Mo Caihuan worried that something might be wrong with the two of them and asked anxiously, "Senior, are you saying some trait of mine attracted them?"
"Isn't that a good thing?" Food Immortal said. "They trust you, so let them put up the money and effort to take control of the Teleportation Array. It'll make traveling between the two places easier for us later."
"I'm worried their masters will find out and come after me."
Food Immortal could not help with that. He could only hazard a guess at the cause, not solve the problem.
At the tavern, Hua Jianqing had already noticed something wrong with Chen Bufei. While urging his friend to drink, he took the opportunity to examine him.
Hua Jianqing knew a little medicine, and there was something abnormal within his friend's divine sense.
Since something was wrong, he could not stand idly by. He had a waiter notify Chu Fangfang and ask her to come pick up her fiancé.
When Chu Fangfang arrived, Hua Jianqing struck from behind and subdued her. A chain restriction formed from magic power bound her limbs, leaving her unable to move.
"Fellow Daoist Hua, what are you doing?" Chu Fangfang stood rigidly in place, unable to move. She had never expected her husband's friend to ambush her.
"Forgive me, but to save you and Academician Chen, I had no choice but to resort to this," Hua Jianqing apologized. "Afterward, I will certainly come bearing thorns on my back to beg forgiveness, and submit to whatever punishment you two see fit."
Chu Fangfang snapped, "Save us? What a joke."
"Haven't you noticed anything wrong?" Hua Jianqing said. "I examined Academician Chen's divine sense and found it entangled in strands of strange pink thread. If I'm not mistaken, you must have them in your head too. This certainly has something to do with Mo Caihuan."
"Mind your own business."
"You blame me now, but you'll be thanking me soon," Hua Jianqing said with a smile. He examined Chu Fangfang's nascent soul as well, only to find it perfectly clean, without a single thread.
"How can that be?" Hua Jianqing frowned, his face full of bewilderment. As he thought it over, his expression shifted again and again. Finally, he sucked in a cold breath and said, "It was you?!"
Chu Fangfang's eyes turned icy, as though she wanted to kill him to silence him.
Hua Jianqing knew his guess was right. The threads in Chen Bufei's head were Chu Fangfang's handiwork. Puzzled, he asked, "I don't understand. Aren't you his fiancée? Aren't the two of you very close?"
"It's precisely because we're close that this is necessary." Chu Fangfang stopped pretending. "Only this way can everyone be happy."
Hua Jianqing's expression changed again as he realized what Chu Fangfang intended. His extensive experience in pleasure houses and entertainment quarters had taught him that some women preferred their own sex to men. Clearly, he had met one now. "You want to control Academician Chen so you and Mo Caihuan can be together?"
"When the time comes, Sister Mo and I will both marry him. In name, the three of us will be loving Dao companions, but in private, he'll serve as our shield while my sister and I love each other," Chu Fangfang said. "You wouldn't understand."
"Of course I understand," Hua Jianqing said gravely. "It's nothing but selfishness. You want the whole world to revolve around you, and everything to go your way. Even if it means hurting your own fiancé for a mortal."
To cultivators, hurting a cultivator for a mortal was as ridiculous as a mortal hurting another human for a pet dog.
"If I think it's worth it, then it's worth it," Chu Fangfang said. "You'd better keep your nose out of this. Otherwise, neither White Dew Academy nor Mount Li Academy will know peace-not even their chickens and dogs."
Hua Jianqing fell silent. He knew Chu Fangfang had an exceptional background. Her father was the Prefect of Nan Commandery, a man of high rank and great power, and her master was the Wine Butterfly Fairy, one of the Four Rogue Cultivators. The fairy had three great loves: fine wine, butterflies, and fiercely protecting her own.
Only such an environment could have raised a young mistress so spoiled, willful, and selfish.
He had heard before that Chu Fangfang had a bad temper, but had thought it merely a rumor. Now it seemed she was the genuine article. Academician Chen really was unlucky to be betrothed to her.
Chen Bufei came from an ordinary background, and his family were all ordinary people. Had his spiritual root not been discovered while he was studying, he would never have had any connection to White Dew Academy. Even after entering the academy, it was only through diligent study and outstanding performance that he had earned the chance to catch the Prefect's eye and become the key figure in a marriage alliance between the Prefect and White Dew Academy.
But he was too upright, too naïve. He had no idea how wild these wealthy young masters and mistresses could be.
