Chapter 124: Attending the Banquet

After figuring out how to use the Upper Vehicle Talisman in my hand, I bid farewell to Blind Liu and returned to my place.

I might end up in a direct conflict with Lu Jin tomorrow. A trace of restlessness lingered in my mind, a nagging feeling that I would run into other dangers besides him.

I didn't know yet that this was the natural resonance between a cultivator and heaven and earth, a subconscious sensing of hidden killing intent. Assuming I was just being overly paranoid, I brushed the feeling aside.

When dawn broke the next day, I didn't go anywhere. I stayed in my small shop to practice the Profound Truth Mental Method. Having been run ragged by everything over the past few days, I enjoyed a rare moment of peace.

As evening approached, I exhaled a final breath of impure air. "Time to head out."

I stood up and tucked the Heavenly Capital Thunder Talisman and the Paulownia Mulberry Talisman into my pants pockets. As for the Seven Astral Talisman and the Infant Night-Crying Talisman, I kept them tucked securely against my body, just in case.

"I won't hold it against you if you target me, but if you drag innocent people into this, don't blame me for exposing your ugly, hypocritical true colors to the world!" I lit a cigarette and glanced at the wall clock. It was ten minutes to seven.

"Bai Qi, let's go!"

...

Sitting in the car, Tie Ningxiang tugged self-consciously at her dress, trying to pull up the neckline. Her face was flushed like peach blossoms, tinged with a mix of shyness and embarrassment.

"Stop fidgeting! This dress only looks good when worn like this!" Mother Tie scolded from beside her, reaching over to yank the fabric back down. It exposed her daughter's flawless shoulders, as smooth and pale as top-tier Hetian jade. "You're well into your twenties. Just look at the clothes you usually buy. A woman needs to know her best features and learn how to show them off."

"I'm not a piece of merchandise," Tie Ningxiang said with a bitter smile. She had thought they were just attending an ordinary family dinner, so she had dressed casually. Only after arriving home did she find out her mother had already prepared a high-end, form-fitting dress, supposedly tailored by a famous designer.

Tie Ningxiang couldn't tell if it was fashionable, but the amount of exposed skin made her frown. The neckline barely contained her chest, leaving her shoulders completely bare, while the swaying hem of the skirt didn't even come close to her knees. Just looking at that precarious length made her blush.

"Maybe I should just go back. If any of my colleagues from the station see me dressed like this, how am I supposed to face them at work?"

"Work, work, work—that's all you ever think about! Are you the only police officer in all of Jiangcheng?" Mother Tie grabbed Tie Ningxiang's hands and held them in her lap. "A woman needs to value herself. I was against it when you applied to the police academy. How can a gorgeous young lady spend her days dealing with criminals? If it hadn't been for your deadbeat father, I never would have agreed."

"That was ages ago. Why bring it up now?"

"I let you have your way back then, so this time, you have to listen to me for once. Understand?" Mother Tie urged earnestly. "I'm doing this for your own good. He's an important man with a special status, and he asked for you by name. You absolutely cannot mess this up."

Hearing this, Tie Ningxiang finally understood what her mother was getting at. She let out a helpless sigh. "Fine, I'll listen to you. But only this once."

"Why the long face? It's not like we're forcing you on a dangerous mission," Deputy Bureau Chief Tie grumbled from the driver's seat, though a warm smile played on his lips. It had been a long time since he last saw his precious daughter, and catching a glimpse of her now, she seemed to have grown even more beautiful.

"Alright, that's enough out of you."

The car soon pulled up to Century New Garden. Shi Youfu, the security captain, jogged over from a distance. "Bureau Chief Tie, you've finally arrived! The VIP upstairs has been waiting for you."

"My apologies, we hit some traffic on the way," Deputy Bureau Chief Tie lied smoothly, naturally unwilling to admit that his daughter's wardrobe change had delayed them. "Take Ningxiang upstairs first. I'll go park the car."

Opening the door, Tie Ningxiang stepped out, revealing smooth, perfectly toned legs. Shi Youfu gulped hard at the sight and quickly turned his head away. But the woman seemed to possess a strange magnetism; his eyes were drawn to her like lodestones, his peripheral vision helplessly drifting back to her figure.

They say you can tell how truly beautiful a woman is just by looking at her in high heels.

Tie Ningxiang was wearing a pair of stark black heels. The eye-catching, mysterious black paired with the pale white skin of her exposed insteps created a striking contrast, making Shi Youfu instinctively clench his hands.

"Sexy... Too sexy!" he muttered, his head having snapped back around without him even realizing it. He stood frozen like a statue, holding the same posture for several seconds.

Years of rigorous training had kept Tie Ningxiang's figure absolutely perfect. Her skin was smooth and firm, hinting at an underlying, explosive strength—she looked healthy, mature, fiery, and irresistibly alluring.

