As the sun rose in the east, Ye Anping, as usual, woke up early according to his biological clock. He performed a simple set of exercises in the backyard of the massage center, bought breakfast from the market, and then opened the doors to the massage center.

After today, he no longer needed to worry about the Seven Kills Sect. The blame for killing Wu You would be willingly taken by Profound Star Sect.

The remaining matter was his junior sister advancing to the Foundation Establishment stage.

But that would probably take two or three more months, and he was in no hurry.

He lay in a rocking chair in the main hall, passing the time. Before long, a flying sword landed at the entrance of the massage center.

Bai Yuelin, as usual, came over after her morning class to help out and occasionally brought one or two senior brothers or sisters who wanted to experience therapy.

Today, she brought a junior brother who was shorter in stature and appeared to be seventeen or eighteen years old.

Ye Anping looked at the junior brother and remembered that he was a frequent visitor to his massage center.

Ever since Bai Yuelin brought him here for therapy for the first time, he had been coming almost every day.

However, it was rare for him to come right after his morning class. Normally, he would come in the afternoon.

“Welcome—” Ye Anping greeted.

Before he could finish his welcome, the junior brother, who was a junior to Bai Yuelin and a senior to Ye Anping, bowed deeply at a ninety-degree angle and performed a formal salute to Ye Anping.

Ye Anping was puzzled. “What’s going on?”

Afterward, the disciple surnamed Xu walked up to Ye Anping and directly took out a bottle of pill from his storage pouch, offering it with both hands.

“This is a Foundation Building Pill refined by me. I hope Young Master Ye won’t mind.”

Ye Anping, seeing this, promptly stood up from his recliner and politely refused, saying, “Senior Xu, I dare not accept this.”

“Young Master Ye, there’s no need to be so modest. This is just a small token of appreciation.”

Ye Anping was puzzled and quickly exchanged a glance with Bai Yuelin, signaling her to explain.

Bai Yuelin couldn’t help but chuckle and said, “Anping, Brother Xu came here today specifically to thank you. Thanks to your therapy, he broke through to the late Foundation Establishment stage last night. Please accept it. He saw that you’re only at the 5th level of Qi Refinement and practiced for two days and nights just to create this pill for you.”

“Hmm?”

“Brother Xu here has actually been stuck at the middle of the Foundation Establishment stage for over twenty years. He tried many methods and even received help from the Elders, but none of them worked. It was only after a few sessions of therapy that he finally broke through the bottleneck.”

The disciple surnamed Xu also nodded and said, “I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve tried many methods over these twenty years with little success. But Young Master Ye’s therapy was quite effective. I had a feeling after my first session that your therapy might help me break through the bottleneck. Please accept this gift.”

Hearing this explanation, Ye Anping couldn’t refuse anymore and accepted the pill with a congratulatory tone, “In that case, I congratulate Senior Xu on your successful breakthrough.”

“You’re too kind.”

The man bowed and glanced at Bai Yuelin before saying, “I came here to express my gratitude and to enjoy the tranquility of the shop. Bai Junior Sister, Young Master Ye, I have other matters to attend to this morning. I’ll come back in the afternoon.”

“Sure, take your time,” Bai Yuelin waved him off.

“Alright, I won’t send Senior Xu off,” Ye Anping said.

Watching as the disciple flew away on his sword from the front gate, Ye Anping then lowered his head and opened the bottle of Foundation Building Pill he received. He sniffed the quality of the pill inside.

It turned out to be a medium-quality Foundation Building Pill.

It was too inferior to be used for his sister. He had no use for it himself either. He could either give it away or exchange it for something else.

Seeing his expression, Bai Yuelin guessed that he didn’t think much of this gift. She hugged him from behind and teased, “Do you dislike it? Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

“I still have some manners,” Ye Anping retorted, glancing at her, and then quickly broke free from her embrace. “I hope Senior Bai can also show some manners and not hug me for no reason.”

“Oh…” Bai Yuelin pouted, then smiled, “Anping, this is great now. As long as Brother Xu shares the news that he broke through after doing a session with you, your therapy business will definitely have no shortage of customers in the future, right?”

