After breaking up with my girlfriend, I became a Great Sage of the Demon Clan.

The winter official was looking at the courtyard with surprise. If he remembered correctly, this courtyard seemed to be the residence of a concubine of the current dynasty...

Could this unknown fellow have gotten involved with the imperial concubine?

In an instant, Dong Guanzheng imagined a whole scenario: Zhou Yanyin causing chaos in the palace, getting the imperial concubine pregnant, then killing the emperor and making his own child the emperor.

However, the story was only an outline, and while the details were being expanded, Dongguan's back came into contact with something soft.

Zhou Yan placed Dong Guan on the bed.

The old man's body stiffened.

But something even more subtle happened. Zhou Yan pulled his hand out from behind Dong Guanzheng's legs and back, grabbed one of Dong Guanzheng's feet, and took off his shoes and socks.

Dong Guan immediately broke out in goosebumps.

He knew that many nobles and high-ranking officials preferred cute boys to lovely girls, and some royal families even kept a group of children called pageboys, who were actually male prostitutes.

But Dong Guan was practicing the orthodox methods of the Xuanmen sect and never participated in such immoral matters. He never expected that he would actually...

Zhou Yan grasped Dong Guan's ankle, which was swollen due to a fracture. Even though Dong Guan was mentally prepared, he couldn't help but let out a soft "hmm" when stimulated.

It hurts.

However, the next second after the pain, Dong Guanzheng felt a cool, icy sensation flow into his ankle, and he looked up.

He saw Zhou Yan holding her foot, his gentle magic flowing into her injured ankle.

The swelling and redness of the ankle due to the fracture quickly subsided, and the fracture healed.

Zhou Yan only let go of Dong Guanzheng's foot after it returned to normal.

Zhou Yan looked at Dong Guanzheng, whose expression remained unchanged, with a smile.

"You're so stubborn, but your body is quite obedient. When I grabbed you just now, your muscles were very tense."

Dong Guanzheng couldn't help but frown. He wanted to say something in rebuttal, but in the end he gave up.

The calmer and more patient he is, the more anxious the other person should be, not himself.

Zhou Yan left the bedside where Dong Guan was lying, found a chair to sit down, and then continued.

How have you been feeling these past three months?

Dong Guan said, pretending to be nonchalant.

So-so.

Zhou Yan asked again.

"During this period of time, have you been angry about your situation, or felt disgusted by the actions of your Imperial Observatory?"

The winter official looked at Zhou Yan as if he were a fool.

Zhou Yan rubbed his forehead.

Zhou Yan had watched a documentary in the past.

The documentary features an elderly professor speaking to the camera.

“I once taught a student who was very talented. He did a great job on all the topics I assigned him. Once, our university was going to do a research project, and this student made a proposal. I read it and the proposal was excellent. But another professor in the university also took a fancy to the project and forcibly took it away. He even started to suppress my student.”

The old professor then began to shake his head.

“There are people all over the world who use their seniority to snatch research projects. Some even steal students’ research results. What’s even more frightening is that some people steal students’ results and then blacklist the students to prevent leaks.”

"After being suppressed, this student almost couldn't stay at the school. He ran to my room, knelt down, and cried, saying that he just wanted to do good research and become a qualified scientist. Why did he have to encounter such a thing?"

"He was confused and desperate. He asked me if research and learning should be fair and just, and that the capable should be in charge? Why do industry veterans suppress newcomers? Why do incompetent people occupy high positions and not allow newcomers to take their place?"

"I was moved by his sincerity and helped this student get the research project back, which enabled the student to become a rising star in our school and gain both fame and fortune."

"A few years later, when I inquired about this student again, someone told me that after he became a renowned professor thanks to my help in overcoming seniority barriers, he also began to suppress newcomers, using even harsher methods than the professors who had suppressed him before."

