Are you really trying to cultivate immortality? Something feels off.

Xie Weixing was furious: He was crying so hard, I wanted to kiss him, and you're still messing with me. What's wrong with just giving him a hug?

System: You still want to kiss me? Protecting minors is something you said, not me!

Xie Weixing, like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water: What did I say? You treat it like an imperial edict. Now listen carefully to what I'm about to say: I'll observe him for a while longer, and once I'm sure he's really enlightened, I'll immediately take down this little dragon and kill it as soon as it shows its head.

He was flattering himself: "Hurry up and curry favor with me, okay? Your brother, father, and I are about to become the Crown Princess of the Dragon Clan."

system:……?

Xie Weixing, held in Tan Suiting's arms, raised an eyebrow slightly, feeling as if he had embarked on the broad road of life.

Lust is a double-edged sword; if it doesn't kill him, he'll keep flirting.

Tan Suiting was unaware that his senior brother had already debated with the scholars on his behalf. He wiped his moist eyes on his shoulder and clothes and asked, "Senior brother, are you no longer angry with me?"

"Hmm," Xie Weixing hooked his pinky finger around his and said casually, "You're not allowed to lie to me again."

Tan Suiting buried her face in the crook of his neck, a slight smile playing on her lips, and mumbled, "Mmm."

Xie Weixing lowered his eyelashes, his peach blossom eyes sparkling. He deliberately spoke coldly, setting rules for him: "From now on, you must listen to me. If anyone tries to corrupt you, they must tell me immediately. Don't overthink things, and don't lose your temper."

He pressed his finger against the other's cheek, forcing the little dragon to look him in the eye, and threatened in a calm tone, "If you can't do it, you can become a beggar, and I won't feel sorry for you."

Tan Suiting's brows were cold and sharp, his eyelashes trembled slightly, and his thin lips were as white as jade as he slowly uttered the words: "Senior brother, you lied to me. I know you wouldn't do it."

Xie Weixing raised an eyebrow: "Hmm?"

Tan Suiting's pupils were half-closed, but the corners of his eyes were slightly upturned, and a hint of youthful cunning flashed in his eyes, as if he were fearless: "You're scaring me, you won't really abandon me."

"Oh?" Xie Weixing chuckled and pinched his cheek. "Not pretending to be pitiful anymore? Not crying either? Now you know I've been indulging your bad temper the most?"

Tan Suiting hugged him, trying to appease him in a low voice, trying to make amends for what he had just said: "Senior brother loves me the most."

Just as Xie Weixing was about to say something, a woman's scream came from outside.

"It's them!"

The two exchanged a glance, all emotions vanishing from their eyes, and quickly stepped out of the carriage.

The maid covered her mouth and pointed to a charred corpse by the roadside. The corpse was at the back, and Nie Zhao's Phoenix Fire had only burned its head and chest.

"It's them! It's definitely them!"

Nie Zhao dismounted and grasped her wrist: "What's wrong?"

The maid was breathing rapidly, her eyes filled with fear, and she pointed with trembling hands to the back of the corpse: "Those who frequently come and go from the mansion also have this mark on their hands. I accidentally knocked over the cup when I served tea, and that's when I saw the mark under their clothes. I'm absolutely sure I didn't forget it."

Xie Weixing squinted and looked at the unburnt back of the corpse, where there was a crescent-shaped black line.

Tan Suiting squatted down, resting his arms across his knees. After observing for a moment, he said, "This is the mark of the Blood Moon Hall of the Demon Clan."

"Blood Moon Hall?" Shen Chunri exclaimed in surprise. "Is that the sect that dared to go against the Demon Lord in the Demon Realm?"

"Yes," Tan Suiting nodded, "The people from the Blood Moon Hall came to the East Sea to steal treasures and injured their clansmen. They were executed on the spot by the Empress Dowager. I remember it very clearly. That person had this mark on his hand."

