Do they dare?

Naturally, they do not.

To go before Lang Jiuchuan and apologise would be tantamount to walking right up to her door and announcing that they had been speaking ill of her behind her back — was that not delivering one’s own face to be slapped?

Besides — this was Lang Jiuchuan. The person who had dared to contest the head of the Rong family, a Mystic clan patriarch. Though they were quick enough to mouth off and sneer behind closed doors, in their hearts they actually knew full well: regardless of whether Lang Jiuchuan had truly been so formidable as to bring about the Rong family head’s death, the sheer fact that she had dared to march into the Rong family and cause havoc placed her in an entirely different category.

Could they do the same?

Never mind stirring up trouble on Mystic clan territory — even among the ordinary powerful households of Wu Jing, they would never dare provoke one so rashly.

So private mockery was fine, but going to that person’s face and saying it — even if someone had lent them the heart of a bear and the gall of a leopard, they still would not dare. What if she truly did have the means to work some mischief?

The young masters of the Cheng family were left with nowhere to retreat. After a long, stifled pause, they finally managed to squeeze out: “In any case — you barged in, and you struck first. That was wrong of you!”

“Oh, absolutely — I’ll own that mistake. But you spreading rumours about my Ninth Sister behind her back — do you dare own that?” Lang Caichao looked at them with a mocking, sidelong glance. Cowards. Do you dare?

Lang Caimeng, judging that things had run their course, stepped in: “Twelfth Brother, enough. Young Master Cheng, our younger brother is young and doesn’t know his manners — our apologies. Put this evening’s banquet on Marquis Kaiping’s residence’s account, and in a moment I’ll have the attendant bring a fresh spread as compensation — how does that sound?”

What else could they do but take the offered way out?

“Considering how young he is, we won’t stoop to his level.” The young master of the Cheng family threw Lang Caichao a resentful look.

Lang Caichao made a contemptuous noise and was hauled out the door, unable to help himself: “Big Brother, they didn’t even apologise to Ninth Sister — why are we the ones apologising? Are they worth it?”

“Did you leave that book of yours to rot inside a dog? Where’s your perspective?” Lang Caimeng’s voice was clear and resonant, carrying distinctly into the private room: “Think about who your Ninth Sister is. She may be a female cultivator, but she is a female cultivator whose attainment of the Dao was witnessed by golden lotuses. Who in all of heaven and earth has drawn golden lotus witness to their Dao? And furthermore — has anything good ever come to those who cross your Ninth Sister? Even speaking ill of her behind her back incurs a karmic debt — that brings misfortune!”

“Oh.”

From the open door of the private room, the young masters of the Cheng family, their faces cycling through shades of red and green, exchanged glances, their eyes filled with dread.

“Are we… still drinking?” the Yuan family’s young master — a concubine-born son of the household, more timid than the rest — ventured weakly.

“Drink what? Go home and burn incense!” The young master of the Cheng family flung his sleeve and stormed out of the private room, furious. He must not have checked the almanac before leaving the house today — what a wretched day this had been.

And then, the moment the group stepped through the door — on level, perfectly flat ground — they somehow all went sprawling flat on their faces. Teeth rattled loose. Shocked white-faced, they could not help but wonder — was this what it meant to incur karmic debt for speaking ill?

The Lang brothers returned to the residence, and word of their exploits made its way back to the head of the household as expected. Lang Caichao, demonstrating a keen awareness of the situation, promptly knelt before Lang Zhengping: “I was the one who struck first — Father can beat me if he wants. But I won’t admit I was wrong. Lang the Ninth is only mine to bully — no one else’s!”

“Look at you, so capable — could you really bully her?” Lang Zhengping let out a dismissive snort of laughter and said: “You didn’t do wrong. I won’t beat you. But this way of thinking of yours…”

“I wasn’t wrong!”

“I didn’t say you were. To outsiders, that’s exactly how you should act. Within the family, you can squabble and fight all you like — but outside you must protect each other. One family, one heart — that’s how it should be. Whether it’s your Ninth Sister people are talking about today, or your eldest sister or second sister, or anyone else — protect them, just as you did today. Because you are a son of my Lang family. If there’s no great deed you can do, then protecting the women and the young ones — that, at least, is your duty.”

Lang Caichao’s eyes lit up. He scrambled up from the floor: “Father really won’t hit me?”

“Your father is praising you!” Madam Fan shot him a fond, scolding glance and beckoned him over: “My child — outside the house, don’t go looking for trouble; but don’t be afraid of it either. That’s very good. Just remember to keep yourself safe.”

