Chapter 62: Misunderstanding.
But!
There’s always a few stubborn or well-backed folks who don’t buy into the fear.
“Ho~ Big talk, huh?” A young, lazy, teasing male voice drawled from the back of the crowd. “Well, this seat wants to ‘try’ and see what a ‘little thing’ like you can do.”
The voice wasn’t loud, but it cut through the noise with an indescribable pressure, halting the dispersing crowd. They surged back, eyes wide as saucers, the air buzzing with “something big’s coming!” excitement.
No one worried about stray blows—Nether Ancient Town forbade killing. Grudges? Take it outside.
That was the rule set by the imperial clans and holy lands. They might skirt it, teetering between “should I follow?” and “maybe I won’t,” but for rogue cultivators and clans, rules were ironclad.
Break them today, and tomorrow they’d be digging your ancestors’ graves.
Just as everyone braced for an earth-shaking clash, even Madam Shan turning with anger in her eyes—
Crack!
Something seemed to shatter.
Madam Shan’s fury vanished like a popped balloon the moment she saw the speaker’s face. Panic replaced it—she backed down!
She shrank, her “I’m number one” aura gone, like a student caught by a teacher. Her lips trembled, and in a mosquito-like whisper, she stammered respectfully:
“Anc… Ancestor…”
She bowed her head, eyes on her nose, nose on her heart, not daring to glance at the crowd or even breathe loudly.
The “Ancestor,” a young man, casually flicked nonexistent dust from his nails, not sparing Madam Shan another look before drifting away.
The crowd: …
The onlookers exchanged glances, faces screaming, “I took off my pants for this?” in disappointment.
Wu Weilun knelt, wilted like a drooping vegetable; Madam Shan stood, head low like a quail.
This drama was a dud.
“Boring, let’s go!” The crowd, finding no fun, dispersed, grumbling.
As they scattered, Xie Qiyang and Li Tianxing, previously blocked, were pushed to the front.
“Tch, what a letdown,” Xie Qiyang pouted, ready to drag Li Tianxing away. The gossip started strong but fizzled out—terrible experience!
But as the crowd thinned and Madam Shan confirmed the terrifying Ancestor was gone, her quail-like timidity vanished.
A vicious, unmasked malice took over.
Her eyes flashed, her right hand forming a strange seal, black mist coiling at her fingertips. She jabbed it fiercely at Wu Weilun’s forehead, still kneeling in a daze.
“Urgh…” Wu Weilun didn’t even finish a scream. Her body shuddered, eyes turning vacant, collapsing forward like a boneless doll.
Wang Ruihong, who’d been like a puppet in Madam Shan’s grip, stepped forward nimbly, catching Wu Weilun. A creepy, satisfied smile spread across her face as she cooed in a chillingly soft voice:
“Dear… be good, follow the master… you’ll be so happy…”
Li Tianxing’s voice transmission buzzed in Xie Qiyang’s mind, laced with disgust: “Low-grade slave seal, twisting the mind to make obedient puppets. Show’s over, let’s go.”
He grabbed her hand, pulling her swiftly toward the dispersing crowd.
Xie Qiyang followed, brows furrowed, her heart uneasy, tangled like knotted yarn.
“Strange… Wu Weilun and Wang Ruihong… why do they feel familiar?” She rummaged through Jiang Ningshuang’s memories—nothing!
Then… from her past life?
“They kinda resemble those plastic bros I used to game and mess around with… just the face shape, maybe?”
She shook her head, trying to dismiss the absurd thought. “No way I’d claim them as kin just for a vague resemblance. That’s ridiculous!”
While her mind spun, Li Tianxing stopped in front of a… peculiar building.
“Bliss… Pavilion?” Xie Qiyang read the gaudy, golden sign slowly, each word dripping with impropriety.
The decor screamed scandal: pink gauze draped over ornate beams, ambiguous lanterns at the entrance.
Worse, on the second-floor balcony, scantily clad women in sheer veils leaned out, their curves teasingly visible, giggling and calling to passersby:
“Hey, big guy~ Come play~”
“Handsome young man, how about a drink upstairs~”
Boom!
Xie Qiyang’s brain short-circuited, her CPU overloading.
After a brief crash, she whipped her head around, eyes brimming with disbelief and hurt, glaring at Li Tianxing, her voice trembling:
“Li, what are you doing bringing me to a place like this?!”
She flung his hand away, bristling like an angry cat.
“Are you… already bored of me? Am I… not enough for you?! Or…”
Her voice dropped, laced with pain and accusation, “You… don’t want me anymore?!”
Her pitiful expression, like an abandoned wife, clashed with her now plain, “flat” face, amplifying the contrast.
In her panic, she nearly blurted that she could change if he was bored, but stopped—too desperate. Why had her mindset shifted to needing him to survive?
He was just her cauldron. If the cauldron left, she, the master, would naturally be upset. With that thought, her heart shifted. She yanked Li Tianxing’s sleeve, pulling him close.
Pinching his chin, her tone turned sharp: “You’re my cauldron. I forbid you from seeking other women!”
Li Tianxing: “…”
Internally: ??? What’s with this girl’s brain jumping ten thousand miles off track?
“Aren’t you overthinking? Maybe… Grandma and the others are here?”