Qin Wanwan took three deep breaths, trying to calm herself down and not think about those scenes that made her want to smash Jian Xingzhi’s dog head into pieces.

She forced herself to calm down, lowering her head to wash her hands, a cold gleam appearing in her eyes. A gentleman’s revenge is never too late, even after ten years.

Sooner or later…

Her train of thought got stuck.

Sooner or later, what would she do?

Step on his head?

Already done that.

Beat him up?

She’d already beaten him to the point of complete comminuted fractures countless times.

Make him cry and sincerely apologize?

That seemed rather impossible now.

What else could she do?

For a brief moment, Qin Wanwan felt confused about life, but she quickly came to her senses. She shouldn’t give up so early. In all matters, attacking the heart comes first. She would endure him now, wait for him, observe him, first gain his trust, then seize his weaknesses, and finally, make him completely break down and tearfully confess to her.

Thinking of that scene, Qin Wanwan’s heart found some consolation.

She washed her hands clean, took a cloth from the rack to dry them, and as if she had broken through some kind of inner demon tribulation, she carried herself with the confidence and pride of a worldly expert. After wiping her hands, she flung the cloth aside, filled with anticipation and confidence about the road ahead, brushed past Jian Xingzhi, sat on the bed, and began to meditate.

She looked up at the cultivation time given by the system and, following the system’s schedule, closed her eyes to begin cultivation.

Learning is a habit. After fighting with Jian Xingzhi in the desert for a month without distinguishing day from night, perhaps due to the effects of that perpetual motion cultivation technique, facing the system’s insane requirement of cultivating twelve hours daily when not executing tasks, she actually felt—

A mere twelve hours? She could still power through!

She circulated her cultivation technique, closed her eyes, and entered a meditative state. Her spiritual consciousness moved from outside inward, beginning to observe her entire body—from muscles, blood vessels, meridians, and spiritual roots, to the golden core in her lower abdomen.

Her golden core was wrapped in a faint layer of cyan light. Her spiritual consciousness circled around the golden core, gradually losing awareness. When images appeared in her mind again, she found herself in a pitch-black place.

Her entire body seemed to have tubes inserted into it, blood flowing from her body through the tubes outward. She hadn’t opened her eyes, yet she felt she could clearly see her surroundings.

She seemed to be lying in a coffin. The coffin was very large, and outside it appeared to be a huge cave. She could faintly hear the sound of water dripping. The tubes connected to her body passed through the coffin and extended all the way into the cave, as if continuously supplying blood to this cavern.

A peculiar heartbeat sound kept echoing.

Thump-thump, thump-thump.

Enormous and clear.

Accompanying the heartbeat, the ground vibrated rhythmically. Qin Wanwan lay there bewildered. She didn’t know whether she was dreaming or if her soul had left her body. She cautiously observed her surroundings. Just as she was pondering this, she heard an azure dragon’s cry, followed by someone calling her: “Gu Beicheng.”

In that moment, her head throbbed with pain. She suddenly opened her eyes to see Jian Xingzhi standing in front of her, one hand pressed on top of her head, looking rather pleased with himself. “Even entering meditation, your spiritual soul is unstable. If not for this master’s slap, your soul would have left your body.”

“I really thank you for that.”

Qin Wanwan’s head was buzzing from being struck. She suppressed her anger, raised her hand to slap away Jian Xingzhi’s hand, and covered her head to rest.

Seeing she was in severe pain, Jian Xingzhi thought for a moment, then raised his hands and placed them on both sides of her head. A stream of cool spiritual power flowed into her mind, and Qin Wanwan’s headache immediately improved considerably.

She felt somewhat moved and was about to express her thanks when she heard Jian Xingzhi happily exclaim, “This really counts for points! Does Beicheng’s head still hurt? If it doesn’t, should I hit you again?”

The feeling of gratitude vanished completely, replaced only by the urge to smash his head.

Qin Wanwan knew she shouldn’t fuss over this at this moment. She clenched her fists and told Jian Xingzhi about the illusion she’d just experienced: “I think I sensed the Linglong Jade.”

“Tell me about it.”

Jian Xingzhi immediately became interested. “What did you see?”

“A coffin, a cave, and this cave had a heartbeat.”

Qin Wanwan gave a brief description. Jian Xingzhi thought for a moment: “A cave with a heartbeat… I’ve seen that before.”

“You have?” Qin Wanwan was surprised.

