Chapter 173 Yan Mingchen (Part 2)

The Taiping Dao has three major families, namely the Li family, the Lu family, and the Shen family. The Li family is the main family, and the other two families are vassals of the Li family. The Zhengyi Dao is also roughly the same, with the Zhang family as the main family, and the Su family and the Yan family as vassals. The three families often intermarry, so in the eyes of many people, it is reasonable for Zhang Yuelu to marry Yan Mingchen. Now the head of the Yan family, the clan wife, is from the Zhang family, and she will never let Zhang Yuelu suffer any loss or be bullied. Even with Zhang Yuelu's strength, it is not incredible that she will sideline her husband and take charge of the Yan family as the mistress in the future.

To be fair, this is an excellent marriage. Many Zhang family girls from small clans are unable to get it. Generally, only Zhang family girls from large clans can have such treatment. Zhang Yuelu was born in a small clan. Because of her extraordinary talent, plus Yan Mingchen's initiative, she can easily defeat other opponents. As for whether the two like each other or not, that's all trivial. In a big family, the husband and wife are actually solid allies, not lovers. As long as they don't treat each other like enemies, treat each other like guests, or treat each other like ice, it's all fine.

But no one expected that Zhang Yuelu would take the initiative to reject this marriage that most people thought was a good match. The reason she gave at first was even more ridiculous, because Yan Mingchen was too old.

Today's world is just like the two ancient poems: I am eighty years old and you are eighteen, you are young and I am gray-haired. You and I are the same age, but there is only a sixty-year gap between us. The eighteen-year-old bride and the eighty-year-old groom, gray hair and red makeup. The mandarin ducks sleep together in the quilt, and the pear blossoms overshadow the crabapple.

It's not uncommon for an old man to have a young wife, not to mention that Yan Mingchen is just thirty years old, less than ten years older than Zhang Yuelu, not dozens of years older, so it's not a big gap.

So everyone thinks this is just an excuse, and few people know the real thoughts. The only one who didn't find it strange was probably Zhang Yuyue. In her opinion, Zhang Yuelu had strange ideas since she was a child. What others thought was good, she thought was bad. This was reasonable.

However, including Tan Taiqiong, no one dared to force Zhang Yuelu too much. After all, Zhang Yuelu still had a way out, that is, to become a monk in Quanzhen Dao. The so-called monks, whether monks or Taoists, meant to cut off the worldly ties, including blood relatives. As long as they had not returned to the secular world, they could not be constrained by secular rules such as clan law.

More importantly, the Earth Master and Quanzhen Dao had enough strength to ensure the implementation of this rule. Now that Zhengyi Dao and Quanzhen Dao were in a period of quasi-alliance, the Heaven Master was unlikely to come forward for such a thing.

In fact, some people speculated that Zhang Yuelu had too high standards and did not like Yan Mingchen, saying that Yan Mingchen always gave Yan Mingchen face. This is reasonable. Considering Yan Mingchen's age, the rank of the fourth-rank priest is indeed a bit low. If he is promoted to the third-rank Taoist priest at the age of 35, it means that he will have to be promoted to the second-rank Taiyi Taoist priest after the age of 40, or even when he is nearly 50, and then he may stop there in his life.

After all, the appointment and promotion of the Taoist sect has almost rigid requirements for age. Even with the help of the family, at most he can become one of the 36 assistant Taoist priests in the year of Jiazi, and he is ranked at the bottom, with a clear gap from the top assistant Taoist priests.

On the other hand, Zhang Yuelu was a fourth-rank priest in her early twenties. Judging from her momentum, as long as there is no accident, it is a foregone conclusion that she will become a third-rank Taoist priest before the age of 30. Considering her age, it is almost equivalent to a second-rank Taiyi Taoist priest. It is not difficult to become a assistant Taoist priest decades later.

What really makes people look forward to is how far Zhang Yuelu can go? Will she stop at the second-rank Taiyi Taoist priest and hurt Zhongyong? Or will he advance rapidly after becoming a Canzhi Zhenren, inherit the mantle of Cihang Zhenren, and become one of the top thirty-six Canzhi Zhenren? Or will he be bolder and become Pingzhang Da Zhenren, Deputy Changjiao Da Zhenren, or even the supreme Changjiao Zun?

Yan Mingchen understood this truth. If Zhang Yuelu had high standards and looked down on him, that would be fine. He knew his own strengths and weaknesses, but it wouldn't matter. At most, he would cherish his memory for many years.

But no one had ever thought that Zhang Yuelu would find a useless person. In terms of realm cultivation, Taoist rank, position, and family background, he was inferior to him in everything. His only advantage was that he was young.

