"Azhu and I are going back together. Let them drive you back."
Xing Yi gestured toward the two of them with an open hand, a silent invitation.
Luomingjing looked at Xing Luo with a smile. "Thank you."
Gaoshu opened his mouth to say something, but Luomingjing was quick, grabbing Gaoshu by the arm and clamping a hand over his mouth. Her tone was gentle yet dripping with threat: "Shut your mouth."
And so, Xing Luo arranged for someone to drive Luomingjing and Gaoshu back.
Interrupting him like that earned Luomingjing a resentful glare from Gaoshu, to which Luomingjing shot back a look that clearly meant *we're going to chat later*.
With everything settled, Xing Luo drove herself, taking Yanzhu back to the Yan family estate.
"Don't go to places like that again." Xing Luo felt it was entirely improper for a fragile girl like Yanzhu to frequent such spots, especially since those people were cultivators who acted recklessly when things got physical, completely devoid of shame. "It's not safe."
Yanzhu replied in a soft voice, "I know." Yet she retained just the right amount of curious confusion: "Big sister, was that guy just now... is he connected to you in some way?"
Xing Luo answered coldly, "Not at all. And you are not allowed to call him 'brother'—he's nothing more than a scammer!"
Xing Luo had expected Yanzhu to ask why she had been there in the first place, or what the words she'd just spoken meant. Instead, she asked about that.
Yanzhu fell into thought. *So he's a scammer.*
A scammer. Still as hateful as ever.
Catching Yanzhu's thoughtful expression in the rearview mirror, Xing Luo softened her tone. "Ask less about gossip. It does you no good."
The fact that this fellow was actually in Luocheng presented a bit of a problem.
"Oh right, big sister, I bought you a few gifts and left them at home. Make sure you unpack them when we get back." Yanzhu smiled gently, shining like a little sun.
A warmth bloomed in Xing Luo's chest. She gave a soft "Mn." *Still a good girl, after all.*
The WeChat group belonging exclusively to Yanzhu, Luomingjing, Gaoshu, and Yanshang blew up.
Luomingjing and Gaoshu were going back and forth, chatting up a storm.
[Clearly Mirror]: You have zero social awareness. What is wrong with you? You're getting duller as you age.
[Gaoshu]: I was just worried about Azhu getting bullied! High-society families are always like this. Eight times out of ten, the adopted daughter gets kicked out by the real heiress. You saw for yourself that Xing Luo has powerful people backing her.
[Clearly Mirror]: As if Azhu would let herself get bullied! If you hadn't run off just now, you'd be the one getting bullied, you absolute moron.
[Gaoshu]: You spend all day running scams instead of caring about Azhu. What's wrong with me worrying about her a little more? *(Righteous indignation)*
[Clearly Mirror]: Clueless, and you only ever create trouble, Math Boy.
Gaoshu completely snapped. He had endured all he could and would endure no more, bombarding Luomingjing with messages.
Yanshang, who rarely came online, managed to wedge himself in. [Status: Still Pristine]: What happened?
The two bickering combatants instantly united on the same front.
[Clearly Mirror] [Gaoshu]: Shut up, lovebrain!
Having just stepped off a plane, Yanshang stared at their incomprehensible messages and closed his chat app.
A message from Yanzhu forced these two overgrown elementary schoolers into a state of mandatory silence.
[Azhu]: Ask less about gossip.
Then, she messaged Luomingjing privately: "What does the Xing Sect want with you?"
Staring at the message, Luomingjing fell into a struggle. Violating client confidentiality felt unethical, but after hesitating repeatedly, she sent Yanzhu a voice note.
*Exposing client information is shameful, but I never agreed to take them on, so they aren't my clients. Telling the boss's younger sister... yeah, perfectly reasonable.*
After listening to the information Luomingjing sent, Yanzhu's heart sank. Was this why Xing Luo had suddenly returned?—Bishui meeting the Aberration.
