At the Hour of Zi(11 P.M – 12 A.M), beneath White Deer Cliff
This area lay at the edge of White Deer Cliff. Just a little further in would be within Sima Jiao’s divine sense range, where no one dared tread casually. A bit further outgrew a massive Blue Luminous Flower tree, marking territory that no longer belonged to White Deer Cliff and was beyond Sima Jiao’s divine sense.
Yuan Shang waited beneath the tree, his face cold as water. If Liao Tingyan failed to come today, he would consider dealing with her directly. If a dog one raised couldn’t bite enemies, one must beware it might turn and bite its master.
The rustle of footsteps approached from the distance. The arrival did not attempt to conceal themselves and came alone. Yuan Shang emerged from the shadows, staring at Liao Tingyan with an unpleasant tone, full of sarcasm, “You’ve kept me waiting. Refusing to meet after being contacted once, or twice, not sending even half a message. It seems you’ve found a higher branch to climb and are prepared to sever all ties with me?”
Liao Tingyan thought: What is this dramatic speech like some couple turned bitter enemies? It’s exactly like when a man discovers his girlfriend has changed heart, ignoring his calls and messages, and when they finally meet, he complains about her being late, ready to start an explosive argument. How incredibly realistic!
Damn, this guy must have been the original body’s boyfriend without a doubt!
Thinking of the ancestor who might be following behind her to watch the show, she composed herself, putting on a cold expression, and said, “We are finished. Don’t come looking for me again.”
Yuan Shang’s words had merely been sarcasm. He hadn’t expected that Liao Tingyan, this hunting dog, would truly dare to disregard him, her master. Immediately enraged, he said harshly, “Don’t forget, your life remains in my hands! How was the sensation of the Bone-Eroding Poison yesterday? Was it pleasant?”
Liao Tingyan grew angry too. So it was this bastard behind everything! It was you who made me suffer such pain for so long that I nearly died! This kind of man who controls his girlfriend with strange poisons out of twisted love—was the original host blind or brain-damaged to have liked him? Even the murderous ancestor was better than him. Today she would sever these emotions for the original host!
“Trash like you who can only control others through schemes deserves to be alone. Do you still dare threaten me? Truly shameless. Who’s afraid of you? Come at me, you idiot!” Though Liao Tingyan had no experience arguing with boyfriends, she certainly knew the basics of cursing someone out.
How could she speak this way without fearing death? Yuan Shang was provoked by her words. He took out Liao Tingyan’s life-bound bell and without hesitation crushed the second one, intending to teach her a lesson. He had already revealed a cold smile, ready to watch Liao Tingyan writhe in pain on the ground, but after a long moment, nothing happened. Only the Blue Luminous Flower tree’s crown rustled in the wind.
Liao Tingyan stood in place, her expression unchanged. The atmosphere grew cold and awkward.
What was happening? The bell, this life-bound spiritual object, why had it stopped working? Only now did Yuan Shang sense that something was wrong.
“How are you unaffected? Has your Bone-Eroding Poison been neutralized?!”
Liao Tingyan wasn’t entirely clear on what had happened either, but she knew it must have been the ancestor who resolved the issue for her last night. She couldn’t help but mentally give Sima Jiao another good-person card. Though he didn’t appear to be a good person, to her, he truly had been.
“How could you possibly neutralize the Bone-Eroding Poison… It must be Daoist Lord Cizang! Did Sima Jiao neutralize it for you?” Yuan Shang’s gaze turned strange as he looked at her, full of disbelief. “Since he could neutralize the Bone-Eroding Poison for you, it means he already knows your identity, yet he didn’t kill you?!”
What identity do I have? Liao Tingyan felt uneasy inside, but said confidently, “My Ancestral Master wouldn’t care about my identity. He is brilliant and magnanimous. How could he quibble with me over such small matters?” She spoke as if it were true.
Yuan Shang’s gaze grew increasingly peculiar. “I never expected you to possess such ability, to coax him into disregarding your identity. I underestimated you.”
Ugh, this man had so many sour remarks. That’s right, your ex-girlfriend found someone new—die of anger, you idiot.
Liao Tingyan said, “Our matter ends here. You’d better not provoke me again in the future.”
But Yuan Shang was unwilling to suffer such a great loss. Initially, he had cooperated with the Demon Realm to place Liao Tingyan in Gengchen Immortal Manor, then used his abilities to arrange her entry into Three Sacred Mountain. After expending such great effort and gaining nothing, this woman had used his assistance to climb higher, then kicked him aside. Not only had she failed to do anything for him, but she was now playing him. Such a cunning and calculating woman—once her position became more secure, she would never let him go. He couldn’t leave such a huge hidden danger.
“Sima Jiao may not care about your identity, but would the others at Gengchen Immortal Manor not care? If the Sect Leader and other Palace Masters found out, do you think Sima Jiao could still protect you? Currently, he can barely protect himself. His arrogance is only temporary. Do you truly believe following him solves everything?” Yuan Shang said with a gloomy expression, “Escaping me won’t be so easy. If you don’t obey my instructions, you’ll die an even more miserable death in the future.”
After all, she had once been from the Demon Realm. If his side exposed her, the Demon Realm wouldn’t easily forgive a betrayer either.
Liao Tingyan felt only contempt. What a scumbag! Were the scumbags in Xianxia cultivation worlds the same as those in modern times? Using schemes to control girlfriends, clinging and pestering, threatening—all the same tactics.
Liao Tingyan said, “Obey your instructions? I’ll obey your head! Go ahead and cause trouble if you want. What identity am I supposed to have? Go ahead and say it! See who believes you!” Please clarify what identity I have!