“I know — I’ve been training hard at martial arts. Even my instructor says I’ve got talent!” Lang Caichao puffed up with pride: “Just wait until I pass the military examinations, and I’ll earn Mother an honorary title — just like Second Uncle.”

“Yes, yes, good, good.”

Lang Caichao let his smile fade and looked toward Lang Zhengping: “But Father — is Ninth Sister really all right?”

Lang Zhengping pressed his lips together, his voice flat and listless: “She should be.”

Lang Caichao wilted too, and said: “I’m going back to my courtyard.”

He bowed respectfully to his parents and shuffled off with drooping spirits.

Lang Zhengping found that the tea in his hand had lost its flavour. He set it down and said: “I’m going out for a walk.”

Father and son departed one after the other. Madam Fan breathed a quiet sigh.

Lang Zhengping walked to Lang Jiuchuan’s courtyard, and all at once picked up his pace, lifting his gaze to the rooftop and bowing respectfully from a distance: “Lord Tiger.”

Jiangche: “!”

It sounded impressive, but it was rather unbearable to hear oneself addressed that way.

It flicked its tail: “Call me Jiangche.”

“All the same, all the same — has the Ninth Lady returned?” Lang Zhengping asked, his face lighting up with hope.

“No.” Jiangche grumbled and huffed. It had no idea where Feng Ya had taken her — it had been half a year already and she still had not come back. It could not even sense her divine consciousness, even though they had a contract between them.

Lang Zhengping’s face fell at the news: “Is she all right?”

“She won’t die.” With Feng Ya there, death was simply not possible — her soul was still whole, so she was definitely alive. It was just that, this disappearance had gone on a very long time.

Jiangche returned to Marquis Kaiping’s residence from time to time to keep watch, lest any trouble befall the household and cause Lang Jiuchuan more burdens when she returned. It and Fuqi would take turns standing guard in her stead.

That was about all they could do.

Sigh.

It missed that poison-tongued mouth of hers.

Deep within the dragon vein, the woman everyone was thinking of — Lang Jiuchuan — was at this very moment enveloped within a current of golden energy. Months of nourishment from the dragon vein’s aura had long since mended her shattered divine soul. Bathed now in the baptism of the dragon vein’s primordial essence, that soul had become incomparably more dense and powerful than it had ever been.

The divine soul was now solid and whole — but this physical body, the one that was not originally hers, could no longer contain the restored soul. There was even a faint murmur of rejection.

With the Rong family head vanquished, the one who had wrought the killing punished in death, and the Rong clan brought to ruin, the obsessions and vengeances carved into her very bones had dissolved into nothing. Cause and effect had been settled. The last thread binding the original owner to this body — and to the mortal world — had been cut completely.

The moment Lang Jiuchuan had been waiting for had arrived.

The energy current abruptly began to spiral. Lang Jiuchuan, lying in the stone hollow, slowly opened her eyes. In those eyes there was no longer the cold detachment and obsessive hatred of before. In their place was the calm and resolve of one who sees through everything — on the verge of a rebirth from the ashes.

She quietly registered the surging power within her yearning to break free, and the sluggish resistance coming from her physical body. She hesitated no longer.

She sat up, crossing her legs, and formed a seal mudra of intricate, profoundly arcane complexity with both hands, setting into motion the power within her that had long since resonated with the dragon vein of this realm.

“Heaven and Earth’s Dark Lineage, the Root of Ten Thousand Breaths, cultivated through countless kalpas, bearing witness to my divine power… Within and beyond the Three Realms, the Dao alone is supreme…”

She recited the Golden Light Divine Incantation. With the support of righteous cause, today she would use the dragon vein as her furnace, the vein’s aura as her kindling — to forge her true soul, to cast a true body, and achieve the unity of soul and body: a true and complete rebirth from the ashes.

The moment the clear, pure chant faded, the entire space shuddered thunderously. The golden current — which had flowed gently as a warm spring — erupted in an instant, boiling and surging as though summoned, rushing toward her in a frenzied torrent. It formed a vast golden cocoon, like a silkworm’s shell, and wrapped itself around her entirely.

At the same moment, Feng Ya emerged from Tongtian Tower and moved toward this space.

And deep within the Daoist cave on Mount Cang, the Imperial Preceptor, too, snapped his eyes open without warning. Within his pupils flickered a flash of icy fury. His hands began slowly forming a seal: “You wish to seize what belongs to your master? You will need to show your true capabilities.”