Chapter 21: Mysterious Woman

"My lord, we are from the Dragon Family. Please, for the sake of our Dragon Family, forgive us this time."

Long Miaoyin stepped out from behind Xiao Fan and pleaded.

"People from the Dragon Family?"

The middle-aged man frowned again, scanning Xiao Fan and Long Miaoyin, and roughly guessed their identities.

Xiao Fan, a "useless" live-in son-in-law, had made a scene recently by defeating Long Xiaotian. However, he didn't care, assuming Long Xiaotian was just living off his reputation; such things were common.

If he were a true Genius, why would the Xiao Family give him up? Beat him half to death and send him away as a live-in son-in-law?

And the other, the Dragon Family's Third Young Miss, was an ugly freak born with a birthmark on half her face, too afraid to be seen in public.

"People from the Dragon Family may leave, but this person cannot." The middle-aged man pointed his finger at Xiao Fan.

Someone was causing trouble in the Treasure Pavilion today. If he didn't punish anyone because of the Family forces behind them, the reputation of the Treasure Pavilion would be ruined.

He didn't want to offend the Su Family, and he didn't want to offend the Dragon Family either, so he might as well make an example of this live-in son-in-law…

Xiao Fan's face turned gloomy. He looked at the middle-aged man coldly. This matter had nothing to do with him, yet he hadn't expected the other party to target him so specifically.

"My lord, why can't my husband leave? He is also a member of our Dragon Family." Long Miaoyin exclaimed.

"Heh… The Dragon Family?" The middle-aged man sneered. "A mere live-in son-in-law doesn't count as a member of the Dragon Family."

"If you break the rules of my Treasure Pavilion, you must pay the price!"

The middle-aged man had made up his mind to use Xiao Fan to establish his authority. His aura surged, and he intended to personally break one of Xiao Fan's arms.

Xiao Fan's face was so gloomy it could drip water. He clenched his fists tightly, circulating his cultivation. He was prepared to fight the other party even if he knew he couldn't win, should the man make a move!

"My lord…" Long Miaoyin was anxious and wanted to say something more.

Beside them, Su Ming watched this scene with a brilliant smile, waiting for the moment Xiao Fan's arm would be broken.

"Stop."

However, at this moment, a woman's voice came, interrupting the middle-aged man's attack.

"Who is it?" The middle-aged man frowned.

Everyone looked over, even Xiao Fan. The woman was wearing a red brocade dress, with a pair of beautiful eyes like autumn water and flowing black hair, giving off an ethereal, otherworldly feeling.

Beside her was an old man, looking respectful, walking half a step behind the woman.

The middle-aged man was stunned. He didn't recognize this woman, but he was very familiar with this old man… North Pavilion Master Qiao Yuanzhou of the Treasure Pavilion.

"Elder Qiao… I didn't know you were coming? I will handle the matters here."

The middle-aged man seemed like a different person, his attitude extremely respectful. One could even see a fair amount of cold sweat on his forehead…

"Hmph, is this how you handle things? Do you think I didn't hear everything just now? Get back and accept your punishment." North Pavilion Master Qiao Yuanzhou scolded coldly, his expression ugly.

"Yes, yes, I will go accept my punishment." The middle-aged man lowered his head and hurriedly took his people away from this place of trouble.

No one on the scene recognized the woman, but it was certain that her identity was definitely not ordinary.

Xiao Fan looked at the woman and the old man. He had never seen these two people in his memory and couldn't understand why the other party would help him.

"Heh… Are you curious why I helped you?" The woman in the red dress smiled, seemingly having seen through Xiao Fan's thoughts.

Xiao Fan nodded. The other party's identity clearly wasn't simple; he didn't believe she was acting out of pure kindness.

The woman in the red dress smiled brilliantly. "If I say you helped me win 100,000 Spirit Stones, is that reason enough?"

100,000 Spirit Stones?

Xiao Fan was stunned, not understanding what the woman in the red dress meant.

