Chapter 124: The Cunning Lian Xing

: In their first encounter, Dongfang Bubai was no match for Yaoyue.

But now, both Dongfang Bubai and Yaoyue have achieved Grandmaster status, and their cultivation levels are now on the same level.

Therefore, when the two clash, they surprisingly feel evenly matched.

Of course, if one were to be determined as the superior of the two, it would still be Yaoyue.

This is because Yaoyue's Mingyu Gong, a technique she created herself, is uniquely suited to her. Furthermore, this technique itself is capable of enabling breakthroughs to the Grandmaster level.

Dongfang Bubai, on the other hand, cultivates a flawed Sunflower Manual. Fortunately, this allowed Dongfang Bubai to modify and improve the Manual, making it even more suitable for her. However, the actual limit of the Manual is only the ninth level of the Grandmaster realm.

After all, it is difficult to achieve a breakthrough to the Grandmaster level with a flawed body.

So, theoretically, Yaoyue's Mingyu Gong was superior to the Sunflower Manual and comparable to Ye Xiu's Wind God Leg.

Yaoyue perfectly matched the Mingyu Gong, which was also considered a Grandmaster-level martial art, inherently superior to Dongfang Bubai's Sunflower Manual.

Therefore, Yaoyue could unleash her full potential, while Dongfang Bubai could only utilize 90% of his own strength.

This 10% difference made Dongfang Bubai slightly weaker than Yaoyue.

However, because Yaoyue was holding Ye Xiu, she could only use one hand to fight, which inevitably affected her ability, putting her at a disadvantage in the exchange.

Watching Dongfang Bubai intensify his offensive, his aggressive stance, Yaoyue's eyes flashed with irritation, and she finally let go of Ye Xiu.

Ye Xiu was no longer in Yaoyue's grasp, and Yaoyue, freeing both hands, began to counterattack with both.

Without Ye Xiu's restraint, Yao Yue, unleashing her arms, actually outclassed Dongfang Bubai in combat power.

Dongfang Bubai gradually began to feel the strain.

However, their cultivation levels were ultimately on par, so despite Dongfang Bubai's struggle, Yao Yue wouldn't be able to defeat her without at least an hour or two. Furthermore, the Sunflower Manual itself excelled in light martial arts, so if Dongfang Bubai truly attempted to escape, Yao Yue wouldn't be able to catch her.

"Xiu'er, how are you?" Ning Zhongze rushed over to Ye Xiu's side, examining him with concern, wanting to know if he was injured and how he was doing.

"Master's Wife, I'm fine." Ye Xiu was pleased to see Ning Zhongze.

"That's good. Now let's—" Ning Zhongze wanted to take Ye Xiu away immediately, but he felt it was inappropriate. After all, Yao Yue and Dongfang Bubai were locked in a fierce battle. If they left, they might attract Yao Yue and Dongfang Bubai.

"Wait a minute." Ye Xiu thought about it and decided it would be best to talk things out. After all, they still had Dongfang Bubai with them, so they should be able to at least talk it out.

Ye Xiu also noticed that, despite Yao Yue's somewhat erratic nature, she had no intention of harming him.

Yao Yue and Dongfang Bubai clashed, and although Dongfang Bubai was slightly weaker, the difference wasn't significant. After dozens of rounds, neither could defeat the other.

Finally, the two separated, standing on either side, while Ye Xiu and Ning Zhongze moved closer to Dongfang Bubai.

At least compared to Yao Yue, Ye Xiu and Ning Zhongze were more familiar with Dongfang Bubai. Ye Xiu and Dongfang Bubai were so close that they knew each other's strengths and weaknesses.

Dongfang Bubai and Yao Yue reacted differently to Ye Xiu's actions.

Yao Yue's eyes flashed with anger as she saw Ye Xiu run to Dongfang Bubai's side.

