Liu Mengjie looked somewhat agitated.
Jiang Yantian smiled. "You're that worried about me?"
Liu Mengjie raised her jade-like hand and smacked him. "Who else would I worry about? I'm being serious. If the sect master makes a move, you definitely won't be able to resist."
"Why don't you leave for a while first, all right? I'll keep an eye on things here and secretly send you word if anything happens."
Jiang Yantian seemed utterly unconcerned. Instead, he asked, "What do you see me as?"
Liu Mengjie didn't understand, but she still said, "You've already taken me. What do you think? Of course you're my husband!"
"I'd like to know your reasons!" Jiang Yantian looked intrigued.
Liu Mengjie looked at him, knowing that he still seemed to care a great deal about this.
"I'm not some fickle woman, drifting like water and swaying like willow catkins. I only married Hua Youque because my lineage demanded it. I had no power to resist."
"But as you just learned, my chastity mark was still there. Even after I married Hua Youque, nothing ever happened between us. I was still untouched."
"I used to think of nothing but drifting with the current, but I don't want to drift anymore. I want to live for myself..."
Liu Mengjie looked at Jiang Yantian with utter seriousness, a trace of pleading and nervousness in her voice. "I gave myself to you, and I'll only ever be your woman for the rest of my life. Will you... accept me?"
Jiang Yantian lifted her chin with his hand. "Do I look like an idiot to you?"
Not understanding, Liu Mengjie shook her head.
But she quickly reacted, thinking Jiang Yantian believed she was fooling him, and immediately moved to explain.
Instead, Jiang Yantian smiled. "You shook your head, which proves I'm not an idiot. In that case, with such a beautiful woman willing to be mine, would I refuse?"
"You want to live for yourself. I can help you. I promise that from now on, you won't suffer the slightest restriction."
"Just be your truest self. Don't worry about so-called rules or your lineage, and don't hold yourself to such strict standards!"
"I only want you to be able to slaughter whoever wrongs you without a care when you suffer injustice. If the sky falls, I'll hold it up!"
Jiang Yantian's words were incomparably domineering, melting Liu Mengjie's heart outright.
Liu Mengjie, who had always been treated like a tool, truly experienced what it felt like to be protected and cherished.
Overcome with excitement, she wrapped her arms around Jiang Yantian's neck and kissed him hard.
Only after a long time did they part.
Liu Mengjie returned to the matter at hand. "Yantian, you really need to guard against the sect master and Hua Youque. They really might make a move."
Jiang Yantian looked indifferent. "I've known for ages."
"Huh?" Liu Mengjie was somewhat surprised.
"I knew from the moment that old dog Lu Ming learned my natal treasure was the Heaven-Suppressing Pearl."
"He's wanted to kill me and seize my treasure all along, because he knows that once he gets the Heaven-Suppressing Pearl, the Mysterious Spirit Sect will have no rivals in the Lower Realm's Nine Provinces."
"He'll also leap straight to being the strongest in the Spirit Transformation Stage, the number one beneath Void Refining!"
Liu Mengjie instinctively covered her little mouth, deeply astonished. "Is the Heaven-Suppressing Pearl really that terrifying?"
Jiang Yantian nodded. "Yes, of course. Calling the Heaven-Suppressing Pearl the heart of the Heavenly Dao wouldn't be an exaggeration. Unfortunately, his beautiful dream can only remain a dream."
"The reason he doesn't dare attack me directly is also fear. If he fails to kill me instantly, all he'll get in return is the extermination of his entire clan and bloodline!"
"So don't worry. I simply can't be bothered to kill him for now. As long as he can keep up the act, what's the harm in letting him sit in the sect master's seat?"
"These things aren't my goal!"
Jiang Yantian truly had no interest in playing with Lu Ming.
He still had to shear Ye Feng's wool for all it was worth before the Humiliation Points he could yield dropped to their lowest.
Otherwise, once Ye Feng's Dao heart shattered completely and he had no dignity left, there would barely be any Humiliation Points to gain.
