Chapter 159: Women Are Fickle

"..."

Xu Zhe fell silent for a moment.

How on earth was he supposed to respond to this?

The crucial question was, why would Lan Zhen's mother appear in a place like this?

No matter how he looked at it, this felt entirely wrong!

"Wait, could this be a test from the Demon Clan?"

A slight pang of alarm stirred in Xu Zhe's heart.

Were the demons really this paranoid? They had already brought him all the way to the Demon City, and yet they were still pulling a stunt like this?

"Zhen'er, can mother still call you that?" At that moment, the woman outside the door asked softly, her tone overflowing with maternal affection, even carrying a hint of entreaty.

Xu Zhe's spiritual sense swept out silently, sizing up the person on the other side.

The result was somewhat unexpected. The woman's cultivation realm was merely at the Out-of-Body stage, though her bone age was indeed quite advanced, at least five thousand years old.

Comparing this to Lan Zhen's bone age, Lan Zhen was also around five thousand years old.

"Zhen'er, if you don't speak, mother will take that as your consent. How have you been all these years? Why have you also come to this Demon City?" The woman outside spoke once more.

Hearing this, Xu Zhe could roughly deduce that the relationship between this mother and son must have been poor.

The problem, however, was whether this little drama was real or fake.

In case the person outside wasn't Lan Zhen's mother at all, but a plant sent by the Demon Clan to test him, responding would undoubtedly expose him.

Yet remaining silent indefinitely was not a viable solution either.

After pondering for a moment, Xu Zhe finally spoke.

"Leave. Before I lose my temper, get out of here immediately." Xu Zhe delivered an ambiguous remark.

If the other party was a fake, it could be interpreted as him being in a good mood and not faulting them for masquerading to test him.

If the other party was genuine, it could likewise be interpreted as him harboring unresolved emotional scars and refusing to see her.

Perfect!

"Zhen'er, don't treat mother like this."

The woman outside the door immediately replied with a trace of weeping in her voice, "Mother had no choice back then when she left your father and you. If you want to blame someone, just blame your Uncle Wang; he offered too much."

Xu Zhe: "..."

Good grief, it turned out she had run off with old Wang from next door.

"Mother did try to look for your father later on, but his lifespan had long since expired and he passed away. By then, you had also grown into a man and followed a fine master. You were full of youthful vigor back then. After we acknowledged each other, mother had intended to settle down for the rest of her life—washing clothes and cooking for you, managing the courtyard, feeding you milk, everything was so wonderful. But mother never expected that she would repeat the same mistake and leave you once more..."

"Huh?"

Hearing this, Xu Zhe froze abruptly.

Wasn't there something horribly wrong with those last few words?

Well, perhaps he had simply misheard.

No matter, he had at least roughly figured out this mother-son grievance. No wonder this woman felt indebted to Lan Zhen and was standing outside begging so bitterly for forgiveness.

"Zhen'er, ever since mother was trapped here, I've figured everything out and realized my wrongs. Can you forgive mother?" the woman outside sobbed uncontrollably.

"Leave." Xu Zhe responded indifferently.

Though he could basically rule out the possibility of her being a spy sent by the Demon Clan to test him, just to be safe, he decided to play it steady.

Besides, if she truly was Lan Zhen's mother, meeting her was even more out of the question; otherwise, he risked exposing his identity at any moment.

"Zhen'er..."

"Get lost!" Xu Zhe roared fiercely, getting into character in a second.

According to his understanding of how the plot should develop, and with his emotions having brewed up to this point, letting out a roar like this was the appropriate response.

Sure enough, the woman outside was instantly intimidated and fell silent all at once.

"Are you truly going to be this cold-hearted? You know what kind of place this is. Now that mother is trapped here, you remain indifferent?" A hint of anger suddenly crept into the woman's voice outside.

This took Xu Zhe somewhat by surprise.

"My heart is set on the Dao; I severed worldly ties long ago, including blood relations. If you dare disturb my cultivation again, don't blame me for being ruthless." Xu Zhe ultimately decided to take a gamble and respond in accordance with her words.

