Three days later, Immortal Tea Town.

No matter how hard Dai Yue tried, she still could not cultivate that efficacy leaf. Facing the onlooking common people, her mind finally collapsed: “What are you looking at? I can’t do it, I can’t breed varieties! Do you know now? Are you satisfied?”

The dignified Xuandu Fairy actually said such words in public. The onlookers erupted in uproar.

Dai Yue caught sight of Huang Rang in the crowd. She rushed over, trying to grab her collar. But Huang Rang dodged—five years of martial dao cultivation, though it was only laying a foundation, was still not something this girl Dai Yue could catch.

Dai Yue grasped at empty air. She cried, “Why? Dai Yue has served Tenth Miss for many years, also quite devotedly. Why does Tenth Miss want to harm me?!”

Having come to this point, she hated Huang Rang bitterly and naturally wanted to expose publicly what kind of person she was! She shouted as if crazed, “You think I’ll let you off easy? You…”

But at this point, her words were cut off by Xie Hongchen—if Xie Hongchen wanted to make her shut her mouth, he probably had thousands upon thousands of methods.

Dai Yue’s mouth was open, but she could not utter a single word. She could only weep, watching the people around her point and gossip.

“Everyone.” Xie Hongchen’s voice rang out, carrying the power to steady hearts: “Dai Yue’s so-called breeding has been nothing but a fraud all along. All these years she has been stealing…” He glanced at Huang Rang and continued, “The breeding achievements of the Huang family’s Tenth Miss, Huang Rang, and taking credit for them. And the Huang family’s Tenth Miss, because of the deep bond between master and servant, could not bear to expose her.”

His words were forceful as he revealed the truth to everyone, but… ultimately he concealed some things.

Dai Yue wanted to argue, wanted to make public how Huang Rang had cultivated variant divine immortal grass to poison her own biological father. And how Huang Rang had dealt with her own younger sister. Over all these years following at Huang Rang’s side, she knew too many of her secrets.

Any one of these matters, if spoken, would be enough to make Immortal Tea Town boil for quite a while.

But she could not speak. She desperately wanted to shriek, but not half a sound would come from her throat.

Huang Rang stood in the crowd, watching Xie Hongchen. Xie Hongchen sensed her gaze and, not knowing why, felt a slight tremor in his heart.

There was a hidden expectation within—but what exactly was he expecting?

He considered himself certainly not someone who would leverage favors for repayment. He did all this only to punish evil and promote good. Yet as his gaze swept across the crowd, he saw Huang Rang smile at him.

Xie Hongchen handled these matters quite thoroughly.

In his view, Dai Yue absolutely could not be kept, otherwise sooner or later she would expose the matter of the divine immortal grass variant. He said, “The fox woman Dai Yue has used her servant status to deceive her master. She cannot be kept. How does Tenth Miss wish to deal with her?”

He passed the decision to her. Huang Rang need only hand the person over to him for disposal. Even Huang Shu would absolutely not object. Dai Yue’s heart turned ice cold. She knew that given Huang Rang’s temperament, she would have no way to survive. She immediately made squeaking sounds but could not speak a single sentence.

Huang Rang stood among the crowd. The gazes of the surrounding people also turned to her in unison.

Given Huang Rang’s nature, she naturally would never leave such a future trouble. But she said softly, “Arang is grateful to Sect Master Xie. This girl Dai Yue, though she has done wrong, she has followed me for many years. We have been master and servant for so long, we also have years of affection. Arang thinks we should just send her to Li Family Manor to guard the estate.”

Dai Yue froze. This was obviously not Huang Rang’s usual style. She was not someone who would drag things out.

Xie Hongchen also felt this was inappropriate. He asked, “Why send her to Li Family Manor?”

Huang Rang said, “Her deceased mother is buried at Li Family Manor. She has been ambitious all her life. Guarding her deceased mother’s tomb, her days should be somewhat better. In this multitude of living beings, to be granted human form—it’s not as if anyone is born wanting to scheme and compete with others. Even if there is malice in one’s heart, it’s only because circumstances force it. After all, if a person drags their tail through the mud, naturally they can only see mosquito larvae. Only by climbing the sacred mountain can one encounter phoenixes.”

Indeed, with these words, Xie Hongchen was deeply moved. He pondered for a moment and said, “Tenth Miss is supremely pure and supremely good. It is admirable.”

Supremely pure and supremely good?

Huang Rang appeared modest on the surface but laughed inwardly. Xie Hongchen liked this kind of woman—pure in thought and good-hearted, not competing for anything. His ideal woman was actually exactly like this—flawless white jade, untouched by even a speck of dust.

“Then, escort this woman to Li Family Manor to keep vigil for her mother. Mister Huang,” Xie Hongchen looked at Huang Shu and asked, “Is that acceptable?”

