Chapter 61

"Exactly, Míyǐng! Explain what 'Míyǐng' is first! This time, explain clearly, don't be vague!" Tang Mingjing frowned and stared at Tang Yan.

Tang Mingzhong's expression was complicated: "Ever since you came back, you haven't stopped causing trouble. First, you offended the Li family, and now this incident has made the Yang family hostile. I heard that Yang Ruyan was arrested and interrogated as soon as she got home. If things go badly, the Yang family will come to demand an explanation."

Tang Yan was leaning on the bed, lost in thought, and didn't hear their questions until Tang Mingjing slapped the back of his head: "Don't pretend to be stupid, explain clearly!"

Tang Yan rubbed his head with a bitter smile: "Dad, I'm the victim here, can you be a bit gentler?"

"Less talk! If you don't explain clearly, I'll be the victim soon!"

"It was in the Mystic Forest a while ago..." Tang Yan briefly explained what happened.

"What? You... you... you slept with her?" The atmosphere in the room suddenly became strange, even Tang Jun was taken aback. This kid really had the nerve.

"Did... did it succeed?" Tang Mingzhong leaned forward, lowering his voice. The others also paid attention, and Tang Mingjing even started to imagine how to propose. If he really did it with Yang Ruyan, the problem would be easier to solve—just propose and get married!

"Cough, cough!!" Ailinda coughed heavily.

"Uh... hehe..." Tang Mingzhong awkwardly coughed a few times, then sternly scolded: "Brat, how could you do that! Continue, explain clearly!"

"It should have been fine, but someone interrupted us, and we ended up fighting. In the chaos, I took her bag, and inside was the Yang family's 'Phantom Spirit Truth.' I ended up keeping it."

"Phantom Spirit Truth!! Is it all of it? Where is it?" This time, the Tang family was really agitated. Tang Mingjing and Tang Mingzhong looked at Tang Yan with burning eyes. This was a real treasure.

"Only the first part, 'Míyǐng.' Here, do you want it?" Tang Yan took out a green wooden token.

Tang Mingjing reached out to take it but hesitated, thinking of the mentor from Giant Elephant Academy, and didn't dare to reach out.

The 'Phantom Spirit Truth' is the Yang family's greatest treasure, a top-tier spirit-level martial technique. Even just the 'Míyǐng' part is extremely valuable. They would love to keep it for themselves, but if it got out... the Yang family would definitely come to attack.

Sensing the strange atmosphere in the room, Ailinda sighed inwardly and subtly turned her head. They were indeed father and son, one more shameless than the other. Just a moment ago, he was angrily scolding, but now he was like this.

"Hehe... Thank you, Mentor Ailinda, for saving my son. My family will remember this kindness. If you need anything, we will do our best to satisfy it." Tang Mingjing expressed his gratitude to Ailinda while secretly gesturing to Tang Yan.

"Hypocrite." Tang Yan rolled his eyes and handed over the 'Míyǐng.'

Tang Jun pondered and said, "This Phantom Spirit Truth is a problem. If you hadn't shown it, no one would have known, and we could have kept it privately. But now... the whole city is talking about it. We need to find a suitable reason to cover it up."

Tang Yan said, "Simple, deny it. If the Yang family really gets angry, you can say that Yang Ruyan and Li Shouze conspired to frame me, almost costing me my life. And insist that when I was with Yang Ruyan... it succeeded! She showed it to me afterward and then took it back."

"Will... will this work?" Tang Mingjing and Tang Mingzhong frowned and looked at each other.

"If they keep causing trouble, tell them to check if Yang Ruyan is pregnant."

"Uh... that's shameless!!" Everyone was amazed, and Ailinda couldn't bear to listen anymore.

Tang Yan shrugged very calmly: "Unless you want to hand over the 'Míyǐng,' you need to be thick-skinned when necessary. This isn't embarrassing, it's a survival strategy. I remind you, the 'Míyǐng' martial technique is very special, it seems to complement the 'Blazing Flame Technique.'"

"Really?" The Tang family's spirits lifted, and their eyes gleamed again.

"You can try it out. I feel they complement each other."

"Alright, I'll handle this." Tang Mingjing put the token in his pocket, determined to be shameless this time.

"Also, about this ambush, I think there are four possibilities: Dong Leiming, Yang Ruyan, Li Shoujian, and..." Tang Yan paused slightly, looking at Tang Qian intentionally or unintentionally.

Tang Mingjing understood his meaning and said, "Qian, you go and investigate the mercenaries, find clues as soon as possible."

Tang Qian remained calm, leading the miscellaneous people out of the room. Ailinda also tactfully left the room.

