Due to his lover's intervention, Qi Ze's flight for his life had gone rather smoothly. Along the way, he had taken care of several dozen wandering cultivators, gradually earning a fearsome reputation. In no time, he reached the territory of the Spirit Water Palace, just as the palace lord was on a tour.
Su Huaiyun, with her delicate and graceful features, was renowned for her gentle demeanor and was often referred to as the "Spirit Water Fairy." Countless cultivators had fallen for her, but very few had truly gotten close to her. She sat in a palanquin pulled by four-winged flying horses, with her face obscured by a white veil that hung from the top of the sedan chair, revealing only the tip of her crimson garment. Numerous female disciples walked alongside the palanquin, each wielding a spirit sword, forming a formidable entourage.
When passing by the shops established by the Spirit Water Palace, the shopkeepers and clerks would rush out to bow respectfully to her.
It was said that Su Huaiyun was a person of icy detachment, above worldly affairs, a rare individual with a firm Daoist heart. The previous Qi Ze had felt immense pride in her and had greatly admired such a mother. But upon seeing her again, he sensed something amiss. How could someone truly aloof and dignified put on such a display of pomp and circumstance? And how could they possibly care about external appearances?
If Qi Ze were to evaluate his mother now, he would only use three words â shallow, hypocritical, and venomous.
As the carriage passed by the inn where he was, Qi Ze casually leaped down from the second floor, shouting loudly, "Mother, save me. It's your little darling, Qi Ze!"
The female disciples guarding the carriage's sides swiftly drew their spirit swords, taking up aggressive stances. Su Huaiyun, however, nearly exposed her true feelings in a burst of anger. She had meticulously arranged a decoy for Qi Ze, so he could fake his death and escape, but she had yet to receive news of his arrival in the City of Ten Directions. She had assumed something had gone wrong on the road and was preparing to send a few disciples to search for him, but she never expected him to show up on his own, and in such an ostentatious manner!
Su Huaiyun deeply regretted having brought so many people along and making such a grand display. The news of Qi Ze seeking refuge with her would likely spread across the entire Qianyuan Continent in no time, and the Spirit Water Palace, which could have remained uninvolved, would immediately become the target of everyone's attention.
Well, Qi Zhongshu certainly had a good son! Su Huaiyun truly wanted to stab this idiot to death, but she couldn't bear the thought of losing his invaluable flesh and blood. If she completely denied him, someone else from another sect would snatch him away within half an hour, leaving her with nothing. If she acknowledged him, she lacked the strength to handle this hot potato despite her Void Leaving cultivation level. It was better to hand him over to a powerhouse in the Tribulation Transcendence stage to gain some benefits for herself.
Seeing several people on the roadside watching them, and some even taking out their voice-transmitting jade talismans to say something, Su Huaiyun immediately threw out a white silk ribbon to drag Qi Ze into the sedan chair, snarling, "Back to the palace!" The female disciples immediately turned around and sped off.
"Do you have any idea how many people you've alerted with that shout? The Divine Creation Sect has already been destroyed because of you, and my Spirit Water Palace will suffer the same fate. I carried you for ten months, almost damaging my foundation and cultivation. Is this how you repay me? I clearly arranged a way out for you, why did you insist on heading to your demise? The Spirit Water Palace is only a third-rate sect, how can it possibly withstand the joint pressure of the ten great sects?" Su Huaiyun's voice was calm, her expression cool, but she was seething with rage inside.
"Mother, you're the only family I have left. Who else could I come to? I didn't trust the escape route you arranged for me, so I decided to directly seek refuge with you." Qi Ze said shamelessly.
If she could, Su Huaiyun would have struck this person dead with a single palm. She struggled to control her emotions before speaking, "Since you're here, you might as well stay. Fortunately, all ten great sects are currently at the border between the two realms, resisting the demonic people. They won't be able to deal with you for the time being. I'll find a suitable place to settle you, so the entire Spirit Water Palace won't be implicated by you."
"How could the Spirit Water Palace be implicated by me? Who doesn't know that Mother's bedfellows include the sect master of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, the elder of the Boundless Sect, and the young master of the Beast Taming Sect? If you beg them a little, they definitely won't dare to touch the Spirit Water Palace. Besides, your female and male disciples are all capable individuals, having charmed countless cultivators. There's no reason to worry about not having someone to take care of things." Qi Ze said carelessly.
Su Huaiyun almost choked, nearly suffocating to death. She struggled to suppress her anger before saying coldly, "What kind of words are you spouting? The Spirit Water Palace is a prestigious and upright sect..."
"Forget it, Mother. My father told me everything. Your Spirit Water Palace is essentially a place for renting out furnaces. Others come to dual cultivate with you, and you charge a certain amount of resources. It's not much different from a brothel in the mortal world. You're the madam, specifically recruiting customers. I understand all this. Sects like yours are least afraid of offending people because you can always pay them back in flesh. Hahahaha..." Qi Ze covered his mouth and laughed, as if he had told the most amusing joke in the world, almost causing Su Huaiyun to explode with rage.
He couldn't be killed, he was a Fusion Body! She repeated these words to herself several times to barely suppress her surging anger. Having lived for several hundred years, she was always fawned over and protected, when did she ever suffer such humiliation? Even more infuriating was the fact that Qi Ze claimed that his father, Qi Zhongshu, had told him all these things, implying that Qi Zhongshu's deep affection for her was all a pretense and that he only saw her as a furnace.
This father-son duo was... was... Su Huaiyun couldn't find any words to describe her anger, but she couldn't lash out.
