his face.
"Our dad, our dad... Our mom passed away early, and it hasn't been easy for Dad to manage the family and raise us all by himself over the years. Lately, Dad has fallen in love with a woman."
"Dad gave this woman a lot of things. Even that spiritual artifact you had someone bring back to the family to suppress our family's fortune—he gave it to that woman too. But this woman..."
By this point, Chen Yan's complexion was intensely unnatural, and his words came out stuttering.
"What did you say?"
Hearing this, Chen Qiye instantly realized something, and every hair on his body stood straight up in an instant!