The Master and His Wealthy Fiancée

That night, Xia Yi insisted on sleeping while hugging Li Wang, calling her ”precious granddaughter” and telling the girl to call her ”Grandma,” which left Chen Dong utterly stunned.

Fortunately, Li Wang’s expression showed she didn’t mind in the slightest—in fact, she seemed to be enjoying it, so Chen Dong relaxed.

Meanwhile, poor Li Jianwen still hadn’t managed to placate his wife; he’d been sleeping in the study ever since Xia Yi came back.

Perhaps even more pitiable than Li Jianwen was Chen Dong, who was still sleeping on the floor.

On the bed, Li Huiran found herself sleepless once again. That damn man, Chen Dong, had left her completely flustered, and Li Wang was still somewhat distant, making her feel like a stepmother.

She messaged her best friend, Wang Mengyu, hoping to chat for a bit, but after waiting a long time, she received no reply.

The next morning, the naturally beautiful Li Huiran had rare dark circles under her eyes. She hadn’t slept well all night. The bidding for the Sunshine Project was imminent, the company was busy merging with the Huang Company, and countless other matters were wearing her down.

In contrast, Li Wang was like a lively, adorable pixie. Xia Yi had styled her hair into two cute buns, and she spent the morning bounding about, bursting with energy.

After breakfast, Chen Dong planned to take Li Wang to work with him. He couldn’t rest easy leaving this human-shaped nuclear weapon unsupervised.

Xia Yi hugged Li Wang, refusing to let her go. ”Why would you take a child to work? I plan on buying her lots of new clothes today. The outfits you picked aren’t worthy of my precious granddaughter.”

Perhaps because she heard she’d be getting new pretty clothes, Li Wang put on an obedient act. ”Dad, don’t you worry! I promise I’ll be on my best behavior!”

Chen Dong didn’t dare object to Li Wang’s wishes. In his view, *she* was the dad in this relationship. And since his ”dad” had spoken, he had no choice but to agree.

He repeatedly urged Xia Yi to satisfy all of Li Wang’s requests and not let her get upset. To the Li Family, his actions made him look exactly like a doting father who couldn’t bear to be separated from his daughter.

Chen Dong and Li Huiran went to the company, clocked in, and then headed to the Yang Family Villa.

A crowd was waiting for Chen Dong at the entrance to the Yang Family Villa: Yang Mingshan, Yang Rong, Wang Xue, the thuggish-looking fourth son of the Yang family, and surprisingly, the stern-faced third son and a naive-looking Yang Lin.

After Chen Dong had lured away the giant serpent, the third son had led Yang Lin back to safety along the same path.

When they entered the living room of the Yang Family Villa, they found it piled high with all kinds of medicinal herbs. Chen Dong’s eyes instantly lit up. ’So this is the power of a family!’ For him to gather all these materials by himself would have taken an immense amount of effort; many of the top-grade herbs couldn’t be bought with money alone.

The sheer volume of herbs was why Yang Mingshan had chosen to use the Jiangzhou branch of the Yang Family and their transportation network.

Yang Mingshan, with a fawning yet self-satisfied expression, asked Chen Dong, ”Senior, what else do we need for the Mingxi Condensation Pill?”

”We’re missing a Pill Furnace!”

”What kind do you need?”

Chen Dong mulled it over for a moment. ”According to the current classifications, it needs to be above the level of a Magical Artifact, something approaching a Divine Artifact.”

In modern society, the Martial Dao was increasingly disregarded. It was an era of peace, and as a result, many cultivation lineages had been broken. In this environment, cultivation families and Martial Dao sects had largely withdrawn from the world, and the classification system for cultivation implements had become extremely broad. Ordinary blades were just considered sharp tools. Those with a hint of supernatural power were called Magical Artifacts, while anything with significant power that could grant its user insights was simply dubbed a Divine Artifact—a title that was now severely watered down.

Even so, the number of Magical Artifacts still in circulation was extremely small, and Pill Furnaces were the rarest of them all. It was difficult enough to find a single Pill Furnace at the Magical Artifact level, let alone one that surpassed it.

Yang Mingshan’s brow furrowed. This was a major obstacle.

”Senior, is there any alternative?”

Chen Dong smiled. ”An ordinary Pill Furnace could work, as long as it’s stable enough. The problem is, the success rate would plummet, and we only have a single stalk of Mingxi Grass.”

After all the trouble he’d gone through to get that one stalk of Mingxi Grass from the ancient tomb, Chen Dong had no desire to fail.

Chen Dong now had plenty of medicinal herbs, but he still lacked a good Pill Furnace. Whether he was refining the Nine Yang Pill, the Purifying Void Pill, or the far more difficult Mingxi Condensation Pill, a furnace was indispensable. This made him wonder if he should make a trip back to Celestial Essence Mountain and borrow his old master’s Pill Furnace for a bit.

Just as Chen Dong was contemplating a visit to his master, four archaically dressed Daoists arrived at Jiangzhou Airport, turning heads wherever they went.

The four looked as if they had stepped out of ancient times. Their long hair was coiled at the back of their heads and secured with wooden hairpins, and their black Daoist robes were embroidered with stars. They exuded a chilling, murderous aura that made anyone thinking of asking for a photo shrink back in fear.

Huang Yongfeng, who appeared timid and easily bullied, was also at the airport and successfully greeted the four men.

”Esteemed Guardians, welcome to Jiangzhou!” Huang Yongfeng said, his face a mask of obsequiousness.

The eldest of the group, a man who looked to be in his fifties with a two-foot-long beard, gazed coldly in the direction of the Huang Family’s estate. ”Hmph. Jiangzhou!” he said, his voice dripping with ice. ”To think my apprentice, Tengfei, would lose his life in this insignificant city!”

”Great Guardian, rest assured,” Huang Yongfeng said. ”I’ve been keeping a close watch on the killer. He’s still in Jiangzhou; he hasn’t fled. I’ve already arranged for a hotel and a welcome banquet. We can go get revenge after we’ve eaten and drunk our fill!”

The Great Guardian’s voice was cold. ”Unnecessary. As the ancients said, ’Slay a man every ten paces, for a thousand miles leave no trace.’ We will go to him directly. He dared to kill my apprentice, so I will annihilate his entire family now that I am in Jiangzhou!”

Huang Yongfeng was dumbfounded. ’Is that really what that poem means?’ He wasn’t about to get into a literary debate with the Great Guardian, so he just said, ”Very well, we’ll go find him directly.” A sharp glint flashed in his eyes. ’Four Tiangang experts this time. I hope he can handle it.’