Li Zhiyuan got up and took clean clothes from his backpack to go shower.

After washing up and coming back, he saw Zhao Yi still sitting by his bed.

"Anything else?"

"Yes. It should have been Tan Wenbin to talk to you about this, but since you're awake now, I'll say it first. I taught Tan Wenbin one of my secret techniques, in exchange for him promising to persuade you to teach me the battlefield command secret technique."

"Brother Binbin wouldn't agree to that; he's definitely agreed to some other secret technique."

"We need more mutual trust among ourselves, don't you think so, Brother Xiao Yuan?"

"Did he originally promise you Yin Meng's sacrificial secret technique?"

"What? Speak up, my ears have been clogged lately."

"I haven't named this secret technique; its manifestation is released by me, connecting a red thread with other partners. It was inspired by that tower on Yulong Snow Mountain, and it took me a long time and effort to deduct it."

"Jiujiang Zhao's skills are at your disposal."

"I'm not playing around or acting coy. This secret technique cannot be used by you, because the caster must be completely trusted from the heart by the recipient without any resistance, otherwise the caster will suffer strong backlash.

You tell me, dare you use it?"

"I wouldn't dare."

Zhao Yi very straightforwardly got up and lay back down on his bed.

Unconditional trust without any resistance, how is that possible?

Your own people know their own affairs, the people under his command are extremely shrewd. In the past, he enjoyed it because it made it easier for him to control and manipulate.

Now, even if he learned this secret technique, there would be no place to use it, unless he replaced the entire team, but even then, there's no guarantee new team members would trust you completely.

Zhao Yi: "Your talent for picking people is really impressive."

Li Zhiyuan: "I was just lucky to meet them."

Zhao Yi suddenly changed his tone, asking: "What about Chen Jing? How do you plan to arrange him?"

Li Zhiyuan: "Aren't you planning to take him into your own team?"

Zhao Yi: "But I can sense that he actually wants to be with you more."

Zhao Yi likes the young man, one because of his pure nature, and two because he's smart, smart enough to know which big shot is worth clinging to.

Li Zhiyuan: "He has no place in my team."

Zhao Yi: "Although he is about the same age as you, he has Demon Clan bloodline, allowing him to continuously enhance his power through activating his bloodline, unlike you, waiting for adulthood body development to fully complete before formally training."

Li Zhiyuan: "I know, but I have no necessity to take him."

Zhao Yi: "What about the Yu Family?"

Li Zhiyuan: "If it's just for the future benefits from the Yu Family wave, I'd rather not take those benefits."

Li Zhiyuan is very satisfied with the current team configuration; everyone in the team is rising step by step under his planning. To bring a newcomer into this and retrain would slow the team's rhythm and Li Zhiyuan himself is not keen to bring up newcomers again.

Zhao Yi: "Then could you help me refuse him?"

Li Zhiyuan: "You won't be resentful?"

Zhao Yi: "Resentful? If they could jump ship, believe me, the four people under me would all want to jump onto your ship, should I be resentful."

Li Zhiyuan pointed at his ear: "Speak of Cao Cao, and here he comes."

Chen Jing came upstairs.

Zhao Yi waved his hand, signaling Li Zhiyuan to go through the procedure.

Li Zhiyuan walked out of the room, and at the moment the door closed, Zhao Yi lifted himself into the air, feet not touching the ground, silently wedged himself between the wall, his ear pressed against the door.

"Creak..."

Outside, the door was about to be pushed open again.

Zhao Yi reached out, holding the door handle.

Li Zhiyuan's voice emerged from outside: "Bring me two cans of Jianlibao from my bag."

Zhao Yi spun sideways, his body turned in mid-air like a top, grabbed the drinks, then reversed and returned behind the door.

Opening the door a slit, he passed two cans of Jianlibao out.

Holding two cans of Jianlibao, Li Zhiyuan headed to the entrance of the hostel hallway.

Chen Jing had just reached the stairs, looked up and saw him, immediately exclaiming with joy: "Brother Xiao Yuan, you're awake?"

"Yeah."

Li Zhiyuan "popped" a can of Jianlibao open, raised it to his lips, frowned slightly, but still drank it.

Some wrong memories need correcting; it's mostly because he got used to it, too lazy to change to a new drink variety.

Chen Jing walked over, concerned: "Brother Xiao Yuan, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Li Zhiyuan pointed at the second can of Jianlibao, "Want a drink?"

"Sure, I'm just thirsty." Chen Jing took the Jianlibao.

Li Zhiyuan: "Pay up."

"Oh, okay." Chen Jing peered into his pocket, pulling out money and handing it to Li Zhiyuan.

Li Zhiyuan accepted the money and then gazed at the mountain view from the balcony.

Chen Jing: "Brother Xiao Yuan, I have a favor to ask."

"Speak."

"My grandmother has been hospitalized these past few days, her condition stable now, so regarding my grandfather's funeral..."

"Tomorrow. I'll have them help you arrange it."

"Thank you, Brother Xiao Yuan."

Chen Jing took a sip of Jianlibao, bowing to Li Zhiyuan.

Then, he took a big gulp of the drink, letting out a "ha~" sound.

Li Zhiyuan: "Didn't drink this kind of drink often before?"

Chen Jing nodded: "Grandpa and Grandma's house rarely buys it, but when I was small, there were plenty of tasty things, hehe."

"Off you go." Li Zhiyuan waved his hand, walking towards Tan Wenbin's room.

Chen Jing headed for the room where Zhao Yi was, pushed the door open, seeing Zhao Yi lounging on the bed with his legs up, appearing as if he had been asleep for a long time.