I was born a god, the son of the Demon Lord.

Tianxing slammed the window shut, pressing his hand firmly against the window frame, and looked at the two children.

"Are you all alright? You didn't see anything, right?"

Xu Nanyi pointed to the window expressionlessly: "When that person exploded into fireworks, blood splattered on the window paper. We're not blind."

Tianxing: "..."

Okay, never mind, I didn't ask.

He took a deep breath, raised his hand to cover the window with a soundproof barrier, and suppressed his joking tone.

Something's wrong with this Demon Realm.

Lin Qingyue's voice turned colder: "It feels like someone is orchestrating a large-scale scheme."

Xu Yuan leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed: "Expansion, dark red patterns, explosion on the spot."

Xu Nanyi's mind raced.

Mysterious Mist Flower Wine—smells like a dead person—drinking it will cause you to explode—the Second Prince's secret conduit.

The line was so clear that she couldn't believe it.

"Let's not go out for now," Tianxing decided. "Nobody should wander around tonight. Shen Gou and I will go out and inquire tomorrow."

-

Late at night.

Xu Nanyi sat cross-legged on the bed, pondering what the "Second Prince" connection might lead to.

Lin Qingyue stayed behind, while Xu Yuan set up a triple protective array in the next room.

Xu Yuan rested her chin on her hand, looking at the darkening sky outside the window, a rare hint of anxiety on her face.

"What's Tianxing up to? Isn't he a master at gathering intelligence? Why did he take a newbie out and haven't come back yet? Could he have gotten arrested?"

Lin Qingyue paused for a moment while peeling the fruit, then resumed her rhythm.

"Not at all. His methods of keeping secrets are beyond the reach of ordinary people. Besides, if he really started running, who in the world could catch him?"

Xu Nanyi sat on a small stool, holding a grape in her hand, and popped it into her mouth one by one.

Shen Xizhou sat next to her, eating even faster than her, his cheeks puffed out like a squirrel.

Xu Nanyi's ears twitched slightly.

There were footsteps, one person's.

The door was pushed open.

Shen Jiuyuan stood alone at the door, the night breeze carrying his chill.

Lin Qingyue stopped wielding the fruit knife in her hand, glanced at the empty corridor behind Shen Jiuyuan, and asked in a low voice, "Where's Tianxing?"

Shen Jiuyuan raised his head, forcing an extremely painful expression onto his face.

"he……"

Lin Qingyue gripped the handle of the fruit knife tightly.

Xu Yuan jumped off the windowsill.

The air froze for half a second.

However, Xu Nanyi jumped off the bench, ran a few steps, and twisted the air about a foot in front of Shen Jiuyuan.

"Awooo—!!"

Tianxing's scream suddenly exploded out of nowhere.

He emerged from stealth mode, clutching his thigh, and bounced three times on the spot, glaring at Xu Nanyi with a snarling expression.

"You, you little brat, my thigh! The flesh on my thigh!!"

Xu Nanyi withdrew her hand, expressionless: "Senior Tianxing is frightening."

Tianxing frantically rubbed his thigh, which visibly turned red: "How can your perception be so abnormal?! I've concealed it to the extreme and you still managed to detect it! I still wanted to—"

He was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly felt a chill on the back of his head.

He turned his head and met Lin Qingyue's deathly gaze.

Those eyes screamed: Who are you trying to scare? Explain yourself.

Snapped.

He slapped the back of the head.

"What nonsense are you talking about? Report back now!"

Tianxing shrank back, deciding that saving his life was the priority. He coughed and took out a thin piece of paper from his pocket, which was covered with dense writing.

"I've figured it out." He spread the note on the table, and everyone gathered around.

"The Mysterious Mist Flower Wine did indeed originate from the Second Prince's residence. They have a dedicated, secret sales channel that reaches the entire capital and even extends to surrounding towns."

"Different batches of wine have different effects—the most common ones can improve cultivation efficiency, the mid-range ones can help you cultivate while you sleep, and the high-end ones are said to be able to break through bottlenecks in a short time."

