Xie Hongchen indeed had the intention to free Dai Yue from her slave status.

If common folk entered slave status, they became their master’s property. The master could buy, sell, beat, or kill them at will, with no freedom whatsoever.

Xie Hongchen knew the suffering within this, and the extraordinary woman who bred beam rice and allowed tens of millions of disaster victims to survive famine had obviously stirred his compassion. To rescue this woman, he naturally could not simply take her as a concubine like Di Yiqiu had done.

Now that Yuhu Xuanzong was at its zenith, as Sect Master, if he issued an order, even if Huang Shu was unwilling in his heart, how would he dare resist?

But the information transmitted back by the investigating disciple was unexpected. Even someone as wise as Xie Hongchen found it strange.

The disciple had investigated Dai Yue’s life thoroughly. Her mother had been defiled by a fox demon, which led to her birth. From the moment she was born, she had been enslaved in the Huang family. Later she was assigned to Huang Rang’s courtyard, becoming Huang Rang’s personal maid.

After the early years of Chengyuan, Dai Yue leaped from an unknown servant to a renowned expert in breeding.

Even at the beginning of this year, Si Tianjian’s Supervisor Di Yiqiu had been willing to offer Immortal Tea Town as a betrothal gift to take her as a concubine.

Given Di Yiqiu’s status, if Dai Yue became his concubine, she would naturally be freed from slave status. And Di Yiqiu never made losing deals—if he wanted to buy this slave, perhaps others were also eyeing Dai Yue.

But if Dai Yue became his concubine, then others truly had no recourse.

But what happened next was even stranger. Emperor Shi Wenyu summoned Dai Yue to the palace to cultivate rare tree species, yet Dai Yue actually killed the seedlings. Si Tianjian turned instead to seek Huang Rang’s help.

And the matter of Di Yiqiu taking Dai Yue as a concubine fell through after that.

Truly strange at every turn.

Xie Hongchen, harboring suspicions, naturally re-examined the Eye of the World Cave. The Eye of the World Cave in Immortal Tea Town had been there for a long time, originally intended to deter demons and prevent them from causing chaos.

But now that he had doubts, he inevitably needed to look more carefully.

The Eye of the World Cave here was set beneath the banyan tree at the town center. The view was broad. Xie Hongchen examined it for a long time and discovered that from one angle, one could see a section of the Huang family’s farmland—half of Immortal Tea Town’s farmland was used by the Huang family for trial planting.

And before the early years of Chengyuan, most of the time it was Huang Rang who personally managed this farmland.

And that year was precisely the year Dai Yue bred beam rice.

Could a half-blood fox woman who rarely worked the fields truly breed such a world-shaking thing in one stroke?

Xie Hongchen was utterly perplexed, but another person caught his attention.

Huang Rang among the farmland also had dignified bearing and graceful posture. She often stood in the fields, watching tenant farmers sow seeds and tend seedlings. She was never domineering and spoke to everyone with a smile.

Her interactions with men never crossed propriety—her conduct was measured, her conversation composed, so perfect she seemed unreal.

Xie Hongchen’s gaze lingered slightly on the image, which showed Huang Rang conversing with several tenant farmers, instructing them on how to plant seeds. Xie Hongchen withdrew his scattered thoughts and reconsidered Dai Yue.

Testing her authenticity was actually quite easy.

—Hadn’t Shi Wenyu personally tested it himself?

So Xie Hongchen personally came to Immortal Tea Town again. The entire town was in an uproar because of him. And Xie Hongchen ordered the village head to gather all the townspeople beneath the banyan tree at the town center.

With his single command, how could the other common people not comply?

In an instant, the area beneath the banyan tree was surrounded by people.

Xie Hongchen wore white robes and black hair, standing with his hands behind his back. The common people all very consciously made space for him. He stood among the crowd like frost, snow, and ice.

The townspeople gradually assembled. The Huang family naturally arrived as well.

Huang Shu very naturally squeezed to the front, standing in the position closest to Xie Hongchen, as if to demonstrate that he was most familiar with this Sect Master. Xie Hongchen swept his gaze across the crowd, his eyes first pausing on Huang Rang.

