The next day.
"Knock, knock, knock-"
Several clear knocks came from outside the door, breaking the room's silence. They were neither hurried nor slow, yet carried an indescribable eeriness. Xiao Yan and Yao Lao exchanged a glance, each seeing the wariness in the other's eyes.
Outside, Xiao Yi stood with an ill-intentioned smile on his face, a smile that looked especially... punchable on his handsome features. He lightly licked his lips, his eyes gleaming with foxlike cunning, as though he could already see the fine show about to unfold.
Xiao Yan warily opened the door and found Xiao Yi leaning against the doorframe. To him, that familiar, teeth-grinding smile looked more dangerous than any savage, menacing expression.
"Yo, little brother Yan, and Elder Yao Lao. Busy cultivating?" Xiao Yi stepped into the room with a spring in his stride, his gaze circling between Xiao Yan and Yao Lao, who had manifested in midair. His tone was so casual that he might simply have dropped by for a chat.
Before Xiao Yan could ask anything, Xiao Yi poured out the whole story like beans tumbling from a bamboo tube: how he had "outwitted" Xiao Zhan, how he had concocted a hair-raising "follow-up to the ghost suppression," and the "truth" behind his declining Dou Qi.
He told it with dancing brows and sparkling eyes, as though he truly were a great hero who vanquished demons and slew fiends, utterly oblivious to Xiao Yan's tightly knotted brows. Yao Lao, meanwhile, looked thoughtful.
"...So, to put your old man completely at ease, and to let you carry on your grand career as a 'good-for-nothing' in peace, I've decided we need to put on a big show!" Xiao Yi clapped his hands, his face lighting up with a director's excitement.
After hearing him out, Xiao