Liao Tingyan: “May I ask, what were you thinking?”
Sima Jiao: “The pain of disaster shouldn’t be borne by just one person. Since they have good feelings for each other, they should naturally suffer together.”
Liao Tingyan, who had thought he would release the cow lady, was utterly defeated. The ancestor before her appeared completely natural, clearly thinking this way from the bottom of his heart and seeing nothing wrong with it.
Big boss, are you antisocial?
Before long, Liao Tingyan discovered that the captured cow demon couple not only harbored no hatred toward Sima Jiao but were exceptionally respectful, always trying to please this unfathomable big boss, eagerly hoping to become his followers. For this reason, they voluntarily assumed the responsibility of prison guards, beginning to herd the two small mountain chickens. Even the little black snake was promoted, becoming the big brother of the cow demon couple.
The little black snake wasn’t highly intelligent, but its sensitivity toward people was inherited from Sima Jiao, while its attitude toward life was in harmony with Liao Tingyan’s, plus an additional measure of naive and innocent foolishness—simply put, it was single-minded. Though Sima Jiao wasn’t particularly good at it, he showed a measure of indulgence. Liao Tingyan often brought it food and drink, occasionally patting its head and playing pet frisbee with it.
In private conversation, the cow demon couple speculated that the senior who had captured them might be a snake demon with cultivation so high they couldn’t discern his original form. And the little black snake was the child born to the senior and that woman.
“It must have been born by that woman. Only toward his own woman, the mother of his child, would he be so indulgent!” The cow demon asserted confidently, and his wife nodded in agreement.
Thus, toward Liao Tingyan, the big boss’s woman, the cow demon sister was extremely enthusiastic with compliments and even tried to give her rides.
“I can run very fast and steady! Riding on me is very comfortable!”
Liao Tingyan: “No, no thanks.”
Liao Tingyan had no idea what image she had in the couple’s eyes. Looking at the pair of cow demons, shrunk to the size of fists and trying to integrate into the enemy camp, she once again witnessed the world where strength reigns supreme. If Sima Jiao wanted, with the power he had displayed, he could probably raise a resistance army in Gengchen Immortal Mansion in minutes, but he had no such intention, being self-confident to the point of obsession.
“What use is your large number of people? I alone can kill all of you!”—This was probably a true reflection of Sima Jiao’s psychology, true arrogance.
Such a man wouldn’t take two small cow demons seriously. Since Liao Tingyan wouldn’t eat them, he quickly forgot about the matter. The two miniaturized cow demons could only maintain this size, performing diligently, hoping that someday they would truly be taken under Sima Jiao’s wing.
It was time again for Liao Tingyan’s solo dining excursion. Seeing the season changing, she planned to buy some clothes, so this time she went out with her maids—four maids, two guards, a budget version of a young lady’s outing.
Chen Academy was full of wealthy nth-generation heirs with money to spend, each lavishly generous, directly driving the GDP of the surrounding market districts. This area around the academy was considered the liveliest part of Gengchen Immortal Mansion’s outer court, with plenty of clothing, jewelry, fragrance, and medicine shops beloved by ladies and madams.
Liao Tingyan most frequently visited the largest establishment on the main street, Yunyi Embroidery House, which specializes in high-end women’s clothing. Thousands of fabric samples transformed into colorful butterflies fluttered in the spacious interior for female customers to select their desired materials. They sold ready-made garments and also offered custom tailoring.
Having visited several times and spent plenty of spirit stones, Liao Tingyan was a valued customer. As soon as she entered, attendants with blooming smiles led her to a special flower hall to view fabrics and new clothing styles. Here, everyone had individual small halls to avoid waiting outside with other customers, with dedicated staff accompanying them throughout—their attentiveness no less than Haidilao waiters.
“Please look, this is a new fabric that arrived this month, Nebula Gauze. At night, the starlight on the hem twinkles like the celestial river flowing in the sky, extremely beautiful. Moreover, these stars are ingeniously imprinted with formations; basic dust-proofing is a given, and they can also be used for defense…” The clear-voiced attendant introduced new products one by one.
