“It’s you!” Jian Taiding exclaimed, feeling horrified when he saw who it was.

Jian Yanyou’s corpse was still there, so there was no need for Zu An to pretend anymore. As such, he had returned to his previous appearance. Even though he hadn’t revealed his identity back then in the battle at the Zhenyuan Merchant Group, he had brought out the imperial edict, so it wasn’t hard to guess who he was.

Jian Taiding hadn’t believed he wasn’t strong enough at the time; rather, he believed he had lost because Zu An was too cunning. And yet this time, he had once again suffered badly at Zu An’s hands, and it was once again from a surprise attack. He almost vomited blood when he thought about how he had almost been done in twice in a row, and furthermore in the same way.

You have successfully trolled Jian Taiding for +666 +666 +666…

Zu An pretended to have just recognized him, feigning surprise as he exclaimed, “Isn’t this Second Master Jian over here? Why are you fighting with your sister-in-law?”

Jian Taiding stopped breathing for a moment, but he still endured his rage and asked, “There was a bit of a misunderstanding between me and my sister-in-law. We were just exchanging some pointers, we weren’t really fighting. Right, when did Sir Zu arrive?”

“Oh, I’ve been here for a little while already. I heard everything you guys said just now.” Zu An seemed as if he were talking about something completely insignificant.

Jian Taiding was stunned. His face darkened as he exclaimed, “Are you messing with me?”

You have successfully trolled Jian Taiding for +233 +233 +233…

Zu An’s smile faded as he replied, “Clearly, you were the one messing with me first.”

“Since you already arrived a while ago, why did you not interfere earlier? Why did you wait until I took the pill before you attacked?” Jian Taiding looked gloomy. If he had known it was going to be like this, he wouldn’t even have eaten that pill! He had ended up ruining his cultivation prospects for nothing. When he realized that, he was furious.

You have successfully trolled Jian Taiding for +888 +888 +888…

“How could I have witnessed such an amusing situation if I interfered earlier?” Zu An replied with a shrug. “I might have kept watching for a bit longer if you didn’t eat that powerful whatever pill.”

Jian Taiding coughed intensely, spitting out quite a bit of blood. He knew everything was already over. When he realized that, however, his mind actually cleared up somewhat. He looked at the completely unsurprised Yu Yanluo and realized something, asking, “Sister-in-law, he arrived together with you, no?”

Yu Yanluo didn’t reply, but she didn’t refute Jian Taiding either. Seeing that, Jian Taiding thought things over for a while, then asked, “He is that imposter, right?”

Yu Yanluo opened her mouth, but she didn’t know how to reply. However,  Jian Taiding already had his answer even without her response. His expression turned strange when he looked at Zu An. He asked, “How do those sisters-in-law of mine taste?”

Zu An frowned and replied, “They’re your sisters-in-law. Aren’t you being really weird by talking about them with that kind of tone?”

“I am the weird one?” Jian Taiding roared with laughter. “You are right; I have always desired them, but those were only thoughts. I did not act on them. The one who really did that was you, so why am I the weirdo?”

Zu An sighed and said, “You killed your brother and wanted to possess your sisters-in-law; is that not weird enough?”

Jian Taiding looked as if he had gone mad. He retorted, “So what if I possess them? My older brother is my blood brother; is it not normal for the younger brother to succeed the older brother when he passes?!”

Yu Yanluo finally couldn't take it any longer. She berated him, “So you still remember that he is your blood brother? You killed your own older brother, and yet you still have the nerve to say you are succeeding him?”

“So what? The same blood flows through our veins. Even if I helped my sisters-in-law bear children, the blood that flows through them would be the blood of our Jian clan. Meanwhile, this man is merely an outsider; they would all end up as random mutts!” Jian Taiding roared, “If my older brother’s spirit were still here, he would definitely rather accept me than some random man from outside the clan!”

Yu Yanluo was completely stupefied by those words. She said with a frown, “He has already gone completely mad.”

“I have not. My mind is clearer than ever before now.” Jian Taiding waved his hands in frustration; he seemed extremely unhappy to hear Yu Yanluo’s remark. He continued, “This random man has defiled those three sisters-in-law; I am sure you will not be able to escape his clutches soon either! Honestly, I am really jealous of him. He ended up doing everything I wanted to do.”

