Chapter 407: Venerable Yang
“Giving up without a fight is not my style at all. Since your sect wishes to test me, then I just have to rise up to the challenge!” In the end, Li Qiye answered the daoist.
Daoist Bao Gui was not surprised by his answer as he nodded his head: “Very well, since there are three trials, one of them will be chosen by you to keep it fair.”
“Okay, if I can specify a trial, then I will choose what the second trial will be.” Li Qiye decisively responded with ease.
“Good, the first trial will be a martial test starting tomorrow, do you have any objections?” Daoist Bao Gui asked.
Li Qiye shrugged and said: “I’m ready at any time.”
“Then you can return and prepare. Tomorrow, our Thousand Carp River will select a disciple to challenge you. You need to prepare; don’t underestimate your opponent.” Daoist Bao Gui was quite friendly and specifically warned him.
Li Qiye looked at Lan Yunzhu and smilingly asked: “Don’t tell me you guys are sending my fiancee to fight me?”
The word “fiancee” irritated Lan Yunzhu, but it also caused her to blush while she glared at Li Qiye.
“You don’t have to worry about that. If Yunzhu comes out, it would not be very fair.” Daoist Bao Gui smiled in response. In fact, although he was the sect master, he was also Lan Yunzhu’s master so of course he supported her.
In his opinion, if Lan Yunzhu went out, then Li Qiye would have no chance of winning. He had a lot of faith in his disciple since she had absolute confidence of winning against other emperor’s lineage descendants. Even if she were to face the descendant of the Myriad Bones Throne, he still believed that his disciple had a great chance of being the victor.
But to Li Qiye, he was happy to face any opponent. In fact, the stronger the opponent, the more excited he would be.
They went back to the mansion after saying goodbye to the daoist. There, they were met by Lu Baiqiu who quietly informed them that there was a guest waiting inside.
“Grandpa Yang!” After entering the room, Lan Yunzhu couldn’t contain her excitement and excitedly cried out after seeing the old man seated there.
There was an old man with an appearance around the age of seventy. He was not very tall, but him sitting there seemed to be able to block the storm and rain from all eight directions like an impregnable wall.
This old man was a high elder from the Thousand Carp River, someone who also came from the Soaring Remembrance Village — Venerable Yang!
The truth was that many great characters came from the village, including great generals and commanders from the mortal world. Some of these great characters became high elders of emperor’s lineages, such as Venerable Yang. However, no matter how great these characters were, nothing could break the silence of the village. After all, this silence belonged to the serene contemplation of an Immortal Emperor during his old age and remained unbreakable by anything or anyone.
“Grandpa paused your training.” Lan Yunzhu said with surprise. Venerable Yang was not her actual grandfather, but he was a very respected senior in the village, so she referred to him as “grandpa.”
Venerable Yang happily smiled and asked: “If the divine tree found you a good husband, how can I — as your Grandpa — not go and take a look?”
“Grandpa, what are you talking about!” Lan Yunzhu was quite shy, so she bashfully responded with a tint of red on her cheeks.
Venerable Yang carefully judged Li Qiye from top to bottom like a mother-in-law judging her son-in-law and found himself satisfied. [1. In Asian culture, usually, the mother-in-law gets along well with the son-in-law while the father hates him. I guess this goes with other cultures as well. This is just a phrase describing a common trope.]
“Good, good, good!” After looking at Li Qiye, Venerable Yang nodded his head approvingly and smiled: “It seems that the divine tree did indeed choose the right husband for you!”
“The divine tree might have picked the perfect husband for her, but it didn’t necessarily pick a virtuous wife for me.” Li Qiye said with a smile.
“Brat, don’t act like you didn’t get a good deal!” Venerable Yang smiled and gave him a stern look: “Our girl is not worse than anyone else. No matter what happens, you two must support each other in the future with love!”
Venerable Yang was very pleased with Li Qiye. The truth was that he trusted the Dream Wishing Tree of his village. As a high elder of an emperor’s lineage, he understood the significance of his tree, so the tree must have a good reason for choosing Li Qiye for Lan Yunzhu.
“Grandpa, it is not for certain yet!” Lan Yunzhu bashfully asserted.
Li Qiye could only shake his head and grin. This marriage, to him, was only a coincidence and nothing else. As for Lan Yunzhu, she only wanted to use him to escape the marriage forced upon her by the Thousand Carp River.
“Brat, I went out of my way to come out from my seclusion to cheer for you. I won’t say much about other things, but no matter what happens, you can do as you please. Regardless of what happens, this old man shall support your marriage and no one else can change it no matter what. Our Soaring Remembrance Village’s son-in-law can’t be defeated that easily, don’t you think?”
