Black Snake wasn't the brightest serpent. Though it secretly feared Sima Jiao and considered him a bastard of an owner, it still came to him when faced with difficulties.
Having lived so many years, the only ones who'd ever fed it were Sima Jiao and Liao Tingyan. Hoping to keep drinking that delicious water in the future, it had risked its life to bring the unconscious woman to the Central Tower.
But Sima Jiao wasn't the charitable type to save people. His title, Cizang Daojun (Compassionate Treasury Taoist Lord), had been given by some old bald donkey—ridiculous, since he'd never had anything to do with the word "compassion" in his life.
Even when the beast he'd raised for some time gathered its courage to hiss at him, his only reaction was to impatiently swat away that large snake head.
The big black snake was thrown aside by its bastard owner, landing hard. Immediately cowed, it lacked the audacity to keep pestering Sima Jiao and could only slither over to coil around a nearby pillar, leaving the still-unconscious Liao Tingyan lying on the ground.
Soon, Liao Tingyan hazily regained some awareness. Feeling strangely cold, she curled up and pulled what she thought was a "blanket" over herself before falling still again.
Sima Jiao glanced at her once more, thinking this Demon Realm spy had remarkable nerve—she'd even dragged his robe over herself for cover.
For some reason, his interest was piqued again. He lifted her chin with a finger to examine her face.
"Come here," he ordered—this to the big black snake.
The serpent coiled around the pillar eagerly slithered over.
"Why do you want to save her? What did she do?"
The snake shook its head, either not understanding or not knowing.
"Do you know why she's here?"
Another head shake—it seemed shaking its head was all it knew how to do. Sima Jiao's expression turned irritable. "You brought someone before me without knowing anything? Do you want to die?"
The black snake trembled, afraid he might lose his temper again.
Suddenly, Sima Jiao pulled Liao Tingyan up, pressing his cold palm against her stomach as if preparing to save her.
The snake had no idea what its capricious master was up to now and watched cautiously from the side.
Sima Jiao didn't think much of the Demon Realm's petty tricks—just some means of control. If he wanted to deal with it, he had countless methods. He chose the simplest one.
Pinching Liao Tingyan's mouth open, he inserted a pale finger inside, probing for her teeth... then paused, his expression unreadable as he withdrew his hand. He grabbed the black snake instead, forcing its jaws open in the same manner. With practiced ease, he located its sharp fangs and pricked his finger before swishing it carelessly in Liao Tingyan's mouth.
He fed her a drop of blood. The earlier act of sticking his finger in her mouth had been instinctive—after all, this was how he'd always fed the snake. It just hadn't immediately occurred to him that humans were different, with useless teeth that couldn't even pierce his skin.
Liao Tingyan remained unaware that this unreasonable ancestor had scorned her. Even in her unconscious state, she had felt freezing cold, especially in her previously agonizing stomach. Once the pain faded, it began radiating chill, as if filled with heavy blocks of ice that seeped cold into every limb. But suddenly, she tasted something sweet in her mouth, followed by an overwhelming wave of warmth flooding through her body.Like a troop of soldiers, they charged and fought, clearing away all those chilling sensations, advancing all the way to the stronghold where they converged at the coldest spot in her abdomen. The once-arrogant icy flames there were now trembling under the scorching heat, shrinking continuously until they finally lay dormant.
Liao Tingyan finally felt somewhat better, her whole body warm and cozy, reclaiming her excellent sleep quality.
Sima Jiao waited for a while, intending to ask her some questions once she woke up. But after a long time, there was still no sign of her waking. What was going on? Could his blood not cure such a trivial demonic poison? She should have woken up immediately.
Then he realized that she was indeed fine—she just hadn’t woken up. Instead, she had fallen directly into a deep sleep, and she was sleeping... quite soundly at that. Upon closer listening, there were even faint snores.
Sima Jiao’s expression shifted unpredictably, while the Black Snake beside him shrank its head further and further. If it had ears, they would probably be flattened back like airplane wings by now.
It seemed this woman wasn’t just bold—she was downright carefree. Sima Jiao recalled how he had seen her basking in the sun and napping that day, looking even more leisurely than him, and his expression grew even stranger. It wasn’t easy for the Demon Realm to send someone here. After all that effort, they sent... this thing?
Had the Demon Realm declined so much in recent years that they couldn’t even produce a decent spy? To resort to such an unambitious person—they weren’t even as proactive as the people of Gengchen Immortal Mansion.
But then again, he reconsidered. This person must be extraordinary, likely far more cunning than those fools. Not only had she not come before him to seek death, but she had even quietly won over that stupid snake. Perhaps today’s incident was also part of her deliberate scheme. Truly impressive tactics.
Having figured it out, Sima Jiao nodded with a hint of satisfaction. "Not bad."
Such profound scheming was worthy of that seductively treacherous face.
The scheming, seductively treacherous Liao Tingyan finally woke up and immediately met the murderous ancestor looming over her. The sight traumatized her no less than waking up in the middle of the night to the Black Snake’s gaping maw, so her reaction was equally genuine—she clutched her chest and gasped so loudly it was practically a wheeze.
Sima Jiao watched her performance with an amused smirk, thinking to himself: Her acting is truly excellent, so realistic.