Jian Xingzhi nodded. “There’s a type of demonic beast called Mizang. It can change its appearance at will, transforming into a flower or a blade of grass, which makes it very hard to find. Its heart is a massive cave dwelling that can accommodate cultivators, so many cultivators use Mizang as their spiritual beast, placing their cave dwelling inside Mizang’s heart. Once they encounter danger, they hide inside Mizang’s heart, making them very difficult to find again.”

“So, is this illusion suggesting that the Linglong Jade is inside the heart of a Mizang?”

“Perhaps.”

Jian Xingzhi nodded. Qin Wanwan frowned. “Then how do we find this Mizang?”

“I once pursued and killed a demonic cultivator who hid inside a Mizang.”

“How did you find him?”

Qin Wanwan immediately became interested. Jian Xingzhi recalled: “This demonic cultivator had committed countless crimes. When he couldn’t win the fight and wanted to run, the moment he hid inside the Mizang, I sealed off the mountain.”

“And then?”

“I directly sent out a sword qi, and all the trees on the entire mountain fell down except for his, which remained standing. So I added another sword strike, and he died.”

Qin Wanwan: “…”

Alright, she understood. This had absolutely no reference value whatsoever.

Qin Wanwan thought for a moment, tapping the table. “Tomorrow I’ll go ask around and see which cultivators in Ghost City have a Mizang as their spiritual beast.”

“I’ll ask around too.”

The two discussed their plan, then each went to rest. The next morning, after the four of them—including Xie Gutang—discussed last night’s findings, they split up to gather information.

Jian Xingzhi went to find Cuilu, Xie Gutang chatted with the other male companions in the courtyard, Nanfeng went to find the servants, and Qin Wanwan used the pretext of getting food to go inquire in the kitchen.

Qin Wanwan asked around in the kitchen. These were all ordinary people who had never even heard of anything called Mizang. They only advised Qin Wanwan to eat more and gain some weight to look cuter.

Qin Wanwan felt somewhat defeated, but still cheerfully carried a basket of vegetables on her way back. Halfway there, she discovered a dilapidated courtyard. Looking up, she noticed there was actually a faint golden light above the courtyard—the kind of glow found above temples, representing common people’s incense offerings or merit. Qin Wanwan was curious. How could such a thing exist in this corner? She couldn’t help but walk forward into the courtyard.

The courtyard seemed to have been unoccupied for a long time, dilapidated and somewhat chilly. Qin Wanwan entered the yard and boldly walked forward. Fortunately, the courtyard wasn’t large, and she soon entered the inner chamber, discovering that this was indeed a temple.

The main hall enshrined a divine statue. Qin Wanwan looked up and saw the statue depicted a young man holding a scroll in one hand, the other hand behind his back, gazing into the distance, exuding the scholarly spirit of someone pointing at rivers and mountains.

Qin Wanwan carefully observed the statue for a moment and couldn’t help but gasp. For no other reason than this—the divine statue’s features bore a solid eighty percent resemblance to Jian Xingzhi!

Jian Xingzhi holding a book—this was far too shocking.

“This is the Mingjing Divine Lord.”

A pleasant male voice came from behind. Qin Wanwan whirled around to see the man she’d encountered when she accidentally entered his room yesterday.

Qin Wanwan looked at the man, then instinctively glanced at the divine statue above. She finally realized that this statue wasn’t actually very similar to Jian Xingzhi, but compared to the man before her, one couldn’t say they were unrelated—they were identical.

“We meet again.”

The man walked up to Qin Wanwan and nodded in greeting. Qin Wanwan came to her senses and pretended to be composed. “What a coincidence.”

“Why has the young lady come here?”

The man looked up at the divine statue. Qin Wanwan remembered what she needed to inquire about. Seeing that the man before her seemed quite knowledgeable, she deliberately struck up a conversation: “I was just wandering around, passed by, got curious, and came in to look. This is our second meeting, but I still don’t know your name, young master?”

“I am Song Shi.”

The man smiled. “May I know the young lady’s name?”

“I…” Qin Wanwan hesitated for a moment before giving a false name. “Gu Beicheng.”

Song Shi nodded. “That name is rather bold and spirited.”

“What divine lord did you just mention?”

Qin Wanwan didn’t want to discuss names and turned to look at the statue. “Why does it look so much like you?”

“This is the Mingjing Divine Lord, the former City Lord of Ghost City. As for why it resembles me so closely,” Song Shi gave a helpless, bitter smile, “I’m not entirely sure either. Perhaps it’s just natural.”

