Chapter 37

Chapter 37: A New Guest Arrived

As the sun sank, Bai Meng Jin and Ling Bu Fei wandered the valley, the air cooling and the light turning gold.

Thinking back to this time yesterday felt unreal.

Yesterday, they’d entered Phoenix Parasol City and passed each other without even seeing each other’s faces.

Now they were trapped together in a hidden valley—and they’d even set a marriage.

“So much happened in one day,” Ling Bu Fei said with a long sigh. “I only came out to clear my head at Perching Phoenix Valley. I didn’t expect…”

He’d rejected the Ji Family’s proposal with righteous indignation—only to end up bringing a betrothal back to the sect anyway.

Bai Meng Jin asked, “Will your uncle agree?”

Ling Bu Fei waved it off with careless confidence. “Don’t worry. I’ll make the elders agree.”

Seeing that confidence, Bai Meng Jin didn’t press.

Instead, Ling Bu Fei turned his attention to her, eyes sharp with curiosity. “Tell me about yourself. You don’t look like an ordinary disciple to me. Is the Bai Family really that formidable?”

Bai Meng Jin answered with a half-truth. “The Bai Family isn’t impressive. What I inherited is from the Gu Family.”

Ling Bu Fei blinked. “The Gu Family?”

“The Bei Ming Gu Clan,” Bai Meng Jin said. “You’ve heard of them, right? My mother was an orphaned survivor of the Gu Clan.”

Ling Bu Fei’s eyes widened. “The Bei Ming Gu Clan that guards the Ming River? The Bei Ming Gu Clan that earned great merit in the Devil-Sealing War?”

“Yes.”

Bai Meng Jin summoned the Yin-Yang Umbrella and spun it once in her hand. Yin and yang power flowed unmistakably along its surface.

“This is the Gu Clan’s ancestral treasure,” she said. “Now I’m the Gu Clan’s last inheritor.”

Ling Bu Fei’s expression lit with delighted relief. “I thought your background was humble and I’d have to argue for days when we go back.”

He looked at the umbrella again, awe creeping in. “But with the Gu Clan’s name, you’re a recognized line. Convincing the elders should be much easier.”

The Bei Ming Gu Clan was an ancient great clan. Even fallen, its prestige still echoed.

If Bai Meng Jin truly held the Gu Clan’s complete legacy arts, the elders would be tempted. A full set of legacy methods could found an entire sect. Taking her in would be like drawing the Gu Clan’s techniques into the Limitless Sect.

Bai Meng Jin put away the umbrella and smiled. “See? I didn’t lie to you. Even if I went to the Cinnabar Cloud Palace, my standing wouldn’t be low.”

In her last life, when Sect Master Cen took her as his last disciple, she’d believed it meant her talent and character had impressed him.

Later she learned the cruel truth: even if she’d performed poorly, she still could’ve entered. Perhaps she would even have been treated with suspicion instead of trust.

When you carried a treasure, you invited disaster. The moment she stepped into the Cinnabar Cloud Palace, her fate had already been decided.

But in this life, she’d accidentally absorbed her great-uncle’s Devil Arts—effectively ruining the value of the Jade-Tempered Body in their eyes.

One day, she’d give her former master and senior brother a surprise.

Red clouds filled the sky. The sunset over Phoenix Mountain was breathtaking.

Then they sensed someone entering the valley.

A streak of light shot out from the hut and wrapped around them like an invisible veil.

“What’s this for?” Ling Bu Fei asked, baffled.

“A barrier,” Bai Meng Jin said. “Second Lady Hu doesn’t want anyone else to see us.”

“Oh.” Ling Bu Fei nodded slowly. “With my identity, trouble comes easily.”

The barrier didn’t restrict their movement. It simply erased them from sight and divine sense. No one could perceive them, even standing a few steps away.

More than a dozen visitors entered the clearing. The man leading them looked around thirty, neatly dressed, refined and mature, with a certain charm that suggested he was used to being liked.