After all, Yao Yue was used to being domineering. When she captured Ye Xiu and brought him back to Yihua Palace, it wasn't necessarily true that Yao Yue loved him. It was simply because Ye Xiu was so handsome, his behavior somewhat resembling Jiang Feng, and the diary that left a deep impression on Yao Yue.

However, Dongfang Bubai's arrival to snatch him away only made Yao Yue feel that Ye Xiu was, well, something she wanted to possess, something she wanted to forcibly claim, something she didn't want anyone else to take away.

Later, Ye Xiu's diary unexpectedly helped Yao Yue overcome a fourteen-year bottleneck. Now, Ye Xiu became even more precious to Yao Yue.

Such a precious treasure, Yao Yue didn't want him to be taken away.

In short, Yao Yue developed a desire to possess Ye Xiu.

Dongfang Bubai, on the other hand, was delighted to see Ye Xiu on her side, especially when Ye Xiu chose her over Yao Yue. This only made Dongfang Bubai even more proud.

Especially since Yao Yue was a match for her in terms of strength.

To be honest, Dongfang Bubai hadn't been particularly targeted by those women before, even Huang Rong, whom Ye Xiu called Rong'er.

Dongfang Bubai was incredibly confident because of her strength.

But Yaoyue was different. Yaoyue's strength was equal to hers, even slightly stronger. This fueled a desire to challenge her.

Ye Xiu's choice delighted Dongfang Bubai, and she couldn't help but glare at him provocatively.

Yaoyue's eyes burned with rage, her fists clenched, and she wished she could smack Dongfang Bubai to death.

Yaoyue acted on her thought, stepping forward and striking Dongfang Bubai with a blow.

Dongfang Bubai scoffed at her, then met the blow without a shred of a fight.

They were both Grandmasters, so who would dare to smack anyone?

Bang, bang, bang—

the two began fighting again, each collision of arms and legs creating a loud clang and creaking sound.

Ye Xiu and Ning Zhongze frowned at Yaoyue's unyielding demeanor. If Ye Xiu didn't deal with Yao Yue's situation, leaving Yihua Palace would be a real challenge.

Just then, Lian Xing, whose internal injuries had almost healed through the Shenzhaojing, arrived.

Looking at Dongfang Bubai, who seemed to be evenly matched with Yao Yue, a flicker of shock crossed Lian Xing's eyes.

Just a few days ago, Dongfang Bubai was still only at the Grandmaster level, and even Yao Yue wasn't a match. In

just a few days, Dongfang Bubai had broken through to the Grandmaster level, becoming almost as powerful as Yao Yue.

This rate of progress was truly astonishing.

Lian Xing's mind raced, and she thought of the diary and the monthly rewards it offered.

Since both she and Yao Yue had achieved breakthroughs in their cultivation thanks to the rewards granted by the diary, did Dongfang Bubai also have a diary? Did he also rely on it to reach the Grandmaster level?

Lian Xing then thought of the favorability system within the diary.

The higher the favorability, the greater the rewards.

Even though Dongfang Bubai used coercive means, she and Ye Xiu had already had a relationship. So I'm afraid Ye Xiu has a good impression of Dongfang Bubai.

With this thought, Lianxing walked towards Ye Xiu.

Ye Xiu and Ning Zhongze also noticed Lianxing approaching them.

Ning Zhongze, in particular, felt a pang of anxiety.

This woman's stunning beauty and noble temperament rivaled Yaoyue's, a peerless beauty of unparalleled grace and grace. A faint smile graced her face, her face sweeter than spring flowers. Her lively eyes, filled with an indescribable glimmer of wisdom and childlike innocence, gave off a uniquely stunning aura.

Besides Yaoyue, the only other woman capable of such beauty in Yihua Palace was Lianxing, the Second Palace Master.

"Lianxing greets Young Master Ye and Lady Ning. There's no need to be so nervous. I never intended to keep Young Master Ye in Yihua Palace, but my sister is known for her domineering nature, and I couldn't disobey her and let him go." Lianxing's voice was clever and lively, tinged with a childlike innocence that easily endeared her.

