Chapter 200 Boomerang:

Liujin City is the most prosperous city in the Central Continent. No matter when, the streets are always bustling with people, the shops on both sides are full of people, and even the tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurants are crowded with people eating snacks.

"I wonder where they get the money to eat, drink, and have fun when they don't work in the government office or the fields during the day?" Shen Bingsi couldn't help but ask.

Rong Xie laughed and said, "People have to have their moments of enjoyment, right? In the end, isn't working in the government office and doing odd jobs all for a better life? If that's the case, wouldn't it be more direct to take the best time of the day to eat and have fun?"

Shen Bingsi raised an eyebrow: "That makes sense... but why does this logic sound so much like the doctrine of the Hehuan Sect?"

"To practice the doctrines of the Hehuan Sect, of course we must—" Rong Xie was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly realized that his words were very presumptuous, so he abruptly cut off his words and did not continue.

Shen Bingsi waited for him with great interest: "Why did you stop talking?"

Rong Xie's ears felt slightly warm. He turned his head and pretended to look around, asking, "Didn't we say we were going shopping? What do you want to buy? What do you want to eat?"

"I just want to stand here and listen to you talk about the doctrines of the Hehuan Sect." Shen Bingsi pulled Rong Xie's hand and brought him back to her side, cupping his face in her hands to prevent him from looking away. "Tell me, how should we practice the doctrines of the Hehuan Sect?"

Rong Xie felt his face burning up: "What do you mean, 'what do you mean, 'what do you mean'? I'm not a member of the sect, how would I know? Stop fooling around, this is the middle of the road!"

“They’ve seen it all. We’re just standing here having a talk, what’s there to be afraid of?” Shen Bingsi moved closer to Rong Xie. “Tell me quickly, what do you want? I’m waiting to hear your teachings. Maybe once you tell me, I’ll have an epiphany and ascend to immortality right here.”

"Stop messing around." Rong Xie pushed Shen Bingsi's stomach with his fingers. This trick always worked wonders, but this time Shen Bingsi was determined to use her proud willpower and remained unmoved.

The two were cuddling when a young cultivator passing by glanced over, and his whispered conversation with his companion drifted over:

"No wonder it's the Golden City, so open-minded!" "Two men can be so affectionate in the street!" "Seriously, it's quite a sight to behold, let me take a second look—"

“Of course, it requires unity of mind and body,” Rong Xie said quickly, his voice low.

Shen Bingsi released him with satisfaction.

Rong Xie took a step back as if lightning had struck, crossed his arms, pretending that he was not on the same side as Shen Bing Si, and turned his head to look in the other direction.

However, his burning face betrayed him; under the watchful eyes of those young people, Rong Xie wished he could disappear into a crack in the ground.

"What's the big deal? They're just out-of-towners." Shen Bingsi stared at the passersby until they quickened their pace and disappeared around the bend in the road as if they were being chased by wolves.

"It's all your fault." Rong Xie patted Shen Bingsi, grabbed him, and walked towards a quiet teahouse by the roadside without saying another word.

There are so many things to enjoy in Liujin City that teahouses, which require a leisurely pace, are surprisingly deserted.

Rong Xie wanted a quiet place with few people, so he chose a teahouse on the side facing the alley and lowered the bamboo curtain to cover it.

"That's great, no one can see us now." Shen Bingsi leaned back in her chair and tilted her head to look into the deserted alley.

"That's still better than being embarrassed in the street..." Rong Xie pressed the back of his hand against his cheek, trying to cool down his face.

After the tea master came over and took the order, he served a pot of locally produced white tea.

Shen Bingsi couldn't help but reach out and gently stroke Rong Xie's cheek: "This is really your face! I thought it was a hawthorn berry. How come it turns red so easily?"

Rong Xie slapped Shen Bingsi's hand away: "Is everyone as thick-skinned as you?" For some reason, he couldn't help but chuckle.

"What are you laughing at?" Shen Bingsi asked, picking up her teacup.

"Laughing at you, don't you remember how you used to ridicule those lovey-dovey couples in the street?" Rong Xie imitated Shen Bing Si, frowning and pursing his lips. "A good dog doesn't block the way! Even a brain-damaged couple isn't as sensible as a good dog!"

"Heh." Shen Bingsi swirled her teacup, took a sip, and said pretentiously, "Try it, it tastes pretty good!"

“I would never entrust a task to someone like that. They’re blinded by base desires and are not worthy of my trust.” Rong Xie continued to mimic Shen Bing Si’s arrogant demeanor from back then.

Shen Bingsi looked speechless, holding her teacup, unsure whether to drink it or put it down.

"Pfft..." Rong Xie couldn't help but laugh, pointing at his embarrassed expression and laughing so hard he slapped the edge of the table.

Shen Bingsi smiled helplessly, picked up her teacup, and drank it all in one gulp. She put down the teacup and waited for Rong Xie to finish laughing before asking, "Am I really that annoying?"

“Yes, when Brother Zhao and the others went on a mission that time, you even said—” Rong Xie was about to speak when Shen Bingsi stood up from the table, walked around to Rong Xie’s side, squeezed into a small rattan chair with him, and reached out to tickle his ribs.

"You still say... Pfft, stop, stop messing with me, go away, go away." Rong Xie dodged while laughing so hard he was shaking. He didn't know how attractive he was. Shen Bing Si hugged him and kissed him on the cheek.

The empty teahouse was very quiet, making this sip all the more resounding.

Rong Xie lowered his head, pressed his face against Shen Bingsi's shoulder, punched him twice hard, and gritted his teeth: "Do you want to die?"

