When Yang Hongxia thought of this, the unrestrained chill suddenly subsided a lot.

The frost on her face, which had formed thin ice, regained some sensation.

Lord Ye?

Yang Hongxia was momentarily stunned, then felt a gust of cold wind whistle past her.

When she came back to her senses, Fang Yue was already standing in front of her.

"Now that the martial competition has begun, let's go."

"...Yes."

This time, walking beside Fang Yue, Yang Hongxia clearly felt that the chill emanating from him had become much more restrained.

It seemed that Lord Ye's strength had advanced further, and he had more control over the release of his cold energy.

Yang Hongxia was delighted. After all, the stronger Fang Yue was, the higher her Dayang Merchant Guild could rank in the martial competition.

As for Mang Liuzi, well, whatever.

From the very beginning, she hadn't placed much hope on Mang Liuzi.

After all, they had hired ordinary Xiantian realm (Acquired Realm) martial artists as retainers before, and the result was what it was now: a low ranking.

Only a strong person like Lord Ye could lead the Dayang Merchant Guild to truly embark on the road to becoming a large-scale merchant guild!

As Yang Hongxia thought of this, the two had already walked outside Dayang Manor.

Outside the gate, the carriage was ready, and some nosy passersby were pointing and gossiping about Dayang Manor's ostentatious display.

Under the sunlight, Yang Hongxia's smile became a little more cheerful.

After a series of downturns, Dayang Manor would officially reverse its fortunes starting today!

The Dayang Merchant Guild would rise again!

"Look, look! People are coming out!"

"Is that the current head of the Dayang Merchant Guild, Yang Hongxia? She's certainly...unique!"

"A beauty! Truly a beauty! It's a pity that as the head of the guild, she has many affairs to attend to, working day and night. It will surely accelerate her aging, and her face will probably be unsightly in the future."

"Shhh! Keep your voice down! The Dayang Merchant Guild is indeed declining, but it's still a merchant guild that can barely rank in the Tian Shang Alliance. We vagrant soldiers can't afford to offend them!"

"Look quickly, who is that pale-faced guy with the icy expression? Why is Yang Hongxia so polite to him?"

"Never seen him before... I heard that the powerful retainer Ye Niuniu from Dayang Manor died in Dongliu Mountain some time ago. With the martial competition upon us, they probably found someone to fill in temporarily. In times of crisis, they're naturally polite."

"What a pity for such a good deal. The beauty didn't ask me for help. Otherwise, I'd get both the woman and the wealth, and I'd sit firmly in the position of head of the Dayang Merchant Guild!"

Amid the discussions, some harsh and unpleasant gossip arose.

Yang Hongxia frowned, but didn't say much. She and Fang Yue entered the same carriage and sat down.

Now that the Dayang Merchant Guild was down on its luck, gossip was inevitable.

As long as Lord Ye performed normally in this martial competition, all the rumors and all those who looked down on the Dayang Merchant Guild would be slapped in the face!

Looking at Fang Yue, who was closing his eyes to rest, Yang Hongxia was full of confidence.

The team set off, the carriage slowly moving forward, along the street, towards the location of the martial competition, soon disappearing from the passersby's sight.

"Just now... Yang Hongxia entered the same carriage with that retainer, right?"

"I'm so envious! I really want to pull that retainer down and replace him, to fight for the Dayang Merchant Guild!"

Some envied, some were sour, and some had dark thoughts.

After all, seeing a lone man and woman enter the same carriage, and at a time when Dayang Manor was in a weakened state.

It inevitably made people's minds wander, conjuring up some suggestive scenarios.

...

The location of the Tian Shang Alliance Martial Arts Exchange Duel Tournament was a huge square.

Hundreds of arenas had been set up in the square.

As a preliminary round, the rules were relatively simple: simply defend the arena.

All merchant guilds of the Tian Shang Alliance could participate.

Because each merchant guild had a certain quota of participants, the total number of participants was quite large.

As the most grand festival activity in Chunuan City, the martial competition hadn't officially started yet, but the place was already crowded with people, and even the government had sent people to maintain order and stability on the scene.

Dou Hongyi squinted, searching for the Dayang Merchant Guild's insignia, but there were too many people, and he couldn't find it.

He didn't have any particular thoughts about the Dayang Merchant Guild, but that Rain-level expert... was actually residing in the Dayang Merchant Guild, with a name that matched one of his Qing Si's (Azure Department) hot potatoes.

Dou Hongyi had been looking haggard these past few days, worrying about the Rain-level expert.

However, the Rain-level expert was leisurely holed up in Dayang Manor, not stepping out of the gate, making his worries for nothing.

During this period, bizarre events occurred frequently, and like the Nuomian Gui (Glutinous Cotton Wraith), formations couldn't detect them at all.

Those bizarre entities infiltrated Chunuan City as if entering an uninhabited place. Chunuan City was like a city with empty gates, unable to resist the invasion of bizarre entities at all.

Fortunately, the Tian Shang Alliance provided great assistance, and these bizarre entities, although infiltrating silently, always caused a commotion when they made trouble, making them easy to discover and deal with, so they could barely stabilize the situation.

Whether it was because there weren't many of these bizarre entities to begin with, or for some other reason, as the martial competition drew closer, the number of bizarre entities in the city also decreased a lot, reducing the workload of their Qing Si.

That's why he had time now to help the Tian Shang Alliance maintain order here.

"I heard."

While Dou Hongyi was thinking, Yang Diandian, a third-rank Blue Guard from Lan Shan (Blue Shirt), suddenly spoke, startling him.

This guy had been playing on his nerves lately, gloating about the appearance of so many bizarre entities in Chunuan City.

Now he didn't know what he'd heard, and he was sneaking over again.

Dou Hongyi looked at Yang Diandian with a disgusted expression: "You heard what?"

"I know about the Holy Edict. His Majesty personally named and sent the Holy Edict to the Qing Si department in Chunuan City. Although I haven't experienced such a thing, I know you're done for!"

Yang Diandian laughed gleefully.

He had been very happy these days.

Lan Shan only handled personnel matters, and bizarre events were considered extra overtime work.

But seeing the Qing Si being overwhelmed and dizzy with this mess, Yang Diandian understood that the Qing Si's duties had been breached, and reporting it would likely lead to a deduction of merit points.

Strangely, before he could report it to the higher-ups, he heard the news of the Holy Edict.

The Holy Mountain's Holy Edict being transmitted to such a chaotic place like Chunuan City couldn't be a good thing, and it was going directly to the Qing Si. Most likely, Dou Hongyi, the Qing Si boss, was going to lose his job.

Recalling the years of strife with Dou Hongyi, he never thought he would leave in such a way.

Yang Diandian felt some regret in his heart, but at the same time, he felt some joy. No matter what, this great scourge was finally eliminated!

From now on, Lan Shan would be in charge of the government in Chunuan City!