Lin Tian rubbed his ears in disbelief.
He even wondered if something was wrong with his hearing.
After rubbing his eyes and carefully confirming again that the woman before him looked, moved, and spoke exactly like a woman, he finally called out to Lin Mo,

“Uncle Mo, this is clearly a girl—are you sure it’s appropriate to call them over like that?”

Lin Mo smiled.

“Hm, you can always try for yourself, since you seem to like her.”

How could Lin Mo possibly be mistaken?
In his previous life, he’d seen countless people online—countless.
Especially back in university, when he once met a senior who loved cosplay and had a stunning face and figure.

To be honest, he really was a sucker for beauty.

Because that senior sister was so pretty, he hadn’t interacted with her much in private.
During that time, the two of them got along quite well.
Then one day, when the timing felt right, after watching a movie together, he went with her to a hotel—ready to “duo-queue.”
Who could’ve guessed that the senior would be hiding a a male root!
Fortunately, he was quick-witted and slipped away just in time.

Later he found out that the “senior sister” was actually a senior brother, and on top of that, a fake “yin-pill” practitioner of considerable fame.
From that day on, his instinct for identifying gender became unnervingly sharp.

Take the woman in front of him now—her looks, her figure, her voice, all flawless.
Even though she disguised herself deeply, Lin Mo could tell at a glance that she was concealing spiritual roots beneath her disguise.

“Ha-ha-ha—Gangzi, didn’t expect this kid could see through your identity with just one look!”
“Pfft, pfft—see? I told you he might not even be into you. You hadn’t even made a move and he’s already pushing you away!”

The older man and the younger man who had been walking with the “woman” both burst out laughing, clearly enjoying watching “her” make a fool of herself.

“Shorty ghost! If I don’t kill you two bastards today, I might as well drop dead myself!”

The pair exchanged glances, irritation flickering across their faces.

“And stop calling me Gangzi. My name now is Wang Li.”
“Oh? So your real name is Wang Gang?”

Wang Li frowned.

“Don’t mention that name — it brings bad luck.”

Lin Mo smiled faintly.

“Bad luck? I actually think that name suits you rather well.”

Standing off to the side, Lin Tian had more or less pieced together what was going on.

“Uncle Mo… he really is a man!”

He had originally thought he’d lucked out — that Uncle Mo was finding him a beautiful wife.
Now a chill crept through his heart, and his eyes toward Wang Li carried a trace of shock.
He was definitely not into the Dragon Yang sort of thing.

Wang Li shot him a venomous glare.

“I wasn’t looking at you, brat. Keep staring, and I’ll dig those eyeballs right out of your head.”

Then, turning back toward Lin Mo, her tone softened, tinged with grievance.

“Young Master, isn’t this a bit too cruel of you? I even spoke up on your behalf, gave you a way out — and you still push me toward someone else?”

Lin Mo looked at Wang Li’s dainty, feminine posture without a flicker of emotion.

“I think you’ve misunderstood something.”

She blinked in confusion.

“Misunderstood what?”

Lin Mo said evenly,

“You claim you’re leaving me a way out — but why do I feel like I’m the one leaving you a way out?”

To be honest, her attitude toward him wasn’t all that bad.

Leaving him alive was fine.
That was why he had earlier asked whether his good nephew, Lin Tian, needed a wife.

“Young Master, you do have quite the audacious tongue.”
Wang Li covered her mouth and laughed softly. “But I can’t say I dislike it.”

Lin Tian blinked and sighed under his breath.

“What a pity… such a good-looking face, and yet not a woman.”

Lin Mo shot him a look.

“What’s there to be afraid of? If the face suits your taste, isn’t that enough?”

Lin Tian practically exploded, staring at Lin Mo in disbelief.

“Uncle Mo, since when did you start joking like that?”

Lin Mo chuckled.

“One look at those hungry little eyes of yours and I already know what’s running through that head.”

As Lin Mo kept nudging him forward again and again, Wang Li finally couldn’t help but laugh.

“Young Master, the one I’ve taken a liking to… is you.”

Lin Tian raised a thumb at the side, full of admiration.

“Uncle Mo really is something — you can handle men, women, and even the neither-man-nor-woman type is right up your alley.”

Poor guy — he’d never had any luck with romance.
Even the young widows couldn’t be bothered with someone like him.

Wang Li shot him another vicious glare.

“Nothing good ever comes out of a dog’s mouth. I swear, I’d love to tear that mouth of yours wide open.”