Unaccustomed to wearing high heels, Tie Ningxiang felt incredibly awkward. She walked at a slow pace with a slight frown on her face, drawing endless stares as she approached the entrance of Century New Garden.

"Look at all these boys drooling over you, darling. Like I said, going to the police academy was such a waste! You could have done anything else and it would've been better than being a cop." Mother Tie made no move to offer her daughter an arm to lean on; her tone was nothing but smug pride.

"Drop it. Let me make this clear: I'm just here for dinner, and I'm leaving right after," Tie Ningxiang said, her brow furrowing. She despised events like this. The last time she was forced to attend Jiang Chen's wedding banquet, the only thing that had kept her from dying of boredom was running into me.

"Alright, alright, whatever you say. I just worry that once you meet him, you won't ever want to come home." Mother Tie gave a mysterious smile as she walked into Century New Garden beside her daughter.

The beauty departed, and the lingering young men gradually dispersed. Only a man in a baseball cap seemed unwilling to give up. Keeping his head down, he approached the entrance of Century New Garden.

"Hey, do you have an appointment?" Shi Youfu demanded, having just snapped out of his daze over Tie Ningxiang, only to spot this highly suspicious figure.

The man in the cap didn't answer. Instead, he reached into his pocket, pulled something out, and threw a friendly arm around Shi Youfu's shoulders as if they were old buddies. "Which floor did that woman go to?"

"What's wrong with you? Are you some kind of stalker? Get lost before I call the cops!" Shi Youfu snapped, puffing his chest out. But the moment the words left his mouth, he caught sight of what the man was holding in his palm.

A pitch-black eyeball. It looked like a cat's eye, only much, much larger.

A sudden chill washed over him. Before he even had time to feel fear, something slithered out from within the eyeball and rapidly burrowed into his body.

"I'll ask you one more time. Which floor did that woman go to?"

It was as if black ink had been dripped into Shi Youfu's eyes. His pupils dilated wildly. "Sixth floor, VIP Room 061."

The man propped up the stumbling, drunk-like Shi Youfu and walked him into Century New Garden. The other patrolmen found the sight a bit strange, but whenever they passed by, Shi Youfu would proactively greet them. His movements were a bit stiff, but it was undoubtedly him, so they thought nothing of it.

It wasn't until Shi Youfu entered the lobby that a passing child tugged on her mother's sleeve. "Mommy, that fat uncle had two shadows on him. One was fat, and one was skinny."

"Stop letting your imagination run wild! Instead of making things up, you should spend that time memorizing a few more vocabulary words!"

...

They pushed open the door to the VIP room on the sixth floor. Unlike the gaudy, gold-plated opulence of the other rooms, this one was decorated with impeccable taste. It lacked the tacky extravagance of nouveau riche money, favoring an understated, elegant design that immediately put its occupants at ease.

"Ningxiang, hurry up and come in! Mr. Lu has been waiting for you," Mother Tie called out from the front. She smiled as brightly as a blooming flower when she saw Lu Jin in his suit.

To be fair, Lu Jin was naturally handsome, with a face as flawless as polished jade. Combined with the refined aura he had cultivated from years of reciting Daoist scriptures, he possessed a striking, heroic bearing. Swapping out his Daoist robes for a sharp suit only gave him a completely different, yet equally captivating, kind of charm.

It was no wonder Mother Tie was so thrilled. Handsome, rich, and backed by a powerful background—who wouldn't want a golden bachelor like him for a son-in-law?

Seeing Mother Tie fawn over him, a flash of disdain crossed Lu Jin's eyes. 'Just a mortal who has never seen the real world,' he thought coldly. 'Once I've had my way with your daughter and finished getting my revenge on Gao Jian...'

But his dark thoughts vanished the moment Tie Ningxiang stepped through the door. His eyes locked onto the breathtakingly graceful woman, leaving room for nothing else.

Standing up involuntarily, Lu Jin walked over to the door to greet them himself. "Auntie, it's wonderful to see you."

He was talking to her mother, but his eyes were hooked on Tie Ningxiang. "Captain Tie, you changed into such a stunning dress that I almost didn't recognize you. Please, have a seat."

He extended a gentlemanly hand, but Tie Ningxiang made no move to take it. "So it's Daoist Master Lu. Thank you for your help the last time the thick fog sealed the mountain."

"Think nothing of it. We cultivators cannot simply stand by while evil spirits run rampant. It was only my duty." Completely ignoring Mother Tie, he invited Tie Ningxiang to join him at the dining table by the window.

Seeing the obvious spark of interest, Mother Tie certainly wasn't going to get in the way of her daughter's happiness. "I'll go check on Ningxiang's father," she said with a beaming smile. "You two chat."

She turned and left, pulling the VIP room's door firmly shut behind her.