At least Ning Zhongze and Ye Xiu, after hearing Lian Xing's words, unconsciously relaxed.

Especially after knowing that Lian Xing wouldn't attack them, Ning Zhongze and Ye Xiu couldn't help but feel a little more favorable towards her.

"Speaking of which, I also want to thank Young Master Ye for the Divine Illumination Sutra. It's just that I want to thank you for such a powerful skill, but I don't know how." Lian Xing looked at Ye Xiu with eyes filled with gratitude.

Ye Xiu naturally understood why Lian Xing was so grateful and quickly waved his hand, "No, no, actually, Palace Master Yao Yue already gave me the Wedding Dress Divine Art in exchange, so you shouldn't do this."

"The Wedding Dress Divine Art that Sister gave you was ultimately missing the final level, and the essence of the Wedding Dress Divine Art lies there. Fortunately, Sister tracked down the Six Ren Divine Dice, a treasure lost from my Yihua Palace, and retrieved it. The Six Ren Divine Dice contained the final level of the Wedding Dress Divine Art. However, the Six Ren Divine Dice is in Sister's possession. I'll ask Sister later if she can give you the final level of the Wedding Dress Divine Art. That would make it a fair exchange." Lian Xing spoke softly, her words instilling a warm impression.

"No, in reality, the Divine Illumination Sutra only allows one to cultivate to the ninth level of Grandmaster Realm, not to reach Grandmaster level. Without the final level, the Wedding Dress Divine Art is equivalent to the Divine Illumination Sutra," Ye Xiu explained.

Lian Xing still shook her head. "Although the Divine Illumination Sutra can only cultivate to the ninth level of the Grandmaster Realm, its healing properties are exceptional. This is something the Wedding Dress Divine Art lacks. Without the final level of the Wedding Dress Divine Art and the Divine Illumination Sutra, their value is incomparable."

Lian Xing was truly astute. Her performance had even evoked a certain fondness in Ning Zhongze.

While Yao Yue was locked in a life-and-death struggle with Dongfang Bubai, Lian Xing was secretly trying to gain Ye Xiu's favor. If Yao Yue knew about this, she wondered if she would kill her younger sister.

After fighting Dongfang Bubai for dozens of rounds, Yao Yue and Dongfang Bubai once again faced off.

Upon seeing Lian Xing, Yao Yue coldly called out, "Lian Xing!"

"Sister!" Lian Xing quickly lowered her head and moved behind Yao Yue.

Now, Yao Yue's gaze towards Dongfang Bubai was tinged with pride. Her message was clear: Yao Yue could stop Dongfang Bubai, while Lian Xing could take Ye Xiu away. Dongfang Bubai was completely powerless.

Dongfang Bubai understood Yao Yue's intentions and frowned.

Indeed, she could have handled just Yao Yue. But with the addition of Lian Xing, a ninth-level Grandmaster, the problem became even more serious. After all, Dongfang Bubai couldn't clone herself.

Ning Zhongze couldn't help but feel a headache when he saw Lian Xing's reaction to Yao Yue.

Lian Xing held no ill will towards them, but judging by her attitude towards Yao Yue, if Yao Yue ordered her to capture Ye Xiu, she wouldn't dare disobey.

Just then, another outsider arrived at Yihua Palace.

"Brother Xiu!" a cheerful voice, like a lark, rang out.

Ye Xiu turned to see Huang Rong running towards them with a cheerful expression. Behind Huang Rong stood a sullen Huang Yaoshi.

Huang Yaoshi truly wanted to strangle Ye Xiu, but his daughter Huang Rong was deeply in love with him. If he did so, Huang Rong would never forgive him.

So Huang Yaoshi's face darkened, his eyes filled with dissatisfaction as he looked at Ye Xiu, but he had to keep his mouth shut and simply followed Huang Rong.

"Brother Xiu." Huang Rong ran to Ye Xiu, her face beaming with joy as she threw herself into his arms.