“I think it’s fine to be a bit quieter for now, it’s peaceful.”

“Running a business is all about having more customers. If you can’t handle the demand, you can raise your prices. I think your prices are too low. How much do you make in a month?”

“I’m the boss, I’m not in a hurry. Why is the accountant so impatient?”

“What accountant?” Bai Yuelin pinched his cheek. “I’m your big sister.”

Ye Anping shrugged, responding nonchalantly, “We’ll see later. If there are really a lot of people, I might limit the number or raise the price.”

“How about…” Bai Yuelin paused and asked, “You teach me? When there are more customers, I can help you out.”

It wasn’t entirely out of the question. However, when he was practicing this technique, he had made quite a few mistakes with his sister’s meridians.

The therapy technique required precision, turning spiritual energy into a needle and threading it through the meridians.

“It’ll take you several years to learn it.”

“Why not give it a try? You never know; I might have a talent for it,” Bai Yuelin said proudly. “Anping, don’t forget that before Sister was defeated on the stage, she was still a single spiritual root genius! Hmph.”

Seeing her like this, Ye Anping remained silent for a while.

Ye Anping sighed and said, “Maybe another day. By the way, I’ll be going for a walk by Willow Moon Lake with Lady Feng later. Can you watch the shop for me?”

“Oh? Willow Moon Lake? What are you going to do there?”

“Just taking a walk and having a heart-to-heart talk.”

Bai Yuelin pouted, “You… are you two already a couple?”

“No.”

“But you’re both going to Willow Moon Lake together, isn’t that what couples do?” Bai Yuelin frowned and thought for a moment, then said, “Anping, I admit that Feng Yudie is indeed beautiful and talented, but based on my years of judgment, I can tell you that she and you are not compatible at all.”

Ye Anping almost wanted to compliment her for her keen eye, but he didn’t say it aloud. He just replied, “I told you, we’re just going for a walk.”

“Sister is just giving advice to you.” Bai Yuelin wagged her index finger and lectured, “Remember, when you are looking for a girl, don’t just judge by appearance. Many girls are wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

“I know.”

“No… you don’t know. Let me tell you a story,” Bai Yuelin continued, sharing a local version of a tale similar to King Zhou and the Fox Spirit, which emphasized that the more beautiful someone is, the more dangerous they can be. (Tn: Tamamo No Mae story)

She was determined to tell the story, and Ye Anping couldn’t stop her, so he simply listened to it as if it were a storytelling session.

Soon, it was lunchtime.

Feng Yudie arrived.

To avoid arousing suspicion, Ye Anping had asked her to come to the therapy center from time to time and act as if she were charmed by him. However, she seemed to have a thick skin.

For the past few days, she had been coming right at lunchtime and enjoying the roasted chicken. She even took some leftovers with her.

Feng Yudie was wearing the emerald green silk dress he had sold to her, but before she could say anything, Xiaotian suddenly flew over and perched on Ye Anping’s shoulder.

Pointing at Feng Yudie, it said, 『Young Master Ye, take a good look at that girl. Feng Yudie looks so beautiful wearing the dress you sold her. Aren’t you going to give her a compliment?』

“…”

Ye Anping was speechless.

This peculiar little creature was either incredibly persistent or simply annoying. Since their last encounter, it had perched on his shoulder every time it saw him and chatted away. Several times he had almost absentmindedly responded to its questions.

Seeing no reaction from Ye Anping, Xiaotian pondered for a moment, then leaned toward his ear, peeked inside, and revealed a surprised expression.

『Uwaa~ Young Master Ye, when was the last time you cleaned your ears? There’s a big chunk of earwax in there』

“…”

As long as Ye Anping reached out and touched his ear now, it would be an admission that he could see it.

Fortunately, he distinctly remembered cleaning his ears this morning. Otherwise, he would have been very uncomfortable after that remark.

Ignoring it was annoying.

Paying attention to it would be even more annoying.

However, in the end, Ye Anping chose to continue ignoring it.