When Destiny Brings the Demon

Although Liao Tingyan found Sima Jiao's act of snatching a child's toy utterly shameless, her curiosity got the better of her, and she leaned in to take a look.

Sima Jiao lost interest after a while. Seeing the entire otter scoot closer to inspect it, he casually ruffled her fur before handing the object over to her. Liao Tingyan cradled the thing in both paws, studying it closely. What appeared to be an eye turned out to be a stone. As for why it glowed, she had no idea—this was a fantasy world, after all, where science couldn’t explain everything.

A strange creature serving as a street lamp opened its large mouth to snack on tiny flying insects, munching noisily. Liao Tingyan was tempted to take a closer look, but Sima Jiao showed no interest. Instead, he scanned the streets, seemingly searching for something.

She tugged at the long hair framing his cheek and pointed at the roadside lamp.

Sima Jiao: "What’s so interesting about that thing?"

You just snatched a kid’s toy—why didn’t you say the same thing then? What’s so interesting about a toy? Liao Tingyan grumbled inwardly before flying over to investigate on her own. The moment she reached the lamp, she nearly got licked by a massive tongue that suddenly extended from beneath it. The airborne otter screeched to a halt and hastily retreated, landing back on her ancestor’s shoulder.

Too much drool on that giant tongue. Not worth it.

After walking down another street, Liao Tingyan heard Sima Jiao click his tongue impatiently. Then, in a blur, he leaped onto a nearby rooftop before flashing to the top of a tall building.

She keenly noticed his gaze lingering on the brightest, liveliest part of the city. After a few seconds, he soared toward the most bustling street. As they drew closer, Liao Tingyan’s expression grew increasingly odd.

That street was filled with flowers—not just the floral kind, but also women flowers. In other words, it was a pleasure district.

Did this ancestor fly all the way here just to visit a brothel??? Wasn’t he supposed to be frigid and have kidney deficiency? Back then, so many stunning beauties were practically thrown at him, and he didn’t even blink. Has he changed his mind now, wanting to sample some wildflowers? What kind of midlife crisis script is this?

Sima Jiao turned his head and stared at Liao Tingyan for a long moment before darkly saying, "One more word, and I’ll strangle you."

Liao Tingyan: ...What did I say? Did I even make a sound just now?

"Ancestor... do you have mind reading ?" she asked. Could he have heard me thinking about his kidney deficiency?

Sima Jiao: "No."

He could only sense the true emotions in others’ hearts.

Liao Tingyan: "I didn’t say anything just now."

Sima Jiao: "You said it in your mind. And it was very noisy."

Liao Tingyan immediately started mentally cursing him.

Sima Jiao: "You’re cursing me."

She then began mentally listing all the male idols she had ever admired.

Sima Jiao started pinching her tail.

Liao Tingyan instantly stopped. Wait, are you sure you don’t have mind reading???

She yanked her tail back and randomly pointed somewhere. "Look, what’s that!"Sima Jiao glanced over and let out an ambiguous hum before flying in that direction. It was beneath a brightly lit pavilion where a group of young nobles were hosting a debauched feast, the scene utterly indecent. The moment Liao Tingyan saw it clearly, she instinctively raised her paws to cover her eyes, but quickly lowered them again. What was there to fear? This wasn’t modern society—there was no anti-pornography campaign here. These unsavory sights wouldn’t be pixelated, so she might as well take a good look and broaden her horizons.

Sima Jiao showed no intention of leaving either. He stood there with his arms crossed, looking down with cold disdain. "See that person?" he said.

Liao Tingyan followed his gaze and immediately felt her eyes sting—it was truly an eyesore.

"I see it. It’s a bit small," she remarked.

Sima Jiao: "Who told you to look there?"

Liao Tingyan: Oh? Then where did you want me to look?

As they spoke, the foppish young noble Sima Jiao had pointed at finished pulling up his pants and left. His under-eye circles were dark, his eyes murky, and his cheeks pale and sunken—a stark contrast to Sima Jiao’s own pallor. While Sima Jiao’s paleness carried an icy aura, this man’s looked greasy. The moment he turned around, Liao Tingyan caught a glimpse of a faint red mark on his back.

Ah, was that what he wanted her to see?

Sima Jiao followed him, trailing behind as the young noble swayed unsteadily, laughing and flirting with scantily clad women before finally heading to a dressing room inside the building to relieve himself. In such a den of extravagance, even going to the toilet came with the service of beautiful women helping to undo one’s pants—sometimes even more. Honestly, Liao Tingyan felt like even the most explicit adult films she’d seen in her past life paled in comparison to this.

If she had witnessed this scene alone, she might have felt embarrassed. But perched on the shoulder of Sima Jiao—who radiated nothing but disgust and murderous intent—she was too unnerved to feel anything else.

"Ohhh..." The debauched young master let out a satisfied sigh, tugging at the woman who had just cleaned him up. "You’re not bad. Come, let’s go back to the feast and keep playing." The woman batted her lashes seductively, pressing against him as they exchanged lewd banter.

Sima Jiao stepped forward and kicked the pair hard, sending them sprawling to the ground. He hadn’t held back—both instantly lost consciousness. He then grabbed the young master by the hair, yanking him up, and used his foot to pull aside the man’s clothes, revealing the faint red mark on his shoulder blade—shaped like a flame.

Seeing the flame, Liao Tingyan thought of that tiny ember. So this man was likely connected to the ancestor in some way.