"Rong'er." Ye Xiu was delighted to see Huang Rong again, but then he felt a sharp gaze fixed on him. It was Huang Yaoshi's. Ye Xiu felt a little awkward. After all, hugging someone else's daughter in front of their father wasn't a good look. Ye Xiu couldn't decide whether to hug her or not.

Dongfang Bubai's lips curled up in a smile upon seeing Huang Rong appear.

While Huang Rong's cultivation might be low, her father was a ninth-level Grandmaster, more than enough to withstand Lian Xing.

While Huang Yaoshi had absolutely no fondness for Ye Xiu, he couldn't refuse Huang Rong's request.

Yao Yue's expression darkened again upon seeing Dongfang Bubai's gaze.

"Yao Yue, I advise you to stop dreaming of keeping Ye Xiu in Yihua Palace. You can't do it," Dongfang Bubai said with a certain smugness.

"Hmph, you know this is Yihua Palace!" Yaoyue snorted. Even if she and Lianxing were stopped, there were still many disciples within the palace. If a fight broke out, the outcome was uncertain.

Dongfang Bubai narrowed his eyes. "Yaoyue, you must understand. Even if you keep Ye Xiu this time, it'll only last a month at most. After a month, my strength will definitely surpass yours. By then, your Yihua Palace won't be able to keep Ye Xiu."

Yaoyue was startled, and her expression darkened.

Yaoyue realized that Dongfang Bubai was right.

Thanks to Ye Xiu's diary, she had broken through to the Grandmaster level, but Ye Xiu's favorability towards her was only 30. As for Dongfang Bubai, Yaoyue knew their relationship, and Ye Xiu's favorability towards him was likely no less. This was why Dongfang Bubai, who had been no match for her just a few days ago, was now almost as powerful as her.

This time, Dongfang Bubai was her equal.

But what about next month? Given Ye Xiu's fondness for Dongfang Bubai, she's likely to receive a large amount of rewards from the next diary entry. By then, she might no longer be Dongfang Bubai's opponent.

Furthermore, as time goes on, Dongfang Bubai's strength will grow, and she might even crush Yaoyue in the end.

Yaoyue couldn't accept the thought of being crushed by this woman, Dongfang Bubai.

She couldn't help but look at Ye Xiu. The source of everything lay with Ye Xiu. If it weren't for Ye Xiu, would Dongfang Bubai have had no chance to crush her?

With this thought, Yaoyue's eyes flashed with murderous intent as she looked at Ye Xiu.

Dongfang Bubai keenly sensed Yaoyue's murderous intent and immediately became alert.

Yaoyue, on the other hand, gave up after a fleeting thought.

The rewards from the monthly summary were simply too tempting for Yaoyue.

Just like this time, a mere 30 points of favorability had broken through the bottleneck that had held her for fourteen years. If Ye Xiu's favorability were higher, wouldn't she be able to easily become a celestial being, or even a terrestrial immortal?

The thought of this made Yao Yue's heart burn.

After all, anyone in the martial arts world inevitably aspires to higher realms.

But, Ye Xiu's favorability—

Yao Yue simply didn't understand how to improve it.

After all, she, Yao Yue, had never learned anything about it since she was a child. Even when she had fallen in love with Jiang Feng, she had never done anything to please him.

At this moment, Yao Yue thought of the incident in her diary, where Dongfang Bubai had activated Ye Xiu's acupoints and then forcibly possessed him—

but Yao Yue couldn't help but frown. Asking her to do such a thing to Ye Xiu? It seemed a bit too much; she simply couldn't do it.

But Yao Yue also knew that imprisoning Ye Xiu in Yihua Palace would only cause his favorability towards her to decline.

After all, at the beginning, Ye Xiu's favorability towards Yao Yue was 48 points, but because of Yao Yue's imprisonment, Ye Xiu's favorability towards her dropped to 30. If he continued to imprison her, Ye Xiu's favorability towards her might drop to 20, or even lower.

However, Yao Yue was very unwilling to let Ye Xiu go just like that, especially under the coercion of Dongfang Bubai.