“Also this brocade with floral patterns—these patterns aren’t ordinary flowers. For most people, let alone seeing them, they’ve never even heard of them. This flower is called ‘Sun-Moon Dark Bloom,’ quite extraordinary!”
When the attendant reached this point in her introduction, her expression became reverent and solemn. “You surely know of the renowned Sima clan of Gengchen Immortal Mansion. This Sun-Moon Dark Bloom is known as the companion flower of those great personages. Few people have seen the true appearance of this flower, and this pattern is only available at our Yunyi Embroidery House!”
Liao Tingyan: “…Hmm, it’s quite pretty.”
But as someone who had seen this flower in person and even eaten it, Liao Tingyan noticed the flower shape wasn’t quite right, nor were the leaves.
However, the embroidered flower was indeed beautiful. The black and white flowers didn’t appear monotonous; instead, as the light moved, the flower branches trembled, likely made with extraordinary thread and embroidery techniques.
The introducing attendant seemed quite proud of this exclusive pattern, saying, “This floral brocade has always been hard to obtain. Our Yunyi Embroidery House gets only a dozen bolts each year, always in short supply.”
Seeing her enthusiastic sales pitch, Liao Tingyan nodded: “Then I’ll take both this and the Nebula Gauze from earlier.”
The attendant continued smilingly introducing the next item: “Please look at this one, this is Golden Thread…”
She had barely spoken a sentence when a young attendant in green hurriedly entered from outside and whispered something to her.
The blue-robed attendants explaining in individual flower halls were higher ranking than the green-robed ones. After hearing the green-robed attendant’s words, the blue-robed attendant frowned, apologized to Liao Tingyan, and stepped aside to talk.
Though Liao Tingyan didn’t intentionally eavesdrop, her cultivation level allowed her to hear clearly.
A high-status young lady had set her sights on the Sun-Moon Dark Bloom brocade and declared she wanted it all, so the bolt Liao Tingyan had just ordered was to be sent to her instead.
Someone with a bad temper would surely explode when asked to give up something they’d chosen. But Liao Tingyan didn’t care—she didn’t need this Sun-Moon Dark Bloom brocade, especially since the pattern was wrong and it always felt like a fake.
After a while, the blue-robed attendant reluctantly returned, apologizing very carefully with a forced smile. “I’m truly sorry, but the Sun-Moon Dark Bloom brocade has been reserved. It was my oversight; I didn’t know about this… To express our apologies, you may select twenty bolts of new fabric today as compensation. Would that be acceptable?”
This matter would be unpleasant to handle no matter what, mainly depending on whose influence was greater and who couldn’t be offended. The attendant described the fabric snatching as her own mistake to avoid disputes and escalation.
The maids behind Liao Tingyan, trained by Yongling Chun, all had strong personalities, accustomed to dominance in Night Tour Palace. At Chen Academy, they weren’t as favored as before and often neglected by their lady, anxiously wanting to prove their loyalty and regain their lady’s affection. Now facing an issue, they were even angrier than Liao Tingyan and immediately stepped forward to take the lead.
“What oversight? I see someone snatching our lady’s things. You look down on us, afraid to offend, and think you can just dismiss us like this!”
“Indeed, first come, first served—what reason is there for us to give up our things!”
“Do you know who our lady is? Our lady is the young mistress of Night Tour Palace, the granddaughter of Elder Muxi of Mu Mansion!”
Before Liao Tingyan could utter a word, she was blocked by the maids’ rapid-fire statements. They were eloquent in flattery and equally eloquent in confrontation, but there was one problem—their tone and manner truly resembled those of overbearing servants beside an evil supporting female character, the kind waiting for the female lead to slap their face.
“Hmph, merely a Night Tour Palace.” A cold laugh came from the flower hall entrance. “Even if the master of Night Tour Palace and Elder Muxi came in person, they would still have to be polite before me.”
See, sure enough, the face-slapper had arrived.
