Under the moonlight, the palace gates of Heavenly Sorrow City had been closed, and the corridors were filled with armed demonic cultivators patrolling.
At the top of the Sorrowful Heaven Pavilion, Gong Yue, dressed in a simple robe, stood at the window with his hands behind his back as he looked out with satisfaction at the Eastern Paradise that he had spent nearly a thousand years building.
Suddenly, a slender arm stretched out from behind his shoulder and hugged him.
The white little hand slid down from Gong Yue's collar and rubbed his chest.
"Dad, is this all for tonight?"
A seductive voice reached his ears.
The one hugging Gong Yue at this moment was a demonic female cultivator with an outstanding appearance, named Gong Tianchan. She was a Seductive cultivator of the Gong family, in the Nascent Soul stage.
Gong Yue turned his head and saw a faint pink light in her eyes. Suddenly, he frowned and grabbed her neck, lifting her in the air.
However, Gong Tianchan was not uncomfortable at all. On the contrary, two blushes appeared on her powdered face.
Gong Yue's eyes were cold as he scolded her. "Tianchan, how many times have I told you not to use magic on me?"
"Cough..."
As Gong Yue's hand loosened, Gong Tianchan collapsed on the ground, pulled her collar with a look of grievance, and complained. "Father, you are really heartless. I am your own flesh and blood, but you don't love me. Instead, you love the one you picked up..."
Gong Yue glared fiercely, which frightened Gong Tianchan, and she quickly closed her mouth. "Isn't it just that you don't have a son? I can give you one..."
"Heh..."
Gong Yue sneered and ignored her, turning his head to look back at the brilliant lights in the city outside the window.
The Gong family occupied Heavenly Sorrow City. Although they were not as famous as the Heavenly Demon Sect and Hedonistic Sect in the Eastern Region, they were still considered the overlords of a region. At least no demonic sect within a thousand miles dared to disrespect the Gong family.
In the history of the Eastern Region, only a handful of demonic cultivators, like Gong Yue, could rise from a rogue cultivator status to his current position.
However, there was one thing that bothered Gong Yue: the Gong family had never had a male heir.
Over the past thousand years, he had many female cultivators give birth to more than three hundred children for him, but all of these children were females without exception, and most of them were stillborn when they came out of their mothers' wombs.
Gong Yue didn't know the reason. He had tried countless methods he had heard of in the past thousand years, but none of them worked.
In desperation, he adopted a rogue cultivator as his son.
He was going to pass on the "Heavenly Sorrow Art" of the Gong family, which only men could practice, to that person, so that it would become the bloodline of his Gong family and let the branches take root in various places in the Eastern Region.
And this person was Gong Yimo.
Gong Yimo had good luck and excellent qualifications. In addition, like Gong Yue, he was a rogue cultivator. When he first saw Gong Yimo in the mountains, he saw his own shadow in him. He even regretted meeting him too late.
For this reason, he brought Gong Yimo back to Heavenly Sorrow City without hesitation and gave him whatever he wanted, just like a local emperor.
And Gong Yimo did not disappoint his expectations. In just twenty years, he cultivated from the Qi Refining stage to Nascent Soul and gained countless mysterious opportunities in the process.
The only thing was that Gong Yimo was too playful, which often made him worry about it. He felt that one day, his adopted son would be brought down by his own playfulness.
"..."
Gong Yue gently stroked his beard, and his gaze slowly moved eastwards as he looked out the window, landing on the Blood Prison Mansion on the edge of the city. Lost in thought, he murmured a name. "Liang Daliu..."
He recalled how "Liang Daliu" subdued that Sword Sect girl with just a few simple moves a few days ago. It was as if he had seen Gong Yimo for the first time, and he even felt exceptionally familiar with him.
Just like him back then, he was also a rogue cultivator, but he had already cultivated to the early Nascent Soul stage.
The strong demonic aura of Liang Daliu was probably a "demonic blood" that was very rare in a thousand years, and his spiritual roots were also top-notch heavenly spiritual roots.
Listening to Gong Yue's murmurs and seeing the slight delight on his face, Gong Tianchan frowned and asked, "Liang Daliu? Who is it?"
"A rogue cultivator who came to Heavenly Sorrow City to settle down."
"Another rogue cultivator..." Gong Tianchan immediately understood what her father meant, and she sneered. "Could it be that you want to take him into the Gong family as well?"
"Hehe..."
