The Azure Sword Sect's grand flying ship sailed smoothly through the sea of clouds, leaving the chaotic, dust-choked ruins of the Golden Dragon City far behind.
Inside the luxurious main cabin, the atmosphere was incredibly peaceful. Yan Shuo was stretched out comfortably on a wide silk couch, reading a scroll about Central Continent geography. Tantai Zhi was sitting on the floor beside him, her head resting happily on his knee while she carefully peeled a fresh batch of spiritual lychees for him.
Everything was perfect.
Until a loud, frantic thud echoed from the ship's storage room down the hall.
Tantai Zhi instantly stopped peeling. Her golden eyes flicked toward the hallway, her aura shifting from a gentle bride to a killing goddess in a fraction of a microsecond.
"Rats," Tantai Zhi whispered, her voice dropping to that terrifying, raspy pitch. She gently set the bowl of lychees on the table and stood up. "Husband, stay here. I will go eliminate the pests. It will only take a moment."
Yan Shuo lowered his scroll, raising an eyebrow. He extended his golden Foundation Establishment senses toward the storage room.
He didn't sense a rat. He sensed the frantic, trembling, incredibly suppressed Qi of a Heavenly Fox cultivator.
Yan Shuo let out a slow, amused sigh. She actually followed me. "I'll come with you, Wife," Yan Shuo said lazily, tossing the scroll aside and standing up. "I've never seen a Central Continent rat before."
Tantai Zhi immediately wrapped her arm through his, her free hand resting casually on the hilt of her sword. "Be careful, Husband. They might carry illness."
They walked down the polished wooden hallway and stopped in front of the heavy iron door of the storage room. Yan Shuo didn't bother knocking. He simply kicked the door open.
The room was filled with wooden crates of spirit wine and extra silk cushions. Crouched behind a stack of barrels, shivering like a leaf in a hurricane, was Su Mei.
She was no longer wearing her seductive, high-slit crimson qipao. She had changed into the coarse, gray linen robes of a dockworker, her face smeared with soot to hide her striking features. She looked absolutely miserable.
When the door banged open, Su Mei squeaked, jumping to her feet and pressing her back against the hull of the ship.
Tantai Zhi stopped dead in her tracks.
She stared at the beautiful, curvy woman hiding in their storage room. She recognized her instantly. It was the auctioneer from the Golden Dragon Pavilion. The woman who had been smiling entirely too brightly on the stage just an hour ago.
The air in the storage room instantly dropped to absolute zero.
A thick, jagged layer of white frost exploded across the wooden walls, freezing the barrels of spirit wine solid. Tantai Zhi's golden eyes dilated into terrifying, bottomless pools of pure, murderous madness.
"A fox," Tantai Zhi whispered. Her voice sounded like shattering glass. She slowly, mechanically turned her head toward Yan Shuo. "Husband. Why is there a beautiful, half-naked fox hiding in our storage room?"
"She isn't half-naked, Wife. She's wearing a burlap sack," Yan Shuo pointed out calmly, keeping his voice steady.
"She is breathing the same air as you," Tantai Zhi stated, her fingers wrapping tightly around the hilt of her sword. The sheer, suffocating pressure of her killing intent physically bent the iron door hinges. "I am going to peel her skin off and turn her into a rug."
Su Mei didn't hesitate. She had felt Yan Shuo's terrifying Demon Lord soul earlier, but this was an entirely different kind of horror. The Saintess's jealousy was a literal, physical force of nature that was actively crushing her lungs.
Su Mei immediately dropped to her knees, slamming her forehead so hard against the wooden floorboards that it made a loud thwack.
"Supreme Goddess, please spare my worthless life!" Su Mei shrieked, tears of sheer terror streaming down her face. She didn't look at Yan Shuo; she aimed her absolute, groveling submission entirely at Tantai Zhi. "I am not here for your husband! I swear it on my Dao heart, my ancestors, and the Heavenly Dao! I wouldn't dare look at him! He terrifies me! I would rather kiss a poisonous swamp toad!"
Yan Shuo's lips twitched in amusement. Smart fox.
Tantai Zhi paused, her sword drawn exactly one inch from its scabbard. The frost stopped spreading.
"You would rather kiss a toad?" Tantai Zhi asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"Yes! A thousand times yes!" Su Mei sobbed into the floorboards. "Your husband is far too majestic and powerful for a lowly insect like me! I am just a piece of garbage! I snuck onto your ship because the Righteous Alliance is going to execute me!"
Tantai Zhi tilted her head, the violent madness in her eyes slightly receding, replaced by cold, aristocratic disdain. "Why would they execute a bug?"
"Because of the pavilion!" Su Mei cried out, keeping her face firmly planted on the floor. "I was the last one in the basement before the Golden Dragon Pavilion collapsed! The Alliance Patriarch thinks I sabotaged the Levitation Array! They put a continent-wide bounty on my head! If I stayed in the city, they would have refined my soul in a soul-lantern!"
She finally peeked up, her pink eyes wide and pleading. But she didn't look at Yan Shuo. She looked directly at Tantai Zhi.
