Urban Martial Saint

Ye Qing had no idea that after he left, the Seventh Elder was still in the room thinking about so many things. As soon as he walked out of the Seventh Elder’s room, he immediately called over the technicians that Zhao Chengshuang had previously arranged and had them start locating and tracking that piece of paper.

With radioactive material on that paper, tracking it became much easier. Once these people had everything set up, the computer screen clearly showed the location of the paper—it was right inside the room where the Seventh Elder lived, which showed that this positioning and tracking operation had been very successful.

Seeing that everything was arranged, Ye Qing let out a long breath of relief. The next step was simply to wait for the Seventh Elder to deliver this paper to the Iga-ryu Sect Master. As long as the Seventh Elder passed this paper to the Iga-ryu Sect Master, he would be able to track the Sect Master’s position and then rescue Huangfu Ziyu. Before this, he hadn’t sent anyone to tail the Seventh Elder, because he wanted the Seventh Elder to be able to deliver this paper more conveniently. If he had sent people to watch the Seventh Elder, it might have caused the Seventh Elder to be unable to send the paper out, and then it would be even harder to rescue Huangfu Ziyu.

It just so happened that he was free in the morning. After Ye Qing finished making arrangements here, he went back to his own courtyard first. After all, there was still an Old Chen in his courtyard who hadn’t been dealt with yet. Ye Qing also wanted to first get a clear idea of Old Chen’s background; if there really was no problem, he’d just send him back first.

Just as he returned to the courtyard gate, Ye Qing saw his two little brothers sitting at the entrance, both of them looking depressed. Seeing Ye Qing come back, the two hurriedly stood up and came forward to meet him.

”Why are you two sitting out here?” Ye Qing looked into the courtyard and said, ”Didn’t I tell you to arrange to send Old Chen back?”

”Ah, don’t even mention it!” One of the little brothers said helplessly, ”Ye, I’m afraid this Old Chen can’t be sent back!”

”Why do you say that?” Ye Qing asked in surprise.

The two little brothers exchanged a look, both full of helplessness. One of them sighed and said, ”We originally wanted to send him back, but just now when we went in to ask where his home was, suddenly the TV news reported that there was an earthquake over in Shuzhong, and the epicenter Zichuan Town suffered heavy casualties. As soon as Old Chen heard this, he burst into loud sobs, saying his home was in Zichuan Town. He said this earthquake was the end, his home was completely gone, he was now totally homeless and all that. And now, he’s still in there crying!”

Hearing this, Ye Qing immediately frowned. No matter how he listened, he felt this Old Chen was deliberately talking nonsense. How could it be so coincidental that the place mentioned in the earthquake report on TV just happened to be his hometown? This was clearly him trying to stick around here. This old geezer wasn’t just greedy and fond of enjoying life; he was also nagging, lecherous, and shameless in his actions. He had probably taken a look at the environment here at the Hong Alliance Seven Helmsman Manor and decided to latch on and refuse to leave.

”There was an earthquake at his home and he’s not even planning to go back and take a look?” Ye Qing glanced at the two little brothers and said, ”And why did you two come out?”

”Bro, that old guy is just too naggy. Even while crying he keeps muttering nonsense. We kept asking him questions, and he didn’t answer a single one. Instead he kept rambling about other stuff. We really couldn’t take it anymore, so we decided to come out and wait for a bit, and go back in after he’s done nagging!” One of the little brothers shrugged and said, ”But judging from how things are now, I’m afraid sending him back is impossible. The guy muttered for ages just now, but it all boiled down to one thing. There was an earthquake at his home, his house is gone, and from now on we have to take care of his living, and he’s going to treat this place as his own home!”

”On what basis?” Ye Qing immediately shouted. If it were an ordinary elderly man who really encountered such a situation, Ye Qing would actually be willing to arrange his life. The problem was, this Old Chen was not an ordinary old man. Never mind whether he was really a Tomb Raider Captain; just those traits of his—greedy for food, lustful, nagging, and shameless—were enough to make people not in the mood to treat him kindly. If he kept Old Chen here, wouldn’t Ye Qing’s future days all be spent under the old man’s nagging?

The two little brothers also looked completely helpless. If Old Chen weren’t an old man, they could still use force to throw him out. But even though Old Chen was shameless, he was still an elderly man; they really didn’t dare lay hands on him. If anything happened to him, they’d have no way to deal with it. So the current situation was very troublesome: Old Chen was clinging on here and refusing to leave, and everyone simply had no way to deal with him. That’s why they had just said that wanting to send Old Chen away was not an easy thing.

Although Ye Qing had just shouted a line, in fact he was very clear that if Old Chen really wanted to cling to this place and not leave, it would indeed be hard to drive him away. After all, Old Chen was no longer young and couldn’t be treated with force. And Old Chen’s way of doing things was exactly the shameless type. If he really decided to brazen it out and stay, Ye Qing would have no way to throw him out.

So after standing at the entrance for a while, Ye Qing ultimately still didn’t go in. Because he knew very well that even if he went in, he wouldn’t be able to do anything about Old Chen and would instead have to listen to him nag. Rather than that, it was better not to go in at all and keep his ears clean.

