When the Mistress of the Moon Palace learned of her daughter Yue Chuhui’s death, she nearly went insane. In her entire life, she had only borne this one daughter and raised her like a precious pearl, yet she died so suddenly. Her soul could not be found, making even reincarnation through soul transfer impossible.
The Moon Palace Mistress’s eyes turned red as she led a vast contingent of Moon Palace disciples to Purple Mane Mountain.
This once magnificent palace was now shrouded in the shadow of death. All who came witnessed the tragic scene on the mountain. The Moon Palace Mistress, caring nothing for these people, rushed directly into the inner hall. Someone was already guarding Yue Chuhui’s body, not daring to move it. When the Moon Palace Mistress saw the horrific state of her daughter’s corpse, she let out a wail of grief and lunged forward.
“Who? Who killed my Chuhui?!” The Moon Palace Mistress no longer maintained her usual dignified beauty. Her expression was contorted like a vengeful ghost as she held Yue Chuhui’s cold body with one arm, her eyes filled with hatred as she glared at the cultivator standing nearby.
That cultivator belonged to the Mian family, an outer court family affiliated with the Moon Palace. When Yue Chuhui came to stay at Purple Mane Mountain in the outer court, they were responsible for providing female companions to keep her entertained, and they came daily to pay respects and deliver gifts.
Today when they arrived, they found Purple Mane Mountain enveloped in the smell of blood, deathly silent and deserted. Sensing something wrong, they came to investigate and discovered that Purple Mane Mountain had been massacred, with even Yue Chuhui and several Divine Transformation cultivators brutally killed. They immediately sent word, and now waiting here was a capable disciple of the Mian family who had often accompanied Yue Chuhui on outings.
“Tell me! Who did this!” The Moon Palace Mistress had almost lost her reason. The Mian cultivator inwardly lamented—how could he know who was responsible? Anyone capable of such a deed was certainly no ordinary person.
He knelt and offered a few words of consolation in a low voice, but the Moon Palace Mistress remained consumed by grief and rage. She shouted harshly, “My Chuhui was staying here, and I instructed you to look after her well, but instead, you didn’t even know my Chuhui had been killed!”
The Mian cultivator hurriedly tried to explain, but the Moon Palace Mistress angrily struck him with her palm, sending him flying. The other Mian family members looked grim, their eyes filled with fear. They didn’t dare look up and stood to one side with lowered heads, afraid of being killed by the Moon Palace Mistress’s misplaced anger like their fellow disciple.
The Moon Palace Mistress collected Yue Chuhui’s body and addressed the Moon Palace members she had brought: “Investigate! Go investigate for me! I must find the murderer who killed my child. I’ll flay them alive, tear their soul to pieces, and make them pay with their lives for my daughter!”
Then she turned to the Mian cultivators and said in a somber voice, “In these coming days, every cultivator who attended to my child must atone for her death!”
Due to the Moon Palace Mistress’s fury, Yue Chuhui’s death became the biggest matter within Gengchen Immortal Mansion. Capable of raising a daughter like Yue Chuhui, the Moon Palace Mistress was not a benevolent person. For generations, her Moon family heads had served as the Mistresses of the Moon Palace, making them one of the few major powers at the top of Gengchen Immortal Mansion. Now that Yue Chuhui was dead, she not only lost her only daughter but also felt a deep sense of crisis.
The authority of her Moon Palace had been challenged, her face trampled underfoot. Until the day she found the killer and executed them, she would not be able to quell the rage in her heart and risked developing a heart demon.
Many people within the inner and outer courts of Gengchen had already died because of this matter. A grieving mother driven to madness could do anything. Because her actions were so extreme, the Sect Leader Shi Qianlü had no choice but to go and advise her.
When Shi Qianlü arrived at the Moon Palace, the Moon Palace Mistress was in the midst of a temper tantrum. Her disciples had gone to investigate Yue Chuhui’s death but found nothing significant. They only knew that whoever killed Yue Chuhui was of extremely high cultivation, brutal in their methods, and certainly no ordinary person. Judging by their actions, they seemed to harbor deep hatred toward Yue Chuhui, so it was likely the work of an enemy of the Moon Palace.
The Moon Palace Mistress didn’t want to hear any of this; she only wanted to find the enemy.
“I’ll give you half a month more. If you can’t find any other useful clues, you’ll all accompany my Chuhui in death. She was close to you all, so go keep her company for me. That would put my mind at ease.”
Cold sweat broke out on the foreheads of those disciples as they knelt in place, their expressions varied.