Strange—among thousands of common people, he had spotted her at a single glance.

Sensing his gaze, Huang Rang bowed slightly, extremely dignified and courteous.

Xie Hongchen thus nodded slightly as well. He raised his voice and said, “Everyone, previously I heard that there is a Miss Dai Yue in town who has successively bred excellent varieties like beam rice and bitter lotus, meeting the people’s needs. Yuhu Xuanzong deeply admires her benevolence.”

The common people immediately began discussing in low voices. Dai Yue’s heart stirred with excitement. This Sect Master Xie indeed remembered her! Thinking that from now on she could be freed from slave status and might even have hope of entering the immortal sect, even her breathing became rapid.

And Huang Shu’s expression was not so pleasant.

Dai Yue was still his money tree after all. Giving her to Di Yiqiu, he could still obtain Immortal Tea Town. If he gave her to Yuhu Xuanzong, that would be drawing water with a bamboo basket.

The immortal sects didn’t care about slave status. If Yuhu Xuanzong wanted someone, what benefits could they promise him?

His brow furrowed tightly.

And at this moment, Xie Hongchen suddenly took out a potted spiritual herb from his storage treasure. His tone shifted as he said, “Today Yuhu Xuanzong has a spiritual herb called ‘Efficacy Leaf.’ Yuhu Xuanzong wishes to ask Miss Dai Yue to cultivate this herb and strengthen its medicinal effects. If she can achieve three times or more, there will be a generous reward.”

Dai Yue looked completely bewildered.

Xie Hongchen gestured to her. She stood in the crowd, at a loss. Someone beside her even reminded her, “Miss Dai Yue, Sect Master Xie is calling you! Hurry and go!”

Dai Yue walked step by step before Xie Hongchen, looking at the pot of efficacy leaf in his hands. She dared not reach out to take it.

Xie Hongchen said gently, “Miss Dai Yue, please.”

Dai Yue tremblingly accepted that spiritual herb. Xie Hongchen’s next words dealt her another heavy blow: “Please allow all the townspeople to accompany Miss Dai Yue in the breeding, so everyone can understand the hardship and difficulty of cultivating excellent varieties.”

The surrounding common people loudly cheered. But Dai Yue knew that under several thousand pairs of eyes, she could not fake anything at all.

Huang Shu looked confused—he did not understand Xie Hongchen’s intention.

Xie Hongchen strode toward Huang Rang and said, “Miss Arang, may I have a word with you?”

Huang Rang immediately said, “Naturally.”

She followed Xie Hongchen away from the crowd. Xie Hongchen finally asked, “I have something I don’t understand. I ask Miss Arang to enlighten me.”

Huang Rang bowed slightly and said, “Please speak, Sect Master.”

Xie Hongchen asked, “The true breeding expert of the Huang family is not Dai Yue but you, Miss Arang, correct?”

Huang Rang’s heart was clear as a mirror, but her face showed slight hesitation as she prevaricated, “Why does the Sect Master ask this?”

Xie Hongchen said, “These years, Miss, you have managed the Huang family’s breeding business and expended considerable effort. According to Yuhu Xuanzong’s investigation, before the early years of Chengyuan, you had quite a few excellent varieties emerge. But because they came from the Huang family, they all went out under Huang Shu’s name. You have talent but no fame. In the early years of Chengyuan, you easily bred beam rice, yet ultimately the credit was usurped by the maid Dai Yue.”

His speech was neither hurried nor slow. As he spoke, he watched Huang Rang’s expression closely, saying, “You are the master—why would you allow a servant to usurp your achievements?”

That’s naturally for you, husband.

Huang Rang sneered inwardly, but showed nothing on her face. She took several steps back and said, “The Sect Master is overthinking.” Having said this, she turned and left.

Xie Hongchen’s suspicions grew even deeper. This person had always been unable to tolerate even a grain of sand in his eye. If there was one grain he had ever tolerated in this life… it was probably Huang Rang. Both despising and detesting her, yet unable to let go.

Regarding today’s matter, he would not let it rest.

Indeed, Xie Hongchen had to unravel the thread to its end.

