Chapter 966: Missed a Great Show

Lian Ping'er's spiritual perception was astonishingly strong. Her mind constantly raced, pondering how to escape and how to respond. She always considered various possibilities before acting, yet she found herself unable to comprehend the current situation.

If Aze, after drinking the ancient demon's blood, had become a demon, he should have directly lost all humanity. Even if he had slaughtered his way out of Nine Peaks Mountain, he wouldn't have singled out Lian Ping'er with such hatred, nor would he have caused such a profound and malevolent sense of dread. Lian Ping'er even felt confident she could draw such a demon to her side. However, the current situation was completely unexpected, leaving her no time for further contemplation.

The young master from that immortal cultivation family was clearly decisive and deeply cherished the two maids, whose relationship with him seemed extraordinary. After concluding that Ruan Shan Du was not a place to linger, he quickly departed, taking the two women with him, carried by the wind.

As they moved further away from Ruan Shan Du with the young master, the tension and oppression in Lian Ping'er's heart gradually faded, as if she had temporarily escaped.

What Lian Ping'er didn't know, however, was that although Aze couldn't fully pinpoint her exact location, he could sense her presence through a demonic thought linked by karmic ties. The moment Lian Ping'er left, Aze also departed from Ruan Shan Du.

In fact, Aze was not in a hurry to confront Lian Ping'er. He neither wanted her to die too quickly nor did he want her to escape using unpredictable methods, as Lady Ying had done previously.

However, just as Lian Ping'er was fleeing Ruan Shan Du and Aze was stealthily departing, following his senses, Lu Shanjun's two *changui* (tiger spirits) belatedly arrived in the sky outside Ruan Shan Du.

"Senior Brother Xia, do you really think Lian Ping'er is already inside the Nine Peaks Grotto-Heaven?"

"Lian Ping'er is cunning and unpredictable. Although the Nine Peaks Grotto-Heaven is an immortal sacred ground, if she wants to get in, she'll always find a way."

"Then how do *we* get in?"

Xia Pinming smiled.

"Junior Brother Liu, you and I are cultivators from the Mirror Profound Sea Pavilion. We can simply pay a visit."

"But we are *changui* now..."

Xia Pinming sighed. Of course, he knew. But that Tiger Lord was their master, whom they dared not disobey. They couldn't even choose death. Not going to check on Aze, not messing with Lian Ping'er's plans, would be like defying an order.

"You know Lian Ping'er?"

A voice suddenly echoed in their ears, making both of them pause slightly. Although they had just been conversing, they were using sound transmission, so how could a third person have heard them?

Then, they saw a man, clad in black and red, materialize before them out of thin air. Upon closer inspection, his garments appeared to be intricately woven from fine black and red flames.

Although the man before them emitted no aura, as *changui*, they were extremely sensitive to Aze's state. So much so that even the immortal bodies Lu Shanjun had given them began to destabilize, revealing spectral energy.

"Hm? Yin ghosts?"

"You... are a demon?"

Liu Xi's expression changed as he uttered a low cry, but Xia Pinming reacted even faster, shouting out the moment a deathly sense of crisis emerged.

"You're Aze?"

For some reason, despite being ghosts, they felt a heart-wrenching sensation, as if they had almost died again. They immediately used their escape techniques, fleeing to the left and right. But when they looked back at where they had been, there was nothing there—not Aze, not even a bird.

They scanned all directions but found nothing. Yet, it couldn't have been a hallucination. The two of them hovered in place, on guard for a quarter of an hour, finally confirming that the entity they had just glimpsed must have left. Only then did one of them speak via sound transmission.

"Senior Brother, Aze has succumbed to demonhood? Did Lian Ping'er succeed?"

"We're too late! This is terrible! We'll definitely be punished by our master when we go back..."

Saying this, the cultivator surnamed Xia shivered. Clearly, *changui* did not fare well under the Tiger Lord's punishment.

"We can only go back and report to our master first!"

The cultivator surnamed Xia gritted his teeth and made a decision. However, at that very moment, Aze had already split into two; one continued to search for Lian Ping'er, while the other actually followed the two *changui* as they departed.

The moment Aze fully transformed into a demon, Ji Yuan, far away in Yunzhou, also sensed it, feeling a certain wistfulness. However, the chess piece representing Aze did not disappear, indicating that Aze had not completely fallen into the kind of demon that truly brings disaster upon all living beings. This somewhat put Ji Yuan's mind at ease.

"Sir, what's wrong?"

At the stone table in Jujuan Pavilion, a red fox sat on a stone stool, its multiple tails swishing behind it. Its front paws held a book, clearly indicating it had been reading. Upon noticing Ji Yuan sigh, it immediately asked.

Ji Yuan looked at Hu Yun and shook his head slightly.

"Nothing much, just something happened far away. I don't know what the outcome will be."

After all, Ji Yuan was not omniscient or omnipotent. He knew that Aze had become a demon but not an evil one, yet he didn't know *why* Aze had fully transformed, nor what had happened after the transformation. He only hoped it wasn't because someone Aze cared about had suffered, and that an irreversible conflict wouldn't erupt between him and Nine Peaks Mountain.

Meanwhile, Xiezhi, sitting alone on a long bench outside the side room, cracking sunflower seeds, said something to Hu Yun.

"Don't get distracted. Read your book. With all those tails swishing around, do you think you're a dog?"

Hu Yun flinched. Comparing him to a dog? But facing Xiezhi, he dared not speak his anger, so he could only continue reading. The books weren't some world-shaking immortal techniques or cultivation secrets, but rather works by contemporary renowned Confucian scholars.

