152、Defend the country and pacify the city

  Ye Jingwen was a man of his word. From that day on, he and Mo Tian Ge spent every day in the martial arts hall, exchanging blows and techniques. As a sword cultivator, Ye Jingwen had always been obsessed with comparing techniques, and had done extensive research on combat methods. With him as her sparring partner, Mo Tian Ge's combat skills improved rapidly.

  After more than a month, relying on the benefits of the law treasure, Mo Tian Ge was able to win two out of three games. Ye Jingwen was greatly stimulated and decided to return to closed cultivation.

  From then on, the ten-year period came to an end. Jinghe Daojun instructed Mo Tian Ge that she had been in seclusion for a long time and her cultivation was sufficient, so she could leave the mountain and travel around.

  Mo Tian Ge finished dealing with miscellaneous matters, sealed off Dong Fu, and soon left Tai Kang Mountain with Ye Zhen Ji.

  Tianji has more than ten countries, Weiguo is located in the middle of the continent, with Jin and Yan to the east, and Qin and Chu to the west. Strong enemies are surrounding and watching.

  For this, Wei Guo has been supporting several Xian Shis and has also enfeoffed several retired Xian families as marquises to maintain peace.

  From Xikunwu down, in just a few days, Mo Tian Ge brought Ye Zhen Ji to the city of Tong An in Wei State.

  Tong'an City is not only the largest city in Weiguo, but also a transportation hub for the entire Tianji. It is located at the intersection of the north-south border, built along the river, with both water and land transportation available. To the west, it connects to Qinshan and Chudi, while to the east, it reaches Jin Yanping Plain. Its geographical location is extremely important. Therefore, the prosperity of Tong'an City is also one of the best in Tianji.

  It was quite embarrassing that Ye Zhenji left home when he was too young and didn't remember where the Ye family was. Fortunately, the Ye family had a title of Longning Marquis in Weiguo, so they asked along the way and soon found the Ye Mansion.

  In Tong'an City, the east is rich and the west is noble, the south is poor and the north is humble. The Ye family is like royalty, living in the western city.

  Two men arrived at the Western City, where there were many grand mansions with vermilion gates and stone lions guarding the doors. The Ye family's residence was also very conspicuous among these noble households, with a plaque above the gate bearing the four characters "Changning Marquis Manor".

  Ye Zhenji saw this and was overjoyed, immediately wanting to go in. But the little gatekeeper stopped him and said with a proud face: "This is the Changning Marquis's residence, no idlers allowed."

  Ye Zhenji was taken aback, and Mo Tian Ge couldn't help but want to laugh behind him. In the mortal world, most people judge others by their appearance. Although Ye Zhenji looked like a handsome young man, he was dressed simply and didn't have the air of a noble son about him. These gatekeepers naturally thought he was just an ordinary citizen and had no idea that he was actually the young master of the house.

  After a moment of stunned silence, Ye Zhenji shouted: "What kind of outsider is this? This is my home! I am a member of the Ye family!"

  One of the young men glanced at him with a slanted eye, still in that arrogant tone: "Scram, scram, scram, don't come here to cause trouble if there's nothing going on!"

  Ye Zhenji was furious and shouted: "My surname is Ye and my name is Zhenji. You go and report to the Marquis!"

  He reported his name, and those few young men just looked over seriously.

  "His surname is Ye, could it be that he really is..."

  "Even if his surname is Ye, he can't be considered one of our family members."

  "What if it is?"

  …………

  A few servants whispered for a while. Finally someone said: "You wait, I'll go in and report." Although they responded, there was no respect in their tone.

  Ye Zhenji pressed down Xingzi, looked at Mo Tian Ge and saw that she was calm, so he nodded reluctantly. After the little servant went in, he walked to Mo Tian Ge's side and apologized: "......Master Shu, our family's servants are not well-behaved, I'm afraid you'll have to wait for a while."

  Mo Tian Ge didn't say anything, just smiled. She actually found it interesting, the people in the cultivation world were also like this, they just looked at each other's cultivation instead of clothes.

