The man in black's eyes narrowed, surprised that his opponent had guessed his identity.
"Not good!" Wan Buqun, using his senses, knew he had been targeted and turned to flee.
"Since you've come, stay," Ye Bufan sneered. The moment Wan Buqun took a step, Ye Bufan pulled him back with "Sucking Palm," sending him flying backward.
However, Wan Buqun was a Martial Venerable with rich combat experience. He somersaulted in mid-air, escaping Ye Bufan's Sucking Palm.
Just as he was about to leave triumphantly, he heard a whistling sound. A sword energy zipped past him. Wan Buqun, horrified, dodged to the side. Ye Bufan used Sucking Palm again, which instantly destabilized Wan Buqun, causing him to fall forward.
"Hmph!" Wan Buqun grunted, slapping the ground and standing up again.
"Kid, don't push your luck," Wan Buqun shouted at Ye Bufan.
Ye Bufan remained unfazed, simply smiling and saying, "This villa of mine isn't a place where anyone can come and go as they please."
With that, Ye Bufan vanished from his spot and instantly appeared beside Wan Buqun. Wan Buqun punched towards Ye Bufan's face, feeling extremely vexed.
Before the punch could connect, Wan Buqun felt as if something was blocking him. Ye Bufan then disappeared again.
"Ugh!"
In the next second, Wan Buqun felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. Ye Bufan had appeared right in front of him.
"No! Impossible! You're too young, you can't possibly be a Great Martial Venerable!" Wan Buqun stared at Ye Bufan in disbelief. To be so manhandled by a mere Martial Venerable was something only Great Martial Venerables or above, Martial Saints, could achieve. How could there be such a young Great Martial Venerable in the vast and magnificent Great Xia?
Wan Buqun refused to believe it. He unleashed a surge of aura from his body, his true qi erupting from within.
"Taste my sword!" Wan Buqun drew a soft sword from his waist and swung it at Ye Bufan, shouting, "Gentleman's Sword!"
"Who permitted you to draw a sword in my territory!" Ye Bufan's voice exuded an air of supreme authority. The Broken Sword was summoned from his spatial ring. In an instant, a white light flashed, and Wan Buqun froze. The soft sword in his hand shattered into pieces.
"Kneel!" Ye Bufan unleashed his mental power technique, the Illusory Sound Demonic Eye. In Wan Buqun's vision, a giant pair of eyes appeared behind Ye Bufan.
Wan Buqun's eyes glazed over, and he showed an expression of extreme fear, his face paling.
The giant eyes were unfathomably deep to Wan Buqun, filled with dread, awakening his deepest fears.
After Ye Bufan uttered the word "Kneel," Wan Buqun, overcome by terror, sank to his knees. Ye Bufan then placed a palm on Wan Buqun's head, rendering him unconscious.
"Go deliver a message to the Yue family," Ye Bufan instructed Zhu Zizhen. "If you want Wan Buqun to live, obediently release your disciple. If you want the Yue family's old patriarch to live, Yue Yangshuo must personally come to my doorstep to beg for forgiveness."
Zhu Zizhen's eyes lit up upon hearing this.
"Yes! Master." Zhu Zizhen took out his phone and contacted someone. Half an hour later, a car pulled up outside the villa. Zhu Zizhen bid farewell to Ye Bufan and left.
Inside the villa, Ye Bufan tied up Wan Buqun and left him there. He then prepared to cultivate by the artificial lake. Huangfu Yujia, who was nearby, couldn't help but call out to him.
"The mental power technique you used just now, can it make people see their deepest fears?" Huangfu Yujia asked.
Ye Bufan looked at Huangfu Yujia and replied, "It makes you see what you fear most, forcing you to submit in your heart. Only those with strong inner resolve can overcome fear. However, even if you regain consciousness, you will still be sluggish and unable to resist under the influence of my mental power."
Huangfu Yujia looked at Ye Bufan, took a deep breath, and made a decision.
"Whether my face is healed or not, I've decided to follow you," Huangfu Yujia said. "I..."
After a long moment of hesitation, Huangfu Yujia added, "If... if it's possible... I'd also like to take you as my master."
Ye Bufan looked at Huangfu Yujia. This was the outcome he had hoped for. Lin Xiaoyao had once told him that winning people over couldn't be done through force; one had to earn their respect and submission from the heart. Both Zhu Zizhen and Huangfu Yujia were now like this.
"Don't worry, if I said your face could be healed, it will certainly be healed." With that, Ye Bufan vanished from the villa and appeared by the artificial lake, absorbing the purple qi from the east, entering a state of cultivation.
As the sun rose higher, Ye Bufan noticed that with the increasingly dense spiritual energy, his initial Foundation Establishment realm cultivation was growing significantly. Seizing this opportunity, Ye Bufan absorbed and refined the pills he had previously concocted.
It wasn't until Zhu Zizhen returned from outside, panting, that he found Ye Bufan by the lake.
"Master!" Zhu Zizhen approached Ye Bufan. "Yue Yangshuo said that a mere Martial Venerable is insignificant; their Yue family can find another one if he dies."
Ye Bufan heard this and was surprised by Yue Yangshuo's stubbornness.
"And then?" Ye Bufan continued to ask.
"I received word that after Yue Yangshuo sent my people away, his father, the Yue family patriarch Yue Zhuoying, also arrived," Zhu Zizhen informed Ye Bufan.
"Oh?" Ye Bufan's face broke into a satisfied smile upon hearing that the Yue family patriarch had arrived.
"Let's go back to the villa, we'll prepare to welcome our distinguished guests," Ye Bufan said to Zhu Zizhen.
Zhu Zizhen followed Ye Bufan back to the villa. The two of them moved Huangfu Yujia to the second floor, cleaned the first floor, sealed Wan Buqun's meridians with silver needles, and then dumped him at the villa entrance to be exposed to the sun.
After completing these tasks, Ye Bufan returned to the villa, content to wait for the Yue family.
Zhu Zizhen still felt a bit uneasy. He believed Yue Yangshuo would never come. Given that young man's temperament, begging for forgiveness would be harder than ascending to heaven.
As noon approached, when the sun was at its peak, a stretched Rolls-Royce pulled up to the villa entrance, followed by three Mercedes-Benz cars. People of various ages, young and middle-aged, alighted from the Mercedes.
"It's my disciple!" Zhu Zizhen, peering through the window, saw the people getting out of the car and, overjoyed, rushed out to greet them into the villa.
Yue Zhuoying stepped out of the Rolls-Royce. In the car, Yue Yangshuo, with a look of extreme reluctance, refused to get out. A distinct red palm print could be seen on his face.