Elder Yang, as a high elder of the river sect, could be said to rarely care about worldly affairs. This time, he went out of his way to come out and back Li Qiye up since he was afraid that it would be hard to clap with only one hand. [1. Proverb meaning it is difficult to achieve anything without support.]
“Okay, I will do my best to win over this beauty so that we can make some healthy babies!” Li Qiye responded with a smile after seeing Venerable Yang’s enthusiasm.
Lan Yunzhu’s countenance was beet red due to anger and embarrassment; she couldn’t wait to beat this little devil into a pig’s head.
“Good, very good! I shall wait for your good news.” Venerable Yang smiled and told Li Qiye before leaving: “Go ahead and do as you please. A marriage made in heaven cannot be separated by anyone.”
“What nonsense were you talking about just now!” After Venerable Yang left, Lan Yunzhu angrily pinched Li Qiye’s thigh with no mercy and glared at him.
“Pop!” Li Qiye once again slapped her butt and squeezed it a little, causing Lan Yunzhu to scream as she immediately jumped back with a flushed appearance.
“You little pervert!” Lan Yunzhu’s pretty eyes displayed her exasperation. She was once again treated so frivolously by this brat that it caused her to tremble with anger as her face turned red like the sunset.
Compared to Lan Yunzhu’s anger that was capable of reaching the sky, Li Qiye — on the other hand — leisurely looked at her to say: “What little pervert? Such nasty words... Don’t forget, I am your fiance, and as your fiance, massaging my wife is a reasonable thing. And what’s more, your butt is both plump and supple...”
“You are still talking!” Lan Yunzhu could no longer maintain her calm while being overwhelmed with embarrassment, so she readied her claws in anticipation to chase Li Qiye.
Within a short amount of time, the room was filled with Li Qiye’s teasing laughter as well as Lan Yunzhu’s crazed voice. This caused Lu Baiqiu, who was standing right outside, to wryly smile as the two were becoming more and more like a young husband and wife.
On the second day, the news regarding Li Qiye’s trial to become the future son-in-law quickly spread throughout the Thousand Carp River.
“Future son-in-law? Ugh, we can call him that after he passes the examination. Right now, he is not qualified.” Countless young disciples had a crush on Lan Yunzhu so Li Qiye’s hostile love rivals were everywhere.
When the young disciples heard that Li Qiye wanted to take a trial, their first thought was to hope that he would fail.
Next, the information regarding the first martial trial also came out; it was a fight between Li Qiye and their senior brother, Yan Long.
In order to test Li Qiye’s martial capabilities, the Thousand Carp River sent out Yan Long, one of the strongest young disciples. This was understandable since it was already very fair that they didn’t send anyone from the previous generation.
And as for Yan Long being the one to take the mantle, it was unknown whether he was chosen by the elders or he volunteered himself.
When the Thousand Carp disciples heard that their senior brother was about to fight, they instantly became excited. One of them exclaimed: “Not bad, Senior Brother can instantly teach this frog who wants to eat a swan’s meat a good lesson!”
Very quickly, it could be said that even disciples who normally didn’t get along became quite united with a single thought, and that was to kick this Li Qiye out!
“Heh, that Li brat probably won’t even be able to handle three moves from Senior Brother. How can a nobody like him be a match for Senior Brother?” A junior sister who was a fan of Yan Long said.
“Three moves? That is thinking way too highly of that brat. In my opinion, one move is enough. Senior Brother is an amazing Ancient Saint!” A junior brother said: “If Senior Brother uses one move to defeat this brat, he will lose all confidence and won’t even have the courage to participate in the next one.”
“Nothing would be better. We have to let this brat know that not just anyone is worthy for our senior sister!” In an instant, all the brothers and sisters in the Thousand Carp River banded against Li Qiye.
It was as if Li Qiye had done something that warranted the unified hatred from everyone since all the disciples hoped that he would lose.
Early morning of the next day, the martial stage of the Thousand Carp River was filled with disciples since they all came early to witness the fight.
The elders that would act as referees came right after, then Yan Long also entered the stage. Today, Yan Long was in high spirits as the flames around his body resembled dragons capable of incinerating the sky.
Today, his battle intent was at its peak. He had a conceited look on his face as if victory was assured.
The truth was that Yan Long didn’t think too highly of Li Qiye. In his opinion, no matter how powerful a nobody like Li Qiye was, it still wouldn’t be enough to be his match.
His arrogance was not without reason. As the senior brother of the river sect, his talents were very high and he had become an Ancient Saint for some years now.