Seeing her stubborn and arrogant demeanor, refusing to admit defeat until she saw the coffin, Yuan Shang raised the bell with only one bell remaining. “Don’t forget, your life-bound spiritual object is still in my hands. Though it can’t control you anymore, as long as I have it, your identity can’t be denied…”
Before he could finish speaking, his hand suddenly felt empty—the bell had appeared in Liao Tingyan’s hand.
Yuan Shang: “…”
Liao Tingyan: “…”
Hearing him speak so gravely as if it were something very important, her first reaction was to quickly snatch it back. She hadn’t expected to obtain it so easily. For something so important, this man held it so casually that anyone could grab it. Was he an idiot?
Yuan Shang’s eyes nearly bulged out. Just now, Liao Tingyan’s speed had been extremely fast—he hadn’t even detected her movement. But how was this possible? Wasn’t she only at the Qi Condensation level? How could she snatch something from the hands of a late-stage Yuan Ying cultivator like himself? He realized something was wrong and carefully examined her, only to discover that he couldn’t see through Liao Tingyan’s cultivation level.
How was this possible? Just yesterday she had still been at the Qi Condensation stage!
Though she hadn’t fully mastered her skills, the experience points were genuine. Liao Tingyan also realized that her level now exceeded his, immediately becoming fearless and even wanting to beat him up.
“It’s Sima Jiao again! He actually… went to such lengths for you!” Yuan Shang’s eyes were bloodshot, as if about to die from his assumptions.
Yuan Shang had a reason for such anger. Once upon a time, he too had been a heaven’s pride, but unfortunately, due to an accident, his cultivation had regressed from the Nascent Soul stage back to the Yuan Ying stage. For many years, despite consuming countless celestial materials and earthly treasures, he couldn’t raise his cultivation level again, with no hope of advancing further in this lifetime. He had become increasingly dispirited, his mindset growing more narrow and prone to jealousy. Now, seeing Liao Tingyan—the dog he had raised to bite others—shoot to the heavens in a single step, even surpassing himself, he felt not only jealous and angry but also deeply humiliated.
“You deserve to die!” Yuan Shang, severely provoked, materialized a broad sword in his hand and lunged at her with bloodshot eyes.
Liao Tingyan, a mere salted fish who had been forcibly flipped by Sima Jiao into a gilded Salted Fish King, had the level but still panicked when Yuan Shang attacked recklessly in his rage. His movements were too fast for her to think, and she instinctively tried to block him.
However, she felt as if she hadn’t even touched Yuan Shang before he went flying far away with a “poof,” smashing into the large Blue Luminous Flower tree trunk, then rolling down to lie there pitifully.
Am I… really this powerful now? I didn’t feel much just now. Liao Tingyan looked at her hand, then at Yuan Shang in the distance. She hadn’t killed him, had she?
Sima Jiao, who had been standing in the Blue Luminous Flower tree, lowered his hand and looked at Liao Tingyan’s foolish appearance, pinching the bridge of his nose. She was indeed a fake Nascent Soul cultivator, unable to defeat even a Yuan Ying cultivator. The man who could arrange such a Demon Realm spy to infiltrate wasn’t very clever either.
Yuan Shang spat blood, gritting his teeth as he raised his head to glare at Liao Tingyan. “You think killing me will prevent your identity from being exposed?”
Liao Tingyan was completely confused. Who attacked first just now? Who wants to kill you? Get your facts straight.
Yuan Shang: “I never expected my end would come at the hands of a woman like you. I cannot accept this!”
Liao Tingyan thought: Nobody wants to kill you! Why so dramatic? Please contain yourself.
She gave Yuan Shang a look that conveyed her speechlessness, then turned to leave. Yuan Shang continued spitting blood, and seeing her departure, called out, “You… stop.”
Liao Tingyan turned her head: “What else do you want to say? Please say it all at once.” Pretending to be someone else in the middle of the night to break up with their ex-boyfriend was truly exhausting.
Yuan Shang: “The reason you betrayed me—is it because you’ve fallen in love with Sima Jiao? How laughable! Someone as cold-blooded and evil as him will kill you sooner or later!”
I’m not! I haven’t! Don’t make such claims!
Liao Tingyan nervously looked left and right, unsure if the ancestor had followed and was eavesdropping. If he heard these words and misunderstood that she liked him, what would she do? She quickly interrupted Yuan Shang: “Shut up! Stop talking nonsense. Seeing you think about so many chaotic things every day, you must live a very hard life. I advise you to see a doctor, take some medicine, find a place to recuperate, and stop trying to cause trouble all the time. You’ll die early that way.”
With that, she hurried away.
Yuan Shang angrily spat out a mouthful of blood. Everything today had been beyond his expectations. Why would Sima Jiao tolerate Liao Tingyan, a Demon Realm spy? Could he truly have been beguiled by beauty? No, impossible. How could someone like him be easily captivated by a woman? There must be something he didn’t know!
“Are you of the Yuan family bloodline?”
Yuan Shang was startled and looked up to see Sima Jiao, dressed in black robes, walking out from behind the tree.
“The family that once despised the Demon Realm the most, is now entangled with them. You’re far more ridiculous than others.”
He walked to Yuan Shang, saw the fear in his eyes, and placed a finger on his forehead. After closing his eyes for a moment, he murmured to himself, “So that’s it.”
Yuan Shang could neither move nor speak. He only felt that when that cold finger hovered over his forehead, his sea of consciousness and spiritual palace were instantly swept by a hurricane. His spirit shook, and not only did his body experience extreme pain, but his soul also showed signs of dissipation. All his secrets were forcibly explored.
Thud—
Yuan Shang’s corpse fell to the ground, his entire head shattered. The crimson splattered onto the Blue Luminous Flowers, the foul smell overpowering the flower’s fragrance, making one nauseous.