Liao Tingyan nearly gave him a live performance of a terrified goose honk. She had no idea what had happened, only vaguely recalling that she had fainted from menstrual cramps—no, wait, that didn’t seem right. No one’s cramps were ever this intense. Why was she in the ancestor’s Central Tower?
She spotted the large open window behind the ancestor, and the scenery outside made it abundantly clear where she was. But she had no idea how she’d gotten here—it wasn’t like she could have sleepwalked her way up.
In her panic, she tightly gripped the blanket covering her. The blanket... was the ancestor’s robe.
Liao Tingyan felt her survival prospects crumbling. She was doomed.
Under the ancestor’s inscrutable gaze, she let go of his robe, patted it down, and sincerely apologized, "Forgive this disciple’s offense, Ancestor."
Sima Jiao sat there like a serpent poised to strike—not a fake one like the Black Snake, but a truly deadly viper. In a tone that suggested he might murder her at any moment, he praised her: "Your courage is truly remarkable."Liao Tingyan: "..." Huh??? This ancestor seemed to be saying she was bold for the second time, but where did he get that idea? If she were truly bold, she wouldn’t be feeling the urge to pee right now.
Sima Jiao looked at Liao Tingyan’s utterly genuine bewildered expression with cold eyes. He disliked poor acting, but he disliked excellent acting even more—so much so that he felt like sending her off with a quick "enlightenment." Thus, he posed the fatal question: "What are you here for?"
Liao Tingyan hesitated for a moment before settling on the standard answer from the script: "This disciple is here to serve the Grandmaster."
Sima Jiao wasn’t surprised. He raised a finger and lightly tapped between her brows, then asked again, "Answer me—what are you here for?"
Liao Tingyan: "To adjust my sleep schedule and relax." In other words, a vacation.
Liao Tingyan: Aaaaaah what the hell?! Why did my words change mid-sentence?! It must be this bastard’s doing—damn this xianxia world! There’s actually such a thing as a truth-telling debuff?!
Sima Jiao had expected to hear some sinister plot, but instead, he got a completely unrelated answer. He froze, an uncharacteristic flicker of surprise crossing his face. Unable to resist, he asked again, only to receive the same response.
Sima Jiao had absolute faith in his ability—no one could lie under the influence of his bloodline power, at least not someone like her. So, she was telling the truth.
But it was precisely because it was the truth that left him utterly speechless.
Listen to this—was this even human language? He’d heard before that demonic cultivators from the Demon Realm often ruined their minds, but he’d always dismissed it as slanderous rumors spread by righteous cultivators due to their irreconcilable differences. Now, though, he was starting to believe it. She waltzed into his domain to relax? His place was a dragon’s den and tiger’s lair—even the old geezers from Gengchen Immortal Mansion feared coming here. No sane person from the Demon Realm would come here to unwind.
Still skeptical, he stepped closer to Liao Tingyan, pinched her chin, and leaned in to stare into her eyes. "You don’t want to kill me?" If she were from the Demon Realm, that should be her sole mission.
Liao Tingyan’s face stiffened as she shook her head and forced out two words: "I don’t." What kind of nonsensical question was this now?
Sima Jiao grew even more confused. "Why don’t you want to kill me?"
Liao Tingyan genuinely began to suspect this ancestor had a few screws loose. Listen to him—was this even human language? Why would she want to kill him? She was just an innocent slacker, her cultivation so pitifully low that she’d have to be suicidal to try. Did he have persecution delusions? Maybe he was locked up here because he’d gone mad from qi deviation.
She mentally ranted at full volume, but her mouth only let out a quiet murmur in response to Sima Jiao’s near-rhetorical question:
"Because there’s no grudge, no reason."
Why didn’t she want to kill him? Because there was no grudge, no reason.
Sima Jiao’s expression shifted again, as if recalling some unpleasant memory, his features twisting faintly. "In this world, killing requires neither grudge nor reason."
Liao Tingyan: "..." Well, you see, I was raised in a society governed by law—our worldviews just don’t align.The killing intent emanating from Sima Jiao was practically overflowing: "For example, right now—without reason, without enmity—I simply want to kill you. What do you think about that?"
Liao Tingyan's mouth continued to betray her: "I think that's fine. After all, I can't beat you anyway."
After saying this, Liao Tingyan's face twisted in frustration. When would this truth-telling debuff wear off? Couldn't she at least get a chance to beg for mercy? If he took her words at face value, this bastard might just finish her off with one strike. If there was a way to avoid death, she’d still prefer to fight for survival.
Sima Jiao raised his hand, then slowly lowered it again. "You want me to kill you, but now I don’t feel like it anymore."
Hah… Are you some edgy teenager?
This ancestor, who seemed to have a few screws loose, had a mind that jumped around unpredictably—one moment demanding blood, the next changing his mind. Not only did he not kill her, he even said to Liao Tingyan, "From now on, you will serve me."
Liao Tingyan’s heart screamed refusal, but no one could defy an ancestor. Right now, this venerable elder was her top boss. For the sake of survival, the corporate drone had to compromise. If her boss demanded ten revisions of a design, she’d have to do it even if she hated it. If the ancestor ordered her to work, she’d have to obey whether she liked it or not.
And so, she inexplicably became a colleague of the Black Snake—and the first among the hundred-woman group to successfully get close to the grandmaster.
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