Only Tang Mingjing, Tang Mingzhong, and Tang Jun were left.

"Another possibility is Zhou Lingwang. They all have reasons to act, but none of them would dare to do it openly in Giant Elephant City. They can only send mercenaries. What I don't understand is, if they wanted to kill me, why not send a more powerful mercenary group?"

Tang Mingjing said, "It's not that they didn't want to, but they couldn't find one. Giant Elephant City is close to the Mystic Forest, and mercenary teams often stay there. To maintain stability, once they enter the city, they are closely monitored by the major families. If it's just an ordinary team with no excessive actions, the patrol teams won't pay attention for long. But if there are more than three Martial Ancestors or notorious mercenaries, the monitoring will continue until they leave.

The mercenary group that attacked you had two Martial Ancestors and six to seven second or third-stage Spirit Warriors, making them one of the stronger teams not under surveillance."

Tang Mingzhong looked at Tang Yan with a strange expression: "According to normal standards, this team should have been able to easily eliminate you, but... I'm curious, how did you escape?"

Tang Yan laughed it off and continued, "I think the possibility of Zhou Lingwang acting is low. If it were him, it wouldn't have been so hasty and crude. The remaining suspects are Dong Leiming, Yang Ruyan, and Li Shoujian. This way, we don't need to worry too much, just some minor trouble, nothing serious. But I have a suggestion: use this incident to pin it on Dong Leiming!"

"Why?"

"I'm planning how to make Dong Leiming hand over the 'Golden Elephant Technique' to me. This incident is a good excuse. We can spread the news that Dong Leiming secretly hired mercenaries to harm me, just to avoid paying. Then you can confront Dean Dong, be as firm as possible, make him hand it over, whether he wants to or not."

Tang Jun sighed, "You, this kid, are full of tricks. Who taught you this?"

"This is called strategy!"

Tang Mingzhong's expression was not good: "Do you really need the 'Golden Elephant Technique'? Having too many martial techniques is not a good thing. You need to specialize in one to reach the pinnacle. You already have enough cultivation methods. Where do you get the energy to practice the 'Golden Elephant Technique'? Giant Elephant Academy values the 'Golden Elephant Technique' more than life. If this gets out of hand, it will only cause a rift between the academy and the Tang family.

First the Li family, then the Yang family, and now Giant Elephant Academy. In just over a month, you've put the Tang family in opposition to the entire Giant Elephant City! What do you want, to make the Tang family the enemy of the city?"

Tang Mingjing roughly guessed Tang Yan's true purpose for the 'Golden Elephant Technique' and hesitated, saying, "I think it's possible. If necessary, we can have the old man negotiate with Giant Elephant Academy."

"Brother!! This isn't a joke. Our Tang family isn't afraid of them, but there's no need to make things so difficult. I think it's better to pin this on the Li family rather than have a conflict with Giant Elephant Academy."

Tang Mingjing raised his hand to interrupt: "Don't worry, I have a plan. Yan, you stay at home for a while. If you cause trouble again, I'll put you under house arrest, and I mean it!"

In the inner courtyard, Tang Qian slapped the butler Alder to the ground, his face dark as if it could drip water: "You couldn't even handle such a small task. What good are you?"

Alder's mouth dripped blood as he hurriedly got up, trembling: "Young Master, it should have succeeded, but... I didn't expect Ailinda to have broken through to the second-stage Martial Ancestor. A second-stage Martial Ancestor is completely different from a first-stage Martial Ancestor. Most of the 'Thunderfang' mercenary group's strength was tied up by her alone. And Tang Yan seemed to have some powerful weapon. According to the leader of 'Thunderfang,' he was pierced by something, which scared him, so... he... withdrew early."

Tang Qian looked at Alder coldly, the killing intent making the other man tremble: "I don't care about your excuses. You messed this up, so you need to clean it up! No one can know! This is your last chance. If anything goes wrong, don't blame me for not recognizing you."

"Please, Young Master, I've secretly arranged for the 'Thunderfang' mercenaries to be kept in one of our family's training grounds, under our people's watch. There won't be any leaks."

"What's the point of keeping them? Only the dead can keep secrets. Don't you understand that?"

Alder nodded hurriedly: "I'll handle it very cleanly! I'll make sure this matter is buried forever. Young Master, should we think of other ways? Tang Yan has changed a lot since he came back, and his strength is very strange. We need to take more extreme measures."

"Wait, let's see how things develop. Go out."

"Uh... Yes, Young Master."

Tang Qian sat in the wooden chair, his expression dark and his eyes flickering. After a moment, he slammed his right fist on the tea table: "If you had just been a playboy, we could have been good friends. But if you really want to take the family head position, I'll have to compete with you properly."