Lin Tian shuddered and clapped both hands over his lips.
After all, the other party was a genuine cultivator of the Divine Transformation stage (化神期 / huà shén qī) — not someone a little weakling like him could afford to provoke.
He hurriedly ducked behind Lin Mo, feeling an instant surge of safety as he finally let out a long breath.

Lin Mo glanced back at him.

“What, using me as a shield now?”

“Uncle,” Lin Tian chuckled foolishly, “I’m just quietly protecting you from behind, cheering you on! I’ll always be your strongest backline. You charge forward — I’ll guard the rear.”

Lin Mo couldn’t be bothered with his nonsense.

Meanwhile, the two old men whom Wang Li had earlier called “shorty ghosts” were beginning to lose patience.

“Gangzi,” one of them said, “after all this useless chatter, it’s clear — this brat has no intention of handing over the spirit stones.”

“If you don’t step up with us, don’t blame us when we report to the main guild that you’ve failed your duties. Your position as hall master might just be replaced.”

Hearing that, Wang Li turned to Lin Mo again.

“You really don’t plan to hand over those spirit stones?”

Lin Mo countered mildly,

“And why should I give up the spirit stones I won?”

Wang Li tilted her head and scoffed,

“Good-looking face, bad brain. Can’t you read the situation?”

Lin Mo’s tone stayed as calm as a breeze.

“I can read it just fine. There are three of you at the Divine Transformation stage and over a dozen at the Soul Splitting stage right?”

“You really think you can take on all of us at once?”

Feigning concern, Wang Li tried again,

“You’ve heard the saying ‘spend money to avert disaster,’ haven’t you?”

Lin Mo drew out the Liuli Sword, a faint smile tugging at his lips.

“Since I’m perfectly capable of handling you, why would I pay to avert anything?”

He lifted the blade slightly, his voice still calm.

“In fact, you’d better start thinking about how much it’s worth to buy back your own lives.”

Seeing Lin Mo like this, Wang Li could only grit her teeth before coldly saying, “Alright.”

Facing the short demon and the old immortal, Wang Li instructed coolly,

“When you make your move later, don’t kill him—and whatever you do, don’t damage his face. Once this is done, your reward will be generous.”

The short demon asked,

“What about that little brat hiding behind him?”

Wang Li’s gaze slid toward Lin Tian, who was shrinking behind Lin Mo. Her eyes gleamed with a cold sneer.

“That one? I’ll personally beat him to death.”

Lin Tian let out a scornful laugh.

“Such a vicious woman—really can’t be kept around.”

In the next instant, the short demon and the old immortal attacked Lin Mo together, while Wang Li lunged straight for Lin Tian.
Their combined strikes came fast and fierce, but Lin Mo met them head-on without hesitation.

With a flick of his wrist, the Three-Thousand Sword Technique erupted.
Hundreds—thousands—of blades of sword qi burst forth like a torrential rain, sweeping toward them in an instant.

The short demon, the old immortal, and Wang Li all felt the ferocity of that sword qi, and none dared to relax as they desperately blocked the storm of blades.

At first, the trio had assumed that with Lin Mo releasing so many strands of sword qi at once, their power would be scattered—something they could easily deflect.

Reality proved otherwise.

They spent tremendous effort merely to parry the barrage.
But their underlings were not nearly as fortunate.

Each strand of sword qi carried the power to slay a cultivator of the Soul Splitting stage (分神期 / fēn shén qī).
Without powerful defensive methods, most Soul Splitting cultivators simply couldn’t withstand them.

In just moments, many of their subordinates were struck down, bleeding and crying out in pain.

Witnessing Lin Mo’s overwhelming might, the three finally realized that even together they might not stand a chance against him.

The eldest among them spoke in a grave tone:

“This sword cultivator can bring a Xuan-grade art like the Three-Thousand Sword Technique to such a level… his comprehension of the sword may not be any weaker than those old monsters from the Sword Sect.
More importantly, to unleash this many blades so effortlessly—his spiritual qi flow and reserves far surpass what any ordinary Divine Transformation stage (化神期 / huà shén qī) cultivator could manage.”

The short demon frowned.

“So what do we do? Keep fighting or not?”

The old immortal—nicknamed Old Undying—gave a cold sneer.

“If you’re looking to die, be my guest.”

There was good reason he’d earned that nickname—his sense for danger was razor-sharp, and what he felt now from Lin Mo made every instinct scream retreat.

It was almost certain: if the three of them had kept fighting Lin Mo,
they’d have had one chance in ten to live — and even that one wouldn’t have come from victory, but from fleeing afterward.

