Just like what Lory promised, she returned home after taking a stroll for a few hours, because Bei Li Yan went with her, Mong Yi didn't have any reason to stop her from playing a little bit more, after a while she finally felt tired and eventually went home. As soon as she's back, she went straight to her room and took a long hot bath before falling asleep on her comfy bed.

In the other room, Zhao Li Xin just got back from cultivating inside his ring. Suddenly, he noticed someone entered his room without knocking and his first thought was that it's probably his beloved princess, but when he heard the heavy footsteps and strong Qi imbued in each step, Zhao Li Xin could already guess who the person is.

​​

"Xin'er…" Tian Meng Ji approaches him.

Zhao Li Xin slowly opens his eyes, he stared at the old man in front of him indifferently. his cold greeting made Tian Meng Ji lament to himself, 'Why can't he have a cute and obedient disciple? Why is it only him who got a scary disciple like Zhao Li Xin and which master in this world fears their own disciple?! Nobody! Just him!'

"Xin'er, about Mei Yi…" He carefully asked.

"What about her?" he glares at his master.

Tian Meng Ji became nervous, "I heard you retracted your resource for her."

"Yes," he answered shortly.

"But why? She's just a little girl. She can't do this on her own, a mercenary is an ugly business, without your help, how could she survive?"

"Then she should have stayed at home and kept quiet!" Zhao Li Xin becomes impatient, since when did he need to be responsible on behalf of another woman other than his own precious princess? His disappointment to his master went up to another level.

"That's not what I mean," Tian Meng Ji knew he had irked Zhao Li Xin but he's reluctant to give up when he remembered the dejected face of Tang Mei Yi's master, he doesn't want Lu Yao to be sad.

"Mei Yi wants to raise her power so she can have a strong foothold in this continent, you can't blame her for having a good ambition," he defends Tang Mei Yi stubbornly.

"I blame her because she depends on my sect to fulfill her ambition!" Zhao Li Xin hissed, "If she has no ability then don't do anything that drags other people down! Am I her lackey or something?!"

"Xin'er, can you help her once, at least for me?" he pleads painstakingly.

"You know, if she had no connection with you, she had already died by now, just like Heavenly Jade Pavilion Sect." Zhao Li Xin hates it when people try to use him. Why is it that his master can't even understand that much?

Tian Meng Ji becomes angry, Tang Mei Yi is Lu Yao's only disciple, if something happened to her, how sad would Lu Yao be? Tian Meng Ji hit the table violently, "Zhao Li Xin! Your master only asked you a small favor! Can you be obedient for once or is it because of that woman that you started going against me?!"

Zhao Li Xin Qi suddenly released his Qi like a tornado, Tian Meng Ji was pushed strongly against the wall, the flame around Zhao Li Xin ignited and burned everything close to him except for Tian Meng Ji. Fortunately, Zhao Li Xin has already learned how to control his power, so Tian Meng Ji didn't get hurt too much, but he was still shaken to the core. He knew Zhao Li Xin would surpass him one day, but he never thought it could be this soon.

Zhao Li Xin rose from his bed, his eyes turned darker than the abyss while anger, disappointment, and hatred fill his eyes. He always ignores his master's biased towards Tang Mei Yi because he never needed his master's affection, but when that biased involved Lory, then that's a different matter.

"Whose master are you, mine or Tang Mei Yi?" he hissed in an icy voice, "What kind of master pushes his own disciple to yield for someone else's disciple? Or is it that your intention right from the start when you made me your disciple? Did you intend to make me Tang Mei Yi's foothold?!" Zhao Li Xin's expression became wicked, his eye glints with hatred and anger from betrayal.

Tian Meng Ji was stunned, he never saw this kind of hatred from Zhao Li Xin, or perhaps he's seen this before, a long time ago when he first saw him. That time, he also looked at him with the same eyes, it took months for Zhao Li Xin to start talking to him and it took years before Zhao Li Xin accepted him as his master but now he's looking at him with the same eyes again.

Zhao Li Xin flicked his robe, he walked towards the scorched door then halted his step, he glared at his master, "I should have never trusted you!" Zhao Li Xin left after he said his piece.

Tian Meng Ji stood there dumbfounded, he had hurt Zhao Li Xin so bad, this time his disciple might never forgive him ever again, his heart winced as remorse starts to engulf him but it's too late to regret, his disciple has left without giving him another glance.

__________________________

Somewhere in Sun Jan City, the One Hundred Herbs Apothecary's shopkeeper closed the shop after the sky turned dark, just like at the Jiang Wei Kingdom, the One Hundred Herb Apothecary is the most prestigious drugstore in the city, but what people don't know is that this place is a branch of White Dragon Palace, which meant that it is owned by Hei Shen Sect.

