After Zhu Tianhong and Steward Liu left, once they were around the corner, Steward Liu covered his mouth and said, "Patriarch Zhu, are we just going to let that kid go? He’s a Fourth Grade Divine Rune Master! Letting him go is a huge loss..."

Zhu Tianhong’s gaze turned cold. He raised his hand and gave him a resounding slap. SMACK! Steward Liu was sent flying, losing several teeth in the process. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"You have the gall to say that?" Zhu Tianhong said coldly. "If it weren’t for you, he would have definitely become our Honored Guest Elder! And you tried to force him? If you want to die, don’t drag me down with you! Someone so young who’s already a Fourth Grade Divine Rune Master—do you think his background is simple? He might even be connected to that mysterious expert. An expert who can annihilate the Cyan Profound Mansion could at least destroy our Zhu Family, even if they can’t destroy the Star Pavilion. Do you understand!?"

Within the family, Zhu Tianhong’s actions were completely centered around its interests. He would sacrifice anyone for the family, but he was reluctant to provoke outsiders. Playing it safe for self-preservation—that was the best way to handle things.

Steward Liu scrambled to his feet, trembling all over. He could only lower his head, not daring to utter another word.

"In any case, at least this matter is resolved. I hope we’ll have a chance to cooperate in the future." Zhu Tianhong shook his head, feeling it was quite a pity. "Those two... they’ve found a good person to follow... When we first adopted them, they were meant to be maids. I never expected them to sacrifice so much for our Zhu Family. We’ve really put them through a lot. If there’s anyone to blame, it’s me for being too incompetent..."

He led Steward Liu and the others away, not lingering any longer.

As they were leaving, a figure emerged from a corner. It was none other than Yi Tianyun. He had come over to eavesdrop and see if they had any other plans. ’It seems Zhu Tianhong is a relatively upright person, not treacherous like some. He’s just ruthless enough to sacrifice anyone for the sake of his family.’

"Ding! Successfully completed the Quest: ’Place in the top three of the Divine Rune Competition and rescue the two sisters.’ Reward: 1,000,000 Experience Points, one use of the Enhanced Lottery Wheel, +5,000 Divine Rune Mastery Proficiency, +100 Favorability with Zhu Yuwei and Zhu Yuxuan!"

"Ding! Congratulations to Player ’Yi Tianyun’ for upgrading Intermediate Divine Rune Mastery to Advanced Divine Rune Mastery!"

’The upgrade from Intermediate to Advanced Divine Rune Mastery was smooth enough; that part wasn’t difficult at all. However, the proficiency required for the next level is a staggering one hundred thousand. That’s going to be tricky.’

’I still have one use of the Enhanced Lottery Wheel? I’ll save it for later.’ Yi Tianyun valued this prize highly. It was a lottery chance worth 500,000 Madness Value, and the items it gave were never bad. How could he not be excited?

After composing himself for a moment, he turned to head back and meet up with Zhu Yuwei and her sister. However, just as he turned, he saw a familiar face walking toward him.

"Young Master, we meet again. Thank you so much for your help earlier. If it weren’t for you, the Divine Rune I was inscribing would have certainly failed." He Qianhan walked over with a smile. "I almost forgot to introduce myself. I am He Qianhan from the Celestial Extreme Mansion. May I ask for your esteemed name, Young Master?"

"I wouldn’t dare claim my name is esteemed. I am Yi Tianyun, from the Merak Sect." Yi Tianyun smiled faintly. "I only said a few casual words. It is my honor that Miss He chose to believe me. The most important thing is that your own skill was strong enough; otherwise, nothing I said would have mattered."

"That may be so, but I must thank you all the same, Young Master Yi... I just didn’t expect a Second-Grade Faction to have a genius like you. It’s truly unexpected." He Qianhan smiled faintly. "If it’s convenient, I wonder if Young Master Yi would have time to pay a visit to our Celestial Extreme Mansion?"

"Not at the moment, I’m afraid. I still have things to do. I’ll pay a visit some other time," Yi Tianyun said with a smile.

"Very well. In that case, I will await Young Master Yi’s arrival at the Celestial Extreme Mansion. Also, this is a Referral Token. You can use it to find me when you go to the Celestial Extreme Mansion." After handing the token to him, He Qianhan gave a slight bow, smiled, and left to attend to other matters.

When Yi Tianyun returned, Zhu Yuwei and Zhu Yuxuan were there, talking about something. When he approached, they smiled at him.

"What is it? Why are you both looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?" Yi Tianyun reached up and touched his face, but he didn’t seem to feel anything.

"Elder Yi, how about we both take your surname, Yi?" Zhu Yuwei said with a smile.

"This..." Yi Tianyun was stunned. ’Isn’t that a bit much?’

"We’ve been orphans since we were children. We only took the Zhu surname because we were taken in by the Zhu Family. Now that we follow you, we are no longer part of the Zhu Family, so we don’t plan on being called Zhu anymore." Their expressions were resolute; they had already committed themselves to Yi Tianyun.

"That’s up to you. I don’t really mind either way..." Yi Tianyun truly didn’t care about it, but if they were so insistent, there was nothing he could do.

"Alright then! From now on, my name is Yi Yuwei!"

"Then I’ll be called Yi Yuxuan!"

"From now on, we will both follow Elder Yi’s orders. We will put Elder Yi first in everything."

The two of them looked at each other and smiled, their voices filled with joy. They felt that this was, at long last, a form of liberation.

"Alright, alright... As you wish." Yi Tianyun felt a bit helpless, but a slight smile appeared on his face as well.

After getting the two sisters settled, Yi Tianyun took his token and headed for the Main Pavilion. He wanted to redeem his time in the Celestial Spirit Jade Pool right away. He was going to be busy soon and didn’t know when he would be back at the Main Pavilion, so he decided to use the reward now while he was here.

Arriving at the Main Pavilion, he saw that its decorations and scale were, as expected, worlds apart from the branch. The decorative style was the same, but the scale was immense. It was practically a city, with the entire area belonging to the Star Pavilion.

As such, next to the competition plaza was, in fact, a city named Star City! A city built by the Star Pavilion, it was more like a massive sect.

People came and went inside, much like any other city. The biggest difference was simply that it was governed by the Star Pavilion.

Arriving before the Main Pavilion’s Treasure Pavilion, Yi Tianyun presented his token and walked inside. The moment the guards saw the token, their expressions changed, and they immediately welcomed him in respectfully.

"I’m here to redeem my reward. Do you know where the Celestial Spirit Jade Pool is?" Yi Tianyun asked.

"For that, an elder will have to escort you. Please wait a moment."

The guard quickly went to find an elder. In just a moment, an elder walked over, looking Yi Tianyun up and down with a hint of surprise in his eyes. "You’re the first-place winner?"

Although Yi Tianyun had become famous from this competition, not everyone had gone to watch it. For this reason, many people still didn’t know what he looked like.

"That’s right. I am the first-place winner," Yi Tianyun said with a faint smile.

"So young..." The elder immediately smiled. "You look much younger than the rumors suggested... Please, come with me. Pavilion Master Li gave special instructions that if you, Young Master Yi, came by, we must give you the best reception. Otherwise, it would be our discourtesy."

Yi Tianyun nodded. ’I’m only receiving this treatment because I displayed astonishing strength, which earned me this recognition. Lin Li, by contrast, was given the cold shoulder. In this world, strength is paramount. Without it, you’re nothing!’