This man stepped forward, quickly concealing his hostility.
He approached Ye Feng with a friendly smile, extending his hand and saying, "Hello, my name is Lu Minghua! I'm Ke Qing's senior brother!"
Ye Feng was somewhat surprised by his sincere smile, as he wouldn't have suspected any ill will if he hadn't sensed it earlier.
The man gave off the impression of a big brother next door, amiable and gentle.
But only Ye Feng knew how terrifying such people could be.
However, Ye Feng didn't dwell on it, simply extending his hand and saying, "Hello, I'm Ke Qing's... good friend!"
The moment their hands clasped, Ye Feng felt immense force from the other man's grip.
This caused Ye Feng to frown; he hadn't expected such a move.
Naturally, Ye Feng wasn't one to be pushed around and immediately applied his own strength.
Instantly, two powerful forces collided within their palms.
Lu Minghua was confident in his strength, having reached the peak of the Grandmaster realm, a truly formidable level.
What shocked him even more was that Ye Feng, despite being only in the late Grandmaster stage, possessed strength no less than his own.
For a moment, they were evenly matched, neither giving ground.
At this point, Su Ke Qing noticed they had been shaking hands for a long time and stepped forward, saying, "Hey, why are you two shaking hands for so long?"
Upon hearing this, they both released their grips simultaneously, their expressions calm as if nothing had happened.
The next moment, Lu Minghua smiled, "It's nothing! Oh right, junior sister, didn't you say you were hungry? I'm hungry too, let's go grab something to eat!"
Su Ke Qing didn't think much of it, turning to Ye Feng and saying, "Ye Feng, what are you spacing out for? Lead the way!"
"Oh, alright! This way, please!"
And so, Ye Feng led them to the Dragon King Hall, not far from the Poseidon Company.
While Su Ke Qing went to the restroom, Lu Minghua suddenly spoke to Ye Feng, "Kid, your strength is indeed impressive! But Ke Qing possesses a Sacred Body, and her future achievements are limitless. She's not someone you should covet. You'd best stay away from her and not hold her back!"
Hearing this, Ye Feng chuckled, "So, is that why you have animosity towards me?"
"That's right!"
Lu Minghua admitted it openly without any pretense.
This Lu Minghua hailed from the hidden forces behind the Dragon Court, emerging from the Dragon Court's secret realm.
Because Su Ke Qing had awakened a powerful physique, it had alerted a prominent figure among the hidden forces behind the Dragon Court, who directly took Su Ke Qing as a disciple.
Lu Minghua was one of that figure's disciples. The first time he saw his junior sister, Su Ke Qing, after emerging, he fell for her and had already considered her his cultivation partner.
Originally, Su Ke Qing was in seclusion, attempting to break through to the Grandmaster realm. However, upon receiving Ye Feng's distress call, she disregarded her master's and Lu Minghua's warnings to save Ye Feng, nearly suffering qi deviation.
This was the reason for Lu Minghua's intense animosity towards Ye Feng.
Ye Feng, hearing this, retorted to Lu Minghua, "You don't need to worry about matters between Ke Qing and me! Just take care of yourself!"
With that, Ye Feng stopped paying attention to him and turned to leave.
Upon returning, Ye Feng went back to his room alone, sorting through recent events and contemplating his next course of action.
After much thought, Ye Feng realized that the most important thing to do next was to protect those close to him.
Su Ke Qing's two kidnappings had forced Ye Feng to prioritize this matter.
After all, with the resurgence of spiritual energy, many cultivators had emerged, and ordinary people were utterly defenseless against them.
If such an incident were to occur again, Ye Feng truly feared some unforeseen accident, leading to regret he couldn't bear.
Therefore, he immediately sought out Senior Cang Long and asked, "I gave you a lot of cultivation sources earlier. Have they been distributed, and what's the effect?"
Senior Cang Long replied, "Reporting to Lord Poseidon! I've invested the cultivation resources you provided into the Merman and Mermaid tribes, and there have been significant effects!"
"Oh? How so?" Ye Feng asked with anticipation.
Senior Cang Long continued, "The patriarchs of the Merman and Mermaid tribes have both reached the peak of the Grandmaster realm and have entered seclusion. I believe, barring any unforeseen circumstances, they will break through to the Great Grandmaster realm soon!"
"Other experts at the Innate and Grandmaster realms have also seen considerable improvements, and overall strength has increased by more than a level!"
Hearing this, Ye Feng became excited, "Haha! Really? That's excellent! Once those two reach the Great Grandmaster realm, we won't have to fear those hidden families and sects anymore!"
"By the way, there's another piece of good news!" Senior Cang Long added with a smile.
Ye Feng became even happier and quickly asked, "What good news?"
"The Deep Sea Vampire Eel King has also been improving rapidly after consuming so much Grandmaster flesh and blood. Especially after I fed it that Great Grandmaster from the Gongsun family, it seems to be making a push for the Great Grandmaster realm as well!"
Hearing this, Ye Feng burst into laughter.
"Haha, good! Very good! Once they break through, we'll be on par with those sects and families!" Ye Feng was ecstatic.
Typical hidden families and sects only have one to three Great Grandmaster experts. Ye Feng and his allies were more than capable of matching them.
"Right, immediately dispatch a few late Grandmaster realm experts to specifically protect the safety of my important people!" Ye Feng instructed.
Although the Merman and Mermaid tribes didn't have Great Grandmasters, they had quite a few Grandmaster realm experts. Especially after receiving Ye Feng's abundant cultivation resources, many Innate realm cultivators had advanced to the Grandmaster realm.
Dispatching a few to protect Xiao Feifei and the others was feasible.
The next day, news of the demise of a Great Grandmaster from the hidden Gongsun family spread throughout the cultivation world, causing a massive stir.
"Did you hear? A Great Grandmaster from the hidden Gongsun family has fallen!"
"What? A Great Grandmaster has fallen? This... it's been many years since we've heard such news!"
"Indeed! Did some hidden sect or force make a move? How did they manage to kill a Great Grandmaster of the Gongsun family!"
"It's unclear. All we know is that the hidden Gongsun family suddenly dispatched a Great Grandmaster and several Grandmasters to attack the Poseidon Company, seemingly to capture someone!"
"It must have been the forces behind this Poseidon Company that acted, actually eliminating the Gongsun family's Great Grandmaster expert!"
"What kind of forces are behind this Poseidon Company? Aren't they afraid of retaliation from the hidden Gongsun family?"
"If they dared to act, they naturally wouldn't be afraid! Besides, the Gongsun family pushed too far; if it were me, I wouldn't tolerate it either..."
This incident caused a great sensation, leading many factions to inquire about the forces behind the Poseidon Company.
However, to their shock, they couldn't find any information about the forces behind the Poseidon Company.
While other companies had ties to hidden families and sects that were traceable to some extent, the forces behind the Poseidon Company were completely unknown, as if they had appeared out of thin air, making them unfathomable.
One day, as Ye Feng was in his office handling Poseidon Company matters, Shangguan Lin'er suddenly walked in and handed Ye Feng a strange object...