The girls who had come here had all been screened by the Su family. They were young, inexperienced in the world, delicate in appearance, and shared one common trait—their families were small, or they were completely alone. Even if something happened and trouble arose, the Su family had the ability to deal with it.

Except for one exception—Chao Xiaotu.

Lingyun was still beside her.

Seeing so many people around, Chao Xiaotu grew secretly anxious.

“Tell me, what exactly is Madam Zi doing? Where did she find so many people!”

Lingyun felt helpless, yet did not know how to answer.

Ever since Madam Zi returned to the residence a few days ago, Chao Xiaotu had never been able to enter the Su family again, nor had she seen Madam Zi. She neither knew what had happened to Su Liuyun, nor why Madam Zi’s attitude toward her had suddenly turned so cold.

Chao Xiaotu looked around restlessly, as if sitting on pins and needles. Suddenly, she looked toward a certain spot. “Who is that?!”

At that very moment, the Su family’s steward walked out from inside.

—The viewing was about to begin.

However, both Chao Jinsui and the demon beside her felt an intense gaze, fixed firmly in their direction.

Yan Xueyi looked over and recognized Chao Xiaotu.

He frowned. “She recognized you?”

Chao Jinsui’s heart also sank. The two of them subconsciously reached for their swords!

The steward was leading people closer and closer. If their identities were exposed at this moment, they would not be able to blend in.

Moreover, Madam Zi would surely become unprecedentedly vigilant! Next time, there would absolutely not be such a good opportunity again!

Not far away, Hongniang had quietly moved behind Chao Xiaotu as well, ready to drag her away the moment she made any move.

However, Chao Jinsui suddenly realized that Chao Xiaotu was not looking at her—

She seemed to be looking at Yan Xueyi.

A guess suddenly formed in her mind.

Chao Jinsui: ……

No way?

But she glanced around—

The girls here were all quite pretty, but the most outstanding one was Yan Xueyi.

Not only did his height not put him at any disadvantage, it made him even more eye-catching, like a poisonous and dangerous poppy flower.

Although his expression had been sour the whole time, it instead made him appear cold and dazzling.

Chao Xiaotu was wholeheartedly determined to become Madam Su.

She herself was delicate and good-looking, but compared to that demon, she fell short by quite a bit. So… Chao Xiaotu had taken the demon as her most formidable rival.

The corner of Chao Jinsui’s mouth twitched. She made a gesture toward Hongniang. Hongniang did not act rashly and stepped back.

She had no choice but to cover her expression by drinking tea—if she laughed out loud, that demon might fly into shame and anger and kill someone.

Sure enough, Chao Xiaotu walked toward them.

She began to chat: “I find this young lady unfamiliar, are you from Yuanyang City?”

—She was probing his background.

And although she asked about background, her eyes were fixed on his face.

The demon overlord: “……”

Chao Jinsui turned her back, afraid he would see her laughing.

The demon restrained himself, suppressing his irritation, and replied perfunctorily.

His voice was originally the low, pleasant type, but now, after disguise, it was not feminine. Instead, it carried an especially magnetic quality.

Sure enough, hearing the voice of that great beauty in red, Chao Xiaotu’s vigilance reached its peak!

But when she heard that he was merely a rogue cultivator, Chao Xiaotu let out a sigh of relief.

She still would not let the demon sovereign, who was about to explode, off the hook. She asked about his age and so on one by one, and the more she asked, the more relaxed her expression became.

These questions were far too obviously targeted—Chao Xiaotu might as well have had “probing the enemy’s situation” written across her face.

The demon gradually realized what Chao Xiaotu was thinking. His face turned green, then black—black, then green.

Yet Chao Xiaotu still felt it was not enough. She leaned closer and handed over a box of pastries:

“Miss Yan, I made some pastries myself. Come try them.”

Using the act of offering the pastries as cover, Chao Xiaotu quietly moved closer to that “Miss Yan.”

In the blink of an eye, Chao Xiaotu suddenly shoved—trying to push “Miss Yan” straight into the lake!

Chao Xiaotu was not stupid—this method might be simple, but the steward had already begun selecting people. If this “Miss Yan” were delayed even for a moment, or if her beauty were greatly diminished, then Chao Xiaotu would have gained an advantage!

Even if the steward questioned it, he would not dare trouble Chao Xiaotu.

She was feeling smug—

The next second, she felt her hands empty, and then she was kicked straight into the lake!

The beautiful great beauty in red lifted his skirt, his expression extremely ferocious.

—And that was with the demon holding back his strength. Otherwise, he could have kicked her from the west side of Yuanyang City straight to the east!

She would have flown through the air for half a shichen without stopping!

With such a loud “splash” here, of course the steward noticed the commotion and hurried over with the maidservants.

Chao Jinsui immediately stood up, pretending to restrain the demon, saying over and over—

“Miss, don’t be impulsive!”

“Miss, calm down!”

Miss: deadly glare.

Below, Chao Xiaotu had fallen into the lake. After quite a while, she was finally hauled out, a huge bump on her head, seeing stars.

Not only was she like a drenched chicken, she was choking on lake water and coughing nonstop.

Steward: “What are you all standing there for? Hurry down and take Miss Chao to change her clothes!”

The steward had just been about to deal with the other person involved, but when his gaze shifted and he noticed the face of the irritable beauty in red, his eyes lit up:

Too beautiful—Madam would definitely like her!

Madam Zi liked beautiful female shells.

But this time, none of the sixteen women satisfied Madam. Thinking of Madam Zi saying that if he failed again next time she would throw him underground, the steward shivered violently.