"Brother Chen, oh, Brother Chen, you're no match for them. You belong to two entirely different worlds." Hua Jianqing felt nothing but sympathy. "As long as you agree to leave Brother Chen alone, I'll release you."
"He's my fiancé. His future is mine to decide. Who do you people think you are? What right do you have to interfere with me?" Chu Fangfang said. "I won't hurt him. I've only placed a few restrictions on him so he won't disturb my life with Sister Mo. It's not your place to fuss over this."
Hua Jianqing stared into Chu Fangfang's cold eyes and realized she meant it. She truly would not listen to reason.
"Forget it. Brother Chen will have to pray for his own good fortune." He decided not to meddle in this complicated love triangle and sent out a strand of magic power to undo the chains binding Chu Fangfang.
Free again, Chu Fangfang gave a cold snort and asked, "Where's Chen Bufei?"
"Right next door," Hua Jianqing said.
Chu Fangfang turned and left, leaving him to continue drinking.
She found the unconscious Chen Bufei in the next room and took him straight back.
After watching the two leave, Hua Jianqing felt thoroughly miserable and kept drinking. He drank all night, growing more alert with every cup, and angrier with every cup.
Only after drinking every drop of liquor in the mortal tavern did he decide to do something. Was he really going to watch Chu Fangfang do whatever she pleased? Just because her father was the Prefect and her master was one of the Four Rogue Cultivators, did he have to bow his head before their power?
No! I can't swallow this humiliation.
Of course, he did not dare challenge Chu Fangfang directly either, so he came up with a plan. He sent Mo Caihuan an anonymous letter exposing the selfish true face beneath Chu Fangfang's sweet, obedient, and beautiful exterior.
After finishing the letter, Hua Jianqing left ahead of the others. He was only an ordinary disciple of Mount Li Academy and did not dare offend the young mistress.
Mo Caihuan found the envelope in her room and thought it strange. The doors and windows were completely intact, yet the letter was sitting right on her desk. She looked around the room. Nothing else had changed; there was simply one extra letter.
She read it twice but found no signature.
"So that's it. I was flattering myself. It was all because of Chu Fangfang." Mo Caihuan had thought Chen Bufei and Chu Fangfang were drawn to her because her overbearing qi was spilling out, but it turned out that Chu Fangfang was the one calling the shots among the three of them.
"She's been controlling the pace all along. She even used a spell to control Academician Chen. What a frightening woman." Mo Caihuan grew afraid, worried that the young mistress might lose her temper and take both her life and Chen Bufei's.
"Hahaha!" Food Immortal, however, was delighted. "I never expected she'd rather act against her fiancé than against you. What an unexpected turn of events. Haha, I'm starting to admire this little lady. How interesting."
"Don't you think she's dangerous?"
"Danger is commonplace in the cultivation world. You'll have to get used to it," Food Immortal said calmly. "I think you're Young Mistress Chu's pet dog now, and she loves her pet more than her own fiancé. Perhaps she'll be willing to spend more money on you, so we can activate the Teleportation Array. Ask for ten high-grade spirit stones first."
One high-grade spirit stone was worth a hundred mid-grade spirit stones, or ten thousand low-grade spirit stones.
Mo Caihuan still felt the pressure. An uncontrollable young mistress-who knew what she would do next? Perhaps she would change her mind.
"Once you return to the Mo Kingdom, you'll be able to use your Hundred-Storehouse Immortal Art. And with high-grade spirit stones, your combat range will be greater too," Food Immortal said. "I suggest modifying the teleportation magic array here in Great Jin, turning it into a Multi-Level Magic Array as well."
"Why? Isn't the Teleportation Array here in perfect condition?"
Food Immortal could not help lecturing her. "And you call yourself a master chef. Haven't you heard the saying, 'If the cook doesn't steal, the five grains won't yield'?"
"I don't understand. What does being a master chef have to do with the Teleportation Array?"
Food Immortal could not help saying, "The difference between boiled eggs and scrambled eggs-do you understand? You really are slow on the uptake. With boiled eggs, one egg is one egg. However many eggs you have, that's how many boiled eggs you get. But scrambled eggs are different. Once you crack the eggs and beat them together, no one knows how many there were to begin with. If you originally had ten eggs but only scrambled eight, you could steal two. As a master chef, you ought to know something this simple inside out. Spirit Stones are no different from eggs."