"I feel like something's off."
Chu Yi was chewing on a blade of grass. "Those two went behind my back to go eat something good."
Lin Wei rolled her eyes.
Whenever Shi Yeshan wasn't home, Chu Yi would often go to Su Zhai's place to mooch a meal. She'd occasionally offer some money for the food—not much—but Su Zhai always refused it.
Because Shi Yeshan didn't allow Chu Yi to freeload at his house, and every time he came home, Chu Yi was sensible enough not to show up.
If Su Zhai accepted Chu Yi's money, she'd have to let her come over for meals every day, which would then make Shi Yeshan unhappy.
But as time went on, Chu Yi seemed to have automatically adjusted herself to a very strange position, and she felt a bit aggrieved: "Why do I have to leave just because he comes home?"
"…So you're the wild man kept by that mistress of the house?" Lin Wei sighed. "Junior sister, what exactly do you want from me? I'm not going to help you do anything bad."
"It's just that they went out to eat, and I secretly followed them. I was outside watching two kids fight crickets and having a great time, when somehow, I couldn't help myself and ended up going into the restaurant, just in time to see the two of them being harassed. And Su Zhai was scared to death, looking so pathetic—even though she'd already beaten those people's husband and wife to the ground…"
Once she started talking, she couldn't stop, never quite getting to the point. But Chu Yi just felt something was wrong. She carefully replayed her own words, and a flash of inspiration hit her: "Right, why did I involuntarily want to go see Su Zhai?"
It was as if she had no control over it at all—her body wasn't obeying her brain, but her consciousness was still there, and she knew what she was doing.
It was truly baffling.
Lin Wei listened for a while, then analyzed it for her: "Because you like her. When you like someone, you can't help but worry about her, fear she'll be bullied, and can't resist going to check on her."
Chu Yi was shocked. "Have I fallen in love? Then, Senior Brother, can I still cultivate my Eighteen Return-to-Origin Sword in the future? This woman is really strange. It won't do if she ruins my cultivation. I need to stay far away from her."
Lin Wei advised her: "From love comes fear. Junior sister, you don't need to take this too seriously. If you deliberately distance yourself from her, it will only disturb your state of mind. Just act as you normally do. After all, you're a bit thick-headed anyway, so even if you do fall in love, it shouldn't matter."
That made sense.
But after figuring it out, Chu Yi felt a bit regretful, thinking she'd hit him too lightly during the day. Next time she saw him, she definitely wouldn't be polite—at the very least, she'd tear off both his arms.
The young rake she was thinking about was now lying in a coffin, trembling uncontrollably.
Half his face was shattered. Beneath the skin and flesh were bones and tendons crushed to pieces. Fortunately, his brain wasn't damaged, and the several cultivators kept by the prince's mansion had managed to temporarily save his life.
But the cultivators recognized that the magical force that had struck him was extraordinary. Even just a trace of residual spiritual power left the cultivators utterly horrified, declaring that the person who did this was terrifying—a grand cultivator rarely seen in the world.
Even if she was just a woman.
His mother, fearing retaliation at their doorstep, had hung up white mourning banners in the mansion's courtyard, pretending he was already dead, hoping he could escape this calamity. But lying in the coffin now, he could clearly hear the murderous howl of the wind.
Someone lightly tapped on his coffin lid.
A single, soft knock—it scared him so badly he wet himself on the spot. Murky yellow urine dripped through the cracks of the coffin, falling one drop at a time onto the ground.
Making the funeral hall seem even more deathly silent.
"Faking your death." Shi Yeshan said calmly. "If the person who came up with this idea had taught you even a fraction of sense, you wouldn't have ended up like this today."
The moment he finished speaking, the coffin made of Millennium Raven-Drunken Wood burst apart into pieces, wood splinters flying violently in all directions. One shard struck the memorial tablet in the funeral hall, clattering to the ground.
The man's eyes were wide with terror, his courage nearly shattered. He scrambled on all fours, trying to crawl away.
Shi Yeshan grabbed him by the collar, lifting him into the air, his tone as casual as ever. "You really deserve to die."
The man could only shake his head desperately, sobbing and whimpering, tears and snot streaming down his face. He trembled like a sieve, and could practically hear the cracking of his own bones.
