Zu An was alarmed. “Why?”

“I can’t put my finger on it either. I just have a feeling.” Pei Mianman frowned. “I always seem to sense his gaze in my direction whenever I leave your room.

“Once or twice might be a coincidence, but I feel like I’m being spied on every single time. That’s why there’s no way that this is a coincidence. There’s definitely something strange about that person.”

The sixth sense of a woman is indeed terrifying. She can even sense such a thing! Old Mi’s cultivation is many times higher than hers.

He was just about to praise her when a shudder ran through him. He gestured towards her. “Come over here.”

Pei Mianman’s face turned red. Instead of approaching him, she backed away. “What are you trying to do?”

Zu An smiled. “I have some sincere thoughts I wish to discuss with you,” he said.

Pei Mianman was startled. A million thoughts began to race through her mind. However, her body still ended up drifting closer to him for some reason.

“You’re not close enough.” Zu An said. He reached out to hold her hand, then pulled her into his embrace.

Pei Mianman was caught off guard. She ended up leaning against him, his lips awfully close to her ears. She felt ashamed and embarrassed. She was just about to react angrily, but stopped as he whispered, “Don’t move. The walls have ears. That is why I can only talk to you like this.”

Pei Mianman was a smart person as well. She immediately calmed down, remembering the elder she just spoke about.

Zu An said softly, “You have to be careful of him in the future. You are no match for him.”

The warmth of his breath made Pei Mianman’s entire body suddenly anxious. She was just about to straighten her body, but his words had left her momentarily stunned. She was just about to probe further, but Zu An seized her waist, pushing her straight into the bed.

Zu An moved closer, as if he was going to kiss her on the lips.

Of course, if one looked closely, there was just an inch separating their lips.

However, this was close enough for both of them to sense the other's aura.

Seeing that Zu An wasn’t actually going to kiss her, the black flame flickering above Pei Mianman’s fingertips faded away. She stared at him in a daze.

“He is watching outside. Don’t make it obvious.” Zu An transmitted via ki, softly and just beside her ear. Old Mi’s cultivation was too high, and he didn’t even dare transmit sound from a distance. He didn’t want to be eavesdropped on by the old man.

Pei Mianman was alarmed. Her gaze flicked towards the window. Sure enough, there was a figure just outside the window. The other party most likely hadn’t noticed the shift in the moonlight, which was why she could see the slightest hint of his figure through the window.

“So you knew about him.” Pei Mianman now understood. She caught on quickly, immediately hooking her arm around his neck as if this was the most natural reaction between lovers.

Zu An was about to burst inside. I can’t take this much longer! Do you know just how amazing your body is? Just grabbing me like this is enough to suffocate me!

Of course, he wasn’t stupid enough to say it out loud. “Are you maybe overthinking things? Have you begun to suspect everyone, now that you’re running to the room of your close friend’s husband all the time?”

Pei Mianman also deliberately raised her voice when she noticed what was going on. “Maybe,” she replied. “The Chu clan’s security has gotten more and more strict recently. I guess I’m subconsciously beginning to suspect anyone I run into.”

“Hahaha, that’s part and parcel of sneaking around!” Zu An said.

Pei Mianman was speechless. Aren’t you getting a bit too into this?

But a wife’s close friend who keeps visiting her husband… This sounds pretty interesting…

The two of them continued chatting ambiguously like two sweethearts. Old Mi soon grew disinterested and left.

He was still extremely confused. This Zu An fellow clearly can’t perform down there, so why do girls still like him so much?

In terms of cultivation, I am more than strong enough to be his master. But it seems like I’m far below him in this regard.

He idly wondered if he should consult Zu An about this someday, but immediately felt that it would be too shameless.

He dismissed the thought in the end. These women were all going to be his anyway, so he’d just enjoy them when the time came. There was completely no need to learn how to chase after girls.

With that thought, his mood improved instantly.

The two in the room chatted for a while, when Pei Mianman noticed that the figure by the window had disappeared. “That should be enough, right?” she said.

“Let’s wait a little longer. His cultivation is too high. It’s hard for us to notice his presence,” Zu An replied. 

Pei Mianman had a pensive look on her face. “Is this really what you’re thinking, or do you just want to use this chance to take advantage of me?”

Zu An chuckled. “A bit of both, I guess.”

This honestly feels pretty damn good though.