Seeing that Ye Qing had walked away in helpless resignation, the two little underlings at the door were even more speechless. From last night till now, they had fully witnessed how hard this Old Chen was to deal with. So the two of them didn’t go into the yard either, and just kept sitting by the gate, sighing.

Because the main members of the Seven Steering Committees of Hong Alliance were all over at Chatiang Peak right now, there weren’t many people in the manor at the moment. Including Black Bear, Ye Jun, Liu Mubai and the others, they had all gone to Chatiang Peak as well, so Ye Qing basically had nowhere in particular to go. Wandering about, he ended up outside Bai Li Xi’s courtyard. Bai Li Xi and Old Wang Ba were also at Chatiang Peak, so in this courtyard, only Broom Star was left—now the True Buddha—alone here.

On any other day, Ye Qing would definitely have gone in to check on Broom Star. But now that Broom Star was already the True Buddha, Ye Qing couldn’t treat him like a little kid anymore. Besides, everything that needed saying, True Buddha had already told him last night. Going in again to disturb him didn’t feel quite appropriate. So after standing outside the yard for a moment, Ye Qing left again, planning to go find Fu Qingping for a chat first.

Just as he walked past the corner of this courtyard, two women came toward him side by side. One of them was Wen’er. And walking next to Wen’er was a beautiful woman who looked to be in her early thirties, with about a fifty percent resemblance to Wen’er. There was no doubt this beautiful woman had to be Wen’er’s mother.

Although it was Ye Qing who had asked the people of the Seven Steering Committees of Hong Alliance to rescue Wen’er’s mother last time, in fact, Ye Qing hadn’t actually met Wen’er’s mother yet. After he got back last night, he had mainly been busy looking for True Buddha, so he hadn’t gone to see Wen’er’s mother. He hadn’t expected to run into her in the courtyard this morning.

Seeing Ye Qing, Wen’er’s face lit up with joy and she called out, ”Ye, you’re here, we were just about to go look for you!”

Ye Qing greeted the two of them, then asked, ”Were you looking for me for something?”

Wen’er smiled and said, ”My mom wanted to thank you in person!”

Ye Qing looked over at Wen’er’s mother; she was looking at him with a gentle smile. Although Wen’er’s mother looked only a bit over thirty, Ye Qing knew that she had to be over forty already, someone of the elder generation. So in front of Wen’er’s mother, Ye Qing didn’t dare put on any airs. He hurriedly bent slightly at the waist and said, ”Auntie, there’s no need to be so polite. My life was saved by the Grand Sect Master and Wen’er; if anything, I owe your family a favor. And this time it doesn’t really count as me rescuing you either. It was mainly Wen’er risking herself that let us find the Iga-ryu ninjas’ base. What we did was just a small effort. Auntie, you really don’t need to take it to heart!”

Ye Qing’s words made Wen’er’s mother’s smile broaden. She gave Ye Qing a long, appraising look and said, ”You really are a good young man—modest and cautious, not arrogant or rash. Looks like Wen’er didn’t misjudge you!”

”Mom, what are you saying?” Wen’er’s pretty face instantly flushed red. Her mother’s words sounded just like something a mother-in-law would say to her son-in-law, which made it hard for Wen’er to stay calm. Undeniably, after all that had happened, Wen’er had indeed developed feelings for Ye Qing. But she knew very well about Ye Qing and Huangfu Ziyu, so she could only bury those feelings in her heart. She hadn’t expected her mother to hint at it like this today, so of course she felt extremely shy.

Ye Qing was also slightly stunned, but he didn’t dare even glance at Wen’er. He certainly didn’t dare let this topic go any further. He drew in a small breath and said quietly, ”Auntie, you must’ve suffered a lot all these years in Iga-ryu. You and Wen’er hadn’t seen each other in such a long time; now that mother and daughter are reunited, that’s something everyone can celebrate. How about you and Wen’er go around some of the scenic spots in Shenchuan City first, so you two can relax a bit?”

”I’m fine!” Wen’er’s mother waved her hand very decisively and said, ”All these years in Iga-ryu, I didn’t suffer much at all. Don’t be fooled by the fact that it was the people of Iga-ryu who imprisoned me; they still had a lot of use for me. So rather than saying I was imprisoned in Iga-ryu, it’s more accurate to say the people of Iga-ryu were begging me to cooperate with them!”

”Oh?” Ye Qing looked at Wen’er’s mother in surprise and said, ”Auntie, what were you cooperating with the people of Iga-ryu on?”

”Hehe…” Wen’er’s mother gave a soft laugh, but didn’t continue along that line of conversation. Instead she gently patted Wen’er beside her and said, ”Right, I heard that Mr. Ye has been through every corner inside the Tomb of Ghost Valley Master, so you should be very familiar with the situation in there. Wen’er’s father and I learned about the Tomb of Ghost Valley Master more than twenty years ago, but we’ve never had the chance to enter it. I wonder if Mr. Ye could tell me about what it’s like inside the Tomb of Ghost Valley Master, to fulfill a dream I’ve had for so many years?”