"Ye Tianqi..." Su Mei murmured, surprised. "I didn't expect the Ye family would even send Ye Tianqi. It seems they're determined to get you. But after Ye Tianqi fails, they might send even stronger ancient martial artists."
"Ye Tianqi is already the Ye family's top ancient martial artist. Could there be someone stronger behind him?" Li Se asked, surprised.
It was said that Ye Tianqi was the Ye family's number one ancient martial artist. If there was someone more powerful behind him, it would only mean that the title of the Ye family's number one ancient martial artist was merely a facade.
Su Mei chuckled, "What's so strange about that? Do you think people will reveal all their strength from the start? Of course not. The Ye family might have more formidable ancient martial artists waiting. Just be careful."
Meanwhile, at the Ye family's residence.
Ye Tianqi returned injured, utterly perplexed. As the Ye family's top ancient martial artist, he had actually failed, and quite embarrassingly at that.
The entire way back, Ye Tianqi had been contemplating how to phrase his report to minimize his disgrace.
Upon entering the Ye family compound, Ye Zhizhuān was waiting. Seeing Ye Tianqi's disheveled state, he couldn't help but frown and ask, "How did it go?"
"Mr. Ye, that Li Se is at the peak of the Huajin realm. We fought for three hundred rounds, and I was always at an advantage. But just as I was about to defeat him, Li Se had an ancient martial artist by his side, and a Huajin realm one at that..."
Ye Tianqi embellished the account slightly.
Ye Zhizhuān's brows furrowed even tighter upon hearing this. "You mean to say you lost?"
Ye Tianqi was frustrated. Did he have to be so blunt? Fine, if he wanted to be direct, he'd just nod.
Ye Zhizhuān's expression turned grim. He had expected that sending Ye Tianqi would be a sure thing, but he never imagined he would fail.
Once Li Se's identity was confirmed, using other means would be extremely difficult. Even if the Li family didn't acknowledge him, Li Shengjun did – and he was a War God in the military!
"Did you just say that this brat is at the peak of Huajin?" Ye Zhizhuān inquired.
Finally, a relevant question. Ye Tianqi quickly nodded. "Mr. Ye, this morning I saw his strength was still in the early Huajin realm. But in less than a day, he's already reached the peak. I suspect he might have consumed some secret medicine to rapidly boost his strength. Moreover, he has a Huajin realm martial artist by his side. Dealing with this brat won't be easy."
Ye Zhizhuān pondered for a moment and said, "If his strength was boosted by secret medicine, then such medicine should have side effects, right?"
Ye Tianqi nodded. "There are usually side effects. It's just that this brat is a royal physician, so he might have a way to counteract them."
"Alright. You go and observe him. If the brat appears weak, seize the opportunity to kill him!" Ye Zhizhuān stated calmly.
"Yes!" Ye Tianqi immediately responded.
The next day.
As Li Se was about to leave the villa, he received an invitation.
"Young Master, this is an invitation to a family banquet."
It was none other than the Li family's butler who handed the invitation to Li Se.
"Family banquet?" Li Se was taken aback, then thought of something and smiled, shaking his head. "Sorry, I don't plan to attend. Please take the invitation back."
The butler was also taken aback. So many people wished to enter the Li family's doors, yet this brat actually refused. His refusal naturally made him a bit displeased. This was the Li family, and the young man was acting arrogant.
However, regardless, Li Se was a direct descendant of the Li family, so he couldn't say anything disrespectful.
"Young Master, you must attend this family banquet," the butler said with a slight smile. "Your fiancée will also be there."
"Fiancée?" Li Se almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
Since Zhang Aimin and the others were nearby, their beautiful faces all showed a hint of a smile, a smile filled with coldness.
This made Li Se's scalp tingle. He coughed and said, "There's no need for a fiancée. Please take the invitation back, I..."
"Don't be like that. Why wouldn't you want to meet your fiancée?" Su Mei walked over, took the invitation, and waved her hand. "You can go back and tell the Li family that our husband will attend."
The butler glanced at Su Mei and the others, didn't say much, and soon left.
Li Se looked at Su Mei, puzzled. "Sister Mei, I didn't plan to attend, why did you accept it?"
"If you have a fiancée, why wouldn't you meet her?" Su Mei asked with a half-smile. "What, you're already so flirtatious, does it matter if there's one more? The fiancée the Li family found for you is probably not simple."
Li Se said with a bitter smile, "Sister Mei, you've really misunderstood me. I'm not that kind of person, and I don't plan to return to the Li family. If I accept this invitation, the Li family will definitely think I want to reconcile."