Dongfang Qingtian froze after hearing that, staring at the waiter in disbelief.
“Inheritor Qingtian, what would you like to drink?” The waiter clearly didn’t want to talk more.
“No need. I was just tired from cultivation and came out for a walk.”
By the time Dongfang Qingtian returned to the clan, night had already fallen.
Gazing at the evening glow in the sky, his expression was filled with complexity.
When he returned to his residence, he found Ninth Elder waiting in his palace.
Dongfang Qingtian looked at Ninth Elder, no longer with hatred in his eyes. He sat down calmly.
“I’m sorry. I implicated you.”
Ninth Elder nodded without replying.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“There was no need. What difference would it have made? Would you have believed me?”
“Everyone carries their own biases. You’re stubborn—just like your mother.”
“Why did my mother drug you?”
“Because she lost to me. She was extreme. If she couldn’t have something, she’d rather destroy it.”
“Maybe because of you, she changed. You became her emotional anchor.”
“If the ancestor hadn’t intervened back then, I might’ve died.”
“But still, she didn’t treat you badly. She was good to you. So, I can understand why you treated her the way you did.”
“I’m leaving.”
After speaking, Ninth Elder clasped his hands behind his back and walked out.
He paused briefly at the threshold, didn’t look back, and then departed.
Dongfang Qingtian stood up and walked to the spot where Ninth Elder had paused.
There was a small, damp patch on the ground.
Dongfang Qingtian looked up at the full moon in the sky.
“The moon is really round tonight,” he murmured, then walked toward the coffin outside.
Now that he knew he had been wrong, Dongfang Qingtian began to understand many things.
Ninth Elder had given him many chances.
Bringing him back was one.
Letting him join the inheritance sequence was another.
Letting him compete for the divine son position was yet another.
Dongfang Qingtian opened the coffin and sighed. “Father, I’m sorry,” he murmured.
Then he lay down inside the coffin, preparing to sever his own heart meridian.
Suddenly, formations activated inside the coffin, sealing him within and cutting off his internal power.
The coffin lid closed on its own. Dongfang Qingtian lay in the darkness.
Inside Dongfang Wudao’s palace, Shen Qingqiu watched him sipping tea leisurely, expressionless.
As she stared at Dongfang Wudao, her gaze turned dazed.
“What a perfect specimen,” she blurted without thinking.
In Shen Qingqiu’s eyes… he was a specimen?
And not just any specimen, but a finely crafted one?
What on earth was this woman in her past life?
Snapping back to her senses, Shen Qingqiu realized what she said and looked awkward, not daring to meet Dongfang Wudao’s eyes.
“What are you planning to do with Dongfang Qingtian?”
“Oh? You care about him?”
Hearing that, Shen Qingqiu frowned. What was that supposed to mean?
“Heavens, you’re not getting jealous, are you?”
“No way, no way…”
Shen Qingqiu tried to read Dongfang Wudao’s expression, but all she saw was disdain.
Her face stiffened.
“I just feel it’s a pity, that’s all.”
Dongfang Wudao remained silent.
Seeing that he didn’t respond, Shen Qingqiu knew she was being boring and said nothing more, pouring one cup of tea after another into her belly.
Hic!
Dongfang Wudao’s face darkened.
Shen Qingqiu recalled the plot. Originally, Dongfang Qingtian took the divine son’s position and used the Dao Artifact to resurrect his mother.
Because the Dao Artifact was too powerful, it caused a reversal of yin and yang, dragging the Dongfang Clan into great karmic backlash and marking the beginning of its downfall.
But now everything had changed. She strongly suspected Dongfang Wudao was a transmigrator.
He knew the plot, then changed it.
Or maybe he had been reborn. That was possible too.
“Dongfang Wudao… odd becomes even, even remains odd…”
Dongfang Wudao gave her a strange look. “Did you drink too much tea?”
Shen Qingqiu blinked and snapped out of it.
“Can you tell me how you obtained Chenghuang?”
“I want to see if I can get one too.”
Dongfang Wudao looked at her in confusion.
“Didn’t you see it? I was thrown off a cliff and saved by the old Chenghuang.”
“Otherwise, I would’ve died from my lifeforce being cut off.”
“But I really should thank that old Chenghuang.”
Hearing his response, Shen Qingqiu’s mind exploded.
“It matches! It matches!”
The old Chenghuang must’ve sensed that Dongfang Wudao was of the Dongfang Clan and saved him when he fell off the cliff.
But in the original novel, it was Dongfang Wudao who blackened and threw Su Chen and Si Hanyue off the cliff, and they gained the old Chenghuang’s favor.
So why was it Dongfang Wudao now?
“Is the old Chenghuang still around?”
“He was the one who brought me back. I really should thank him. Otherwise, I would’ve missed the competition for the divine son position.”
Shen Qingqiu no longer doubted it. The old Chenghuang was a divine beast, bearing all sorts of opportunities. It wasn’t impossible that he gave Dongfang Wudao a bit of fortune to help him compete for the divine son role.
Her doubts disappeared.
“System, do you think Dongfang Wudao hasn’t blackened yet?”
[Little Master, did you forget what happened with the Si Clan?]
Shen Qingqiu’s heart tightened.
Right. Dongfang Wudao’s current kindness was all an act.
[Little Master, don’t forget how many enemies Dongfang Wudao has, and how many powerful foes await him. He simply hasn’t reached that level yet.]
“True. I was being naive.”
“But I need to find a way to help him grow faster.”
“I remember there’s another karmic thread in the Dongfang Clan, a woman named Dongfang Qingxin.”
“She seemed to have a marriage engagement with someone from a small place and went to annul it secretly.”
“No way… no way… don’t tell me she already went?”
Dongfang Wudao looked at Shen Qingqiu squirming in her seat like she was sitting on needles, completely puzzled.
Then something occurred to him, and his eyes gleamed mischievously.
“Why are you so agitated, Miss Shen? Could it be that spring is coming… Miss Shen…”
Shen Qingqiu stared at the scheming Dongfang Wudao, completely baffled. Why was this proud man so terrifying once he blackened?
“Sitting here drinking tea is boring. I want to go out for a walk.”
“Go ahead.”
Dongfang Wudao didn’t stop her.
Shen Qingqiu left.
“Divine Son, should we follow her?”
A voice came from the shadows.
“No need. Let her go.”
The next day, Dongfang Wudao arrived at the Heavenly Hall.
The hall was already filled with people, all watching Dongfang Wudao.
Ninth Elder’s gaze was calm.
“Go. Bring the coffin over.”
“As the divine son commands.”
Soon, the coffin was brought forth.
Ninth Elder sighed. What came next was whether Dongfang Qingtian would be allowed burial in the Dongfang Clan’s ancestral grounds.
The coffin opened, and Dongfang Qingtian sat up and climbed out.
Everyone in the hall revealed shocked expressions.
Even Ninth Elder was stunned.