For this trip to Zeyang Mansion, the Sect Leader, as a show of sincerity, had dispatched most of the disciples of Liuyun Peak, preparing over ten flying boats alone.
When Ye Ran gathered the disciples at the foot of the mountain, the Sect Leader’s youngest disciple, Xiao Yi, was already waiting for them.
The moment Ye Ran saw Xiao Yi, she understood why her master didn’t like him.
Xiao Yi exuded a shrewd, calculating air, and the smile on his face seemed somewhat hypocritical, making people feel particularly uncomfortable.
“Greetings, Junior Sister. I am Xiao Yi, the Sect Leader’s disciple. I hope you’ll look after me on the road.”
As Ye Ran approached, Xiao Yi snapped his folding fan shut and stepped forward with a smile to greet her.
Though his lips wore a smile, his eyes kept sizing Ye Ran up.
“You’re too kind, Senior Brother. You’re the one leading this expedition, so we’ll be relying on your care instead.”
Ye Ran responded politely in kind.
“It’s getting late. Shall we set off soon?”
Sensing Ye Ran’s distant attitude, Xiao Yi didn’t try to ingratiate himself further. Instead, he made a welcoming gesture toward her.
Ye Ran nodded slightly and without hesitation boarded the flying boat.
On the way there, Ye Ran had already learned that the purpose of this trip to Zeyang Mansion was to invite Immortal Venerable Gu Lin.
Thousands of years ago, before the various sects of the cultivation world were established, the cultivation world was governed by the Lu family, and Immortal Venerable Gu Lin was a distant relative of the Lus.
Later, the Lu family was annihilated, and their bloodline was nearly eradicated, with only a very few distant relatives surviving. As a relatively close distant relative of the Lu family, Immortal Venerable Gu Lin’s status rose accordingly, making him a highly respected immortal venerable.
For every major event in the cultivation world, he was almost always invited to lend his prestige.
However, Ye Ran also learned that before the sect competition even began, the Sect Leader had already sent disciples to invite Immortal Venerable Gu Lin.
But Gu Lin felt the Sect Leader lacked sincerity and refused to go to the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect. That’s why the Sect Leader sent his own disciple, along with most of Liuyun Peak’s disciples, to invite Gu Lin once more.
The key was to make a grand spectacle, ensuring that the entire cultivation world witnessed the scale.
The flying boats traveled for two to three hours and finally arrived at Zeyang Mansion just before sunset.
But when the boats landed outside the mansion, its main gates were tightly shut.
Xiao Yi, Ye Ran, and the disciples waited outside for a long time before a robed disciple pushed open the gate and walked out.
“We are disciples of the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect, here to invite Immortal Venerable Gu Lin to attend the sect competition. May I ask you to convey our request?”
As soon as the disciple appeared, Xiao Yi stepped forward with a smile.
But the disciple merely glanced at him, then raised his chin and adopted a haughty posture.
“It’s already late. My immortal venerable needs his rest. You’ll have to wait here. When he wishes to see you, he will summon you.”
Without waiting for Xiao Yi’s reaction, the disciple turned and re-entered the mansion.
As the gates closed again, Xiao Yi’s expression darkened noticeably. But when he turned to look at Ye Ran, he immediately suppressed his emotions and restored his smile.
“Immortal Venerable Gu Lin has always been like this. I apologize for making a spectacle in front of you, Junior Sister. Since the immortal venerable is resting, shall we set up camp here and rest for the night?”
“Whatever Senior Brother arranges.”
Ye Ran withdrew her gaze and nodded to Xiao Yi.
Immortal Venerable Gu Lin was clearly intent on intimidating the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect, so there was no choice but to wait.
Fortunately, the flying boats had resting cabins, so everyone returned to them to rest, awaiting Gu Lin’s audience the next day.
Back in her room, Ye Ran sat by the window, chin in hand, watching the sunset, but felt something was missing.
Only when she spotted the untouched plate of pastries on the table did she realize that the system had been unusually quiet today. Not only had it not stolen any pastries, but it also hadn’t been chattering away with her as usual.
Could it be that it did something guilty?
“Tongzi? Tongzi? Are you there?”
Ye Ran tried calling out to the system a few times but received no response. Instead, she heard a rustling sound coming from her storage pouch.
Normally, after she put the system into the storage pouch, it would return to the system space on its own.
Could it be that it hadn’t gone back this time?
Thinking of this, Ye Ran immediately opened the storage pouch. Sure enough, there was a furry figure inside.
The moment the pouch opened, the furry head lifted as well.
“Tongzi, why are you still inside the storage pouch?”
Ye Ran picked up the fat cat and pinched its cheeks.
Usually, the system would have already started nuzzling her palm by now, but this time, the fat cat remained motionless, its round eyes fixed on her.
This kind of scrutinizing gaze oddly reminded her of facing Lu Li.
Ye Ran shuddered slightly, then pulled the fat cat into her arms and rubbed its head.
“Tongzi, don’t look at me like that. You look too much like the big villain—it scares me.”
Big villain?
Lu Li’s eyes shifted slightly as he lifted his head to look at Ye Ran again.
His intuition told him that the “big villain” Ye Ran mentioned was him, but he didn’t understand why she called him that.
