Chapter 1: Parental Love (Part 1): That Annoying Thing That Bites

“Please, Immortal, save my child!”

On the second floor of the tavern, a shrill cry pierced the quiet, drawing all eyes.

At a table by the window, a man in coarse cloth knelt on the floor. His hands pressed against the ground as he kowtowed repeatedly. His forehead smashed against the floor with thudding sounds.

“My daughter is just seven years old—innocent, clever, obedient, and sensible. But an evil ghost has possessed her, and she lies bedridden. Neither medicine nor exorcism has worked. Now she looks like she’s not long for this world…”

He wiped the tears from the corner of his eye and cried out again. “…I didn’t mean to disturb your peace, but please, Immortal, save my child! If my little girl wakes up, I’ll be your ox or horse, serve you till death and beyond!”

The man’s face was young, but his hair was full of white strands. He must have been worn down by worry. To kneel and beg in front of everyone showed he was truly at the end of his rope.

Listening closely to his plea, it was all for his child. Such was the heart of parents everywhere—his desperate grief was enough to move anyone.

But the people in the tavern glanced up and saw whom he begged. They knew this man wouldn’t stir her heart.

Outside the window, a branch cast green shade, dropping a patch of shadow on the table. The woman sat by the window, her head turned to gaze at the spring scenery outside. The thumping kowtows and sobs were right beside her, but she turned a deaf ear, lightly sipping her tea.

She wore a fitted ice-blue dress, her brows heavy with frost and snow, her gaze pale and faint, her lips a thin pink. Her jet-black hair was pinned up with a gold-and-jade Crane-Gazing Orchid Step-Shake. On her back, she carried a light blue King’s Bow and a slender ancient sword.

She seemed to have just recovered from a serious illness—her skin was slightly pale, her waist too slender, her face lacking much flesh. Her thin eyelids gave her an unapproachable air. With her silent expression, she seemed all the more aloof and cold.

The man was a mortal and likely had no idea who she was, which was why he dared approach her. But among the other patrons in the tavern were rogue cultivators who had recognized the woman from the start.

Crane-Gazing Orchid, bow and sword, unsmiling and keeping strangers at bay—the traits were too obvious. She was none other than the infamous Hall Master of Azure Palace, the Yao’e Immortal whose name rang throughout the entire Cultivation World for her notoriously vile character: Mu Qian Tan.

She had risen to fame young, once shooting down a small demonic creature single-handedly. The feat shook the Immortal Realm and earned her a direct promotion to hall master. She belonged to the foremost of the Five Great Immortal Sects, Tianyu Sect. Any cultivator with ties to immortals had heard of her deeds and knew her temperament. All scorned and looked down on her, deeming her utterly lacking in immortal virtue.

Her loathsomeness ran deeper than some demons that ravaged the land.

She clearly had demon-exorcism techniques, strength, and courage to match. Her looks were fine, and she held a high position. So why was her reputation so poor?

This stemmed from several past incidents, but those would come later. The most unacceptable thing was that she despised mortals!

Other immortal ladies weren’t without arrogance, viewing immortals as superior and mortals as lowly. But even they put on a show. Yao’e Immortal didn’t even pretend. She was notoriously cold and heartless, aloof and superior.

Wanting her to lend a hand was less realistic than dreaming.

Blood trickled from a gash on the man’s forehead. Some onlookers couldn’t bear the sight, but none dared step forward, fearing the Yao’e Immortal would notice and toy with them instead.

Even if they grumbled inwardly, no one was foolish enough to clash head-on with the King’s Bow said to slay demons.

Dark red blood snaked across the floor. Despite the tragic sight, the woman gave no response. The man clung on like it was his last lifeline, stubbornly refusing to give up.

He thought he hadn’t shown enough sincerity to move the immortal, unaware that she had other plans in mind.

‘Insisting on following this plot?’ Mu Qian Tan closed her eyes and asked her heart one last time.

Deep in her chest cavity, on the slowly beating heart, several cracks ran abruptly across it, yet it hadn’t shattered. That was because a pitch-black hand gripped it, perfectly preventing it from falling apart.

‘Sticking completely to the original story minimizes errors.’ The black hand clutched the broken heart. A slit cracked open on its back, then opened into an eye that rolled around. She said, ‘Besides, this body’s pretty useless, but it has enough spiritual power. No need to worry.’

Mu Qian Tan said coldly, ‘Whoever acts and gets hurt is me. Of course you’re not worried.’