This question obviously only awaited an affirmative answer.

Huang Shu knelt on the ground and said, “The Huang household has not been strict enough, to actually raise such an evil servant. I have made Sect Master Xie and all the fellow villagers laugh.” According to Huang Shu’s thinking, he naturally wanted to beat Dai Yue to death.

This lowly slave had caused him to lose face in public—how could he forgive her?

But now in front of this large crowd, how dare he say more?

He glanced at Huang Rang, his mind full of questions. This lowly slave Dai Yue—her reputation had indeed risen quickly these past years. But if you said she dared to steal his own daughter’s achievements, Huang Shu still felt she didn’t have the guts.

Huang Shu simply didn’t manage affairs, but he wasn’t stupid. These past years in the Huang family, besides him, it was Huang Rang who had the final say. Even those brothers and sisters of hers—who dared speak up before her? Let alone a maid.

He glanced at Huang Rang. Huang Rang naturally knelt down together with him and said, “This matter all arose because of me. Please do not blame Father, Sect Master.”

Xie Hongchen couldn’t help but step forward two paces. He bent down slightly, helped Huang Rang to her feet, and said, “There is no need for this.”

Huang Rang rose smoothly to her feet. She had been clasping her hands in apology. When Xie Hongchen helped her up, her fingertips lightly touched his palm. So bashful yet proper, like a dragonfly touching water.

Xie Hongchen stared at those fingertips, moist and tinged with a bit of pink, his heart full of absurd feelings. This person, this gentle and compliant posture—it was too familiar.

Huang Rang’s fingertips lightly slid across his palm. Taking the opportunity, she said, “Dai Yue has committed a grave crime. After she goes to Li Manor, I’m afraid life will not be easy for her. I am but a woman, with little influence or voice. Sect Master… could you accompany this humble woman to escort her to Li Manor? With the Sect Master’s golden words and jade speech, at least she will have a way to survive there.”

In her words, every phrase and sentence was still considering Dai Yue. Beside her, Huang Shu hurriedly said, “This evil servant deserves death ten thousand times! How can you trouble Sect Master Xie again on her account? You don’t know propriety!”

Huang Rang quickly lowered her head and said, “Your daughter knows she was wrong.”

However, Xie Hongchen said, “You are not only kind but also meticulous in thought.” Then he turned to look at Dai Yue and said, “Let’s go.”

Huang Shu was completely baffled. By rights, how could Xie Hongchen care about such a trivial matter? Yet he had agreed immediately! Huang Shu looked at him, then at Huang Rang, and suddenly an idea emerged that made his head spin!

Some days ago, Huang Rang had told him she harbored great ambitions.

Could this girl truly have such capability?!

So from the early years of Chengyuan, she deliberately let Dai Yue steal credit and take her place, all the way until today when Xie Hongchen exposed the truth. For five years, this stinking girl had been acting all along?

A bolt of lightning struck through Huang Shu’s mind. He looked at Huang Rang again and immediately said, “This humble one will send two attendants to escort the evil servant along the way.”

Xie Hongchen did not refuse. Huang Shu was wildly overjoyed in his heart—he knew what a big fish Xie Hongchen was.

If his own daughter could form a marriage alliance with him, then he himself… he didn’t dare imagine.

Such unexpectedly falling good fortune sobered his muddled head considerably. He secretly instructed the attendants escorting Dai Yue to just follow from afar and not disturb Huang Rang and Sect Master Xie’s conversation.

Thus Huang Rang was able to accompany Xie Hongchen, setting out from Immortal Tea Town toward Li Manor.

At Xie Hongchen’s pace, Li Manor was practically right before his eyes. But he restrained all his methods and walked on foot with Huang Rang. The attendants escorting Dai Yue indeed stayed far away, not affecting the two people’s proximity at all.

Huang Rang walked half a step behind him to show respect. Xie Hongchen walked ahead, his expression calm, but his thoughts were in chaos. For a moment, he actually had nothing to say.

“The Sect Master personally intervened to uphold justice for Arang. Arang is very grateful.” Huang Rang’s voice gradually lowered, as if hesitating several times. She said, “But… Arang has failed the Sect Master’s generous intentions.”

“What?” Xie Hongchen asked.

Huang Rang said, “With the Sect Master’s wisdom, you must have already considered why Dai Yue, being a maid, could threaten me.”

Xie Hongchen’s heart stirred slightly. He stopped walking, turned around, and looked at this woman again.

He saw her dressed in pale gold, warm as a harvest wheat field. His voice also softened somewhat as he asked, “Why?”

Huang Rang knelt on the ground and bowed deeply to him, saying, “I… because… because…”

Her tears swayed on the verge of falling. Xie Hongchen actually could not bear to ask further. He said, “If you don’t wish to speak of it again, then let it be.”

