Liao Tingyan didn’t understand why Sima Jiao hadn’t directly started killing when they left the Three Sacred Mountains but instead had allowed himself to be invited to rest in this mansion, only to suddenly decide on a whim to take his accessory out to cause trouble. But she thought, how could someone of average intelligence like herself possibly understand the thoughts of this mentally unclear ancestral master? So she immediately obediently put on a beautiful dress and followed him out.
She began to feel fortunate that she hadn’t eaten her fill because if she were to see some disturbing scenes later and vomit, Sima Jiao might casually kill her on the spot.
After feeling this relief, she felt uneasy again, because her cultivation was still at the pitiful Qi Refinement stage, which didn’t allow for fasting. During her days in the Three Sacred Mountains, she relied on spiritual plants and other food with spiritual energy that she had brought with her to fill her stomach. Although these were more filling than ordinary food, she hadn’t properly eaten a meal in a long time.
Sitting on the great snake carriage being taken elsewhere by Sima Jiao, Liao Tingyan began to feel hungry.
Hungry people are like this—when they’re not paying attention to it, they don’t feel much, but once they notice, they begin to suffer. If they happen to smell food at this moment, the suffering intensifies. This was precisely Liao Tingyan’s current state. As they descended from White Deer Cliff and passed through a patch of blooming flowers, she caught the aroma of delicious food. The meat smelled so good that Liao Tingyan, who hadn’t eaten meat in a long time and whose mouth was as tasteless as a bird’s, immediately began to salivate.
Perhaps her swallowing sound was too loud, as Sima Jiao beside her glanced at her several times, watching as she pretended to press the corner of her mouth.
He tapped his finger on the snake’s head, “Go there.” He pointed in the direction the aroma was coming from.
Liao Tingyan tentatively asked him: “Ancestral Master, where are we going?”
Sima Jiao: “To kill people, of course.”
Liao Tingyan: “Uh, just go there and kill directly?”
Sima Jiao: “What else?”
You truly are an efficient murderer. Liao Tingyan lamented inwardly, seeing that beyond the flower thicket, a second-generation immortal elegant party was being held by a stone pool beneath a waterfall. Many delicious dishes were laid out, with several dozen ethereally dressed, exceptionally handsome young people indulging in pleasure. They were disciples of high status, as the place was full of spiritual energy, with beautiful scenery and exquisite food. Everyone was refined and elegant, with female disciples playing zithers to enhance the mood.
The suddenly appearing big black snake, Sima Jiao, and Liao Tingyan were completely out of place here.
Liao Tingyan had never experienced casually crashing someone’s banquet like this, but the Ancestral Master was skilled at such misdeeds as pillaging and slaughter, showing no psychological pressure whatsoever.
As soon as they appeared, a disciple sitting at the end of the seats frowned and scolded: “Which palace’s disciples are you? How dare you barge into Senior Brother Tian’s flower banquet? Get out quickly!”
Liao Tingyan drew in a cold breath, almost wanting to cover her eyes. The Ancestor had come specifically to kill, and now this fearless one approached with such a contemptuous gaze and impatient tone—wasn’t this like an old longevity star hanging himself, finding life too long?
She expected that within three seconds, she would see the speaking disciple explode into a flower of blood. However, this didn’t happen. Sima Jiao beside her stepped down from the great snake carriage and looked around, as if he hadn’t heard the disciple’s words at all. Liao Tingyan watched him step on the colorful silk spread across the ground, casually picking up a wine pot from a nearby disciple’s table to examine it. He sniffed it, apparently disliking the smell, and tossed it aside, the wine staining the beautiful silk.
His movements were so natural, his attitude extremely arrogant, completely disregarding everyone present. The disciple who had spoken initially stood up angrily and said: “You…”
He had only uttered one word when Sima Jiao appeared before him, raised his hand to grab his neck, dragged him to the edge of the pool, and then, in full view of everyone, pressed him into the water.