Pei Mianman stared at him. She hadn’t expected him to admit to it so directly, and she was momentarily at a loss for what to say.

Zu An also knew that they couldn’t continue like this for the rest of the night, so he pretended as though he had to use the restroom. Along the way, he checked to make sure that Old Mi had really left.

“He’s finally gone.” Zu An exhaled in relief. Being targeted by a ninth-ranked elder really was too much.

“How high is his cultivation?” fear still lingered in Pei Mianman’s heart. If not for Zu An’s warning, she wouldn’t have sensed his presence at all.

This was the first time she’d felt such a feeling in her life.

“Very, very high.” Zu An’s expression grew serious when he recalled Mi Li’s past evaluation of Old Mi. In truth, he could sense Old Mi not because his cultivation was high enough, but because of his Rage system.

He’d suddenly received some Rage points from Old Mi, and that was how he had realized that they were being eavesdropped on. That led him to act quickly to deal with the situation.

Old Mi was too confident in his own cultivation, and didn’t think that he’d actually been discovered. That was why he didn’t suspect their conversation as being insincere.

“Why would such a person follow you around?” Pei Mianman couldn’t help her curiosity.

“I don’t know the answer to that either. To be honest, all of my skills come from him, but he always exerts a mysterious pressure on me.” Zu An found his situation really strange. He and Pei Mianman had a shaky alliance, and they were far from being as intimate as he and Chu Chuyan were, yet he’d ended up telling all this to Pei Mianman instead of Chu Chuyan.

“Why aren’t you telling Brightmoon Duke to have the Chu clan look into things for you?” Pei Mianman clearly shared his suspicions.

Zu An shook his head. “It’s useless.”

“His cultivation is even higher than Brightmoon Duke’s?” Pei Mianman was horrified. However, she soon realized that the pressure this individual exerted on her really was far greater than Chu Zhongtian.

Zu An chuckled, refusing to comment on this.

Pei Mianman’s expression had grown dark. With such an expert hidden in the Chu estate, the situation in Brightmoon City suddenly became much more complicated.

“Just pretend like you don’t know anything. Don’t tell this to anyone else. After all, I don’t want to lose a friend like you,” Zu An said seriously.

Pei Mianman was moved by the obvious sincerity in his voice. “Okay,” she replied just as seriously, nodding at him. “I guess I probably won’t come as often anymore.” The threat that this gardener posed really was too much.

Zu An nodded. “That’s a good idea. Who knows if something out of our control might happen?” He sounded reluctant. “It’s a pity that I won’t be able to see you every night anymore.”

Pei Mianman’s heart skipped a beat when she heard the sincerity in his statement. It seemed to come from the bottom of his heart. With a snort, she said, “Your wife might just skin you alive if she hears you say this.”

Zu An couldn’t help but laugh. “I wonder if she’ll still treat you as a close friend if she finds out you’ve been sneaking in to visit me every night!”

Pei Mianman’s face turned red. The word he’d used—sneaking—really was quite fitting.

She rolled her eyes at him. Before leaving, she said, “I’ll look into this gardener in your stead. You have to be careful.”

Zu An frowned. He was just about to say something when Pei Mianman said, “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone else, nor will I invite any trouble.”

Then, she winked at him before disappearing into the night with a smile.

Zu An lay down on his back, still in a daze. The image of her winking really made his heart rush!

Sigh, I really am acting like a total fuckboy here…

Nonsense! She came onto me first.

The two sides of his mind continued to argue against each other as he slowly drifted off into the land of dreams.

…

Even though Zu An slept soundly, others in the city were fated to pull an all-nighter.

In the Wang clan’s study, Chu Zhongtian stared at Wang Fu in shock. “Brother Wang, what do you mean, the salt permits were lost?”

Wang Fu wore a bitter smile. “It’s exactly as it sounds. These salt permits were supposed to enter the city today, but the caravan that was carrying them was robbed by someone before they reached the city. It’s all my unworthy son’s fault for leaking out this information. Our path has always been kept strictly confidential. How could they have been stolen so easily?”

“We cannot blame your esteemed son for this matter.” Chu Zhongtian knew what had happened to Wang Yuanlong, but he hadn’t expected to still be a step behind. Fate really was tormenting them! The salt permits just happened to be en route today. Could the heavens themselves want my Chu clan eradicated?