Holy crap! Ryan Ling nearly coughed up blood.
For a long moment, Ryan's face was beet red. He kept his head down, not daring to look at Lily Liu.
Lily Liu also shyly lowered her head.
Ryan was racking his brain, ready to apologize first.
But Lily seemed to read his mind and cut in ahead: "Xiao Feng, I know you probably didn’t do it on purpose today, right?"
"No way, I’d never have dirty thoughts about my sis, let alone do something like that to you. So, Sis, I’m really sorry, I don’t even know what to say!" Ryan stammered, totally at a loss for words.
But seeing him like that, Lily couldn’t help but smile: "It’s fine, just think of it as a little game between brother and sister. No big deal, I won’t mind with my own little brother!"
"Sis, you’re really chill!" Ryan let out a sigh of relief.
But just as he relaxed, Lily suddenly grinned slyly: "But I can confirm one thing—you really do have a premature problem!"
"Huh?!" Ryan was totally blindsided by that and nearly fell straight to the floor.
"What, you still won’t admit it?" Lily said, pursing her lips into a smile.
"No way!" Ryan’s face turned bright red.
"Huh?" Lily suddenly grabbed Ryan.
"N-nothing, I just meant it’s mostly because you’re way too pretty, Sis!" Ryan muttered, speechless.
"I won’t argue with you about that—your big sis really isn’t bad looking. And..." Lily licked her lips, looking pretty satisfied.
Ryan was at a total loss. Seeing it was getting late, he quickly said, "Sis, it’s about time, maybe I should head out now so you can get some rest!"
"Sure!" Lily let Ryan off the hook, but then added, "You can leave tonight, but I have to tell you something. This medicine needs to be applied every seven days, so from now on, come see me every few days and I’ll do it for you!"
"Huh? So many times? How about you just give me the medicine and I’ll do it myself, Sis!" Ryan protested, sounding aggrieved.
"No way! When your sis gives an order, you obey. You have to come, or deal with the consequences, got it?" Lily shouted.
Ryan was totally defeated and quickly nodded. Only then did Lily finally let him go!
...
The night finally passed. That evening, Sophie Su and Angie Chen hit it off—those two had been close since childhood, so after arriving in Crouching Dragon Town together, they ditched Ryan and spent the night roaming the night market. When they got back, Sophie just crashed in Angie’s room.
Ryan went back to his own room and tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Lily Liu had clearly caught him and Angie in the act, but she hadn’t mentioned it at all—instead she’d randomly started treating his 'illness.'
What was Lily thinking? Did she want to eat him up too?
Ryan didn’t dare think any further—women are terrifying!
He figured he’d better hurry up and take Sophie’s virginity, then just live a normal married life with her!
He kept daydreaming all night, and only near dawn did he finally fall asleep. Who knows how long he slept—he ended up having a 'sweet dream.'
He actually dreamed he was sharing a bed with Angie Chen, Sophie Su, and Lily Liu!
Anyway, the dream just kept looping over and over, everyone piled up together!
"Get up! The sun’s already shining on your butt!" Suddenly, someone started yelling right in his ear.
Next came a flurry of loud slipper-smacks, and then—someone actually yanked off his blanket.
Ryan was about to lose it—he jolted up like he’d been electrocuted.
Three gorgeous girls stood in front of him, each dressed extra sexy—low-cut tops and mini skirts, just like in his dream. Ryan instantly started drooling.
"Beat him! Beat this pervy guy to death! How dare he peep at us three beauties! Get him!"
In a flash, all three girls jumped on the bed at once.
Ryan totally lost it—these weren’t just pretty girls, they were straight-up demons!
...
After all that chaos in the morning, the group hung out a bit more in Crouching Dragon Town, then hit the road again. Warren Yuan was blowing up Ryan’s phone, saying today was the grand ceremony for rejoining the Orthodox Unity Daoist Sect—WeChat, texts, the whole works.
Ryan had no choice but to pick up the pace. After leaving Crouching Dragon Town, they headed north, and in about two or three hours arrived at Dragonridge City.
Dragonridge City is a major hub in Jiangnorth. There’s a saying in Jiangdong: ‘South Wuzhou, North Dragonridge.’ That’s how important Dragonridge is—aside from the provincial capital, it’s basically the top city.
"Here we are—up ahead is Dragonridge City! Just look at how impressive it is!" Two hours later, the city’s gates appeared before them. Under two giant neon signs, three big gold characters blazed—‘Immortal Residence.’
"Wow, so pretty—Immortal Residence! Wait, is Dragonridge City really where immortals live?" Lily Liu was visiting Jiangnorth for the first time and was instantly curious.
"This place really is something special!" Sophie Su said, looking excited.
"Good question!" Angie Chen cleared her throat. "Dragonridge is totally different, and it really is an immortal’s residence. Besides Orthodox Unity Daoist Sect, there’s also the Taiyi Sect and Golden Sword Gate. Dragonridge is a huge hub for Daoist sects, and none of them are simple—monster hunting, spellcasting, rain summoning, some can even fly or disappear. It’s pretty wild. Azure Dragon Society’s so-called ‘immortal arts’ mostly come from here, so tagging along with Old Yuan to Orthodox Unity this time, we’ll see some real stuff!"
Angie was hyped, and Sophie and Lily were totally absorbed. Ryan just nodded—these so-called Daoist sects, to him, were just an offshoot of martial arts, not true Daoism yet.
Now, Ryan’s strength had already shot up to the second layer of the Purgatory Soul-Suppressing Art. Not only did this boost his power, it let him learn a bunch of real Daoist techniques.
The real essence of Daoism is cultivating immortality. That breaks down into five stages: Qi Refining, Foundation Building, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Lightning Tribulation. Once you pass Lightning Tribulation, you step into the path of immortals.
Right now, his power seemed strong, but he was still at the Qi Refining stage—not even Foundation Building yet. By Ryan’s reckoning, only by breaking through the Purple Realm grandmaster tier and reaching the rare Void Realm in martial arts would he truly enter Foundation Building.
So who in all Jiangdong Province is Void Realm?
Maybe there are, maybe there aren’t. Either way, those Orthodox Unity guys calling themselves immortal cultivators and treating Dragonridge as an immortal residence—it’s just a cheap imitation!
"Are you Mr. Ling?" As soon as Ryan stepped into Dragonridge territory, several people rushed over. They’d clearly been waiting a while, and each wore a badge with the Orthodox Unity Daoist Sect logo.
"Old Yuan really planned ahead—sent people to pick us up early!"
"We barely managed to make it here; he wouldn’t dare not send a ride. Hmph, he’s gotten gutsy!"
Sophie and Lily had known Warren Yuan for ages and instantly called out excitedly.
"I’m Ryan Ling. You guys are from Warren Yuan, right?" Ryan glanced at them—they all smiled in greeting, but he couldn’t shake a weird feeling, because behind their eyes, he sensed a hidden killing intent...