One of them hesitantly said, “Master, when we examined Purple Mane Mountain, we found one survivor—a woman named Yong Lingchun, daughter of the Young Mistress of the Night Wandering Palace. She was imprisoned in a dungeon at the foot of the mountain with no one guarding her. Reportedly, she had angered Young Mistress Yue and was confined to the dungeon, but we don’t know if she has any connection to this matter.”
Someone standing beside the Moon Palace Mistress said, “Brother Qing has already reported this. That Yong Lingchun is of low cultivation and humble status. She was merely in the dungeon and fortunately survived. I doubt she has any connection to the murderer. Brother Ruan, I suggest you investigate more diligently instead of wasting Master’s time with such irrelevant matters.”
The Moon Palace Mistress said coldly, “Whether she’s connected to the murderer or not, kill her to vent my Chuhui’s frustration since she made my child unhappy.”
Shi Qianlü entered with two disciples and said calmly, “Moon Palace Mistress, you should stop causing more bloodshed. You’ve created quite a disturbance these past few days, and many people have come to me with gossip.”
The Moon Palace Mistress gave a cold laugh, “You certainly act like a good person. But when it comes to lives taken, am I worse than you? Stop putting on airs. It wasn’t your daughter who died, so of course you can’t understand my feelings!”
She stared at Shi Qianlü and suddenly said, “If you had no business here, you certainly wouldn’t be meddling in my affairs. Whatever you’re thinking, just say it directly.”
Shi Qianlü remained unperturbed and dismissed everyone before saying to the Moon Palace Mistress, “I need to intervene in this matter.”
“I suspect this has something to do with Sima Jiao.”
The Moon Palace Mistress’s expression changed.
Shi Qianlü continued, “Since that incident, Sima Jiao hasn’t appeared again, but I know he wouldn’t easily let us off. Given the chance, he would return. I suspect he’s already inside Gengchen Immortal Mansion but hasn’t shown himself because he’s still recovering from severe injuries. As you know, when he’s injured, healing is extremely difficult for him. He’s probably still recuperating, and we must find him quickly.”
The Moon Palace Mistress finally spoke slowly, “According to what you say, why would he kill my Chuhui?”
Shi Qianlü countered, “Does Sima Jiao need a reason to kill someone?”
The Moon Palace Mistress knew that Shi Qianlü had been searching for Sima Jiao all along. He would send people to investigate secretly at the slightest anomaly, seeing enemies everywhere. It was natural for him to suspect Sima Jiao in such a major incident, but the killer’s actions were so high-profile that the Moon Palace Mistress doubted it could be Sima Jiao.
With such severe injuries, he should be hiding like a rat in a sewer. How would he dare to kill her daughter so ostentatiously? Unless he truly didn’t fear death. The fact that he had fled after being injured showed that he still feared death after all.
After considering this, the Moon Palace Mistress’s tone softened slightly, “Feel free to investigate. If you can find my daughter’s killer for me, I certainly won’t forget this favor.”
After returning from the Moon Palace, Shi Qianlü ordered that everyone who had met with Yue Chuhui be detained, including Yong Lingchun, who was confined in another location.
…
Liao Tingyan felt as if she had been through a high fever, delirious for several days. By the time she finally regained her senses, many days had passed.
The wound on her face had healed, leaving her cheek smooth and tender. The injury on her stomach was also gone, replaced by smooth, firm, fair skin. The spiritual veins in her body were completely fine. After one good sleep, she transformed from an injured patient back into a lively, energetic fish.
Indeed, dual cultivation could heal and save lives—the ancient stories did not lie.
Sima Jiao stroked her belly and gave it a squeeze, seemingly dissatisfied with the feel. His hand moved to other places beneath her clothes as if wondering which area felt better.
Wait, that’s not right.
Liao Tingyan immediately covered her chest and lay down. “I’m so fragile.”
Sima Jiao said, “Do you think I’m blind?”
Liao Tingyan thought: …No, I just thought you would play along with my act. I forgot you’re such a straightforward man.
She pulled up her collar and negotiated, “I really can’t. I think I might have kidney deficiency. If we must choose, could we just do spiritual communion instead?”
Sima Jiao laughed at her reaction. He hadn’t been thinking about that, but he didn’t like the way Liao Tingyan had been frightened into submission, so he made a show of pressing down on her.
“Hey!” Liao Tingyan rolled over with agile movements, tumbling to the inside of the bed. Then she realized something was off about this bed—it wasn’t the large bed she was accustomed to sleeping in, but another enormous bed, gaudy and exuding a certain ostentatious style. The place was different too. How had they ended up in another unfamiliar location?