"You mean," Nie Zhao frowned slightly, "that the people of the Nie family colluded with the Blood Moon Hall of the Demon Clan to create the Corpse Men, intending to control the Southern River region?"

Tan Suiting stood up, his eyes cold: "In the Nanchuan lineage, the Phoenix Power is only passed down to women. In the cultivation world, the strong are respected. The status of men in the Nie family is only slightly higher than that of servants. If they weren't colluding with the Blood Moon Hall, what right would they have to overstep Nie Shiyun and seize power?"

Xie Weixing covered his mouth and nose, kicked the corpse on the ground, looked at it for a long time, and then returned with a frown.

Shen Chunri asked curiously, "What did you observe?"

"Huh? It's nothing," Xie Weixing tilted his head. "I was just thinking, does joining this Blood Moon Hall require everyone to have the same tattoos? They don't even spare the corpses."

Tattoos, gangsters.

Shen Chunri thought he might say something outrageous, but upon hearing this, she rolled her eyes and silently gave him a little finger.

"Tsk," Xie Weixing looked at her, "That's rude."

Tan Suiting immediately reached out and pressed her little finger back in, saying very seriously, "Hmm."

Shen Chunri: ?

"You two are back together?" Her lips twitched. "Can you ever have a fight that lasts more than a day? It's ridiculous."

"You're still not satisfied with making up?" Xie Weixing hugged her tightly, squeezing her close. "You stinky snake."

"Ugh..." Shen Chunri was suffocating.

I never imagined that a snake could be strangled to death.

Yu Xintang glanced at them, then helplessly reached out to rescue Shen Chunri: "Can you stop bullying people, Xie Xiaoshui?"

"I didn't bully anyone," Xie Weixing said, leaning against Tan Suiting with his arms crossed, laughing incessantly. "I bullied snakes. I can't live with snakes. I'm mortal enemies with snakes."

Shen Chunri's shoulder ached, and she was so angry she wanted to cry. She turned around and yelled, "Senior sister..."

Nie Zhao: ...

I want to die.

*

Beneath the Nie Mansion in Nanchuan.

Green moss swayed precariously on the damp, mottled stone wall, the dim light barely piercing through the thick darkness, and the air was filled with the unique stench of rotting earth and blood.

The woman with her hair in two buns was firmly chained by heavy, dark iron chains and trapped on the cold stone wall.

The iron chains pierced through her sleeves, tightly binding her limbs and embedding themselves deep into her flesh, suspending her in mid-air. Her toes barely grazed the cold, icy stone ground, leaving her no room to gain any leverage.

The woman's peach-colored dress was now stained black and decayed with blood, the fabric torn into shreds and hanging disheveledly on her body.

Footsteps echoed slowly from the depths of the dark passageway, steady and deliberate, carrying a sense of oppressive grandeur.

The elder of the Nie family slowly walked into the prison cell, his face cold and hard, and stopped about ten feet in front of Nie Shiyun.

He looked down at her, his aged voice low and indifferent: "Shi Yun, why are you so stubborn?"

"You've had enough of the suffering in the Ten Thousand Poisons Cave." His gaze swept over her body covered in festering wounds, his tone carrying a hint of feigned admonition. "Listen to me, apologize to your father, and go back to being the second young lady of the Nie family. What's wrong with being able to command the wind and rain, and being above all others? From now on, you will still be the most honored woman in the Nie family, and you will no longer have to suffer the physical pain of the Ten Thousand Poisons Cave."

The wind inside the cave was cold and poisonous, causing the elder's robes to flutter slightly and Nie Shiyun's thin body to tremble violently.

Her back, shoulders, and forearms were covered with dense scars. Old wounds had not healed and new ones had appeared. The festering flesh mixed with dried dark red scabs caused a tearing, dull pain when the cold wind blew. The pain was so intense that it felt like her internal organs were out of place, and a metallic taste suddenly rose in her throat.