Zu An was speechless. Are you praising me or are you mocking me?

Suddenly, he seemed to see Jian Yanyou’s fingers twitch in the block of ice out of the corner of his eye. And yet, when he stared at it, there was nothing strange at all.

Was it a trick of the light? Zu An thought. He was confused, but he assumed he had just been seeing things. The two of them weren’t that far from each other, and he couldn't sense even a trace of aura from Jian Yanyou.

Furthermore, Jian Taiding and Uncle Ming had poisoned Jian Yanyou before, and he had been submerged in the cold pool for so long. How could someone in that condition still be alive?

Yu Yanluo said, “You should give up on trying to drive a wedge between us. We have proof of your scheme against your older brother, so I will now escort you back and leave you to the Imperial Envoy to deal with.”

“You are going to hand me over to the Imperial Envoy? Are you not scared that all of these scandals are going to be completely revealed?” Jian Taiding retorted with a laugh.

Yu Yanluo frowned. Even though she didn’t regret doing the things she had done with Zu An, there was a high chance that ordinary folk would start spreading all sorts of rumors and gossip.

Zu An suddenly exclaimed, “Be careful!” He grabbed Yu Yanluo’s waist and dropped to the ground as soon as he spoke.

Yu Yanluo’s entire body went taut. She quickly took out her magic weapon ‘World Painting’ to protect her. With their current relationship, she wouldn’t misunderstand Zu An as taking advantage of her. The reason she had taken the painting out was to protect herself against the unknown enemy.

Sure enough, a dark shadow appeared where the two of them had been. Someone holding a long, narrow sword slowly appeared from the shadows.

“A dark elf!” Zu An blurted out. He had encountered those natural-born assassins back in King Wu Manor. Their ability to move through shadows had left him with a deep impression.

“Shadow Group?” Yu Yanluo exclaimed.

“Madam Yu’s knowledge is admirable, as expected,” a voice called out with a laugh. “Many dark elves have been turned into assassins by the Shadow Group, but not all dark elves belong to the Shadow Group.”

Zu An and Yu Yanluo followed the source of the sound. Several people slowly emerged from the entrance.

The middle-aged man in the lead wore a feathered crest; his body was draped in a green cloak that glittered with multicolored light under the reflective ice walls. He was riding on a giant gray wolf, several times the size of the Amur tigers of Zu An’s previous world.

The wolf’s killing intent and the sharpness of its fangs were obvious even from far away. It released a suppressed growl, and wisps of smoke emerged from its mouth.

“Gray Wolf King!” Zu An exclaimed.

He was no stranger to those beasts. He had been purchasing Gray Wolf King Fangs for some time to use them for Daji’s breakthrough. He had also fought against a pack of such wolves during the crown prince’s exam as well, so he had a deep impression of them. Even though the Gray Wolf King wasn’t small at all, it couldn't compare to the ones he had met before. However, its aura was definitely more powerful than any Gray Wolf King he had met before.

“Kong Qing!” Yu Yanluo exclaimed as she looked at the man on tha Gray Wolf King’s back vigilantly. She secretly warned Zu An, “He is at the late stage of the master rank at the very least, but he has never used all of his strength. I believe no one knows how strong he really is. Also, you have to be careful not to look into his eyes. He excels in eye techniques.”

“Eye techniques…” Zu An wouldn’t dare to lower his guard even without Yu Yanluo’s reminder. The two of them had met before at the Zhenyuan Merchant Group. Back then, when he had run into Kong Qing and Jian Taiding, the two master ranks, as well as a group of ninth ranked cultivators, he had already been forced to flee for his life.

As the Gray Wolf King entered the cave, it revealed two of Kong Qing’s companions who had been hidden behind its massive body.

One was a charming young lady who was dressed in red wedding clothes. She was clearly quite pretty, and yet the sensation she gave off was strange. Her figure was as light as a feather, as if even just a gentle breeze would knock her down. She was holding a child’s hand; the child appeared to be around five or six years old. She was swinging her arm back and forth with an innocent and naive expression.

Zu An couldn't help but ask, “Are you in a rush to get married or something? No, wait, you guys must be getting married because you accidentally got her pregnant!”

Kong Qing initially had a calm and refined expression, but when he heard this, his smile couldn't help but freeze on his face.