61: Ling Qingzhu's confusion: Two Su Chens?

The farce at the Drunken Immortal Tower did not sweep through the Heavenly Capital like a storm.

It was more like an incurable plague, causing the entire sacred Imperial City to fall into a state of collective cognitive dissonance.

Countless shadow recording stones, sold at high prices, became the source of this plague.

In the footage, the man who used High-Grade Spirit Stones as a carpet just to eat a pig, and even summoned an army of Spirit Stones to treat Young Master Wang of the Northern Region like a ball, became an unforgettable demonic imprint in the minds of all Cultivators.

This caused the name "Su Chen" to once again top the charts of conversation in the Heavenly Capital.

However, people's impression of him had completely split in two.

One half was the deity from fifteen days ago, with a wicked gaze, an aura that could swallow mountains and rivers, and who treated space as if it were nothing.

The other half was today's absurd, inhumanly wealthy person whose eyes were fixed only on pork... a top-tier glutton.

This intense sense of fragmentation left countless experts with unstable Dao Hearts, making them wonder if something had gone wrong with their Cultivation.

Among them, the one whose Dao Heart trembled the most was none other than the Yaochi Saintess, Ling Qingzhu.

Inside a quiet tea pavilion.

This place directly faced the Drunken Immortal Tower, which was still steeped in golden Spiritual Qi.

Ling Qingzhu sat upright by the window.

Her delicate hand held a cup; she was completely unaware that the spiritual tea inside had long since gone cold.

In her world, sound had been stripped away.

Before her, a female Disciple of the Jade Pool, her expression excited yet mixed with a hint of strangeness, was bowing and reporting everything she had just discovered.

"...Your Highness Saintess, that's how it happened."

"That Divine Son of the Su Family didn't even spare a glance for Wang Teng from beginning to end, except for wanting to buy the pig. Afterwards... he just kept eating, as if nothing in the world could stop him from finishing his meal."

The female Disciple carefully chose her words.

"Moreover, the spies in the tower said that when His Highness the Divine Son first got off the Flying Boat, his hair was messy, his clothes were wrinkled, and he... looked a bit dazed."

Dazed?

This word was like a needle, piercing the calm that Ling Qingzhu maintained.

She slowly raised her eyes.

Deep within those clear eyes, there was no longer a cold pool, but two conflicting worlds clashing and tearing at each other.

One Su Chen was domineering, wicked, and played with people's hearts in the palm of his hand, causing her nineteen-year-old frozen Dao Heart to instantly collapse with just the word 'husband'.

He was a god or demon walking among mortals.

The other Su Chen was slovenly, lazy, spending millions just to satisfy his appetite, and even a bit... dazed.

Is this... a child who hasn't grown up yet?

No.

This is impossible!

How could a person present two such contradictory and subversive personas in just over ten days?

Illusions?

Was everything I saw at the auction that day fake?

As soon as this thought arose, she immediately extinguished it.

No! That imprint of her Divine Soul being completely manipulated and her Dao Heart trembling for him was so real—so real that her delicate body would subconsciously shudder just thinking about it now.

"Your Highness Saintess, do you think... His Highness the Divine Son might have Cultivated some kind of Great Clone Technique?"

The Elder of the Jade Pool behind her was equally perplexed.

"No."

Ling Qingzhu denied it almost instinctively.

In Ling Qingzhu's mind, a beam of light split the Chaos.

An incredibly bold yet perfectly reasonable thought took hold of her mind.

The dominance at the auction was a performance for outsiders.

It was a deterrent, a declaration... it was him standing up for her against Wang Teng's harassment.

And today's seemingly absurd version of him, spending a fortune just to eat, was the real him, having shed all disguises.

The lazy, narcissistic man from the diary, who was always thinking about eating, drinking, and having fun, perfectly overlapped with the image before her!

But this was definitely not simple pleasure-seeking!

A practitioner of the Great Dao who has truly seen through the vanities of the world often returns to their purest self.

Eating is the most primitive desire of living beings.

Using the most extravagant and absurd methods to practice the most primitive instinct—this in itself was a form of Cultivation!

He was using this behavior to mock the masses who were bound by fame, fortune, hatred, and cultivation levels.

People like Wang Teng, in his eyes, probably didn't even have the right to affect his appetite.

Today... he made such a grand scene today, he was even... testing me!

Ling Qingzhu's heart skipped a beat!

He knows I'm watching!

He deliberately showed a side completely opposite to the auction just to test whether I, Ling Qingzhu, could see through his absurd appearance to his core of 'the Great Dao is simple'!

Once this thought took root, it turned into a towering tree, supporting her crumbling worldview.

Exactly!

It must be so!

How could the man in the diary, who seemed like a salted fish but actually held the world in his hands, truly be just a glutton?

Every action he took and every word he spoke had a profound meaning that others could not fathom!

Having realized this, Ling Qingzhu's chaotic Dao Heart miraculously returned to a state of harmony and clarity.

The world before her suddenly opened up.

She stood up.

"Let's go."

Her tone returned to the coldness and decisiveness expected of the Yaochi Saintess.

"Where to, Your Highness Saintess?"

Ling Qingzhu's gaze once again turned toward that glittering golden restaurant, and her full red lips curled into an imperceptible arc.

"To meet him."

She was going to see him in person.

She would tell him with her actions, right to his face.

Su Chen.

Your disguise, your test... I, Ling Qingzhu, have seen through it.