Moreover, from the perspective of the Taoist system, Qi Xuansu, who is only a seventh-grade Taoist priest, is not young. Even if he is promoted to a sixth-grade Taoist priest right after the Chinese New Year, a sixth-grade Taoist priest needs to stop for one year before being promoted to the fifth-grade Taoist priest, two years before being promoted to the fourth-grade Taoist priest, and three years before being promoted to the third-grade Taoist priest. So he has to be promoted to a sixth-grade Taoist priest at the age of 25, a fifth-grade Taoist priest at the age of 26, and the best case is that he can be promoted to a fourth-grade Taoist priest at the age of 28. However, it is a recognized threshold for a fifth-grade Taoist priest to be promoted to a fourth-grade Taoist priest. Few people can be promoted within two years. Most of them have to stop for a few years. Many people simply stop here and never cross the threshold of a high-grade Taoist priest in their lifetime.

So Yan Mingchen just felt unconvinced in his heart and had to take a look in person before he would give up.

At first glance, he just felt that it was just so-so.

He felt even more unfair in his heart.

Zhang Yuelu naturally saw the resentment and depression in Yan Mingchen, and said: "Back in the upper palace of Wanxiang Dao Palace, I told you that we can be friends, and I will call you brother, and forget about the rest. If you don't take my words seriously, don't blame me for not even being friends."

Yan Mingchen closed his eyes, his voice trembling: "Even if you hate me, I don't blame you, but you... why do you have to humiliate yourself?"

"Humiliate?" Zhang Yuelu raised his eyebrows slightly.

Yan Mingchen said: "You know, if you can marry someone better than me, I won't say anything more and will only bless you, but I don't want you to treat yourself like this."

Zhang Yuelu said in an accentuated tone: "How should I treat myself?"

Yan Mingchen opened his eyes suddenly, and his gaze shot towards Qi Xuansu like a sword: "He is not worthy of you."

"Whether you are worthy or not, it doesn't matter what you say, only what I say counts." Zhang Yuelu could not hide the chill in his tone.

Qi Xuansu remained silent, just looked at Yan Mingchen up and down, cautiously, as if a hunter was assessing the danger of his prey.

Yan Mingchen sighed: "Why bother telling the truth?"

Zhang Yuelu did not hide her anger. As Zhang Yuelu's anger surged, Qi surged around her body, and the flying snow in the sky melted three feet away from her like moths flying into the flame.

Yan Mingchen turned his attention to Zhang Yuelu again: "The spirit is concentrated in the Dantian, and the breathing is like a baby. Your body is as high as the sky and surpasses the five mountains, and your energy is as high as the sky and shakes the north star. You are only a few steps away from the heavens and humans. There is no threshold left. It’s just that the heat is not yet there, it just takes time, I am not your opponent.”

Zhang Yuelu narrowed his eyes and did not answer.

Yan Mingchen turned his attention to Qi Xuansu again and said unceremoniously: "But he is not my opponent."

"That's not necessarily the case." Qi Xuansu, who had been silent until now, finally said.

The atmosphere suddenly condensed.

Qi Xuansu said softly: "Qingxiao, you are here for me. What if I keep hiding behind you? It just so happens that during this period, I have refined all the power of the medicine, and my cultivation level has increased. It is just right to accompany you." Master Yan is practicing his skills.”

Zhang Yuelu hesitated for a moment, but still chose to believe Qi Xuansu, and just said: "Then be careful."

Qi Xuansu took a step forward and said to Yan Mingchen: "Master Yan must have learned something when he came here."

Yan Mingchen became angry when he saw the two talking softly. He suppressed his anger and said slowly: "I am older than you and my level is higher than yours. If we fight, it will be suspected of bullying the younger, and you will not be hurt." , If the realm is damaged, it will not be beautiful.”

Qi Xuansu moved his fully recovered arms, and the blood energy and true energy in his body were flowing at the same time, and he said: "As long as Master Yan never becomes a heavenly being, I will be able to fight."

When Yan Mingchen saw what Qi Xuansu said, he stopped talking and circulated his true energy, but instead of taking action first, he signaled for Qi Xuansu to take action.

After all, as he said himself, he was already older than Qi Xuansu, and his level of cultivation was also a head higher. If he still took the lead, it would be completely shameless, especially with Zhang Yuelu around, he didn't want to do something like this.

Qi Xuansu raised his hand, and a cold light flashed towards Yan Mingchen's left eye.

It's a throwing knife.

Yan Mingchen stretched out a finger and let the flying knife hit his fingertips. The finger was not injured at all, but the flying knife shattered inch by inch.