Night fell.
The Zhao family home in the city was still brightly lit.
The head of the Zhao family knelt silently in the ancestral hall. The flesh on his cheeks was beginning to loosen, but he still exuded a dangerous, aggressive vigor.
For ordinary people, he is indeed not young.
But in the eyes of the Zhao family elders sitting above the ancestral hall—cultivators who had lived for one or two thousand years—he was still a little child.
The elder of the Zhao family, who was in the middle, asked, "Do you know your crime?"
The head of the Zhao family remained silent.
Another elder of the Zhao family said, "No matter how intelligent he is, he is still just a mortal. You shouldn't have given him the position of family head back then."
The elders stared silently at the man kneeling in the center of the ancestral hall. Their voices rose and fell like ocean waves, engulfing the Zhao family patriarch and drawing him into an even deeper vortex.
“If you hadn’t spoken out of turn, we would have already turned those girls into furnaces,” said the elder sitting in the middle. “Now we can’t even find their remains. As the current head of the family, you must take responsibility.”
The head of the Zhao family lowered his head and stammered, "But..."
"But what?" The elder frowned, his authoritative voice echoing through the ancestral hall. "She's just a little girl from a branch family. You're reluctant to part with her talent? Do you really think that as long as you have talent, you can cultivate immortality?"
The head of the Zhao family remained silent.
He buried his head even deeper, as if that would prevent anyone from seeing the grief on his face.
"Don't be sad," the elder said. His tone softened. "Find the remains of the other girls who were with that girl, and I'll forge another magic weapon for you."
The head of the Zhao family lowered his head and said in a weak voice, "Okay."
Having received a satisfactory answer, the elders waved him out. He stood up with his head down and walked out of the ancestral hall.
The ancestral hall doors closed silently behind him.
Several guards waiting outside the ancestral hall came forward. They surrounded the head of the Zhao family and draped a cloak embroidered with gold and silver over him. The head of the Zhao family still showed signs of grief; he wiped his face and said, "Elders..."
He stopped there.
The guards immediately showed expressions of understanding.
Not long ago, a young girl from the Zhao family who had separated from the family and her fellow disciples vanished into thin air on the Zhao family's land. Later, not only were they never seen alive, but their bodies were never found either.
The guards were spreading rumors that the elders of the Zhao family had refined elixirs from these little girls, intending to eat them to achieve immortality.
The head of the Zhao family also came to the ancestral hall many times to plead with the elders for this.
As expected, their master is truly benevolent! The guards thought sincerely.
The head of the Zhao family slowly concealed the grief on his face. Now, his face was like a dead piece of wood, devoid of any expression.
He pulled his cloak tighter around himself and said softly, "It's getting a bit chilly tonight."
Yang Lingyao, sitting atop the ancestral hall, nearly ground her teeth to powder.
Her face was ashen as she stared at the departing Zhao family patriarch, her hand on the roof tiles tightening and loosening repeatedly.
Seeing that she was about to pick up a tile and throw it at someone, Ai Cao, who was sitting next to her, stuffed the little fox in her arms into her arms.
Yang Lingyao's expression softened after stroking the fluffy little fox a couple of times. She took Ai Cao's hand, used her index finger as a pen, and wrote on Ai Cao's palm: "Only I ran away."
She paused, then wrote: "They participated in that massacre. I want them dead."
The final word "death" was pressed heavily into Ai Cao's palm by her finger.
The mugwort nodded.
Although she wanted to hear Yang Lingyao tell the story, writing it down with her fingers was far too cumbersome.
Ai Cao then took her hand and wrote her question on it: "Have your senior sisters discussed it and made a decision?"
Yang Lingyao nodded firmly.
The weapon wrapped around her wrist left a new bloody mark. She casually smeared the blood on her eyelids and stared into the void, which appeared empty to Ai Cao.
Her eyelids could no longer hold the clumps of thick, sticky blood. Apart from the dried blood, the rest lingered on her eyelids for only a few moments before sliding down her eyelashes.
Two streaks of blood, resembling tears, appeared on Yang Lingyao's face.
Blood soaked the corner of her mouth.
Artemisia opened the skill panel.
The system sternly warned her: "Ai Cao, you have no cultivation right now. Do you really want to provoke those cultivators?"
Ai Cao smiled and said calmly, "You don't trust skills."
The system, enraged, yelled, "How could I not trust the skills! These were all provided by the platform! You're talking nonsense!"
Ai Cao casually remarked, "So it was provided by the central platform. Unlike you, I don't really trust the central platform that much—"
As Ai Cao spoke, she casually pressed the [Good Pregnancy] skill.
To prevent the skill from suddenly malfunctioning, Ai Cao first framed the house beneath them.
She was like a child who had just gotten a roulette wheel toy; her first step was to push the wheel and start spinning it, and then see who was chosen.
Amidst the system's scream, a gentle breeze rose from behind her and brushed against her cheek.
The trees rustled.
The "Good Pregnancy" skill is available again.
Ai Cao smiled. Her smile was much more genuine than before. She said, "It seems that those cultivators are just unlucky to have messed with me."
She continued spinning the wheel for the [Good Pregnancy] skill.
Soon, all the spots on the roulette wheel were filled. Even if Ai Cao used her skill on it again, the [Good Pregnancy] skill didn't even turn gray.
Ai Cao nodded to Yang Lingyao.
Yang Lingyao turned her head, her eyes somewhat blank, and mouthed to her, silently asking, "Is it resolved?"
Ai Cao mouthed, "There are no men down here." Her smile deepened. "Let me look at the entire Zhao family."
Yang Lingyao stroked the little fox in her arms, struggling to open her blood-blurred eyes. She watched her familiar fellow disciples pass by her at lightning speed, disappearing into the boundless night.
She didn't even have time to say a word of blessing to them.
What will it be like when they meet again?
Yang Lingyao was pulled down to sit by Ai Cao, staring blankly at the Zhao family's buildings.
Although Ai Cao had already told her about the power of that magical artifact, what if...?
What if they... don't recognize her?
In the Zhao family home, the vibrant sounds and light gradually disappeared.
A deathly silence descended along with the night sky, silently enveloping the place.
Yang Lingyao could hear her heart pounding like a drum.
Ai Cao raised her hand and pointed to a sliver of light that suddenly appeared.
She'd already used her skill on every man here. This time, there was no exception like in the last world—her [Pregnancy] skill was still working perfectly. Judging by the time, they should be out soon.
She spoke calmly.
"Look, it's on fire."
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