  Before long, the sound of urgent footsteps came, and the two looked up to see an old man wearing a python robe leading the way, followed by a group of people rushing towards the gate. The little servant who had just delivered the message was following behind them, nervously wiping the sweat from his face.

  Upon seeing this old man, Mo Tian Ge had already guessed his identity. Indeed, when Ye Zhen Ji saw this person, a hesitant and wavering expression appeared on his face.

  He left home at nine years old and now has more than eleven years. The child of that year has become the young man of today, seeing his elders is still timid.

  "Really!" A noble lady rushed out of the crowd, disregarding her jade ornaments, and ran forward in a hurry.

  Ye Zhenji was stunned as soon as he saw her.

  The woman rushed up to him and wept bitterly: "My son, my true son, you've finally come back!"

  Ye Zhen's lips trembled for a long time before she finally called out: "Mother!" Tears also streaming down her face.

  Mo Tian Ge stood behind them, watching as they reunited with tears and inquiries, but in his heart, he secretly sighed.

  In fact, this is also her family, it's just that there is no affection between them, so she stays out of the way.

  After a long time, Ye Zhenji met with her relatives one by one. Remembering that she was standing aside, she hastily wiped away the tears on her face and came over to invite her: "…Shifu, I...these are my family members."

  When they heard him call out "Master Uncle", the Ye family members hastily tidied themselves up and looked over.

  Mo Tian Ge had already scanned the crowd with his divine sense, and among the Ye family members, there were several cultivators, but they all only had extremely weak spiritual roots. The strongest one was the old man who led them, who had cultivated to the third layer of Qi Refining.

  These cultivators felt her hidden cultivation and showed reverence on their faces. They had just asked earlier and knew that Ye Zhenji was now at the tenth layer of Qi Refining, and hearing him call her Shifu, they knew that Mo Tian Ge must be a Foundation Establishment cultivator or above, although she looked like she was only around ten years old, they didn't dare to slack off.

  "Master Uncle, let me introduce. This is our family's master grandfather." Ye Zhenji led Mo Tian Ge to the elderly man at the front and said.

  The old man's hair was white, but his spirit was excellent. After all, he was a cultivator of the third layer of Qi refinement, and had been in the secular world for so many years, with extremely rich experience. He respectfully bowed his hands: "Little old Ye Cheng, humbly serving as the master of the Ye family, has seen senior."

  It turned out that this was Ye Cheng, whom Second Uncle had mentioned before. In terms of seniority, she was even lower than him by a few generations. Mo Tian Ge accepted it calmly and just nodded in response.

  Ye Zhenji continued to lead her in front of another middle-aged man: "This is my dad."

  "Little Ye has arrived, I've seen the senior."

  This person is also a cultivator, but he has only cultivated to the first layer of Qi Refining.

  Ye Zhenji pointed at the woman who had just been hugging him and crying, saying: "This is my mother."

  This noble woman bowed her head in gratitude: "Your senior has taken good care of our family's true son, I am grateful beyond words."

  "Madam, no need for such courtesy," Mo Tian Ge raised his hand slightly: "As his senior fellow disciple, I should naturally take care of him."

  Then several people came one after another and paid their respects to her.

  It was a long time again, after the ceremony was over, Ye Cheng solemnly invited Mo Tian Ge to enter the main hall and sit down, dismissing the unnecessary people, leaving only a few important figures to accompany him.

  As soon as they sat down, Ye Cheng turned to Ye Zhenji and said: "Zhen'er, why don't you introduce your master's uncle?"

  Ye Zhenji had met with many relatives before, and only said that Mo Tian Ge was his uncle's teacher, who took good care of him. This time he wanted to go down the mountain, so he sent him over specially.

  Upon hearing this, Ye Zhenji hastily stood up: "Master Patriarch, this uncle... is the closed-door disciple of my Shifu and Shizun. My Shifu has always been in seclusion, it was Uncle who taught me, he is indeed my teacher."