A demon… a demon lord has come.
"Today, did she provoke you first?" Shi Yeshan asked, then frowned and corrected himself. "Did she take a disliking to you first?"
That was unlikely. Except for occasionally having some inexplicable tiff with him, Su Zhai had a good temper with everyone.
But she had said "I'm sorry" to Shi Yeshan.
To figure out what that apology was for, Shi Yeshan had let this man live for half a day longer.
But looking at the man's face before him, Shi Yeshan said with disgust, "How did you grow into such a despicable-looking thing? Who wouldn't want to kick you when they see you?"
Even if Su Zhai really had taken a disliking to him and started trouble, it would have been understandable.
What was there to apologize for?
But Shi Yeshan forgot that the despicable-looking man could no longer speak. However, his expression did indeed look somewhat bewildered.
So Shi Yeshan simply crushed his head, shook the brains off his hand, and turned to look at the two servants who had collapsed to their knees, legs weak with fear. "Tell me what happened during the day."
After saying this, he tilted his head and cast a spell to knock one of them unconscious. Then he pointed at the other. "You speak first. If what you say doesn't match what that one tells me later, I'll remove your limbs one by one, and then let—"
"Spare me, my lord!" The man kowtowed desperately, trembling as he recounted the day's events one by one, not omitting his young master's crude remark.
A bit of blood seemed to have splattered beneath Shi Yeshan's eyes, reflecting against his gaze churning with murderous intent—utterly sinister and terrifying.
The Ghost King Yanluo was nothing compared to this.
He nodded calmly, then kicked the other man awake and had him repeat the story.
The two accounts matched closely enough—indeed, it was simply a tale of a dissolute young noble taking a fancy to someone's looks.
He dispatched both men cleanly to the afterlife, then left the prince's residence. Lin Wei, however, chose that moment to ring the Mystic Bell. Shi Yeshan initially wanted to ignore it, but the brat rang it with increasing urgency. Frowning, Shi Yeshan extended his divine sense. "What is it?"
"Patriarch, are you unharmed?" Lin Wei asked him instead, his tone anxious. "The Canglin Mountain Divine Array suddenly fluctuated with spiritual power—have you encountered some danger?"
Shi Yeshan's true body was in seclusion within the Canglin Mountain formation for Tribulation Transcendence, while his soul had manifested an avatar to roam outside. For the formation to stir without cause, it most likely meant something had gone awry with Shi Yeshan's soul.
Few things in this world could provoke such violent emotional upheaval in Shi Yeshan.
Lin Wei felt worried.
Shi Yeshan's tone, however, was mocking. "What, are you able to resolve my troubles for me?"
Lin Wei froze, then said sheepishly, "This disciple is incompetent…"
The Patriarch had already cut off the divine connection, his movements laced with impatience.
By the time he returned home, dusk had fallen.
Shi Yeshan deliberately cast a glance toward the courtyard from afar, and suddenly understood why Su Zhai—a person so frugal with money—would spare the cost of lamp oil to keep the wind lantern at the courtyard gate burning faintly.
It was to wait for him to come home.
He had already cleaned himself with the Cleansing Art, but Su Zhai was meticulous and sensitive—last time, she had smelled the blood on his hastily handled robes. So Shi Yeshan went first to the small stream and soaked himself thoroughly for a quarter of an hour before emerging dripping wet and using spiritual power to dry himself off.
His soul was vast and profound; as he soaked in the water, the overflowing Spiritual Qi attracted a few small fish. They chased after him, leaping as he left, and one flopped onto the bank—only to be kicked back into the water by Shi Yeshan.
A sweet fragrance drifted through the courtyard.
It turned out Liu Erniang had sent over some fresh milk, squeezed straight from the cow. Su Zhai had boiled it in a pot, thinking she might make some dessert with it. Fortunately, the kitchen was well-equipped, and she actually managed to bake a cake.
The process had been chaotic—more of a throw-in-whatever-was-available affair. Su Zhai had no idea what she'd produced, and it didn't look particularly appealing. Yet when she carefully scooped it out and inhaled its aroma, she still felt a surge of happiness.
She turned around—and saw Shi Yeshan standing silently at the kitchen doorway.
He was watching her with intense focus, an unreadable emotion in his eyes.