Why did you provoke me?

Dean Chen went out.

Xiao Hong wiped away her tears, "You're so pathetic, letting you see me like this."

Yu Meng leaned back in her chair, looking relaxed. "I haven't thanked you all for all the trouble you shielded me from."

"Hmph, I knew you were smart." Xiao Hong smiled.

"Aunt Xiao, are you and Dean Chen related?" Yu Meng's gossipy nature was stirring.

"If we're not family, why would I let him touch me?" Xiao Hong looked at Yu Meng as if she were crazy.

"Sigh, then I don't understand. We're family, why would you lie to him?"

"How did I lie to him? What did you see?" Xiao Hong wasn't angry; instead, she looked at her with great interest.

"I'm very good at reading eyes. The sadness in Dean Chen's eyes wasn't fake. But the purity in your eyes was fake," Yu Meng said with a smile, expressing her feelings.

She wasn't afraid of Xiao Hong turning against her.

"Hmph, don't pry into the affairs of adults." Xiao Hong smiled, but her eyes remained expressionless.

Yu Meng nodded. "Did you suggest seeing me?"

"Of course, otherwise do you think you could still be so leisurely?" Xiao Hong didn't hide anything.

"How do you want me to help you?" Yu Meng asked.

"Hehe, it's so refreshing to talk to smart people. I'm leaving here, forever." Xiao Hong's words made Yu Meng straighten up.

Then she softened her body, "Aren't you free now?"

"Yes, but I don't want to live like this anymore. I want to go out and see the beautiful landscapes." The old lady waved her arms vigorously.

Yu Meng calmly said, "I've been here for a while now, and I'm sure you've investigated my family history for three generations. What makes you so confident that I can take you away?"

"That's because you know nothing about the Jing family's guards." Xiao Hong's eyes lit up.

Yu Meng rolled her eyes. "That's my person. You'd better not covet her."

Xiao Hong rolled her eyes as well. "Weren't you going to make bells? Aren't you going to start?"

"you need to?"

"Why not? I want to learn from all schools of thought and prepare to reach the top." Xiao Hong's eyes were full of fervor.

Yu Meng stopped talking, holding her lines in her hand. "This is a technique from our sect. I didn't teach you this. If anyone asks, you'll have to come up with your own excuse."

"I know, I know. But Yu Meng, your sect is quite mysterious; we haven't found any clues."

"Well, our lineage transmits skills in dreams. It's normal that you didn't find it," Yu Meng said, fabricating her identity.

"Such a sect exists? How come I've never heard of it?"

"That's normal. Ordinary people don't even know what an alien is. Before I entered the base, I had never seen a Bone Painter. Now that I've met you, I know there's still a path to climb."

"Really." Xiao Hong's eyes shone with disbelief as she looked down at the lines in her hand. "Yu Meng, slow down, I don't understand."

"There's no way to slow down, this is the speed. If it's slower, it won't taste the same." He said this, but his hands didn't slow down at all.

"You think you're cooking, adding flavor? I'm adding the heat!" Xiao Hong teased with a smile.

"Aunt Xiao, it really is like that. Once you get the speed right, get into the rhythm, and when your energy and spirit are fully immersed in it, the heat is just right, and then you can plate it and take it out of the pot."

As she spoke, the bell in Yu Meng's hand had already taken shape.

Xiao Hong looked at the tangled mess in her hand, then at the small bell in Yu Meng's hand.

"I followed your example too? How come there's such a big difference?" Xiao Hong's smile vanished.

"No one can succeed on the first try, or they'd be human," Yu Meng comforted her.

Xiao Hong pointed at Yu Meng, "Then what is this?"

Yu Meng touched her nose. "I practiced at home for a long time before I could do it."

"Hmph, don't even think about getting rid of me." Xiao Hong stood up, pointed at the person outside, "He's been waiting for you for ages, so I won't keep you any longer. You'll have to come back tomorrow."

Yu Meng remained seated, saying, "You've been busy all day, and you're not even going to provide food?"

Xiao Hong's eyes widened. "I don't know anything, why should I provide meals?"

"Alright then." Yu Meng stood up and walked outside.

Jing Ancheng followed Yu Meng in silence until they were almost in the hall, when he whispered, "That second dean had a nickname 'witch' back in the day."

Yu Meng didn't turn around, she just nodded.

Yu Meng left, and Dean Chen returned to his room.

"How is it?" A question that came out of nowhere.

"She's such a smart child, I can't bear to lie to her." Xiao Hong sat in her chair, looking melancholy.

"What do you think of her little black cat?" Dean Chen asked.

"Top-notch." Xiao Hong uttered two words.

"If that's the kind of person, then that person should be satisfied, right?"

Xiao Hong closed her eyes, concealing the emotions within them.

Yu Meng was unaware of the conversation that took place in the room after she left, nor did she know what she was going to experience.

She returned to the hall, where a corner had been partitioned off to serve as her living room.

Zhang Bin's older brother has recovered and is standing at the door.

Seeing Yu Meng return, he stepped forward and said, "Teacher Yu, I am Zhang Zhen. From now on, everything I have is yours, including my life."

"I'll save you. Your brother has already paid the fee. It's a deal, and we're even." Yu Meng refused outright.

"Teacher Yu, let me introduce myself. I am a top-tier frontline soldier, and also a bone artist with lines. I was abandoned by my family. If Teacher Yu hadn't saved me, I would have become a pile of bones, and I wouldn't have complained. After all, my fate was already sealed when I stepped onto the front lines."

But Teacher Yu, you saved my life, which is like giving me a second life. I'm like a puppet on a string, with no one to direct me. I don't know how to live from here on out. Since you saved me, are you just going to watch me die?

Yu Meng pointed at Zhang Bin, "Let him support you."

"He can't do it."

"I can't support him."

Two voices rang out simultaneously.

"Teacher Yu, I can't support him, he'll beat me to death." Zhang Bin covered his face. "He only respects those he considers strong, everyone else is a stumbling block to him."

"I'm strong?" Yu Meng pointed to herself.

Zhang Zhen nodded seriously.

Yu Meng looked at her small frame, then at her slender fingers and tiny fists. What was so strong about her?

"Where is it stronger?" she heard herself ask.

"Being able to snatch someone from the clutches of the King of Hell is what makes you strong," Zhang Zhen replied.

Jing Ancheng nodded in agreement.

"Snatch someone from the clutches of the King of Hell? How could I dare? It's only because he won't take them that I'm picking up a bargain." Yu Meng's face darkened.

Chang Chen apologized, "I'm sorry, Teacher Yu, I misspoke, I will correct it in the future."

As he spoke, he pointed at Jing Ancheng, "I'm just like him. As long as I'm allowed to follow Teacher Yu, that's fine. I have my own businesses, so Teacher Yu doesn't need to spend money to support me."

Yu Meng sighed, deciding not to try to persuade them anymore. Just like the Jing family's guards back then, no matter what she said, they would follow her. She couldn't really let them die.

Because the bespectacled man personally found her, "Back in the previous generation, someone saved the Jing family's guards. They wanted to follow her, but she got annoyed. She just said, 'If you don't follow me, are you going to die?' As a result, the entire group committed suicide in front of her. Their explanation was that since the master wanted them to die, they deserved to die."

Yu Meng turned and went into her room.

Jing Ancheng glared at Zhang Zhen. "What do you mean by 'same as me'?"

Zhang Zhen didn't say anything, he just stood on the other side of the door.