Shen Mansion, main hall.

Senior Brother Xiao and Junior Brother Yu were drinking new tea.

Just now, they presented the Celestial Skill Sect's invitation card and were invited in.

Here, only the two of them were present.

Clearly, Shen Mansion was sensible, knowing their identities surpassing those of royal relatives, high officials, and noble families outside.

The eldest son of Shen Mansion, Shen Xiuxing hastily arrived, saluting the two.

"Shen Xiuxing greets the two Immortal Masters of the Celestial Skill Sect! There was a slight incident in the mansion, causing my delay. I ask the two Immortal Masters' forgiveness!"

Senior Brother Xiao, worldly-wise, clasped his fists and smiled, returning the salute: "Young Master Shen is too kind!"

"Is the Old Madam well?"

"My mother is well in all respects."

"Young Master Shen, this is my Junior Brother Yu Fangliang, also the youngest son of my Master."

Senior Brother Xiao introduced him to Shen Xiuxing.

"Immortal Master Yu is young and capable, elegant and handsome, which Shen genuinely admires!"

Shen Xiuxing said in admiration, his face full of respect.

He had no Spirit Root and could only cultivate Martial Dao.

Though from a prominent family, instructed by an Innate Grandmaster, entering the ranks of top-class Jianghu experts at thirty.

Yet seeing Yu Fangliang, a young member of a sect, he still showed a trace of envy.

"By the way, Young Master Shen, is Miss Shen at the mansion?"

"This Junior Brother of mine, having heard of Miss Shen's profound Daoist Techniques, has long admired her and has sought to visit Shen Mansion for advice."

Senior Brother Xiao said with a chuckle.

The Master sent him to the Shen Mansion to congratulate, yet the aim was beyond the surface.

The Junior Brother was shy to speak.

Of course, he seized the opportunity to promote a meeting between the two.

Perhaps, the Junior Brother might find an opportunity for Foundation Establishment here.

When that time comes, the Master would surely reward him.

Upon hearing this.

Shen Xiuxing's face showed a bit of unease.

"Immortal Master Xiao, Immortal Master Yu. A mishap occurred at home. Though my sister is within the mansion, she cannot extricate herself at the moment."

"Oh, quite troublesome?"

"It is somewhat troublesome."

Senior Brother Xiao pondered, asking: "Can our brotherhood be of assistance?"

"Thank you for Immortal Master Xiao's kindness. Just a small matter, it will soon be resolved."

Shen Xiuxing personally poured tea for the two.

"Please sit, Immortal Masters. Before the noon birthday banquet, if my sister is free, she will surely come to meet the two Immortal Masters."

Senior Brother Xiao smiled and said: "Young Master Shen, please attend to your matters. My Junior Brother and I will rest here and enjoy the tea."

After Shen Xiuxing left.

Yu Fangliang curiously asked: "Senior Brother Xiao, the master of Shen Mansion is a personal disciple of the Grandmaster Zong. How could there be a trouble unsolvable in this mortal world?"

"Junior Brother, troubles arise from speaking too much, and worries come from standing out!"

"This Old Madam Shen, her surname is Ding!"

"Of the Ding Family from Cyan Dragon Bay."

Yu Fangliang had a sudden realization.

"So, the Ding Family..."

"Speak cautiously! Dragons and tigers lurk within Shen Mansion. These matters are unrelated to you and me."

"Yes, Senior Brother is right!"

Yu Fangliang couldn't help but curiously glance toward the inner residence of Shen Mansion.

There resided the Old Madam Shen and Miss Shen Xiuyan.

...

At this time.

The inner residence of Shen Mansion was silent.

The festivity and joy of the outer residence seemed isolated by high walls.

The upper room, Qingxin Hall.

This was the place for the Old Madam's daily living.

A well-built cultivator in a green robe prostrated on the ground in front of Qingxin Hall, kowtowing while sobbing incessantly.

Inside Qingxin Hall.

Ding Yuyao, with a head full of white hair, dressed in wealth, sat upright in a rosewood chair.

Beside her was Shen Xiuyan, whom Yu Fangliang could not forget.

"Rise!"

The cultivator in green rose, his face full of tears, his sleeve embroidered with a silver "Ding" character.

"Ding Yitao, is it? In terms of seniority, addressing me as great-grandmother, this old body can accept."

Ding Yuyao said somewhat self-deprecatingly: "However, this old body has no Spirit Root, is not a cultivator, and cannot enter the Ding Family's ancestral record in Cyan Dragon Bay, does not deserve the title of great-grandmother!"

