Translator: Cinder Translations
Facing the sudden appearance of the girl, Yan Zhengping's face showed both indulgence and helplessness.
"Yiwen, didn't I ask you to focus on your cultivation? Why did you come out again?"
"Cultivation is too boring. I've been cultivating all day today. It's too dull," the girl replied nonchalantly to Yan Zhengping's questioning.
Yan Zhengping shook his head helplessly. Although his granddaughter had excellent aptitude, her temperament was a bit lacking, too independent.
He sighed and didn't pursue her stubbornness further, instead changing the subject.
"You've come at the right time. These two are outstanding disciples of the sect. You are all young people, you can chat and exchange ideas, broaden your horizons, which will benefit your future cultivation."
After speaking, Yan Zhengping briefly introduced the three.
Although Yan Zhengping's introduction of the girl was vague, Song Wen recognized her from the intelligence reports as the genius of the Yan Family.
Curious, Song Wen looked at her more closely.
Even though he had seen all sorts of beauties in both real life and on the internet in his past life, Song Wen had to admit that this girl was exceptionally beautiful, rare in the world. The only flaw was a hint of arrogance, perhaps a flaw common among geniuses.
While Song Wen was observing the girl, she was also observing him.
Normally, Guo Tao's handsome appearance would attract more attention from women. However, for some reason, Yan Yiwen's eyes skipped over Guo Tao directly and landed on Song Wen, who seemed average in the background.
After carefully observing Song Wen for a while, Yan Yiwen suddenly chuckled, with a hint of disdain in her expression.
"Grandpa, he's only at the third stage of Qi Refinement. What kind of outstanding disciple is he? He's just an ordinary outer sect disciple."
Even though Song Wen could remain calm in the face of praise or ridicule, at this moment, he felt a bit annoyed and embarrassed. This genius of the Yan Family was indeed quite rude to openly mock his low cultivation level.
Feeling awkward, not just Song Wen, but Yan Zhengping was also extremely embarrassed at this moment.
He never expected that his granddaughter would speak so disrespectfully in public.
Although strength was respected in the cultivation world, social niceties were also important.
Normally, Yan Zhengping wouldn't pay attention to an outer sect disciple like Song Wen who had such low strength. However, at this moment, Song Wen represented the sect and had come to inventory spiritual herbs for the Yan Family.
Yan Zhengping looked at Yan Yiwen with an annoyed expression. "Yiwen, mind your words. Quickly apologize to Young Friend Ji Yin."
Seeing her grandfather angry, Yan Yiwen felt indignant. She defended herself with an unhappy expression.
"Why should I apologize? I didn't say anything wrong. He is indeed just an ordinary outer sect disciple with extremely mediocre potential. What's there to chat about between us?"
After saying this, Yan Yiwen quickly walked out of the hall.
Seeing his granddaughter leave, Yan Zhengping apologized to Song Wen with a regretful expression.
"Young Friend Ji Yin, I apologize. My granddaughter has been spoiled and speaks without restraint. She has offended you just now. I hope you won't take it to heart."
Song Wen remained composed, as if the insult hadn't affected him.
"Elder Yan, there's no need for apologies. Miss Yiwen simply stated the truth and did not offend me."
Yan Zhengping flipped his hand, revealing a jade bottle.
"In this jade bottle are ten Qi Gathering Pills, as a compensation from my granddaughter to you."
Yan Zhengping pushed his spiritual energy, and the jade bottle floated towards Song Wen.
Song Wen was somewhat surprised. Ten Qi Gathering Pills were worth twenty-five spiritual stones. For a Qi Refinement Stage 3 cultivator, this was quite generous.
A look of pleasantly surprised gratitude appeared on Song Wen's face as he tightly grasped the jade bottle and said, "Thank you for your generous gift, Elder Yan."
After bidding farewell to Yan Zhengping, Song Wen and Guo Tao followed the servant to their rooms.
After instructing Song Wen not to wander around at night, Guo Tao entered his own room first.
Later, Song Wen stepped into his own room and closed the door behind him.
With a calm mind, Song Wen began to reflect on the events of the day.
Overall, the day had been smooth, except for Yan Yiwen's sudden rudeness.
However, Song Wen couldn't shake the feeling that Yan Yiwen's appearance and her disrespectful words seemed rather abrupt, almost as if they were deliberately arranged.
Song Wen couldn't understand why a Qi Refinement Stage 7 cultivator would act so recklessly.
Unable to make sense of it all, Song Wen shook his head, pushing aside his jumbled thoughts. He took out the jade slip given to him by Elder Shen and placed it on his forehead to examine it.
The contents about the Rainbow Grass recorded in the jade slip were largely consistent with what Chen Yi had provided, except it detailed the quantity of Rainbow Grass cultivated by the Yan Family.
There were 113 plants of Rainbow Grass in the Hundred Portions category,
931 plants of Rainbow Grass in the Seventy Portions or more category.
The count for the Sixty Portions category of Rainbow Grass...
The jade slip clearly stipulated that the main task of this inventory was to carefully count the quantities of Rainbow Grass in the Hundred Portions and Seventy Portions categories, ensuring the counts were accurate.
As for the other categories of spiritual herbs, minor discrepancies in quantities were acceptable.
The jade slip didn't provide any information about the Yan Family's strength, which made Song Wen feel that the 30 spiritual stones he spent on buying information from Chen Yi were still worthwhile.
Knock, knock, knock...
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
In this unfamiliar environment, Song Wen remained alert. The unexpected knocking made him instantly vigilant, his hand already at his waist, ready to summon the Corpse Puppet at any moment.
"Senior Ji Yin, I'm a servant from the Yan Mansion here to deliver your dinner," a female voice sounded from outside the door.
Using his mental power to sense, Song Wen discovered there was only a young woman outside the door, without any cultivation.
However, he remained cautious and approached to open the door.
A young maidservant stood elegantly outside the door, holding a tray.
"Please come in." After a quick scan revealed nothing unusual, Song Wen spoke softly.
The maidservant entered and placed the tray on the table before taking her leave.
Song Wen looked at the food on the table: spiritual rice, demon beast meat, all skillfully prepared with excellent taste and aroma.
Muttering to himself, "The Yan Family really spares no expense."
Meanwhile, in a secluded room of the Yan Mansion.
Five people were gathered, discussing in hushed tones.
If Song Wen were present, he would surely be shocked.
Among the five people in the room, there was someone he would never have expected.
That person was Guo Tao, who was tasked with this mission alongside him.
Yan Zhengping's expression was serious as he asked, "Xiao Tao, what is your assessment of Ji Yin?"
Guo Tao replied, "Reporting to the patriarch, Ji Yin has only recently joined the sect and is weak in strength. He comes from a humble background with no significant connections. Overall, he is just a young and inexperienced kid. There's no need to worry about him.
In my opinion, he's quite easy to deceive. As long as we prepare a little, he won't notice anything abnormal.
Moreover, on the way here, I've repeatedly instructed him not to take the mission seriously. He just needs to follow behind me, complete the task smoothly, and he'll even gain some benefits."