"Haha, never mind if you don't know. My name is Wu Qingyan. Don't take this matter to heart. In the future, I doubt anyone will trouble you when you come to this Treasure Pavilion." The woman in the red dress smiled, small dimples appearing on her cheeks, and turned to leave.

Pavilion Master Qiao Yuanzhou also smiled and said, "Young man, you are quite good. My name is Qiao Yuanzhou; you can call me Elder Qiao. Come visit the Treasure Pavilion often in the future." Having said that, the old man followed the woman in the red dress away.

No one knew who the woman was, only that her status was certainly high. After the woman left, Xiao Fan let out a sigh of relief.

"Let's go too."

Xiao Fan said to Long Miaoyin, who nodded. They had only come to buy a congratulatory gift today; he hadn't expected so many things to happen.

Su Ming, standing to the side, was dumbfounded, completely unable to understand what had just happened.

It just ended like that?

"Let's go." Su Ming said viciously, wanting to take his people away, but he wasn't as lucky as Xiao Fan and was stopped by someone.

"Young Master Su, you haven't paid your 200 Spirit Stones yet…"

Returning to the Dragon Family, Xiao Fan spent the whole way thinking about the identity of this woman named Wu Qingyan.

He confirmed repeatedly that it was indeed his first time meeting her.

Why would she say he helped her earn 100,000 Spirit Stones?

Since when did he have such ability? How did he not know?

But no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't figure it out, so he stopped dwelling on it. After arriving at the courtyard, he went straight to the Secret Room to Cultivate.

This outing made him realize once again the insufficiency of his own strength.

This world was dangerous everywhere; he had no backing and could only rely on himself.

Entering the Secret Room, he sat cross-legged, sent his Divine Sense into the star chart, and began to absorb a large amount of Spirit Stones.

The first three layers of the Nine Transformations of Qi Cultivation Technique were enough for him to Cultivate to the Great Perfection of the third stage of the Huaqi Realm. After that, he would need to shatter the stars again to obtain the remaining Cultivation Technique.

As for the people the Dragon Family sent to track Xiao Fan, because the latter had entered the Xuan-level floor of the Treasure Pavilion, they could not enter, so they were unaware of what happened afterward.

Therefore, the Dragon Family was completely ignorant of Xiao Fan selling the linjiao blade and purchasing the Blood Spirit Ginseng.

Time flew, and it arrived at Long Anhai's birthday.

Today, the entire Jingchuan City was very lively, with an endless stream of people arriving to offer congratulations.

It was the sixtieth birthday of the Dragon Family head in Jingchuan City. The entire Dragon Family was decorated with lanterns and festoons, and the great hall was filled with banquets, all consisting of precious delicacies.

A Cultivator's Lifespan far exceeded that of ordinary people. Living to eighty or a hundred years old in the Body Tempering Realm was easy. Reaching the Huaqi Realm added another fifty years of Lifespan, making it easy to live to one hundred and fifty, while entering the Tongtian Realm granted a Lifespan of two hundred years.

The reason for such grandiosity was entirely to show off the Dragon Family's influence.

Long Anhai was in a very good mood today, chatting with several friends beside him; these were all big shots famous in the vicinity.

"The Su Family of Moyun City has arrived, presenting a pair of jade ruyi…"

"The Wang Family of Linchuan City has arrived, presenting a piece of Tianhui Stone…"

One big Family after another sent people to offer congratulations. The heads of these families generally would not go out, but they would send clan elders and the young generation of Geniuses from their clans to attend such banquets.

Inside the great hall, various treasures were piled up, and Long Anhai was grinning from ear to ear.

Although these treasures were given for the sake of his position as Family head, they didn't need to be entered into the clan treasury; they all belonged to him personally, so he was naturally overjoyed.

At this time, Xiao Fan and Long Miaoyin were sitting at a table next to the main table. Sharing the table were Long Xiaotian, Long Yi, some direct descendants of the Dragon Family, and some children from other big Family forces, among whom Su Ming was also in this group.