  "Oh?" Upon hearing this, the people in the hall looked at Mo Tian Ge with a different gaze. It seemed that although he was called Shifu (master), he was no different from their own master. Moreover, he was the closed-door disciple of Xuan Qing Men's Yuan Ying Zushi, so it could be known how high his natural talent was and how noble his status was. This was definitely not something that these weak cultivators who couldn't even stay in Kunwu could imagine.

  Ye Cheng stood up again: "It turns out that senior has such great kindness to our family's true son, I thank you on behalf of the old man."

  "It doesn't have to be like that." Mo Tian Ge said with a smile, "Zhen Ji is a sensible and polite child. Although he may not have the best natural talent, he is diligent and studious, and will eventually become a great person."

  Receiving such praise from Mo Tian Ge, Ye Cheng was overjoyed: "If he can be like this, it's his good fortune and also the credit of his seniors."

  The two of them chatted like this for a while, and then Ye Cheng asked: "I don't know if Senior has come to the mundane world with something to take care of? Although my cultivation is lowly, I have some status in the mundane world, perhaps I can help Senior gather some information."

  "This... I've come to the mundane world, there's nothing much to attend to, just out for a stroll."

  "So that's how it is, seniors rarely come to the mundane world? Our Ye family has lived in the mundane world for a long time and knows many strange things about the mundane world. If senior doesn't mind, I can introduce you to one or two." Ye Cheng was very enthusiastic.

  Mo Tian Ge thought for a moment and nodded with a smile: "It's troublesome like this."

  "No trouble, no trouble." Ye Cheng said repeatedly, "Senior has come from afar, must be tired, how about resting at my place first? Later, I'll have the old man send all the information collected by our family to Senior's hands."

  The stranger was already impatient with this kind of conversation, and agreed to leave first.

  Watching Tian Ge Song leave, Ye Cheng suddenly asked: "Zhen Er, what is the identity of this Shu Shu (uncle/master) of yours?"

  Ye Zhenji was shocked and somewhat frightened: "Master Grandfather, she... she is my auntie!"

  "Is she a stonemason?"

  "Yes, Master Uncle has been in seclusion for five years and has just reached the peak of the middle stage of foundation building. Now, he is traveling under the orders of the Ancestor, tempering his mind, and preparing to break through to the later stage of foundation building."

  "It's like this..." Ye Cheng slightly furrowed his brow, "How old is this senior? What kind of talent does he have? Yet, in the foundation building stage, you were able to make your Yuan Ying Master accept you as a disciple?"

  Ye Zhenji looked at Ye Cheng's expression and didn't suspect anything, so he calmed down and replied: "Shifu... she should be thirty-seven years old. As for her spiritual root, I'm not very clear about it either. I only know that it's a very special kind of spiritual root, which is no worse than a single spiritual root."

  "Thirty-seven years old?!" Ye Cheng's expression changed. Thirty-seven years old, the peak of cultivation in the middle of the foundation-building period - no wonder he was accepted as a disciple by Yuan Ying, he must be a genius!

  "Really, what's your relationship with this uncle of yours?"

  Ye Zhenji thought for a moment and replied: "Since I entered the door of my master, it was taught by Shu Shu. To call Shu Shu my master is also acceptable."

  "Does your master have any other disciples?"

  "No, Shifu is still young, he's just teaching me on behalf of Master, I'm not his disciple."

  At this point, Ye Cheng stroked his beard and sank into thought for a moment. Suddenly, he said solemnly: "Zhen Er, from now on, you must get close to your Shifu's sister. With her current age and cultivation, being the closed-door disciple of Yuan Ying Zushi, she will definitely have a great future ahead of her. If you get along well with her, it will be beneficial for you!"

  Ye Zhenji knew that Master Ye's words were for his own good, but they really displeased him. He and his aunt had always been close, not because of any benefits.

  "Master Grandfather, Shifu is genuinely kind to me and I also sincerely respect her. Don't worry, my relationship with Shifu has always been good."

  Another 3,000-word chapter. This month is too busy, I'll be stopping updates for three days and then there will be another three days with insufficient word count. Honestly speaking, I'll make up for it slowly next month. Finally, thank you to hxz001 and upper and lower 5000 year classmates for the rewards.