"Great-grandmother..."

"Enough! Did you not understand what my mother said?"

Shen Xiuyan shouted angrily.

Ding Yitao fell silent.

After a moment, he took out a letter.

"Old Madam Shen, this is a letter written by the Patriarch for you."

Shen Xiuyan saw her mother nod slightly, then stepped forward to take the letter.

Ding Yuyao opened it, glanced, and sighed softly.

"Xiuyan, you take a look too."

Shen Xiuyan took the letter and quickly finished reading.

The letter's content was simple.

Ding Yixuan had been provoked by the Red Rainbow Sect's challenge, privately engaged in magical combat, and was gravely injured, on the brink of death.

He hoped Old Madam Shen would recall old ties and save Ding Yixuan.

Ding Yuyao, a mere mortal, where would she have the capability to save a Foundation Establishment Cultivator!

Shen Xiuyan understood clearly that this Ding Patriarch wanted her mother to intervene and seek her father's help.

Ding Yuyao said: "Xiuyan, go call Manager Liu over."

"Mother!"

Shen Xiuyan stamped her foot, looking very reluctant.

Though in the mortal world, she was a genuine cultivator at the Middle Stage of Qi Cultivation, knowledgeable about the Cultivation Realm.

Clearly, Shen Xiuyan did not want her mother involved in the entanglements of the Ding Family of Cyan Dragon Bay.

Their opponent was a Foundation Establishment Elder of the Red Rainbow Sect.

"Go!"

Ding Yuyao insisted.

Reluctantly, Shen Xiuyan shot a fierce glare at Ding Yitao.

That glare, as if wanting to pierce him.

Then she walked out of Qingxin Hall.

Not long after.

Manager Liu, hunched over, followed Shen Xiuyan inside.

"Old Madam."

"Old Liu, you're here, please sit."

Shen Xiuyan brought over a Grandmaster's chair.

Manager Liu was not polite and sat down with a thump.

"This is a letter from the Patriarch of the Ding Family from Cyan Dragon Bay. Old Liu, take a look."

Manager Liu glanced over it and his face changed dramatically.

"Old Madam, this must not be!"

"Ding Yijin has long been a disciple of the Celestial Skill Sect."

"Ding Yixuan is injured, and the Celestial Skill Sect should be responsible for the remedy."

Ding Yuyao sighed deeply.

"These truths, how could this old body not know. However..."

She glanced at Ding Yitao, who was standing silently to the side.

"After all, you both have the surname Ding."

"My surname is Shen!"

Shen Xiuyan muttered softly in dissatisfaction.

"Old Liu, I've asked you here to make a decision. Is there any way to cure Ding Yixuan?"

Manager Liu's old face grew even longer.

"Madam, this is no small matter; you must think twice."

Ding Yuyao was silent for a moment, as if weighing the pros and cons.

Finally, she spoke, "Old Liu, I know you have a way to get in touch with my husband."

"I'll write a letter and you'll deliver it to him as soon as possible."

"Let him make the decision."

Upon hearing this, Manager Liu sighed.

Before he could respond.

"Mother, you must not!"

Shen Xiuxing hurriedly said upon arriving.

"Mother, before father left, he instructed us not to get involved in the cultivator's disputes."

"Sister, why don't you try to persuade mother?"

Shen Xiuyan glared with her pretty eyes, "I tried, but to no avail!"

"Brother, you're just in time. You persuade her!"

Although Shen Xiuxing was the person in charge of Shen Mansion.

It was his sister, Shen Xiuyan, who was the most formidable in strength.

Years ago, Shen Xuan sent a high-grade Creation Pill from the Sect, elevating her Spirit Root to the low-grade level.

In her Feiyan Pavilion residence, the Spirit Locking Array was arranged.

Regularly, Spirit Stones, Cultivation Techniques, Magical Artifacts, and Spirit Pills were sent over.

With a massive influx of cultivation resources.

Shen Xiuyan's cultivation advanced smoothly.

Just over thirty years old, her realm cultivation broke through to the Sixth Layer of Qi Cultivation.

However, this was also Shen Xiuyan's limit.

As per Shen Xuan's advice back then.

People from Shen Mansion should not enter the cultivation regions nor participate in cultivator's disputes.

Despite being a Middle Stage of Qi Cultivation cultivator, Shen Xiuyan lived as a mortal, accompanying her mother Ding Yuyao.

After all, she had plenty of Spirit Stones and Spirit Pills to replenish her Spiritual Power.

