Everyone thought Tantai Cong’s brain must have been slammed in a door for him to say something so foolish. They all knew that Prince Jing was someone suffering from the backlash of his own karmic evil and had already been marked by the King of Hell’s death warrant. No one present dared to intervene — so on what basis did he think Lang Jiuchuan would be so reckless as to go and save him? Even if she truly dared to snatch someone from the King of Hell’s grasp, why on earth would she rescue a half-dead widower who was, from her perspective, nothing more than a decrepit old man?

This half-aged widower was, moreover, the very man she was supposed to be betrothed to. She was probably only furious that he wasn’t dying fast enough — and yet they expected her to exhaust her own cultivation to save him? What a pipe dream!

Indeed — when Daoist Friend Lang had accepted the imperial edict of arranged marriage, she had already declared upfront that she was a curse upon her husband. Now it seemed that prophecy was well on its way to being fulfilled.

The moment the words left Tantai Cong’s mouth, he knew he had been too impulsive. Sure enough, he could see everyone around him staring at him like he was an idiot. His face flushed a deep red, and he instinctively glanced toward Rong Huanxuan — only to meet her ice-cold gaze. Those bewitching phoenix eyes of hers carried a bone-chilling coldness, and the back of his neck immediately went numb.

His words just now had been entirely unconsidered. It was simply because the person at the center of this was Gong Tinglan — the man Rong Huanxuan had set her sights on and wished to marry — that jealousy had gotten the better of him and made him blurt something out.

But that outburst of his had made him the laughingstock of everyone present.

Tantai Cong’s expression turned ugly, yet he had no choice but to press on with brazen shamelessness: “A person of upright character should have an upright heart as well. Standing by and watching someone die — is that really the way of the righteous path…?”

That only made things worse. The more he said, the more he erred. He had essentially morally coerced every member of the righteous path present, and every face in the room darkened.

So by their choice not to save someone suffering from karmic backlash, their hearts were corrupt, and they were no longer of the righteous path?

“Would you just shut your mouth!” Even Rong Huanxuan couldn’t hold back and snapped at him. She had initially been quite pleased by Tantai Cong’s attempt to play the hero, but the young fool had managed to remain sensible for only a few breaths before spouting nonsense.

He was simply too young, too inexperienced, and spoke without thinking.

And to think she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with someone like this — the very thought was maddening.

What made it worse was that Tantai Cong and Gong Tinglan were standing side by side. One was naive and foolish, the kind of useless person who would never even come close to a position of real power, while the other was brilliant and transcendent, the heir of his entire clan. The contrast between them was devastatingly stark.

The more Rong Huanxuan thought about it, the more stifled and resentful she felt. Indignation filled her entire chest, and her eyes were on the verge of reddening — whether from fury or something else was unclear — as a sinister aura began to leak from her.

Gong Tinglan glanced over with feigned casualness, his eyes deepening.

Elder Liu quickly stepped in to block his line of sight and said, “Regarding this matter, in this poor Daoist’s opinion, it would be best to report it upward and let the Holy One make the final determination.”

With the King of Hell’s death warrant — a mark of death itself — having fallen upon Prince Jing, whether to save him or abandon him was a decision for the Holy One to make.

Gong Tinglan felt a faint twinge of disappointment. Elder Liu had been carefully selected and placed at the young clan leader’s side as a Guardian Elder — and with a single sentence, he had smoothly resolved the awkward situation created by Rong Huanxuan and that fool. Still, it didn’t stop him from enjoying the implied jab.

Gong Tinglan toyed with the purple bone flute at his waist and directed a mocking, contemptuous smile at Rong Huanxuan.

Rong Huanxuan barely managed to hold herself together. She bit down on her lip, dug her nails into her palm, and her expression turned darkly brooding.

Elder Liu, meanwhile, was wracked with worry. He feared that Lang Jiuchuan was the kind of person who played by no one else’s rules — and that she might very well appear before them. If that happened, he dreaded they would come out the worse for it. He turned and cast a subtle glance toward Rong Huanxuan, wondering inwardly whether it would be better to knock the young clan leader unconscious and spirit her away to avoid the coming storm.

Rong Huanxuan happened to turn her head at that moment and caught Elder Liu’s look. Her eyes immediately turned dark and vicious. What was the meaning of this — making her retreat again?

What an insufferable humiliation!

She refused to believe that Lang Jiuchuan could actually do anything to her in front of everyone here!

Elder Liu’s fears proved well-founded.

He had spoken of reporting to the Holy One, of letting him make the final call — but even knowing what Prince Jing’s younger brother had done, how could the Holy One allow him to bear the stain of karmic backlash and bring disgrace upon the imperial house?