For the past twenty-odd years, Yanzhu had tried using all sorts of childhood items belonging to Xing Luo to divine her whereabouts, but it was bizarrely shrouded as if behind a veil—impossible to see clearly. Yanzhu had even attempted to use a connection ritual through the Yan family parents, but amusingly, she had nearly suffered a backlash. Her destiny matrix had been shielded by a mighty practitioner! That kind of power could only originate from the Hidden Realm; someone was helping her cover her tracks!
The only thing Yanzhu could confirm was that Xing Luo was still alive, that she would return, and that the thread connecting her to the Yan family had not snapped.
Yanzhu instructed Luomingjing to tell them everything she knew and send a backup copy directly to her.
Luomingjing viciously rubbed her phone screen. *Pulling strings! She's actually pulling strings behind my back with me!*
Gazing out the window at the oversized moon—clear and bright—Luomingjing's brows furrowed with a trace of worry.
*Luomingjing: I truly hope you don't get pulled into this game, yet she has already dragged you into their mess.*
"I won't let you off."
Wearing rabbit pajamas and holding a cup of milk, Yanzhu walked upstairs just as Xing Luo was coming down. As they brushed past each other on the stairs, Xing Luo murmured:
"The bunny charm is very cute. I like it a lot. Thank you."
A smile bloomed on Yanzhu's fair face. "As long as big sister likes it." With that, she continued up the stairs.
Xing Luo couldn't help a small smile. *What a genuinely lovely girl.*
Bai Yin was sitting in the living room, looking somewhat stiff upon closer inspection. Seeing Xing Luo, she sprang to her feet and handed a glass of milk to her. "Luoluo, drink some milk. It's good for you."
Xing Luo paused, then accepted it under her mother's expectant gaze. "Thank you, Mom." She sat down on the sofa and slowly sipped the milk.
Watching the scene, Bai Yin felt her eyes grow moist. Seventeen years. Finally, this glass of milk had been given to her Luoluo.
Upstairs, Yanzhu chugged the rest of her milk in one go, stretched lazily, and sprang into action.
Tici'an, here I come.
Amidst the shifting shadows of the dark night, a solitary white figure materialized on the roof of Tici'an, standing silently.
Wearing a mask that completely obscured her facial features, Yanzhu softly chanted an incantation: "Flowers in the fog, moon on the water, nothing is as it seems." Her figure dissolved, a fleeting stream of light flashing as she slipped straight past the defenses into the interior of Tici'an.
Once inside, Yanzhu discovered that the place was a hive of activity. Fearing they might wear themselves out, Yanzhu cast a spell directly. A wisp of blue smoke rose. *All of you, go to sleep.*
Crouched deep within the Consciousness Sea, Yaojiu blinked her large eyes as she watched the scene unfold, a chill running down her spine.
With a single move, everyone went down. Terrifying! Then just what was her cultivation level...
Yaojiu wrapped her tail tightly around herself, muttering: "And here I thought about trying to seize her body—what a delusional fantasy, like hitting a rock with an egg."
Suddenly, she felt so fortunate to be alive.
No wonder for three years, both of them had been weakened to such an extent that neither could suppress the other. But this human, who had only been awake for a few days—was she really this savage? Just charging straight in!
Metaphysics, this definitely had to be metaphysics!
Yanzhu stood before a bank of monitors, the soft glow illuminating her pitch-black, featureless mask and her white pajamas, lending her a somewhat eerie, comical air. With a soft sneer, Yanzhu tapped lightly against the documents held in her hand, her eyes growing cold. "People really ought to know their own weight. To act so arrogant right here in Luocheng—whose backing gave you the nerve?"
Luocheng wasn't a place where people like them could run wild!
With a flick of Yanzhu's hand, the documents in her grip fluttered into the air and instantly turned to ash. Those were the files of everyone who had shown their faces at the underground bar today.
They had already breached the bar's backend systems to obtain almost everyone's facial data, and were currently cross-referencing their identities one by one.
"Stop looking at gossip. It'll get you killed!"
Yanzhu pinched her fingers, and a fierce flame danced in her palm, surging outward in all directions.
*Boom.* A collision of forces, spiritual power spilling everywhere. The paper documents were shredded into fine dust as Yanzhu slowly turned her head.