Jin Hao stayed in the store because he still has some business to do the next morning, but who could have thought that when he was leisurely drinking wine on his couch and enjoying gazing at the bright full moon, he was surprised by a crying old man who came up on the window.

Jin Hao eyebrows furrows, if there's anything uglier than a crying woman, it must be a crying old man. Just as he was contemplating on how to kick out the old man, Tian Meng Ji rudely grabbed the wine jar from the table and gulped the wine directly from the jar. As Jin Hao has a mysophobia, his eyebrows creased watching Tian Meng Ji's behavior.

The old man didn't realize Jin Hao's disgusted expression as he sits on the couch while gulping the whole jar with a sad face, "More!" he asked curtly.

Jin Hao opened the drawer in his room, took out four wine jars and put three on the table for Tian Meng Ji but kept one for himself, he elegantly poured the wine to his cup then sips his wine gracefully while sitting on the window frame.

He didn't bother asking why Tian Meng Ji came and why he's crying in his room, because one: he doesn't care, two: it's bothersome, three: back to one again.

Like Lord, like subordinate; both are so cold. Why don't Jin Hao asked him why he's crying? Can't he see his tears? "He hates me…" he suddenly started bawling.

Jin Hao pinch the bridge between his eyebrows, this is not what he wants to see tonight, and why is this old man crying so loud? Is he a three-year-old kid? He doesn't like kids!

"Milord is always angry at you, what's so unusual about it?" Jin Hao sigh, the relationship between Zhao Li Xin and Tian Meng Ji is sometimes reversed, Zhao Li Xin would act as the adult while Tian Meng Ji liked to act like a noisy youngster, that's why Zhao Li Xin would reprimand his own master for his childish behavior.

Jin Hao knows Zhao Li Xin for almost a decade, so he knew clearly how this master-disciple interact through the years.

"No, this time is different, he's really mad at me," Tian Meng Ji wiped his tears from the corner of his eyes, "I think he won't forgive me this time, what should I do?" then he starts bawling again.

Jin Hao eyes twitch, thinking what he should do to kick this old man out, "Are you pushing Tang Mei Yi to Milord again?"

"Yes…" he answered in a hoarse voice while sobbing continuously.

"Did you say bad things about his fiancée?" Jin Hao crossed his arms in front of his chest as he raised his eyebrows.

"Yes…" he nods.

Jin Hao then gave him a thumb down, "Then you're screwed, old man!" he mercilessly said.

His heartless words made Tian Meng Ji bawl even harder, he regrets coming to Jin Hao's place! He should have gone to Wu San Bo's place instead. At least he would be kind enough to exchange pleasantries compared to this cruel fox… but is it really what Jin Hao said? Is he really screwed this time?

"But I…. I just want the best for Xin'er." he stubbornly said.

Jin Hao scoffed, "Best my a*s!"

Tian Meng Ji wanted to flip the table, why are all his disciple's subordinate didn't know how to filter their words?! He's a respectable elder here! He cursed inwardly, but looking at his face right now, 'respect' wouldn't be something that would cross their mind.

"You match him with that Tang Mei Yi because she is Lu Yao's disciple," Jin Hao sneered at him, "Do you think we don't know that? You think our Lord didn't know that?" he ridiculed Tian Meng Ji.

The old man couldn't refute, his face becomes red but still insists that he did the right thing for his disciple, "But Mei Yi is a good girl. She's smart, beautiful, and talented, so why not match her with my disciple?"

Jin Hao smirked, "Milord already have enough smart, beautiful, and talented women around him," he shakes his head, Red Vermillion Palace is full of that kind of women. What a stupid argument this old man has.

"Even that crazy Xiang Feng Ran matched that description. She's even better than your beloved Mei Yi, at least he never used Milord's power to increased her value," if not because of Hei Shen's protection, can she make Fu Hua become like the way it is now in a short time?

Tian Meng Ji knew about that woman who's chasing his disciple. His disciple has too many women chasing him, but he never relented to any of them. Other than Tang Mei Yi, he was never civilized with other women, so he deluded himself into thinking that Zhao Li Xin might like Tang Mei Yi too. The idea of him and Lu Yao becoming family thrilled him, he realized he used his disciple to bound himself to Lu Yao beyond simple friendship.

"How about that woman? That fiancée… Isn't she just a waste who came from a low background? What so good about her?!" he refused to admit he did the wrong things.

Jin Hao's mind came back to the day when they were inside the ancient tomb, her mysterious knowledge, the white light that engulfed her, and her disappearance and reappearance from the place that not even Zhao Li Xin can enter… That Luo Ri Yi is full of mysteries, who she really is, does anyone know? Does Milord know?

Jin Hao sigh, "Does that matter?" he sits on the couch then leans back, "What matters is she gives my Lord something that none of us could give. She gives him comfort, she made him feel alive."

Jin Hao stares at Tian Meng Ji deeply, "Did you ever saw how Milord's expression when he's near her?"