Sima Jiao pressed his hand against the unconscious man’s head, closing his eyes as if searching for something. After a long moment, he suddenly snorted coldly. Flames erupted from his hand, engulfing the young master’s hair and swiftly consuming his entire body. In three seconds, nothing remained but a layer of ash—which Sima Jiao then swept away with a flick of his sleeve, leaving no trace behind.

Liao Tingyan: "..." Seems he was really angry.

Sima Jiao then transformed into the likeness of the now-deceased young master.

Liao Tingyan: What’s the ancestor planning? Infiltrating the enemy by impersonating someone else?

I thought he was the straightforward, brute-force type—didn’t expect him to go for subterfuge.Sima Jiao stuffed Liao Tingyan into his lapel, pressing her against his chest through a thin inner garment. He strode out, passing by the young women leaning against doors and sitting on brocade cushions, drinking and laughing as they greeted him, "Young Master Yan~" Some even tried to flirt and press closer, only to be smacked in the face by Sima Jiao's sleeve, their hair and makeup thoroughly disheveled. As he walked down the opulent corridor, a chorus of shrieks erupted in his wake.

He paid them no mind, swiftly moving past rooms and courtyards filled with laughter and revelry until he exited the pleasure den.

In the front building, a servant hurried forward upon seeing him. "Young Master, why are you leaving so early today?"

Aside from the servant, there was also a Core Formation cultivator acting as a bodyguard—a configuration that already indicated considerable status in this place.

Using the face of the weak-willed Yan Gongzi, Sima Jiao said, "Going back."

The original Yan Gongzi must have had a foul temper, as the servant, accustomed to such behavior, instinctively shrunk his neck and dared not say more. He ordered a carriage to be brought and helped Sima Jiao inside.

Once seated, Sima Jiao found two beautiful youths—a boy and a girl—already inside, accustomed to serving the real Yan Gongzi. They moved closer with practiced ease but were immediately rebuked by Sima Jiao.

"Get out."

The two retreated. Sima Jiao leaned back in the spacious carriage, his inky-black eyes flickering with faint crimson flames as if lost in thought. Liao Tingyan, nestled in his lapel, twitched her tail and peeked out at his unreadable expression before ducking back inside.

She had a feeling this ancestor was about to pull off something big.

Come to think of it, he had said from the very beginning that once they left Three Sage Mountain, he would kill everyone. These past few days, he hadn’t made any major moves, and she had assumed he’d given up after realizing how vast the Gengchen Immortal Mansion had become, with its population in the millions. But now, it seemed he might have other plans.

Whatever those plans were, they had nothing to do with her—after all, she was just an innocent otter now.

The Yan family residence was one of the largest mansions in the city. Someone like Yan Gongzi likely had family members serving as inner disciples in the Gengchen Immortal Mansion or held some other special status to enjoy such privileges.

Sima Jiao, impersonating someone else, carried himself with even more arrogance than the original weak-willed young master. As he entered the lavish Yan estate, he ignored the many people bowing and greeting him along the way, not even sparing them a glance.

He didn’t so much as glance at the real Yan Gongzi’s father either.

"Stop right there!" The middle-aged man was so furious at his attitude that his beard quivered. "What is this behavior? Running off to those places and coming back with your brain addled—you can’t even greet your own father properly!"

Sima Jiao halted and looked at him.

This man had a way of provoking others without saying a word—his gaze alone was enough to drive people mad. Yan Laoye’s beard trembled. "You’re becoming more and more outrageous! No more going out. There are plenty of women at home for you—why must you chase after those outside who can’t even bear children? Stay here and focus on producing heirs!"

Sima Jiao tilted his chin slightly. "Come with me."

Yan Laoye: "Ungrateful wretch! Is that any way to speak to your father?"Sima Jiao grew impatient. Placing a hand on Yan Laoye's shoulder, the previously furious old man stiffened and numbly followed him into the inner chamber. Sima Jiao released him and sat down in a chair, beckoning him with a finger.

Yan Laoye's face was full of terror. "Y-you... who are you? You're not my son!"

Sima Jiao chuckled. "I'm your ancestor."

Yan Laoye wore an expression of humiliation.

Onlooker Liao Tingyan: The ancestor might actually be telling the truth.

Without wasting words, Sima Jiao asked Yan Laoye, "Where would you send the baby girl born three days ago?"

Yan Laoye seemed unwilling to answer, but under the ancestor's Truth Buff, he had no resistance. His voice stiffly uttered a few words: "Hundred Phoenix Mountain."

Sima Jiao: "Where is Hundred Phoenix Mountain?"

Yan Laoye: "I don't know. Envoys will come to guide us. We can't approach it—only wait outside."

Sima Jiao: "When will she be sent?"

Yan Laoye: "Two days from now."

Sima Jiao: "Good. I'll go with you then."

He asked a few more questions. Liao Tingyan listened from the side, piecing together scattered bits of information along with her own guesses, and roughly understood what the ancestor was doing.

He was searching for someone—not a specific person, but a certain type of individual, like Yan Gongzi.

The Yan family had lived here for over a thousand years. Their wealth and status all stemmed from their bloodline. Every few generations, they would occasionally produce descendants with ancestral bloodline traits, manifested as flame-like marks on their backs. Whenever such a child was born, they would be sent to a certain place. If the bloodline power was strong enough, the child would stay, and the Yan family would receive many benefits in return. If the bloodline was weak, like Yan Gongzi's, the child could return home.

Small families like the Yans were scattered around the outskirts of Gengchen Immortal Mansion, controlled by a mysterious force, completely unnoticed by the wider world.