The black hand said, ‘Trust me—if I could cross over, I’d have done it already. Conditions aren’t met yet. Besides, if you’d listened to me from the start, you wouldn’t have gotten bitten. Hasn’t all that blood taught you a lesson? Just do the tasks obediently.’

Mu Qian Tan’s hand on her knee clenched. On her fair skin slanted a ring of teeth marks, deep enough to expose raw flesh. It was from when she had forcibly grabbed the female protagonist earlier, only to be bitten by that dog-like annoying thing.

She still harbored resentment but was too lazy to argue. Suddenly, she set down her cup with a faint clink. The tavern was already deathly silent; this sound made everyone freeze like cicadas in winter.

The tavern keeper had come up long ago and crouched behind the stairs, peering through the railing. Seeing the situation turn sour, he hurried over with an apologetic smile.

“Immortal, my apologies. I was busy downstairs and didn’t notice. This old guy’s disturbed you. I’ll drag him away right now and send up a couple of small dishes as compensation.”

The man refused to leave. His fingers clawed at the floor as his cries grew louder. The tavern keeper broke into a sweat, kept smiling, and gripped the man’s arm harder to haul him up and drag him stumbling downstairs.

From start to finish, the immortal never glanced their way.

At the doorway, the tavern keeper released him and panted with hands on hips. The man slumped on the threshold, eyes vacant, as if his soul had cried out of him.

Recalling that chilling immortal, the tavern keeper shivered and said sharply, “I wouldn’t dare say a second word to her after serving the food. Liu Ying, are you tired of living?”

“What can I do…” Liu Ying groped his way to sit on the threshold and murmured, “Xiao Ling’s almost gone. I really don’t know what to do…”

“I get you’re anxious, but… you can’t provoke her.” The tavern keeper squatted down, hands tucked in sleeves. After a long pause, he sighed. “If she got offended by your disturbance and decided to act, your life would be forfeit. If something happened to you, how would your wife survive after?”

Liu Ying wiped the blood from his forehead with his palm and calmed a bit. Hearing this, he paled with aftershock and asked puzzledly, “She’s an immortal—why would she take my life?”

The tavern keeper said, “Who said all cultivators are good people?”

Liu Ying fell silent.

Fearing he’d lose his head again and beg, the tavern keeper decided to explain the gravity. He glanced upstairs to confirm the immortal couldn’t hear, then spoke carefully.

“I’m not scaring you—you need to listen closely. This immortal has done much evil, and three incidents are the most widespread. They’re ‘Fire Burned Infant Spirit Manor with Grudges Soaring to the Sky’, ‘Copper Mound Town: Watched Kin Die Without Helping’, and ‘Demonic Slaughter at Mandarin Duck River: Betrayed Benefactor’.”

Though mortal, the tavern keeper ran an inn frequented by travelers from all over, so he heard plenty of strange tales. He’d pieced together a picture of Yao’e Immortal from snippets here and there.

Simply put, the first was when Yao’e Immortal was young and eager for demon-slaying merits. Ignoring lives, she burned a great demon and hundreds of infants alive in a fire sea.

The second: In Copper Mound Town, she watched a play while her bankrupt mother’s family knelt begging for aid. Otherwise, they’d all die. She tossed money at the stage for another song, ignoring her blood kin’s cries beside her.

The third: To save her own skin, she pushed her benefactor, Tianyu Sect’s senior sister Qin Shuang, into a demon’s maw, leaving no corpse behind and her soul scattered.

Each incident showed her insidious cruelty—utterly inhuman and conscienceless.

The tales were grim and terrifying, yet she still roamed free in the Immortal Realm without punishment or expulsion from Tianyu Sect. The rumors must mix truth and lies—not all believable.

But as a mere mortal, the tavern keeper couldn’t discern them. He spilled it all, hoping to scare the man straight.

“I used to take them as stories, forget them after hearing. After all, who could be that cold-blooded? But now… nothing seems impossible.” The tavern keeper shook his head and patted his knee.

He recalled not long ago when Yao’e Immortal entered and ordered food. Her ethereal aura left him dazed for a moment; he couldn’t link her to the vicious, cold figure in the tales.

So when he saw Liu Ying beg earlier, he hadn’t stopped it right away, holding a sliver of hope that the immortal beauty might help.

Sadly, reality slapped him awake.

