Shing! Shing! Shing!
Several gleaming swords were drawn.
Li Qingmu froze mid-step as seven Inner Disciples surrounded him in a tight circle with their sword tips aimed so close he could feel the cold iron kissing his throat.
"W-Wait, what—?"
He instinctively lifted his hands into the air.
"Silence."
The word was a hiss from Ye Zichen.
His blade pressed against Qingmu's neck until the metal dug painfully into his skin.
"Lift your voice again and you lose your tongue."
Li Qingmu gulped.
He desperately wanted to run, but the chains coiled around his limbs had a suppressive force.
It was made with spiritual energy.
Surely, it was one of the Inner disciples.
They were all Foundation Establishment cultivators!
Li Qingmu couldn't escape their binding technique!
He couldn't even move his fingers.
『I'm doomed… I'm completely doomed…』
Before he could think of anything else, they roughly shoved him forward.
"Move."
One disciple snapped and stabbed the tip of his sword against Li Qingmu's lower back.
It was hard enough to bruise.
"Nghk—!"
Li Qingmu winced in pain.
Then he frowned at him with pure irritation.
They marched him up one of the cloud-drenched peaks and toward the young lady's courtyard.
Every step was heavier than the last.
And in his mind didn't know peace.
『This is ridiculous. It doesn't make any sense. I only gave her the Peach Blossom Pill. There's no way that has anything to do with her death.』
『Or… wait… could Ye Lingxiao…? No. He can't be that insane. Right?』
He wasn't sure anymore.
Ye Lingxiao hated him enough to burn down a village.
But framing him for killing his own wife?
Was he truly that deranged?
Li Qingmu swallowed hard.
His mind spun in circles until they got there.
The moment the wooden gates opened, Ye Zichen grabbed Li Qingmu by the collar and threw him onto the stone tiles like discarded trash.
Li Qingmu landed with a grunt.
The impact stung through his knees and palms.
Ye Zichen's voice exploded like thunder.
"Household members! Inner Disciples! Hear me!"
He raised his sword high.
"I, Ye Zichen, dao protector of Ye Lingxiao have already delivered a letter to Governor Zhen himself. This lowly beast of a man, Li Qingmu, will be beheaded for poisoning the daughter of an Immortal Official!"
A ripple of cold shock spread across the courtyard.
Inner Disciples immediately snarled in agreement.
"Trash!"
"Wretch!"
"He deserves ten thousand cuts!"
"How dare he touch Lady Zhen Rou!"
The insults escalated into wild rumors.
But the servants…?
They didn't look convinced.
The old gardener frowned deeply.
A kitchen auntie clutched her apron.
The junior maids looked uncertain.
Li Qingmu saw their eyes and felt a bitter laugh rise in his chest.
Of course the servants weren't convinced… they had lived the same life he had. They knew the value of hard work when you were born at the bottom. They knew none of them would throw everything away over petty anger.
A timid voice piped up.
"H-, How… how exactly did he do it?"
It was one of the kitchen girls.
A small, nervous thing with shaking hands.
"How did Brother Li kill Lady Zhen Rou?"
"YOU DARE QUESTION AN INNER DISCIPLE?!"
One Inner disciple roared as he stepped toward her with so much fury she stumbled back in fear.
"Enough."
Ye Zichen held out a hand to stop him.
This was him pretending to be magnanimous.
He wouldn't dare stain the young master's face.
He turned to the girl with a righteous frown.
"I came out of seclusion today and went to check on Lady Zhen Rou on behalf of Young Master Ye. When I arrived, she was unconscious… lying on the ground… covered in strange black dust. I checked—no pulse."
Gasps erupted.
Ye Zichen turned sharply and pointed his sword to Li Qingmu's neck.
"This scoundrel killed her!"
The servants' whispers turned cold and sharp.
"Wait… someone said he gave the Lady a pill…"
"I heard that too… he's never done that before…"
"Maybe it really was poison…"
"Hmph. Li Qingmu is a shame to our kind!"
Li Qingmu's jaw trembled.
This time it wasn't fear. It was pure anger.
『So this is how it is… of course they'll believe all this trash they're being fed! I'm nobody. Not the son of an Immortal Official or a genius cultivator from a powerful clan. I'm not anyone worth defending…』
His fists tightened against the tiles until his knuckles let out tiny scrapes of blood.
『System… you'd better not have screwed me over!』
As if in answer, a familiar blue light flashed.
Ding!
[The black dust is simply a mass of impurities her body must have expelled. This is a natural consequence of meridian cleansing and flesh purification.]
It wasn't a sign of decay.
[Absence of pulse is expected during meridian reset!]
[Conclusion: Zhen Rou is NOT dead.]
[Stop shaking, Host. Your wife will be a beauty soon!]