The young woman standing there exuded an aura of nobility from head to toe, wearing several rare heavenly-grade spiritual tools. The hairpin ornament on her head was not unique and special but also contained numerous formations and restrictions. From her clothes to shoes and accessories, not a single item was ordinary.
Not just her, but the men and women serving her were also noble and elegant, along with a group of high-cultivation guards—four of them at the Divine Transformation realm like Liao Tingyan.
Liao Tingyan’s brow jumped at the sight.
She recognized this star-surrounded young woman!
Back when she and Sima Jiao still lived at White Deer Cliff, the ancestor once had a tantrum and inexplicably confined her, the confinement location being White Goose Flying Pavilion—a small pavilion that could fly in the air, supported by a flock of white geese, belonging to Yue Chuhui, daughter of the Moon Palace mistress.
At that time, Sima Jiao had taken her there and kicked out the White Goose Flying Pavilion’s owner, Yue Chuhui. Because the unfortunate girl’s expression when being kicked away was so exaggerated, it left a deep impression, and Liao Tingyan remembered her.
Wasn’t that exactly the girl standing in front now, with a face full of disdain and mockery?
How could such a princess-like figure from Gengchen Immortal Mansion’s inner court come to the outer court? What a twist of fate.
This matter was still related to Sima Jiao. Sima Jiao had previously killed so many big shots in the inner court; many secluded elders had been killed or injured by him, causing considerable turmoil. Though the sect leader and others had managed to stabilize the news and prevent its spread, they all knew Sima Jiao wouldn’t let matters rest, and recently, the inner court of Gengchen Immortal Mansion was in a state of anxiety.
The mistress of Moon Palace had also suffered serious injuries in that battle. Many things had happened in Moon Palace, and she was overwhelmed and worried about Sima Jiao returning for revenge, so she packed her daughter off to a branch in the outer court to clear her mind and avoid disaster.
Since being kicked by Venerable Cizang without any regard for her feminine delicacy, shattering her maiden’s heart, Yue Chuhui had been depressed for a long time, and her temper had worsened. This time, being sent here by her mother made her even more moody, which was why she came to look at new clothes accompanied by various young ladies from the Moon family’s outer court branch.
She didn’t particularly like the Sun-Moon Dark Bloom brocade; after all, she had everything she wanted since childhood, and she had seen the real Sun-Moon Dark Bloom. However, not liking it didn’t mean she wouldn’t want it. If she wanted it, others couldn’t have it.
This time, Liao Tingyan had purely unluckily run into someone else’s powder keg. Seeing the situation couldn’t be resolved amicably, Liao Tingyan stood up and took a step back, saying, “Since you want it, it’s yours.”
She felt her tone was quite friendly; she had even smiled. With the other party having strength in numbers, to avoid disadvantage, she decided it was best to leave first.
However, Yue Chuhui wouldn’t let her go.
“Did I say you could leave?” Yue Chuhui didn’t recognize Liao Tingyan’s face, which was now Yongling Chun’s, but that didn’t prevent her from finding Liao Tingyan annoying. “You’re from Night Tour Palace?”
Liao Tingyan frankly replied: “Yes.”
Yue Chuhui merely gave a cold laugh. She didn’t even need to speak; the companions beside her started a 360-degree verbal humiliation, angering the maids behind Liao Tingyan until their faces turned red.
Liao Tingyan remained unmoved, not even raising an eyelid.
Yue Chuhui wanted to humiliate her, but seeing no reaction at all made her even angrier. Just then, the little black snake coiled around Liao Tingyan’s ankle woke up and crawled out to look around.
When Yue Chuhui saw this little black snake, she immediately recalled the large black snake kept by Venerable Cizang, worsening her mood. She slightly raised her chin at Liao Tingyan and ordered: “Leave this snake with me and get lost. Don’t let me see you again, or taking your life will be just a matter of one word from me.”
Liao Tingyan caught the little black snake and stuffed it into her sleeve.
My friend, do you know? Taking your life is also just a matter of one word.