Luo Qingdie? She Was Easy to Deal With!

"Who are we? We're her own father and mother." Luo's Father puffed out his chest and said, "Since ancient times, what child doesn't listen to their parents? All it takes is one word from me, and she'll obediently go over. She wouldn't dare talk back!"

"Exactly." Luo's Mother chimed in, "Don't be fooled by her being some Mahayana Stage cultivator or Sect Leader of Inquiry Sword Sect, looking all impressive. In front of us, she's just that little girl who grew up drinking my milk, whose shit and piss I wiped, running around at our feet."

"That was only natural." Yang Ruying nodded. "Under normal circumstances, I certainly wouldn't meddle, but Luo Qingdie's personality has changed drastically. Her past behavior may no longer be a reliable basis for judgment. Mere familial affection might not be enough, so I wanted to confirm... apart from blood ties, how is your relationship?"

"Immortal Master, don't worry. We treated that little girl wonderfully." Luo's Father looked utterly guiltless. "Ask around every village for ten miles—can you find even one person who says we treated our daughter badly?"

"Exactly." Luo's Mother continued backing him up. "Other parents are terribly harsh on their daughters. Who dotes on her like treasure the way we did? We never let her do any dirty or exhausting work, and we treated her just as well as her younger brother. If her brother had a new outfit, she had one too. If her brother had a bite to eat, she had a bite too. Everyone worried we'd spoil her rotten!"

"Is that so? That's good. But those were all matters from her childhood, weren't they? Luo Qingdie left home early, so she wasn't with you for very long, correct?" Yang Ruying asked again.

"It wasn't long, that's true, but we always worried about her." Luo's Father said, "Back then, when her master wanted to take her away, we refused no matter what. We were afraid she wouldn't fare well outside on her own."

"Right. We wanted to go with her, and if not, at least take her younger brother along, but that damned old man simply wouldn't agree." Luo's Mother said as well. "What a terrible fuss there was back then. When she left, we cried ourselves into tear-soaked messes at the doorway. She saw it all."

"And later, didn't we go looking for her?" Luo's Father said.

"Right, right, right. Inquiry Sword Sect was so far away! We walked for months on nothing but our two legs, all just to see her once. If that little girl still had even a shred of humanity, how could she not be moved?" Luo's Mother said. "She cried her eyes out then."

"Later, we repeatedly reminded her to come home more often. And afterward, didn't she bring back heaps of gifts every so often?" Luo's Father said. "If there weren't feelings between us, would she have listened so obediently?"

"And every time she came back, we praised her for being accomplished, capable, and a good daughter. She was happy too. We got along so harmoniously—how could our relationship be bad?" Luo's Mother said.

"So that was it. With such wonderful parents, no wonder Luo Qingdie remained so filial even after becoming Sect Leader." Yang Ruying nodded in satisfaction, feeling his odds of success rise considerably.

"I understand the feelings between you now, but I still want to know exactly what you intend to do." Yang Ruying said. "Suppose Luo Qingdie arrived right now, and you went to meet her after hearing the rumors. What would you say after meeting her? And how would you lure her into the trap?"

"That's simple! I'll demonstrate it for you, Immortal Master. Let's say Luo Qingdie is standing right here." Luo's Father pointed at an empty patch of ground. After gathering himself, his expression instantly turned fierce and savage.

Then he suddenly swung a slap at the air before him and said, "You wretched creature, what have you done?! The whole city is buzzing with it! They say you slaughtered innocents and were jealous of the worthy! Did we send you to Inquiry Sword Sect so you could do this? You've disgraced your mother and me completely!"

"Staring? You still dare stare at me?!" Luo's Father flew into a rage and gave another resounding slap. "What? You're going to kill your own father too? You've really made something of yourself, huh. Your wings have hardened, huh. Come on, kill me! Kill me!"

At this point, Luo's Mother walked over too, cursing loudly, "Old Ancestor was right—daughters are money-losing goods. I thought cultivating immortality would make you different, but you're still this kind of thing. I never should have given birth to you. Come on!"

Pretending to grab someone by the ear, Luo's Mother said, "Let's go. And you're asking why? Of course we're dragging you to the authorities to confess your crimes! Do you want to implicate us too?"

"Move!" Luo's Father kicked out as well and said, "Useless thing!"

After acting it out, the two finally stopped moving and said to Yang Ruying, "Something like that."

Yang Ruying: "..."

He stared blankly for a moment before recovering, then said hesitantly, "Isn't that... a little excessive? What if Luo Qingdie cannot bear the humiliation?"