The villagers guarded Dai Yue day and night, everyone eagerly wanting to watch how she cultivated excellent varieties. Even storytellers were already busy revising their books, preparing to tell the world at the first opportunity.

All the implements Dai Yue needed were provided by everyone. She was like the moon surrounded by stars, trapped beneath the banyan tree.

Everyone was discussing this major event, all saying Dai Yue would bring glory to all of Immortal Tea Town.

And as Xie Hongchen passed by Huang Shu, he smelled the scent of divine immortal grass.

He had smelled this scent last time too, but at this moment, Huang Shu held a pipe in his hand, making the smell much more intense. Though Xie Hongchen was a sword immortal, he was also skilled at pill refinement. He was far more sensitive to medicinal herbs than normal people.

The medicinal properties of this divine immortal grass were much stronger than usual. With Huang Shu smoking it this way, he must be addicted beyond help. Ordinary awakening pills would have no effect at all.

Xie Hongchen glanced at Huang Shu’s pipe but said nothing more. However, an idea was slowly taking shape in his mind.

—Dai Yue and Huang Rang were master and servant. How could she usurp her master’s achievements?

If the master had some kind of leverage in her hands, that would make sense.

But what leverage could Huang Rang have? The divine immortal grass Huang Shu smoked obviously contained mixed variants. If this variant was precisely what Huang Rang bred to poison her own biological father, that would make sense.

Moreover, after Huang Shu became addicted to divine immortal grass, it was indeed Huang Rang who took control of the Huang family. She had this motive and benefited from it accordingly.

If Dai Yue knew this, wouldn’t she be able to threaten Huang Rang and take these breeding achievements?

The more Xie Hongchen thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. It was just—why would Huang Rang want to poison Huang Shu?

Though Huang Shu’s character was not upright, he was ultimately her biological father. For this woman to act this way was truly chilling.

Huang Rang saw him heading toward the Huang family’s farmland and knew he had investigated about as much as he could.

Probably, it was time to release her trump card.

Hongchen, look—whether in dreams or out of dreams, for you, I have devoted such painstaking effort.

Xie Hongchen came to the fields and indeed discovered a small plot of land in a corner where divine immortal grass was being grown.

With just a cursory look, he immediately saw that a small amount of variant was mixed in. He plucked a variant divine immortal grass flower and brought it close to his nose for a careful sniff. The medicinal efficacy had increased by more than three times!

It seemed this woman could not be kept either.

Carrying this flower, he was about to return to beneath the banyan tree when suddenly, a woman blocked his path.

“Sect Master Xie.” The woman bowed deeply to Xie Hongchen. Xie Hongchen frowned slightly, recognizing that this woman was also an earth spirit, and asked, “Who are you?”

The woman said, “This humble woman’s surname is Huang, given name Jun.”

Xie Hongchen searched this name in his mind but had no impression at all. The woman smiled and explained, “I am Arang’s older sister, born of the same father and mother.”

Only after she said this did Xie Hongchen see clearly that her features did vaguely resemble Huang Rang’s. But her charm and bearing could not be mentioned in the same breath. Xie Hongchen asked, “So you are Miss Huang Jun. Do you have something to say?”

Huang Jun bowed deeply to him and said, “No matter what the Sect Master discovers, please do not harm Arang.”

“Oh?” Only now did Xie Hongchen show some interest, asking, “Why?”

Huang Jun bowed deeply to him and said, “Does the Sect Master know what lies beneath this patch of divine immortal grass?”

Xie Hongchen had no interest in hearing her play coy and did not answer. Huang Jun could only say, “It is my mother. Mine and Arang’s mother.”

Beneath the divine immortal grass, the soil was mixed with fine sand. Xie Hongchen suddenly recalled that when earth spirits died and their souls scattered, they would indeed turn to earth and sand. He asked, “You earth spirits have the custom of using your own mother’s remains to grow grass?”

“Of course not.” Huang Jun seemed to sink into a past memory and said, “Mother was our father Huang Shu’s first wife. She came from a distinguished family. When she married down to father, her entire clan opposed it. But mother insisted on severing ties with her family and accompanied father back to the tiny Immortal Tea Town to make a living. But without the backing of her family background, father soon showed his true colors. He began taking concubines in large numbers. Countless beauties flowed into the Huang family like water.”