"Your heart is set on the Dao? Then why are you appearing in this place?" The woman's tone grew somewhat chilly. "Now that you are the esteemed Vice-General of the Vermilion Bird Army, a mighty cultivator of the Tribulation Crossing stage standing high above the rest, even when speaking to your own mother, you still resort to such barefaced lies?"

"..." Xu Zhe chose silence, continuing to play his part.

"Though mother is trapped within the Human King's Mansion, I still know a thing or two. Since you've appeared here and are being so fawned upon by those demons, you must have already betrayed the human race, haven't you?" The woman sneered, acting completely like a different person.

Xu Zhe inwardly found it bizarre; this woman changed her tune far too quickly.

A second ago she had been pitiful and pathetic, so why was she suddenly acting so unconcerned and confident?

"Mother won't beat around the bush with you anymore. The women here in the Human King's Mansion have long since been brought under my wing. Those who thought themselves too lofty and wouldn't obey have already died. The ones who manage to survive until now are practically all former prisoners—not a single one of them is simple," the woman outside stated.

"And so?" Xu Zhe asked.

He was feeling rather curious now; what on earth was this woman trying to achieve?

"Mother has already made inquiries. The demon army suffered a crushing defeat previously, leaving only a single Demon King who is severely injured and in closed-door seclusion. That means there is currently no Demon King presiding over the Demon City. With your strength, you could easily help us escape the Human King's Mansion. From this day forward, the thousand-plus of us will swear allegiance to you and obey your every command."

"Hah, I am a dignified Tribulation Crossing stage expert; what use would I have ordering a bunch of weak women around?" Xu Zhe imitated Lan Zhen's tone and asked with a cold laugh.

"My silly child, don't you know that a woman's appearance and body are the most useful weapons?" The woman laughed as well. "The batch of women under mother's command were all originally prisoners of the human race, secretly smuggled and sold to the Demon Clan by the Northern Territory's Cold Crow Army. Yet every single one of them possesses exceptional beauty and is skilled in bewitching men. If you possess a force like this, you will surely accomplish great things."

"..." Xu Zhe remained silent, looking at the Myriad Phenomena Jade Talisman in his hand that was currently recording, an eyebrow twitching upward.

He hadn't expected an unexpected harvest from this; a simple chat had actually handed him the evidence of the Bai family trafficking prisoners.

"Zhen'er, think it over carefully. Whenever you've made up your mind, you can come find me at any time." Having said that, the woman outside left with crisp decisiveness.

She struck the right balance impeccably.

If he had been the real Lan Zhen, he probably would have chosen to cooperate with her right about now.

After all, it would only require a tiny bit of effort—he could even just demand this group of people from the demons, and the demons would most likely grant it. For nothing at all, he would gain over a thousand women he could order about at will; why wouldn't he?

However, Xu Zhe was an upright man and never even considered such things.

Sensing that the woman outside had walked far away, Xu Zhe didn't dwell on it further as his thoughts snapped back to what happened just before: he had actually plunged into a strange state where, in a daze, he had fused with the Righteousness Demon-Sealing Scripture and summoned something or other.

"Boom!"

Right at that instant, a deafening explosion rang out from outside.

Following closely came a wave of chaotic commotion, accompanied by the roars of various ferocious beasts echoing one after another.

"A natural disaster! A natural disaster has come!"

"How can this be? How could this happen? So many heavenly fires and dragon-shaped black gales are all heading straight for our Demon City!"

"The Demon City is in grave danger!"

"Quickly call Vice-General Lan out to maintain the protective formation!"

"Vice-General Lan, do you hear this? Hurry over!"

...

[Just a quick heads-up to everyone: these past few days I've been organizing the detailed outline for the subsequent plot, so updates might be slightly affected. However, things will stabilize soon and the update frequency will be ramped up. Additionally, I've stockpiled some chapters for my older book, *Anti-Routine System*, and will resume updates for it shortly. To ensure neither book suffers, I'm getting my bald cap ready to update both simultaneously.]