Bai Hao was deeply moved, and his lips moved as if he wished to say something, but couldn’t find the words. But then... Bai Xiaochun looked curiously at him, and asked a question which he couldn’t hold in any longer.

“Hey, that plan with the Proclamation of Universal Grace worked pretty good. I’ve been wondering ever since you came up with it if your inspiration was being a bastard son of the Bai Clan?”

“Uhh....” Bai Hao was quite taken aback. His Master really was very changeable. In one moment he was domineering and heroic, and then, he switched to asking embarrassing questions.

After seeing how curious his Master seemed, Bai Hao hesitated for a moment, and then nodded.

When Bai Xiaochun saw his apprentice admit the truth, he sighed, then reached out and tousled his hair again.

“Now it makes sense why Madam Cai wanted to get rid of you.... That plan was really vicious....”

“Uhh....” Bai Hao really didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Bai Xiaochun had other questions he wanted to ask, but before he could, his expression flickered, and he looked up to see a red beam of light flying in his direction.

Even as it was still approaching, a voice rang out to fill the Inspections Manor!

“Bai Hao, you shameless lowlife! I’m gonna kill you!” It was the voice of a woman. Soon, she came into view, wearing a crimson robe, her fair face contorted by murderous rage. It was none other than Mistress Red-Dust, Zhou Zimo.

Earlier, Zhou Zimo had been in secluded meditation trying to break out from the early Deva Realm, and had thus been unaware of the commotion caused by the Proclamation of Universal Grace.

Moments ago, she had come out of meditation, depressed at having failed to break through. Furthermore, she found that her thoughts seemed sluggish and unclear, although she wasn’t sure why. Chalking it up to a reaction from failing in her breakthrough, she decided not to worry about the matter. That was when she had heard about the Proclamation of Universal Grace, and immediately erupted in anger.

She had already detested Bai Xiaochun, and although some of the issues between them were misunderstandings that had eventually been resolved, she still hated him. That was especially true considering how he seemed to have tossed the Giant Ghost King to the wayside after being appointed as the inspections commissioner.

And now there was the issue of the Proclamation of Universal Grace. On any other occasion, Mistress Red-Dust would have been able to see past the surface of the situation, but right now, she wasn’t thinking clearly. In her current state, she had somewhat of a one-track mind, and therefore, without taking the time to think about the situation, she flew up into the air. On the way, the Giant Ghost King sent her some messages, but she was so wrapped up in her determination to teach Bai Xiaochun a lesson that she ignored them.

Bai Xiaochun was startled. Initially, he had assumed the Grand Heavenmaster had sent people to apprehend him. Never could he have guessed that it would actually be Mistress Red-Dust, whom he hadn’t seen in quite some time. Backing up, he tried to offer an explanation.

“Zimo, you need to listen to--”

“Shut up!” she yelled angrily. Landing in the Inspections Manor, she pointed accusingly at Bai Xiaochun and continued, “You ungrateful cur! Are you the one behind that Proclamation of Universal Grace?!?!”

Deva fluctuations erupted out from her, becoming a crimson beam of light that shot toward Bai Xiaochun.

Quicky putting Bai Hao away, he dodged the beam of light and said, “Listen, I can expl--”

However, before he could say anything further, Mistress Red-Dust attacked again.

She was at the peak of the early Deva Realm, and was attacking with full force, which meant that Bai Xiaochun was no match for her. That was even more the case considering he had already used the Undying Emperor’s Fist twice today. Although he seemed fine on the outside, he actually needed more time to recover.

Mistress Red-Dust seemed very angry that he was dodging out of the way. Next, she performed an incantation gesture to summon a magical item, a red lotus, which began to rotate rapidly and cast bright light out in all directions.

As rumbling sounds filled the air, Bai Xiaochun backed up more. The fact that Mistress Red-Dust was attacking with full force, and not even letting him explain himself, caused his anger to spark.

“You crazy old biddy! Do you really think that I, the inspections commissioner, am afraid of you!?” A mere thought on his part caused all of his corpse troopers to look up, and bristle with murderous auras. Although none of them attacked, the silver-armored one stepped forward, his deva cultivation base surging with power. A moment later, the Quasi-Deva Realm black-armored corpse trooper also stepped forward.