"Please, majestic Saintess!" Su Mei begged, shuffling forward on her knees. "I am skilled in gathering intelligence! I know all the Righteous Alliance's patrol routes, their secret vaults, and their auction schedules! Let me serve you! I will be your spy! I will be your maid! I will sweep your courtyard! Just don't let them kill me!"
Tantai Zhi looked down at the groveling, pathetic fox cultivator.
The intense, burning jealousy in her chest cooled significantly. Su Mei wasn't acting like a seductress trying to steal her husband. She was acting like a terrified stray dog begging for scraps. More importantly, she explicitly stated that Yan Shuo terrified her.
Tantai Zhi looked up at Yan Shuo, her expression softening into a pout.
"Husband," she murmured, gently tugging on his sleeve. "She says she can sweep the courtyard. And her Heavenly Fox senses would be useful for testing your food before you eat it. Should we keep the bug?"
Yan Shuo looked at the cowering Su Mei.
In his past life, having a top information broker from the enemy's largest merchant guild defect to his side would have cost him mountains of spirit stones and months of breaking her will. Today, he obtained one for free simply because a building collapsed.
"Having a maid would lighten your burdens, Wife," Yan Shuo said lazily, completely hiding his calculating thoughts behind a warm, doting smile. "But only if you are comfortable with it. If she displeases you, you can throw her off the ship."
Su Mei violently flinched at the word throw.
Tantai Zhi beamed, absolutely thrilled that her husband was leaving the final decision entirely to her. It made her feel respected and deeply cherished.
She turned back to Su Mei, her terrifying aura completely retracting, replaced by the haughty, absolute authority of the household matriarch.
"You may stay," Tantai Zhi commanded coldly. "You will sleep in the outer servant quarters. You will not speak to my husband unless spoken to. You will not look him in the eye. And if you ever wear a dress with a slit higher than your ankles in his presence, I will personally feed you to a Nether Wolf."
"Understood! Thank you, Supreme Goddess! Thank you!" Su Mei wept, kissing the floorboards again. "I will wear burlap sacks forever!"
"Good," Tantai Zhi huffed, her mood completely restored. She turned her back on the fox and wrapped her arms around Yan Shuo's waist, smiling up at him sweetly. "Come, Husband. Your lychees are getting warm. I need to peel you some fresh ones."
"You are too good to me, Wife," Yan Shuo chuckled, letting her lead him out of the freezing storage room.
Before the heavy iron door swung shut, Yan Shuo glanced back over his shoulder.
Su Mei was still kneeling on the floor, shaking.
Yan Shuo didn't say a word. He just gave her a very slow, very deliberate, terrifying wink.
Su Mei instantly clamped her hands over her mouth to stop herself from screaming. She realized with absolute, horrifying clarity that she hadn't just escaped the Righteous Alliance. She had willingly locked herself in a flying cage with an ancient, manipulative Demon Lord and his overpowered, murder-obsessed wife.
Sweeping the courtyard was going to be the most stressful duty in the history of the cultivation world.
Later that evening, the flying ship docked peacefully at the Cloudsoaring Peak.
Sect Master Zhao was waiting at the landing pad, flanked by a dozen nervous elders. They had already received the terrifying reports from the Central Continent. The Golden Dragon Pavilion was a crater, the Alliance Patriarch was coughing up blood, and the Azure Sword Sect's indulged young lord had somehow walked away with a massive haul of treasures.
When the ship's ramp lowered, Zhao hurriedly stepped forward, preparing a grand speech of welcome.
He froze when he saw the group descending the ramp.
Yan Shuo walked first, looking as relaxed and pampered as ever, snapping his paper fan open. Tantai Zhi was clinging to his arm, looking incredibly happy.
But trailing ten paces behind them, carrying their luggage and looking absolutely traumatized in a gray burlap sack, was Su Mei—the famous, highly sought-after auctioneer of the Golden Dragon Pavilion.
"L-Lord Yan," Sect Master Zhao stammered, his eyes darting between Yan Shuo and the fox cultivator. "You... you brought back an extra?"
"Ah, Sect Master," Yan Shuo smiled brightly, stepping off the ramp. "This is Su Mei. She has entered our service. She is our new courtyard sweeper."
Su Mei didn't say a word. She just kept her eyes glued to the floor, terrified that if she made eye contact with anyone, Tantai Zhi would sense it and vaporize her.
Sect Master Zhao rubbed his temples, feeling a splitting headache coming on. The Righteous Alliance was going to cough blood in fury when they realized their top intelligence agent was currently doing laundry for a fifteen-year-old boy.
"I see," Zhao muttered weakly. "Welcome back, Lord Yan. Was the auction... fruitful?"
"Incredibly fruitful," Yan Shuo said, patting his spatial ring. "I obtained a very interesting stone. Now, if you'll excuse us, my wife and I are going to have dinner."
As the trio walked up the mountain path toward the Grand Elder's estate, Yan Shuo let out a quiet, contented sigh.
He had the Abyssal Star-Core. He had an informant within the enemy camp. And he was safely back in his quiet, luxurious estate.
It was time to stop wandering idly.
It was time to start forging his new foundation.