Ye Fenghan spoke with a detached tone. "Several people with killing intent were tracking you on this journey. I scared them all away. If not for me, you would have been assassinated. However, I don't expect you to repay this debt. From now on, stay away from Mei'Er. She's too young, too inexperienced. She has yet to meet a truly brilliant man, which is why she's been fooled by your sweet-talking."
His voice was very soft.
But the contempt and disdain in his words were intense.
Ye Tianling looked up at the sky. He suddenly found it all so ironic. 'To possess peerless talent, yet have no one able to recognize it.'
Ye Fenghan sneered. "What's wrong? Can't handle a dose of reality? Feel like crying? Holding your head up so the tears don't fall?"
Ye Tianling looked at Ye Fenghan with a cold gaze. "If there were tears in my eyes, they would only be for how shortsighted Mei'Er's father is. Besides, what is a woman to me? Do you think I would cry over a woman? Mei'Er is wonderful, but even she isn't worthy of my tears!"
Ye Fenghan said scornfully, "Spare me the verbal bravado. You're clearly not calm. Holding back your tears is pointless; I won't think any more of you for it. Everything you've done in the past is reason enough for me to disregard you. If you hadn't shown some backbone this time by rejecting Mei'Er's Qiankun Ring and the vast amount of Elixirs and treasures inside, I wouldn't even be speaking with you. I would have simply sent Mei'Er away."
"Hahahahaha."
Ye Tianling suddenly laughed.
Ye Fenghan frowned and bellowed, "What are you laughing at? What's so funny? You burned your Talent Bloodline, ruining your father's hope of passing down the Fiery Sun Sword Body—that's unfilial! You couldn't even hold on to your own fiancée, letting her turn to Ye Tianyun instead—that's incompetence! You usually rely on Mei'Er for protection, yet instead of treating her well, you gave your own Elixirs to Ye Yueling, who despises you—that's just pathetic!
"An unfilial, incompetent, pathetic piece of trash—how could I let Mei'Er give her heart to you? How do you think you won her over? It was only because you saved her when she fell into the Cold Pool as a child, nearly drowning yourself in the process! In gratitude for that act, I have secretly intervened on your behalf multiple times. Otherwise, do you really think you'd still be alive today? The schemers in the family would have already—would have already had you killed!"
There were some things Ye Fenghan left unsaid. For instance, he didn't mention the clan members who wanted to seize the Fiery Sun Bloodline from Ye Tianling and his father to study their Sword Intent.
At this moment, Ye Fenghan was extremely displeased with Ye Tianling.
And Ye Tianling was clearly not the coward or the pushover he had imagined.
In the past, Ye Tianling wasn't interested in Ye Yuemei, so Ye Fenghan didn't bother with him.
'Now, after being dumped by Ye Yueling, he immediately treats Mei'Er as a 'replacement.' That's something I can't tolerate! What's worse, this little bastard has already been putting his hands all over my precious daughter. He's only fifteen, but he acts like a seasoned womanizer. If a person like him actually had any power, he'd be a menace!'
The thought made Ye Fenghan even more agitated.
"In the past... I was indeed a waste, and it's true I've benefited from Elder Fenghan's protection. I will remember this debt and repay you in the future. As for Mei'Er, perhaps she really hasn't met many brilliant men, which is why she likes a waste like me. But if Mei'Er goes to the Celestial Sword Sect, she and I will naturally be in different worlds. In that case, Elder Fenghan, what do you have to worry about?"
Ye Tianling understood what Ye Fenghan was getting at, but he played dumb.
"Repay me? I don't expect you to, and you couldn't even if you tried! If you really want to pay me back, then stay far away from Mei'Er! Mei'Er can be single-minded. She might suspect me, so I need you to leave a message for her. Tell her you'll wait for her, so she can go to the Celestial Sword Sect with peace of mind. Otherwise, she'll stay in the clan, waiting for you to come get her in a year!"
Ye Fenghan sighed, forced to soften his tone.
For his daughter's future, he had to humble himself, even though he couldn't stand the sight of the loathsome Ye Tianling.
Ye Tianling smiled mysteriously. "Elder Fenghan, if I let her go now, you will come begging me in the future!"
Ye Fenghan's face darkened. "Beg you? Stop your shameless boasting! Ye Tianling, get your head out of the clouds and accept the reality that you are a waste! I can give you a Dragon Bone Pill, even a Creation Pill! It would be enough to completely eliminate the side effects from burning your talent—but then you'd have to live as an ordinary person! That's not so bad, really. Find a secluded mountain village, marry a common woman, and live out your days. Perhaps one of your descendants will awaken the Fiery Sun Bloodline and manifest the Fiery Sun Sword Body. Then, you could ride on your child's coattails. You might still amount to something after all!