After all, Yao Yue was used to being domineering, and she would not allow anyone to go against her wishes.

Now asking Ye Xiu to leave would make it seem as if she was being forced by Dongfang Bubai, which was something Dongfang Bubai absolutely did not want.

However, if the current situation was not handled properly, Ye Xiu's favorability towards her would drop, which was something Yao Yue did not want to see.

Lian Xing, who was standing by, understood Yao Yue's thoughts at the moment: "Sister, you exchanged the Shen Zhao Jing with Young Master Ye for me before, but you suddenly got the news of the Liu Ren Shen Dies, the secret treasure lost in our Yihua Palace, and left Yihua Palace directly. You just came back not long ago and haven't had time to thank Young Master Ye. How about this, we hold a banquet to formally thank Young Master Ye?"

Lian Xing wanted to give Yao Yue a way out and said that Ye Xiu's imprisonment was because Yao Yue left and delayed thanking Ye Xiu, so Ye Xiu was allowed to stay in Yihua Palace temporarily.

Yao Yue heard what Lian Xing said, waved her hand, turned inside: "You arrange the banquet."

"Yes, sister." Lian Xing responded quickly.

Lian Xing then smiled brightly, and with a deeply apologetic tone, she said, "I'm truly sorry. My sister suddenly learned of the Six-Ren Divine Dice and left Yihua Palace. I was so absorbed in practicing the Shenzhao Sutra and recovering from my injuries that I had no time to pay attention to Young Master Ye, which led to his misunderstanding. Actually, we at Yihua Palace didn't mean to embarrass Young Master Ye. It's just that the arrangements weren't well thought out. Young Master Ye can leave anytime he wants."

Dongfang Bubai snorted coldly at Lian Xing's words. How could she not know what Yao Yue was thinking? However, this matter ultimately depended on Ye Xiu, so she kept quiet.

"I see, but Palace Master Lian Xing, there's no need to be so rude. After all, unexpected events can lead to some oversights." Ye Xiu said, but he was curious. Yao Yue had actually found the Six-Ren Divine Dice. What would happen to Jiang Yuyan then? Hadn't Jiang Yuyan lost her chance? Could she still become the Yan Emperor?

However, the matter of Jiang Yuyan only flashed through Ye Xiu's mind. Right now, the most important thing was to deal with the current situation.

After all, the previous incident had caused such a big stir. Now that everyone could sit down and talk things over, resolving the matter easily, that was a good thing.

If they didn't settle this matter, who knows how much bigger it would have gotten, which would have been bad for everyone.

Seeing Ye Xiu say this, Lian Xing was even happier.

Ning Zhongze, on the other hand, was relieved to see the matter resolved.

However, Dongfang Bubai, from beginning to end, wore that mocking smile.

"Dongfang, thank you for saving me," Ye Xiu began to thank Dongfang Bubai.

"You're mine, after all. It's only natural for me to come to your rescue when something's wrong." Dongfang Bubai waved his hand, his expression nonchalant.

Seeing Dongfang Bubai like this, Ye Xiu smiled too. Dongfang Bubai was Dongfang Bubai, still a bit of a tsundere.

"Rong'er..."

Huang Yaoshi, standing nearby, watched Ye Xiu tangling with so many women, his expression darkening even further.

He couldn't understand why Ye Xiu could attract the attention of so many outstanding women, no matter if it was Dongfang Bubai or Yao Yue, which one was not a heroine. But they were jealous of each other for Ye Xiu.

Isn't Ye Xiu just a little whiter and more handsome? What else can he show off? Why do so many women like him?

And the most important thing is that among these women, there is even his daughter.

This is what Huang Yaoshi least wanted to see.

"Rong'er--"

"Dad, what's the matter with you?" Huang Rong replied impatiently.

Huang Yaoshi looked at Huang Rong who was smiling happily in front of Ye Xiu, but ignored him when he went to talk to her. Huang Yaoshi felt very uncomfortable.