Stealing my food and mocking me, are you a damn elementary school boy? Liao Tingyan thought. You’re a big shot, someone I have to call Ancestral Master, bullying a novice driver like this, and you still have the nerve to say that?

She again used her abilities, fumbling to control the small fruits floating in the air. Today she was determined to eat at least one!

Unfortunately, the ancestor beside her was extremely bored and had engaged in this contest with her. Every time the fruit was about to reach her mouth, just as she opened it, the fruit would suddenly be hijacked. Sima Jiao ate her fruits and even mocked her with his eyes.

After six attempts, each one intercepted, Liao Tingyan gave up. A bright idea struck her, and she directed a fruit toward Sima Jiao’s mouth. Based on her understanding of this ancestor, she thought he wouldn’t take something offered directly to him.

The fruit dropped near Sima Jiao’s mouth, and he ate it.

Liao Tingyan: “…” Wrong guess, farewell.

“Ancestral Master, you like eating these?” Liao Tingyan asked with a fake smile.

Sima Jiao: “I don’t like them, too sweet.”

If you don’t like them, why the hell are you eating them?

With a thought, Liao Tingyan sent dozens of fruits rushing toward Sima Jiao’s mouth. Eat, go ahead and eat! Eat your fill! But before they could touch his lips, the fruits rebounded and smeared all over her face.

Damn, that’s infuriating. She heard Sima Jiao suddenly laugh and coldly thought, you think I’m playing with you? What’s so funny?

She didn’t feel like dealing with this elementary school boy and continued exploring her abilities, gathering a ball of water and trying to make it stick to her face like a face mask, washing away the fruit juice. She wasn’t very skilled and carefully controlled the water ball, washing her face back and forth. The sensation was very pleasant—her face felt cool and refreshed, as if she had applied a water mask.

Hey, if that’s the case, next time she could gather spiritual water and add some skincare ingredients, covering her face with them—wouldn’t that be like applying a face mask? Although with such high cultivation, she probably didn’t need things like face masks anymore, but she still wanted to use them.

She tried to apply a flowing water mask on her face. Beside her, Sima Jiao reached out to remove it, asking, “What are you doing?” Why compress water into such a layer and stick it on your face?

Liao Tingyan made another one for herself. “Applying a face mask.” Her hands suddenly itched to do something, and she made one for Sima Jiao’s face too.

Sima Jiao: “Hmm?”

“What’s the use of this?”

“Keeping the skin moist?” Liao Tingyan replied.

Sima Jiao felt once again that he couldn’t understand what was going on in this person’s mind. If he were to use the Oath of Truth to question her now, the answer would probably be strange again.

Liao Tingyan noticed his hand holding the water mask, the wound still open. Seeing this wound made her feel uncomfortable. After a moment of silence, when Sima Jiao closed his eyes again, she secretly placed her hand over it, wanting to try healing it. She inputted spiritual energy, but it was like a mud ox entering the sea—completely ineffective.

Alright, she gave up.

But looking at it was truly bothersome. Even if she couldn’t heal the wound, couldn’t she at least bandage it? She remembered adhesive bandages and decided to make a large one. In her sachet was a type of plant leaf she had brought from Clear Valley Heaven. A senior disciple whose name she couldn’t recall had said it could be applied to sprains and injuries, so it should work for wounds too.

She took out the large leaf, trimmed it slightly, and placed it on Sima Jiao’s wound. Finally, she covered it with a thin layer of spiritual energy, wrapping both the leaf and the wound, creating a fantasy world version of a large adhesive bandage.

She suddenly felt very impressive, able to independently explore countless applications.

She closed her eyes and extended her divine consciousness outside the palace, trying to control things from a distance. After a moment, the bright red flowers from the mountain of White Deer Cliff floated through the window and were caught in Liao Tingyan’s outstretched hand. She used her consciousness to control these red petals, squeezing out their juice, and casually painted her nails red.

While Liao Tingyan was playing with her new skills, outside, people were anxious because the ancestor at White Deer Cliff showed no movement today.

“Master, Daoist Lord Cizang hasn’t gone to Cloud Rock Mountain Platform today. Could it be that yesterday’s events displeased him?”

Shi Qianlü sat on his jade throne with his eyes closed in meditation. Hearing his disciple’s question, he waved his hand slightly: “If he were displeased, he would have acted yesterday. Based on my understanding of him, today he probably has something to attend to, which is why he’s not leaving White Deer Cliff.”

Shi Zhenxu asked, “Master, is there truly no way to observe what’s happening in White Deer Cliff? This puts us in a very passive position.”

“Sima Jiao is highly aggressive and does not allow any spying on his territory. Do you think we haven’t arranged eyes inside White Deer Cliff? Do you think other palace branches haven’t? But look, who has succeeded? They’ve only needlessly sacrificed lives.”

The spiritual energy around Shi Qianlü was dense, fluctuating with his breathing. He spoke unhurriedly, with some emotion in his voice: “Who could have imagined that the small child our predecessors thought they could control would grow into such a figure? Not only did he escape their control, but he even turned on so many people. Truly a frightening talent and ferocity. A dying beast is not to be provoked.”

Shi Zhenxu didn’t comment on this. As a younger generation of the Shi clan, he knew many things about the upheaval that occurred five hundred years ago. If not for that mistake, they wouldn’t be so constrained when dealing with this Daoist Lord Cizang today.

“Have there been any updates on Liao Tingyan, whom I ordered you to investigate?” Shi Qianlü asked.

