It was as if the corner of an ice sculpture’s mouth had suddenly been sliced open. The sneer was simply so lifeless that it made people shiver uncontrollably.

  However, Mo Lian still leaned in to listen while gazing tenderly at this little one.

  The two subordinates couldn’t resist shivering again.

  They surmised that the crown prince consort wasn’t saying anything decent right now, but when solely looking at the crown prince’s expression, it was like…… it was like the crown prince was currently listening to the crown prince consort tender-heartedly confessing her feelings. The scene was quite bizarre.

  When they finished their discussion, the two people merely exchanged glances before rather cheerfully continuing with their meal, not bothering to humor their two subordinates’ bewildered moods.

  Qiao Mu soon wiped her small mouth. “I’m going to the garden in a bit to use the summoning talisman.”


  Ever since she summoned the weak chicken, it was no use no matter how she tried summoning again. She just couldn’t summon a ferocious beast, sigh!

  That’s why she suspected that the summoning talisman couldn’t allow one to summon limitless beasts!

  Perhaps, the limit was linked to her own talisman energy.

  For example, after summoning a weird, permanent Qingluan as a beginner-level talisman practitioner, it was possible that she had already reached her summoning limit for that level!

  Therefore, according to this reasoning, if someone else used the summoning talisman that she made to summon out a beast whose level was higher than her present intermediate talisman practitioner level, then perhaps that person wouldn’t get a chance to summon anything else, even if she gave that person a wad of summoning talismans.

  She had previously even naively daydreamed of summoning a horde of beasties, leading them to bulldoze enemy troops. However, from the looks of it now, that was purely a pipe dream!

  “It’s snowing heavily outside, Little Master,” Shaoyao couldn’t help speaking up.

  Yet Qiao Mu shook her head. “No harm, it’ll be quick.”


  “Although it’s snowing heavily outside, the scenery is rather nice. We’ll go together after we finish eating,” Mo Lian responded with a smile.

  The two people sat next to the small stove as they ate breakfast inside the Eastern Palace’s bedchamber.

  On the other end, Qiao Zhongheng, Xu Jiao, Granny Niu, and company had holed up inside a rundown temple for three days already.

  This situation was poles apart from what Xu Jiao had originally imagined. After all, he had thought that Qiao Zhongbang would definitely invite the Elderly Lady along with them and their families back to the marquis’s estate while begging and kneeling.

  It could even be said that Xu Jiao completely couldn’t comprehend why Qiao Zhongbang was so hardhearted this time.

  Granny Niu’s family huddled in front of the bonfire, their tattered lined jackets completely unable to block out the wind.

  Other than their group, a few other families were also staying in the other corners of this rundown temple.

  Because those families had come here earlier, they had long occupied the best spots inside the rundown temple.

  The spot that was left to Xu Jiao’s group was near the rundown temple’s entrance, and there was even a hole in the roof above them. The cold winds were whipping past with a swoosh outside while snow drifted over their heads. It was so cold that the group had frozen into popsicles.

  When they had first arrived at the rundown temple, Xu Jiao had previously had her husband stir up trouble in order to snatch a good spot to stay in.

  However, in the end, two of the families’ body cultivators who hailed from the same sect joined hands in beating up Qiao Zhongheng. The meddlesome couple instantly turned into scaredy cats, not daring to say anything else.

  Granny Niu was currently stirring a small pot of meager fare. Two leaves floated on the colorless surface, and the porridge was so diluted that it was almost like water. However, the group of people beside her still swallowed their saliva as they fixated on it with starry eyes.

  “Didn’t you say that your family’s Eldest Uncle was definitely going to come pick up that granny within two days? Why hasn’t there been a peep even until now? Did you leak the news that the granny is here to people in the marquis’s estate?” Granny Niu pursed her lips in disdain as she gave a sidelong glance to the whimpering Elderly Lady Qiao who was lying to the side.

  “Of course I did.” Xu Jiao was also so anxious that she suffered from excessive internal heat[1], causing a string of pimples to form at the corner of her mouth.

  Granny Niu gave a humph. Truthfully speaking, if it were not that she coveted the marquis’s estate’s great wealth and wanted to claim connections to the marquis’s estate through Xu Jiao, she couldn’t bear to dole out part of their food.

  ——


  [1] Concept in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Excessive internal heat usually results from anxiety or insufficient rest.