“I want…” Shen Bingsi hugged him and swayed him, “to be one with him in body and mind. If I hear the truth in the morning, I can die content in the evening.”

"You can even recite classical Chinese texts now?" Rong Xie pushed Shen Bingsi's face away. "Sit back down."

Just then, a commotion arose in front of the teahouse, and several young men and women walked in, beckoning the tea server to come out and get to work.

The tea server trotted over to greet the guests. He probably hadn't expected the quiet teahouse to suddenly be packed with people. He excitedly seated them next to Shen Bingsi and Rong Xie, with only a bamboo curtain separating them.

Rong Xie pricked up his ears and listened stiffly as they moved their chairs and sat down behind the bamboo curtain.

Shen Bingsi watched Rong Xie's embarrassed expression with great interest.

"Go over there quickly." Rong Xie pushed Shen Bingsi.

"No."

"you--"

"Shh," Shen Bingsi whispered, "You don't want them to hear there's someone behind the curtain, do you?"

Rong Xie shut his mouth and pushed Shen Bing Si even harder, causing the small chair to creak under the weight.

"Hey, Junior Sister Mu, is there someone behind this curtain?" someone from the young guests who had just entered said from behind the curtain.

"Maybe someone's already here?" a young woman's voice said uncertainly. "Would you like to move?"

"Let's find another spot; it's not convenient to talk here," the first young male voice said.

A rough male voice chimed in, "What's with all the fuss? This is common knowledge, why are you afraid of being overheard? Just say it!"

On the other side of the curtain, Rong Xie breathed a sigh of relief; thankfully, they hadn't come over to check.

However, judging from their conversation, there were subtle fluctuations of spiritual energy, indicating that they were several cultivators, addressing each other as senior brother and junior sister. It was unclear which sect they belonged to.

They were talking about something that everyone knows, but I don't know what it is.

“This isn’t a good idea,” the weak male voice hesitated. “After all, that great demon is incredibly powerful. Who knows if it might be lurking nearby, eavesdropping on our conversation…”

"Oh no, really!" The woman's voice also became frightened.

"Tsk, do you think you're some important person? You're just a lowly outer disciple of the Moving Mountain Sect. Would that thing really travel all the way to Liujin City to eavesdrop on you?" The rough male voice mocked. "If you said you were an outer disciple of the Xuantian Sect, that would be a little more likely."

“Senior Brother Lao, you don’t know this,” the weak male voice explained, “that great demon’s power far exceeds our imagination. I only learned about it from an insider report from the Xuan Tian Sect…”

The weak male voice was already not loud, and now it was lowered even further, explaining the situation to the cultivators in a whisper.

However, the sound was loud enough for Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi to hear.

The two exchanged a glance, both seeing a warning in each other's eyes.

The Great Demon and the Xuan Tian Sect—that's none other than the Hehuan Flower Demon!

These days, Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi have been enjoying themselves at the Hehuan Sect, but there's something they can't let go of.

How's Brother Jiang's demon-catching going? Is the Acacia Flower Demon still causing trouble at the Xuantian Sect? Little Branch... is his spirit still alive? What's the state of the Ruthless Dao Palace now?

They don't stop thinking about these things even for a single day; they just don't talk about them.

The man's deliberately lowered voice clearly reached Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi's ears:

The great demon is extremely powerful and difficult to capture. For some reason, it does not emit demonic aura. When it lies in ambush, even the renowned Adjudicators of the cultivation world cannot find it.

If it could only conceal its demonic aura, that wouldn't be a problem; it would only be considered a high-level demon. What's terrifying is that it can sneak into people's dreams while they are sleeping and bewitch them through the dream. Whether the dreamer is an ordinary person or a powerful cultivator, they cannot resist this bewitchment. When they wake up, they will become puppets on strings, completely at the mercy of the great demon.

Despite being one of the three major sects, the Xuantian Sect was powerless to resist the great demon, allowing it to run rampant and harm countless disciples. One elder was even controlled by the demon and committed suicide in an attempt to break free...

This year has just begun, and yet the ruthless elder of the Lingjing Sect has fallen, and the Xuantian Sect has been wreaked havoc by a great demon. I wonder if this is the beginning of a chaotic era.

Nowadays, all the major sects and families are in a state of fear, each erecting their own barriers, refusing to interact with each other, and not allowing anyone to enter, in order to resist the great demon that comes and goes without a trace.

There was also a group of smaller sects that had no powerful barriers to rely on, nor any major forces to rely on. Upon hearing the news, they scattered like monkeys fleeing a sinking ship, each trying to escape for their lives.

The group of outer disciples of the Moving Mountain Sect who were speaking were just like that. The Moving Mountain Sect was an obscure little sect near Shengjing. It had always been protected by the Xuantian Sect. Now that the Xuantian Sect was in trouble, their master wanted to guard the sect to the death and did not want his disciples to be trapped there. So he tricked them out and used the sect's protective magic weapon to send them here - to Liujin City, far away from the Lingjing Sect and the Xuantian Sect.

Under the protection of the Liujin Sect and far from the other two major sects, Liujin City is quite safe now. According to the outer disciples of the Moving Mountain Sect, there is no safer place in the Central Plains. Therefore, in the coming period of time, more and more cultivators will flock here. They need to find a place to settle down for a long time first, and then figure out a way to trick their master into coming here.

Then, the group of outer disciples began to sigh and discuss finding a place to stay and how to trick their master into coming.

Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi had eavesdropped enough, and after exchanging a glance, they decided there was no need to linger there any longer.

"Tea Master," Shen Bingsi called out, "the bill!"

The bamboo curtain trembled slightly, and then there was complete silence on the other side of the curtain.