Chapter 58

Time turned back to the first night of Yu Tai and Shu Li’s cold war.

Inside the Zuiyin Sect-

Two men sat opposite each other. One was middle-aged and held a white chess piece as he studied the board with lowered eyes.

The man across from him was dressed entirely in white. Strangely, the patterns covering his robes consisted of countless intricate, twisted characters.

His features were so exquisite that he resembled a doll, devoid of the slightest trace of human vitality. Yet the aura he radiated carried an age and experience completely at odds with his appearance.

Most striking of all were his deep, mysterious purple eyes.

Such an eerie color seemed indescribably discordant on a man dressed like an immortal, yet after looking for a while, one would find it unexpectedly harmonious.

“Sect Leader, Elder He of the Jade Sect requests an audience.” A young attendant carrying a horsetail whisk entered and announced in a clear voice.

The middle-aged man set down his white piece and asked curiously, “Didn’t Elder He go to the Middle Realm?”

After voicing his confusion, he turned to the expressionless man opposite him. “Sect Leader, you should go.”

“By the time you return, I’ll probably have solved this game.” He smiled openly and cheerfully.

A person with a smile like that would normally be difficult to dislike.

The man addressed as sect leader nodded. “Elder Li, wait here for a moment.”

After the man left, Elder Li relaxed.

He had to admit that despite working alongside the sect leader for an unknown number of years, being alone with him still brought some pressure.

With that thought, he sent the young attendant standing nearby to pour him some tea.

After the boy left, Elder Li rose.

He remembered that the Yinghua tree in the rear courtyard of the sect leader’s cave dwelling should be in bloom.

Elder Li believed that at his age and with his experience, very few things in this world could still excite him as they had when he was young.

But when he turned and saw the mass of Black Mist that had appeared behind him at some point, a long-forgotten horror instantly swept through his entire body.

A cultivator at Void Refinement could move mountains and overturn seas. Yet something had appeared soundlessly behind such a mighty expert without him sensing even the slightest trace.

“Who are you?!” Elder Li shouted, swiftly retreating a step.

His Void Refinement cultivation instantly spread outward, but the Black Mist before him seemed unable to feel it.

Elder Li’s pupils abruptly contracted.

This person’s cultivation was above his!

“Greetings,” a voice said from within the Black Mist, its gentleness completely at odds with the eerie fog.

Elder Li said nothing. His expression tensed as he secretly tried to send the sect leader a voice transmission.

But strangely, his spiritual sense seemed trapped beneath an enormous net, suppressed so completely that it could not extend outward at all.

Fine sweat instantly beaded on his forehead.

“There’s no need to be afraid. I’m merely a little bored,” the voice continued.

“My cat has recently been sneaking around with a pack of stray dogs behind my back. She even treats one of them differently from the rest. I’m very angry.”

The inexplicable statement left Elder Li completely unable to guess the Black Mist’s intention.

More horrifying still, it was not merely his spiritual sense. He discovered that he could no longer move.

Something invisible seemed to have wrapped around his entire body, binding him tightly.

Elder Li gave a dry laugh. “Wouldn’t it be better to keep a closer eye on your cat and stop her from associating with those stray dogs?”

The Black Mist fell silent as though pondering the suggestion, then chuckled softly. “That probably won’t work. She has a terrible temper and would become angry with me.”

Elder Li thought that if the cat was associating with stray dogs, it was only because this person had spoiled her.

“Then drive all those stray dogs away,” he suggested tactfully.

“Mm. You make a good point. I thought the same.”

“Killing the stray dogs would cause trouble for my cat, so I decided to solve the problem at its source. It will be enough to send them home.”

The moment they finished speaking, Elder Li suddenly heard liquid dripping below him. He instinctively lowered his head-

The legs that should have entered his vision were gone. Only his upper body remained suspended in the air.

The wound looked as though it had melted, and blood slowly dripped from it. The ground below was covered in a shocking expanse of crimson.

Every drop of it was blood draining from his body.

“My apologies for disturbing you. My cat is coming home, so it’s time for me to leave,” the voice said, gentle enough to melt into water.

Those were the final words Elder Li heard before his death.

…

Yu Tai currently knew nothing about what had happened in the Zuiyin Sect.

All her thoughts were occupied by how she should face Shu Li’s corpse-like expression once she returned.

That bastard. He had gotten angry with her for no reason.

Admittedly, she had been brave enough to sleep with him the very first time they met. Even when he resisted her in every possible way at the beginning, she had still forcibly absorbed his righteous qi.

But as they grew more familiar, their relationship became increasingly complicated.

Now, even as the demonic qi inside her clamored, her emotions twisted into something abnormal, and the scent of blood filled her with excitement, she did not want to take the initiative and ask Shu Li for righteous qi.

She did not know what was wrong with her.

Yu Tai returned to the small courtyard with her pretty face cold. Her footsteps, which would ordinarily have turned into Shu Li’s courtyard, headed toward her own room without the slightest hesitation.

But something was different outside her door today.

A black-and-white mass was crouching at the entrance.

Hearing her footsteps, the large mass turned and gave Yu Tai a pitiful chirp.

Yu Tai walked over, picked up the panda, and kissed its furry face. “Why did you come over here?”

Xia Mo pouted. “Chirp! Chirp.” *Why do you think?!*

Yu Tai had just begun carrying the panda inside when it suddenly struggled free of her obedient embrace and jumped down, adamantly refusing to enter.

Finding this strange, Yu Tai narrowed her eyes and swept the room with her spiritual sense.

The search truly revealed something unusual.

Inside the room that should have been empty, a handsome man from parts unknown sat in Yu Tai’s favorite chair, leafing through a scroll she had casually discarded there.

Yu Tai snorted inwardly. Once she entered, she absolutely would not say a single word. She would teach him a lesson.

Pretending she had noticed nothing, Yu Tai pushed open the door and entered.

At the sound, the seated man raised a face so beautiful that everything around him dimmed by comparison.

“You’re back,” he said, his voice gentle and his expression soft.

Yu Tai glanced at him. “What are you doing in my room?”

The System: [??? Didn’t you say you would ignore him and teach him a lesson?]

Yu Tai: [He’s too handsome. I can’t do it.]

Shu Li rose and walked toward her. Yu Tai stood still and watched him approach.

But once he came close, Yu Tai’s recently heightened sense of taste detected the scent of blood on him. Her expression immediately changed-