"What's there to fear?" Luo's Father seemed not to have calmed down from his excited state and shouted, "She's my daughter. It's only right and proper for me to hit her! One time, the gifts she brought back weren't enough—"

Before he could finish, Luo's Mother quietly jabbed him with her elbow.

Only then did Luo's Father snap awake and say, "...One time, she came home too late and made us worry terribly. In a fit of anger, I cursed her first and then hit her, and she didn't dare make a single sound."

"Not to mention that this time, she was the one in the wrong first. What's wrong with me hitting her? I hit her because I love her!"

Yang Ruying frowned slightly, feeling that something was off.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "But her personality has changed, after all, and this plan cannot afford any mistakes. So what if—what if she truly fights back? What will you do?"

Luo's Father and Luo's Mother exchanged glances, then smiled again.

"That's simple too. It's troublesome to explain, so I'll demonstrate it again for you."

Pointing at the empty ground ahead, Luo's Father said, "Suppose Luo Qingdie were here, then got furious and started hitting and cursing us."

Luo's Father took a deep breath, then staggered back several steps. His eyes instantly reddened, and two tears fell as he said dully, "You hit me. You actually dare hit me? Good! Good! You've really made something of yourself! You even dare hit your father! You're the Sect Leader of Inquiry Sword Sect, a Mahayana Stage cultivator. An old thing like me has no right to control you anymore!"

Meanwhile, Luo's Mother plopped directly onto the ground, flailing her hands and feet as she wailed, "Help! My daughter is hitting her father and mother! Everyone, come look! She's going to beat me to death! How can there be such a thing in this world? What daughter hits her parents?! I might as well die. I may as well just die! What have I lived for all my life? If I'd known this would happen, I would've been better off aborting her! Waaah!"

Yang Ruying: "..."

After standing there dumbly for a while, he finally came back to himself and said, "Enough, enough. I understand now, you two. You don't need to keep acting."

Only then did the two change expressions as if flipping a face, revealing smug looks.

"Rest assured, Immortal Master. Once we start crying, no matter how angry she is, she'll have to obediently lower her head and apologize. Whatever we tell her to do, she'll do." Luo's Father said.

"Mm. I believe you. I believe in the methods of you two elders." Yang Ruying nodded with an odd expression. He had not expected these two to be so practiced and endlessly inventive when dealing with their own daughter.

He figured that anyone who still cared even a little about familial affection would be unable to withstand those two moves.

"Then I'll be relying on you two when the time comes. For now, go rest. Build up your strength properly." Yang Ruying said.

Thus, Luo's Father and Luo's Mother bowed and took their leave.

Yet for some reason, a strange feeling continued to linger in Yang Ruying's heart.

After hesitating for a moment, he still called over a subordinate, just in case, and said, "Go verify these two people's story with others. See whether there's anything suspicious in it."

The subordinate immediately accepted the order and withdrew to investigate.

Meanwhile, on the road to Qingyun City.

Chu Lu suddenly cried out and came to an abrupt halt.

Luo Qingdie said, "What's wrong with you now, Chu Lu?"

"Interdimensional Merchant! An Interdimensional Merchant! How did I forget such a satisfying opportunity?!" Chu Lu clutched his head and shouted.

Luo Qingdie looked utterly confused. "What second-level Daoist master?"

"Simply put, it means coming here to reap benefits from you." Chu Lu said. "You know I wasn't doing so well in my own world, right? I was only at the Late Qi Condensation Stage, and the cultivation method I practiced was flawed too."

"Yes, so?"

"But after coming here and having you at my back, I became an invincible Mahayana Stage cultivator!" Chu Lu said. "I can use this advantage to get a whole bunch of cultivation methods, choose the best one for myself to practice, then take the rest back and wholesale them for a fortune. Wouldn't that be my rise to greatness?"

This was actually something quite easy to think of.

It was just that Chu Lu's transmigration had been so abrupt, and he had been wholly focused on Luo Qingdie's affairs, that he had only realized it now.

After completing the mission, the Transcoding Function would be unlocked. But what exactly did it do? What price would have to be paid? Nobody knew. No matter how he looked at it, nothing beat getting something for free.

"Oh, right. Chu Lu, you're so clever." Luo Qingdie said. "I happen to have quite a few cultivation manuals and such in my Storage Ring. I can't use them anyway, so consider them your payment. Take whichever ones you like."

"Thanks." Chu Lu thanked her, then hurriedly opened the Storage Ring. The first thing he saw was a pile of pills.

There were pills that aided cultivation, strengthened the body, and awakened special abilities, but Chu Lu was in no hurry to take them.

After all, he was still in the state of possessing Luo Qingdie. If he ate them now, it would essentially still be Luo Qingdie eating them. He might as well wait until he completed the mission and left Luo Qingdie's body.

