Purple Dragon Domain, Ling Family.
In a beautiful side courtyard, Felix Ling—a high elder of the Ling Family—was playing a leisurely game of Go with his favorite concubine. As the clan’s External Affairs Elder, his authority was immense; all intelligence and assassin operations of the Ling Family were under his direct control.
A black-clothed youth hurried over, bowed to Felix Ling and his concubine, and then stood quietly to the side, looking every bit the wooden attendant.
"What is it?"
Felix Ling placed a Go stone and asked casually.
"Word just came in from below: we've found Ian Song's whereabouts!" the youth reported.
"Earth-Prime Hall is already destroyed, so he’s no longer of any use. Send the Assassin Hall to take care of him!"
Felix Ling spoke indifferently. Earlier, Levi Ling had died at Ian Song’s hands, yet Felix hadn’t sent anyone after Ian, mainly wanting to use him as bait to draw out the remaining Saint Alliance members.
But after Earth-Prime Hall was wiped out, Ian Song had escaped ahead of time. That left Felix Ling feeling a bit dissatisfied, so he’d ordered people to track Ian down, though he hadn’t paid it much mind.
"Yes, sir!"
The black-clothed youth bowed again and left.
Greenrock Town, Chu Estate.
Breaking through to Profound Immortal could take months, even a year. So Ian Song decided to take advantage of this peaceful stretch to relax and gather with his women—after all, they’d been cultivating hard lately too.
He arranged for the gathering to take place in one of the estate’s gardens.
For the occasion, Ian personally ordered plenty of ingredients and planned to do the grilling himself.
Besides his usual women, Ian also invited Faye Fang, Jasmine Jiang, and Lana Gale.
These three had cultivated even harder than the others; for months, they’d all but hidden away in their own courtyards, focused on bitter training. After decades of hardship since ascending to the Immortal World, they’d finally learned that without real strength, every step here was a struggle.
Now, Jasmine had reached mid-stage Earth Immortal, Faye stood at peak early-stage Earth Immortal, and Lana had just stepped into the Earth Immortal realm.
The grill was handcrafted by Ian himself.
Even the charcoal was made from a rare fragrant wood of the Immortal World; when used for grilling, it made the meat incredibly aromatic.
The main ingredients included immortal rabbit, immortal chicken, immortal fish, and a variety of immortal vegetables.
There were also all kinds of desserts and drinks—the pastries were prepared by Susie, Lily, Autumn, and Lena Wei.
In the garden, only a long rectangular table was set up, covered with desserts and drinks for everyone to help themselves.
To make the gathering more fun,
Ian also set up mahjong, poker, Three Kingdoms Kill, Chinese chess, and Go, so as soon as things began, the women split into teams and started playing.
"You’re really in high spirits today, Ian!"
Faye Fang arrived with Jasmine Jiang and Lana Gale, smiling as she saw the scene.
Ian laughed, "After becoming an Immortal, you get a long, leisurely life. If you don’t find some fun, it gets way too boring. Aunt Faye, Sister Lana, Junior Jasmine—make yourselves at home. I won’t fuss over you!"
"Sure, you do your thing, don’t worry about us!"
Faye replied with a smile.
Meanwhile, Lynne Ward, Lila Li, Diana Toba, and Hannah Han came over, pulling Faye’s group into their games.
At first, Jasmine and Lana were a bit stiff, but soon they got swept up in the simple joy of cards and board games, quickly relaxing and having fun.
"Brother, let us help you!"
Before long, Chloe Snow and Song Xue arrived together.
Maybe it was because both their names had the character 'Snow,' but the two girls were unusually close—always together, even sharing a bed. Perhaps they just understood each other's struggles.
Song Xue had confessed her feelings to Ian before ascending, but he’d always treated her as a little sister, which frustrated her. Later, she realized that Chloe also liked this 'cheap brother,' and that made them feel a kind of sympathy for each other. Over time, they grew closer and became best friends who shared everything.
"No need!"
Ian deftly flipped the skewers on the grill and said, "Today, I’ll be serving all of you. You just have to eat and be happy!"
Even though Ian said he didn’t need help, the two girls refused to leave. Chloe played the role of assistant, while Song Xue carried plates of finished skewers to the women.
"Wow! I didn’t expect Ian’s grilling skills to be so good!"
After tasting an immortal-fish skewer, Faye couldn’t help but praise it.
Hannah Han, Lillian Liu, and Coco Guan were playing Landlord together. Hannah glanced at Chloe and Song Xue hovering around Ian and whispered, "Those two girls have fallen for him; looks like the little sister will soon become a fellow wife."
Coco chuckled, "Anyone can see what’s going on—it’s just Ian who keeps treating them as little sisters!" She recalled the time she barged into Ian’s room to borrow the shower back at the old base.
Hannah snorted, "He’s such a playboy radish! Who knows how many girls he’ll end up ‘harming’ in the future!"
"Hey, that’s not really fair!"
Lillian said, "He’s just too outstanding—women find him irresistible. Even if he doesn’t actively pursue anyone, they flock to him like moths to a flame. Look at Muse and Winnie, aren’t they always scheming to climb into his bed?"
As she spoke, Lillian’s thoughts drifted to her daughter Jewel. With the way time flowed in the Doomsday World, her daughter had probably turned to dust long ago.
"I agree with Lillian!" Coco nodded in earnest, then glanced at Chloe and Song Xue beside Ian and suddenly had an idea. "Why don’t we help those two girls out?"
"How?"
Lillian asked.
Coco grinned, "Just get Ian and those two girls drunk and send them all to the same bed!" She quickly cast a spell to shield their conversation from eavesdroppers.
"No way! With Ian’s physique, it’s basically impossible to get him drunk!" Hannah protested.
Coco said, "Then let’s make him promise not to neutralize the alcohol!"
"Even if he doesn’t actively dispel the effects, it’ll still be hard to get him drunk!" Hannah remained skeptical, knowing Ian had never hidden his cultivation of Primordial Chaos Body from his closest women.
"If the three of us can’t get him drunk, we’ll recruit everyone!"
Coco suggested.
So Hannah, Coco, and Lillian put down their cards and began quietly canvassing the other women about the plan.
"No way, we want in too!"
Muse and Winnie had long wanted to climb into Ian’s bed, so as soon as they heard about the plan, they insisted on joining.
Since Ian had brought them home and the other women had accepted them, nobody objected when they wanted to join Chloe and Song Xue’s scheme.
Lynne Ward’s eyes sparkled mischievously as she looked at Rosie Ning and Bella Bai. "Do you two want to join in as well?"
Rosie instantly blushed bright red.
Bella, though, nodded calmly, perfectly willing to join.