Jiang Xinyan was mortified, her face flushing red. Her eyes darted about, too embarrassed to meet Zhou Lin's gaze.

She urged Ye Fan, "Let's go, Ye Fan. I've asked the village chief to witness the annulment of our engagement."

Jiang Xinyan was dead set on annulling her engagement to Ye Fan.

An engagement wasn't legally binding, so they didn't need to go to the Civil Affairs Bureau.

Fearing Ye Fan might change his mind, she had asked the village chief to act as a witness.

Under the watchful eyes of the chief and several other villagers, it took only a few minutes for them to formally dissolve their engagement.

"From now on, I'm finally free," Ye Fan said, a look of pure relief on his face.

Before he could leave, Jiang Xinyan stopped him. "Ye Fan, how come you don't seem sad at all?"

In her mind, Ye Fan was supposed to be head-over-heels in love with her.

But today, after they had annulled their engagement, he didn't look the least bit upset.

Ye Fan just smiled coolly. "Why should I be sad? I've already gotten everything I wanted. What the hell is there to be sad about?"

"What did you get?" Jiang Xinyan asked.

Ye Fan did a quick mental calculation. "I got it seven times!"

The moment she heard the words "seven times," Jiang Xinyan's face turned beet red.

It wasn't from shyness, but from pure anger.

*Damn him!*

*He actually slept with me seven times?*

*Were you only nice to me before because you wanted to sleep with me?*

Ye Fan lowered his voice, speaking just loud enough for the two of them to hear. "In the future, if you ever get lonely, or if your boyfriend or husband can't satisfy you, you can always come find me... I might not approve of your character, but I was quite satisfied with your performance in bed."

"Ye Fan, you bastard!"

Jiang Xinyan was so furious she felt like her lungs would explode. She swung a fist at him.

But there was no way Ye Fan would let her land a hit.

He dodged and ran off.

Leaving her to stomp her foot in a rage.

The moment Jiang Xinyan returned home, her mother, Zhang Hongyu, rushed over. "You were gone all night! Where the hell did you run off to?"

Jiang Xinyan's heart skipped a beat.

She couldn't tell her mother she had spent the night at Ye Fan's place, and she certainly couldn't let her know he had slept with her seven times.

"After I left Ye Fan's, I went to Manman's house. We ended up talking so late that I just slept over."

Manman was Jiang Xinyan's bestie.

Zhang Hongyu didn't seem to suspect anything. "So, what's the situation with Ye Fan? Is the engagement off? I'm telling you, your blind date is coming over at noon. If you go on a date while you're still engaged, our family will become a laughingstock."

Going on a blind date while still engaged, while not illegal, was certainly a moral taboo.

"It's off," Jiang Xinyan said. "The village chief was the witness."

"Mom, I'm exhausted. I need to get some sleep."

*Of course she was exhausted!*

*Seven times!*

*How many hours of sleep did I even get?*

With that, Jiang Xinyan headed to her room. Hearing that the engagement was officially off, Zhang Hongyu finally relaxed.

The blind date was with the son of the wealthiest man in the neighboring village.

He was loaded! His family owned two companies.

But soon, she noticed something wasn't quite right. The more she looked, the stranger her daughter's gait seemed...

***

Meanwhile, after leaving the village chief's place, Ye Fan didn't go home.

He went to the Back Mountain.

He walked through the orchard on the mountain until he reached its edge. Standing on the slope, he gazed at the endless stretch of barren mountains before him.

Somewhere in these mountains lay the remains of his parents.

"Dad, Mom, no matter the cost, I will find your remains and give you a proper burial."

Ever since his parents passed away, Ye Fan had sworn this oath.

He had to find their remains.

He had to give them a proper burial.

The only problem was the sheer size of the barren mountain range, and he had no idea how deep they were buried.

Ye Fan had been away at university when the landslide occurred.

He later heard that on that day, for some unknown reason, the clear sky had suddenly filled with dark clouds and roaring thunder.

A torrential downpour had followed without warning.

It triggered not only a flash flood but also a massive landslide.

His parents, who had been in the mountains at the time, lost their lives in that landslide.

"Dad, Mom, just give me a little more time. I swear I'll dig you out."

Ye Fan knelt and kowtowed three times toward the barren mountains. Then, he stood up and sent a sliver of his consciousness into his Portable Space.

"Linglong, are you there?"

Ye Fan's consciousness materialized on the first floor of the Nine-Story Linglong Pagoda.

The pagoda had nine floors in total.

For now, Ye Fan could only access the first floor; he couldn't ascend to the second.

And Linglong was the pagoda's artifact spirit.

"I'm here!"

"Master!"

