When Xiao Gui heard this, his expression darkened. “Didn’t I give you a Heaven-ranked cultivation technique? Even someone several realms above you shouldn’t have been able to catch you.”
“Did you forget what I just said? My mother was captured. Are you suggesting that I should have escaped on my own?”
Zhong Ci’s expression grew increasingly unpleasant.
Walking ahead of them, Zhang Hongxia was even more irritated. Sure enough, there was no harm in comparison.
“Oh, look at my head.”
Xiao Gui slapped his forehead, then asked, “Wife, since you couldn’t beat them, who helped you? We definitely need to thank them.”
“His name is Xu Mu. He works for the Sanitation Department and happened to be in Yanjing for a meeting. When he was preparing to leave, he noticed the energy fluctuations here.”
Zhong Ci wasn’t a foolish woman. She wouldn’t simply listen to Xu Mu and his family’s side of the story and then condemn Xiao Gui.
She intended to get to the bottom of what had really happened.
“What? You mean that stinking old bastard?”
The moment Xiao Qiao heard the name, she blurted out the question.
But as soon as the words left her mouth, she hurriedly covered it with both hands.
Zhong Ci had always been a proper and dignified woman.
That was why Xiao Qiao had always behaved like an obedient little girl around her.
“You know him?”
Zhong Ci glanced back at Xiao Qiao.
“I don’t know… if it’s the same person. You should ask Dad.”
Still afraid of saying the wrong thing, Xiao Qiao decided to leave the matter to Xiao Gui. What if she misspoke and couldn’t talk her way out of it?
“If he works for the Sanitation Department, then I’ve probably met him.”
Xiao Gui didn’t hide anything. Back at the Battlefield of the Gods, he had taken the opportunity to ambush Xu Mu.
That strike had been intended to kill him. Xu Mu must have held a grudge and said all sorts of bad things about him to Zhong Ci.
If Xiao Gui lied at a time like this, it would be tantamount to admitting it.
That was why he chose to tell the truth.
“Wife, Xu Mu and I have a grudge between us. If he says I’m a bad person, just assume he’s talking nonsense.”
“How did you two become enemies?”
Zhong Ci glanced at Xiao Gui as she asked.
“I was the first to discover a divine herb, but it hadn’t matured yet, so I didn’t pick it. Later, the herb disappeared, and I suspected that he had stolen it.”
Xiao Gui spoke as he walked.
“What did you need the divine herb for?”
“To save a friend of mine.”
“A woman?”
Zhong Ci stopped walking.
“Yes…”
“Is she the one Xiao Qiao calls ‘Mom’?”
“Wife, our daughter was just joking. What would a child know?”
“So Xu Mu wasn’t lying after all. Everything he said was true.”
Zhong Ci quickened her pace and caught up with Zhang Hongxia.
…
Xu Mu and Chen Xuan had already flown the helicopter back to Jiang City.
There were many things he needed to take care of this time, but the most important was still to uncover the truth about his own origins.
Why did he possess the bloodline of the Great Wilderness Clan? Was Xu Shou’s missing wife a member of the Great Wilderness Clan?
This time, the helicopter landed directly at the Xu family estate. However, Xu Shou wasn’t home.
Chen Xuan took his electric scooter out of his spatial ring and prepared to head home for some rest.
He had suffered quite a few injuries this time and needed several days to recover.
After seeing Chen Xuan off, Xu Mu didn’t return home immediately. Instead, he walked toward the villa inside the estate.
“Young Master.”
The butler greeted him with a smile.
During this period, he had been in exceptionally high spirits. Xu Shou, Xu Ningbing, and Xu Mu were rarely home, which had made him the de facto head of the household. Life had become much easier for him.
“Has my father come back recently?”
Xu Mu asked as he walked toward the villa.
“He came back this afternoon, but he went out again because he had something to take care of.”
“That’s good.”
Xu Mu entered the villa and went to Xu Shou’s study on the first floor. He walked straight over to a framed family photograph on the bookshelf.
In the picture, a black-haired woman was smiling as she held Xu Mu in her arms when he was a child.
Xu Ningbing stood beside them.
Xu Mu picked up the photograph and studied the woman carefully. At least from her appearance, there was no way to tell what race she belonged to.
