In recent years, all his new clothes were bought with the help of Li Zhiyuan, except for the set of imitation Zhongshan suit he wore during his last trip to Beijing. The rest of the clothes bought by the Grandmaster were worn immediately and rarely stored away.

Picking up the ladle, Li Sanjiang scooped water from the water jar and poured it over himself, then wiped his face, letting out a contented sound.

When he habitually went to get the detergent, he found that his great-grandson had changed its position, replacing it with shampoo.

As he rubbed his hair, Li Sanjiang reminded him, "Little Yuanhou, be careful when you go out this time. It's summer and the roads are slippery with rain, and your job often takes you into the mountains."

"Grandmaster, I understand."

As if afraid that Liu Yumei downstairs would hear him, Li Sanjiang lowered his voice and said:

"If you really find it tough, we don't have to do this job anymore. Life is better now, and my child is smart. No matter what field he works in, he won't starve."

"Grandmaster, I like this field."

"Well, as long as you like it, that's good."

Li Sanjiang didn't persuade further. He could sense that the old lady was quite pleased with his great-grandson's current career progression.

If his great-grandson changed jobs, that materialistic old lady might change her mind.

Li Sanjiang saw that Little Yuanhou and Alii got along very well from their childhood days. He had tacitly accepted Alii as his future great-granddaughter-in-law, but he knew better that childhood promises sometimes didn't hold much weight.

In the village, many children would play games and say they would marry each other when they grew up. Yet as adults, they'd barely acknowledge each other on the streets.

Little Yuanhou's job is still very important.

"Splash!"

Another ladle of water was poured over his head.

Li Sanjiang exhaled, realizing that it wasn't just the old lady who was materialistic — he was too.

After showering, Li Sanjiang shuffled through the water, entered his room, and began to wipe himself.

Li Zhiyuan helped take clothes from the closet and assisted him in changing.

"Little Yuanhou, Grandmaster is tired. Call me when it's time for dinner."

"Alright, Grandmaster."

Li Zhiyuan left the room and was about to go downstairs when he saw Zhao Yi standing at the stairway.

Zhao Yi clutched his chest with his right hand, looking a bit pained.

Li Zhiyuan stood beside him, watching.

After a while, Zhao Yi recovered, unbuttoned his shirt, dug into his chest, and pulled out a handful of multicolored eggs.

The eggs had cracked open and started to ooze pus.

It was a disgustingly incongruous scene, but it happened so often with Zhao Yi that one became accustomed to it.

Zhao Yi hesitated momentarily before discarding them on the ground. He pulled out a sheet of talisman paper, chanted a few words, and pasted it on. As the talisman paper burned, the filth turned into black smoke.

"The colored python is dead, and Sun Yan is dead too."

"What about Xu Ming and Chen Jing?"

"The eggs representing them were the last to break. It seems it's because the colored python's death left them unsupported.

Sun Yan died quickly. To be able to kill Sun Yan with one strike, it wouldn't be difficult to kill them too.

So I reasonably suspect that those two didn't die, only Sun Yan did."

"Hmm."

"They're going to find my lair, huh."

"And your lair is near Zhao family's current residence…"

"Very close, just separated by a few mountain tops. After all, separating was just for show; my family knows that after I finish with Zou Jiang, I'll still 'recognize my ancestors and return to the fold.'

Furthermore, building the lair near home avoids a lot of trouble.

I thought I was being clever,

until I saw how you arranged your lair.

Li,

you're really afraid of dying!"

"I've lived in a university dormitory."

"So why did you come back?"

"I didn't expect university to go by so quickly. Since I often travel, it seemed better to just come home than return to the dorm after every trip."

"When I'm done with Zou Jiang, I'll also aim to go to university."

"Back to the point, the Zhao family should be alright." Li Zhiyuan pointed downstairs, "If something happened to the Zhao family, the old lady here would likely be informed before you."

The Jiujiang Zhao isn't a straightforward Dragon King family, but it's a formidable family. If they faced defeat, the top forces in the Jianghu would be the first to notice.

Zhao Yi walked to where Li Sanjiang had bathed earlier, scooping up water to clean his chest, and said, "So for now, it seems they're targeting me, not the Zhao family."

Li Zhiyuan: "If the Great Emperor had acted like last time, directly issuing an edict, it wouldn't be something that could be concealed."

Zhao Yi nodded: "That's right, killing only me instead of extinguishing the Zhao family seems unlikely to be a direct action from the Great Emperor."

Li Zhiyuan: "The Great Emperor has turned the tides, and we've decided to go to Fengdu. The Great Emperor doesn't have a reason to act now."

Zhao Yi: "But there's unrest here too. If it weren't for Peach Forest's concealment, the incident would've happened long ago. To strike both sides simultaneously takes considerable effort."

Li Zhiyuan: "Your living environment from childhood was more complicated than mine; you should understand better."

Zhao Yi: "Personal will and the will of a group sometimes don't align. The former often gets swept along by the latter."

Li Zhiyuan: "I've read the Yin family's genealogy, which records Yin Changsheng's ambitions after becoming immortal.

Actually, from our last experience at Yulong Snow Mountain, the zombie being suppressed under the tower aimed to imitate Emperor Fengdu by creating its own earthly Heavenly Kingdom beneath the snowy mountain."