At that point, his value would lie in killing him for one final haul of Humiliation Points.
After that, he would have to wait for the next Child of Fortune to appear.
He couldn't be certain how long that would take, either. It might be soon, or it might take a very long time.
Hearing Jiang Yantian say this, Liu Mengjie relaxed completely.
As long as her man knew what he was doing!
After another spell of tenderness, Jiang Yantian finally dressed, held Liu Mengjie in his arms, and gave her a deep kiss before leaving first.
As Liu Mengjie watched Jiang Yantian leave, intense love shone on her lovely face.
"Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the *-required mission. Your reward has been issued: the Innate Spirit Treasure, the Twelfth-Grade World-Destroying Black Lotus!!!"
"That's fucking awesome!"
"Of course. The Black Lotus emits a purple-black barrier to protect its master. You can also stand upon its lotus pedestal to defend against all spells and weaken all attacks!"
"It can also emit purple-black light to replenish its owner's magical power and project scenes of an Asura world-destruction to terrify minds and disrupt Dao hearts. It can attack from afar with world-destroying light and absorb savage Qi to aid in tempering the heart and cultivation."
"That achieves the same result as my cultivation technique through different means. Doesn't that make me invincible!"
"You could say that. Host, you can take on more 'lewd' missions. The rewards are generous!"
"What are you implying? I read the Spring and Autumn Annals!" Jiang Yantian retorted.
"Ding! Hearing your words is better than reading the Spring and Autumn Annals. In recognition of the host's thick skin, Humiliation Points +5,000."
"?"
While Jiang Yantian was committing the "crime of comfort," Hua Youque, the Pill Lineage elder with green above his head, was raging in his secret chamber.
His fury wasn't because "raindrops fell upon the green, green grass," but because of his daughter, Hua Jiao.
Ye Feng had already recounted everything exactly as it had happened.
From the moment Ye Feng began telling Hua Youque, he had been raging, smashing things nonstop.
It left Ye Feng only daring to cower in a corner, trembling.
He was terrified of being caught in it.
Her injuries hadn't even healed yet.
"Elder-no, Master, you must calm down!" Ye Feng urged.
Hua Youque's hair was disheveled now, and he had none of his usual imposing presence. He looked more like a decrepit Bi Deng!
For the white-haired to bury the black-haired was already impossible to accept.
Especially after hearing Ye Feng's account and learning how horribly his daughter had died, how could he endure it as a father?
"Jiaojiao, my daughter, my daughter! It's all your father's fault, all my fault! I shouldn't have let you go to the Forbidden Ground."
"If you hadn't gone to the Forbidden Ground, that beast wouldn't have tortured you until your body and soul were annihilated!"
"How am I supposed to answer to your mother? My daughter!!!"
Hua Youque stopped smashing things. Instead, he sat amid the wreckage, pounding his chest and stamping his feet, sobbing too hard to speak as the savagery around him grew ever stronger.
"Master, restrain your grief. We should pull ourselves together and fight our enemy together. We'll use Jiang Yantian's head to honor Jiaojiao's spirit in heaven."
Ye Feng hurried to persuade him as well.
Hua Youque stopped crying, but the tear tracks remained clear.
In a flash, he appeared beside Ye Feng and abruptly seized him. "Ye Feng, do you dare swear to the Heavenly Dao that every word you've said is true?"
Hua Youque wasn't stupid, either. At a time like this, he had even less room to act rashly. He didn't want Ye Feng using him as a tool to take revenge on Jiang Yantian.
Ye Feng's heart lurched. He truly hadn't expected this old geezer to be so cautious.
But Ye Feng wasn't afraid, either. He decisively drew his longsword and cut his hand.
"I, Ye Feng, hereby swear a Blood Oath to the Heavenly Dao today. If anything I have said is false, let ghosts and demons refine and burn me, let humans and gods alike slaughter me, and let me never enter reincarnation for all eternity!"