This world was too dangerous-everyone had their wits about them

The Market District.

Jia Lie Ao sat inside the carriage with his legs crossed, smugness written all over his face.

Earlier, he had eavesdropped on Immortal Chen's thoughts, so he knew the man's entire plan.

Today's jar-opening affair, in particular, had made him even more certain that the man's plan was exactly what he had heard in those thoughts.

But soon, he ran into a problem.

If Immortal Chen's plan truly went off without a hitch, the man would become his greatest rival in Wutan City.

How can I quietly kill this bastard along the way without anyone knowing? With his current strength as a One-Star Dou Zhe, he wasn't even qualified to charge into the fray.

Of course, he could ask his ready-made father, Jia Lie Bi, to act, but that was far too risky. The man's methods were sophisticated and mysterious.

If things went off the rails and he lost Jia Lie Bi's protection, he probably wouldn't survive much longer either.

While he was racking his brains for a solution, the moving carriage suddenly stopped.

"What happened? Useless fools! You can't even keep a horse under control?" His train of thought disrupted, Jia Lie Ao couldn't help grumbling.

But no one answered, and a bad feeling rose in his heart.

The next second!

The carriage curtain was lifted.

As though he had seen something utterly terrifying, he swallowed hard and stammered, "S-senior, why are you here again?"

The visitor was none other than the Black-Robed Man, Ling Ying!

"Speak. Are you in cahoots with that Immortal Chen?"

"In cahoots? Senior, have you made a mistake? How could I possibly be in cahoots with him?"

"You still deny it? You swindled three hundred thousand gold coins out of me last time. Only today did I finally realize that you're his shills!"

Jia Lie Ao had wanted to explain.

But the man grabbed him and flew toward a small grove.

At that moment, he wanted to cry but had no tears. He hated himself for being so impulsive today, carelessly using up all his eavesdropping attempts.

Now he couldn't gain any insight into the Black-Robed Man's actions.

Is he going to kill me to silence me?

That makes no sense!

Even if I were a shill, that isn't a crime punishable by death! Besides, didn't I just pay him nine hundred thousand gold coins last time?

Unease, fear, anxiety... all sorts of unfamiliar emotions surged into his heart.

"Senior, please spare my life. I'm really not a shill." All along the way, Jia Lie Ao kept explaining and begging for mercy.

But Ling Ying gave no response.

As soon as they entered the grove, he tossed Jia Lie Ao onto the ground and said coldly, "Use your strongest moves. If you entertain me, perhaps I'll go a little easier on you later."

As the saying went, when standing beneath another's eaves, you had no choice but to bow your head.

Especially when the other man's strength far exceeded his own.

And so, he threw himself into his performance.

Although he was only a Dou Zhe, the destructive power he unleashed was still terrifying indeed...

At least, that was what the members of the chat group thought.

[Xiong Ba of the World Society: What kind of power is this? I can hear the air shaking even through the screen.]

[Never Self-Castrating Yue Buqun: I've truly been a frog at the bottom of a well. I was mocking Fellow Daoist Ling just now, but it turns out the clown was me all along.]

[Xiong Ba of the World Society: I haven't worked hard enough. I'm going into seclusion.]

[Never Self-Castrating Yue Buqun: Seclusion, seclusion. No more wasting time chatting.]

Reading the messages, Ling Ying was beside himself with delight. At last, he had held his head high for once.

Surely no one would dare look down on him again.

His goal had been achieved, so there was no need to keep livestreaming.

He closed the livestream.

Just as he was about to leave the group chat, the group owner suddenly posted a message.

[Omniscient and Omnipotent Great Immortal King: @everyone, new members will be joining our big family at nine tonight. Please give them a warm welcome when the time comes.]

[Romantic Eunuch Wei Xiaobao: Understood.]

[First Emperor Qin Shi Huang: Then I shall wait until nine tonight to send out my fine wine.]

He had become so engrossed in reading the messages that he completely forgot Jia Lie Ao was still working hard beside him.

He had to admit, the fellow was utterly lacking in stamina. After performing just four or five sets of Dou Techniques, he was drenched in sweat, his tongue hanging out as he gulped down great lungfuls of air.

His mood improved, Ling Ying abandoned his original plan to beat the man black and blue. He said evenly, "I'll spare your life for today. If I catch you acting as a shill to swindle people again, I won't be so merciful."

"Yes, yes, yes! I won't dare do it again. Thank you for your generosity, Senior."

"Mind how you conduct yourself..."

His voice drifted farther and farther away.

Only after confirming that the man had truly left did Jia Lie Ao climb up from the ground and spit in the direction Ling Ying had gone.

"Fucking bastard! If I weren't too weak to beat you, would I ever let a petty little shit like you lord it over me?"

As he cursed, something seemed to occur to him. A sharp gleam flashed in his eyes, and a plan to kill two birds with one stone immediately took shape in his mind.

The Xiao Clan's rear courtyard.

While Xiao Yan was walking Xiao Xun'er back, the girl kept asking what exactly had been inside the ninth jar.

Xiao Yan wanted to tell her, but he couldn't. That thing was far too unsuitable for children.

To keep the girl from asking any more questions, he specifically took a game console from the rewards he had obtained and handed it to her.

Only then did the girl happily return to her room.

Glancing up at the sky and seeing that it was still early, Xiao Yan decided to visit the Dou Technique Hall and bring back two or three Yellow Tier Cultivation Techniques for an experiment.

Along the way, he continued thinking over everything that had happened that day.

First was Jia Lie Ao. His behavior had been far too strange. From beginning to end, he seemed to have been trying to arrange a meeting between Xiao Yan and Immortal Chen.

If he was a transmigrator, he surely knew the latter's identity too.

Creating an opportunity like that had to mean he was plotting something!

Then there was Immortal Chen. From start to finish, he had kept pushing Xiao Yan to open jars, yet all the rewards had been game consoles, murder mystery games, lifelike dolls... things geared toward entertainment.

Clearly, the man had control over those jars. What came out of them was ultimately up to him.

If everything really was for Xiao Yan's benefit, as he claimed, he could simply have given him useful pills or other treasures.

Beyond that, there was one even bigger hole in his story: the way he had described the matter involving Yao Lao.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Xiao Yan stopped walking. He gradually realized that this world was far more complicated than he had previously imagined. Every transmigrator seemed to have their wits about them, proceeding steadily and cautiously.

It was fortunate that he was the one dealing with this. If it had been Xiao Yan before he took over his body, the boy probably wouldn't have survived even two episodes.

As he stepped out of the rear courtyard, he ran straight into someone.

It was none other than Old Xiao's direct subordinate, Pain!

"Third Young Master, I've cleared up everything you asked me to investigate." Before leaving the Market District, Xiao Yan had specifically sought him out and asked him to investigate Immortal Chen's exact origins.

That was because he remembered that, in the original novel, the protagonist had obtained a black iron fragment in the Market District. It contained Suction Palm, a Profound Tier Low Grade Dou Technique.

But when he went there today, he discovered that the stall from the story was gone...