He could also tell that this large fat cat called the “system” was no ordinary creature. There seemed to be some hidden secret between it and Ye Ran.
That was why he hadn’t spoken a word from start to finish. He wanted to extract more useful information from Ye Ran’s mouth.
But to avoid raising suspicion, he mimicked a cat’s behavior, let out a meow at Ye Ran, and then rubbed his head against her palm.
“That’s more like it.”
The fur against her palm was still soft, and Ye Ran couldn’t resist petting him a few more times.
But soon, she stopped and lifted the fat cat to meet her gaze.
“Tongzi, why are you so quiet today? Be honest with me—did you do something guilty?”
“Meow~”
Lu Li didn’t dare speak recklessly and could only let out a coquettish meow.
But compared to an ordinary cat’s meow, this one sounded somewhat stiff.
Ye Ran’s expression turned skeptical as she stared at him intently, scrutinizing him.
Feeling her gaze sweep over him, Lu Li—rarely—felt a flicker of nervousness. His tail, hanging to one side, instinctively curled upward.
Ye Ran’s eyes landed on the fat cat’s tail, and then she revealed a knowing expression.
“Did you go sneaking food again, and now you can’t talk?”
“Meow~”
The guilt in the fat cat’s eyes vanished. He meowed at Ye Ran and then nodded.
“So that’s it.”
Ye Ran finally set the fat cat down, and Lu Li silently breathed a sigh of relief.
But the next moment, her hand was back on his head. “Tongzi, it’s been a while since your last bath. How about I give you one?”
Although her tone sounded perfectly normal, Lu Li still felt a sense of dread creeping over him.
He tried to escape, but Ye Ran was quicker, wrapping her arms around his body.
The moment she stood up, a wooden tub filled with steaming water appeared in the room.
To make his disguise more convincing, Lu Li had deliberately retained some of a cat’s natural instincts.
Now, faced with a tub full of water, he instinctively resisted—his fur fluffing up in alarm, making his already round body look even plumper, resembling a giant hedgehog.
But Ye Ran didn’t pause for a moment. She quickly reached the tub and dropped the fat cat straight into the water.
The moment its fur touched the water, the fat cat struggled violently.
Yet Ye Ran didn’t loosen her grip at all. Instead, she looked puzzled.
“Tongzi, you used to love baths the most. Why are you so against it now?”
No sooner had she said this than the cat in her hands went quiet. Still, its body remained tense, clearly showing it was still nervous.
Ye Ran chuckled to herself, pretending not to notice. Then she pulled out a brush. “Let me give you a good scrub.”
The brush had stiff bristles, and Ye Ran didn’t hold back. As the brush came down, Lu Li felt waves of pain across his body.
Though the pain was trivial to him, as Ye Ran increased the pressure, he unexpectedly felt a hint of unprecedented pleasure.
The fat cat’s body trembled, and as Ye Ran’s brush fell again, it even started to actively lean into the motion.
That caught Ye Ran off guard.
She had long realized this fat cat wasn’t the system—she just wanted to teach the imposter a lesson.
But it seemed he was actually enjoying it?
While Ye Ran was frozen in surprise, the fat cat actively nuzzled closer, sniffing near her nose.
The gesture felt oddly familiar, and for some reason, Ye Ran’s heart suddenly began to race with unease.
That unease made her lose interest in teasing the cat. She tossed the brush aside, quickly fetched a rope, and before the fat cat could react, bound its limbs tightly.
Soon, the cat was secured in the room in a spread-eagle position.
Ye Ran picked up a whip and lifted the cat’s chin with it.
“Talk! Who are you? Why are you impersonating my cat?”
Lu Li’s eyes flickered with surprise—he hadn’t expected Ye Ran to see through him so quickly.
But he hadn’t planned on hiding for long anyway. Now that she’d exposed him, he decided to drop the act.
Under Ye Ran’s watchful gaze, the fat cat’s body shimmered with white light and began to grow.
When the light faded, the whip in Ye Ran’s hand clattered to the floor, and her expression turned to shock.
“S-se… Senior Brother!”
Her voice trembled with fright.
Of all people, she never imagined that the one impersonating the system would be Lu Li!
She immediately began replaying every word she’d said just moments ago. Realizing she hadn’t let slip anything she shouldn’t have, her racing heart finally calmed down a bit.
But when she looked up at Lu Li again, her heart, which had just steadied, started pounding once more.
Lu Li was drenched from head to toe, his clothes in disarray, exposing a large swath of his chest marked with streaks from the brush.
To make matters worse, his limbs were still tied up by the ropes, with the fallen whip lying on the floor.
In an instant, the interrogation scene turned into something far more embarrassing.
And just then, Lu Li glanced at the ropes binding his limbs, then looked meaningfully at Ye Ran.
“So this is what Junior Sister had in mind when you gave me that rope the other day.”
That one sentence brought back a flood of humiliating memories for Ye Ran.
She stumbled back in panic, desperate to flee the scene.
But before she could turn around, several ropes shot toward her, cinching around her waist and tightening quickly.
Ye Ran’s body lurched forward uncontrollably—straight into Lu Li’s arms.
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