Moreover, her path was limited to this, so there was no need to worry about being tarnished by the mundane world.

"Mother, have you forgotten father's instructions?"

"Mother has not forgotten."

Looking at her two daughters in front of her, Ding Yuyao's expression was full of affection.

"It's just that, mother is old now."

"When people get old, it's easy to dwell on past affections."

"Some things, you'll understand when you get old."

With things being said to this extent.

Shen Xiuxing could no longer persuade her.

After all, they were merely Ding Yuyao's adopted children.

Not her biological ones.

No matter how deep their feelings, they dared not disobey Ding Yuyao.

"Senior Immortal Master Xiao from the Celestial Skill Sect has come with a young and handsome Junior Brother Yu, saying they wish to meet sister."

Shen Xiuxing pondered and said, "They probably wish to form an alliance with our Shen Mansion."

"No meeting!"

Before Ding Yuyao could respond, Shen Xiuyan rejected outright.

"Xiuyan, it's just a meeting after all. Songjiang Prefecture is under the jurisdiction of the Celestial Skill Sect."

Shen Xiuxing persuaded.

Just as Shen Xiuyan was about to speak, her expression suddenly changed.

"Who goes there!"

In an instant.

Shen Xiuyan turned sharply, and a pair of gleaming Butterfly Double Sabers flew out, slicing towards the void.

On the other side.

Shen Xiuxing gritted his teeth.

Holding a Jade Pendant, he infused it with True Power.

A Dark Spirit Fish leapt out from the Jade Pendant, flicked its tail slightly, and shot in the same direction.

Manager Liu, with his failing eyesight, had a gleam of brilliance in his eyes. His staff flew from his hand with a sharp wind sound, made of black iron, weighing a full hundred pounds.

As Shen Xiuyan's shout rang out.

Almost simultaneously, Shen Xiuyan, Shen Xiuxing, and Manager Liu all went all out, leaving no chances.

Daring to intrude into the private quarters of Shen Mansion, no matter who it was, they intended to leave no room for them to survive.

That was something they tacitly agreed upon.

However.

An astonishing scene unfolded.

In the void, a transparent shadow seemed to appear.

Manager Liu's staff, with a light touch from the shadow, lost its strength, and with a "clang," fell to the ground.

The Dark Spirit Fish, powerful enough to injure a Late Stage of Qi Cultivation, flickered out as it sprang onto the shadow, with no reaction.

The Butterfly Double Sabers slashed through the air, seemingly meeting a hard rock, bursting with sparks before bouncing back.

At this moment, Ding Yitao reacted.

Though at the Middle Stage of Qi Cultivation, he was only at the Fourth Layer of Qi Cultivation.

Knowing he couldn't win, he still gritted his teeth, moving forward to shield Ding Yuyao.

"Great-aunt, you should go first! This grandnephew will hold him off!"

While speaking, he activated several Water Arrow Talismans, shooting them towards the transparent shadow.

Strangely, the water arrows vanished into the shadow as if a pebble into the sea, disappearing without a trace.

Ding Yitao summoned a Flying Fork Spiritual Artifact and was just about to strike.

When Shen Xiuyan's voice came to his ears.

"Step aside!"

Ding Yitao hastily moved away.

Only to see a Purple Jade Bracelet floating in front of Shen Xiuyan, its Spiritual Qi fluctuations sending chills down his spine.

Just one look made him tremble all over, leaving him weak and powerless.

"Is this a Magical Treasure of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator?"

Ding Yitao was inwardly shocked.

In the next moment.

Shen Xiuyan's face flushed with anger, as if summoning all of her strength.

"Slash!"

Following a crisp shout.

The Purple Jade Bracelet emitted a brilliant azure Sword Light, carrying a terrifying momentum capable of destroying everything, it tore through the endless void, instantly striking the transparent shadow.

"Such powerful Water Technique Sword Intent!"

"Is this the trump card left by Shen the Talisman Master?"

Ding Yitao stood frozen, his mind seized by the Water Spirit True Qi Sword Qi.

Yet this Water Technique Sword Intent, capable of killing any Qi Cultivation Realm cultivator, reached the transparent shadow, quietly making no ripple.

The wave of Sword Intent continued to ripple outward.

Shen Xiuyan, Shen Xiuxing, Manager Liu, and Ding Yitao were all struck dumb with astonishment, deeply shocked, unable to react.

Yet, Ding Yuyao suddenly stepped forward.

She arrived before the transparent shadow.

Her face, lined with wrinkles, suddenly bore a hint of bashfulness.

"Husband!"

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