Li Qingmu froze up then inhaled slowly.
"Mmm…"
He grinned viciously.
"Ye Zichen how about… we make a fun bet?"
The courtyard fell silent.
Ye Zichen's face twisted.
"You dare act arrogant after killing an Immortal Official's daughter? How foo—"
"Yeah, yeah."
Li Qingmu cut him off with a yawn.
"I don't give a crap about any of that right now."
The half-lidded eyes on his bored face said it all.
He wasn't interested in this drama anymore.
The servants' eyes widened.
Inner Disciples stared with raised brows.
Even Ye Zichen froze mid-sentence.
Li Qingmu lazily continued in the dead silence.
"I killed my wife, hm? If we go inside and Lady Zhen Rou is somehow alive… you'll give me your entire yearly share of Inner Sect cultivation resources."
He gave the dao protector a lazy side-eye.
"That's fair, hmmm??"
Ye Zichen's face turned red with rage.
"What kind of lunatic would make such a bet!?"
He waved his arms frantically.
"I have nothing to gain!"
Li Qingmu yawned dramatically again.
"Maybe you're the one who killed her. Why else would you run from a harmless bet?"
The servants murmured.
Inner Disciples exchanged looks.
Ye Zichen's eyes shook for a brief instant.
"FINE! The bet is on, you arrogant peasant!"
He grinned like a mad man.
"And once you're proven guilty, be assured I'll be the one to take your head!"
He spun on his heel.
"All of you, come!"
He marched toward Zhen Rou's chamber.
The Inner disciples followed, so did the servants.
Li Qingmu remained on his knees, watching.
The doors pushed opened.
Soon, screams echoed across the courtyard.
Some fainted.
Some dropped to their knees.
Because Lady Zhen Rou stood inside.
She wasn't dead nor decayed.
She was alive and drying her hair with a cloth.
But the bigger shock was her looks!
Her body was still chubby, but no longer grotesque.
The fat that had once sagged in uneven clumps was so smooth it made her look plumpy.
Like those round, busty women governors loved.
Her skin glowed with a pale rosiness.
Large patches of stretch marks had vanished.
Her shoulders looked less hunched and her cheeks were less swollen as well.
And her face…
Though still round, her features were sharper.
Her now had an elegant confidence.
Her lips had regained color.
She looked… softer, cleaner, brighter.
Almost… pretty.
She turned around, blinking at the crowd.
"Eh? What's going on? What's the screaming for?"
One maid burst into tears.
"L-, Lady Zhen Rou! I… we thought you died!"
Zhen Rou chuckled shyly as she patted her tender cheeks with a hint of pride.
"Oh, don't worry. My cultivation finally paid off. I feel lighter than ever! Oh—look, look!"
She dabbed a bit of powder on her cheeks.
"I'm even trying cosmetics for the first time. I want to go show Father!"
Outside the room.
Ye Zichen stumbled backward like he'd seen a ghost.
『I'm done… I already reported to Governor Zhen. I told so many Immortal Officials. I announced to countless eyes that Lady Zhen Rou was poisoned…』
Images flashed before him.
The stern faces of Immortal Officials.
The cold gaze of the Heavenly Governor.
The disappointed eyes of Young Master Ye.
『I've made them all into fools… myself included.』
Ye Zichen's vision went red.
"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"
Spiritual energy exploded from him like a storm.
Everyone screamed.
He unsheathed his sword fully.
The blade flew like a bolt of lightning.
But before it reached Li Qingmu's neck, a pale white finger appeared in midair.
With one tap it shattered the blade into pieces.
A heaven-destroying power swallowed the entire courtyard like a tidal wave.
Everyone dropped to their knees.
Even the arrogant Inner disciples were forced down till their faces pressed the stone.
"The power of a Nascent Soul cultivator…!"
"H-, How—!?"
All eyes turned to the source.
A stunning woman stood silently in the courtyard.
White hair cascading like silk to her shapely waist.
Crimson eyes glowing with cold majesty.
Skin pale and flawless, as if carved from immortal jade.
Her figure was slender yet full—narrow waist, soft hips, and a chest large enough to make even the senior female disciples swallow hard.
They were bouncy and perky like heaps of jelly.
She wore flowing white-and-crimson robes decorated with phoenix feathers.
Song Yan.
"That's Heavenly Governor Zhen's elder sister!"
"And the sister of a high-ranking commander of the Celestial Armies in the Lower Heaven Realms…"
"A famed Nascent Soul beauty!"
"She's unbelievably powerful!"
Ye Zichen staggered back as blood pitifully drained from his face.
Song Yan elegantly lifted a slender arm protectively in front of Li Qingmu.
All he could see were her round, bouncing behind.
Not her eyes so cold they freeze the heavens.
"No one is allowed to touch this man."
The entire courtyard fell silent.