One person: Starting with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, his grandmaster uncle emerges from seclusion.

A very pleasant, soft laugh escaped from her luscious red lips.

The laughter wasn't loud, but it sounded like the first drop of snow melting in spring.

Zhang Tianyi and Bai Shoushan simultaneously stopped fighting and looked over in unison.

Liu Tianxian felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by them.

She suppressed her smile, turned her head slightly, and gently placed the half-eaten sweet potato in her hand in front of Zhang Tianyi.

"If you're really not full, here's some for you."

Her voice returned to its usual calmness, but it lacked the previous wariness and contained a hint of indulgence that she herself was unaware of.

"I am not hungry."

Zhang Tianyi looked at the sweet potato handed to him, then glanced at Liu Tianxian.

Instead, he withdrew his hand.

"That won't work."

Zhang Tianyi sat cross-legged again and waved his hand solemnly:

"Although I am a glutton, I still have principles."

"If I were to steal food from a woman's mouth, how could I ever face anyone in the underworld again?"

He pointed to the old hedgehog still guarding its food and said matter-of-factly:

"I only rob these old guys; that's called robbing the rich to help the poor."

"You're the old hag! Your whole family are old hags!"

Bai Shoushan was so angry that his beard trembled. He stuffed the rest of the sweet potatoes into his mouth in a few bites, chewing until his cheeks were bulging, as if afraid they would be snatched away.

Looking at his shameless behavior, Liu Tianxian shook her head helplessly.

She raised her hand, palm up.

A wisp of white spiritual energy gathered at her fingertips.

"You just removed the poison from my body, which damaged your vital energy. Your body... seems a bit strange too."

Liu Tianxian had an incredibly sharp eye; she looked at Zhang Tianyi's skin, which was faintly flushed under his tattered Taoist robe.

"Although I do not possess your thunder magic to exorcise evil spirits."

"But what my Changbai Mountain has in abundance is spiritual objects that can nourish the meridians."

With a flick of her wrist, the ball of white spiritual energy transformed into a crystal-clear bead the size of a longan, which she tossed directly to Zhang Tianyi.

"This is the thousand-year-old cold marrow from the bottom of Tianchi Lake. If you hold it in your mouth, it will help suppress the heat in your body."

Zhang Tianyi reached out and caught it.

The moment the bead touched my hand, an intensely cool sensation instantly traveled from my palm throughout my body.

Just now, my internal organs felt like they were on fire because of the forced reversal of the lightning technique.

It felt like taking a sip of ice-cold Reibi, so refreshing that his pores opened up.

"Wow, this is good stuff!"

Zhang Tianyi unceremoniously tossed the Cold Marrow into his mouth, mumbling indistinctly:

"The fairy sister is so generous. Unlike some hedgehogs, who are stingy."

Bai Shoushan rolled his eyes, thinking to himself that he was taking advantage of the situation far too confidently.

He who eats another's food is bound to do so.

As Zhang Tianyi felt the gradually calming thunder energy within his body, he raised his head and looked at Liu Tianxian intently.

Thank you.

He patted the snow off his bottom, stood up, and stretched.

"Alright, we've eaten the sweet potato and gotten a good deal."

Looking at the hazy horizon in the distance, the smile in Zhang Tianyi's eyes gradually faded, replaced by that chilling sharpness.

"I've been lost long enough, it's time to get back to business."

Liu Tianxian stood up as well.

She looked at the young Taoist priest, whom she had only spent half an hour with, yet found incredibly interesting.

"The serious business you mentioned... is it to kill someone?"

"I'm going to pick up my junior colleague from get off work."

Zhang Tianyi corrected her statement.

He put his hands in his pockets and walked forward without looking back.

"By the way, teach those unruly bastards a lesson about who really calls the shots on our Chinese territory."

Watching that solitary, proud figure gradually disappear into the wind and snow.

Liu Tianxian stood there, her gaze lingering for a long time.

……

At the same time.

Inside the courtyard of an inn in an unnamed small town.

It was raining heavily.

Zhang Zhiwei's tall and robust figure stood in the center of the courtyard.

He held the still-dripping oil-paper umbrella in his hand, its ribs creaking as he squeezed them.

His murderous intent surged through the rain, causing the surrounding rainwater to swirl back.

"Master!"

Zhang Zhiwei's eyes were red-rimmed, and his voice was as rough as a wounded wild animal:

"Eighth Brother's life talisman is broken! That's a disciple of our Celestial Master's Mansion! My junior brother whom I watched grow up since he was a child!"

"You want me to stop?! How can I stop?!"

"I'm going to kill people! I'm going to twist those heads off one by one to appease Lao Ba's spirit in heaven!"

Faced with his eldest disciple's volcanic rage.

Zhang Jingqing's face remained completely expressionless.

He slowly walked down the steps and into the rain.

The rain fell on him, but didn't even wet his clothes; it was automatically slid off by the golden light protecting him.

He walked up to Zhang Zhiwei.

He looked up at his eldest apprentice, who was a full head taller than him.

"You're saying you're going to kill someone?"

Zhang Jingqing's voice was very soft.

"Yes! I will raze Dragon Cloud Valley to the ground!" Zhang Zhiwei roared.

Zhang Jingqing nodded.

then.

He slowly raised his right hand.

"Snapped!!!"

A crisp, loud slap drowned out the sound of the pouring rain.

The slap landed squarely on the back of Zhang Zhiwei's head!

The force was so great that it sent Zhang Zhiwei staggering forward.

The oil-paper umbrella, which was already nearly falling apart from his grip, flew out of his hand and rolled into the muddy water.

"Master...Master?!"

Zhang Zhiwei was stunned by the slap.

He clutched the back of his head, staring incredulously at the robust old man in front of him.

All the anger in his heart was choked up and stuck in his throat.

"What are you pretending to be, carrying that tattered umbrella!"

The moment Zhang Jingqing opened her mouth, her protective and domineering old rogue nature was immediately revealed.

He pointed at Zhang Zhiwei's nose and began to hurl insults:

"You think you're so capable? You think you're so great? You think you're the only one with legs who can run off and kill people?!"

"What kind of place is Dragon Cloud Valley? It's a trap with an inescapable net!"

"You charged in alone with your fists raised, are you trying to die fast enough, planning to join Old Eight for a mahjong game down below?!"

"Even your second junior brother, with his arrogant nature, stumbled when he went there. Do you think you're invincible?!"

Zhang Zhiwei was scolded until his face turned red.

Although he was usually arrogant, he was absolutely obedient in front of his master.

But the fire in my heart just wouldn't go down.

"So we're just going to wait like this?! And Lao Ba died for nothing?!" Zhang Zhiwei retorted, sticking his neck out.

"Who told you that Lao Ba died in vain?"

Zhang Jingqing gave a cold laugh.

At this moment, his cloudy old eyes flashed with a fierce light that made Zhang Zhiwei's heart tremble.

"What are the rules of our Celestial Master's Mansion?"

Zhang Jingqing ignored the broken umbrella on the ground and put her hands behind her back.