The villainous bosses from their past lives have all been reborn.

Thousand Caves.

Deep within the earth, groundwater flows slowly.

Despite the lack of sunlight, the cavern was not entirely desolate. Numerous exotic flowers and plants, unseen on the ground, flourished here. The energy source for these exotic flowers and plants was the blue, glowing spiritual root in the center of the cavern.

The spiritual root was crystal clear, and the firefly-like light it emitted illuminated half of the cave.

At this moment, inside the underground cave, Cao Xiaohu, the supervisor of the Eastern Depot, was staring intently at the spiritual root, completely unaware of the other two grandmasters sitting under the tree.

The two were a married couple; the husband was rugged and short, while the wife was tall and beautiful.

However, neither of them paid any attention to Cao Xiaohu at the moment, until a woman arrived with Yuan Cai.

"By order of my father, I have brought Yuan Cai here."

Liu Qingqing bowed respectfully and awaited a reply.

Cao Xiaohu turned around, his back to the light, so Liu Qingqing couldn't see his face. Of course, even with the light, it wouldn't have been much better.

"Thank you for your trouble. Please also tell Commander Liu that the Third Princess and Prime Minister Lin have already made their promise and are on their way."

"Thank you, Your Excellency!"

Cao Xiaohu nodded. Liu Qingqing glanced up at the spiritual root, then turned and left.

As her figure disappeared from sight, the beautiful young woman under the tree let out a cold snort.

Cao Xiaohu turned around, looked at the beautiful young woman, and asked:

"Madam Qi, why is this?"

Lady Qi snorted coldly upon hearing this:

"It's nothing, I just smelled a vixen's pungent odor."

Just then, the burly, short man quickly explained:

"Madam, I did nothing at all. I didn't even see her face."

The woman showed no mercy in response to her husband's declaration of love.

"You dare!"

Cao Xiaohu didn't dare say anything more after hearing this. Madam Qi was notoriously jealous, and Cao Xiaohu didn't want to get involved.

Seeing Yuan Cai lying unconscious on the ground, Cao Xiaohu was still worried, so he took out a black needle and sealed Yuan Cai's acupoints.

At that moment, the couple's argument not only did not stop, but escalated further.

"I just can't stand her, what's it to you?"

"They didn't do anything, they just came to drop someone off, what did they do to offend you?"

"Are you taking their side because you've got a crush on them?"

"You're being unreasonable. I don't even know what she looks like, how could I have fallen for her?"

"I can smell the scent of that vixen. If that fox spirit were pretty, would you be clinging to her?"

……

Cao Xiaohu's head was spinning. Even as a grandmaster, he, who had entered the palace at a young age, didn't understand matters between men and women.

Even if he didn't understand, Cao Xiaohu had still experienced the power struggles among the concubines in the imperial harem.

In his opinion, Liu Jing's daughter, Liu Qingqing, was not a beauty, had an average figure, a bad temper, and mediocre martial arts talent. Cao Xiaohu simply couldn't understand where she had the potential to be a vixen, and why Madam Qi was so angry about her.

Right now, I plan to stay away.

……

After leaving the Thousand Caves, Liu Qingqing was a little tired. She stretched her arms and took a breath of fresh air.

Liu Jing sent her here simply to attribute this obvious credit to the Liu family and to make his daughter known to the three grandmasters.

The whole task was easy, and Liu Qingqing did a good job.

At this time, a slave camp was established outside the Thousand Caves. These slaves were either criminals from the six northern states or barbarians from the northern kingdom.

After Liu Qingqing returned to her residence, she was about to do her hair when a man barged in.

Upon entering the residence, he tried to hug Liu Qingqing, but she stopped him.

"What are you doing!"

The man was a servant born into the Liu family, and he was tall and handsome. After being stopped by Liu Qingqing, his face was full of displeasure.

"Qingqing, what's wrong with you these days? Ever since your grandfather wanted you to marry that Yuan Liulang, you've started to distance yourself from me. What, have you really taken a liking to him?"

Liu Qingqing smiled and asked:

"Even if you really like someone, so what?"

"The entire Yuan family was wiped out, what good will it do you to marry her!"

Liu Qingqing became even more disdainful and said:

"That's still better than you being a kept man!"

Upon hearing this, the handsome man's face flushed red, and he still showed signs of anger.

"You really have your eye on him!"

Seeing that Liu Qingqing remained silent, the handsome man became even angrier and said:

"Don't forget, you used to be nothing more than an unappreciated illegitimate daughter in the Liu family. Now that your grandfather has become the Commander-in-Chief, your standards have risen, and you look down on me, a servant born into a family. But I'm not made of clay. At worst, we'll part ways. Let people know you have an affair with a servant born into a family, and see which family in the Six Northern Prefectures will still want you!"

The handsome man thought his threat would have an effect, but Liu Qingqing still had that ambiguous smile, which sent a chill down his spine.

Just as he was about to walk out, a woman wearing a straw hat, whose face was obscured, stopped him at the door and gently patted his shoulder.

The handsome man snorted and walked out, but he stopped in the courtyard after only a few steps.

The woman in the bamboo hat removed her hood; she was the Second Elder of the Demonic Sect. She bowed to Liu Qingqing and said:

"Madam, someone has committed numerous crimes in Xiazhou under the guise of my sect, killing all of Liu Jing's confidants."

Liu Qingqing asked:

"What about the Iron-Armed Ape?"

"It's strange, wherever there's a case, there's this Iron-Armed Ape. On the surface, it seems like one of the thugs I trained."

Liu Qingqing scoffed:

"That stupid monkey!"

"Madam, who do you think did this? Could it be Yuan Liulang?"

"The Yuan family has been wiped out, leaving him all alone. If he can swallow this insult, he wouldn't be Yuan Liulang."

No sooner had Liu Qingqing finished speaking than a commotion arose outside the slave camp.

Liu Qingqing gave a wink, and the Second Elder of the Demonic Sect put his hood back on. Just as he was about to disappear into the darkness, a sword aura struck.

The Second Elder barely managed to dodge, but then saw Yuan Xiu leap down from the wall, looking somewhat excited, and say:

"Perfect timing! We've caught them in the act!"

Liu Qingqing's body writhed around her like a mirage, and soon Yin Hongyue's true form appeared on the spot.

"Yuan Liulang, you were faking it all along!"

"That still can't compare to you!"

As Yuan Xiu approached, Yin Hongyue's beautiful face showed a hint of doubt, and her brows furrowed slightly.

"Whether it was that time with You Niang or this time, it seems you saw through the flaws long ago. How did you know?"

Yuan Xiu, however, said:

"Now is not the time to talk about these things."

"What does it mean?"

Just then, the Iron-Armed Ape, clad in black armor, descended from the sky. Its eyes were fixed on Yuan Xiu, completely oblivious to the unusual situation, and it was extremely excited.

"Yuan Liulang, I've finally caught you!"

……