Liao Tingyan saw scenes of Sima Jiao walking on the high tower of Three Saints Mountain. He didn’t seem very old at the time, as his face still carried a hint of childishness. He was alone, circling the tower round and round, going down level by level, reaching the bottom, then climbing up the stairs on the other side, tirelessly and solitary. The surroundings were very quiet, without even the sound of wind, creating a suffocating pressure.

She also saw him walking alone among the Day-Moon Dark Blooms. Each plant produced only one flower that never withered, but if the flower was picked, the entire plant would wither. He stood there looking at those flowers, reaching out to break many, then tossing them on the ground in boredom, letting them wither.

These were fragments of memories. Liao Tingyan had previously entered Sima Jiao’s spiritual palace and caught many pieces of his soul. Perhaps because of this, afterward, when she occasionally rested, she would see such fragments of Sima Jiao’s memories, fleeting images slipping shallowly through the cracks of her sleep.

Sometimes, she could even feel a bit of his mood at the time. His mood was always poor; after waking up and reflecting, she felt he was probably unhappy every day. Of course, she could understand—being confined there like in prison, who could be happy?

Besides this aftereffect, there was another benefit after spiritual intercourse with the grand master ancestor: her cultivation level was slowly rising. Even though she hadn’t cultivated it at all, it was still increasing, giving her the misconception that she had somehow stolen his yang essence to nourish her yin, which made her feel a bit embarrassed.

Sima Jiao showed no embarrassment whatsoever. Apart from being more intimate with her, he showed no other abnormalities, which made Liao Tingyan feel quite relaxed. She didn’t have much sense of reality about it, perhaps because this spiritual intercourse was too advanced, and her worldview had been established in the scientific mortal world, where the definition of the most intimate relationship was the basic physical relationship. Therefore, she lacked a sense of reality about this most intimate relationship among cultivators.

As for Sima Jiao, he wasn’t the type of person who would change because of any intimate relationship with someone. But his behavior, strangely, made it easier for Liao Tingyan to accept, so after a couple of days, she was able to naturally slump beside him just like before.

They were impersonating the young master and miss from Night Wandering Palace, being escorted to Geng City Immortal Manor’s Chen Academy. They had already traveled half the journey.

Liao Tingyan’s current identity was the young lady Yong Lingchun, and Sima Jiao was her “brother” Yong Siqiu. One had no acting skills, and the other didn’t care for acting, so inevitably they didn’t match the personas of the two young masters. The two Nascent Soul cultivators sent by Night Wandering Palace to protect them naturally had suspicions, but they couldn’t find anything abnormal, so they could only attribute it to the strange temperaments of children this age.

The real young master and miss had become two fluffy little mountain chickens, given by Sima Jiao to Liao Tingyan to play with. Liao Tingyan didn’t enjoy playing with little chickens, but the big black snake, now shrunk to the thickness of a thumb, loved playing with them, often circling around them on the table, making the two pitiful little mountain chickens run around chirping.

When they left Luohe Immortal Market, the local snake cultivator, to please them, praised their little mountain chickens for being very spiritual and gifted them a miniature cage made of rare metals and inlaid with gems and pearls, which was just the right size for the two tiny mountain chickens.

So Liao Tingyan was forced to keep two pets. Fortunately, she didn’t need to feed them; the silly black snake, after eating its food, would bring bits and pieces of food to feed the two little mountain chickens, thoroughly enjoying itself.

Liao Tingyan thought: All right then, I’ll leave it to you to raise them.

Although these two ambitious and proud young people had been turned into little mountain chickens, compared to the big shots Sima Jiao had killed before, their survival was already very fortunate.

Sima Jiao tapped on the cage, frightening the two little mountain chickens inside into trembling. They were very afraid of Sima Jiao and shook whenever they saw him. When Sima Jiao was bored, he would tease the chickens, watching them huddle together in fear.

Most of the time, however, he didn’t bother with the two little creatures. He preferred to come over, hold Liao Tingyan, and sleep.

This sleep wasn’t ordinary, because his soul hadn’t recovered yet, so he liked to sleep in her spiritual palace.

What kind of operation was this? To make an analogy, it was as if his home environment was too harsh for him to rest well, while Liao Tingyan’s home had a pleasant climate suitable for sleeping, so he went to her room to sleep. His soul went to her spiritual palace, and as long as he didn’t deliberately entangle with her soul, there wouldn’t be any strange sensations.

Although Sima Jiao’s soul just quietly staying in her spiritual palace had a very strong presence, causing Liao Tingyan to also have two sleepless nights, her adaptability was strong. Once she confirmed that Sima Jiao wasn’t making any other moves, she let him stay as he pleased and continued with her sleep.

For Sima Jiao, sleeping became a novel experience.

Before, he had difficulty understanding Liao Tingyan’s love for sleep, until now. When his soul ran to Liao Tingyan’s spiritual palace to rest—without the smell of blood and the suffocating feeling, without the scorched earth and flames, only flower fragrance and wind, soothing and intoxicating—Sima Jiao experienced the first sweet sleep of his life.

After that, it became unstoppable. Whenever Liao Tingyan slumped down to rest, a Sima Jiao would grow out beside her. If they were to sleep, they would sleep together. He not only took half of her bed but also her spiritual palace territory.

Perhaps because he had been getting adequate rest lately, Liao Tingyan felt that Sima Jiao’s temper had improved somewhat. They had been traveling for half a month, and he hadn’t killed a single person.

She had thought he would come back with a new identity and continue his killing spree.

But he behaved in a manner befitting his current identity, arriving at the Mu family in the outer court of Geng City Immortal Manor. The Mu family in the outer court had a close relationship with the Mu family in the inner court, and the Mu family in the inner court had intermarried with the Shi clan of the sect leaders for many years. So, in the outer court, the Mu family also had considerable influence. Yong Lingchun and Yong Siqiu’s maternal grandfather was an elder of the Mu family. Because their mother was relatively favored among the elder’s children, the elder personally received the two.

