I'm not, I didn't, stop it

Taishang Laojun's eyelid twitched violently. He finally understood why Haotian had been crying in Lingxiao Palace like a three-hundred-pound child.

Once you got tangled up in this karma, you couldn't shake it off.

There was simply no reasoning with it.

[Ding! New debt-collection boss detected. Host's sense of justice is overflowing!]

[Divine Choice triggered!]

[Option One: Admit your mistake to Laojun and return the Peach Tree. Reward: Tao Te Ching Manuscript (Hypnosis Edition).]

[Option Two: Drop the tree and run away immediately. Reward: Wind-Fire Wheels Trial Card (Half an Hour).]

[Option Three: Identify him as the mastermind behind it all, steal his ox, yank out his whisk, and clean out his house! Reward: Pangu Banner (Fragment), attached to the milk bottle, unlocking the "Break All Laws" attribute!]

Xiruan's little mouth stretched all the way to her ears.

Was there even a choice? It had to be three!

Rob him!

[Ding! Host has made a choice. Reward issued!]

A faint, barely perceptible strand of mystic light merged into the milk bottle. The ancient patterns on the bottle seemed to grow sharper.

"Old man! Lookin' all kind and gentle, but who knew your heart was so black!" Xiruan pointed a little hand. "You're their biggest boss!"

Taishang Laojun took a deep breath and decided he couldn't let her keep causing trouble.

He waved his hand.

A scroll unfurled, swirling with black and white energy, containing infinite Dao resonance. It instantly enveloped the entire ruined Pantaoyuan.

The Primordial Treasure Taiji Diagram!

As the diagram spread, time and space froze. Earth, fire, wind, and water reverted to primordial chaos.

He only wanted to trap this little menace and take her back to Bajing Palace to slowly educate her.

Xiruan looked up at the enormous black-and-white circle above her head. Instead of being afraid, she grew even more excited.

"Oh! You dare fight back?"

"Watch me take your crappy mat too!"

She swung the milk bottle in her hand up toward the Taiji Diagram.

"Boom—!"

The milk bottle slammed solidly into the Taiji Diagram.

Taishang Laojun's pupils abruptly contracted.

That diagram, famed as the number one defensive treasure capable of stabilizing all primordial creation, trembled violently under the milk bottle's heavy blow.

The aura of the Pangu Banner!

This milk bottle contained the power of the Pangu Banner!

Taishang Laojun completely lost his composure.

Where the hell did Tongtian get a monster of a daughter like this?!

Xiruan, failing to break through with one hit, raised the milk bottle again for another strike.

"St... stop!" Taishang Laojun hastily withdrew the Taiji Diagram.

If she hit it again, even if his precious scroll didn't shatter, it would be severely damaged.

"Scared?" Xiruan lifted her little chin, smug and triumphant. "If you're scared, then tell me where your house is! I'll go collect compensation myself!"

Taishang Laojun's lips trembled. He couldn't utter a single word.

He didn't dare say it.

He was afraid that if he said Doushuai Palace, the roof of Doushuai Palace would be gone the next second.

Seeing him silent, Xiruan sniffed the air hard with her little nose.

"Hmph, you won't say it, but I know anyway!"

Her little finger pointed in a certain direction.

"The smell of your pills is drifting all the way over there!"

"Wash your neck and wait. This young lady is coming to your house... to rob the rich!"

With that, she slung the Qiankun Cauldron over her back, hoisted the giant milk bottle, and flew off furiously toward Doushuai Palace.

Leaving Taishang Laojun and his Green Ox standing in the devastated Pantaoyuan, utterly dumbfounded.

Doushuai Palace. Immortal mist swirled, purple qi came from the east.

Xiruan followed the tantalizing scent of pills as she sped along.

Soon, a magnificent golden palace appeared before her eyes. Even more imposing than that village bully Haotian's home.

"This accountant must have embezzled a ton of money!" Xiruan's little face turned serious as she delivered her verdict.

She swaggered up to the door.

Two jade-carved little Dao boys stood guard at the entrance, one gold and one silver, both dozing off.

"Hey! Open up! Rent collector's here!" Xiruan bellowed.

Golden Horn and Silver Horn jolted awake, rubbing their eyes to see a baby in a red bib a head shorter than them.

"What brat dares to make trouble at Doushuai Palace?" Golden Horn planted his hands on his hips.

"Scram, or we'll toss you into the furnace for alchemy!" Silver Horn chimed in.

Xiruan frowned.

Two more lackeys.

She didn't bother with words, hoisting her milk bottle and swinging left and right.

Thump!

Thump!

Two dull impacts.

Golden Horn and Silver Horn's eyes rolled back, each sporting a milk-bottle-shaped lump on their heads as they passed out.

"Hmph, won't listen."

Xiruan kicked the palace doors open, and the thick fragrance of elixirs washed over her, making her squint in contentment.

Following the scent, she pattered into a great hall.

At the center stood a massive Eight Trigrams Furnace, its flames roaring.

Shelves lining the walls were packed with Purple Gold Gourds of all sizes.

"Wow! Such a big kitchen! So many candy jars!"

Xiruan's eyes sparkled as she ran to a shelf and pulled down a gourd.

She popped the stopper and tipped it into her palm.

A few gleaming golden pills rolled out, their medicinal aura condensed and unbroken, manifesting phantom dragons and tigers.

Nine Revolutions Golden Elixir!

"Candy Bean!"

Xiruan pinched one and tossed it into her mouth, crunching it with a crack.

A surge of medicinal power, a hundred times purer than a 9000-Year Peach, exploded inside her, washing through her limbs and bones.

"Burp... tastes good, but a bit hard."

[Ding! Detected host confiscating illegal gains from a crooked accountant!]

[Triggered Divine-Level Sweep Option!]

[Option One: Take just one gourd, a light taste. Reward: One Moral Model Banner.]

[Option Two: Eat until full. Reward: One Thousand-Year Constipation Experience Card.]

[Option Three: Take it all! Gourds, pills, shelves—everything that can be moved, move it! Paying off your father's debt is nothing to be ashamed of! Reward: Nine Revolutions Mystic Art (Beginner's Chapter)!]

"Option Three! Has to be Option Three!"

Xiruan waved her little hand and summoned the Qiankun Cauldron, aiming its mouth at the room full of Purple Gold Gourds.

"Collect!"

A terrifying suction force erupted from the cauldron.

Whoosh—

Gourds flew off the shelves in droves into the cauldron, even the ten-thousand-year warm jade shelves themselves were sucked in.

In the blink of an eye, the once-packed alchemy hall was cleaner than Xiaotian Dog's tongue had ever licked.

"My elixirs!!!"

A wretched scream rang out.

Taishang Laojun had just arrived, only to witness the scene that shattered his Dao Heart.

He pointed at Xiruan, trembling, his lips quivering.

Those were the immortal pills he had refined over countless kalpas—the entire strategic reserve of the Heavenly Court!

Just... gone?

"Bad accountant, you're back?" Xiruan clapped her hands, utterly unrepentant. "Your candy beans, I'm confiscating them for my dad to pay off his debt!"

She pointed at the empty alchemy hall. "This is just the interest! What else do you have that's valuable? Sheets and pillowcases—I'll take those too!"

Taishang Laojun's vision went dark, and he nearly ascended to sainthood on the spot from rage.

He felt like he wasn't facing a baby, but a Taotie—a lawless primordial beast of chaos!