Liu Ying clearly had no interest in hearing more and seemed to have given up completely. The tavern keeper sighed again, fished a copper coin from his sleeve, thought, added a piece of silver, and stuffed them into the man’s hand.

“Next time you buy grilled fish, it’s on me. Take this silver—even if it won’t buy medicine, get some snacks. No refusing; it’s for Xiao Ling.”

Liu Ying’s youngest daughter was Liu Ling, who loved his grilled fish since childhood and ordered it monthly. He knew the father and daughter well, exchanged greetings, and counted them as friends.

After Liu Ling fell ill, Liu Ying sought doctors everywhere, exhausting time, energy, and family savings to no avail.

Seeing his daughter worsen, he grew frantic, his hair turning white from worry. The tavern keeper took pity and asked a rogue cultivator patron to check. By chance, they found she wasn’t ill but possessed by an evil ghost.

The rogue cultivator wanted to help, but the ghost was too strong for ordinary cultivators. They needed a more powerful immortal.

No immortal sects were nearby. Hiring a notable one was pricey; Liu Ying couldn’t afford it even borrowing. Tianyu Sect, which helped for free, was too far.

Seeing Liu Ling waste away, his heart ached. To cheer her, he scraped together one copper coin for grilled fish. The kind-hearted tavern keeper accepted it and made the fish.

While waiting, he spotted Yao’e Immortal dining inside. In a haze of desperation for his bedridden daughter, he knelt and begged, leading to this scene.

Liu Ying clutched his forehead, gripped the silver tightly, eyes reddening. “You always help like this. I don’t know how to repay you.”

The tavern keeper said, “Xiao Ling’s clever and sweet—who wouldn’t like her? I can’t help exorcise the ghost, but buying snacks is the least I can do. Now that it’s come to this, just value your life. Don’t target that immortal again.”

Liu Ying said, “Even if she’s a killer at heart, if she’d save Xiao Ling, I’d gladly let her toy with my life. Stab me with a sword, shoot me with an arrow—whatever she wants.”

As he finished, a chill ran down both their backs.

The tavern keeper turned and saw the frosty woman approaching. Unsure if she’d heard, his legs went weak, cold sweat beading on his neck.

Mu Qian Tan reached them, lifted her skirt to step over the threshold, and glanced casually at them.

She had a pair of strikingly beautiful phoenix eyes that should have brimmed with charm. On her face, they held no tenderness or sparkle—just the bleak chill of winter gales.

The tavern keeper’s mind went numb with fear, but the icy immortal had already looked away. She tossed the meal money to him without a word and turned to leave.

Ignoring the complicated feelings of the two behind her, Mu Qian Tan walked on until she reached a small alley.

From afar came the sound of a clay basin shattering. Turning into the alley confirmed it: shards of pottery littered the ground. Amid them lay a girl tightly bound with ropes.

Her wavy long hair fanned out on the ground, black as satin—a beauty’s poise. But an Evil Ghost Mask clashed on her face. Seeing the newcomer, fury blazed in her eyes, nearly spitting fire.

Mu Qian Tan approached and looked down at her. “Thought about it? Know your mistake yet?”

“Woo woo woo!” With her mouth stuffed with cloth, the girl could only mumble furiously.

Her words were unclear, but definitely nothing good.

Mu Qian Tan found a clean spot to sit and rubbed her wrist, chuckling. “No manners toward your elder. No one to discipline you? I’ll do it.”

The girl struggled wildly, rolling side to side. Four large characters in red cinnabar on the mask’s forehead read “Greedy for Money”. Copper coins dangled at the eyeholes, shaking like fish scales with her thrashing, glinting in the sunlight.

The wound on the back of Mu Qian Tan’s hand had stopped bleeding, but the pain hadn’t lessened. She frowned, unsure how that annoying thing’s teeth were made—they bit viciously. She still clearly remembered the sensation of sharp teeth slicing skin.

Uncomfortable herself, she made sure the girl felt it too. She threatened, “Bite again, and I’ll pull every tooth.”

The girl suddenly twisted her body fiercely, trying to break free from the ropes. Her cries also grew much louder; it seemed she was truly furious beyond measure.

Mu Qian Tan paid it no mind and prepared to tie her up a little longer before proceeding with the plot.

At that moment, the Black Hand on her heart suddenly spoke: “Stop playing. Bullying her feels good right now, but your relationship with the Female Protagonist is getting worse and worse. How are you going to take her as your disciple later?”