"Sigh, reading is fine, but it was one thing when Sir made me read before. Why is this master suddenly making me read too?"

Hu Yun mumbled, sneaking a glance at Xiezhi, then looking at Ji Yuan, who was still playing chess by himself.

"What are you mumbling about, kid?"

"Nothing, Master! I'm reading!"

Saying this, Hu Yun began to read softly, adopting the posture of a student reading in a classical academy or private school. He would occasionally sway his head, though he resisted the urge to wag his tails.

However, after Hu Yun had read for a while, and upon reaching a particularly profound passage and grasping its meaning, he instinctively started swishing his tails again.

"Heh, still claiming he's not like a dog..."

Xiezhi chuckled softly at that, and Hu Yun immediately stopped wagging his tails. Even Ji Yuan couldn't help but glance at the fox's tails a few times.

"You little fox, your talent is indeed outstanding, and you know how to endure hardship. However, your temperament is a bit too lively. It's not a bad thing, but you're too prone to change. By drawing upon the essence of literary cultivation, you can both nurture your character and cultivate your mind, complementing your spiritual practice. Do you know that even some cultivators in the present immortal cultivation world occasionally study the works of great Confucian scholars and sages?"

"Oh?"

Xiezhi glanced at Ji Yuan, cracking the sunflower seeds in his hand as fast as a machine.

"Crack, crack, crack, crack..."

Once a small handful of sunflower seeds filled his mouth, Xiezhi began to chew. After swallowing the kernels, he continued speaking.

"Back then, your Sir Ji had Yin Qing, who excelled in both diplomacy and strict law, read aloud by the Chunmu River to that old tortoise and the green fish. That, too, was a wondrous art."

Hu Yun paused, then couldn't help but ask,

"It's wondrous, but is this also considered an art, Sir?"

"Hahahaha..."

Xiezhi suddenly burst into laughter.

"My disciple, what are immortal arts and wondrous methods? Do you think only by wielding supreme magical power to summon wind and rain, or overturn rivers and seas, can one be considered practicing an art?"

"Isn't that right? Well, maybe not as exaggerated as overturning rivers and seas..."

Ji Yuan looked up at Hu Yun, deliberately not interjecting. Although he wasn't in a good mood at the moment, he was curious to hear how Xiezhi would describe him.

Xiezhi finished cracking the last handful of sunflower seeds in his hand, clapped his hands, and shook his pant leg to scatter all the shells under the bench. After chewing and savoring for a moment, he actually steadied his breath before speaking, answering Hu Yun's question in a remarkably solemn tone.

"What is 'art,' what is 'immortal,' what is 'method,' and what is 'Dao'? These four ascend layer by layer, but what they ultimately pursue is simply the last of these: the Dao. Your Sir Ji has long transcended these categories. It is said that an immortal, when using the Dao, may not necessarily manifest explicit methods; every detail of life, every word, every action, a mere gentle touch, embodies the Dao and its methods. A tiny seedling, a towering tree, a bowl of fine sand, a sky-supporting jade pillar—if there were a second person in this world capable of performing such a wondrous art, I, too, would call them an immortal."

Hu Yun vaguely understood but was deeply shaken. He still quietly asked,

"Then Master, do you not recognize those who cultivate immortality as true immortals?"

Xiezhi merely twisted his mouth without answering. Although the world called them immortals, in his opinion, they were not worthy yet.

"Mr. Xiezhi! How much more will you eat, Sir!"

Xiezhi turned his head and saw Zao Niang standing beside him, hands on her hips. He couldn't help but show a hint of embarrassment. Under the long bench, a thick layer of sunflower seed shells had accumulated on the ground.

These sunflower seeds were personally roasted by Zao Niang. The large open space behind Jujuan Pavilion had been filled with sunflowers planted by her. Knowing Ji Yuan enjoyed good food, she had meticulously roasted the sunflower seeds using crushed salt and spices as seasoning.

However, she hadn't expected Xiezhi to be so annoying. She had explicitly told Mr. Xiezhi not to eat them all, but in the brief moment Zao Niang was in the kitchen boiling water, he had managed to finish all the sunflower seeds.

Xiezhi was practically a human sunflower seed cracking machine. At his speed, while an ordinary person cracked one seed, he could crack a handful, literally shoveling them into his mouth.

"Uh, Zao Niang, I asked Ji Yuan, and he said I didn't need to be polite..."

Zao Niang exhaled. It was impossible for her to complain to Sir, so she said coldly to Xiezhi,

"Stand up, I need to clean!"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Rarely feeling in the wrong, Xiezhi immediately stood up, no longer basking in the sun. He picked up the bench and scurried to the stone table in the courtyard. Hu Yun, meanwhile, secretly buried his fox head in his book, pretending not to see the scene. If he dared to let out any laughter, he'd surely be in for a bad time.

However, Xiezhi was well aware that Hu Yun was secretly amused. He said with a half-smile,

"I heard that Tiger Lord was furious that you couldn't become Sir Ji's disciple. Truth be told, if he comes looking for me, I'm not afraid. But if he comes looking for *you*, tsk tsk tsk..."

Xiezhi's tone was full of schadenfreude, not at all like a master concerned for his disciple, but rather gloating and expectant. Hu Yun felt a shiver run from the tips of his tails all the way to the tips of his ears.

"Sir Ji, Master... if you don't save me, I'm doomed! Tiger Lord will definitely eat me!"

"Heh, save yourself then."

Xiezhi teased, while Ji Yuan continued to place his chess pieces, ignoring Hu Yun completely, which left the latter looking utterly despondent.