Chapter 68: Chapter 68 - The Nascent Soul Auditor and the Master’s Wingman

The wooden roof of the dilapidated hut exploded inward.

Su Bai’s corporate survival instincts instantly overrode his shock.

Without a second of hesitation, Su Bai grabbed Ziyan by the waist and violently kicked off the floorboards, pulling her out as the figure slammed into the ground.

"Get out through the back door!" Su Bai barked. "Run into the woods. Go!"

Ziyan’s eyes widened in terror, but she obediently scrambled to her feet and darted out the back entrance.

Knowing he needed to draw the aggro away from her fragile infrastructure, Su Bai immediately activated his Frictionless Phantom Step. He glided rapidly to the opposite side of the ruined room, putting himself directly between the intruder and Ziyan’s escape route.

He looked at the attacker. It was an elegant, mature woman in dark violet robes. Her eyes were blazing with fury.

And then, she released her aura.

It wasn’t Foundation Establishment. It wasn’t even Golden Core.

It was a Nascent Soul Realm aura.

The air in the room instantly turned to solid lead. The sheer, overwhelming gravitational pressure of a Nascent Soul expert slammed onto Su Bai’s shoulders like a falling mountain.

’Absolute bankruptcy!’ Su Bai’s mind screamed as his body practically short-circuited under the pressure.

His knees violently buckled, slamming into the dirt. But even as he was being crushed, Su Bai refused to go down without filing a complaint. Gritting his teeth, he squeezed his Qi from his Dantian and flicked his wrist.

Three Yin Needles shot out. They were aimed directly at the woman’s pressure points.

The woman didn’t dodge. She didn’t even blink. The needles hit an invisible wall of Qi an inch from her face and froze completely in mid-air.

But as the woman looked at the hovering Yin Needles, the blinding fury on her face suddenly shifted. Her eyes widened slightly, and a spark of profound realization flashed across her features.

"Needles... Frictionless spatial steps..." she muttered.

Instantly, the suffocating Nascent Soul pressure vanished.

Su Bai collapsed forward. He gasped for air as if he had just been pulled from the bottom of the ocean. He looked up, completely bewildered. Why did she drop her hostility?

The older woman crossed her arms, then looked down at him with a calculating, almost amused smirk.

"Are you the ’demonic cultivator’ the Righteous Bureau is turning the region upside down for?" she asked.

Su Bai’s face instantly paled.

That micro-expression was all the confirmation the woman needed. Her smirk widened.

"Highly skilled," she noted approvingly. "To successfully slip right through a Golden Core elder’s fingers while only at the Foundation Establishment realm... Impressive. Tell me, kid, which sect are you from?"

Realizing she wasn’t an enemy and frankly, in no position to negotiate... Su Bai forced himself to his feet. He dusted off his robes and offered a respectful bow.

"Senior, this junior hails from the Radiant Sky Sect." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Hearing the name of the sect, the woman’s smirk vanished. Her elegant brows furrowed deeply.

"Radiant Sky..." she stepped closer. "Then tell me, how exactly are you related to that bastard, Su Qingshan?"

Su Bai froze. His mind raced. He had no idea if Su Qingshan owed this terrifying woman money, blood, or something worse. But staring into her piercing eyes, he knew lying to a Nascent Soul expert was a guaranteed death sentence.

He gulped. "He is... my biological father."

Total understanding washed over the woman’s face. She let out a sharp, disdainful scoff.

"Ha! No wonder," she spat, though there was a hint of amusement in her tone. "No wonder you are just as shamelessly flirty as he is."

Su Bai froze once more. A cold sweat broke out on his back.

’She saw it...’ She saw him lick Ziyan’s tears and deliver that incredibly cheesy line. For the first time since his reincarnation, the thick-skinned corporate slave felt a massive wave of genuine embarrassment flush his cheeks. It felt exactly like being caught by HR violating workplace fraternization policies.

Hoping to swiftly change the subject, Su Bai cleared his throat. "Senior, you seem protective of Ziyan. May I ask how you are related to her?"

"That is not a question for unrelated outsiders," she retorted sharply, though she gave a faint, elegant huff. "But... since you did successfully extract the poison and save her life, I suppose I must tell you. She might be the long-lost child of the Ancient Tang Clan. My niece."