Two men who looked like guest elders stood beside him. The rest were guards.

Ling Bu Fei stared. “Ah. This guy looks kind of familiar…”

“He was in the Devil-Suppressing Cauldron’s memories,” Bai Meng Jin reminded him.

Ling Bu Fei remembered—the man had been among the cultivators hunting Devil Creatures back then, though he’d stayed in the rear and done little.

So he knew Second Lady Hu.

What kind of relationship it was… who could say.

When the visitors reached the grave, the man didn’t go in to greet Second Lady Hu right away. Instead, he began tending the cenotaph with meticulous care.

He swept. He arranged offerings. He lit incense.

The careful, almost fussy way he did it made Bai Meng Jin frown. It felt too polished—too practiced.

Cultivators didn’t fear ghosts and spirits the way mortals did. Visiting a grave was usually grief, not performance.

This looked like theater.

When he finished, the man walked to the hut entrance and bowed loudly. “Honored Mother-in-law, your son-in-law has come to pay his respects.”

Ling Bu Fei blinked. “Son-in-law?”

How many daughters did Second Lady Hu have?

Could this be Mo Chou’s husband?

After a pause, Second Lady Hu’s voice came from inside, flat as stone. “Come in.”

The man bowed again before entering.

Ling Bu Fei’s eyes gleamed. “Come on. Let’s listen.”

Since the barrier didn’t block sound, they could.

They crept closer and crouched outside the window. The guards posted outside didn’t notice a thing.

Inside, Second Lady Hu sat in a chair, expression empty. The man stood before her, respectful to the point of discomfort.

“I heard you’ve taken a new concubine,” Second Lady Hu said coldly. “Why aren’t you at home enjoying yourself instead of running out to my remote wilderness?”

The man hurried to reply. “Honored Mother-in-law, please see clearly. I only took a concubine to leave a little bloodline for the family. Even though A Chou has left us… the one I love most is still her.”

Second Lady Hu’s gaze didn’t soften. “When someone dies, it’s like a lamp going out. A Chou is gone. I won’t interfere if you marry again. Why say all this?”

The man swore again and again, claiming that even without his wife, he would still treat his mother-in-law like his own mother and show filial devotion.

Ling Bu Fei leaned closer, lips curling. “He’s putting on a show,” he whispered. “He definitely wants something.”

Inside, Second Lady Hu’s voice sharpened. “Enough. What did you really come for? Say it and leave. Don’t disturb A Chou’s peace.”

The man smiled. “It’s nothing, truly. I planned to visit A Chou, and while I’m here, I wanted to see if Honored Mother-in-law needs any help…”

“I’m fine.” Second Lady Hu didn’t blink. “If there’s nothing else, leave.”

The man’s composure wavered. “Mother-in-law, please wait. On the way here, I heard something that worried me, so I wanted to ask… did you really kidnap the Young Sect Master of the Limitless Sect?”

Second Lady Hu laughed once, without warmth. “So this is your real purpose. You’re afraid the Limitless Sect will come looking and drag you into it.”

“No, no,” the man denied quickly. “Honored Mother-in-law, it really was in passing. A Chou is gone, so I should still show you filial respect on her behalf. I’m also afraid you’ll offend the Limitless Sect and suffer later!”

Second Lady Hu’s gaze turned sharp as a needle. “Then you came at just the right time. Even if you hadn’t come, I was going to find you.”

A chill ran through Bai Meng Jin.

Second Lady Hu’s voice cut cleanly. “Yes, I kidnapped the Young Sect Master. And I saw what happened back then.”

She leaned forward. “So let me ask you this—why did you mislead me and claim that Ling Yun Zhou harmed A Chou?”

The man jolted. “Honored Mother-in-law—!”

Second Lady Hu didn’t let him breathe. “I saw it clearly. A Chou went with Ling Yun Zhou to stop a Devil Creature. She warned him out of goodwill. Ling Yun Zhou didn’t use her as a shield.”

Her voice dipped, dangerous. “You made up lies. What are you really after?”