[T/n: note on chapter title]¹

Miss Hongxiu finally stopped pretending to be ignorant as she had just now.

Ji Yuan looked at the woman’s reaction. It seemed that she didn’t recognize him. He put down the book in his hand, and answered nonchalantly.

“I remember, it was back when I was dragged by the old dragon to attend his thousand-year-old birthday banquet. After the banquet, I went back alone in a small boat. Along the way, I encountered a large official’s ship; on it were the father and son of the Xiao family.”

Everyone in the room, including Hongxiu, listened attentively to Ji Yuan’s story. Wang Li felt as though he were listening to a myth. Although Zhang Rui didn’t know too much about world of the “elite cultivators,” just by hearing about the thousand-year-old birthday banquet, she knew it was something absolutely extraordinary. Regardless of whether they were a human, monster, ghost, or god, being able to live for a thousand years meant they were definitely an incredible being.

On the other hand, Miss Hongxiu didn’t show any special expressions on her face, but in her heart she felt even more intensely nervous.

Despite the superficial appearance of a red-sleeved woman simply adding fragrance² to a fancy room as she had just now, in truth the situation was not so calm.

What surprised Hongxiu was not only the fact that Ji Yuan had been dragged by the Old Dragon to attend his birthday banquet, but also that Ji Yuan knew about the Xiao family.

The former might have been a bluff, but the latter was likely true.

“Back then, I overheard the son of the Xiao family arguing with his father at the stern of the boat, all over a prostitute. The Hongxiu at that time should have been the true one, not you.”

At these words, Hongxiu slightly shifted her previous innocent and well-behaved appearance, and her temperament become a lot more lazy.

“Sir, how do you know that I was not Hongxiu at that time? You have never been to this performance boat before. Or could it be that you had been here and found some vulgar women to accompany you?”

After Hongxiu finished speaking, she added a teasing sentence.

Ji Yuan smiled and did not refute, but looked at her seriously and asked a question.

“Then, was it you at that time?”

The behavior of the person in front of her stunned Hongxiu for a moment. She wanted to tease and say “yes,” but looking at those calm eyes that seemed to see through her thoughts, she just frowned.

“No!”

“Ah, then it indeed wasn’t you.”

Ji Yuan nodded.

“Presumably the real Hongxiu has been hidden in a golden house³ by that Young Master Xiao.”

At the beginning, the son of the Xiao family had stated with great pride that he wanted to take the position of top scorer in the examination, but obviously he had not been very lucky — or rather, the group of candidates with outstanding talents had not been lucky, as they had run into Yin Zhaoxian, who was full of noble spirit and literary talent.

Judging from the situation of the Xiao family at the time, it is unlikely that the son of the Xiao family would actually marry Hongxiu. Not to mention, there was an imposter here, so the real Hongxiu would obviously not be allowed to be visible.

“Then, Lord Immortal, this could be considered helping lovers get married. Isn’t this a merit?”

Hongxiu, sitting in front of him, twirled a strand of hair and joked as though she did not take Ji Yuan seriously. However, in truth, from their encounter up until now, she already instinctively felt extreme danger with regards to this gentleman in front of her.

“Even if you helped them, what about you? Why did you stay on this Daxiu Ship? There are not many monsters like you in Dazhen.”

“I simply like this environment, is that so wrong? Even the God of the Sushui River doesn’t care about me. Why would you care, sir? If you were sure you could take me down, you wouldn’t be so friendly and talk so much nonsense with me.”

The verbal battle between both sides contained all kinds of temptations and insinuations.

In Ji Yuan’s eyes, waves of thin demonic energy created a strange image made of Qi around Hongxiu, in the vague shape of a white fox.

Ever since Hongxiu stopped pretending ignorance, the little bit of charm she leaked had made Wang Li to the size become dazed and stupid, just staring at her blankly. Meanwhile, Zhang Rui had already been alert and concentrated, so she had already noticed the extraordinary aspects of this monster. This made her feel even more depressed at her weakness, and she could only listen as Mr. Ji and this fox girl spoke.

Ji Yuan really couldn’t figure out the details of this fox creature, but in the end, she was only one individual.

One-on-one and at such a close distance, even the True Fire of Samadhi had a high chance of hitting the target, not to mention a slash of the Green Vine Sword. So Ji Yuan was really not afraid of this monster.

And at this moment, Hongxiu’s words just now gave Ji Yuan an opportunity to make his point.

“The God of Sushui River knows you are here, and doesn’t care about you?”

“Yes~!”

Hongxiu’s twirled her left index finger around the ends of her hair by the side of her face and leaned lazily on the table. She poured herself another cup of tea and looked at Ji Yuan out of the corner of her eyes.

“What are you going to do, summon the God of the Sushui River…”⁴

Just as she said this, Hongxiu happened to see Ji Yuan dip a finger into his teacup, then flick a drop with his fingers out the window.

“Plop…”

This drop of tea shot into the water through the cabin window, creating a special ripple.

“River God of the Sushui River, I request an audience!”

“Splash…”

On the water surface outside the performance boat, the tiny ripples grew bigger and bigger. In the span of just a few breaths, a huge black shadow faintly emerged from the water outside.

“Crash… Crash…”

A transparent column of water rose from the spot where the Spirit-Binding power had fallen outside the window. It twisted and flew into the elegant room, transforming into a figure made of rippling water, then quickly grew substance and turned solid.

The second half of Hongxiu’s sentence was stuck in her throat. She watched helplessly with a look of horror as a middle-aged man in a black robe appeared in the cabin.

‘No way… is this really the River God of the Sushui River? In other words… did he bind a god just now? ’

In Zhang Rui’s line of sight, she could clearly see a line of sweat oozing from the neck of the fox girl opposite her.

