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

Tan Suiting looked a little tired after finishing his lesson at the Sun and Moon Hall and planned to return to the academy for his personal disciples.

They encountered an inner sect steward who looked panicked and almost tripped.

Tan Suiting raised his hand and made a hand seal, using spatial spiritual energy to support the person.

He frowned slightly: "What's wrong?"

The steward, his eyes filled with gratitude for surviving such a close call, took a breath, straightened his clothes, and bowed respectfully: "Your Highness, your personal disciple Shen Chunri and another male disciple who also came from the inner sect have stolen the token and run down the mountain. I need to report this to the sect leader..."

Tan Suiting remained silent.

He guessed who the other male disciple was in zero seconds.

"I'll go and inform my master and senior uncle." Tan Suiting drew his sword, his expression cold, his eyes slightly narrowed. "I'll be right back."

deacon:?

No? Although your actions helped relieve a lot of the Discipline Department's workload.

But if I remember correctly, you were also a direct disciple?

My ancestors?!

The steward stood there, unsure whether to inform the sect leader first or stop Tan Suiting from leaving.

Feng Jilan had just finished dealing with all the affairs of the sect and returned to the Hall of Longevity to have a cup of tea when he heard the devastating news.

"metropolitan--"

"Shen Chunri and Xie Weixing stole the token and ran down the mountain—"

"His Highness the Crown Prince just left to chase after them—"

? ?

Of the three trusted associates we finally managed to bring back, two have escaped, and another key person under observation is suspected of being the mastermind.

The wind and waves suddenly made the old man's eyes go black.

Why is there a sickle in front of me? Did they come to collect it?

*

Xie Weixing walked down the street, casually swinging the tassel hanging from his clothes, looking both carefree and lazy.

Suddenly, Shen Chunri let out a short, delighted cry.

There's a roadside stall that specializes in selling insects and reptiles.

At this moment, a green snake was coiled on Shen Chunri's shoulder, emitting a ghostly light towards the stall, greedily and coldly flicking its tongue.

!

Xie Weixing held back a swear word.

Holy crap! There's a snake!

His parents and he were mortal enemies with reptiles!

Xie Weixing is fearless except for reptiles, and he is even terrified of cockroaches.

His whole body stiffened, staring intently at the snake, his limbs trembling as if he wanted to run away.

"Cangbi, my good boy," Shen Chunri said, stroking the snake's head with a loving expression. "Boss, how much for this spirit pet?"

The shopkeeper was so frightened by the shimmering green snake that his fingers trembled. After a long while, he finally found his voice: "Five...five mid-grade spirit stones each..."

"Oh," Shen Chunri weighed his money bag in his hand, then waved his hand, "Give me two jin then."

Boss: ?

He glanced at Shen Chunri, then at the green snake coiled around her shoulder, and dared not utter a word of anger, so he lowered his head and obediently packed it up.

Shen Chunri turned around and saw Xie Weixing: "What? Are you scared?"

He took a half step back, his face pale: "Can we keep a polite distance?"

"Cangbi, be a little cuter."

As soon as he finished speaking, the extremely imposing green snake instantly transformed into a small, plump worm, standing adorably on Shen Chunri's shoulder.

Xie Weixing breathed a sigh of relief. Although he was still shaken, at least he could communicate normally with people.

He had no time to pay attention to anything else; looking at the little girl in front of him with her green eyes, he couldn't help but say, "You look quite ugly like this."

Shen Chunri: ?

"Xie Weixing, you're really going to die! How can you talk to me like that? Master said I'm very cute, and my senior uncle said..."

"Oh, why do you have a snake?"

The topic shifted so abruptly that Shen Chunri was momentarily stunned, forgetting that she had intended to settle scores with him.

"I am a member of the snake clan," she explained. "Other races are born with spirit beasts, unlike humans who have to find them themselves. When you find one that catches your eye, you capture it, subdue it, and you can't kill it. All things have spirits, and you can only sign a contract if the other party is willing. Most people never find a spirit beast that suits their taste in their entire lives."

Xie Weixing's lips twitched: "Your alien race is too overpowered?"

"But you humans have a large population."

"Is this some good thing?"

There are many people, many idiots, and even more brain-dead people.

"Uh," Shen Chunri looked up and thought, "I don't know, I've never been a human. I probably won't have the chance in this life, maybe I'll try in the next."

The two strolled around the streets for half a day, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

She even planned to have a nice meal and then sneak back to her sect as if nothing had happened.

At this moment, a group of very handsome disciples walked past them.

Judging from their clothing and the token at their waist, they are probably from the Flower Goddess Sect.

The two sleazy scoundrels huddled together, lecherously discussing something.

"The Flower Goddess Sect's clothes are so beautiful. How are they made? Why are our Wind and Flower Sect disciples' uniforms so ugly?"

Xie Weixing nodded.

Suddenly, the last disciple in blue turned around and glanced at the two of them. He was excessively thin, and his face was covered by a veil, leaving only a pair of eyes with a slightly greenish tint.

The moment Shen Chunri met her gaze, his pupils suddenly contracted.

Xie Weixing keenly sensed something was wrong and lowered his voice, asking, "What's wrong?"

"I saw people from the Bishe family," Shen Chunri said, stunned. "It's a forbidden technique, the Bishe forbidden technique."

"Forbidden techniques? What are those?"

"All alien races have their own unique cultivation methods used to enlighten children. If a child is exceptionally talented, they may even be taught unparalleled secret techniques," Shen Chunri explained quickly, his tone unsteady. "However, many family secret techniques contain evil arts that require human blood for cultivation. These are forbidden arts, and alien races and humans have long since reached a consensus to seal them away and never use them again!"

"That person from just now?"

"My parents were the heads of the Bishe family. They were a loving couple and jointly managed the Shen family for many years," Shen Chunri said through gritted teeth. "Ten years ago, a woman from a collateral branch stole the family's forbidden technique and escaped. She also used the Moon Serpent venom to injure my father, leaving him on the verge of death. Only the pure bloodline of my Bishe clan can prolong the time of his demise."

Shen Chunri grabbed Xie Weixing's hand, her eyes blazing with anger and glistening with tears: "For ten years, my father has relied on my mother's monthly bowl of heart's blood to support us. The clansmen said I was the hope of the Bishe family and couldn't bear to hurt me, but they..."

Xie Weixing felt a throbbing pain in his temples.

No, how did he suddenly hear a whole bunch of family secrets?

In novels, do cannon fodder villains who know secrets always die quickly?

"Wait," he grasped Shen Chunri's trembling hand, trying to calm her down, "How can you be so sure she's the one who stole the forbidden technique and escaped?"

Shen Chunri's eyes were deep and he snorted coldly: "I would never mistake the scent of the Green Serpent Clan on her. People who practice forbidden arts cannot hide the backlash in their pupils, their joints are thinner than ordinary people, and there are wrinkles on their wrists... She matches all of these descriptions."

Xie Weixing's lips twitched.

How incredibly coincidental is this?

How could he run into this?

Shen Chunri's eyes were dark and brooding, clearly showing that he wished he could rush up and tear the person to pieces immediately.