Translator: Fate Proofreader: Silavin In a dim, damp underground prison, a pathetic-looking young man covered in blood was lying on the ground. As his entire body was tied up, his eyes were filled with vexation, shock, and distress. This young man was none other than Tang Tian, who was captured by Yin Mei back in the Drunk Gods Inn. In that instant, he had already realised he had been tricked. From the start, Innkeeper Zhu of Drunk Gods Inn had prearranged everything, and he even took so much time to talk to Tang Tian in order to keep the latter’s guard down. Unfortunately, Tang Tian was dumb enough to trust the innkeeper, was unaware of the badger game, which if he knew about, he would have screamed alout beforehand. “Yin Mei, I’ve done nothing to you. Why did you lie to me?” Tang Tian angrily stared at the woman in white who was condescendingly looking at him without concealing his hatred. Prior to that, he always admired and respected the woman in white, referring to her as the Gifted Lady. “What are you babbling on about? At this point, not only are you denying you wrong doings, but you’re even talking back?” Yin Mei glared at him with stunning yet freezing eyes. “How dare you insult me, vermin! You had the entire deception set up, including that maid and Innkeeper Zhu. To think you would come up with such a low scheme just to deal with my sister! I want to see my grandfather! Yin Mei, how dare you capture me for a mere maid!?” At that moment, Tang Tian, thanks to his sharp mind, thought things through, and realised that Yin Mei must be planning to threaten his sister over something they were competing for. “I have no idea what you are talking about. Regardless, since you continue to deny, I won’t force you any longer. The Nine-Tailed Fox Clan holds numberless methods to deal with people like you, including one to ‘crack those nuts.’ Even if you’re a cultivator, there’s no way you can recover from this…” Yin Mei’s expression was as cold as usual. As she was walking out of the underground prison, she faintly instructed the guard outside. “Since he’s not admitting it, have him castrated.” Hearing that, Tang Tian, who was still in the underground prison obviously panicked. “You wouldn’t! Yin Mei, I am the only heir of the Tang Family. If you dare do that to me, my grandfather will surely come after you!” Tang Tian knew that he would go crazy if he had to live the rest of his life no longer being a man, and he did not doubt Yin Mei’s words given that the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan indeed possessed the method to make a man ‘lose his masculinity.’ “Come after me? Do you think the Tang Family would dare to offend us, the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan? Do you think, given the long lifetime of us cultivators, your family would be at loss without you?” Letting out a scoff, Yin Mei then blurted in a freezing tone, “Do it.” “Yes, Lady Yin Mei.” Upon the order, two guards from outside the prison immediately entered with malicious grins with a golden castrator as big as the jaw of a crocodile in their hands, making hand gestures at Tang Tian. “Stop it, Yin Mei… Stop, at once!” Instantly, Tang Tian’s face drastically turned pale, losing all trace of blood as he shivered. He did not expect Yin Mei to be this brutal, he would rather die than to lose his manhood, which would be more torturous than having him killed. “Do you admit it?” Outside the prison, Yin Mei, with a slight grin, was hugging her nine snowy, puffy fox tails, appearing noble and captivating. “Yes, yes. I admit…” Gritting his teeth out of frustration, Tang Tian couldn’t be more resentful towards Yin Mei, and he wished he could slaughter her right away. Back then, he never would have expected this impeccably charming woman to be such a sly fox. “Good, tell me everything.” With a smile, Yin Mei pulled out her photographic stone. After fifteen minutes, she walked out of the underground prison to a silent manor. In the courtyard, a man in white was sitting, quietly enjoying his tea. With his flawless visage and his straight, inky hair, he appeared surreal. No one in the world would ever imagine that everything that happened in the underground prison was all ordered by him. “Has he admitted it?” Gu Changge raised his head towards Yin Mei with a subtle smile. “Yes, he has. Master, we will proceed as you’ve commanded. Also, Tang Tian almost peed in his pants while admitting to everything we asked,” Yin Mei stated with a charming smile as she handed the footage she recorded with her photographic stone to Gu changge. “Well done.” Gu Changge nodded as he took a glance at the footage, smilingly replying, “then, we shall get the banquet ready and await our dear guests. As for the photographic stone, make a duplicate of the footage and think of a way to get it into the Tang Family’s hands.” “Mm.” Yin Mei nodded, after which she curiously asked, “Master, what if the Tang Family panics right away? As far as I can remember, Tang Wan is no fool. Will she fall for this scheme of ours?” “No, she won’t. Not only will