After reading the last line, Xiao Yan's hands began to tremble.
Getting married this year…
Bring your children to see me…
Uncle Xiao…
Tear!
Xiao Yan's face twisted with pain and fury as he ripped the letter into shreds.
"No!" he roared, voice echoing in the empty room.
Agony...raw and suffocating...crashed over him. It felt like someone had carved out his heart and left a bleeding void behind.
"It won't be like that… That's not true…"
He collapsed onto the bed, his eyes dull and lifeless, muttering as if trying to convince himself.
Drawing in a deep breath, he caught the faint trace of Xun'er's fragrance still lingering in the air.
For a fleeting moment, it felt like she was still there, just beyond reach.
His eyelids grew heavy. Clutching at that scent, he drifted into a restless sleep.
Meanwhile…
At the Miter Auction House manor, Yafei lay languidly in Ye Chen's arms, her jade-like fingers tracing lazy circles across his chest.
"Brother Ye Chen, when are you planning to leave?" she asked softly, her voice laced with reluctant sweetness.
"I'll leave tomorrow."
Since everything in Wutan City had been settled, Ye Chen had no reason to linger.
Besides, it had been too long since he'd seen Nalan Yanran and his teacher, Yun Yun.
A few… intriguing thoughts had been simmering in his mind.
After returning to the sect, he planned to ask his teacher whether she was willing to practice the Tianfeng Chapter.
Yun Yun's talent was undeniable....reaching the Douhuang realm at a young age...but in recent years, she had been stuck at the three-star Douhuang level, unable to break through.
The Tianfeng technic was a heaven-tier cultivation method, renowned for its potent supportive effects.
Whether it required dual cultivation or not didn't matter to Ye Chen...his main goal was to help his teacher shatter her bottleneck.
Teacher… you wouldn't want to be trapped at three-star Douhuang forever, would you?
The image of Yun Yun cultivating the Tianfeng Chapter flickered through his mind, bringing a faint, knowing smile to his lips.
"Why so rushed?" Yafei pouted, leaning closer. "Can't you stay with me a little longer?"
Hearing this, Ya Fei's eyes dimmed with reluctance.
After more than three years apart, they had only been together for a few short days...far too little to satisfy her heart.
"Sister Yafei, there's still a long road ahead. Didn't I already tell you I'll be back for the sect competition?"
Seeing her slightly pouty expression, Ye Chen leaned in and planted a gentle kiss on her flawless cheek. "
Don't worry. When I return to the imperial capital, I'll request the family to transfer you back as soon as possible."
"What's the point of coming back? What if those old fossils force me to get married?"
The thought of the countless letters from her clan urging her to wed into the Mu family made Ya Fei's beautiful eyes flash with irritation.
"You can rest assured," Ye Chen said, pulling her into his arms, his voice steady with confidence.
"When you're transferred back to the imperial capital, you'll be entrusted with a key position in the family.
From then on, no one in the Miter family will have the right to dictate your fate."
Ye Chen spoke these words without hesitation...because he had the strength and means to back them up.
"Brother Ye Chen, even if you become the Young Master of the Yunlan Sect, you still can't order those old men around in my clan, right?"
Her tone carried a trace of doubt. The Miter family was one of the three great houses of the Gama Empire.
Even with Ye Chen's current influence, convincing those stubborn elders would not be easy.
"Don't worry. I'll find a way. You don't have to burden yourself with these thoughts."
Ye Chen lightly pinched her delicate face, his eyes holding an unshakable certainty.
"You must believe in your man...he will always protect his woman."
Ye Chen felt a wave of irritation when he thought about the elders in his family...those old men who relied on their age and status to throw their weight around, including his own grandfather.
Yes, they treated him well on the surface, but every word of advice carried the hidden intent of keeping him under their control.
If he did nothing, then even if he one day became the leader of the Yunlan Sect, he would still find himself bound by their invisible chains.
But Ye Chen was never the type of man to let others decide his fate.
"Relying on your age to act high and mighty, huh? Then I'll just find someone even older than you to put you in your place."
A figure surfaced in his mind....the Ice Emperor Hai Bodong, still living in seclusion in Mo City.
If he could bring Hai Bodong out of hiding, suppressing those family elders would be effortless.
"After I settle Yanran's marriage issue, the next stop will be the Tagor Desert."
In that boundless desert awaited Qing Lin with her mysterious Three-Flowered Pupils, and the alluring yet dangerous Queen Medusa.
These had long been marked as targets in Ye Chen's plans.
And now, there was a new objective...Ice Emperor Hai Bodong.
As long as Ye Chen could find a way to break the seal on Hai Bodong's body and bring him back to the Miter family, the balance of power would shift entirely in his favor.
With the Ice Emperor's support, who in the entire clan would dare go against him?
Taking advantage of seniority?
Heh… we'll see who's really qualified.
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