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Chapter 180: Chapter 102: Auntie, Watch Out, I’m Making My Move

Zhao Ci smirked.

’No sale.’

’Who’s going to be your little puppy dog?’

’So what?’

’A few sweet words and you expect me to be at your beck and call?’

’You’ve got to offer something more tangible than that, right?’

’Anyway, I’ve already made my move.’

’Now you can be the one to stew on it.’

...

「Wangshu Palace.」

Gu Xiangzhu leaned against the window frame, gazing up at the moon. Her expression was as calm as still water, but the iron ball in her slender hand was being mindlessly kneaded into all sorts of shapes.

Her worst fear had come to pass.

That boy... he already harbored a certain reverence for her, a kind of infatuation.

It was just that in her haste to succeed, the measures she’d taken seemed to have had little effect.

’I already told him I was hideous. How does he still not know some restraint?’

A situation like this was, of course, ideal for taming him.

But he was falling for it a little too quickly.

If this kept up...

She was afraid she’d get dragged down with him.

Otherwise, it would surely provoke a backlash from Zhao Ci.

”This isn’t right!”

Gu Xiangzhu couldn’t help but frown. When she’d been sparring with Zhao Huan, she had at least been able to concoct a myth of eternal life to keep him in check.

Why was it that with Zhao Ci, she felt so powerless?

For her beliefs...

She didn’t actually mind giving up her body.

But her master had said that no woman could face the man who took her chastity and remain emotionally unaffected.

The same was true for men, though to a much lesser extent.

Therefore, if a Female Demon Cultivator wanted to advance, she had to preserve her state of mind. There were only two paths she could take.

Either...

...lifelong abstinence.

Or...

...cripple the one who disturbed her heart, then give her body to one man after another, using numb desire to suppress those naive emotional ripples.

The latter was a path Gu Xiangzhu was absolutely unwilling to take.

’Little one, you have to hold yourself back!’

’Otherwise, you’ll be the one to pay the price.’

...

「Before dawn the next day.」

The sky had not yet broken for dawn.

A certain Yang Clan apothecary was not yet open, but muffled, miserable groans could already be faintly heard from the back courtyard.

In the secret chamber, Yang Mo was bound to a pillar made of Profound Iron.

Cen Xiu poured a colorful medicinal liquid onto his wounds.

With every pour, Yang Mo screamed.

Cen Xiu’s face was a mask of heartache. ”Mo! You have to bear it! For your future, you must! When you hurt, Mother’s heart hurts too. This is a trial we are enduring together, mother and son!”

As she spoke, her hands never paused in their movements; she continued to skillfully pour the liquid.

Yang Fang frowned. ”What is there to feel sorry for? If he can’t even endure this bit of suffering, how will he ever stand above others? Stop spouting such nonsense. A kind mother only spoils her son!”

With that, he took out a glass bottle.

Inside the bottle, countless tiny insects writhed.

Seeing the bottle of insects, Yang Mo’s face filled with terror. He didn’t even dare to scream. His face went deathly pale as he begged, ”Father! Father! I’m begging you, don’t use the insects!”

”You don’t know shit!”

Yang Fang furiously rebuked him. ”It’s because of these insects that you grew from a piece of trash with less cultivation talent than a commoner into the Mansion Official you are today!”

Yang Mo’s voice was shrill. ”But they don’t work on me anymore, they really don’t!”

These insects were, in fact, considered a miraculous healing medicine.

They would eat all the rotten flesh from a wound, and their excrement had remarkable healing properties, even improving one’s constitution to a certain degree. But... as they gnawed on the dead flesh, they secreted a venom that stimulated the wound, causing excruciating pain.

It was simply not something an ordinary person could endure.

Yang Fang snorted coldly. ”Don’t work? Just because you say so? Your mother and I have spent our clan stipends and all the silver taels we’ve earned on you, and we haven’t complained. You’re just lying here taking medicine, what right do you have to complain? The Demon Monarch himself said, ’There are no mediocre people in this world, only those who don’t work hard enough and aren’t cruel enough to themselves!’”

Saying this, he unhurriedly scooped out a spoonful of the insects and smeared them onto Yang Mo’s wound.

The moment the insects’ bodies touched the medicinal liquid, it was as if they’d taken a stimulant, and they began to gnaw frantically.

Yang Mo’s voice grew even more shrill. ”AHH! Demon Monarch! Damn you to hell! DAMN YOU TO HELL!”

”SLAP!”

Yang Fang struck him across the face. ”Don’t make excuses for your cowardice!”