"A man must learn his place and not overreach."
Ye Tianling said lightly, "Do you think I can be bought?"
Ye Fenghan's face grew colder. "Ye Tianling, don't be so shameless. You want to be with Mei'Er? Absolutely impossible! Mei'Er's husband will be a top-tier genius! You probably have no idea what a genius is, so let me tell you: one must comprehend Sword Intent before the age of sixteen just to cross the threshold of 'genius'! And you, Ye Tianling? Forget that your Talent is ruined. Even if it wasn't, you're almost sixteen, aren't you? Sword Intent? After burning your Talent, you only reached the paltry First Heaven of Sword Beginning Realm. You don't even understand the Sword Dao, let alone Sword Intent!
"A waste like you still dreams of being with Mei'Er? Give up!"
A mocking expression appeared on Ye Tianling's face. He sneered, "I don't understand the Sword Dao? Then why don't you tell me what it is, Elder Fenghan? Enlighten humble little me!"
Ye Fenghan waved his hand, gathering a stream of Sword Essence. The Sword Essence evolved into Sword Qi, and the Sword Qi condensed into a wisp of Sword Intent.
It was a Sword Realm. Although it was very crude, Ye Tianling sensed it instantly.
That realm was filled with a searing, heatwave-like aura, as if it could affect the environment, the atmosphere, and even a person's Essence, Qi, and Spirit.
"This is a strand of Fiery Sun Sword Intent. Your father once used it. I am merely imitating it, and it has less than one percent of its power. I am currently thirty-three years old, at the Sword Essence Third Heaven Realm, and am still a step away from true Sword Intent.
"Although it's just a step, it's an insurmountable gap. A true genius, at sixteen, might not reach the Sword Intent Realm, but they can comprehend a Sword Realm and possess a powerful Heart of Sword Dao!
"I'm not looking down on you, I'm just stating the facts!
"If you care about Mei'Er, let her go to the Celestial Sword Sect! Only by going to the Celestial Sword Sect can Mei'Er possibly comprehend Sword Intent within a year and cross the threshold of a genius."
Ye Fenghan wanted to take a harder line, but what could he do with this stubborn brat, Ye Tianling, who was completely impervious to persuasion?
'He couldn't just kill Ye Tianling, could he?'
'After all, it was his daughter who had taken the initiative to pursue Ye Tianling, while Ye Tianling himself had been rather indifferent before.'
Ye Tianling nodded and said, "Do you have a Projection Stone? Give me one. I'll make sure Mei'Er cultivates properly."
Ye Fenghan immediately took out a Qiankun Ring and from it, produced an egg-sized, misty, blue-green stone.
"This is a Projection Stone. Do you want me to teach you how to use it? And help you gather your Spiritual Power? It requires focusing a very strong thought—"
Ye Fenghan was about to explain further and help strengthen Ye Tianling's Spiritual Power, but he saw Ye Tianling take the Projection Stone, his eyes focused, and the stone immediately burst forth with a dazzling, brilliant light.
"Uh—Such a pure thought! Such powerful Spiritual Power!"
Ye Fenghan was stunned, and the expression on his face was a sight to behold.
'This... is this really the Talent of a waste?'
'Or is it that after burning his Fiery Sun Sword Body's Talent, Ye Tianling is in some kind of temporary 'super genius' state?'
'Such Talent... what a waste...'
Ye Fenghan believed it was the latter, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
He even started to wonder, 'If Ye Tianling didn't have an Innate Deficiency, if he had been able to use the resources his father left him for Hard Cultivation, wouldn't he have already condensed Sword Intent by now? If Ye Tianling had already formed his Sword Intent, it wouldn't be so bad for Mei'Er to be with him...'
"Mei'Er, your father came to escort me and made sure I was safe the whole way, so don't you worry. He told me that you have to go to the Celestial Sword Sect to cultivate, and if you don't, he won't let me come find you ever again! So, Mei'Er, you just go on to the Celestial Sword Sect and don't worry. Cultivate hard. Once you've made a name for yourself, your Brother Qing will come looking for you. As long as you're enough of a genius, you'll have all the authority and status you need!
"Then, even if your Brother Qing is just an ordinary guy, you can still bring me into the Celestial Sword Sect to live a life of leisure.
"Mei'Er, you'll have to protect me then. If you aren't powerful enough, what will I do if people bully me? Right? Alright, that's enough for now. Next time we meet, I'll have to test if you've really... 'grown up.'"
Ye Tianling's shameless, lewd words and his cavalier tone nearly made Ye Fenghan cough up a mouthful of old blood.
He was Ye Yuemei's father, standing right there, and Ye Tianling still dared to say such bastardly things. 'If I'm not around to watch him,' he thought, 'I can't even imagine what he'd get up to!'