A thousand yards beneath the mountain range, cavities formed by years of spiritual energy erosion created hollow spaces of various shapes, resembling the tiny membrane networks on a person’s meridians. The intersecting spiritual energy channels would form a small spirit pool in the mountain’s belly, which was the most important heart of a spirit mountain.

A tall, slender black figure bent over by the spirit pool. He flicked his finger, and golden-red liquid fell into the pool like sparks falling into a pool of wine. Flames spread across the spirit pool, burning silently and swiftly.

The burning spirit pool dispersed even more concentrated spiritual energy, passing through those cavities and spreading outward. The black figure’s cold white fingers moved slightly, waving away the approaching spiritual energy, then turned to leave.

The spirit pool was not easy to find, nor was it easy to reach its edge. If not for the fact that almost all spirit mountains in Gengchen Immortal Mansion had some connection to the Sacred Mountain Spiritual Fire, Sima Jiao wouldn’t have found this place.

Behind him, the small flame he left began to slowly burn in various places through the dispersing spiritual energy.

The nine spirit mountain ranges in Gengchen Immortal Mansion’s inner court housed almost all members of the Shi clan. The palaces of several palace masters and the sect leader were also here, along with the sacrificial altar plaza and Sacred Mountain Temple—all in the center of the mountain range. And the spirit pools of these mountains were now all burning with dark fire, just waiting for the day when the east wind would come.

Sima Jiao left the mountain’s belly. Outside, a man wearing Shi clan family-patterned robes was waiting. The man’s eyes were vacant, his expression respectful. Sima Jiao walked past him and lightly touched his forehead, and he showed no reaction. Only after a long while did his eyes clear somewhat, and he walked in another direction without any abnormality.

Like this man, there were already many in the inner court—all disciples on the family fringe with neither high status nor high cultivation, who for various reasons weren’t valued in the main branch. These were all “fire seeds” selected by Sima Jiao. When that day came, the grand spectacle he wanted to see would need these seeds to ignite.

Although the behemoth looked intimidating, precisely because of its enormous size, there were many areas it couldn’t attend to. A deeply rooted tree could not be easily uprooted, but what would happen if a fire were placed in its heart? It would probably rise with the wind and burn everything to ashes.

Today he hadn’t been stained with blood, so there were no little trinkets to bring back. Sima Jiao arrived at the courtyard gate only to realize he was empty-handed.

From some point on, he’d developed a habit of always bringing something back.

Forget it. Since he hadn’t brought anything today, he’d let her sleep well and not wake her up.

Having decided this on his own, he entered the house.

No one was there.

Every time he returned before, there would be a bulge on the large bed, a faint fragrance in the room, and small snacks on a tray on the small table by the bed, along with a large bottle of spirit liquid. The telescope would hang by the bed, emitting a subtle sound. The inner chamber candles would always be extinguished, but a dimly lit small flower lantern would hang in the outer chamber, casting flower-shaped shadows on the floor and bed curtains.

But today, the room was silent. That warm fragrance had almost dissipated, leaving a somewhat desolate coolness, and the small flower lantern wasn’t lit.

She had gone out to play again.

Sima Jiao sat in the darkness for a while, his mood not good. He stood up, preparing to drag her back to sleep.

Just as he stood up, he heard a sound by the window. A small black snake slipped in through the window. Seeing him, it excitedly wagged its tail vigorously, then slithered over and bit his clothes corner.

Sima Jiao looked down at his stupid mount, which he had raised for many years but whose brain had never grown. It didn’t know what it wanted to express, its body twisting into an almost pretzel-like shape.

“Release.”

The small black snake timidly let go, whimpering pitifully as it circled on the ground. Suddenly, it lay down on the ground, stiff as a board.

Sima Jiao watched it for a while, his expression gradually turning cold, and asked, “Liao Tingyan?”

The small black snake, hearing this name, twisted and turned in a circle, then changed positions and fell stiffly again. Sima Jiao’s face was almost freezing. He grabbed the small black snake that was spinning around on the ground and threw it out.

“Go find her.”

The small black snake transformed back into a large black snake when it landed. Sima Jiao stepped on its back and was carried away swiftly toward the Purple Stallion Mountain Palace outside Chen Academy.

This palace was now where Yue Chuhui resided. The entire palace was built along the mountain, and Yue Chuhui lived in the highest palace, Cloud Terrace, at the top of the mountain. Dozens of maids and hundreds of guards protected this little princess.

