Chapter 60

Late at night, the mansion fell silent after the great battle.

Moonlight filtered through the gauzy curtains, casting a soft glow over the waterside pavilion. Occasionally, the footsteps of a stray demon echoed nearby, but an invisible force kept them at bay.

Mo Lin picked up the scattered dress from the rattan chair with one hand and carried Liuyu through the bamboo-shaded corridor with the other.

Chaoming had already rearranged the bedroom in the waterside pavilion. Mo Lin passed through the ebony lattice doors, placed Liuyu on the orange and green embroidered quilt, and turned around. The girl grabbed his little finger.

“Where are you going?”

Mo Lin pulled the thin quilt over her and replied:

“To bathe and change into sleepwear.”

Liuyu lay on the bed, her half-exposed shoulder glowing jade-like under the glass lamp. She turned her head, her eyes glistening with waterlight, looking at him:

“Will you still love me when you come back?”

Mo Lin paused, his eyes in the dim light harboring a hidden desire, making Liuyu feel he hadn’t understood the joke.

“I’ll tell you when I return.”

Leaving this ambiguous statement, he turned and went to the right partition, disliking the trouble of changing the water, so he used the remaining water from Liuyu’s bath.

Liuyu listened to the water sounds behind the screen, turning over gently.

In her fingers was the multicolored silk she had taken from Mo Lin’s pocket. The discomfort still occupied her senses, and knowing it held her blood added an indescribable unease.

Why did Jiu Fang Shaogeng appear at Tianmen on Yashan? Was it related to the Tianmen seal and the extraterrestrial demons, as she and Mo Lin had guessed?

What is the Jiu Fang family planning?

No one in Da Chao would want to see extraterrestrial demons return to the world.

But the loosening of the Tianmen seal in her previous life, and the presence of the Jiu Fang family at Tianmen in this life, confirmed that the Jiu Fang family was indeed targeting the Tianmen seal.

Liuyu thought there was only one possibility.

“—I’ll keep this for now.”

Mo Lin, back from his bath, took the multicolored silk from her hand.

“Sealing its aura with Qi sea won’t affect you and is safe enough.”

He lifted the thin quilt, his warm body enveloping the faint scent of bath beans, wrapping Liuyu in a tight embrace. Feeling her fingers play with the scales on his lower back, he said:

“I know what you’re worried about.”

His breath deepened.

“Compared to what you experienced in that lifetime, our current life has already changed, like the unification of the Nine Netherworlds, the rise of the Jimou clan, and the fall of the Xiangli clan. The Jiu Fang family will definitely respond differently, so what happened in the past might change or happen earlier.”

Liuyu nodded slightly:

“The loosening of the Tianmen seal might happen earlier in this life.”

“Extraterrestrial demons aren’t creatures you can reason with,” Mo Lin said, rubbing her neck. “The Jiu Fang family wants to use the fear of extraterrestrial demons to gain control over the world’s forces and eliminate the Yinshan clan, but playing with fire is too risky.”

Liuyu looked up, the vivid colors of the glass lamp casting a glow on her smooth nose and rosy lips.

“Have you seen an extraterrestrial demon? What do they look like?”

Mo Lin, stroking her cool hair, replied concisely:

“Ugly.”

A bloated body, a huge head, fleshy oral protrusions, slimy and twisted appendages—combining the ugliest features of all demons was the appearance of an extraterrestrial demon.

They lacked human reason and morality, knowing only invasion, survival, and reproduction.

Liuyu pondered:

“If extraterrestrial demons truly exist in Shenzhou, they must be hiding in uninhabited places under strict watch, otherwise, with their predatory nature, they would have already caused chaos.”

Liuyu’s head hurt from thinking because she couldn’t spare the energy to search for extraterrestrial demons now.

It was like a hidden mine that could explode at any moment.

If it did, immortal families would gather at Yashan to reinforce the Tianmen seal.

—But Liuyu still didn’t understand why her father disrupted the seal in front of everyone on the day of the sealing.