Then he saw a great many cultivation methods. After picking through them, he found a Qi Condensation cultivation method.

Since Luo Qingdie had kept this Qi Condensation cultivation method until now, she had naturally practiced it herself. It was the top-tier Qi Condensation cultivation method of Inquiry Sword Sect.

Chu Lu eagerly opened it, then froze.

Luo Qingdie said, "What is it?"

"I can't understand it."

"Huh? What part can't you understand? I can teach you."

"No, it's not that I can't understand the content." Chu Lu frowned deeply. "It's that I can't understand these characters at all."

"How could that be? These are all ordinary characters. Chu Lu, you can understand the storybooks from bookstalls, so how can you not understand cultivation manuals?"

"Hmm... it's probably the Chat Group's doing." After pondering for a while, Chu Lu said, "Maybe the Chat Group realized this loophole long ago and deliberately patched it. Otherwise, wouldn't the Transcoding Function be useless?"

"So that's it. But I can understand it. Why don't I just read it aloud to you?" Luo Qingdie suggested.

"Mm, I'll trouble you then."

However, once Luo Qingdie opened her mouth, the words coming from it turned into a string of incomprehensible gibberish.

So Chu Lu hurriedly told her to stop and explained the situation.

"That doesn't work either? The Chat Group is really cautious." Luo Qingdie complained. "Looks like there's no way around it."

"No, I still have a way." After thinking for a while, Chu Lu said, "We can encrypt it first, then decrypt it."

"Huh?"

Taking out the book he had bought earlier, The Story of Luo Qingdie and Me Fighting Desperately, Chu Lu said, "I can understand this book, so we can do it like this. For example, suppose the first character in this cultivation manual is 'king,' and the first occurrence of the character 'king' in this storybook appears on page three, line six, character five. Then you translate the first character of the cultivation manual into three-six-five. Continue like that and turn the whole cultivation method into numbers, then I'll translate it back. That way, we can bypass the Chat Group's restrictions."

"That's amazing, Chu Lu." Luo Qingdie exclaimed.

"Nothing much." Chu Lu was very modest. After all, this was merely the most basic knowledge of cryptography from his previous life.

After the two fiddled around for a while, they successfully translated the cultivation method into something Chu Lu could understand.

Looking at the cultivation manual titled Six Qi Palace Breaking Method, Chu Lu excitedly opened it and began reading, only to freeze again.

"Huh? Seek out the body's hidden treasures? Break through the lower six heavens and ascend the upper three heavens? Awaken the body's potential? Release the outer manifestation? What is all this supposed to mean?" Chu Lu looked completely lost.

"What's wrong? Isn't this an ordinary Qi Condensation cultivation method?" Luo Qingdie froze, then realized something and asked, "Don't you have this in your world?"

Chu Lu shook his head. "In our world, we temper qi and blood, then blend with the spiritual qi of the outside world to cultivate mana, which we store in the dantian."

"Really? So they're different?" Luo Qingdie was astonished. "But the realm names are clearly the same. Then can you cultivate it?"

After pondering for a while, Chu Lu said, "I don't know, but I suspect I probably can't. The reason the Chat Group blocked these cultivation manuals may not be to plug a loophole, but to protect us. People from different worlds cultivating methods from other worlds may face severe problems. And that Transcoding Function might not simply translate the words—it may transform the cultivation method's contents into a system corresponding to the recipient's world."

"But if that's the case, then doesn't that mean you can't take the pills either?" Luo Qingdie asked.

After all, these pills were all designed to go with their cultivation system.

"Maybe. At the end of the day, these are all guesses. We won't know whether they're right without actually trying." Chu Lu said.

"But you can't try right now, can you, Chu Lu?"

"Mm. We need to finish this mission quickly." A trace of urgency appeared in Chu Lu's eyes. "Get to Qingyun City quickly and settle this quickly! Whoever blocks us, we kill!"

"Um, well..." Luo Qingdie suddenly said.

"What is it?"

"Didn't you ask me before whether there was anyone I cared about? I gave you quite a few examples, but I just remembered that I seem to have left one person out."

"Who?"

"My grandmother."

Qingyun City.

Yang Ruying had just finished checking the formation. He confirmed the sentries stationed throughout every corner of the city, ensuring every detail was flawless and that the instant Luo Qingdie approached, he would receive a report.

Yet no matter how many times he inspected the place, the unease in his heart refused to dissipate.

At that moment, the subordinate he had sent out earlier returned. He leaned close and whispered into Yang Ruying's ear.

A moment later, Yang Ruying's expression changed slightly. "I knew it! Immediately bring that old man and old woman here!"