Yue Chuhui lived in the best palace in the villa, while Liao Tingyan, as a prisoner, naturally resided in the confined prison. Back at Yunyi Embroidery House, Liao Tingyan had refused to hand over the small black snake and had even released it right under Yue Chuhui’s nose, infuriating the little princess so much that she immediately had her captured.

She still thought Liao Tingyan was some minor character like Yongling Chun from Night Tour Palace, completely unafraid. After having her people beat Liao Tingyan, she casually confined her in a cold dungeon and then forgot about her.

Since that conflict, more than a day had passed, and Liao Tingyan had already slept twice.

When Sima Jiao found her, he discovered Liao Tingyan curled up in a corner, her face pale and looking quite pitiful. He strode forward and half-crouched beside her, reaching out to stroke her face.

The dungeon was very cold, and so was her face. Sima Jiao initially thought she had fainted, but later realized she was asleep.

Sima Jiao: “…”

“Wake up.”

Liao Tingyan was confused from sleep. Opening her eyes to see Sima Jiao’s fierce cold face, she heard him ask, “You’re awake. Did you sleep well?” She instinctively nodded, “It was okay.”

Seeing his expression become ferocious, she immediately woke up and changed her answer, “Not comfortable, it was terrible! You finally came to rescue me, waaah!”

Sima Jiao: “Get up.”

Liao Tingyan sighed: “It’s not that I don’t want to move; I can’t move.”

Only then did Sima Jiao realize her condition wasn’t good. She had internal injuries, and her spiritual power was suppressed.

Liao Tingyan, seeing his expression, cleared her throat and said feebly: “It’s like this, if they were lower level than me, I would have tried fighting, but the other side had four Divine Transformation realm cultivators. I couldn’t win, so I didn’t fight.”

Against four battle-hardened Divine Transformation cultivators around her level, not only would she have no chance of winning, but she might also expose her identity, so she had to take some abuse first. Anyway, he would come find her, and they could figure things out once the big boss arrived.

Although she thought this way, being kicked in the stomach and hit in the face at the time had truly hurt. Lying here alone was bearable, but now seeing Sima Jiao, beyond her relief, she immediately felt the pain intensify.

Sima Jiao’s expression hadn’t looked this bad for a long time. The more Liao Tingyan looked at him, the more frightened she felt. He seemed to have reverted to his initial state at Three Saints Mountain—that murderous madman ready to kill several people as sacrifices.

Sima Jiao picked her up and let her lean against him, only then discovering a long scratch on the side of her face that was crusted with blood as if made by something sharp. His gaze turned cold and deep as he touched the wound that had stopped bleeding.

Liao Tingyan: “Ow, ow, ow!”

Sima Jiao ignored her, his grip on her face becoming increasingly heavy, reopening the wound on her face. Fresh blood seeped from the wound’s crevice like dewdrops.

Liao Tingyan kept dodging backward from his grip: “Ancestor, stop, I’m dying of pain!”

Sima Jiao grabbed the back of her neck and pressed her back into his arms, not allowing her to hide. He leaned forward and licked the wound on her cheek, licking away the blood that had been squeezed out.

Liao Tingyan saw his chin, his collarbone, and his bobbing Adam’s apple. Her face heated up—this heat came from the lips and tongue of the man before her, as well as from her physical reaction.

No, what are you doing?! Saliva disinfection isn’t popular in the cultivation world, right? Can we not do such perverted actions?

She instinctively covered her stomach, which also had a wound. If he did this to all her wounds, she couldn’t bear it. As an adult, this kind of teasing was too much.

Sima Jiao’s lips were stained with her blood, his expression terrifying. He pressed his lips against hers, then picked her up.

Liao Tingyan hung on him, putting her arms around his neck, her whole body relaxed and limp, unconsciously complaining: “This place is deadly, not even a bed, and the ground is so cold. That young lady’s subordinates were particularly vicious, beating me until I couldn’t even use my spiritual power. I had a bed in my spatial storage, but I couldn’t take out food either. I haven’t even bathed; when we get back, I want to soak in a bath first.”

Sima Jiao: “Shut up.”

Liao Tingyan: “Just one more thing, where are we going?”

She had thought this ancestor would take her back first after rescuing her, but he headed directly toward Cloud Terrace Palace, the highest palace in the villa.

Liao Tingyan tentatively asked: “Going to kill people?”