Upon realizing she was in a strange place, she rolled back to Sima Jiao’s side and grabbed his arm. “Where are we?”
With his arm in her embrace, Sima Jiao no longer wanted to frighten her. Lying on the soft, large bed, he casually explained, “Wind Flower City. You are now this city’s ruler, Shi Yuxiang.”
Shi? Liao Tingyan caught this surname and glanced at Sima Jiao again. Had they infiltrated the enemy camp directly?
Wind Flower City was a small city, but well-situated within the inner court of Gengchen Immortal Mansion. Shi Yuxiang was a member of the Shi clan from the inner court, with quite a high status. She was the granddaughter of Shi Qianji, the younger brother of Sect Leader Shi Qianlü—the same fish pond master from before.
Though Shi Qianji couldn’t match his elder brother Shi Qianlü in other abilities, his child-bearing capacity far surpassed his brother’s, making him outstanding among Gengchen Immortal Mansion’s top-tier leaders. He had produced many children, who in turn had many children of their own. Shi Yuxiang was one of Shi Qianji’s numerous granddaughters—not particularly favored, but due to her Shi family status, she still received many resources enabling her to live a carefree, luxurious life.
This Miss Shi Yuxiang had a lifelong love for pretty boys. She established Wind Flower City to earn money through pleasure houses and kept many handsome men for companionship, which was why people outside called her Wind Flower City the “City of Romance.”
Such a character—with status yet low profile, a marginal figure in a great family, with no one supervising her—had to be said, Sima Jiao knew how to choose.
Moreover… his current identity was that of a pretty boy kept by Shi Yuxiang. He truly didn’t care about appearances and could adapt to any situation.
Liao Tingyan said, “You should know my acting skills aren’t very good, right?” Heaven has given me a great task, but I won’t do it.
Sima Jiao didn’t know at first, but later he did. He gave Liao Tingyan a sidelong glance, “Do you think there’s something wrong with my brain?”
Anyone with a functioning brain wouldn’t ask her to act as a spy.
Liao Tingyan said, “Of course not.” Though I say there isn’t, in my heart, I’m saying there is.
Sima Jiao said, “You don’t need to do anything. Just sleep.”
Liao Tingyan relaxed and lay down.
The little black snake excitedly crawled over, its tail wrapped around a white rat.
Liao Tingyan said, “…Go eat that rat somewhere else, not on the bed.” She thought to herself, her ancestor probably didn’t feed the snake while she was asleep, seeing how it had gone to catch rats on its own out of hunger.
The little black snake wiggled its body and placed the white rat bound by its tail in front of her.
Liao Tingyan said, “No thanks, you eat it yourself. I don’t eat that.”
Sima Jiao: “Pfft.”
Liao Tingyan: “?” What’s wrong with you, suddenly laughing at me again?
Sima Jiao embraced her, “You understand what I mean when I laugh, yet you can’t figure out what this stupid snake means.”
Liao Tingyan thought: This man is tricking me with sweet talk. What a calculating boy.
Sima Jiao said, “This rat is Shi Yuxiang.”
Liao Tingyan finally understood—the little black snake was introducing her to a new companion. As for where the two little mountain pheasants and the bull demon couple had gone, Liao Tingyan didn’t ask. Fewer questions meant a more relaxed life.
The little white rat resigned to its fate, was dragged back and forth by the little black snake. After being displayed in a circle before Liao Tingyan, it was taken away to play.
Just the two of them remained, lying quietly until evening when Sima Jiao got up and scratched Liao Tingyan’s neck. “Get up, follow me somewhere.”
Liao Tingyan replied, “Oh.”
She thought Sima Jiao was taking her out for a romantic outing, but instead, he took her to raid a certain treasure vault, acquiring a large collection of high-grade magical artifacts.
Sima Jiao walked through the dust-covered treasure vault as if browsing a supermarket, glancing at the magical artifacts and spiritual devices displayed nearby, handing suitable ones to Liao Tingyan.
Liao Tingyan examined those seemingly powerful magical artifacts and spiritual devices, finding it strange that Sima Jiao, who previously never cared for such “external possessions,” was now collecting them.
“What are these magical artifacts used for?”
Sima Jiao: “Defense.”
Liao Tingyan: “What else?”
Sima Jiao: “Defense.”
Liao Tingyan: “And?”
Sima Jiao: “I said, defense.”
Liao Tingyan: “…” So they were all defensive magical artifacts.
She understood now—these were all for her.