A miniature figure appeared before Ye Fan. It was tiny, about the size of his palm, and it hovered in front of him, flapping its wings.

"You mentioned last time that the flow of time in this space is a hundred times faster than in the outside world," Ye Fan said. "I was wondering, if I were to plant some fruits and vegetables here, or raise some animals, would their growth rate also be a hundred times faster?"

Linglong nodded. "That's right!"

Ye Fan was overjoyed.

The day before, when he first acquired the space, he had spent the afternoon cultivating within it.

In just that short time, his power had advanced by leaps and bounds.

It was only after asking Linglong that he learned the time inside was a hundred times faster than the outside world.

In other words, the five hours he had spent cultivating were equivalent to five hundred hours outside.

No wonder his strength had improved so dramatically.

Ye Fan already had a plan to excavate the Back Mountain and find his parents' remains.

But excavation required hiring people and renting machinery, all of which cost money.

And money was what he lacked most right now.

That's when he thought of using the accelerated time flow to earn some.

After getting Linglong's confirmation, Ye Fan was ecstatic. Linglong's voice piped up again, "Little Master, all the empty land outside can be used for planting."

Ye Fan left the pagoda.

Outside, he saw stretches of empty land and a lake.

"You can plant fruits and vegetables on the empty land. With the time flow accelerated a hundredfold, I could probably harvest every day or two."

"And I can raise fish and shrimp in the lake!"

To read the uncut version, go to pawread dot com.

"With this, it'll be hard *not* to get rich."

Ye Fan's heart pounded with excitement.

He already had seeds for fruits and vegetables, since his own picking garden was full of them.

But he didn't have any fish or shrimp fry.

He'd have to buy those.

Ye Fan's consciousness withdrew from the space.

The next step was to buy some fry to raise in the lake.

Ye Fan was confident that, given a month, he could raise enough money to fund the excavation of the Back Mountain.

He was just about to head down the mountain and into town.

Suddenly, he heard someone shouting!

"Help!"

"Wuwuwu, help me!"

"He... help!"

Ye Fan's ears perked up. He could tell the cries were coming from a small stream further up the mountain.

*Is someone in trouble?*

Without a moment's hesitation, he sprinted in the direction of the voice.

It was a mountain stream that flowed down into a hollow, forming a pond about a hundred square meters in size.

The pond might not look big, but it was deep—over four meters at its deepest point.

As a child, Ye Fan had often come here to swim, and as he got older, he would occasionally visit to fish.

Right now, a figure was thrashing about in the water.

Her body was almost completely submerged, with only the top half of her head breaking the surface.

She was struggling desperately.

She was trying to paddle to the bank, but since she couldn't swim, her frantic struggles only pushed her further toward the center of the pond.

Wang Xiaomei's panic grew.

But it was no use; her body was already beginning to sink.

Just then, she heard a *splash*, as if someone had jumped into the water. A moment later, she felt a pair of hands grab her by the hips and push her upward!

Normally, if someone had dared to grab her rear like that, she would have kicked them without a second thought. But now, she knew this person was saving her life!

She screamed internally:

*Hold on tight!*

*Please, don't let go!*

Then, she felt her body being lifted.

With a gasp, her head broke the surface, and she began to take huge, ragged breaths.

She was also curious: who was the person below, still holding onto her hips?

But regardless of who it was, she was deeply grateful.

Just then, Ye Fan's head broke the surface. To keep Wang Xiaomei from sinking again, he wrapped one arm firmly around her waist.

In the past, Ye Fan wouldn't have had the strength to hold her up with just one arm.

He didn't have the strength.

But things were different now.

Having cultivated the Chaos Art, he had practically stepped into the world of cultivators.

He was a far cry from the man he used to be.

Never mind holding up Wang Xiaomei's hundred-or-so-pound frame; he could have managed even if she were fifty pounds heavier.

They were from the same village, so of course, Ye Fan recognized her.

Wang Xiaomei!

She was a great beauty who had married into the village from the County City. Five years ago, Zhang Dali, one of the local men, had gone to the County City for work and returned with her as his wife.

You should have seen the villagers' reactions when they first laid eyes on Wang Xiaomei.

In terms of both looks and figure, she was easily on par with the village's so-called "Four Beauties."

Everyone was baffled as to how a country bumpkin like Zhang Dali had gotten so lucky as to marry such a beautiful wife.

"Sister-in-law Xiaomei, are you alright?"

The moment the words left his mouth, Ye Fan realized something was off.

At that moment, Wang Xiaomei's upper body was now completely out of the water.

And Ye Fan could see everything with perfect clarity.

*Holy hell!*

*Her clothes?*

*Where the hell did her clothes go?*

---

Proofreader: Peter Pan