The next day

Zi Tian was pushing Zi Yang in the direction the little girl was pointing. Her mouth was currently stuffed with candies, so naturally she couldn’t talk.

After a few minutes, they came to a ragged house with children running around outside of it.

Zi Tian looked at the kids and Zi Yang said with a smile “Girly, go get your Sister Heisha.” The little girl jumped off his lap and ran inside, dragging the kids with her as she said “Sister Heisha! A bad uncle gave me candies!”

Zi Yang’s smile froze and Zi Tian sighed, saying “Did you really think she wouldn’t sell you out? You even gave her 9 candies instead of 10 saying that one of them was bigger than the other ones…”

Zi Yang muttered “What do you mean? They were the same weight as 10 candies, it was a fair deal!” Zi Tian rubbed his forehead and felt a strong urge to push the wheelchair away…

A woman walked out of the house with the little girl smirking behind her leg.

Zi Yang looked at the woman, she was very slender with ragged clothes. Her body was skinny but plump in the right areas, her face had a few freckles and coarse hair, she was still quite pretty but not a jade beauty.

Zi Yang nodded in satisfaction, no jade beauties here.

This was a good sign!

The woman walked to Zi Yang and looked at Zi Tian, saying “What can I do for you?” she had a small smile and Zi Tian froze, pointing at Zi Yang. Sister Heisha froze and looked at Zi Yang, her lips twitching.

Zi Yang smiled and said “Hello, Miss Heisha. Maybe we could talk inside?” Heisha replied “S-Sure. Follow me.” she walked back into the house and Zi Tian pushed Zi Yang into the house, while all the kids stumbled inside.

Zi Yang was pushed to the table as Heisha poured him some water. He drank the water and smiled “So refreshing. You know, most people like to be fancy and serve tea.”

Heisha’s smile stiffened and she said “I can’t afford tea.” Zi Yang chuckled “Don’t worry. I hate Tea. Anyways, no need to be formal. I hate being formal, very suffocating. All these cultivators like to pretend they’re hot shit, it’s annoying.”

He paused and looked at Heisha, she looked at him strangely before clearing her throat, sitting down as she asked “Would you like to adopt Lin Xi?” Zi Yang had a big question mark over his head, Zi Tian said “Ohhh…”, and the little girl, who’s name was Lin Xi, dropped her candies, shouting “No! That’s a bad uncle! You can’t let me go with him, Sister Heisha!”

Heisha smiled and picked her up gently, poking her nose as she said with a smile “You can have a family, Xi’er. Isn’t that what you want?” Lin Xi looked torn.

Thankfully, Zi Yang coughed and said “You seem to be misunderstanding, Miss Heisha.”

Now Heisha was confused, she asked “Why did you come here then?” Zi Yang rubbed his hands together and answered “Well you see, I would like to take all the children…” he paused and looked around at the 21 heads before adding “Oh, as well as yourself.”

Zi Tian looked at his dad in shock, why does everything that comes out of this guy’s mouth sound so sinister?!

Heisha’s face turned cold and she stood up saying “If you want these children for nefarious intentions, you may leave!” Zi Yang held up his hand and looked at her, confused, asking “Why would I have nefarious intentions? I really want everyone here. All these children would be much better with me, plus you can only come along. The children are way too attached to you to leave you.”

He pursed his lips in confusion, adding “I’m asking you to come to join my Zi Clan.” Heisha looked at him coldly, saying “I only want these children to lead normal lives. The cultivation world is too cruel for them. As for myself, I’d rather die.”

Zi Yang scratched his chin and hummed to himself, replying “Heisha, let’s cut the shit.” he waved and demanded “Please sit down.” She frowned and he smiled “Now.” Zi Tian released a bit of pressure and Heisha looked at him before sitting down.

She looked at Zi Yang coldly, saying “Make it quick, Old man.” Zi Yang grinned and said “I like the fiery Heisha better.” she snorted and sneered, Zi Yang chuckled and his eyes lit up crazily as he said “Join me.”

She replied flatly “No.”

He clicked his tongue and tapped his finger on the table, commenting “This house seems to be very tattered, who knows when it’ll collapse…” he wiped the dust from the table and sneered “Surely you don’t feed the children on this table.”

He rubbed the dust between his fingers and looked at Heisha, continuing “I’ll make this very simple and clear for you, Heisha. This house is a huff and a puff away from collapse, you’re malnourished, the children are not prepared for winter, and I assume from your clothes that you simply don’t have the resources necessary to feed them or even provide them with a stable living space.”

He tilted his head and quipped “Stop me when I’m wrong.” before tapping on the table and continuing “That being said, you care for the children. Which is a good thing!” he slapped the table and it shattered as he leaned in close and added “However! This world is cruel in the first place. Which is why a beauty like you is out on the streets instead of in a comfy home.”

