554: Chapter 554 Slander and Rumors

The smile on the Golden Crow Holy Son's face still lingered at the corners of his mouth, but his heart had already exploded.

As the dignified Saint of a Ninth-Grade Holy Land, he had prepared ample gifts, suppressed his temper, and swallowed stale tea, only to be left hanging in the hall for half an hour, and ultimately waited for the host's single sentence: "Why are you still here?"

The muscles at the corners of Saint Son Yang Ritian's mouth twitched slightly, and that burst of anger churned back and forth within his chest, but in the end, he forcefully pressed it down.

He squeezed out a smile:

"I... naturally am still here."

After Saint Son Yang Ritian finished speaking, his mind spun rapidly, and then he realized something—with the other party's attitude, could it be that he resented him for not bringing a gift?

Once this thought arose, Saint Son Yang Ritian immediately took out a storage ring from his sleeve and handed it over with both hands:

"Visiting for the first time, I hastily prepared some meager gifts. I hope Young Master Liu will not disdain them."

Ling Hao took the storage ring and casually swept his Divine Sense inside.

High-Grade Spirit Stones, with a rough scan amounting to about one million, were piled into a small mountain of Spirit Stones.

In the corner sat several crimson-bodied jade boxes, sealing three Eighth-Grade Crimson Flame Dragon Scale Fruits inside, with scale patterns flowing across their skins;

Beside them was also a stalk of Nine Nether Profound Frost Grass, its entire body lustrous white as if soaked in frost and snow; although it was only a Ninth-Grade medicinal herb, it grew only in the gloomy depths of ten-thousand-year cold pools, having miraculous effects on Cultivators of Water-attribute Cultivation Techniques;

There was also a palm-sized Purple Lightning Thunder Pattern Stone, its texture as hard as profound iron, with its surface densely covered with hair-thin silver thunder patterns. It was an excellent material for refining Dao Artifact-level Thunder-attribute Magical Artifacts.

Ling Hao's eyebrows raised slightly, and he casually put the storage ring into his sleeve, praising:

"The Saint is thoughtful."

Saint Son Yang Ritian just relaxed a little in his heart, hurriedly put on that smile again, and cupped his fists:

"Yang indeed has nothing to do today. If it is not disturbing, sitting for a while longer is also fine."

Ling Hao picked up his teacup and took a sip, turned his head sideways, and called out toward the doorway:

"Xiaorou, see the Golden Crow Holy Son out."

Saint Son Yang Ritian's expression froze on his face.

Sitting there, he didn't react for a moment—he, a dignified Saint, had paid a visit, delivered gifts, and drank tea—bah, that wasn't even tea—yet before he had even spoken two sentences, he was going to be chased away?

He couldn't help opening his mouth, his tone carrying a trace of urgency:

"Young Master Liu... Yang has only just sat down for a short while..."

Ling Hao smiled all over his face:

"I am doing this out of consideration for the Saint. You should be very busy. The matters of the Dingding Ceremony, the matters of the secondary cauldron, every single thing is inescapable. Why waste time here with me?"

Saint Son Yang Ritian's heart tightened, and he hurriedly seized the topic:

"What Young Master Liu says is correct. Coming here today is actually precisely for the matter of the kan cauldron—"

"The kan cauldron?"

Ling Hao interrupted him with a casual expression,

"Oh, that cauldron. I put it in the back courtyard."

He paused, as if recalling something,

"Using it as a flowerpot is quite pretty; I had someone plant a few stalks of spirit orchids inside, and they are growing quite well."

Saint Son Yang Ritian's mind went buzz.

Although the kan cauldron did not have any direct combat efficacy, it could gather the Luck of a region. Although it was limited to Fusang Province, once outside Fusang Province, it would be greatly discounted.

However, its own Materials were not bad at all; at the very least, it could block the attacks of High Grade Dao Artifacts without shattering.

As the dignified Golden Crow Holy Son and heir to a Ninth-Grade Holy Land, even he couldn't bear to trample upon a cauldron at the level of a High Grade Dao Artifact in such a manner.

The corners of his mouth twitched,

"Young Master Liu really knows how to joke..."

"I am not joking."

Ling Hao put down his teacup, his tone bland, "If you came for the kan cauldron, then there is no need to bring it up again. I am quite satisfied with that cauldron and do not plan to part with it."

Saint Son Yang Ritian could no longer maintain his smile. His fists clenched tightly within his sleeves, his fingernails almost embedding into his palms.

If he won't give it, so be it; this kan cauldron was originally just an overt chess piece in the plan and wasn't strictly indispensable.

But the slighting in Young Master Liu's words, the casualness of treating him like a mere decoration, made him feel even more uncomfortable than a direct refusal.

Saint Son Yang Ritian took a deep breath, pressing the surging anger in his entire chest back down to his Dantian, and hung a decent, courteous expression back on his face.

He cast his gaze toward Zhu Xuanni's direction. That plain-colored figure sat quietly in the guest seat, not looking at him even once from beginning to end.

He stood up and extended a hand toward Zhu Xuanni's direction:

"Aunt Ni, we should go. Presumably Young Master Liu and the Saintess still have many things to discuss, so we won't disturb them."

Zhu Xuanni raised her eyes to look at him, then glanced at Ling Hao, and continued sitting in her original spot.

Now, what could determine her stay or departure was not herself, but that man in the master seat.

Ignoring him.

Saint Son Yang Ritian's extended hand hung suspended mid-air, neither withdrawing it nor keeping it still, like a withered branch snapped by the wind and yet caught on a tree tip.

Ling Hao put down his teacup and spoke leisurely:

"Miss Zhu, there is no rush for you to leave yet. I still have a few words of Dao to discuss with her."

Saint Son Yang Ritian sneered inwardly.

"Discussing the Dao? Who the hell would believe that."

He glanced at Zhu Xuanni, and then glanced at Ling Hao.

He realized that the situation had slid toward the worst possible ending—if he didn't do something more, he really would have to leave Aunt Ni here today.

Saint Son Yang Ritian gritted his teeth and suddenly opened his mouth:

"Young Master Liu is unaware."

"This Aunt Ni of mine appears cold and dignified on the surface, but in reality, her private life is dissolute and unbearable. Years ago, she had illicit relations with several Elders of the Golden Crow Holy Land, acting wildly and unrestrained between the sheets, not even sparing the odd-job workers of the outer sect. Later on, those Elders met violent deaths one after another. On the surface, they died at the hands of True Demons, but in reality, she feared her scandals would be exposed and silenced them."

He spoke faster and faster, as if afraid that if he stopped, he would regret it,

"What she cultivates is not the Righteous Path Cultivation Technique of the Golden Crow Holy Land, but an evil technique of extracting Yang to replenish Yin. Beneath her Daoist robe, everything hidden is disgraceful. Solely because she is my maternal aunt, I have had no choice but to cover for her until now. If Young Master Liu keeps her here, I am afraid that by tomorrow your cultivation will be impaired and your Origin Qi will suffer heavy damage."

Ling Hao wore a smile that was not quite a smile on his face,

"Oh? There is such a secret?"

"Indeed."

Saint Son Yang Ritian turned his back to Zhu Xuanni and sighed:

"Aunt Ni, don't blame me for speaking harshly. I am doing this for Young Master Liu's benefit, and also to leave a path of survival for you. If those wretched matters of yours get spread out, let alone the Golden Crow Holy Land not being able to accommodate you—the entire Fusang Province won't have a place for you to stand."