Chapter 14: The Fourteenth Pig

After the snow.

Fengqi Village.

Jiang Daqiao, having received Li Zhenzhen’s confirmation, had already regarded both Li Zhenzhen and the nine-year-old girl from the Weng family as his concubines.

The thought of how he could have the two women attend to one man in bed stirred a rush of heat within him.

After all, Fengqi Village was not far from his home.

Unable to resist, he sneaked into the village at dusk, eager to catch a glimpse of his future bride.

Once he had his fill and grew bored, he planned to, like with the other women before, offer them to the “Sect Leader.”

The “Sect Leader” had said that if he sacrificed more than ninety-nine victims, his root bones would be opened.

Though he still couldn’t become an immortal, he could cultivate like a practitioner, drawing on yin to supplement his yang.

Outwardly, he sold kelp, but in truth, he was a human trafficker with some wealth. In the vegetable market of Wuhuan Island, he was a notable figure.

By then, he would buy a few more young furnaces aged five or six and practice every day, surely extending his lifespan.

Unexpectedly, as he approached the Weng family’s thatched cottages, he saw white cloth hanging outside, and inside, the sound of wailing filled the air.

Startled, he hurriedly pulled a passing villager aside and asked, “Has the eldest brother of the Weng family died from his injuries?”

Wouldn’t that mean Weng Zhenzhen and her sister would have to observe mourning this year?

The villager shook his head. “Poor thing, it’s the old lady of the Weng family. She was usually so robust, but some practitioners killed her on a whim. These heartless cultivators don’t regard us ordinary people as human.”

Jiang Daqiao quickly asked, “How can you be sure it was practitioners who killed her?”

The villager replied, “There wasn’t a single wound on her body, but her heart meridians were completely severed. Who else but a practitioner could wield such a technique?”

Jiang Daqiao’s face went pale as he retreated.

Indeed, who else but a practitioner could perform such a feat?

A surge of resentment welled up in his heart.

If he had never seen the all-encompassing power of practitioners, he could have been content with merely extending his life.

But having witnessed it… why couldn’t that power belong to him?

If he had such abilities, would he not take any woman he desired, kill whomever he pleased, and no longer be treated like a beast for others to exploit? What a gratifying revenge that would be!

At this moment, he walked alone along the ridge, unaware that the air ahead suddenly shimmered slightly, as if warped by heat.

Two practitioners in white robes hovered above the wilderness.

“You must be Jiang Daqiao?”

The overwhelming pressure of a Great Ascension practitioner descended like a storm. Jiang Daqiao’s legs buckled and cold sweat dripped as he involuntarily knelt. “...Yes, that’s me.”

One white-robed practitioner conjured a sword out of thin air. “Did you sell this sword?”

Jiang Daqiao, having been through many ordeals, immediately sensed trouble. “Yes.”

Practitioner: “Who gave you the sword?”

Jiang Daqiao: “It was… the eldest daughter of the Weng family, Weng Zhenzhen.”

The practitioner pondered. “Where is she now?”

Jiang Daqiao hastily kowtowed. “I know where that wretched woman is. She must have stolen the sword and sold it to me. I know nothing, Immortal. I can guide you; I’ll take you there now...”

That might work, but it was too much trouble.

The other practitioner beckoned him with a finger.

His tone was gentle, almost compassionate.

But Jiang Daqiao trembled uncontrollably, stepping back two paces. “I... I won’t come. What do you want?”

Before he could finish, the other practitioner’s expression darkened with impatience and waved a hand.

Jiang Daqiao felt a searing pain in his brain, as if his entire mind was fracturing and unraveling.

Something left his body.

Something left his soul.

The practitioners ignored the dying Jiang Daqiao with shattered thoughts and examined the extracted memories. “The person is to the south.”

The other practitioner mused, “Young Master Yun is on the brink of death. Madam Nan is overwhelmed and cannot attend to matters concerning the Immortal Sovereign. Perhaps we should report to Fairy Yingying first.”

Previously, the Immortal Sovereign’s immortal bone suddenly developed a problem.

Young Master Yun could no longer draw cultivation from the bone; instead, his own cultivation was being absorbed by the Sovereign’s immortal bone.

Now his cultivation was plummeting. Forget ascending to immortality, he might not even qualify as an ordinary practitioner.

Rumor has it that the Supreme Qing Immortal Sovereign, knowing the bone could not be guarded, had cast a lethal curse upon it.

Madam Nan was nearly mad, having killed several medical practitioners already.

She even considered having the eldest son offer his immortal root to slow the decline.

Though the news was still concealed from the outside, the Cide Mansion was in chaos, and everyone was on edge.

Only the Supreme Qing Immortal Sovereign truly understood the problem with the immortal bone.

The Sovereign’s whereabouts were tied to Young Master Yun’s life; Madam Nan was the one most desperate to find the Sovereign—how could she not care?

But after all this, the current one felt Madam Nan shortsighted and unfit as the matriarch.

He planned to shift attention, instead supporting Fairy Yingying.

The practitioner holding Jiang Daqiao’s memories chuckled, “Exactly. Madam Nan is too busy to be troubled; we shouldn’t add to her burdens.”

—

Another day passed, and Li Zhenzhen’s chicken coop was finally renovated.

Though it still smelled a bit of chickens, having a separate room was better than nothing.

By now, the sun was setting in the west; the mountains were locked in deep snow, everything silent, not a bird’s call to be heard.

The system, sensing the male lead still meditating to heal, sighed sadly, “Can’t you feed the male lead a decent meal?”

Li Zhenzhen: “...What’s wrong with me?”

Behind a bamboo wall, inside the curtained room, Deng Xizhi lifted his eyelids.

A stranger’s voice sounded near his ear.

He had heard this voice several times over the past two days.

Deng Xizhi had never spoken of it.

Since someone had vanished from this world ten thousand years ago, he had begun to hear the thoughts of those outside the realm.

These outsiders and their agents came for various reasons—some to conquer him, some to win his favor.

Some sought to become his lifelong companions; others aimed to force him to love a certain woman.

They appeared endlessly in different guises, employing nauseating methods to gain his “love.”

He had slain them one after another.

He had lost count of how many times Li Zhenzhen had appeared.

The system broke down in Li Zhenzhen’s mind: “The male lead’s internal organs are completely damaged; his meridians severed. Using a millennium-old lingzhi mushroom to sustain him would not be an exaggeration. Yet he’s been awake for two days, and you’ve only given him two eggs... Are you even human?”

Li Zhenzhen reflected and admitted he might have gone too far: “But he didn’t eat those two eggs either.”

“Then you should at least persuade him.” The system argued, “Do you know you’re slacking off? Do you want this year’s perfect attendance award? If the male lead starves to death, how will he be with the female lead?”

It seemed this agent and his system also aimed to unite him with some so-called “female lead.”

He recalled these systems wielded punishments and that agents could not defy their commands.

Deng Xizhi boredly set down the eggs, waiting for Li Zhenzhen to follow the system’s instructions and coax him to eat.

Then he heard Li Zhenzhen laugh.

“Come on, he’s a thirty-thousand-year-old virgin who has ruled the cultivation world for years. I’m barely a fraction of his age. I used to work in a slaughterhouse, not a nursing home. If he refuses to eat, what can I do?”

“Don’t worry so much. Men get abs from starving a few meals.”

System: “...”

Deng Xizhi: “...”