At this, several people stood up simultaneously, all with angry expressions. The handsome man in the place of honor rose most urgently, though Liao Tingyan saw that he seemed to stumble. Only his expression differed from the others—filled with fear and trepidation. This person had probably seen the Ancestral Master before and had frozen momentarily, perhaps not daring to recognize him. Given Sima Jiao’s status, even the Sect Leader behaved submissively in his presence, let alone others. Even disciples who dared complain about him in private would be utterly cowed when facing him directly.
Not many had seen what Sima Jiao looked like, and those who could recognize him generally had some status. Only one person here recognized him. That person hurriedly walked forward a few steps, but when he reached within three meters of Sima Jiao, his footsteps became heavy and he didn’t dare approach further. Instead, he prostrated himself in a formal bow, head lowered, and called out: “Lord Cizang.”
This instantly stunned everyone at the banquet. After about three seconds, everyone knelt, all extremely flustered. The one being pressed into the pool by Sima Jiao was particularly panicked as if struck by lightning, frozen and not daring to move. Cultivators naturally wouldn’t drown from being pressed underwater like ordinary people—he was paralyzed by fear.
Seeing that he had stopped struggling, Sima Jiao said: “Keep struggling.”
The disciple stiffly and slowly began to struggle again, moving like a large turtle.
Liao Tingyan couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter with a “pfft.” The scene was so quiet that even the sound of the wind had disappeared, making Liao Tingyan’s laugh particularly conspicuous. Sima Jiao turned his head to look at her. Before she could control her expression, she saw him suddenly smile as well. He released the disciple’s neck, letting him lie in the water pretending to be dead, and ignoring everyone else, walked to the place of honor. He sat directly on the table and beckoned to Liao Tingyan.
“Come here.”
Liao Tingyan approached and heard the Ancestor, who had said he was going out to kill people, tell her: “Eat whatever you want.”
Didn’t you just say you were coming to kill people?
Liao Tingyan didn’t immediately understand. Could it be that this Ancestor, hearing her swallow earlier and knowing she was hungry, had specially brought her here to eat? No… that couldn’t be right. His character profile in her mind wasn’t so considerate and attentive!
Sima Jiao didn’t care what she thought. After saying this, he took a string of bright red spiritual fruits from the table, picked one, and crushed it in his hand. The red juice spilled over, staining his fingers. He just sat there, expressionlessly crushing the fruits one by one, ignoring everyone else. Liao Tingyan strangely felt that his fruit-crushing gesture looked exactly like how he would crush someone’s head.
The others knelt, drenched in cold sweat. Liao Tingyan sat to the side and began gnawing on meat. She didn’t know what animal it was from, but it was exceptionally delicious. When bitten, the meat juices burst forth, and the delicious taste instantly soothed Liao Tingyan’s tense nerves in this stressful environment.
She had never eaten such delicious meat and even began to regret not having rice. As she started eating, the big black snake slithered over and nudged her hand with its head.
Liao Tingyan remembered how the three of them had depended on each other during times without food or drink. She took a large plate, grabbed several pots, and let the big black snake smell each one to choose for itself. After all, the beverages here all looked better than the bamboo juice she drank. Since the boss had brought his two employees for a meal, they should naturally eat well.
The big black snake selected one, and Liao Tingyan poured a large bowl for it to drink.
While she was doing this, Sima Jiao turned his head to glance at her. Liao Tingyan never knew what this Ancestor’s gaze meant—she didn’t have mind-reading abilities—so she pretended not to notice and continued eating. She treated this as a buffet and ate happily. The big black snake was also happy, swinging its tail back and forth. The frequency of its swings must have annoyed the Ancestor, as Sima Jiao threw a fruit that hit the black snake’s tail, causing it to immediately straighten.
Liao Tingyan thought to herself that it was a good thing she didn’t smack her lips while eating, otherwise, she’d disturb the Ancestor and surely be hit too.
A bit of meat, some vegetables, some fruit juice, and finally some after-dinner fruit.
