The festival was loud, chaotic, and wonderfully vibrant.
They walked shoulder-to-shoulder through the packed streets. Yan Shuo bought her a stick of bright red candied haws, which she happily nibbled on by lifting her veil slightly, her eyes curving into happy crescents with every sweet bite.
They looked exactly like a wealthy mortal couple enjoying the spring festival. No one paid them any attention. No one sensed the dark, terrifying Nascent Soul foundation hiding beneath Yan Shuo’s relaxed posture, and absolutely no one realized the blushing girl eating candy was the Goddess of Slaughter.
Eventually, Yan Shuo guided them toward the center of the city.
The bustling market opened up into a massive, circular plaza paved with ancient blue stone. In the very center of the plaza stood the city’s namesake—a gargantuan, thousand-year-old plum blossom tree. Its massive branches stretched out like a canopy over the square, covered in millions of glowing pink petals.
"It’s beautiful," Tantai Zhi murmured, looking up at the falling petals.
"It is," Yan Shuo agreed. But his dark eyes weren’t looking at the flowers. He was looking at the massive, twisting roots digging into the stone.
Through his nascent soul senses, he could feel it. The tree wasn’t just a plant. It was a natural spiritual anchor. Deep beneath its roots lay the ’Dragon Tail’ leyline, surging with the pure, ancient Qi of the Central Continent.
Yan Shuo walked up to the massive trunk of the tree. He reached out and casually rested his palm flat against the rough bark.
"Zhi’er, stand close to me," Yan Shuo murmured softly.
He didn’t make a big show of it. He didn’t glow with dark light. He simply opened a microscopic channel in his meridians and activated the Heaven-Swallowing Abyssal Art.
A silent suction force flowed down his arm, passed through the tree, and plunged deep into the earth. It latched directly onto the golden leyline.
Yan Shuo didn’t just drain the energy; he injected a single, concentrated drop of his own pitch-black demonic Qi into the spiritual vein.
It was like a single drop of black ink staining clear water. The demonic Qi instantly latched onto the leyline, slowly beginning to rot the spiritual connection from the inside out. Within a week, this entire node would completely shatter, taking a massive chunk of Bai Chen’s grand array down with it.
"Hey! You there! Are you deaf?!"
A loud, incredibly obnoxious voice broke the peaceful atmosphere of the plaza.
Yan Shuo didn’t pull his hand away from the tree. He casually turned his head.
Marching toward them was a young man wearing the opulent, silver-trimmed blue robes of an inner sect disciple from the Righteous Alliance. He had a jade sword strapped to his waist and a deeply arrogant sneer on his face. Behind him stood four burly bodyguards, violently pushing the mortal festival-goers out of the way to clear a path.
"Take your dirty hands off the ancient plum tree, you country bumpkin!" the young master barked, pointing a finger directly at Yan Shuo’s nose. "My Senior Brother is arriving soon to view the blossoms! This entire plaza is being cleared! Get lost before I break your legs!"
The surrounding crowd instantly went dead silent, quickly scrambling away in fear of the Righteous Alliance uniforms.
Tantai Zhi stopped chewing her candied haws.
The soft, romantic pink aura around her vanished instantly. The air temperature in the plaza dropped. A microscopic thread of world-ending killing intent leaked from her golden eyes. She didn’t say a word, but her free hand slowly drifted toward the crimson sword hidden in her storage ring.
He pointed at Husband, her mind reasoned coldly. I will chop off his finger. Then his arm. Then his head.
Yan Shuo felt the terrifying spike of his wife’s Qi. Yan Shuo let out a quiet, helpless sigh.
He finally pulled his hand away from the corrupted tree trunk. He turned around, stepping smoothly in front of Tantai Zhi to block her line of sight, casually placing a hand over hers to stop her from drawing her sword.
"I am sorry, young master," Yan Shuo said. His voice was polite, mild, and completely calm. "My wife and I were just admiring the flowers. We didn’t mean to block your view."
The arrogant young master sneered, looking Yan Shuo up and down. Seeing Yan Shuo act so polite, he immediately assumed the boy was weak.
"Admiring the flowers? Trash like you doesn’t deserve to breathe the same spiritual air as us!" The young master stepped forward, his early Foundation Establishment aura flaring up as he reached out to violently shove Yan Shuo’s shoulder. "I said, get out of my sight!"
The moment the young master’s hand touched Yan Shuo’s white robe, Yan Shuo didn’t flinch.
He didn’t even blink.
He simply allowed a tiny, absolute fraction of his dark Nascent Soul gravity to manifest directly onto the young master’s chest.
BAM.
The arrogant disciple didn’t even have time to scream. The invisible, crushing weight hit him like a runaway spirit-bull. He was launched violently backward, flying thirty feet through the air before crashing heavily into a nearby wooden food stall, sending steaming buns flying everywhere.
He hit the ground in a crumpled heap, instantly knocked completely unconscious, foaming slightly at the mouth.
The four burly bodyguards froze, staring at their young master in absolute shock. They hadn’t seen Yan Shuo do anything. He hadn’t moved his arms. He hadn’t gathered Qi. The arrogant disciple had just touched him and instantly blasted off like a firework.
Yan Shuo slowly pulled a silver tael from his sleeve and flicked it onto the cobblestones.
"For the ruined buns," Yan Shuo called out to the terrified stall owner.
He turned back to Tantai Zhi, perfectly ignoring the groaning bodies and the stunned crowd. The heavy, terrifying aura vanished, replaced by his usual lazy, doting smile.
"The flowers here are getting a bit crowded, Zhi’er," Yan Shuo said smoothly, offering her his arm. "Shall we go look at the lantern stalls by the river? I saw a very pretty rabbit lantern that would suit you."
Tantai Zhi looked at the unconscious idiot in the rubble, then looked at her incredibly handsome, effortlessly powerful husband. The killing intent completely melted away, replaced by pure, starry-eyed worship.
"Yes, Husband," she smiled brightly beneath her veil, happily looping her arm through his. "I would love a rabbit lantern."
As the couple strolled casually out of the plaza, leaving behind a ruined food stall and a slowly rotting leyline, Yan Shuo smiled to himself.
One node down. Three more to go. Bai Chen’s nightmare had already begun.