"Dad, in the current situation, with all these immortals in the Eastern Region, this rogue cultivator whose identity is unknown may be a spy..."
Gong Yue snorted coldly. "Heh, your father is not that stupid."
Knock knock—
At this time, there was a knock at the door.
Gong Yimo didn't wait for Gong Yue to respond and pushed the door open. Seeing his sister sitting at his adoptive father's feet in a disheveled state, he asked with a sneer, "Sister Gong is playing with Daddy again?"
Gong Tianchan smiled and asked back, "Why, brother also wants to play with sister? Then, go to sister's dwelling cave later..."
Gong Yue looked at them and saw that Gong Yimo was holding a jade slip in his hand, so he ignored his daughter and asked, "Yimo, what's the matter?"
"Ah..." Gong Yimo raised his eyebrows, smiled, and presented the jade slip. "According to the news, the leader of the Moon Shadow Sword Sect ordered general mobilization and summoned all the sect disciples as if he was preparing to march straight to Heavenly Sorrow City."
Gong Yue frowned slightly when he heard this. "What did you do?"
"I just sent the hair and identity badge of the Second Lady of the Sword Sect to the Seven Star Pass."
Gong Yue shook his head slightly and sighed. Although he didn't think much of it, he raised his hand, knocked Gong Yimo on the head, and reprimanded him. "Yimo, stop messing around."
"Dad, this is not a joke. When the Southern Region immortal sects broke through the Seven Star Pass, we suffered a big setback. If we take this opportunity to destroy the Moon Shadow Sword Sect, the Southern Region Immortal Family will…"
Gong Yimo stopped talking here, but Gong Yue understood his meaning. After thinking for a while, he simply acquiesced. "I am not afraid, but you should take it easy and don't risk your life."
"Yes, I know my limits."
Gong Yue nodded and turned to look in the direction of the Blood Prison Mansion. Before Gong Yimo left the room, he asked, "How is Liang Daliu?"
Gong Yimo paused, smiled, and cupped his hands. "Fellow cultivator Liang… he should be feeling very comfortable these days."
"...Comfortable?"
"Yes, it should be because he was homeless when he was a free cultivator. In the past seven days, he either went to the Red Pavilion to listen to music or messed around with the girl in the Blood Prison Mansion."
Gong Yue was stunned for a moment. "So, he is lustful?"
"Heh... Everyone has their own quirks..."
Gong Yimo cleared his throat and continued, "I heard from the servants of the Blood Prison Mansion that the Second Young Lady of the Sword Sect was almost driven crazy because of his torment. They heard the girl's screams almost every day these days, shouting something like 'I won't dare to do it again!! It hurts so much!!' and so on..."
"..."
Gong Yue was silent for a while. He had still been a little distrustful of "Liang Daliu". After all, as Gong Tianchan just said, in the current situation between immortals and demons, any Nascent Soul cultivator who came from outside had the possibility of being a 'spy' to a greater or lesser extent.
But after hearing that "Liang Daliu" had been torturing the Second Young Lady of the Sword Sect to the extreme, he was relieved immediately.
After all, she was the second daughter of the Sword Sect.
Yun Tianchong would not sacrifice one of his daughters just to send a spy in.
In addition, the bloody aura of "Liang Daliu" was not fake.
"Hmm..." Gong Yue stroked his beard, then looked at Gong Tianchan. He squatted down, grabbed her chin, and turned it left and right, observing carefully for a while. "Yimo, do you think he would be attracted to Tianchan?"
"I guess so?"
Gong Yue stood up and put his hands behind his back. "Yimo, Liang Daliu is not an ordinary rogue cultivator. If there is no problem, he will definitely be of great use. I want to take him into the Gong family and make him your brother, what do you think?"
"I think it's okay." Gong Yimo nodded. "I like him too."
"Then, you take Tianchan to him and test him again."
"Okay..." Gong Yimo nodded in agreement, then reached out to his sister and said, "Sister, let's go."
Gong Tianchan, who was kneeling on the ground, felt very aggrieved when she saw that her father wanted to throw her to an unknown rogue cultivator. However, she was helpless. With a sigh, she put her hand in Gong Yimo's hand and stood up.
After paying their respects to Gong Yue, the two left the pavilion together and flew toward the city on their swords.
… …
In the meantime.
In the Blood Prison Mansion at night, lights were on everywhere, and the corridor was silent. The maids and servants on duty were a little sleepy at this moment and yawned, leaning against the walls.
