Wang Xinyan stood behind, looking at Liu Ruoyan, made a disgusted gagging gesture, and finally "puked" before walking to Ye Bufan's side—chest out, head high.
"A snob, yet she accuses others of being snobbish. This is the funniest joke I've heard in days," Wang Xinyan said, walking to Ye Bufan's side. "You can stand this?"
Ye Bufan smiled and said, "My master once told me not to hit women. And besides, she's a shameless woman. Why would I bother with her? That would be like asking for trouble. I just treated it as watching a play."
Hearing Ye Bufan's words, Liu Ruoyan coquettishly said to Li Shun beside her, "Young Master Li~ Look at him, look, look, he's bullying us, he's calling us clowns!"
Wang Xinyan was incredulous.
"Did I hear that right? She can twist it like that?" Wang Xinyan said.
Li Shun frowned, looking at Ye Bufan with great anger and said, "I heard you are a high-level martial artist. I, Li Shun, have practiced martial arts since childhood and, not being talented, just broke through to high-level martial artist this year. Ye Bufan, I challenge you!"
When Ye Bufan heard the other party introduce himself as a martial artist, he exchanged a look with Wang Xinyan and thought: No wonder he was fooled by Liu Ruoyan. Anyone with a bit of sense wouldn't believe Liu Ruoyan's words.
"I don't have time to deal with you," Ye Bufan said. "You're not my opponent."
Li Shun was extremely displeased, feeling that Ye Bufan was looking down on him.
Liu Ruoyan was still fanning the flames. She said, "Young Master Li, look, he doesn't even put your Donghai Li family in his eyes. He's too arrogant."
The Donghai Li family was a martial arts family and the number one prominent family in Donghai City. They had branches of their martial arts schools all over the country, serving as the entry point for many martial artists. Furthermore, the Li family also operated a bodyguard company, and many bodyguards for celebrities were trained by the Li family, thus they had cooperative relationships with many families.
"Ye Bufan! Disrespecting me is disrespecting our Li family."
Under Liu Ruoyan's instigation, Li Shun's face turned red with anger, and he clenched his fists tightly.
"Today, whether you accept my challenge or not, you will accept it. You have to accept it even if you don't want to."
After speaking, Li Shun's internal energy erupted, and he threw a punch at Ye Bufan. Wang Xinyan was startled. This was at a banquet, and she didn't expect Li Shun to act so impulsively, disregarding the faces of the Chu and Jin families.
Ye Bufan blocked Wang Xinyan and flashed to the side.
Seeing this, Li Shun's eyes narrowed, and he punched towards Ye Bufan's chest. Halfway through, Li Shun suddenly changed his trajectory and aimed at Wang Xinyan.
"Huh?"
Ye Bufan could see that Li Shun wanted to provoke him into action using Wang Xinyan, but to attack a woman, this move was truly insidious.
"Break!"
Ye Bufan formed a sword finger and collided with Li Shun's fist. Li Shun was instantly sent flying backward, but Li Shun was clearly experienced in combat. He performed a somersault in mid-air and landed on the floor, stumbling a few steps.
"Hiss—"
Li Shun raised his hands, and in the next second, he realized the intense pain. His hands naturally hung down, dangling in the air.
"My hand!" Li Shun looked at his hand, enduring the severe pain, and looked at Ye Bufan in disbelief.
"You're not a high-level martial artist!" Li Shun's heart churned as he looked at Ye Bufan. Only a Martial Venerable could subdue him in one move.
Li Shun loved martial arts, but he was not someone who didn't know how to judge the situation. Especially for martial artists, the strong were respected, and those more powerful than oneself deserved respect.
"Ye Bufan, I concede." Li Shun wanted to cup his fists, but with only one hand left, he finally bowed to Ye Bufan.
The commotion here caused some people at the banquet to look over. Li Shun turned to leave, but Liu Ruoyan was not having it.
"Why did you give up? Didn't you say you were a Martial Venerable? Didn't you say your family was the top prominent family in Donghai? Why did you give up? How can you be so cowardly? I thought so highly of you." Liu Ruoyan grabbed Li Shun's hand and shouted.
"Yanyan, I am no match for him. He is far stronger than me."
Li Shun lowered his head and gently held Liu Ruoyan's hand, continuing to explain, "Don't worry, I promised I would help your Liu family regain its former glory, and I will definitely help you."
"Li Shun! Didn't you say you were a high-level martial artist?" Liu Ruoyan, furious, shook off Li Shun's hand.
Ye Bufan looked at Li Shun. It was clear that Li Shun sincerely liked Liu Ruoyan, but Liu Ruoyan was greedy for vanity and did not truly love Li Shun.
Liu Ruoyan turned and left. She had thought that by clinging to the most prominent family in Donghai, she could regain some prestige, but now, she had not only failed to regain prestige but had also lost face.
"Yanyan! Yanyan!"
Li Shun endured the severe pain and chased after her, completely disregarding his injured hand.
Ye Bufan shook his head helplessly, while Wang Xinyan watched with great amusement.
"Do you know what this Li Shun is called?" Wang Xinyan asked.
Ye Bufan shook his head blankly. Wang Xinyan laughed and said, "This is what you call a simp. There's a saying, 'A simp, a simp, simping until the end with nothing.'"
"Hmm?"
As soon as Wang Xinyan finished speaking, she immediately felt someone observing her from the shadows. Ye Bufan spread his spiritual power and scanned the entire banquet.
"It's him!" Ye Bufan's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected the cultivator he met at the Gold Market that day to also be at the banquet.
"I'm going to leave for a bit."
Ye Bufan explained to Wang Xinyan and then walked towards the direction of the old man.
Halfway there, the old man suddenly disappeared. Ye Bufan immediately followed. One old and one young, one in front and one behind, they suddenly began to spar.
The two chased each other in the darkness, from the city to the suburbs, finally arriving at Cangyun Mountain outside Jinhe City.
The old man finally stopped at the edge of a cliff, with Ye Bufan standing behind him.
"Junior Ye Bufan, may I know your esteemed name, senior?" Ye Bufan cupped his fists and bowed.
"No need for formalities. As for my name, you probably haven't heard of it at your age—Daoist Mingyuan," the old man said. "I didn't expect you to have broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage in just a few days. Truly remarkable."
"You flatter me, senior." Ye Bufan replied politely.
"Enough of this useless talk." The old man turned to look at Ye Bufan. "I came here specifically to find you."
"To find me?" Ye Bufan was somewhat puzzled.
"Since your sect allows you to enter the world, you must also know that the world's shackles have loosened," the old man said. "In various corners of our Great Xia, there are many entrances to other worlds. With the loosening of the shackles, these entrances are also becoming unstable."
Hearing the old man's words, Ye Bufan understood that the so-called entrance the old man mentioned was actually a teleportation array.
Lin Xiaoyao had once told Ye Bufan that Earth was an ancient civilization. During his travels, he had discovered quite a few teleportation arrays, but these arrays required the legendary ultimate spirit stones to activate.