“The former City Lord of Ghost City?” Qin Wanwan was curious. Song Shi nodded with a smile, his gaze carrying a hint of nostalgia as he looked up at the divine statue.

“Two hundred years ago, there was no Ghost City in the world. There was a scholar named Lin Yanzhi, with the Daoist title Mingjing. He was born at the Golden Core stage with exceptional talent, reaching the Tribulation Transcendence stage within a hundred years, unmatched in his generation. He was compassionate and saved countless people, building a city called Wugou City to shelter all those in the world who had nowhere to go.”

“That’s great merit indeed.” Qin Wanwan sighed, unable to resist glancing at the temple’s faint golden light.

Song Shi lowered his head and smiled. “Indeed, so before he could transcend tribulation, he first became an immortal, becoming the Divine Lord of this small world.”

With that, Song Shi looked up at the divine statue, a trace of mockery in his smiling eyes. “But a hundred years ago, this Divine Lord turned to the demonic path overnight and slaughtered everyone in the entire city. The current City Lord, Hua Rong, desperately protected all the souls in the city from dissipating, allowing these souls to re-cultivate the immortal path and become ghost immortals. From that point on, Wugou City was renamed Ghost City.”

Qin Wanwan’s heart skipped a beat. She instinctively asked, “City Lord Hua Rong is that powerful?”

To be able to preserve an entire city’s souls from the hands of a Divine Lord who had turned demonic in this small world—they were trying to steal the Linglong Jade from such a person? Wasn’t this seeking death?

Song Shi shook his head. “At that time, City Lord Hua was merely a child that Mingjing Divine Lord had rescued and raised, cultivated for a hundred years, only at the Nascent Soul stage. After that battle, he immediately advanced to Tribulation Transcendence and became the Lord of Ghost City.”

Hearing this, Qin Wanwan instantly realized something was wrong. She felt as if she had learned something she shouldn’t have known and suddenly became nervous.

Song Shi seemed to notice Qin Wanwan’s tension as well. He looked up at the sky, then turned to Qin Wanwan. “Miss Gu, your food must be getting cold. Should you be heading back?”

“Ah,” Qin Wanwan nodded. “I should go.”

With that, she picked up the vegetable basket and hurriedly walked out. After taking two steps, she suddenly remembered something. “Young Master Song, I have a question.”

“Please ask.”

“What is City Lord Hua’s spiritual beast?”

Song Shi hadn’t expected her to ask this question. A trace of surprise crossed his face before he smiled and gave the answer Qin Wanwan had anticipated: “Mizang.”

Qin Wanwan nodded, said “Thank you,” and then walked out, feigning composure.

As soon as she left the courtyard, she broke into a run. She sprinted all the way back to their courtyard. Jian Xingzhi had just finished sparring with Xie Gutang. Nanfeng sat to the side eating melon seeds. Xie Gutang, having just lost, was excitedly discussing the previous match with Jian Xingzhi when they saw Qin Wanwan stumbling in.

Jian Xingzhi wore a white single-layer robe with his sword at his back. Seeing Qin Wanwan run in so frantically, he was rather curious. “Why are you running so fast? Is someone chasing you?”

Qin Wanwan swallowed hard and nodded vigorously.

“What happened?” Xie Gutang frowned.

Jian Xingzhi poured Qin Wanwan a cup of water, pinched her chin, and fed it to her. “Come, drink some, calm down, and earn me some points.”

“Stop fooling around!”

Qin Wanwan slapped Jian Xingzhi’s hand away. This interruption from Jian Xingzhi actually calmed Qin Wanwan down. She recovered for a moment, then mysteriously leaned close to the two of them. “I’ve learned a huge secret.”

With that, she pulled Xie Gutang with her left hand and Jian Xingzhi with her right, dragging them inside.

Jian Xingzhi instinctively glanced at Qin Wanwan’s hand holding Xie Gutang’s, then looked away.

Once inside the room, he casually shook off her hand, walked to Qin Wanwan’s side, pushed Xie Gutang aside, and sat in a chair. “Alright, the barrier is set. Speak.”

Xie Gutang sat down next to Jian Xingzhi, and Qin Wanwan sat on the other side. She leaned close to Jian Xingzhi excitedly. “I just inquired about Hua Rong’s past and discovered something. Two hundred years ago, Hua Rong was adopted by someone named Lin Yanzhi. This Lin Yanzhi built Ghost City and became a pseudo-immortal of this world, but later he turned to the demonic path overnight and slaughtered the entire Ghost City at the time. Hua Rong protected Ghost City and became the new City Lord.”