Now that he had seen a peerless beauty, he was instantly overjoyed!

Not only did the steward not question how the irritable beauty had kicked Chao Xiaotu into the lake, he instead said eagerly:

“Quick, quick, come—invite the young lady inside at once!”

Chao Jinsui: ???

Thus, they managed to slip in just like that—without danger, and almost suspiciously smoothly.

Their pass—

The Demon Sovereign’s beautiful face.

Seeing the demon’s face growing darker and darker, Chao Jinsui had to keep pulling him along the whole way. Otherwise, she had the feeling that the moment she let go, he would immediately start a massacre.

She was practically dragging “Miss Yan” along.

The maidservants led them to a courtyard and had just gone to find the key—

When they saw the great beauty Yan lift a foot, and the gate fell to the ground with a crash.

Maidservants: “……”

Although he was truly far too rude, for the sake of his face, the maidservants were extremely attentive to him. They pretended not to see anything—whether it was kicking down the door, or lifting his skirt and sitting on the narrow bridal bed in a bold, bandit-like posture. They said nothing, only silently closed the door behind them.

As soon as the door shut, Yan Xueyi leaned back, bent one leg, and tapped his fingers lightly on his knee. Looking at the sword cultivator standing by the open window, he said coolly, “Had your fill of the joke?”

She turned back, lying for the first time. “No, I really wasn’t laughing at you.”

“I didn’t mean it. If I’d known their attitude would be this tolerant, I wouldn’t have put you through this.”

He snorted coldly. She handed him a cup of wine. “Have a drink, calm down.”

His gaze suddenly fixed on the table.

—It was the hejin wine¹Hejin wine (合卺酒): ceremonial wine drunk by newlyweds during traditional wedding rites, symbolizing union and shared fate..

Twin red candles, a quilt embroidered with “many sons and grandsons,” and the “double happiness” character pasted on the window.

He took it and drank silently.

For a moment, it was very quiet.

She suddenly said to him: “Yan Xueyi, today I realized—demons are actually quite cute.”

Though her face was disguised by illusion, her eyes curved with a smile, and in the candlelight, there was an indescribable gentleness.

His movement paused. He drained the wine in one gulp, then shot her a vicious glare.

✦ ─ ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ ─ ✦

After quite a while, the window was tapped, and Hongniang flipped inside.

Hongniang had slipped in together with them. The steward’s entire attention had been on taking care of the beautiful “Miss Yan,” completely ignoring everyone else. When someone quietly disappeared midway, he did not pay it any mind, assuming they had already been taken away by the maidservants.

Hongniang’s sense of smell and sight far surpassed that of other demons. She could see extremely minute things and was very sensitive to auras. She vanished like a shadow, and by the time she returned, she had already secretly surveyed the entire Su residence inside and out.

“Your Excellency, I didn’t find the aura of the Gu King, nor did I discover anything unusual.”

The Su residence was very much like a maze—layer upon layer, vast in area. Everything inside the Su family was orderly, and on the surface it looked no different from other ordinary cultivation clans.

For the time being, it really was difficult to find anything abnormal.

“However, there’s one thing—the steward later called in a total of eight girls. Didn’t he say he would choose only one, and the rest could take their spirit stones and leave?”

“But I heard the steward tell each girl that she had been chosen, and that tonight they only needed to cover themselves with red bridal veils and wait for someone to come.”

They were now at the very outer edge of the Su residence. Here, more than ten courtyards stood in a row. Each chongxi bride had been arranged in a separate courtyard, none of them knowing they were not the only one selected.

As soon as Hongniang finished speaking, there came a knock at the door.

Sure enough—

Very soon, maidservants came in bringing peanuts, longans, spirit rice, and other items to spread across the bed. The steward also entered and attentively informed “Miss Yan” that she was the chongxi bride chosen for tonight. After speaking, he refilled the hejin wine—but very strangely—

The steward blew out the red candles and smiled. “Miss, just wait for tonight when your red bridal veil is lifted.”

Only then did he quietly close the door.

For a moment, the entire Su residence sank into an eerie stillness.

Chao Jinsui repeated, “Wait for tonight when the red bridal veil is lifted?”

Su Liuyun was already dead—who else could be the one lifting the bridal veil?

Of course, Madam Zi.

—Only, when the time came, what Madam Zi would lift would not be the “chongxi bride’s” red veil, but the bride’s skullcap.

Whether by luck or not, that overly fawning steward had probably arranged their courtyard first because “Miss Yan” was the most beautiful.

That way, when Madam Zi arrived at night, she would see the “surprise” first.

Good—this way, the other seven girls’ lives would be spared for now.

Originally, Madam Zi had hidden her fox tail very well. Hongniang had gone around outside and found nothing, which meant the Gu King must be hidden very deeply. They had been worrying about how to find it—

But now Madam Zi had delivered herself to their door.

Soon, night fell.

Hongniang stood up and hid within the shadows.

Chao Jinsui shrank the Kunlun Sword and concealed it in her sleeve, then patted the demon.

The demon finally shifted out of his bandit-like posture, extremely displeased with her attempt to place the bridal veil over his head. He shot her several irritated glares. Fortunately, it was late and there was no light here, so she did not insist. She sat beside him, holding her breath and listening to the movements outside.

When the very last trace of sound vanished, the entire Su residence slowly became like a silent tomb.

Only the sound of wind howling outside could be heard. Then, with a faint “creak,” the door opened.

Footnotes

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  Hejin wine (合卺酒): ceremonial wine drunk by newlyweds during traditional wedding rites, symbolizing union and shared fate.