she not fall for it, but she will even tell this to her grandfather, which is why I want you to pass the photographic stone to the Tang Family. And as long as they remain sharp, they’ll understand that the matter is more than meets the eye.” Having everything pre-planned, Gu Changge casually smiled. Regardless of how many methods Tang Wan possessed, she would eventually find her wings clipped. Moreover, Gu Changge even prepared a surprise for Chu Hao, the Fortuitous One. As he expected, Chu Hao was now dealing with the affair of Vermilion Bird Empire, where the Eternal Overcast crisis had erupted from. Thus, he certainly wouldn’t have the time to tend to his childhood sweetheart. “Understood. So all we have to do now is observe Tang Wan and the Tang Family’s attitude towards Tang Tian…” Yin Mei nodded as she quickly understood Gu Changge’s intentions. Given Tang Wan’s intellect, she could most probably sense that this was a devious scheme and the banquet she was going to attend was nothing but a trap. Thus, she would undoubtedly warn her grandfather about it, and she would be sure to bring along a great number of formidable experts when she came for the hostage. Nonetheless, Tang Wan would hand the footage of Tang Tian’s confession to the Tang Family, to let them know that the matter could be resolved easily, and it was merely an issue of how they should approach this issue. This was, after all, an act, which could also be regarded as blackmail. Even if the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan had no reason to fear the Tang Family, with Tang Tian being a Direct Heir of the Tang Family, while Yin Mei’s maid was obviously nowhere near that status, if the Tang Family decided to play hardball, the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan wouldn’t do much to help Yin Mei. After all, making the Tang Family their enemy over an insignificant maid was ridiculous. Everything was simply a matter of benefits and costs, and Yin Mei understood this. Though, that might not be the case for the Tang Family. … Golden Altar Ancient City, not far away from Vermilion Bird Empire, was an important ancient city that was supported by a branch of the Alliance of Thousand Merchants. It was as indispensable as a throat to a human, given that it connected the centres of the other major ancient cities nearby. At that moment, within Golden Altar Ancient City, in a unique, serene courtyard, a woman with a graceful posture, donning a plain-coloured mesh robe, was quietly observing a number of jade tablets before her behind the curtains. Her face was of utmost beguilement; her skin was delicate and snowy. In the meantime, her intricate hand was holding a quill, seemingly jotting something down. As the quill touched the jade tablet, an alarming anomaly surged in the air while layers of mysterious power occurred at the tip of her quill. One after another, writings with golden patterns were imprinted onto the jade tablets along the strokes of her quill. Ambiguously, scenery of rivers and mountains could be seen coming to life, condensing as if they were trying to get out from the jade tablets. “Lady Wan, the might of your Dao Drawings has remarkably improved once again. Perhaps you could beat cultivators in the Sacred Realms with the figures you draw alone.” Seeing that, a female servant beside a gentle woman smilingly expressed her astonishment. “It doesn’t matter if I can beat cultivators in the Sacred Realms. Hao has already achieved the Sacred King Realm, and it won’t take long for him to break through to the Sacred Emperor Realm. Compared to him, I am hardly worth mentioning. It baffles me how he has been cultivating all these years. What a monster… Luckily enough, I was the first to notice his uniqueness. Otherwise, I can’t even fathom how many prodigal damsels would be clinging on, by his side.” The gentle woman smiled in response, seemingly helpless. Nevertheless, she subconsciously revealed a hint of joy and admiration when she mentioned Chu Hao’s name. Unquestionably, the gentle woman was Tang Wan, who sneaked out of Vermilion Bird Empire with a space artifact not long ago. However, considering the horrendous situation that was troubling Chu Hao, she didn’t get too far away as she eventually decided to stay temporarily in this ancient city. Although the courtyard certainly seemed peaceful, it was actually filled with numerous deadly traps as concealed arrays were all over the place. If anyone dared to trespass the courtyard, they would only be instantaneously murdered by the arrays, turning into dust. Of course, Tang Wan also had a number of strong experts from the Alliance of Thousand Merchants, with the weakest being in the Sacred Realm being, keeping watch outside the courtyard. Hence, she didn’t need to worry about foes looking for her. Either way, there was no need for her to worry about anything at all since her grandfather was the leader of one of the Alliance of Thousand Merchants’ branches. With such overpowering influence in her hands, none would dare to offend her. Nonetheless, this time around, Tang Wan had a lot to consider. The young man Chu Hao had offended was Gu Changge, whom she sensed a bizarre pressure from. And for some reason, she could feel that Gu Changge was no simple man. Although he didn’t publicly trouble Chu Hao any further back then, she had a vague intuition Gu Changge was preparing to eliminate Chu Hao. After all, she was born with a unique Talent that could turn all situations into her favour. As she intensively cultivated that Talent, she eventually invented techniques revolving around it. Thanks to that Talent of hers, her popularity in the Alliance of Thousand Merchants skyrocketed and anyone who knew of her would respectfully address her as ‘Lady Wan.’ For hundreds of years, her Talent never failed her, but as of late, when she tried to calculate her odds against Gu Changge by peeking into fate itself, she wound up receiving a backlash. As such, she was shocked and confused as such an occurrence was unprecedented. After a long time of contemplation, she inferred that it was because Gu Changge was hiding immense terror within himself. Thereupon, she even took a great risk to go and warn Chu Hao. Although Chu Hao’s cultivation level was now in the Sacred King Realm, and he was pretty close to attaining Sacred Emperor Realm, to the higher-ups of the Alliance of Thousand Merchants, it was still not worth it to offend Gu Changge over him, which was precisely why Tang Wan had to proceed with caution. Despite Tang Wan’s substantial contribution to the Alliance of Thousand Merchants over the years, given that the situation pertained to leverages, she had no say in the alliance’s decisions. She didn’t even dare to tell her grandfather about Gu Changge as her grandfather never had any respect for Chu Hao. In the old man’s eyes, Chu Hao’s exceptional Talents meant nothing since he didn’t have a reliable background to support him, and he was thereby doomed to become a mere pawn to other forces unless he was powerful enough to establish a Immortal Sect or Family by himself. “Hopefully Hao can understand my intentions or my effort will go in vain. If only he didn’t act rashly back then… And all I can do is pray that Supreme Cave Heaven would stand by Hao’s side. If he succeeds in becoming the future Sect Master of Supreme Cave Heaven, his words would surely carry more weight, and Gu Changge wouldn’t dare to be this unscrupulous.” Tang Wan heaved a deep sigh, never expecting that there would come a day where she was afraid of a young man. In her opinion, the strength that Gu Changge displayed indicated that he could take on someone in the Sacred Emperor Realm. Back when he used his Sacred Emperor Grade Weapon, his unaffected expression must mean that he wasn’t even nearing his limits, and such a thing couldn’t be made up. As Tang Wan had been in the Alliance of Thousand Merchants for so many years, her perception remained sharp, and she knew better than to belittle anyone, especially a chaotically ruthless young man that none dared to upset like Gu Changge. “Lady Wan! Lady Wan! Bad news, bad news!” All of a sudden, an anxious-looking guard hastily dashed to the courtyard and his tone was filled with tremendous panic as if he just encountered something massive. “What is it? What’s the rush? Where’s your decency!?” Before Tang Wan could say anything, her servant annoyedly questioned the guard with a scowl. “It’s fine. What is it? Why the haste?” Tang Wan waved her hand and calmed down the guard. However, for some reason, an unshakeable sense of distress surged in her mind. The last time she underwent such a feeling was during a life-threatening disaster back in an ancient cave. Fortunately, she managed to steer the danger away and even gained the legacy of an ancient cultivator, the Quill of Destiny, granting her capable of Dao Drawing. “Bad news, Lady Wan! Young Master Tang Tian offended the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan and is now in the hands of Yin Mei, the Gifted Lady of the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan…” The guard reported with his shaky voice, aware of how much Tang Wan pampered Tang Tian. And now that such a huge incident erupted, only Tang Wan herself could come up with a solution. “Tang Tian offended the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan? What’s this about? Isn’t he staying still in the city? How did he even offend the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan? What are the details?” Hearing that, Tang Wan was dazed, after which she sternly shot a volley of questions. Since her younger brother was involved, there was no way she could disregard such a matter. Although even she knew how incompetent and demanding her brother was, he wasn’t idiotic enough to upset the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan out of nowhere. Hence, she figured that there must be a misunderstanding. “Lady Wan, here are the details: According to the cultivators who witnessed the incident back in Drunk Gods Inn, Young Master Tang Tian abducted a young lady of