“Master, I also found out this secret.” Nanfeng spoke up, adding, “Moreover, I also heard that now when Hua Rong looks for male companions, his standard is for them to resemble that Mingjing Divine Lord. For example, Daoist Xie seems similar in temperament; Daoist Jian is similar in appearance; and there’s a whole bunch of men in the back courtyard—some have similar noses, some have similar eyes.”

“According to what those male companions say, although he summoned them into the manor, not a single man has actually seen him.”

Xie Gutang added. Qin Wanwan was stunned. The information she’d risked her life to gather—she hadn’t expected these people to have even more intelligence than her.

She quickly tried to save face. “Well, a hundred years ago he was just at Golden Core stage. After Lin Yanzhi turned demonic, he immediately reached Tribulation Transcendence, and now he’s desperately looking for men who resemble Lin Yanzhi. Haven’t you thought about what he did and what he’s planning to do?”

“What do you mean, Miss Qin?” Xie Gutang frowned.

Nanfeng froze, murmuring, “I know now.”

“That’s right,” Qin Wanwan looked at Nanfeng, nodded, and spoke in unison with Nanfeng: “He wants to find a substitute!”

“Back then, to advance his cultivation, he killed his husband through righteous means and caused Lin Yanzhi’s downfall.” Qin Wanwan clenched her fists.

“But after losing Lin Yanzhi, he realized that without Lin Yanzhi, the world had no meaning!” Nanfeng’s tone was agitated.

“So he searches for substitute after substitute, wanting to find that past love in these men! Even if it’s illusory, even if it’s just a dream, it doesn’t matter!”

Qin Wanwan stated decisively. Nanfeng nodded, looked at Qin Wanwan, and showed an extremely sympathetic expression. “But in the end, he’ll ultimately be hurt by the substitute!”

“His spiritual beast is Mizang. According to the dream I had last night, the Linglong Jade must be in his hands, or rather, inside Mizang’s body. So now, how do we get close to him?”

Qin Wanwan glanced around, expecting an answer.

Jian Xingzhi frowned, hesitantly opening his mouth. “When I went to find Cuilu today to gather information, she told me that once a month, Hua Rong makes an appearance and selects a man he likes to attend his bed. There are still seven days,” Jian Xingzhi looked around, “we can prepare.”

“What does Hua Rong like?” Nanfeng looked at Qin Wanwan. Qin Wanwan recalled Lin Yanzhi’s divine statue and made her assertion.

“He likes cultured men.”

Jian Xingzhi’s expression changed dramatically. Qin Wanwan suddenly realized something. She looked up at Jian Xingzhi and showed an excited smile. “Master, we need to work hard these seven days.”

“No…”

Jian Xingzhi’s voice became tense. “That’s not necessary, is it? How about Daoist Xie makes an effort instead?”

“Master, you said yourself that people can’t give up. Look, I’ve had my ribs broken several times. What’s wrong with you reading some books?”

As soon as Qin Wanwan spoke, she became excited. She rolled up her sleeves. “I’ll go get you books right now. Cultivation is a form of effort, and so is reading. Master, wait for me.”

With that, Qin Wanwan immediately stood up, called Nanfeng, and happily went to Cuilu to apply for a permit to leave the manor, heading straight for the bookstore.

She arrived at Ghost City’s largest bookstore. Looking at the vast sea of books, her heart filled with a sense of vengeful satisfaction.

“Shopkeeper,” Qin Wanwan pulled out all her savings and shouted excitedly, “Bring me all the literary collections and poetry anthologies from the cultivation world’s past ten thousand years!”

—

**Author’s Note:**

Qin Wanwan: “You teach me to fight, I teach you to read—isn’t this the most beautiful master-disciple relationship? One broken rib equals five thousand years of poetry. Master, come recite them.”

**[Mini Theater]**

Qin Wanwan: My master said he likes fighting one-on-one and doesn’t need protection!

Jian Xingzhi: I didn’t! You’re talking nonsense!

Qin Wanwan: My master said he’s going to memorize tens of thousands of years’ worth of poetry collections!

Jian Xingzhi: I didn’t! Shut up!

Qin Wanwan: My master said he dares to challenge the Literary Star to a poetry contest, and if he loses, he’ll commit suicide.

Jian Xingzhi: I didn’t!! I don’t dare!

Qin Wanwan: My master said he wants to marry me.

Jian Xingzhi: I didn’t!! Oh wait, actually I did say that one.

Let me finish the plot before laughing