Sima Jiao crushed the last fruit, washed his hands with a pot of cloud tea beside him, and stood up.
The big black snake once again carried him and Liao Tingyan, happily leaving this place and heading for where Sima Jiao had initially intended to go.
After they left, there was still no movement at the scene for a long time. The highest-ranking Senior Brother Tian suddenly jumped up, his expression very complex. Others also stood up, looking at each other in bewilderment.
“Was that Lord Cizang… the Ancestral Master?” someone asked in a weak voice.
“He didn’t kill anyone just now, doesn’t it say…”
“Enough, don’t talk about this. Is Junior Brother Wu alright?”
Junior Brother Wu, whose head had been submerged in the pool, crawled up with his face covered in water, his entire body trembling. He looked toward Senior Brother Tian, “Senior Brother Tian, the Ancestral Master…”
Senior Brother Tian left without saying a word, hurriedly walking away. He needed to see his grandfather now, to quickly tell him about this matter. How could he care about these junior brothers and sisters who had come to attend the banquet?
Meanwhile, the Sect Leader also received news of Sima Jiao leaving White Deer Cliff and immediately became vigilant. Sima Jiao’s behavior was unpredictable; no one knew what he might do. The Sect Leader wanted to send people to follow Sima Jiao to always know his whereabouts, but Sima Jiao absolutely would not tolerate others’ prying. He could only have people pay more attention, which inevitably meant information would be delayed.
On the way to Lingyan Mountain Platform, the Sect Leader heard from Tian Wuyun about Sima Jiao’s sudden intrusion into his flower banquet.
“This disciple saw clearly that Lord Cizang indeed greatly favored that female disciple. He didn’t pay any attention to us disciples, only waiting for that woman to finish eating before leaving,” Tian Wuyun said. “I heard from my grandfather that Lord Cizang was trapped for many years and harbors much resentment toward our Eight Great Palaces. Previously, all the elders who stepped foot on the Three Sacred Mountains lost their lives, but this time, it seems he isn’t so bloodthirsty. Among those present, even the one who initially spoke disrespectfully to him was unharmed.”
The Sect Leader smiled faintly, his tone meaningful, “This last person of the Sima clan—even I haven’t fathomed his background. His thoughts are even more unknown to anyone.”
Sima Jiao went to Lingyan Mountain Platform, the largest combat arena in the central mountain range of the Gengchen Immortal Mansion. Most of the time, elite disciples from the Eight Great Palaces and the Sect Leader’s various branches competed here, as the place was large enough to accommodate thousands while still feeling spacious. As soon as he appeared, the originally lively Lingyan Mountain Platform fell into silence.
Liao Tingyan noticed that wherever the Ancestor went, silence followed. His infamy had spread far, frightening the disciples into pale-faced terror. Liao Tingyan immediately understood—the Ancestor likely intended to do something major, harvesting the next generation’s vital forces all at once. This was too cruel. She wondered if he planned to take them one by one or in groups. She somewhat regretted eating so much earlier.
Sima Jiao casually sat on the high steps and pointed to two disciples. “You two, which branch?”
The two disciples stepped forward. They seemed to have some ability, having regained their composure and maintained their dignity, neither servile nor overbearing as they reported their branch lineage and names.
Sima Jiao: “Get on the platform and engage in a death duel.”
The two disciples exchanged glances, both looking uncomfortable. They belonged to different palaces, but the relationship between the two palaces wasn’t bad. If either of them died in a death duel, it would be difficult to explain. But since the Ancestral Master had spoken, these juniors couldn’t defy him—mainly because they couldn’t defeat him anyway.
They had no choice but to ascend the platform. They thought of delaying, hoping that once seniors who could handle matters arrived, there might still be a way out. They fought for a while without using their true abilities. Sima Jiao had anticipated this and wasn’t angry, only adding: “Decide the victor within the time it takes for one incense stick to burn. If it’s a draw, both of you will die.”
Liao Tingyan felt that he didn’t seem to be here to kill people but rather to watch a show.