Because it happened publicly, with countless eyes witnessing, Jiu Fang Zhanghua dared to “righteously kill his teacher,” and the Jiu Fang family dared to attack the Yinshan clan.

If this couldn’t be figured out…

Liuyu felt this life might repeat past mistakes.

Mo Lin, noticing her expression, suddenly asked, “Do you want some water?”

Before lying down, he had placed a teapot by the bed. Liuyu, snapping back to reality, realized she was indeed parched from the earlier events in the pavilion.

She nodded.

Watching him sit up, Liuyu noticed the whip and knife scars on his back, her gaze softening.

Instead of handing her the tea, Mo Lin drank it himself, then leaned down and passed it to her mouthful by mouthful.

Their lips and tongues intertwined with the faint scent of tea, and the overflow trickled down her long neck, passing over their joined parts.

Liuyu couldn’t take it anymore, murmuring:

“Enough…”

“Only you can say enough.” He hooked her pale leg, pressing down gently but firmly. “Liuyu, why do you always get enough so quickly?”

Outside the half-open window, there was the sound of wind, cicadas, and the gentle murmur of water.

Both body and mind…

Liuyu felt she was melting into the passionate storm, unable to spare a thought for those heavy, unsolvable problems.

He held her tightly in his arms, his back pressed against her chest.

Liuyu glanced down, feeling a mix of resistance and difficulty as she tried to pull away.

“No, Mo Lin, you mustn’t…”

It was already close.

He greedily leaned in further, wanting her to possess a second sword.

“Yes.”

His slightly sweating nose touched her ear, his breath low.

“Don’t be afraid. In the future, through fire and mountains, step on me to get through. Power, fame, wealth, I’ll help you fight for it. As long as you ring the bell… Even if I have only one breath left, I’ll crawl to you, Liuyu. You can do anything, accomplish anything.”

The unprecedented intensity made Liuyu grip the bedcovers tightly.

Her breath and soft moans shattered, her completely still mind left with only pure pleasure, nothing else.

She trembled, quietly crying in his embrace.

Mo Lin slowly and gently licked away all of her tears.

—-

Three quarters of the hour had passed.

As agreed, Xiang Li Hualian arrived to deliver medicine and check Liuyu’s pulse.

The heavy curtains fell, and Liuyu, wearing a loose moon-white robe, barely rested with her eyes closed, leaving one arm outside for Xiang Li Hualian to examine.

“…”

Xiang Li Hualian slowly raised her head, her gaze falling on the marks on her arm and the faint bite marks visible under her collar.

She hesitated, struggling to speak.

“Your body hasn’t fully recovered yet, Miss Ji Mo. It’s better to be more restrained… at least control the number of people involved.”

The number?

Liuyu opened her eyes, curious, and asked, “Can this really be detected through pulse?”

Xiang Li Hualian took her question as confirmation, her face flushing with a mixture of blue and red.

She stared at Liuyu, seemingly unable to reconcile the image of the woman before her with someone who had spent a night with multiple men.

“…Of course it can.”

She tried to appear nonchalant, as though she had seen it all before.

“It must have been… two or three, right? Miss Ji Mo is young and strong, which is understandable. But the poison hasn’t been fully cleared, and the disordered qi flow in your body due to indulgence has caused some complications. You should have recovered after three days of medicine, but now you’ll need five. This medicine is unpleasant, so you should be extra careful these days.”

Liuyu suppressed a smile and nodded.

“By the way.”

Liuyu took a small stone from the mustard bag by her pillow and handed it to Xiang Li Hualian, who was slowly retracting the Hundred Herb Vine.

Xiang Li Hualian spread it out to see what it was.

It turned out to be the official seal of the Xiang Li family.

The qi flow on the seal had already dissipated, and Liuyu had not infused her own qi into it.

Xiang Li Hualian gazed at her, confused.

“In a few days, we’ll go take over the Xiang Li family in Longdui City. You’ll have to go with us in person. Some things are easier to convey if it’s done by your own people.”