“I’ll wait until the old man comes back and ask him.”
Xu Mu put the photograph back and glanced at his phone.
He noticed that Xu Shou had sent him a message.
He called him, and Xu Shou answered after a short while.
“Xiao Mu, you’re back?”
“Yeah. Where are you right now? I need to talk to you about something.”
Xu Mu spoke into the phone.
“I’m chatting with a friend. I’ll be back in a little while.”
“Okay. I’ll wait for you at home.”
…
At the same time.
Elsewhere, Xu Shou smiled as he hung up the phone.
“That was my son.”
“Xu Mu?”
A young woman in casual clothes stood calmly by the river.
She was none other than Luo Fengchan, the Sect Master of the Frost Immortal Sect.
She looked at least several years older now, but she still retained the appearance of a young girl.
“Actually, seeing you has already answered the question I had before. After all, you were with Redemption and the others last time.”
Luo Fengchan gazed calmly into the distance.
“Xu Ningbing isn’t your biological daughter, is she?”
Xu Shou lit a cigarette, took a slow drag, and tilted his chin as he blew the smoke upward.
“That’s right.”
“If I’m not mistaken, she joined our Frost Immortal Sect back then at your arrangement as well, didn’t she?”
Luo Fengchan continued questioning him.
“That’s right.”
Xu Shou nodded lightly.
He had sent Xu Ningbing there knowing that the people of the Frost Immortal Sect would surely figure out her true identity.
“She really is my junior sister’s daughter.”
Luo Fengchan murmured softly. No wonder Xu Ningbing felt so familiar.
“I took the first character from each of their names, Wang Yizhi and Zhao Shuiyin. Since she has a water-attributed constitution, I named her Ningbing.”
Xu Shou glanced at Luo Fengchan.
“After the two of them died, the child stayed with me. I’ve always treated her as my own daughter.”
“I can see that.”
Luo Fengchan’s tone remained calm.
“Since she also possesses a water-attributed constitution, our Frost Immortal Sect will raise her well.”
“Thank you.”
Xu Shou grinned.
“That also fulfills Shuiyin’s wish. When she was pregnant, she told me that if the child was a girl, she absolutely had to be sent to the Frost Immortal Sect.”
Upon hearing this, Luo Fengchan suddenly stared at Xu Shou’s smile.
It was terribly forced. Though he was smiling, there was an inexplicable sadness in it.
“How did they… die?”
“Immortality!”
Xu Shou took several deep drags on his cigarette.
“Don’t worry. We’ll avenge them.”
With that, he flicked the cigarette butt toward the river. Before it could land in the water, it turned to ash and scattered away.
“I’m leaving.”
Xu Shou turned around. Only after his back was facing her did he wave to Luo Fengchan.
“Can I tell Xu Ningbing about this?”
Luo Fengchan called out to Xu Shou’s retreating figure.
“Of course. She’s grown up, after all. Besides, sooner or later, she’ll still have to call me Dad.”
Xu Shou laughed from a distance.
…
Dusk fell.
Xu Shou drove back to the estate and noticed the helicopter parked outside the house.
After getting out of the car, he walked toward the villa with a smile.
He pushed open the door and saw Xu Mu lying on the sofa, sending messages on his phone.
“Who are you messaging?”
Xu Shou asked with a smile.
for mindless slaughter, this isn't for you.] My name is Ye Shu, and I'm a transmigrator. It seems I'm supposed to be the protagonist, but that feels pretty unlikely. This world has been invaded by a system. The antagonists on the other side have suddenly become pure, flawless saints. The female leads have been force-fed the so-called "original plot," making them think they've been reborn. Now, everyone thinks I'm scum. Including the old lady in my ring. And here I am, in the Monster Beast Mountain Range, braising pork. To put my situation in perspective— It's as if, the moment Xiao Yan stepped into the Monster Beast Mountain Range, the Soul Emperor already knew he would become the Flame Emperor, and Yao Lao had been turned to the enemy's side. I have nothing right now. Oh wait, that's not true. I do have a white-haired loli child-bride who's the Heavenly Dao, and her only skill is acting cute. So, tell me guys... what are my chances of making it to the end?
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
