The people from the Taiyi Sect arrived quickly, since their office in Capital City was already quite close to this private club.
Having an agreement with the Hua Country officials to avoid disturbing civilians and causing unnecessary panic, they didn't fly openly through the skies. Instead, they darted across the rooftops of the tall buildings. From the moment they received the news to arriving at their disciple’s side, who had suffered a loss, it all took less than ten minutes.
When the female disciple saw her Master and junior brother rushing in, she was moved but also felt terribly wronged. She jumped up and threw herself into her Master’s arms. “I was bullied!” she declared simply, then recounted what had just happened in the club’s private room.
Her Master listened patiently, gently patting her on the back. He then gave the sect’s top disciple a small smile. “Come. Let’s see who it is that dares provoke the Taiyi Sect, right on our doorstep.”
Leaping in a flash, he slipped through the shattered window and landed inside without any sign of earthly dust. He hadn’t even steadied his feet when the young woman sitting on the sofa was so startled that she froze on the spot.
Ling Jing was skilled at concealing her cultivation level and aura, but she was currently at the threshold of advancing to the Divine Transformation Stage at any moment.
She could easily fool ordinary people and rookies like He Qingya, who had only just begun Qi gathering, but the elder from the Taiyi Sect who'd come running was a Golden Core stage cultivator—no fledgling newcomer like his outstanding disciple.
Ling Jing saw this and thought: This won’t do! How can you back off just after one exchange? You should give me the chance to “teach a lesson to the juniors and then beat up the seniors” so I can establish the rules!
So she deliberately pointed at the trembling, disheveled old man, who was too scared to budge. “He just now decided he wasn’t entirely satisfied, but could barely accept me as his thirty-seventh concubine… So, are all your Taiyi Sect disciples’ families stuck in the feudal era?”
The old man’s eyes turned red as he looked pleadingly at his daughter.
The female disciple felt utterly helpless, bitterness filling her mouth.
She’d only rushed over to back up her father’s dignity... Honestly, she rather enjoyed the adulation of mortals; after all, the flattery from sect brothers was boring and uninspired!
She never expected that, on a whim, she’d crash headlong into a wall of steel.
Her mind was sharp and her spiritual sense clear. She was well aware of just how tense her Master and junior brother were as they held her.
Realistically, forcing her father to kowtow and apologize might have let the matter pass, but with her Master and junior brother present, simply knuckling under—if word got out—the other sects would have a field day mocking the Taiyi Sect!
Her Master evidently thought the same. Retreating outright felt unspeakably frustrating, but holding firm… he honestly wasn’t confident: the other side was likely a Nascent Soul stage cultivator!
Now, with a Nascent Soul cultivator actually appearing in this world, he had to report to the sect. He released his hold on the disciple and sent a paper crane message flying. Then he took three steps forward, bowed solemnly to Ling Jing, and said, “Senior, please teach us.”
Ling Jing stood up without hesitation, smiling as she replied, “All right.” She flew straight out, smashing a two-meter-wide hole in the wall that housed windows.
Her Master followed, flying out as well.
The senior sister grabbed her junior brother by the neck, making him flash out with her—strictly speaking, Foundation Establishment stage disciples couldn’t stay airborne for long without a magical tool.
Hovering steadily in midair, the senior sister was suddenly struck by inspiration. She snapped her head around just in time to see the man who’d quietly sat beside Miss He step out after them atop a flying sword.
Her face paled. A stream of frantic curses echoed in her mind: Crap! How did I forget about him?! He’d entered the room on a flying sword! Miss He even threw herself into his arms!
At last, she realized… This was serious trouble. In her Master and junior brother’s eyes, Miss He was clearly strong, but Miss He’s boyfriend… could manipulate her perception, making her somehow forget he even existed!
Pressing a hand to her chest, she tried to call out and warn her Master and junior brother, but found herself unable to speak.
She stared at the man in horror. He glanced back, and suddenly four words echoed in her mind: Keep your mouth shut.
Her sea of consciousness trembled violently, as if she would soon collapse like her useless father and faint right where she hovered. Damn it. What sort of fate is this?! My father always valued sons over daughters, treated me badly… yet now relies on my power to throw his weight around… All I wanted was a little vanity, and I ended up in a disaster!
At that thought, tears burst from her eyes.
Her junior brother jumped in alarm, and awkwardly reached out to wipe her tears. “Senior sister, don’t be upset.”
She looked at his grave face and realized that, as long as she didn’t think about that sword immortal, she could speak freely. “It’s all my fault! I’m returning to the sect for closed-door cultivation!”
As for Ling Jing dealing with the Taiyi Sect elder… it was like a father disciplining a son, beating him as hard or as gently as she pleased. Qin Jingzhou turned some of his attention to observe this so-called other “Fate’s Son.”