Liuyu lay sideways under the thin blanket.

Her features were ordinary, but her expressions were full of captivating charm.

“If we want to speak, we need to have a legitimate identity, don’t you think? Xiang Li Family Head.”

After a long pause, Xiang Li Hualian finally snapped out of her shock.

“…Me? You want me to become the head of the Xiang Li family? But how can you really allow someone from the Xiang Li family to become the head? Aren’t you afraid I might betray you? Aren’t you afraid I might join forces with the Xiang Li family to go against you? After all, I’m from the same clan…”

Liuyu slowly sat up, pulling the low table closer, resting lazily against it as she listened to her speak.

“Sometimes, blood relations can be quite strong, just like the relationship between you and your brother, Xiang Li Ling. But sometimes, family members and strangers on the road—even enemies—are no different, like you and Xiang Li Shen.”

“If I want to use you, I have some trust in you. I believe you won’t betray me, right?”

Xiang Li Hualian stared at Liuyu in a daze.

Actually, before coming today, she had been somewhat displeased with Liuyu’s arrangement of having two demons constantly monitor her, thinking that Liuyu was worried she’d betray her after reading the “Xian Nong Quan Shu.”

But today, Liuyu handed her the genuine family head seal. What did that mean?

She certainly knew that Xiang Li Shen’s wealth and resources were controlled by Miss Ji Mo.

But the Xiang Li family had tens of thousands of people, with six hundred cultivators in Longdui City.

Whether it was people who had helped her and her brother when they were young, or those who had bullied them after their parents’ deaths, the future of these people, even their lives, were now in her hands.

This was power.

It was the first time she had ever had power in her life.

At this moment, Xiang Li Hualian felt that she didn’t need to worry about any possibility of betrayal from Liuyu because all she felt right now was—

If only she had come a little earlier.

Maybe her brother wouldn’t have had to die, and she wouldn’t have to carry so many debts of life.

Xiang Li Hualian nodded slowly, tears in her eyes.

Tai Ping City hadn’t been under the Xiang Li family’s control for long, and the clean-up was quick.

When Fang Fu Cang returned from his patrol, Liuyu had just ordered Cha Ming to burn all the remaining Wulianghai stock outside the waterside pavilion. The bitter and unpleasant smell overshadowed the fragrance of the lotus flowers in the pond. Amidst the smoke and mist, the Xiang Li family’s cultivators knelt outside the pavilion.

He was about to speak when he saw Liuyu’s nose twitch.

“You’ve been drinking?”

Her sense of smell was so sharp; no wonder the headmaster didn’t allow him to smoke in front of the headmistress.

“I had a few drinks. The local gentry, wealthy families, and merchants in Tai Ping City have been inquiring about the Ji Mo family’s origins and your preferences. I managed to deflect most of them, but when there were too many questions, I went to a song house for a brief rest.”

Fang Fu Cang clasped his hands respectfully.

“Everything was said according to what the lady instructed.”

To be precise, it was Moon Lady who gave the instructions.

The Ji Mo family’s origins, where their fortress was built, who the influential people in the family were—these details were all fabricated by Moon Lady, so thoroughly that it almost seemed like the Ji Mo family had a tragic history of decline.

So, no matter how much the people in Taiping City suspected the suddenly emerging Ji Mo clan, Fang Fucang responded fluently to all their queries.

Liuyu propped her chin on her hand and tapped her cheek, saying, “What about those rebel followers of Xiangli Shen who were causing trouble in the city?”

“They’ve all been dealt with,” Fang Fucang glanced at the six or seven hundred cultivators kneeling below, his voice slightly louder, “Commander Wuzhi handled it personally. The mastermind was killed on the spot. The young lady from the Fa clan… ahem, the girl from the Fa clan is interrogating the remaining followers. Those with severe crimes are executed, but the others will be imprisoned for six months and then released.”

The “young lady from the Fa clan” referred to the ghost girl. He almost forgot that revealing the identities of the twelve Nasim gods here was not allowed.

