“I don’t care! I want to go too!” Xiao Zi threw herself onto the floorboards, rolling around in a tantrum of white fur and screeching protests.

“How about this,” Han Lie said, crossing his arms and looking down at the spirit beast with zero sympathy. “Transform into a cat-girl right now, and this Senior will stay home.”

Xiao Zi stopped rolling. She shot him a glare of pure, unadulterated disdain. “Old pervert! Old pervert! Is your brain made of slime? Why are you humans so obsessed with cat-ears?”

“Correction,” Han Lie said, adopting a tone of righteous indignation. “I am a pervert, but I am not old.”

“Is there a difference?!” Xiao Zi hissed. “You’re disgusting either way!”

“Are you going to transform or not?”

“I can’t!”

“Then stay here and behave. If you keep making noise, I’ll cut your rations for a month,” Han Lie threatened, his voice dropping an octave.

“Meow-HISS!” Xiao Zi’s fur stood on end. She arched her back, spitting at him in defiance.

Han Lie ignored the display and turned to leave. He glanced back once over his shoulder to see the cat still sitting in the doorway, glaring daggers at his retreating back. He couldn’t help but chuckle. The threat of starvation was the only language the gluttonous beast understood. If he didn’t assert dominance now, she would forget who held the Big King card in this relationship.

“Little Old Man!”

Halfway to the Cloud Sea Forest, a familiar voice called out, sweet and teasing. Han Lie turned to see a figure rushing toward him—a flash of fox ears and a fluffy tail trailing behind a woman of stunning curves.

It was Su Mei, Captain of the White Tiger Squad.

She bounded up to him, her face glowing with genuine delight. “Little Old Man, long time no see! Wait…” She paused, her eyes raking over his rejuvenated features. “I can’t call you that anymore. You look… good. Uncle Han, then?”

Han Lie smiled. Since breaking through to the Golden Core Perfection, his vitality had surged, shedding the withered husk of his previous years. “It has been a while, Captain Su. You seem to have time on your hands.”

Su Mei pouted, a look of exaggerated grievance on her face. “I always have time! It’s just that you never come to find me anymore.”

“Ahem,” Han Lie cleared his throat. “I was in secluded cultivation. Sect matters, you understand.”

“Of course, I understand,” she sighed, her expression dimming slightly. “Your cultivation has left me in the dust. You’re flying, and I’m still crawling.”

“You’ve reached the mid-Golden Core stage,” Han Lie noted, sensing her insecurity. “That is hardly crawling.”

“Compared to you?” Su Mei spread her hands helplessly. “If this gap keeps widening, our worlds will separate. Eventually, I’ll just be a passerby in your life, won’t I?”

It was a genuine fear. In the cultivation world, power gaps often severed relationships. Immortals did not linger with mortals, and old monsters rarely looked back.

“Do not borrow trouble, Captain,” Han Lie soothed, his voice firm. “I do not forget my friends so easily.”

Su Mei smiled, seemingly reassured, before a mischievous glint returned to her fox-like eyes. She leaned in close, her voice dropping to a sultry whisper. “So… since you have time, and I need to catch up… maybe we could find a quiet spot? Dual cultivation is the fastest way to bridge the gap, isn’t it?”

Han Lie chuckled, shaking his head. “Tempting, truly. But I have an appointment today.”

“An appointment?” Su Mei blinked. “Who? Can I come watch?”

Han Lie scratched his head, looking pained. “Ah… that would be inadvisable. It is Xiao Qingge.”

Bringing Su Mei to a date with the manipulative, clinging Xiao Qingge would be like throwing a lit match into a powder keg. Su Mei was fiery, but Qingge was a different breed of dangerous.

“Qingge?” Su Mei’s smile froze for a fraction of a second. “I see. Well, go on then. I have patrol duty anyway.”

“I will visit the White Tiger Squad in a few days,” Han Lie promised.

“Sure. Go.” She waved him off casually, turning on her heel.

Han Lie arrived at the Cloud Sea Forest to find it living up to its reputation.

The misty woods were practically vibrating with illicit romance. On stone benches and behind ancient trees, couples entangled themselves with zero shame. He passed one pair who were aggressively making out, and another who seemed to be engaging in “vertical cultivation” right off the path.

Han Lie frowned. This is the Heavenly Void Sect, not the Joyous Union Sect. Do these juniors have no shame?

Perhaps Xiao Yuruo was right. He really wasn’t cut out to be a “proper” demonic cultivator.

He spotted her waiting on a stone bench in a clearing. Xiao Qingge wore a dress of pink and white, looking like a descended fairy amidst the debauchery. She sat with her hands folded primly in her lap, the picture of innocence and elegance.

“Brother~!”

She spotted him and leaped up, waving frantically. As he approached, she latched onto his arm with practiced ease, pressing her softness against him and beaming up with a smile that could melt glaciers.

From the shadows of the tree line, Su Mei watched them, her knuckles white as she gripped a branch.

“I knew it!” she hissed under her breath, her fox ears flattening against her skull. “Dog couple! Just days ago I was his ‘Little Sweetie,’ and now I’ve become ‘Madam Niu’?”

Jealousy flared hot in her chest. She took a step forward, intending to storm the clearing and ruin their little rendezvous. But then she stopped.

She looked at Xiao Qingge—younger, prettier, and undeniably stronger in cultivation.

Su Mei bit her lip, the fire in her eyes dimming to a smolder. Making a scene now would only make her look desperate. She was a captain of the White Tiger Squad, not a jilted lover begging for scraps.

“Fine,” she whispered, turning away into the darkness. “Enjoy your play-acting, Han Lie. But the game isn’t over yet.”