That very day, Lan An took Bing Lan Xi and Bing Lin'er away from Ice Profound Empire.
Seeing them off at the capital's gate were:
Grandfather Ruan Khiem
Huo Shan and his grandson Huo Li
Bing Dung and Chen Jiang
Plus two of Lan An's slaves: Le Wen Lue and La Gyu, both left behind to assist Bing Dung.
Outside the city gate…
Chen Jiang looked at Lan An with slight excitement.
"Young Master, I'd like to act as middleman and pull you closer to Tian Ji Ge. If you can form an alliance with them, it will bring you nothing but benefits. What do you think?"
Lan An fell silent for a moment.
As a Soul Cultivator himself, he knew better than anyone how terrifying and mysterious Soul Cultivators could be. Tian Ji Ge was an entire sect of them—an unimaginable boost in power, plus their heaven-defying divination abilities. An alliance would indeed bring far more pros than cons.
But he didn't have much time this trip, so he didn't agree immediately.
"First, sound out their attitude clearly. There's no rush—we can decide later."
Chen Jiang could only nod helplessly. Anyone else would be jumping for joy at Tian Ji Ge's favour. Only this man in front of him remained lukewarm.
"Right, you're clever," Lan An continued casually. "Luo Jia and Fan An Tu have fled Ice Heaven Domain. Can you guess where they went?"
Chen Jiang's face turned serious. He frowned in thought, then smirked confidently.
"Young Master's influence is now enormous, and with Senior Wu as your backer, everyone in the world knows the blood feud between you and those two forces. On Yue Long Xing, very few powers dare shelter them. Even Ninth-Rank empires wouldn't dare—the lesson of White Sand Dynasty is still fresh…"
"So you're saying super-Ninth-Rank forces got involved?" Lan An's eyes narrowed. If a super-Ninth-Rank power was truly hiding them, revenge would no longer be easy.
Chen Jiang nodded. "Normally, even super-Ninth-Rank forces wouldn't take the risk—Senior Wu's reputation is too terrifying. Only those who already have grudges with you would dare. Current suspects: Dan Clan, Bai Ling Xue Yuan, and Tian Mo Xue Yuan."
"If I'm not wrong, Luo Jia and Fan An Tu split up to pull in two major allies. At least two of those three have taken them in. Dan Clan is the least likely—their twin ancestors are no match for Senior Wu."
Lan An's eyes sharpened in thought. Exactly as Chen Jiang said—those three forces all had conflicts with him and possessed Tribulation Realm experts. They wouldn't fear Master Wu Tam Niang too much. The probability was extremely high.
"Of course, this is just my speculation. Take it as reference," Chen Jiang added, though inwardly he thought: if he were Luo Jia or Fan An Tu, he'd only have one choice—cling to powers that already hated Lan An.
"Thank you." Lan An smiled, patting Chen Jiang's shoulder. This guy wasn't strong, but his brain was priceless.
"Young Master, there's something important!" Chen Jiang suddenly pulled Lan An aside, looking mysterious.
"What?"
"Tian Ji Ge just sent word: Yue Long Xing is about to face a massive change. The future has become void and unreadable. Even the Ge Zhu exhausted himself to divine one hexagram—Da Zai, and the source comes from outside…" Chen Jiang took a deep breath, every word heavy.
"Da Zai? From outside?" Lan An's face darkened. He instantly recalled the incident with A Lian Ya and Master in the void, and the Kong Xu Shi Dai that Senior Couple Khao had mentioned.
"Yes. No one knows what it is. Even the Ge Zhu and all elders combined couldn't get concrete results. The only way to survive the coming days is to madly increase strength!" Chen Jiang said gravely.
Lan An nodded solemnly. Others might not fully believe it—Yue Long Xing was still peaceful, and not long ago Fu Dong Immortal King had protected it, so many felt safe.
But Lan An trusted Senior Couple Khao's warning and Tian Ji Ge's divination. He would prepare.
"This trip, I'll spend everything buying Wen Xue Ye to boost the entire harem. Only then can I leave for training with peace of mind."
His own cultivation had hit a bottleneck—without training, he couldn't advance. Plus, Ba Men Dun Jia was mandatory. The only option was to raise his women's strength so they could protect themselves if catastrophe struck.
"I owe you again. Name anything you need," Lan An said sincerely. This intel was too valuable.
"Hehe, my talent is average. I just need life-saving items!" Chen Jiang grinned shamelessly.
Lan An nodded, quickly sorted some treasures, and tossed Chen Jiang a pouch—top-grade defensive artifacts, instant-healing pills, Minor Teleportation Talismans. With Chen Jiang's brain, even a He Yuan Jing expert couldn't kill him.
"Thank you, Young Master!" Chen Jiang beamed.
Seeing Bing Lan Xi and Bing Lin'er looking over curiously, Lan An smiled and walked back.
"Brother-in-law, take care!" Bing Dung hugged Lan An tightly. He knew it would be a long time before he saw this brother-in-law again.
In this life, the person Bing Dung respected and was most grateful to was Lan An—his appearance had flipped Bing Dung's fate upside down.
"Don't disappoint me. Do well, and there'll be huge rewards later!" Lan An swept his gaze over Bing Dung, Huo Shan, and the others.
Everyone nodded excitedly—Lan An's rewards were always monstrous.
"Let's go!"