After taking in the current situation in the cabin, and especially after clearly noticing who was sitting at the table, the God of Sushui River was startled, and hurriedly bowed solemnly with cupped hands, folding in half until his back was level with the ground.

“Du Guangtong, the River God of the Sushui River, greets Mr. Ji!”

Although the Sushui was not that large of a river, it was still large enough to be worthy of a name. Plus, this was You Province, not too far from the Tongtian River. Thus, as Ji Yuan expected, this Water Lord knew him.

However, it was one thing to know what to expect, and quite another to answer accordingly. Thus, he asked a question, pretending to be puzzled.

“Oh? The Water Lord knows me?”

The river god lowered his hands and replied respectfully and solemnly.

“Sir, you are a close friend of the Dragon Lord. I was fortunate to have seen your face at the Dragon Lord’s birthday banquet.”

Ji Yuan looked at the river god and then at Hongxiu. The moment his eyes swept over her, he could see that her Qi was in chaos for a moment, before returning to a state of forced calm.

Ji Yuan nodded at the river god with a faint smile. However, in the next moment, Ji Yuan, who had been so friendly all night, suddenly grew stern, narrowing his eyes and shouting angrily.

“Du Guangtong, you are so bold! You dare to shelter foreign monsters and allow them to hide on the Sushui River. What is her purpose? And what is your purpose? I cannot understand it. Could it be that the Old Dragon asked you to do this?”

To have the audacity to call out the words “Old Dragon” meaningfully when they were less than a thousand miles away from the Tongtian River… Ji Yuan was perhaps the only one in the world who dared to do so.

When the River God Du Guangtong heard these words, his first reaction was panic, and his second reaction was grievance. Not long after he straightened up, he bowed once again, over and over in fear.

“Mr. Ji, I have been wronged! Mr. Ji! I definitely have never taken in any monsters from outside this country, and the Dragon Lord certainly has never issued me such an order. There are only some aquatic monsters practicing peacefully in my Sushui River. If you don’t believe me, I can summon them here immediately…”

Even Wang Li could see the panic in Du Guangtong’s expression and voice, not to mention the others. He felt as if a single word from Ji Yuan could take his life. He was so scared that he had gone beyond terrified.

Ji Yuan flipped a page of the book on the table, as if he had never stopped reading from beginning to end. The only difference since he had first arrived was that the book was now on the table, as opposed to being in his hand. At the same time, he spoke a single sentence softly, in the same indifferent tone as before.

“Miss Hongxiu, it seems that the River God of the Sushui River doesn’t know you. He doesn’t have the courage to lie to me.”

Hearing this, the River God realized that the monster in question was actually in the cabin. He turned around in anger, his eyes wide open, and stared at the woman.

Although Zhang Rui was still in the elegant room, the ghost body with a hint of divine aura definitely could not be the monster Mr. Ji mentioned. It was even more impossible for it to be Wang Li, as he could clearly see that he was a mortal. It could only be this woman, whose aura was difficult to see through.

‘It must be this damn monster that was slandering me! ’

The God of the Sushui River’s body had already filled with a faint monstrous energy and divine aura, and his expression was dark. The strong anger was almost visible to the naked eye. He did not dare get angry with Ji Yuan; he could say that he had a grudge against this woman, but since Mr. Ji did not speak, he could only stare blankly.

Hongxiu was unable to calm down at this moment. Even if she pretended, her performance would be unsteady. She did not dare to move too much, and slowly sat up straight. She was not brave enough to keep that lazy posture.

“Mr. Ji… this little girl… just made a little joke… Lord River God, please don’t blame me…”

Du Guangtong was obviously a water god, but his eyes seemed to be about to burst into fire. Even though she was not afraid of this river god, it really put a lot of pressure on Hongxiu.

“Well, since you are indeed a sentient being in this world, it is normal for you to have emotions and make jokes…”

Ji Yuan turned a page of the book again, glanced at Hongxiu, and continued.

“If Miss Hongxiu finds it interesting, you can continue to beat around the bush with me, as long as you have the patience.”

This statement was not so much a show of patience as a manifestation of strong self-confidence: no matter how hard she tried, she could never get out of this trap.

At this point, Ji Yuan seemed to have realized something. He bowed with cupped hands to the River God Du Guangtong, then stretched out his hand towards the cushion beside the table.

“I don’t blame River God Du, I can see that you have nothing to do with this girl. Please take a seat.”

Du Guangtong heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this, and hurriedly returned the bow and sat down.

“Thank you for your insight, Mr. Ji!”

Ji Yuan saw that Hongxiu didn’t say a word, so he looked at her again and asked a simple question.

“How long have you been here in Dazhen?”

“Two years.”

“You have been hidden on this Daxiu Ship to harm people?”

Hongxiu nervously looked at Ji Yuan.

“If I said no…would you believe me…”

Me right now: ok so I’ve spaced out my free time such that even though I’m very busy for the month of July I can still translate chapters on a regular schedu– *sees artfight character* MUST… DRAW…

If my uploads are spotty just know that I am obsessing over another sketch again. Sorry!

1. 位格就是这么提起来的 is a long as heck chapter title that roughly translates to “How the the idea of personhood came up,” or “that’s how the status was mentioned,” neither of which fully make sense in context, so I translated it to the nearest available meaning.
2. Could be literal, could also be metaphorical as in “adding interest/intrigue”
3. 金屋藏娇 (jīnwūcángjiāo): idiom meaning “a golden house to keep one’s mistress,” or “a magnificent house built for a beloved woman.” No exact translation, so I kept it as “golden house”
4. T/n: LOL don’t tempt fate and don’t tempt Ji Yuan

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read