If this had been at the beginning of her transmigration, going through these layers of formalities to meet the family patriarch, Liao Tingyan felt she probably couldn’t have handled it. But now she was like a max-level player starting over with a new character. Having slept with Sima Jiao, the top predator in Gengchen Immortal Manor’s food chain, what else was there to fear? No matter how strict the Mu family’s rules were or how many people there were, she could calmly follow Sima Jiao to watch the show.

Having a big shot to help level up was just that satisfying.

The elder “maternal grandfather” appeared very young, looking about the age of their parents, but his aura was strong. He was someone accustomed to high positions. Even though he had some affection for the two juniors, when he spoke, he conveyed a sense of condescension.

In Elder Mu’s eyes, his grandson and granddaughter were obediently greeting him with respect. But in reality, from the moment they entered, Liao Tingyan had been led by Sima Jiao to sit on a chair to the side, watching Elder Mu perform to thin air.

The illusion technique is impressive!

Liao Tingyan had once asked Sima Jiao how to learn various skills, but this boss had replied with surprise: “This needs to be learned? Doesn’t it come naturally?”

Liao Tingyan: Goodbye.

This was probably the innate difference.

After meeting Elder Mu, the two were led by a Mu family steward to Chen Academy to register. Afterward, they would, like other children of outer court families, live in Chen Academy until they either graduated with excellent grades and were absorbed into the inner court academy for further education, or failed to learn anything and returned home to find another path.

“So… ancestor, you’ve brought me here to learn the basics…?” Liao Tingyan stared at this fantasy world version of a university, feeling a bit uncomfortable. She suspected that she had shown an eager-to-learn side, which was why she had been brought here, and immediately felt very regretful. She didn’t want to study. Skills and such—if she had them, fine; if not, that was fine too. She truly didn’t insist.

She had already spent fifteen or nearly twenty years studying in her original world, consuming almost seven or eight-tenths of her life. Having finally migrated, she had been thinking of taking a vacation, but now she had to study again. She might as well be dead.

Sima Jiao: “Learn what? I’m here to kill people.”

Liao Tingyan: “Then I’m reassured… wait, who are you still planning to kill?”

Sima Jiao’s face darkened. “Kill the Shi clan and the families closely related to them.”

Liao Tingyan’s first reaction was relief that this ancestor wasn’t planning to kill everyone in Gengchen Immortal Manor. Otherwise, with so many people, how could they kill them all?

Sima Jiao glanced at her and suddenly said: “I’ve already spared the others for your sake. I will exterminate the Shi clan; you don’t need to think about anything else.”

Liao Tingyan: “???”

What was I thinking? Spared others for my sake? Is my face that important? No, why would you spare them for my sake? Did I ever persuade you not to kill indiscriminately? Liao Tingyan thought: Why is Sima Jiao acting as if she had whispered sweet nothings in his ear? This ancestor must be imagining too much.

Sima Jiao gave a half-smile and tapped her forehead with a finger: “Don’t you know that during spiritual intercourse, I can see some of your thoughts?”

So although she hadn’t said it, her aversion to killing was very obvious. He was willing to accommodate her a little, even though he had never before considered accommodating anyone else.

Well, that solved the mystery.

At this moment, Liao Tingyan involuntarily thought that next time during spiritual intercourse, she must be careful not to think of anything random… why am I considering a next time? Cannot think about it; thinking about it would drain my kidneys.

They were assigned to the Tian (Heaven) class at Chen Academy and lived in high-end student villas—a large compound with its gate, big enough to house both of them along with a large group of attendants and bodyguards. Almost all the privileged students studying here had this standard configuration, with some exceptionally unworldly ones nearly bringing their parents along.

Besides these privileged young masters and misses, there were also lower-class disciples selected because of their exceptional talent. Because Gengchen Immortal Manor’s territory was so vast and populated, they could recruit enough disciples just from the cities within their domain each year, without having to search far and wide for promising cultivation seeds like other medium and small sects.

On the first day of studying at the academy, when the distant academy bell rang for the first time, Liao Tingyan sat bolt-upright in bed. Normally, she would eat and sleep every day without fail, and once asleep, she was very difficult to wake. But today, she woke up especially early and sat conflicted on the bed, unable to go back to sleep.

Sima Jiao opened his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

Liao Tingyan’s expression wasn’t very pleasant. She had been an ordinary student before, and ordinary often meant following the rules, so she was considered a good student—never late, never skipping classes. Even in a different world, having become like this, hearing the school bell still gave her a compulsion to get up and attend class. Otherwise, her conscience wouldn’t be at ease; she couldn’t sleep soundly. Modern education’s poisoning was just like dog training.

Liao Tingyan looked at the ancestor beside her who had grown to love sleeping in, and pulled him up.

Sima Jiao: “Hmm?”

Liao Tingyan dragged him to class.

“Class?” Sima Jiao looked at her with eyes that said, ‘Is your brain broken?’

He maintained this expression to the classroom door. The class had already started, with a Nascent Soul cultivator at the front explaining the different spiritual energy circulations and spiritual root influences in Five Elements techniques.

Liao Tingyan tugged at Sima Jiao’s sleeve. “Ancestor, use an illusion technique so we can sneak in quietly.”

Sima Jiao: “…”

A moment later, Liao Tingyan pulled the not-very-happy ancestor into the classroom right under the teacher’s nose, and they found a corner to sit down.

After sitting down, Liao Tingyan glanced at the classmates around them, yawned relaxedly, and said, “All right, now we can continue sleeping.”