However, the next moment, a woman's scream came from the bedroom at the back of the mansion, startling many black crows huddling on the eaves that spread their wings and fled. "Aaah… No... No… Don't–!"
The servants of the Blood Prison Mansion instantly perked up, but because they were used to it, no one rushed to the dormitory to check the situation.
In the bedroom, Ye Anping stood beside the messy bed with a silver needle in his hand.
Yun Jiujiu, who had taken off her shirt, lay on the bed and hugged the pillow tightly, crying like a little girl. Tears fell from her chin onto the bed sheet, leaving a large wet spot on it.
"Sob... sob..."
Ye Anping gave an evil smirk as he took out another silver needle from the tray held by Feng Yu Die.
Whoosh—
With the sound of breaking through the air, it pierced Yun Jiujiu's smooth back.
"Ahhh— Woo hoo! Ahhh…"
Because of Yun Jiujiu's usual personality and cultivation method, her meridians were in a mess. Ye Anping had nothing to do these few days, so he let her experience the pain that he and his sister had experienced when they were shaping their meridians.
Feng Yu Die knew that Ye Anping did this for Yun Jiujiu's good. Seeing her bawling like this, she gloated. "Hehe..."
Yun Jiujiu turned around, glared at Feng Yu Die with her tearful swollen eyes, and scolded her. "No-bird!! What are you laughing at?! Come on... Ah ah ah ah—!!"
...Sometime later, the day's acupuncture session was finished. Yun Jiujiu trembled and crawled to the foot of the bed. She leaned against the corner with a pillow in her arms, looking at Feng Yu Die's gloating look with a stern face. The more she looked, the angrier she became. She scolded, "Brother-in-law, stab this No-bird with needles too!!"
Ye Anping, who was packing up the silver needles, looked at Feng Yu Die and shrugged. "She doesn't need acupuncture. She is not like you. You are reckless in your practice and your meridians are all tangled together. I have been untangling them for seven days and still can't untie them all."
Hearing that it would continue tomorrow, Yun Jiujiu suddenly collapsed.
She had never been treated like this before...
She had struggled a little in the past few days, but every time she tried to escape, Ye Anping could easily drag her back and press her down on the bed.
Her brother-in-law, who looked like a sissy, was no sissy at all...
"Brother-in-law..."
"What?"
"So what are you doing here?!"
"Help the immortals attack the city."
"But you either take this No-bird and the black-haired one to visit the Red Pavilion every day, or you come to torment me. These have nothing to do with taking down the city!"
Ye Anping looked at her, handed the clothes to Feng Yu Die, asked her to take them out to the maids in the mansion, and then sat back on the bed to explain. "Didn't I send your hair and badge to Seven Star Pass?"
"Oh..." Yun Jiujiu nodded weakly. "So what?"
"What do you think will happen when Patriarch Yun and Yiyi see the badge?"
Yun Jiujiu frowned and thought for a while. "Will they... think I've been caught?"
"Well, with Yiyi's personality, she will probably tell the disciples of the Sword Sect that you have died in the hands of the demonic cultivators."
"Eh?!"
Yun Jiujiu was surprised when she heard this, but after thinking about it carefully, she felt that it was really possible and fell silent.
"..."
"But it's not wrong," Ye Anping said with a shrug. "The Immortal Family knows very little about Heavenly Sorrow City now. Before finding out the situation in the Eastern Region, it is indeed the best choice not to advance rashly."
"..."
"But that's the problem." Ye Anping changed the subject and continued, "Since Patriarch Zu lost his cultivation, the Southern Region is no longer like the Western and Northern Region, where the Black Star Sect and the Cold Country can lead the various sects. It can be said that the Southern Region immortal sects are now in chaos."
Yun Jiujiu lowered her eyes and thought for a while, then said, "Isn't there still the Bright Star Sect?"
"The Bright Star Sect just lost their leader, and the remaining Elders will naturally choose the most prudent behavior."
"Then… then what about the group of baldies in the Awareness Sect!"
"Master Zhiming is not interested in worldly affairs. He can only sit in charge, but cannot unify thousands of immortal sects in the Southern Region like the Immortal Matriarch and Sun Juehu. Although the Awareness Sect is also an important sect, it is entirely supported by Master Zhiming, a Void Returning cultivator. There are only a few hundred cultivators in the sect."
"..."
