Meanwhile, in an ordinary courtyard in the western part of the capital, a middle-aged man dressed in a Taoist robe, who was kneeling cross-legged on a prayer mat, suddenly opened his eyes.

A large Bagua yin-yang symbol hung in front of him, and below it was an altar with several jade plaques painted with strange patterns in cinnabar.

At that moment, cracks slowly appeared on the jade plaque on the left, eventually breaking into several pieces that scattered on the offering table.

The man's expression changed drastically. He grabbed the jade pendant, which had been broken into several pieces, and his whole body trembled.

He trained a total of five disciples in his lifetime, each of whom greatly helped his cultivation and was his dearest.

But now, Xie Yun is dead, dead in that little-known place called Liuhe Town.

Xie Yun was not only his disciple, but also his only son.

But now, Xie Yun is dead, and his only son is gone!

"Guards!" the man suddenly shouted.

"Immortal Master." A beautiful young woman walked in and bowed her head respectfully.

"Xie Yun is dead," the man said in a deep voice, his hands trembling.

Upon hearing this, the young woman shook her head in horror: "This...this is impossible!"

Xie Yun was the senior disciple of their Yunxiao Palace. He was just doing a small thing on the orders of the immortal master. How could he possibly die?

"Return the ten thousand taels of silver that Madam Jiang gave us, and tell her that Yunxiao Palace has not handled this matter properly," the middle-aged man ordered in a trembling voice.

The young woman was about to say something when she heard a man's voice again.

“We’ll go back to Yunxiao Palace. Whoever killed Xie Yun, I will wipe out their entire family and make sure they die without a burial place.”

"Yes." The young woman responded and quickly woke up the people in the courtyard, instructing them to prepare their belongings and return to Yunxiao Palace early the next morning.

The capital city is different from other places.

Outside other county towns and prefectural cities, there is usually only one Taoist temple. In particularly large prefectural cities, there may be two Taoist temples.

However, there are ten Taoist temples outside the capital, and Yunxiao Palace is one of them.

The man looked to be only in his thirties or forties, but he was actually over sixty.

He was Xie Peng, the master of Yunxiao Palace, also known as Immortal Master Xie.

Xie Peng often went to the capital to exorcise evil spirits and ward off disasters for high-ranking officials and nobles, and to help them do some shady things.

With these people protecting it, Yunxiao Palace had a good reputation, and no one ever knew that Yunxiao Palace actually had evil cultivators.

Xie Peng is a very low-key person, and he always stays in this small courtyard whenever he comes to Beijing.

Although he takes money to do things for others, he will return the money if he fails to do so, so he has a very good reputation among the high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital.

...

The next morning, Qi Fangya received 10,000 taels of silver returned by someone sent by Xie Peng.

Watching Jiang Mingtao about to leave for court, Qi Fangya frowned deeply: "The people from Yunxiao Palace actually failed. What should we do next? Should we just send someone to wipe out the entire Ye family?"

As Jiang Mingtao adjusted his official hat, he said softly, "Madam, please calm down. Annihilating an entire family is not something to be done lightly. We previously asked Yunxiao Palace to use ghosts and monsters to destroy the Ye family. Even if someone wanted to investigate, they wouldn't be able to trace it back to us. If Madam were to send people directly, that might not be the case."

"In my opinion, it's because you can't forget that slut that you're stopping me, afraid I'll send someone to wipe out their entire family." Qi Fangya said with a cold snort, "Speaking of which, she's your wife who shared your hardships, it's normal that you can't bear to part with her. How about... you bring her and her daughter to the capital, and I'm willing to let her be your concubine."

Jiang Mingtao's eyes widened upon hearing this.

Although turning Ye Miaoyun from wife to concubine was illegal, what could be done when Ye Miaoyun was just an ordinary peasant woman? How could she compare to Qi Fangya, a county princess?

Moreover, now that he has risen to the rank of fourth-grade official, even if he were to take a concubine, she should be a young and beautiful girl, not a lowly peasant woman like Ye Miaoyun who is over thirty years old.

Regardless of the circumstances, he was able to take the imperial examination thanks to the Ye family.

Jiang Mingtao didn't want to go to extremes either.

He had previously asked Qi Fangya to let Ye Miaoyun become his concubine, but Qi Fangya refused.

She also said that if he dared to bring Ye Miaoyun and her daughter to the capital, she would divorce him.

Jiang Mingtao, of course, could not give up the wealth and glory that had been within his grasp. Helpless, he had no choice but to send someone back to find his second brother, give them five hundred taels of silver, and instruct his second brother to get rid of Ye Miaoyun and her daughter.

However, this allowed Ye Miaoyun to escape a calamity.

"Madam is joking. She had an affair and has been kicked out of the Jiang family. She is no longer a woman of the Jiang family, so naturally she has no right to be my concubine," Jiang Mingtao said, shaking his head.

Even if Qi Fangya were willing to let Ye Miaoyun become her concubine now, he would not agree.

A woman lying on a meadow with another man, even if she is still innocent, is not worthy of him.

Jiang Mingtao didn't want to be ridiculed because of Ye Miaoyun.

Qi Fangya was just saying it; she knew Jiang Mingtao would definitely find it disgusting and wouldn't agree.

"I'll spend a lot of money to hire a few assassins to go to Liuhe Town, kill them, and then set a huge fire, burning the Ye family to ashes. No one will be able to trace it back to us. Jiang Mingtao, don't forget... my father played a big part in your promotion to a fourth-rank official. I can make you rise in rank and title, and I can also make you lose everything. If you make me unhappy, I'll make sure you have nothing first," Qi Fangya said with a dark face.

"Okay, I'll do whatever you say, Madam." Jiang Mingtao nodded quickly.

"You liar! If it weren't for our three children, I would really want a divorce from you." After saying that, Qi Fangya turned and left.

Qi Fangya was unaware of Jiang Mingtao's marriage and the birth of his daughter until two months ago, when Jiang Mingtao was about to be promoted to a fourth-rank official and she suggested sending someone to Qingya Village to bring her parents-in-law over.

Qi Fangya, of course, could not accept this and only wanted Ye Miaoyun and her daughter to die.

Besides wanting to maintain her own position, she also didn't want Jiang Mingtao to be impeached and dismissed from office.

After all, they had been married for many years and had three children, so Qi Fangya naturally had to make plans for herself and her children.

Jiang Mingtao was certain of this, which is why he dared to tell her everything.

...

It was very hot in Liuhe Town in June. There hadn't been a drop of rain for half a month, and even the water level of the Yangliu River behind it had dropped considerably.

Qi Chengshuo did not move to the Ye family's house, but instead spent money to buy the house next to the Ye family's house. This made it much easier for them to protect Qi Jiu than before.

The Ye family had inquired about Qi Jiu's situation: he was penniless and could only survive by becoming the son-in-law of the Ye family, while his nephew was able to buy a house with money. Qi Chengshuo had given them the answer.