Bing Lan Xi hugged Lan An and Bing Lin'er. This time they'd tear through space to save time—she missed her harem sisters too.
Just as they were about to step into the void—
Two old foxes appeared with sly grins.
"Brat, kidnapping our Fifth Princess and not leaving anything behind?" Grand Emperor laughed mischievously.
The Retired Emperor stroked his beard smugly.
Lan An sighed inwardly. As expected, he couldn't fool these old monsters. But Bing Feifei was already inside Spirit World Pearl—if he played dumb, they had no proof.
He had also instructed Huo Shan to secretly protect Feifei's mother. Anyone who touched her would have a hard time.
Still, remembering Chen Jiang's warning about the coming calamity… letting these old guys grow stronger wasn't a bad idea. They might protect Ice Profound Empire when the time came.
Opening Lucky Shop, he quickly bought two Lower True-Grade techniques—one Fire, one Ice.
With a glare, he tossed the Fire one to Huo Shan and the Ice one to Grand Emperor.
"Thank you, Master!" Huo Shan nearly knelt in gratitude. Even Miao Huo Zong could only dream of True-Grade methods.
Huo Li almost cried—his grandfather's lifespan was running out. With this technique, he could break through and live longer.
"Hahaha! I knew you had good stuff! Kidnapped two of my granddaughters and still hiding treasures?" Grand Emperor cackled, vanishing into the void to seclude.
"Treat the sisters well. Our Empire's princesses won't disappoint you!" Retired Emperor said seriously, then disappeared.
Lan An cursed inwardly—old fox, drooling over True-Grade techniques yet speaking so righteously.
"Husband, let's go." Bing Lan Xi glanced complexly at Bing Xuan Cheng, then tore open a massive space rift.
At the last second, Lan An suddenly turned, smiled, and nodded toward a hidden corner deep inside the city.
Then he vanished with Bing Lan Xi and Bing Lin'er.
In that corner, Bing Changkong watched his daughter's back and froze. He never imagined Lan An would detect him so easily.
But seeing Lan An's final smile, a rare warmth appeared on his icy face. He murmured:
"Both of you following him… as your father, I have no more regrets…"
…
Bing Lan Xi's void-travel speed couldn't match Wu San Niang, but it was still impressive. Soon, several hundred li above Binh An Thanh, three figures emerged from the void.
She had missed Liu Clan's exact location slightly.
Lan An hugged the two girls' waists, about to descend—when his eyes sharpened. Zhong Jian flashed with thunder-fire, slashing behind them.
Bing Lan Xi reacted instantly. Her cold eyes flashed, Binh Thien Kiem slashing forward with terrifying might.
Space collapsed before Lan An's Zhong Jian. Bing Lan Xi's strike was even more horrifying—cleaving the sky in half, leaving a perfectly flat spatial cut.
"How is this possible?!" Two panicked thoughts echoed. They never expected their lightning-fast ambush to be countered so perfectly.
CLANG CLANG!
One assassin was sent flying dozens of metres by Lan An's sword, melting back into the void. The other took Bing Lan Xi's sword head-on—his arm severed to the shoulder, blood spraying across the sky.
Bing Lin'er, weaker, paled from the backlash, blood trickling from her beautiful lips. Furious, she reached for her hammer—only for Lan An to pull her close and kiss her reassuringly.
"These rats are mine."
Without waiting for reply, he stored Bing Lin'er in Spirit World Pearl.
Anyone who could take his direct strike without fatal injury was far beyond her current level.
"Husband, their concealment is no joke…" Bing Lan Xi took a deep breath.
She had sensed danger thanks to Xing Tian Jian Jue—its decisive killing nature made her extremely sensitive to killing intent, even the faintest wisp.
Lan An, as a Soul Cultivator, was even more sensitive to assassins. Their methods were top-tier, but still not enough to fool him.
And who else had such elite hidden assassins lusting for his head?
"Qi Sha Jiao rats really have guts. Think hiding in the void still works on me?" Lan An sneered. Zhen Kong Zhong appeared in his hand, ready to rattle them to death.
"No need."
A lazy, enchanting voice rang out. Space cracked open. A seductive beauty stepped out.
On her delicate hands, poison mist swirled as she dragged two male corpses.
No—corpses was too kind. Their bodies were half-dissolved, lower halves completely gone, upper halves barely alive in agonising torment. They couldn't even scream. Living hell.
Even Bing Lan Xi, cold as she was, felt her scalp tingle. She looked worriedly at the newcomer.
"Mother!" Lan An smiled warmly. The moment he was ambushed, she had instantly appeared and dealt with the assassins. His heart filled with warmth.
"Two Late Void Refining ants. Looks like Qi Sha Jiao is underestimating our harem. Sending such weak trash to assassinate the Harem Master…" Liu Yu Qing smiled charmingly, tossing the two lumps of meat to the ground to die slowly. Then she turned to Bing Lan Xi, clearly satisfied with that earlier sword strike.
"Mother…" Bing Lan Xi called out shyly. Liu Yu Qing's aura and methods were simply too terrifying.
A mother-in-law this beautiful and this scary… should she be happy or worried?
Liu Yu Qing inspected Bing Lan Xi, extremely pleased with her daughter-in-law's beauty. The scary aura vanished instantly. She grabbed Lan An with one hand, Bing Lan Xi with the other, and smiled gently:
"Good daughter-in-law, let's go home!"