Huang Rang lowered her head. She took a deep breath and said, “The reason Dai Yue could blackmail me is because she discovered the variant I mixed into the divine immortal grass. The reason Father has been so muddled and confused these years, not managing household affairs, is precisely because he has been smoking the divine immortal grass I planted.”

Her words were completely sincere. Because Xie Hongchen already knew the truth, he actually had no heart to blame her. He said, “Why did you do this?”

He asked this question calmly, thinking that Huang Rang’s answer would be nothing more than repeating her childhood suffering once more.

Huang Rang said, “I was willful and troublesome in my youth and angered my mother, leading to her death. For many years, I have been haunted by this. I both resent myself and blame my father. I… I wanted to join him in going to see Mother, which is why I mixed variant divine immortal grass into the tobacco. But after several times, I could not bring myself to do it. He is my father after all…”

She covered her face and wept bitterly, yet did not mention a word of Huang Shu’s sins.

Xie Hongchen had slain demons and eliminated evil for many years. Actually his heart was very hard. But hearing her speak thus, his heart softened. He lightly grasped Huang Rang’s wrist and helped her to her feet, advising, “The fault is not yours. You need not blame yourself.”

The fault is certainly not mine! Huang Rang sneered inwardly. She didn’t kill Huang Shu because Huang Shu could not die.

Though the Huang family was just a small household in Immortal Tea Town, if there were no family head, it would be far too difficult for her, a daughter, to manage affairs. At that time, she would not only have to suppress disobedient brothers and sisters but also resist attacks and exclusion from other clans. If someone reported her patricide to the immortal sects, she might well pay with her life for it.

If not for his bit of usefulness, I would not only want him dead—I would want him like my mother, heart dug out and liver split open, corpse exposed in the wilderness!

Ah, I’ve become attached again. Huang Rang slowly calmed her fury.

This was precisely what Xie Hongchen most disliked. Xie Hongchen hoped his wife would view enmity and hatred as adversity bodhisattvas, without complaint or hatred. And when Huang Rang faced adversity, she would bare a mouthful of sharp poisonous fangs.

But right now, Huang Rang’s every phrase was self-reproach and regret.

She only blamed herself, sorrowful yet merciful. Xie Hongchen said, “It’s just that if Huang Shu learns of this, I fear he cannot forgive you.”

Huang Rang lowered her head. After a long while she said, “He is my father after all. My body, my hair, my skin—all were granted by him. That I harmed my parent’s body is already the height of unfilial behavior. Even if he wants to beat or kill me, I accept it.”

Xie Hongchen gently released her white wrist and said, “Do you never make plans for yourself?”

Huang Rang’s gaze remained downcast as she said, “A woman like me was born without control over my own fate. What plans could there be?”

Xie Hongchen’s heart stirred momentarily, and he blurted out, “Have you never thought of leaving the Huang family and going elsewhere?”

As he spoke these words, an emotion was slowly building. If… if the woman before him begged him to take her in…

If that happened, would he refuse?

For a moment, his heart wavered uncertainly, actually without an answer.

Huang Rang raised her head, her gaze soft and gentle as it fixed on him. Those beautiful eyes still carried tears—a beauty like a pear blossom in the rain. Xie Hongchen’s heart suddenly found an answer. Perhaps, that wouldn’t be bad either.

He quietly watched the person before him, waiting for her to ask. Over these years, he had encountered too many women. He actually knew very well what kind of attraction he held for women.

In the past, he had never been moved, but today, oddly, he had a desire to shelter her from the rain.

The two gazed at each other. He had even already imagined what Huang Rang would say next.

Nothing more than hoping to follow him away from the Huang family, from then on even as a slave or servant, following through wind and rain.

—He had experienced too many such women. It was just that Sect Master Xie was not attached to feminine charms. His side had always been very clean.

Sure enough, Huang Rang retreated two steps and bowed to him again. She said, “This humble woman has received the Sect Master’s life-saving grace and has no way to repay it.” In that instant, Xie Hongchen’s heart actually held a trace of joy. He examined these few threads of pleasure, finding them rather novel.

And Huang Rang continued, “This humble woman presumptuously asks to take Sect Master Xie as her master and study the sword dao. From now on, I will abandon worldly concerns and, like the Sect Master, eliminate all injustice in this world.”

…Xie Hongchen felt as if pierced through the heart by a sword, speechless for a long while. No, it shouldn’t be like this. But… why shouldn’t it be? If she had such aspirations, it was a blessing for the righteous path—what was wrong with that?

An indescribable emotion gripped him. Xie Hongchen retreated a step in shock, murmuring, “Take me as your master, study sword dao?”

Huang Rang raised her head and clasped her hands, saying, “Precisely. Please grant this, Sect Master.”

This was truly absurd. Yet he could not say what was wrong with it.

What exactly was he expecting?!