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

"Yes, my husband has endured illness all these years, devoting himself wholeheartedly to the Nie family. Miss, you've only just returned and you're already so harsh and critical. How can you hurt my husband like this?"

Nie Zhao slowly raised his eyes, his phoenix eyes sharp: "Is that so?"

"Then I'll ask Father," she stepped forward, her sword intent surging suddenly, making the entire hall blaze with heat, "was throwing A-Yun into the Ten Thousand Poisons Cave also the result of your painstaking efforts?"

Shen Yuan's expression froze.

"Favoritism and protection," Nie Zhao chuckled, grinding those four words between his teeth. His laughter was cold, carrying a hidden, overwhelming rage. "I traveled a thousand miles to see my own sister, and that's considered favoritism and protection?"

Her cold gaze swept over the hypocritical faces of the elders, finally settling on her own father's pale face: "Even if I were to show favoritism, it's none of your business to say no."

"I'll say it one last time."

Nie Zhao stood tall and straight in the center of the hall, his crimson robes fluttering even without wind, his murderous aura needing no further explanation.

"Open the Cave of Ten Thousand Poisons, I want to see my sister."

Upon hearing this, the entire room fell silent.

Shen Yuan's lips had faded to a pale, almost deathly crimson. His long, slender fingers pressed against his chest as he finally managed to catch his breath. "The Ten Thousand Poisons Cave is a forbidden area. You can't just enter and open it as you please. Ah Zhao, as the Phoenix Maiden of this lineage, you should abide by the rules. Don't... cough! Don't act recklessly!"

"Young Miss, please reconsider!" The elders all spoke up in unison to stop her. "Forbidden areas cannot be opened without permission. It violates clan rules and disrupts order. Since Nie Shiyun is reflecting on her mistakes, she should calmly examine herself and absolutely must not visit her!"

Layer upon layer of obstruction, word upon word of evasion, and lie upon lie.

They dared not drive.

Once the Ten Thousand Poison Cave is opened, the poisonous miasma that fills the place will completely expose Nie Shiyun's miserable state, covered in wounds and on the verge of death. All the secret tortures and framing will be laid bare.

Nie Zhao watched their disheveled attempts to stop her, and the last shred of fatherly affection in her heart shattered completely, leaving her utterly heartbroken.

She had known all along that the Nie family mansion was utterly rotten.

But when things really come to this point, I still can't help but feel a chill in my heart.

Her sister was trapped alone in the deepest hell, with no one to protect her, and endured two long years of suffering.

Meanwhile, these elders and relatives in high positions sat in a magnificent hall, spouting benevolence and rules while lying endlessly, continuing to torment her with a clear conscience.

"You dare to talk to me about rules?" Nie Zhao's eyes turned icy cold. His right hand gripped the Phoenix Sword at his waist, the blade trembling slightly, fine, fiery red light slowly flowing around it, with faint crimson phoenix fire patterns surging and flashing. "Today I'm telling you, my words are the rules of the Nie family, the rules of Nanchuan!"

Clang—!

A loud, deafening sword cry exploded, a surge of red light erupted, and a sharp sword aura swept across the entire hall, causing tables and utensils to tremble and shatter, with fragments flying everywhere.

The Phoenix Sword was drawn three inches from its sheath, its crimson light shooting straight at everyone's faces. An extremely strong pressure locked onto Shen Yuan and the elders, causing their blood to surge, their steps to falter, and almost causing them to lose their footing.

"Cough! Cough cough!" Shen Yuan's face flushed an unnatural red. He looked up and saw the long sword gleaming with a crimson light, illuminating his daughter's cold and resolute eyes.

The four people behind them huddled together watching the play.

"Senior Sister is so cool," Shen Chunri snorted. "It's been too long since I dealt with them. How dare these bastards challenge the Phoenix Maiden?"

"My hands are itching," Xie Weixing yawned. "Why don't I go guard the gate? I can pick a couple of guards I don't like and beat them up."

"Aren't you all happy to see Nie Zhao taking down people?" Yu Xintang stared ahead. "It's been a long time since we've seen her make a move. Same old story, it's incredibly satisfying."

Xie Weixing replied, "I'd rather do it myself."

Shen Chunri was taken aback for a moment, then looked up: "Can you two stop talking like that? I'm a girl, you know."

Tan Suiting also sensed something was wrong. He only realized what was happening when he heard Shen Chunri's words. He opened his mouth slightly and after a long while, he uttered, "What are you talking about?"

"How can this be considered dirty to me? I didn't mean that," Yu Xintang looked up, her anger mixed with a touch of shy helplessness. "Oh dear, little snake, you're so dirty-minded."

Shen Chunri: ...

I really want to poison him.

"Don't mimic me," Xie Weixing said, getting goosebumps at the same old joke. "Are you brain-dead?"

"What are you doing? This isn't the time for you to tease Xiaolong," Yu Xintang said disdainfully, giving him a look from head to toe. "What are you pretending to be innocent for? You went to ask him if he wanted more water, flower petals, or a bath together while he was taking a bath. Now you're acting like a good guy?"

Tan Suiting: ?

He was briefly confused, then remembered.

He was taking a bath quietly when Xie Weixing disturbed him. The other man blocked the door like a hooligan, holding his undergarment in his hand, with a faint smile on his lips, asking him what kind of fragrance he was using, and also asking him if he had chest muscles since he practiced swordsmanship every day.

He countered by asking what pectoral muscles were, and whether they were the skin and flesh of the chest.

Xie Weixing agreed.

He immediately got up from the bathtub: "Yes, I do. Do you want to see it?"

Xie Weixing smiled and said, "That's fine too, Dragon Palace. You're so generous. You're a male bodhisattva."

Then he actually showed it to the other person and was very obedient.

Xie Weixing was caught off guard. He glanced at it hastily, his eyelids twitched, and he cursed under his breath.

He asked calmly, without much expression, "Senior brother, you practice swordsmanship with me, so why are you not as tall as me, and your waist is thinner than mine? Not only thinner than mine, but thinner than a small snake."

Xie Weixing's lips twitched as he asked, "Are you insulting me?"

Yu Xintang, who was passing by, heard this and cursed him as a shameless scoundrel. Youlong didn't let him off the hook either, and rushed up with an explosive talisman in his hand.

Commander-in-Chief of the Office for the Protection of Minors of Fenghua Sect.

Xie Weixing immediately fled, nearly dying from the explosion.

Tan Suiting then realized that Xie Weixing was actually being indecent towards him.

When Feng Yu overheard this, he was struck dumb. He went into the disciples' courtyard, changed the little dragon's clothes, and then gave him a long and earnest lesson on physiology, telling him that the parts covered by clothes should not be shown to just anyone, especially that scoundrel surnamed Xie with a wisp of dye on his forehead who likes to squint and smile.

So much so that from then on, no matter how Xie Weixing teased him, Tan Suiting wouldn't show it to him anymore.

"That was so long ago," Xie Weixing said, amused and exasperated. "Big brother, do you really need to remember that clearly? I was just kidding."

Yu Xintang chuckled coldly: "You scoundrel, Xiaolong was only nineteen years old at the time, how could you do that to him?"

Tan Suiting was so shy that she got a little angry.

Swish.

Feng Lian drew his sword an inch from its sheath.

"I'll beat you to death," he said in a low voice.

Xie Weixing: ...

"Look, Xiaolong is angry, it's all your fault."

"It was clearly your fault! Who told you to bring up such old, trivial matters?"

"Would I mention it if you hadn't done it...?"