The professor finally shrugged. (Turn)

"The trope of victims turning into perpetrators is old news. I often watch TV dramas where they talk about how I understand others because I've suffered, but that's all bullshit. More often than not, people who have experienced hardship will choose to vent it on others, doubly so."

“Every year I see many talented students emerge, only to be suppressed by established scholars. These students suffer from the suppression, and when they finally succeed, they start suppressing other new students. This cycle repeats itself without stopping.”

After years of being a daughter-in-law, she finally becomes a mother-in-law; does that mean she'll treat her daughter-in-law well? Hiss.

No, most daughters-in-law who have suffered at the hands of their mothers-in-law will use even crueler methods to pass on the suffering they endured to their daughters-in-law.

The person opposite her, Dong Guanzheng, never saw her as a daughter-in-law or a student from the beginning. He saw her as a mother-in-law and a professor who suppressed newcomers.

Therefore, even though Nuwa made this Winter Official try to refine elixirs using humans, causing him much suffering, he didn't feel that his Imperial Observatory was wrong at all. Even if Zhou Yan helped this old Taoist priest restore his past cultivation, he wouldn't object to the elixir refining; at most, he would go back and kill the palace maid who had harmed him to vent his anger.

Then continue using the virgin's menstrual blood to refine elixirs.

"You've disappointed me."

Zhou Yan's smile faded.

"I thought a great cultivator like you would be able to distinguish right from wrong."

Zhou Yan originally thought that after experiencing it firsthand, the old Taoist priest would understand how cruel he had been in the past.

Dong Guan frowned slightly; he clearly sensed that Zhou Yan's words carried a deep meaning.

"Fellow Daoist..."

Dong Guan suppressed his disbelief and asked expressionlessly.

"You're not targeting us because we use Gui water in medicine and alchemy, are you?"

Zhou Yan countered with a question.

"What, are your acts of wreaking havoc on the world not enough for me to take action?"

This emperor of the Great Meng Dynasty recruited thousands of palace maids every year to refine elixirs, and countless high-ranking officials at all levels of the province, state, prefecture, and county also privately raised young girls to be used in medicine and elixirs.

In Beiyang County, where Zhou Yan previously lived, such a small place, with only a Jingtian Temple, they still had to capture dozens of young girls as materials for alchemy. In a small mass grave outside the city, there were hundreds of skeletons of young girls who died while refining pills.

Zhou Yan couldn't imagine how many people this emperor's desire to attain enlightenment had killed.

Dong Guanzheng still looked at Zhou Yan with the same eyes that looked at an idiot, and this time Dong Guanzheng even laughed loudly.

"How can you be so childish?"

"Do you know how many corrupt officials there are in this dynasty? Do you know how many people starved to death a few years ago when the Great Eastern Prefecture suffered a drought, and those officials who delivered disaster relief funds did so for their own selfish reasons?"

Dong Guan straightened his chest.

"Our Imperial Observatory dares not claim to be completely free of corruption, but we have always prayed for the well-being of the people, resulting in national peace and prosperity, and saving countless lives..."

So what does it matter if a few people die for the sake of one's own path?

Based on their own merits, they deserve all of this.

How stupid is Zhou Yan to come looking for trouble just because a few people died?

Zhou Yan didn't say anything, but stepped forward and stood in front of Dong Guanzheng, then grabbed Dong Guanzheng's neck with both hands.

"The Winter Official said calmly."

"You want to kill me?"

Dong Guanzheng clearly sensed the murderous aura emanating from Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan said calmly.

"You've wasted all your cultivation. When you go to hell, remember to tell Yama that it was I, Zhou Yan, who killed you. That way, I can record a few more merits."

Dong Guan said nonchalantly.

"This old Taoist has accumulated countless merits. Even in the underworld, he will enjoy the Record of Merits, and might even be granted a position as a deity..."

Dong Guanzheng had long been prepared for death, and Zhou Yan killing him was actually a relief for him.

Zhou Yan snapped the old Taoist's neck.