Qi Ze was quite pleased, saying many things that would infuriate Su Huaiyun to the point of turning green.
"You'll temporarily stay here. I'll send you away once I find a suitable place." Su Huaiyun led him to a small courtyard, gave a few brief instructions, and then left for the meeting hall.
"Thank you, Mother." Qi Ze obediently waved. When she was far enough away, he changed his expression and said coldly, "This time, you can't keep me for yourself. Have you thought about who you're going to hand me over to?" Although he asked this, he knew in his heart that apart from the sect master of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, Su Huaiyun wouldn't dare to hand him over to anyone else. The most powerful person on the Qianyuan Continent wasn't someone that anyone dared to provoke.
Wait a minute! Now that the Demon Realm had merged with the Cultivation Realm, the sect master of the Sky-Slaying Sect might not be the strongest person on the Qianyuan Continent anymore. This battle for supremacy might have many more twists and turns. Thinking about this, Qi Ze couldn't help but chuckle softly.
"Are you Qi Ze?" A boy, about thirteen or fourteen years old, stormed in with great force, scolding, "How could you come to the Spirit Water Palace? Don't you know you're being pursued by the entire cultivation world, and that you'll bring a catastrophic end to the Spirit Water Palace? Mother always says how outstanding and intelligent you are, but I think you're just a heartless and ungrateful beast!"
"Since that's the case, I'll just leave then." Qi Ze didn't waste words with him. He easily broke through the restrictions inside and outside the small courtyard, crushed a teleportation talisman, and vanished without a trace.
The boy, who had wanted to intimidate Qi Ze and extort a few treasures from him, didn't expect him to leave so simply, so decisively. How could Qi Ze have broken the restraining formation set up by his mother and several elders? The boy had no time to think about that. He only realized that he had caused a tremendous disaster.
The news that Qi Ze was in the Spirit Water Palace had already spread throughout the cultivation world. If his mother handed Qi Ze over to the sect master of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, the Sky-Slaying Sect Master, she could obtain the protection of a top sect, and resources would surely come pouring in. But if Qi Ze disappeared, who would believe that he had left on his own? They would only think that the Spirit Water Palace was greedy, aiming to monopolize the Fusion Body.
No amount of words would suffice for his mother to explain herself then. She did have many admirers, but what were feelings compared to interests? To force the Spirit Water Palace to hand over Qi Ze, the tragedy of the Divine Creation Sect would surely be reenacted.
Thinking about this, the boy was terrified out of his wits, immediately wanting to leave the small courtyard. However, he ran straight into Su Huaiyun, who had hurriedly returned.
"Suo Wan, why are you here? Where's Qi Ze?"
"He, he left on his own."
"Left on his own? What do you mean? I and the eight elders set up nine layers of restraining formations. How could he escape?" Su Huaiyun didn't believe it. She searched the place inside and out many times before finally accepting the reality. A bone-chilling coldness climbed from the soles of her feet to her scalp and seeped into her bones, making her shiver uncontrollably. No one knew better than her what Qi Ze's escape meant for the Spirit Water Palace. Unless he appeared somewhere else, the Spirit Water Palace was destined to be blamed for trying to monopolize the Fusion Body.
The Ten Thousand Swords Sect would be the first to not spare her, followed by the Beast Taming Sect, the Boundless Sect, and so on. The good days for the Spirit Water Palace were over!
She immediately contacted the elders, and at the end, she fiercely slapped Su Wan, saying bitterly, "Guards, lock the young master up in the water dungeon. If Qi Ze can't be found, he's never allowed to come out!"
Suo Wan begged for mercy, kowtowing repeatedly, but it didn't soften her heart. In the end, he was escorted into the water dungeon, his pipa bones sealed.
Su Huaiyun had originally thought that Qi Ze had been driven away by Su Wan's anger. Once his anger cooled, he would naturally return, and then she would move him to a restricted area to prevent his escape again. But three days passed, and Qi Ze never showed up. The outside world assumed he was still in the Spirit Water Palace, so they sent people to wait outside the mountain gate day and night.
Receiving the transmission from the Sect Master of the Sky-Slaying Sect, Su Huaiyun trembled as she said, "Sect Master, to be honest, that ungrateful son has long since escaped. I'm currently sending people to search for him. If we find him, I'll personally deliver him to your door."
"Escaped?" The Sect Master of the Sky-Slaying Sect's deep voice echoed faintly, "Su Huaiyun, do you take me for a fool?"
"He really escaped! Sect Master, you must believe me!"
"You have three days to deliver him to my door. Otherwise, the Spirit Water Palace will be the next Divine Creation Sect."
"Sect Master, I swear to you, Qi Ze really escaped, I had no intention of monopolizing the Fusion Body. Sect Master?" Su Huaiyun wanted to explain further, but the transmission talisman had already gone silent. Sky-Slaying clearly didn't accept her explanation. A little Golden Core cultivator who trusted Su Huaiyun so much, how could he have possibly escaped from the heavily restricted Spirit Water Palace?
Looking at the shattered transmission talisman, Su Huaiyun felt that her soul had been crushed along with it. If she couldn't find Qi Ze within three days, she knew she would die a terrible death. Only at this moment did she feel the depth of her regret, hating herself for being so greedy, knowing that Qi Ze was a hot potato yet still reaching out to catch him. If she had left him alone, none of this would have happened.
No, even if she had left him alone, he would definitely have found his way to the Spirit Water Palace. This man was a disaster star, he should have been strangled to death in his swaddling clothes back then! Su Huaiyun grew more and more resentful, eventually coughing up a mouthful of blood from her heart.