The slap landed.

There was no reaction.

He just kept on cursing.

After all, the sting of a slap was nothing compared to the agony of being devoured by countless insects.

Yang Fang didn’t try to stop him again, just continued smearing spoonful after spoonful of insects onto his wounds.

After a long, long time, the screaming subsided.

Only then did the couple take their son down.

Yang Mo lay on the floor, panting like a half-dead dog.

After another moment, Yang Fang crouched in front of him. ”Now do you think your father was right?”

”Yes!”

Yang Mo raised his head. ”Father and Mother are doing this for my own good. I was just being cowardly.”

Hearing this, Cen Xiu couldn’t help but wipe her tears. ”Our Mo is so understanding.”

Yang Fang smiled and nodded. ”It’s a good thing to be able to correct one’s mistakes. Today, you are to follow His Highness to earn points. You must go all out. Even if you can’t get many points, you must let His Highness see you fighting for your life.

Feng Kucha is the son of the Feng Family’s Patriarch. We can’t compare to him.

People like us, from the bottom of the clan, we simply can’t afford to lose!

Understand?”

”Yes!”

”The shop is about to open. Go bring the food over.”

”Yes!”

Yang Mo lowered his head, casually wiped the blood from his body, changed into a set of clothes, and hurried to the kitchen.

The nearby shops were all Yang Family properties, so a large kitchen had been set up, and a chef was hired to prepare meals for the Yang Family members. They didn’t need to cook for themselves.

Yang Mo got the meal for his family of three, placing each dish into a lunchbox one by one.

When he got to the dry-fried cauliflower, he took out a lead vial and poured out a pinch of powder.

This powder was something he had accidentally scraped off a piece of meteorite.

It glowed at night.

Ancient texts mentioned that this kind of glowing stone was no less harmful to the human body than a slow-acting poison. Once it accumulated in the body, there was no antidote.

But strangely, there was no record of this specific substance, and it couldn’t be detected by any of the Yang Family’s known poison-detection methods.

He sprinkled the powder over the dish and placed it in the lunchbox.

He calmly returned to his family’s apothecary.

He placed the dishes on the table, arranging them neatly, and respectfully waited for his parents to sit first.

Cen Xiu was pleasantly surprised to see the food. ”Oh, there’s cauliflower today? Honey, you have some more!”

Saying this, she put a piece in Yang Fang’s bowl with her chopsticks.

Then she took a piece for herself.

She didn’t get any for Yang Mo.

The whole family of three used to love cauliflower.

Then one day, Yang Mo suddenly stopped liking it.

No one knew why.

Perhaps children’s tastes just change as they grow up.

「Fifteen minutes later.」

The meal was finished.

Yang Mo helped his parents with the preparations to open the shop. Once everything was ready, he went out the main door.

He hadn’t expected that he would only take a few steps before seeing the carriage from the Tenth Prince’s Mansion approaching.

Zhao Ci stuck his head out. ”Lao Mo! Get in!”

”Coming!”

Yang Mo was pleasantly surprised. He jumped onto the carriage and sat down opposite Zhao Ci.

Zhao Ci sized him up and asked, ”How are your injuries?”

”They’re okay!”

Yang Mo grimaced. ’Those insects... they really aren’t effective on me anymore. They’re even less useful than common healing powder.’

It was just that his parents didn’t believe him. They insisted on using those cruel methods, which were becoming less and less effective. Even with no results, they firmly believed it would temper his will, a great aid on his future path to standing above all others.

Because the Demon Monarch had said: ’Suffering itself is a form of cultivation; only the mediocre fail to realize it.’

’Demon Monarch... damn you to hell!’

”Oh...”

Zhao Ci grunted in acknowledgment and closed his eyes, feigning sleep. He really hadn’t slept well last night. Zhu Li was also tucked into a corner, meditating. Neither had any desire to talk, focused on being fully prepared to crash the event.

The carriage rumbled forward.

Yang Mo suddenly asked, ”Zhao Ci, do you think mediocrity is a sin?”

”Mediocrity is a sin?”

Zhao Ci didn’t even open his eyes. ”Why would mediocrity be a sin? The way I see it, the ones who think mediocrity is a sin are the real sinners.”

Yang Mo nodded in deep agreement. ”I think so too!”

He glanced back.

That was his family’s apothecary.

His childhood dream had been to grow up, take over this apothecary, and even if he couldn’t master Alchemy, he could still be a person useful to the Yang Family.

But he didn’t know when it had started.

His dream had become... to become a powerful expert, in both cultivation and status.