Better to slip away now, while their spiritual qi hadn’t yet run dry.

The next moment, Old Undying pulled out a talisman. With a flash of light, he vanished on the spot.

Guzi and Wang Li saw this and immediately followed suit, each drawing their own talisman and disappearing into thin air.

Lin Tian rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

“Uncle Mo, how did they all vanish?”

Lin Mo narrowed his eyes slightly. He recognized those talismans.

Back when he’d first led a team for training in Yunxi City, some local thugs had used the same kind of escape talismans after being beaten.

Even Nangong Xu — when he fled from the secret realm last time — had used one just like that.

All of those talismans came from an organization known as Nightclan.

From what those few had said earlier — that Wang Li was a hall master — Lin Mo could infer that these people were members of Nightclan.
That gambling den they’d been running… it was almost certainly under Nightclan’s management as well.

Even now, Lin Mo still hadn’t figured out exactly what sort of group Nightclan was — or who was pulling the strings behind it.

They ran gambling houses, and they ran human-trafficking rings.

Most importantly, when Chen Sheng came to make trouble at the Lin estate last time, he’d hired outside help — and they, too, had been people from Nightclan.

They even took on hired-thug jobs like mercenary muscle-for-hire — their reach extended absurdly far.

If such a group wasn’t plotting something big behind the scenes, Lin Mo wouldn’t believe it.

Since he couldn’t get a clear picture yet, there was only one thing to do —
catch one of them and ask.

Lin Mo focused on the faint trace of Wang Li’s lingering aura.

That talisman had spatial-jumping ability.
In the past, Lin Mo might not have been able to catch up, but now — by their own words — it was a spatial treasure of the Mo Yan clan.

He turned to Lin Tian beside him.

“You stay here.”

Lin Tian asked,

“Uncle Mo, what are you going to do? You’ve already beaten everyone off — aren’t we heading back?”

Lin Mo replied evenly,

“Just wait here. I’m going to bring your wife back.”

Lin Tian groaned.

“Uncle Mo, if you’re going to pick a wife for me, can’t you at least choose someone normal? Even a young widow would do!”

“Waaah… does standing next to Uncle Mo mean I’m doomed to never have a normal woman as a partner?”

Lin Mo shot him a sidelong glance.

“A young widow is ‘normal’?”

Lin Tian was about to say something, but Lin Mo had already vanished from the spot — all in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

In the next instant, Lin Mo returned, bringing Wang Li with him. He truly hadn’t expected that Lin Mo would actually possess a space-type magical implement.

Wang Li asked in puzzlement, “Young master, the three of us — why did you specifically choose to capture me?”

Lin Mo smiled slowly. “Because the other two were already killed by me.”
As he spoke, he tossed two storage rings to Lin Tian. “Keep the spoils from this fight for me.”

The moment she saw the two rings, Wang Li’s expression toward Lin Mo changed completely; even a trace of terror appeared in her eyes. Those were the two men’s storage rings — proving that Lin Mo hadn’t lied.

She really hadn’t expected that, in such a short time, Lin Mo could so easily kill the old undying one and the short demon.

She knew their strength all too well. Even if they weren’t as powerful as Lin Mo, they still had their own formidable tricks.

Seeing Wang Li glare at him, Lin Mo said, “You…” Then he added calmly, “I’ve left you a way out — I won’t let you die.”

Then he turned to Lin Tian and said, “Well? Aren’t you going to go down and comfort this young lady?”

Lin Tian, staring at Wang Li’s tear-filled, pitiful expression, actually felt a faint stirring in his heart.

To be honest, Wang Li was truly beautiful — his ideal type. Her skin was delicate and fair, with graceful brows and phoenix-like eyes, jade-smooth cheeks, and cherry-colored lips.

If Lin Mo hadn’t told him earlier, he really wouldn’t have been able to tell that Wang Li was…

Still, he was afraid. “Uncle Mo, he won’t…”

Lin Mo understood what Lin Tian meant. “Don’t worry, his spiritual power has been sealed by me.” At those words, a trace of wicked thought rose in Lin Tian’s heart.

With his spiritual power sealed, wouldn’t that let him do as he pleased? Although he felt embarrassed, thinking that way his gaze fell on the swell at Wang Li’s chest.

He normally hated frauds and phonies the most — so let me be the one to expose the root of this sham deception. Lin Tian gave a lecherous little smile and reached out his hand to probe that fake front. Wang Li froze in shock, for a moment forgetting to struggle.