Seeing that Yun Jiujiu had no more questions, Ye Anping breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "In addition, when you broke through the Seven Star Pass, you suffered many casualties. The morale of the Southern Region immortal cultivators must be quite low now, and morale can largely determine the war's outcome. This is why the Lord of Heavenly Sorrow City is not afraid of the Southern Region immortal sects."
Yun Jiujiu listened carefully to Ye Anping's words and felt her brain itching.
She had never thought about these things before. She always thought that if she met a demonic cultivator, she would just kill him, and if she couldn't beat him, she would just run away.
"Then according to you, the Southern Region is not..."
"Well, that's why I didn't send a letter to Yiyi, but only sent your hair and badge."
"What do you mean?"
"On the battlefield, soldiers will not be loyal to those strategists who stay in the rear to plan but will be loyal to the generals who rush to the front with them. The Southern Region needs someone who will break the deadlock."
Yun Jiujiu frowned and thought for a while, then shook her head. "I don't understand!"
"Your father." Ye Anping glanced at her. "Although Patriarch Yun's personality was a little rotten in the past, he is still Immortal Yun Jian's son, and he has inherited his recklessness. Jiujiu, you are only one-third of him."
"..."
"Although recklessness is not very good, reckless people do give a sense of affinity. Just like you, do your disciples of Sword Wine Peak regard you as their big sister?"
"Yes…"
"Similarly, the current Southern Region Immortal Family needs a "big brother" to lead the charge, and this person is your father. When others are still cautiously stagnant because they are worrying about this and that, a person who rushes out can break the deadlock.
"Your father will bring all the disciples of the sect to save you. If this is successful— the Sword Sect's victory against Heavenly Sorrow City will be like a boost for other Southern Region immortal sects. At that time, the Moon Shadow Sword Sect will become the backbone of the entire Southern Region."
Yun Jiujiu felt that her head was getting more and more numb. She raised her hand to rub her temples and asked, "What if the city is not taken?"
"Then, the Southern Region Immortal Family will disperse without a fight."
Yun Jiujiu raised her eyebrows. "Wow!!..."
"So, this is also one of the reasons why Sister Feng and I are here."
Ye Anping shrugged with a smile. "When the Sword Sect's troops are at the gates of the city, I will open the gates to let your father and the Elders inside. You can make as much trouble as you want at that time... But before that, you have to take care of your body first, understand?"
Yun Jiujiu nodded weakly, holding the pillow and lowering her head. Then, she looked at Ye Anping and the messy bed sheets and finally turned to Ye Anping.
–This person...
"Then..."
"What?"
"Brother-in-law, can you stop stabbing me..."
"No."
"..."
Yun Jiujiu spat angrily and simply threatened, "If you stab me again, I will go back and tell my sister!"
Ye Anping raised his hand and patted her head, saying jokingly, "Your sister will probably praise me for my good stabbing. "
Yun Jiujiu puffed up her cheeks like a little girl and protested. "...Woo--"
"Heh..."
Ye Anping smiled and prepared to go out to get Yun Jiujiu a basin of hot water so that she could take a bath.
Right at this moment, two little figures, one black and one golden, rushed in through the roof.
Xiao Tian and Xue'e had been Ye Anping's eyes these days and were ordered to watch the surroundings.
Seeing them come in, Ye Anping understood that something was going on.
"Ye Anping, that..."
Xiao Tian quickly took over and said, "...Gong Yimo is bringing a female demonic cultivator here."
Xue'e sneered at Xiao Tian who was trying to steal the credit, and added, "I just took a look at her storage bag. It seems to be the daughter of the City Lord."
"Ah... When did you see it?"
"What do you care?! Humph!"
Seeing that the two little ones seemed to be about to fight again, Ye Anping always felt like he had become the director of a kindergarten, and he sighed tiredly.
"Ah..."
Yun Jiujiu frowned. "What's wrong?"
"After seven days of visiting brothels and tossing you around, Gong Yue finally took the bait."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't worry about it. Just pretend to be a woman who is forced by me and is unwilling but helpless."
?
Yun Jiujiu frowned and asked, "Ah?! What the hell?"
"..."
Looking at her like this, Ye Anping was silent for a while, raised his hand, and grabbed the silver needles he had just packed.
Seeing the silver needles, Yun Jiujiu took a deep breath, hugged the pillow, and shrank to the foot of the bed, curled up in fear.
Ye Anping nodded. "Yes, just like this..."