Liuyu nodded.

Seeing that the batch of Wu Liang Hai in the fire pit was almost burned up, she instructed Chao Ming to pour in the second batch.

She looked at the kneeling cultivators in the courtyard and said, “Our Ji Mo clan is small and has few people, so compared to those large noble clans, we don’t have many rules. We don’t accept the useless, but apart from that, whether you are a demon, a ghost, or have previously served other noble clans, you are welcome here.”

“Regardless of whether you want to join us, I’ll first explain the benefits here.”

“First, I will pay you according to the work you do. Not more, not less. You won’t be asked to eat Wu Liang Hai and act as dead soldiers, but if you betray or slack off, there’s only one path—death.”

“Second, in the future, Ji Mo clan will establish its own Daoist academy. Your spouses, children, and even yourselves can study the classics of the Xiangli clan there. The tuition won’t be too high. It won’t be limited to those of noble status; commoners, merchants, slaves, and craftsmen can also join. If you can’t accept this—either endure it or leave.”

“Third, although our Ji Mo clan is not yet strong enough to recommend people to the Lingyong Academy, in the future, if we qualify, we will recommend talented cultivators just like the Yinshan clan.”

After she finished speaking, the Xiangli cultivators kneeling below remained silent.

After a long while, someone turned to the person next to him and said, “Does eating Wu Liang Hai cause hallucinations?”

The person beside him punched his shoulder, making him grimace in pain.

“You’ll know whether it’s a hallucination if you take a look at the Ji Mo clan’s fortress in Longque City.”

Liuyu picked up her tea cup and blew away the tea froth.

The Kunshan Tiger Mei tea was incredibly fragrant. The tea grown by the Xiangli clan was much better than the outside tea.

“The farmers in your Xiangli clan manor, many of them are now working in my fortress. I’ll tell them the same things I told you today. If you’re not satisfied, leave behind the Xiangli family’s belongings and take your people away. No one will stop you here.”

Liuyu raised her eyes and said with a half-smile, “After all, when those farmers took Wu Liang Hai that day, I discovered that several of them had talents surpassing most of you present. If the same resources were invested in them, they might become quite capable.”

Fang Fucang glanced at Liuyu.

Hey.

Those working here can’t take such words lightly.

Sure enough, someone immediately said, “I’ll stay! I’m at the fifth stage!”

“I’m also at the fifth stage! I don’t care about noble or humble status, demon or ghost! I don’t even need to attend the Daoist academy, I can start working right away!”

“I’m at the sixth stage! I can take a lower salary, but can my two children join your Daoist academy?”

“Lower salary my foot! Traitor! Don’t scheme behind our backs here—”

Chao Ming and his team took notes for most of the day and finally calculated the results. Among the more than seven hundred remaining Xiangli cultivators, five hundred and thirty-nine decided to stay, including nine at the seventh stage, over a hundred at the sixth stage, and the rest at various stages from the fifth to the fourth.

With such strength, the long-empty Ji Mo clan finally looked a bit respectable.

After dealing with the matters in Taiping City, Liuyu immediately arranged the trip to Longdui City.

Strike while the iron is hot.

Now that Xiangli Shen’s head-seven days haven’t passed, taking down the Xiangli clan’s main family would mean essentially controlling Longdui City.

Unfortunately, although Liuyu’s plans were ideal, reality wouldn’t let her take two cities so easily and smoothly.

—On the night before departure, a letter from the Shentu clan arrived at their residence in Taiping City.

The Shentu clan, who controlled six cities along the demon ghost Great Wall border and dominated a region, along with the eldest son of the Jiufang family, Jiufang Zhanghua, and the second son, Jiufang Shaogeng, extended an invitation to the newly emerging head of the Ji Mo clan.

They invited her to a discussion at Luoshui to discuss the division of the Xiangli clan in Longdui City.

Liuyu stared at the characters on the letter and suddenly curled her lips.

These were written by Jiufang Zhanghua.