the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan out of indecent intentions. However, at the crucial point, the abduction was noticed by Yin Mei the Gift Lady, who then put him in her custody. The entire city is talking about this…” The guard nervously relayed the details, though those details were only what he heard and not what he witnessed for himself. “Tang Tian… How is he so foolishly bold…” After listening to the report, Tang Wan, despite her tenderness, was dumbfounded. With that, when she regained her senses, she instantly grew exasperated as rage surged in her heart. At that point, she wasn’t just feeling vexation for her incompetent, trouble-making brother, but all she wanted to do was to confine him in the family residence and strictly forbid him from exiting the house. “I am sure I know Tang Tian well enough. Despite his indecent thoughts, he still knows his limits. He must have been coerced somehow. Was he with anyone else back then?” Nevertheless, Tang Wan swiftly calmed down and asked as overwhelming sternness surged in her eyes. “About that… According to the witnessing cultivators, Young Master Tang Tian was the one who took charge. After seeing Yin Mei the Gifted Lady’s maid coming out to shop without any company, he deliberately ordered his men to knock the woman out and bring her to Drunk Gods Inn,” the guard hastily answered without omitting anything he knew. “Really? Is that really it? What about the experts that were guarding my brother? Where are they? I wish to talk to them.” Taken aback, Tang Wan coldly asked. Her intuition told her that the matter must be deeper than what was on the surface. The words of her ruthlessness all these years weren’t baseless. Evidently, the daunting pressure coming from her even intimidated the servants that had been following her for a long time. “Lady Wan, the cultivators who were protecting Young Master Tang Tian were slaughtered by Yin Mei out of rage right away. Their bodies and souls disintegrated, and there was not one survivor,” the guard stuttered as his voice trembled. “Not one survivor?” Tang Wan suddenly raised her voice, obviously infuriated. [That may not sound inappropriate, but the first thing the angered Yin Mei did wasn’t to look for her servant but to slaughter Tang Tian’s guardians? She is obviously trying to destroy all evidence. Though, it’s reasonable to claim that it was the only way she could vent her frustration. Regardless, things are still strangely out of place.] Tang Wan instinctively knew that things were more than met the eye. “Noted. Where is Tang Tian now? Did Yin Mei make any demands?” Having calmed down, Tang Wan lowered her voice. “Young Master Tang Tian is now imprisoned in the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan. Even the Tang Family will have a hard time dealing with this…” The guard speedily answered. “Alright.” Tang Wan nodded. She was aware that this incident would not be tolerated by her family. After all, no matter if it was true or not, the entire city was now talking about it, which meant that the Tang Family was already thoroughly humiliated. In her opinion, if the entire incident was some kind of scheme, then there must be something Yin Mei wanted that drove her to do this. Although the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan was one of the pillars of the Alliance of Thousand Merchants, they were not as dominant as that of a tyrant. Besides, Yin Mei had yet to lead the family for long, and she wasn’t experienced enough to be convinced and trusted by the Alliance of Thousand Merchants. Therefore, friction between the two of them was only inevitable. On the other hand, Tang Wan, as the senior, was far more superior in terms of capabilities and maturity. Thus, it was reasonable for Yin Mei to try and plot against her.. “I guess I have overestimated Yin Mei. How dare she coerce me with such a method. Though, I’m am still clueless about what sort of tricks she will resort to…” Tang Wan left the courtyard with a frown, intending to take the matter into her own hands. Nonetheless, before doing that, she contacted Chu Hao, only to receive news that left her helpless, which she could only compromise. As she was told, Chu Hao was now absent from Vermilion Bird Empire as he hurried to the region where the Eternal Overcast Crisis broke out. Even if something was up, he wouldn’t be able to excuse himself when Tang Wan was planning to bring him along with her as a security measure. [This hostage situation will not be simple. I must inform the family. Although Grandfather despises Tang Tian, there is no way he would ignore the fact that his grandson is captured by the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan. Besides, I don’t have enough manpower right now. And with how things are growing more and more unsettling, I’ll need more reinforcements from the family…] Bearing that in mind, Tang Wan started moving as she contacted her family to make the most complete preparations. Thanks to her ability to foresee fortunes and misfortunes in the future, she had evaded hazards countless times.