"Lanshan, come with me for a moment." Ye Luotian led Ye Lanshan into a secret chamber.
"Hmm? Grandpa, wasn't this place already destroyed when I rescued you?" Ye Lanshan looked at the newly rebuilt house, puzzled as to why Ye Luotian had brought her here.
"This place wasn't destroyed—only the house above was." Ye Luotian took her to a hidden room beneath the building and pulled out a very ancient-looking box.
"Open it and take a look." He handed the box to Ye Lanshan.
"Is this a strange fire?" Ye Lanshan gazed at the flame inside the box without much surprise.
"Yes, that's right. This is the Falling Leaf Flame, passed down through our Ye family. If you can inherit it, your profound energy will reach new heights." Ye Luotian said with a cheerful smile.
Ye Lanshan turned her head, a puzzled look on her face. "If that's the case, Grandpa, why didn't you merge with it earlier? Why wait until now to give it to me?"
"Ah!" Ye Luotian sighed. "This Falling Leaf Flame isn't something just anyone can merge with. Strange fires like this are extremely proud. Few can truly persuade and subdue them to achieve fusion."
"Besides, back when I was traveling abroad, I had already merged with another strange fire, so naturally, I couldn't merge with this one."
"Now, I'm entrusting it to you, hoping you can subdue it."
Ye Lanshan lowered her eyes slightly, watching the flame dancing in the box. "Don't worry, I will definitely subdue it."
"Good, then I'll stand guard outside for you." Ye Luotian positioned himself outside to protect Ye Lanshan as she began merging with the Falling Leaf Flame.
What Ye Luotian claimed was difficult to subdue turned out to be as easy as eating for Ye Lanshan. Under the pressure of the Red Lotus Karmic Flame, the Falling Leaf Flame obediently slipped into Ye Lanshan's body. In no time at all, she had merged it into the Red Lotus Flame.
Ye Lanshan couldn't wait to test the upgraded power of the Red Lotus Karmic Flame. Ye Luotian, stunned that she had merged so quickly, asked in amazement, "You're already done merging?"
"Yeah." Ye Lanshan nodded calmly, not finding it strange at all.
Ye Luotian marveled, "Back when I merged with a strange fire weaker than the Falling Leaf Flame, it took me two days and one night. You've done it in less than half an hour. With talent like yours, you're even stronger than your father."
"Where exactly did my father go? And my mother—why have I never seen her?" Ye Lanshan had a feeling that Ye Feng was definitely not dead. Since Ye Luotian had brought it up, she decided to ask outright.
"Your father died in battle six years ago—you know that, don't you? As for your mother, she's on another continent. I don't know where she is." Ye Luotian's eyes flickered, as if he was hiding something.
Seeing that she couldn't get anything out of Ye Luotian, Ye Lanshan simply changed the subject. "I'm going to the training ground to test the power of this flame."
"Alright, go ahead." Ye Luotian breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't press further.
Lanshan, don't blame me for keeping things from you. The enemy is too strong, and I don't want to lose you after losing Ye Feng.
At the training ground, the soldiers stared at Ye Lanshan with sparkling eyes, as if she were some kind of treasure.
"Why are you all looking at me like that?" Ye Lanshan was startled by their gazes.
One soldier said excitedly, "Commander, you're finally back! We want to spar with you."
"You are?" Ye Lanshan searched her memory but found no recollection of him.
"I'm a new member of the Falcon unit. I've been hearing the veterans talk about your heroic deeds, so I wanted to spar with you."
"So you're from the Falcon unit." Ye Lanshan hadn't expected the Falcon unit to still exist, given that almost all its members had died in the great battle with Yue Jie'ao.
Besides, she hadn't set foot in the military camp since that battle.
"Alright then, let's begin." Ye Lanshan didn't waste any more words and immediately assumed a fighting stance, ready to spar.
The soldier's face flushed red with excitement when Ye Lanshan agreed.
"Bang." In just two or three exchanges, the soldier was knocked to the ground.
Ye Lanshan frowned. "With your current state, you'd be a dead man on the battlefield."
"I, I..." The soldier's face turned crimson, but he couldn't get a word out.
"Starting tomorrow, everyone assemble at the training ground at the hour of the Mao. I'll conduct training." Though Ye Lanshan's mind wasn't fully on this, this was the Ye family's trump card. If the trump card was weak, how could it protect the family and her grandfather?
So Ye Lanshan decided to give these soldiers an unforgettable training session before she left the Ye family.
"Yes, sir!" The soldiers' unified and thunderous response nearly deafened Ye Lanshan.
Covering her ears, she said, "For now, continue your training. Don't bother me, and don't come to me."
Several soldiers wanted to spar with her but held back because of her words.
"What, does Brother Dou have a plan?" Sun Chenbo asked the man beside him excitedly.
"Of course. What do women love most? Nothing but the strong. If you stage a scene of a hero saving a beauty, you won't have to worry about Ye Lanshan not falling for you." The man fanned himself with a fan, looking quite dashing.
"Thank you, Brother Dou. If it works, I'll repay you handsomely." Sun Chenbo thanked the man and hurried off to arrange the hero-saves-beauty act.
One day, as Ye Lanshan was walking down the road, she noticed someone tailing her. She racked her brain but couldn't figure out who would dare to try assassinating her in a place like this.
Still, since she'd stumbled upon something so interesting, why not have some fun? So she pretended not to notice them and twisted and turned into a remote alley.
The men tailing her exchanged glances, their eyes brimming with barely concealed joy. What a stroke of luck—they'd been worrying about how to lure her into a secluded alley, and she'd walked right in.
"Hand over your money!" The men suddenly appeared in the alley, putting on fierce expressions and speaking gruffly to Ye Lanshan.
Ye Lanshan looked them over for a moment and said hesitantly, "I, I don't have any money."
"No money?" They sized her up from head to toe. "Since you've got no money, we'll just have to take your looks."
"Come on, beauty, let big brother show you some love." One of the men leered and lunged at her.
Ye Lanshan glanced at him coldly, and a dagger suddenly appeared in her hand. She stabbed him before he could react, piercing his heart.
"Big brother!" The others' eyes reddened instantly at their leader's death, and they dropped the act, charging at Ye Lanshan in genuine fury.
But they were no match for her. Before Sun Chenbo could even make his entrance, Ye Lanshan had already taken them all out.