He wheeled himself closer and said to her cold face “I simply don’t care what you think is right. The facts are the facts, it’s the cold hard truth. You can’t support these kids and when winter comes, either you die or the kids die.”

He grinned and asked “Am I right? Miss. Heisha.”

She grinded her teeth and answered “So? What if you’re right? These are my children, I am responsible for them. I’m not going to let some creepy old man ruin them!” Zi Yang backed off and snickered with his hands to the side, replying “Who says I’ll ruin them? I will simply prepare them for the world. Educate them in all walks of life, if they choose to leave then they can leave whenever they want!”

He looked at the children and added “I don’t care if they leave before they’re ready. I don’t need cocky brats who think they’re better than others. I need good people, people I deem worthy… If they leave on their own and die, that’s just a misjudgement by me.”

He shrugged and turned back to Heisha, continuing “Fortunately for you and these children, I don’t foresee any bad eggs in this group. Humble, smart, crafty, eager to learn. If I catch a poor personality growing, I will simply crush it to pieces and rebuild the person they were meant to be.”

He smiled and asked “Surely, you don’t wish to see these children suffer for the rest of their lives? Do you think they will remember you when they get attacked by a cultivator, who thinks he’s on top of the world, forgetting he was once a weak and powerless cretin?”

Zi Yang waved his finger and sneered “I’ll tell you, they definitely will. They’ll remember that their dear ‘Sister Heisha’ didn’t let them cultivate. That’s why they died, because of you, not because you were protecting them but because they weren’t prepared for the real world and didn’t have the power to protect themselves.”

He patted a child’s head and the boy smiled happily, Zi Yang smiled at him and turned to Heisha, asking “This child smiles because he’s ignorant of the world. You can protect them now, but can you protect them forever?”

Heisha stayed silent and clenched her fists, glaring at Zi Yang as if he was her worst enemy. Zi Yang kept his smile, waiting for her answer, he was 80% confident she would agree.

The remaining 20% was because she was secretly a hot tamale with a fiery temper, he couldn’t accurately predict whether she would go up in flames, screaming at him, or become a docile flame he could control in the palm of his hand.

It was quite fun.

Zi Tian looked at his father in admiration, just like that he had completely cornered this woman. If Zi Tian was this woman, he could only agree! The pros were too high, the cons were basically non-existent.

From a factual point of view, going with Zi Yang was a no-brainer.

All these children would die in the winter unless Heisha sacrifices herself and sells her body to protect them.

With Zi Tian’s memories and years of experience, he could safely say he couldn’t have done as good as Zi Yang. He was smart, but Zi Yang was on another level, this guy had plans for his plans and plans for those plans!

He was simply a monster.

It was a shame he was such a shameless bastard.

Zi Tian thought that if his father’s plans didn’t work out, he could get a job as an emperor’s prime minister.

Heisha snorted and turned her head away, saying “Get out of my house.” Zi Yang blinked and looked at Heisha deeply before smiling and saying “Tian’er, let’s go.” Zi Tian was stunned and said “But Father-” Zi Yang said again “Tian’er.”

Zi Tian shut his mouth and pushed Zi Yang away, he reached the door and stoppe, turning his head to Heisha, saying “Have a good day, Miss Heisha.” Heisha waved her hand and bit her nails, ignoring him.

Zi Tian nodded and left the house, pushing Zi Yang away.

Lin Xi looked at Heisha and said “Sister Heisha?” Heisha snapped out of her daze and looked at Lin Xi with a gentle smile, replying “Yes?” Lin Xi put her finger in her mouth and said anxiously “Did Lin Xi do a bad thing?”

Heisha sighed and stroked her hair, shaking her head as she replied “No Xi’er… Maybe you saved all of us.” she sighed again and looked out the window, thinking about what Zi Yang said.

Down the street

Zi Tian asked “Dad, you just let her go like that?” Zi Yang chuckled and replied “You want me to force her to come? I pushed her into a corner before backing off and leaving a little string of yarn behind…” he grinned and added “Eventually the kitty will come to the source, at that time she won’t be able to escape.”

Zi Tian shook his head and Zi Yang snapped his fingers, saying “Oh yeah! I almost forgot! Tian’er, go leave her a Gold Coin for the table.” Zi Tian asked “Is that really necessary?” Zi Yang nodded and calculated “This is a checkmate move, son. Higher success rate but more time consumed… Though with her temper, it could cut the time significantly…”

He closed his hand and smiled freely “Without it, I would still have a 91% chance of success in getting them all, but with the checkmate I will have a 99% chance. The 1% naturally being if she spontaneously combusts.” Zi Tian sighed and stopped trying to figure out what his father was thinking as he turned around, going back to the house.

Zi Yang looked around in the street and saw a small shop. He wheeled over and went inside, looking at the wares.

Zi Yang was looking at the wares and a young woman walked up to him, smiling “Would you like to buy something, Patriarch Zi?” Zi Yang looked at the girl and smiled “Is your boss in today?”