Sima Jiao: “What else?”

Liao Tingyan: “I think you should send me back first before doing anything else.”

Sima Jiao, with a dark face: “Can’t wait that long. Keep quiet, or I’ll kill you too.”

Liao Tingyan: “???” No, big boss, have you gone mad? What stupid things are you saying? I’m your little darling, how could you bear to kill me?

Sima Jiao didn’t sound like he was joking at all, his tone gloomy: “Dying by my hands is still better than dying by others.”

Liao Tingyan: Too afraid to make a sound.

This ancestor seemed to be having another episode; reasoning wouldn’t work, so she’d better lay low for now. Tonight, she definitely wouldn’t be the one in most danger.

The most unfortunate was Yue Chuhui.

Yue Chuhui woke up on her Cloud Mist Brocade bed to see a firelight outside her door. She frowned and called out: “What’s that noise outside? Chao Yu, get in here!”

The door opened, but instead of her terrified maid, a strange man she had never seen entered, carrying a woman in his arms. The woman covered her eyes and remained silent.

Yue Chuhui recognized that it was Yongling Chun, who had defied her earlier and been imprisoned. She immediately shouted: “How dare you! Who gave you the courage to intrude into my Moon Palace!”

“Where is everyone? Venerable Han, Venerable Jiaofeng!”

Yue Chuhui called out twice with no response, finally realizing something was wrong. Her eyes showed doubt. “Who are you? What have you done to lure them away? Let me tell you, even if you’ve temporarily diverted them, they’ll be back soon, and by then, none of you will escape.”

She never considered that her bodyguards and protectors might already be dead. After all, besides the four openly Divine Transformation realm guards, she had another secretly protecting her who had reached the Spirit Refinement realm. With him around, she could walk sideways through the outer court.

Liao Tingyan lowered her hand covering her eyes and looked at Yue Chuhui sitting on the bed. In a crash scene, who crashes knows best.

Sima Jiao set her down to sit, walked to the bedside, shattered the few defensive formations Yue Chuhui had activated, intercepted her distress signal, grabbed her neck, and dragged her from the bed to the door.

Yue Chuhui, who had been struggling continuously, saw the scene outside the door, her eyes wide open in disbelief, her body frozen.

Liao Tingyan could well understand the little princess’s current feelings. Having followed Sima Jiao for so long, she had seen many of his killing scenes, but none as graphic as this one. She could endure the previous ones, but this time she really couldn’t help it; if she didn’t cover her eyes, she would vomit.

“Impossible, impossible, how could…” Yue Chuhui’s body trembled as she mumbled softly, her expression changing when looking at Sima Jiao, filled with fear.

In the face of death, most adopt such postures, quite different from when they kill others.

Sima Jiao dragged her by the neck in front of Liao Tingyan and said to Liao Tingyan: “You do it. Peel off her face, then kill her.”

Liao Tingyan: “What what what?”

She immediately slid off the chair and knelt. “I won’t.”

Sima Jiao grabbed her hand, pinching her fingers toward Yue Chuhui’s face, with a sharp knife shape condensing at her fingertips. He was determined to make her peel the skin and kill.

Liao Tingyan tried to pull her hand back, but couldn’t match Sima Jiao’s strength. He had his arm around her body, pressing against her back, his cheek against her face, saying in her ear: “This person bullied you, hurt you, so you must personally take revenge. She hurt your face, so peel off her face. She had people beat you, so break all the bones and meridians in her body. She made you hurt, so make her die in excruciating pain.”

Sima Jiao’s tone was ominous, his eyes red with anger, frightening Yue Chuhui, who couldn’t move on the ground, into a flood of tears and loud pleas for mercy.

Liao Tingyan’s hand shook terribly, and she howled in pain. “I really hurt, my stomach hurts especially badly, really. Please let go first, we can talk properly, can we go back and talk?”

Sima Jiao: “No.”

Liao Tingyan spat out a mouthful of blood for him to see, dying breaths. “I’ve suffered serious internal injuries; if you don’t save me soon, I’ll die.”

Sima Jiao bit her neck, making her writhe like a fish.

Liao Tingyan noticed his hand’s strength loosened slightly, immediately broke free from his hand, and hugged this ferocious old ancestor’s head, haphazardly kissing him a few times. “I was wrong, I’m so afraid of pain, can we go back to heal my wounds first? Please, ancestor!”