Shi Zhenxu bowed, “We have some clues, but we haven’t yet determined who is behind her. Master, perhaps we should wait until we uncover her identity and have leverage to control her.”

Shi Qianlü: “Zhenxu, you’re mistaken. Given her status, even without leverage, she’s easy to control. I’m not concerned about whoever is behind her; my only concern is Sima Jiao. Contact with her should be swift, not slow. Tomorrow, if Sima Jiao still doesn’t appear, order True Immortal Dongyang to seek an audience—first to probe, second to deliver a letter for us.”

Shi Zhenxu said, “Yes, disciple understands.”

Liao Tingyan had been held and slept for a day. As night fell, Sima Jiao opened his eyes and sat barefoot at the edge of the bed for a while. Seeing him rubbing his temples, Liao Tingyan guessed he might have a headache. She had suspected it since Three Saints Mountain—he had a brain condition. This wasn’t an insult but an objective description.

She also felt that it was because his head hurt so badly that he completely disregarded the wound on his hand. Perhaps compared to his headache, the pain from the hand wound was insignificant.

His mood didn’t look good. Without a word, he stood up and walked toward the pool inside the hall. As he walked, he lightly waved his fingers, and dense cold air poured into the pool. Seeing that he was about to soak in it, Liao Tingyan glanced at his hand and quietly moved. A stream of spiritual energy wrapped around his wound.

Sima Jiao paused, raising his hand to look. Earlier, Liao Tingyan had wrapped his wound with a leaf called Hundred Benefits Grass, and now the spiritual energy covering it was meant to keep out water. He still showed no reaction and immersed himself in the water.

Liao Tingyan waited for a while, saw no other reaction from him, and immediately jumped up to slip out of the palace.

Freedom!

She excitedly rushed to the railing, looking at the height below with eager anticipation. Should she try flying here? No, no, no, it was too high. She should find a lower place to try. She went to a nearby staircase to attempt flying, finding it easier than she had imagined.

This body was unprecedentedly light, and she felt none of the fear that an ordinary person would have when flying, only exhilaration.

With a gentle leap forward, she floated in the air, turning her head to look at the palace on White Deer Cliff. The magnificent palace built along the mountain lit up with countless crystal lamps, and the ever-blooming flower trees swayed. In the setting sun’s reflection, it was like a wonderful dream.

“Holy shit, I can fly!” Liao Tingyan’s eyes brightened as she flew toward the highest part of the palace, standing at the top of the tallest crystal tower, and then looking down at the mountains beyond White Deer Cliff.

In the distance were the family residential cities of Gengchen Immortal Manor. The bright lights were somewhat similar to the nights in her world, but the various mounts and spirit beasts flying overhead, as well as the disciples flying on swords like meteors, made this world particularly fantastical.

She sat alone, watching the horizon. With her high cultivation, she could see very far. In other areas, many spirit beasts and flying creatures crossed the sky. She also saw airships decorated with countless colored ribbons and flowers, as well as flying carriages hung with strangely shaped lanterns.

The most extraordinary sight was a three-story pavilion with a garden, supported by countless white wild geese. As it flew through the air, colorful birds circled the small pavilion, singing clear calls. People inside seemed to be feasting, and some were singing and dancing.

What kind of sky-flying pavilion was this? They knew how to enjoy life. She envied them and wanted to go up and see.

She realized the sky was quite lively. She hadn’t noticed before because her cultivation wasn’t high enough to see that far, and also because the sky above White Deer Cliff was very quiet, with no one daring to fly over it.

Now, she was the only one who dared to fly around up there, giving her a thrilling sense of borrowed authority.

Looking at the drop below, she ran forward a few quick steps and jumped. The sound of wind rushed past her ears, and the flowing clouds stirred by her movement surged. Liao Tingyan stepped on those ethereal white vapors, flying toward the waterfall below. She skimmed past the waterfall, extending her arm to cut through the water, and picked a flower from the cliff wall.

She could fly in the sky, stand on treetops, ride the swift white deer in the mountains, and even catch the immortal cranes in the sky, frightening them into squawking.

Being a celestial was so joyful!

After playing enough, she temporarily went down to have a meal. Although at this cultivation level, she wouldn’t feel hungry anymore, she was still greedy for delicious food, which was fine, so dinner was still necessary.

The puppet people brought her many delicious dishes as usual, and… a flower letter identical to yesterday’s.

Liao Tingyan’s smile instantly vanished. Damn it, not again!

With a heavy heart, she opened the flower letter. It read: 【At the midnight hour, below White Deer Cliff, beside the Blue Glow Flowers. If you don’t come, your identity will be exposed, and you won’t live past three days.】

What strange identity do I have? Liao Tingyan felt uncertain; this didn’t feel good at all. Wasn’t she just an ordinary, plain, lucky goose? How could she have an identity backstory? Generally speaking, in such situations, villains often appeared to cause trouble. Now she was considering whether the person who sent this flower letter was the villain, or if she herself was the villain.

As she was thinking, a hand suddenly reached from behind and took the flower letter from her hand.

It was Sima Jiao. He pinched the flower letter, which scattered into petals in his hand. After stepping on them, the petals evaporated into thin air, leaving not even a trace behind.

Liao Tingyan looked at his stern face, feeling inexplicably guilty, though she didn’t know exactly what she was feeling guilty about.

“You will go to the appointment,” Sima Jiao said.