Lang Jiuchuan was a person of upright conduct. She might just have some measure of fortune on her side — it was worth letting her try. If she managed to save him, it would earn the court a reprieve and restore some lost face. If she couldn’t, they could deal with it then. Either way, he himself wouldn’t have to lift a finger — he only needed to make use of someone else. Why would he care about anyone’s life or death?

It was also a fine opportunity to see for himself just what Lang Jiuchuan was capable of — whether she truly was as supernaturally gifted as the Rong clan leader had claimed.

And so the Holy One issued an imperial decree, summoning Lang Jiuchuan to Prince Jing’s residence to perform an exorcism.

And Lang Jiuchuan accepted.

Not because she intended to save Prince Jing. She accepted because she knew that Rong Huanxuan had actually dared to show up here — and failing to pay her a visit and stir up a little trouble would be a terrible waste of such a perfectly legitimate opportunity to collect a debt.

And so she came. She arrived. She truly came to stir things up.

Gong Tinglan was the first to meet her, lowering his voice as he spoke: “Prince Jing has been marked by the King of Hell’s death warrant. He cannot be saved. You should not have come.”

Lang Jiuchuan raised an eyebrow: “To think that Young Clan Leader Gong knows of the King of Hell’s death warrant?”

Gong Tinglan noticed she showed not the slightest trace of surprise — as though she had known all along. His heart stirred involuntarily. Could it be that this matter truly had something to do with her? If so, then he had nothing to worry about.

“Our Gong clan’s ancestral records made mention of it, and these eyes of mine can also see it clearly.” Gong Tinglan’s expression relaxed somewhat. “It seems I was overthinking things.”

The two exchanged a glance, and being the perceptive people they were, they immediately understood each other’s meaning.

Yet that mutual “deep and meaningful gaze” of theirs pierced Rong Huanxuan like a blade. Her malevolence surged outward in waves — those shameless creatures, that despicable woman, how dare she!

Elder Liu was alarmed. Using a secret transmission, he said: “Young Clan Leader, if you do not restrain yourself, this subordinate will have no choice but to forcibly remove you.”

Rong Huanxuan turned a cold look upon him.

That single glance sent a chill straight through Elder Liu’s heart, causing his hair to stand on end. He instinctively stepped back a pace, his heart pounding furiously.

Rong Huanxuan let out a cold snort, then turned her head — this time, her gaze met Lang Jiuchuan’s.

Their eyes locked, and sparks immediately flew.

Lang Jiuchuan held Jiangche in her arms, her hand drifting idly through his thick, dense fur. Her eyes fixed on Rong Huanxuan, and the cold light within them was terrifying — utterly glacial.

Rong Huanxuan had not moved directly against her, yet what she carried was something that rightfully belonged to this body. The karmic bond had already been forged. She had been using it for so long — was it unreasonable for her to come and collect the debt? How could anyone possibly take what belonged to another and act as though it were theirs by right?

How utterly shameless!

Within Lang Jiuchuan’s eyes, storm clouds rolled and churned. A flash of dark purple-gold radiance flickered through them, as though hooking into something — as though reaching out to sit in judgment over someone’s soul.

Rong Huanxuan’s breath caught. Her complexion gradually drained of color, her entire body went rigid, and an inexplicable chill rose from within her. She trembled faintly all over, the tips of her fingers twitching as something inside her seemed to slip beyond her control.

She was aghast. This could not happen!

Elder Liu completely shielded Rong Huanxuan, sending a burst of spiritual energy into her body. Only then did she gasp and heave for breath, cold sweat beading across her skin.

Lang Jiuchuan looked toward Elder Liu, who was on full, watchful alert, his entire body wound tight with vigilance, and said to Gong Tinglan: “Your Xuan clan has certainly raised some well-trained, obedient dogs.”

What a pity — they had followed the wrong master!

Gong Tinglan’s gaze fell with intense focus on the corner of Rong Huanxuan’s robes, just barely visible behind Elder Liu’s frame. His expression went cold and still. If what he had just seen was correct, a trace of dark, black energy had seeped out from Rong Huanxuan’s body.

Then one of the imperial clan’s Guardian Elders spoke: “Daoist Friend Lang, Prince Jing is in mortal peril. Might you be able to vanquish this evil and set things right?”

Lang Jiuchuan walked slowly forward and looked upon him — his entire body enshrouded in death energy, wraith spirits and malevolent shades ceaselessly eroding away at his vital essence and soul. She let out a cold laugh: “What confidence led you to believe I could overpower the King of Hell’s Panguan from beneath the underworld, or override a King of Hell’s death warrant? You are all afraid to die, so you push a young girl like me to risk her life as a test of just how far things can go?”