Recalling that past, her voice was like the tide of a dark sea: “Mother’s tears and protests were fruitless. She only wanted to bear a son to preserve her position as principal wife. But… she gave birth to me. Father neglected her, and other women mocked her. Day after day she became despondent and depressed, later even becoming violent in temperament. But she did not give up. She tried every kind of remedy and finally conceived another child.”

Xie Hongchen said nothing. He knew the outcome.

Sure enough, Huang Jun said, “She was overjoyed. But after ten months of pregnancy, she gave birth to my younger sister Huang Rang. No one in the entire Huang family looked up to her. My father’s concubines bore one child after another. My mother was strong-willed—she still wanted to try again. But by then, her body was already very weak. Those women all looked down on her. She became obsessed, even dreaming while asleep that she had borne a son. But father no longer came to her courtyard.”

Huang Jun’s words stopped here. Xie Hongchen finally could not help but press, “And then?”

“Then one day, father finally came. That night, he was drunk and stumbled upon me in mother’s room.” Xie Hongchen’s heart jolted. Huang Jun continued, “He… defiled me. Mother had just finished drinking a potion for conceiving sons. When she returned to her room, she witnessed this scene.”

What kind of scene that was, Xie Hongchen could not imagine. Huang Jun said, “But mother could do nothing to him. She could only vent her anger on me. She cried and cursed me as a whore, a prostitute who seduced her own father. Ah, she grabbed my hair and tore off a patch of my scalp.”

She smiled and pointed to her head, where there was a scar without hair. There would never be hair there again.

Huang Jun’s voice showed neither sorrow nor joy as she said flatly, “After that, every time father came to mother’s courtyard, he had me accompany him. Gradually, people in the Huang family learned of this. Those people used every vicious word to humiliate my mother. And to humiliate us sisters. Each time mother endured these humiliations, she would return and beat us sisters.”

Xie Hongchen said nothing. Huang Jun said, “At that time, Arang was still young. Even when beaten, she would not beg for mercy. She just stubbornly endured it foolishly. Finally one day, mother took a knife and wanted to slash my face. I blocked it with my hand…” She lifted her arm, where scars cut to the bone, “Arang suddenly rushed over. She snatched the knife away and cursed mother with the most vicious words. Then she dragged me and fled from the courtyard.”

Huang Jun smiled and pointed to this patch of land, saying, “We sat here embracing each other, not daring to go back. When night came and it grew dark, we finally decided to go back and look.”

Xie Hongchen asked, “Your mother… still had not calmed down?”

Huang Jun raised her head, gazing at the sky. After a long while, she said softly, “She died. When we went back, we discovered she was dead. She had used that knife to dig out her own heart. My sister and I stood beside her, watching her spiritual power slowly dissipate and turn to yellow sand. She had endured for so many years and finally was willing to die.”

“Ah, father did not care for her and even ordered that no memorial tablet or burial be arranged for her. Arang scattered the sand she had become here, and later planted divine immortal grass here.” Huang Jun did not cry. From beginning to end, she had not shed a single tear.

Xie Hongchen finally asked, “Are you alright?” He knew what it meant for a woman if such a reputation spread.

Huang Jun gazed at this patch of divine immortal grass, as if answering another person’s question. She took a deep breath and said with a smile, “I’m fine. After Arang took control of the family business, she married me off. I married far away, very, very far. So far away that there… no one had heard of my affairs. My husband’s family buys excellent seeds every year, so sometimes I can also come back for a look.”

Xie Hongchen fell silent.

Huang Rang never appeared throughout. This was the truth she had laid out for Xie Hongchen.

It was also what Dai Yue had concealed from Xie Hongchen in the fifth year of Chengyuan outside the dream. At this moment, she tore open the scab and bloodily extended it for him to see.

Why poison her own biological father?

Huang Rang sneered coldly. Of course it was to seize power. In such a quagmire, how base was human nature?

If one wanted to live with dignity, one always had to find some methods.