Xu Yuan frowned: "What about self-destruction?"

"That's the problem."

Tianxing pointed to a circled line on the note: "In the past half month, at least seventeen self-destruction incidents have occurred in the capital. The deceased were of different identities, cultivation levels, and residences, but they all had one thing in common—they had all drunk the Ghostly Mist Flower Wine."

Lin Qingyue: "But nobody outside seems to be thinking in that direction?"

"Because the effects of this wine are too outrageous."

Shen Jiuyuan chimed in, "Who would doubt something that can make them stronger? Besides, not everyone who drinks alcohol will go berserk, so most people think it's just an isolated case of cultivation going awry."

Xu Nanyi listened silently to the sound of the grapes, clutching an uneaten one in her hand.

She suddenly spoke up: "What about the special batches? You mean the more expensive ones, the kind that circulate internally under the Second Prince's control?"

Tianxing glanced at her, his eyes filled with admiration.

"The special batches of wine circulated most widely and in the largest quantities among the Second Prince's personal guards and core subordinates. But strangely..."

He paused for a moment, then added, "So far, all those who have self-destructed are ordinary people. Not a single one within the Second Prince's ranks has done so."

The room was quiet for a few seconds.

With a "snap" in her mind, Xu Nanyi connected several clues together.

The regular version will be leaked, but the special version will not. The special version is circulated internally.

This isn't an accident; it's more like a screening process.

"We need to go and see the Second Prince's residence," Lin Qingyue said.

Tianxing nodded: "We'll act tonight."

-

Outside the Second Prince's residence.

The group concealed themselves in the canopy of a giant tree across the street. Xu Nanyi lay on a branch, looking down at the mansion that occupied half the street.

A vermilion gate with beast-head door knockers, and two rows of demon guards standing at the entrance.

It looks perfectly normal.

But the moment Xu Nanyi extended her perception range inward, her whole body tensed up.

At least one person is in the tribulation stage.

"There's a powerful being inside," Lin Qingyue said in a low voice, confirming her perception. "The aura of a Tribulation Transcending stage cultivator isn't well hidden; it must be a deliberate attempt to intimidate."

She turned to look at the three newlyweds.

"It's alright. But the three of you will have to stay here today."

Xu Nanyi: "Why?"

Xu Yuan peeked out from another branch: "Because you haven't even taken on any formal jobs yet, you can't use the Merit Secret Technique at all."

Xu Nanyi blinked: "What is the Merit Secret Technique?"

Tianxing suddenly perked up.

"Watch me."

He stood up from the tree branch, his hands flying, his fingertips drawing golden arcs in the air. Those arcs intertwined, coalesced, and finally formed a golden mark in his palm.

The moment the rune lit up, a mark of merit appeared between Tianxing's brows—an ancient, golden seal character.

Immediately afterwards, two golden rings appeared out of thin air behind him.

The rings rotated, emitting a soft yet solemn light. As the first ring slowly sank into his body, the golden light seeped into his skin.

Tianxing disappeared.

It wasn't invisibility, but rather a disappearance as if erased from this world.

There was no breath left.

Xu Nanyi even felt that when she stared at that spot, her gaze would automatically drift away, as if no one had ever stood there.

Three seconds later, Tianxing reappeared, still standing in the same spot, looking smug.

Xu Yuan leaned against the tree trunk and explained to the three, "This is the secret technique of accumulating merit. The golden ring that appears behind you is called the Pagoda Ring. The first ring requires one hundred merit points, the second requires one thousand merit points, and so on, increasing with each subsequent ring."

"What Tianxing just used is called the Deception Technique, which is one of the techniques in the Merit and Virtue Secret Technique system."

Xu Nanyi asked earnestly, "What's the difference between this and regular invisibility?"

"The difference is huge."

Xu Yuan raised a finger, "Ordinary invisibility techniques essentially make you transparent, but high-level experts can still detect your aura fluctuations."

"But the Heaven-Deceiving Secret Technique is different. It doesn't make you invisible; it makes the Heavenly Dao erase you from the eyes of others. At the level of the rules, you don't exist to anyone."