Chapter Twenty: Annihilation

It was late afternoon, around 3 PM, when the sky was about to darken.

Having just listened to the Taoist priests from the Imperial Observatory explain the dual cultivation techniques, Zhao Wuji was carried by several sedan chair bearers to the gate of his own courtyard. After the sedan chair landed, Zhao Wuji, looking exhausted, stepped out of the sedan chair with unsteady steps.

There were two maids waiting in the courtyard. When one of the maids saw Zhao Wuji coming, she bowed to him.

"Your Majesty, what would you like to eat tonight?"

Zhao Wuji shook his head.

"No, I'll rest for a bit."

That night, he would have to accompany the emperor and be humiliated by the reigning emperor. Just thinking about this made Zhao Wuji lose his appetite.

The palace maids withdrew, and Zhao Wuji walked to his house and pushed open the door.

The door was half open when Zhao Wuji's tired face suddenly tightened. He saw an acquaintance in his room, sitting on the edge of the bed with his hand on his chest and a pigeon with a letter tube tied to its leg on its finger.

An acquaintance took down the mailbox, opened it, and read the letter.

Zhao Wuji walked into the room and silently closed the door.

The acquaintance across the way lifted the pigeon, which spread its wings, circled around the acquaintance once, and then flew out of Zhao Wuji's bedroom window.

Zhou Yan, still holding the carrier pigeon in his hand, smiled and asked Zhao Wuji, who was closing the door.

"I thought you would call out to me the moment you first saw me this morning."

Zhou Yan made a special appearance in front of Zhao Wuji in the morning, but the man's actions did not follow the script Zhou Yan had expected.

He didn't call out to me, nor did he come looking for me afterwards.

Zhao Wuji walked to the dressing table, sat down, and looked at Zhou Yan.

"So the old Taoist priest won."

When Zhao Wuji first saw Zhou Yan, he had the thought of calling out to him, but he held back because it really was Zhou Yan. This person dared to appear in front of him, wasn't he just asking him to stop him?

If not, there's no point in calling out to him.

Therefore, Zhao Wuji, who had fallen into this situation, made a decision that was absolutely not in line with the mastermind behind the scenes: he neither went to find Zhou Yan nor paid any attention to him.

Now, Zhou Yan is taking the initiative to go to the door to look for people.

From the perspective of the party with higher demands, Zhao Wuji won.

Zhou Yan laughed.

"Alright, alright, our Lady of Medicine Valley, this time you have more patience, you win."

"Oh, right."

Zhou Yan winked at Zhao Wuji.

"How does it feel to be a girl? I heard a really horny transvestite say that being a woman is 6 times more fun than being a man."

Zhao Wuji remained expressionless.

Like Dong Guanzheng, Zhao Wuji, as a hundred-year-old cultivator, had a profound understanding of cultivating his inner energy. He would not get angry or want to die together with Zhou Yan because of Zhou Yan's provocation.

Zhou Yan continued.

"Then let's put it another way."

"Chun Guanzheng, you've been disguised as the Medicine Valley Goddess for so long, haven't you felt..."

"Your Imperial Observatory refines elixirs for the emperor, killing so many people, yet you claim to be the orthodox sect of Taoism. How are you any different from heretics and evil cults?"

Zhao Wuji's expression shifted slightly.

"The formula for the Elixir of Immortality is correct, and this formula was passed down from the Dao Ancestor Ge Hong. It is the orthodox external alchemy of the Xuanmen sect."

Since our own elixir of immortality isn't made by extracting people's souls and bodies to refine pills, how can it be considered a heretical or evil practice?

Zhou Yan narrowed his eyes.

"So you think that your Imperial Observatory is right to have caused the deaths of so many people?"

Zhao Wuji shook his head.

"Anything in excess is as bad as anything in moderation. This matter of alchemy has gone too far."

Zhou Yan's complexion improved.

"Just over?"