Su Bai was speechless.

The Ancient Tang Clan. The undisputed, terrifying masters of poison and assassination. If Ziyan belonged to them, she was a high-value internal asset. There was absolutely no way he could recruit her as his personal EXP battery now.

His corporate brain spun rapidly. He looked for any possible leverage to maintain a good relationship with this terrifying faction. And then, he remembered a specific piece of lore.

"Senior," Su Bai started carefully. "My master seems to have deep ties to the Tang Clan. Do you possibly know the name... Lu Canghai?"

The moment that name left his lips, the terrifying Nascent Soul assassin completely froze.

Her lips parted. She closed them. She opened them again. For a brief, fleeting second, the cold, deadly assassin melted away, replaced by a look of incredible gentleness and deep, buried longing.

But she masked it instantly. Her face snapped back into a harsh glare.

"So that stubborn old fool is still alive?" she sneered, though her voice lacked any real killing intent. "And what in the heavens is that bastard teaching you to make you act so flirty with young girls? Is he on his deathbed yet?"

Su Bai instantly recognized the tone. Asking if he’s on his deathbed? That’s just ’How is he doing?’ translated into tsundere.

This was her. This was the harsh lady his master had helplessly pined for.

Deciding to play the ultimate wingman for his boss, Su Bai bowed respectfully.

"My master is doing quite well, Senior. Though... he often seems incredibly lonely. He once mentioned to me that the only woman he ever truly admired was a lady from the Tang Clan. He said she had a sharp mouth, but the kindest heart he had ever known. I apologize if I offended you in any way."

At those words, a faint, undeniable blush crept up the Senior’s neck. Her eyes softened for a bit.

But as a master of the Tang Clan, she refused to lose face in front of a junior. Her expression instantly turned razor-sharp again.

"Hmph!" she scoffed, then crossed her arms defensively. "That old fool is still thinking about foolish romance? He should stick to teaching his disciples! Back in his youth, Lu Canghai could face a Golden Core cultivator while he was only at Foundation Establishment! And you, his direct disciple, can only run away from one? That old man has clearly gotten rusty if he can’t even teach properly anymore!"

Su Bai desperately bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing. She was literally using her insult to Su Bai as a way to brag about how amazing Lu Canghai was in his youth. It was peak romance.

"You are absolutely right, Senior," Su Bai nodded solemnly. "I have brought shame to my master’s glorious legacy."

Just then, the back door creaked open.

Ziyan stepped back inside, accompanied by a younger, equally beautiful Tang Clan girl. Ziyan looked physically exhausted, but her eyes were wide and complicated. She had clearly heard everything... especially the part about her being a member of the Tang Clan.

When the older woman saw Ziyan, the sharp, deadly aura completely vanished. She looked at her niece with such profound, heartbreaking gentleness that Su Bai realized this fearsome assassin only ever showed her true softness to her kin.

After a moment of heavy silence, proper introductions were finally made.

The terrifying Aunt was Tang Yuyan. The younger girl was Tang Sisi.

"Senior Tang," Su Bai asked respectfully. "What is the situation regarding Ziyan?"

Tang Yuyan’s gaze hardened. "That is an internal matter of the Tang Clan. We cannot let outsiders pry into our clan’s affairs."

Su Bai fell silent. He knew better than to push a Nascent Soul executive on proprietary company secrets. He gave a single, understanding nod.

He then turned his gaze to Ziyan.

Across the ruined room, their eyes locked. Su Bai didn’t say anything cheesy this time. He just offered her a warm, incredibly reassuring nod, silently promising her that everything was going to be okay.

Ziyan’s breath hitched. A small, stiff, but wonderfully genuine smile broke across her ethereal face as she nodded back.

Standing between them, Tang Yuyan looked back and forth between her niece and Su Bai’s warm gaze. The Aunt furrowed her brows and her expression twisted into a highly complicated, fiercely overprotective scowl.

’Like father, like son, and like master, like disciple,’ Tang Yuyan thought bitterly. ’This entire lineage of men is nothing but trouble!’