With such deep foundations in this world, there was no way the original host’s adopted son was the only Fate’s Son.
In Qin Jingzhou’s eyes, not only was she a Fate’s Son, but as the object of the Fate’s Son’s affections, she seemed perfectly sane as well.
The System chuckled, “Actually, the original host’s adopted son isn’t stupid either. He doesn’t have high hopes for He Qingya and her child, even though she seems to have latched on to a powerful backer. Now, he’s courting another sect leader’s only daughter.”
“He’s proactively taking the son-in-law route. A sensible move.”
The System went on, “His innate talent is average, so of course he’s working to amass as many resources as possible. But I bet, Zhou-ge, when you really move against He Qingya and her son, he’ll show up.”
Of course.
He Qingya and her son did him a favor. Whether willingly or not, he had to admit it. As a beneficiary, he would either have to make a just act of denunciation, or help He Qingya and her son with a problem before making that just denunciation… Only then could he get through his heart tribulation smoothly.
If he switched to demonic cultivation, he wouldn’t care about He Qingya and her son’s survival. But when it came to Demon cultivators, both the number and severity of their tribulations far exceeded what righteous sects had to endure.
As Qin Jingzhou and his system chatted idly, Ling Jing had already wrapped up the battle: she had cut off one of the Taiyi Sect elder’s arms.
For a Golden Core cultivator, attaching a severed limb was easy—growing a whole new one wasn’t a problem either, as long as resources were sufficient.
So Ling Jing had truly shown restraint.
Still, the other side didn’t seem very grateful.
Ling Jing teased him on purpose. “Are you afraid I’m a demon cultivator, here to seize bodies?” As she spoke, she waved her hand, sending the elder—arm and all—flashing high into the sky.
The senior sister and junior brother quickly chased after their elder.
She lifted into the air again and returned to the private room, easily dragging out the still-cowering Zhang Qingxing, who showed no reaction to the chaos around him.
He Qingya led everyone in the box to kneel before her, shouting in unison, “Greetings to the big boss, we kowtow to the big boss! Please spare our dog lives!”
Ling Jing’s interest faded. Still, on second thought, He Qingya and her group truly deified cultivators. Setting aside He Qingya’s personal character, she represented the thoughts of many ordinary people and low-level cultivators.
She waved her hand, deciding not to do anything to them for now, simply hauling Zhang Qingxing along by his collar as she flew out the way she had come.
He Qingya and the others seemed unable to believe Ling Jing would let them off so easily. They hesitated, not trusting that she’d really let them go, but Ling Jing simply flew far away and didn’t hurl a spell back at them. At last, He Qingya burst into tears of relief, grateful to have survived this disaster.
Qin Jingzhou saw everything in the private room clearly. He took Zhang Qingxing from Ling Jing’s grip. “He Qingya and her crew will probably run away tonight and go throw themselves on the original host’s adopted son.”
Ling Jing smiled. “If needed, we could just sweep them all up at once. But if we want most mortals to keep a respectful distance from cultivators without needing to grovel… that’s not easy.”
Qin Jingzhou laughed. “All I can really do is show off my trump card and give them a taste of mechanical ascension.”
Ling Jing glanced at the semi-translucent flying sword behind him. “So you were waiting over here!”
The two landed solidly, stuffed Zhang Qingxing into the back seat, then got into the car as driver and passenger and quickly left the now thoroughly-wrecked private club.
The club owner watched them drive away, wiped off his sweat, and looked again at the caved-in doorway and gaping hole in the wall, his feelings very complicated.
The lobby manager approached carefully to comfort him. “At least our lives are still intact.”
It still took Qin Jingzhou an hour to get back to the city, half of which was spent in traffic.
Fortunately, with Ling Jing beside him chatting and laughing, the time passed quickly, so he didn’t bother tinkering with the hovercar yet.
When they got home, the housekeeper and bodyguards saw Qin Jingzhou return not only with his biological son, but also a dazzling beauty. All of them felt sincerely happy for their boss.
But they still couldn’t help wondering: Why did the new beauty look a bit like He Qingya?
Qin Jingzhou picked up on this and introduced her bluntly. “My girlfriend.”
Ling Jing smiled and chimed in, “My surname is He… That’s right, I’m He Qingya’s half-sister.”
The housekeeper and guards: …
“She’s nothing like He Qingya,” Qin Jingzhou said, handing the now tightly-shut-eyed Zhang Qingxing to the housekeeper. “He’s terrified of me, could I trouble you to comfort him?” The original host’s real son actually was closer to the housekeeper than his own dad.
The housekeeper agreed cheerfully.
At that moment, the System spoke up again. “Brother Zhou, you’re trending online. Someone filmed you entering the club with a flying sword floating behind you.”