The two corpse troopers began to fight with Mistress Red-Dust, who used her red lotus to slowly push them back. However, the apparent backlash from her failed breakthrough seemed to get worse, and her head suddenly began to swim. Snorting coldly, she contemplated the fact that she couldn’t actually kill the damned Bai Hao. However, he was definitely a thankless wretch and an ungrateful cur who fully deserved a good beating.

Considering how extraordinary these two corpse troopers were, she finally backed up and even turned to leave. However, Bai Xiaochun wasn’t willing to simply let things drop.

“Activate formation! Seal that woman in place!” Instantly, his nine half-deva corpse troopers flew out into the open to surround Mistress Red-Dust. The rest of the 5,000 also joined, creating a huge net-like seal that made it impossible for Mistress Red-Dust to escape.

An unsightly expression could be seen on Mistress Red-Dust’s face as she realized that she was trapped. At the same time, her hatred for Bai Xiaochun grew stronger. Calling upon the power of her red lotus, she managed to break an opening into the lines of corpse troopers, and yet the moment she did, the backlash from her failed breakthrough worsened. Her divine sense didn’t seem capable of keeping up with her desire to fight, which also caused her red lotus to lag.

On any other occasion, even that wouldn’t have been a big problem. But she was facing the two most powerful of the corpse troopers, and they immediately detected her weakness. They pressed the attack, and booms rang out as Mistress Red-Dust’s face drained of blood. At this point, it didn’t matter how muddled her thoughts were, she realized that she was acting recklessly. She definitely should not have come looking to cause problems for Bai Xiaochun right after having failed at a breakthrough, and still suffering a backlash because of it.

Furthermore, she’d had no idea that Bai Xiaochun’s corpse troopers were at this level. Before, he had commanded 3,000, but now he had 5,000. Plus, the silver-armored one was fully in the deva level.

“Too many things happened while I was in secluded meditation....” she thought, frowning. She began to back up, an unsightly expression on her face, but as she did, the net created by the 5,000 corpse troopers tightened around her.

That was when Bai Xiaochun saw his opportunity to take action. Jumping forward, he clenched his right hand into a fist and unleashed a fist strike in her direction!

“You’re not going anywhere!” he shouted. The two most powerful corpse troopers attacked, backed up by the rest of the 5,000. Mistress Red-Dust was completely trapped, incapable of breaking free, and even her cultivation base was being sealed.

Not pausing for even a moment, Bai Xiaochun reached out, grabbed her arm, and pulled her down toward the ground. The two of them fell down, and by chance, she landed on her back, with him on top. Immediately, he could feel her soft curves, which instantly lit a fire inside of him. Without even thinking about it, he looked down at her beautiful, enticing lips.

“How dare you, Bai Hao!!” she shouted, her heart bursting with regret and alarm as she began to struggle against him. However, her cultivation base was sealed, an effect which would last for at least the time it took half an incense stick to burn.

The more she struggled, the more Bai Xiaochun’s body tingled in response to what he was feeling. He even took a few deep breaths as he marveled at how attractive she was. However, externally, he put the fiercest expression possible onto his face and glared at her.

“Don’t even think of trying to seduce me!!”

“You!!” she yelled angrily, her face flushing bright red and her eyes burning as if with fire. And yet, she could also see how her struggling was affecting her captor, so she stopped moving.

“You walked

right

into this trap, Zhou Zimo,” he said harshly. “Fudge! Don’t tell me you

really

want to get into my bed?!”

“Shut up, you shameless jerk! You ungrateful cur! You villain! How dare you treat me like this after how well my father took care of you!”

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Bai Xiaochun frowned, examining her to try to determine if this was just an act.... From what he remembered, Mistress Red-Dust didn’t usually behave like this. How could she really be confused by the situation with the Proclamation of Universal Grace? Unable to hold back, he reached out and place his hand on her forehead.

“No fever? Have you just gone stupid?” All of a sudden his eyes lit up. “Wait, does that scoundrel the Giant Ghost King actually have other children out there in the world? Ohhhhh.” He clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "You’re not the only one? No way.... How many secrets does the old man have?” The more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

“Shut up! I’m my father’s only daughter!” She was about to continue cursing him, when all of a sudden, her jaw dropped as she realized the truth of it all.

“Um... is this some kind of joke?” he asked. “If you’re the only one, then you can’t seriously expect me to believe that you didn’t realize the Giant Ghost King was the person least affected by my plan! The other three kings all have multiple children, and now they’ll be weakened. When the time comes, our family can easily take them out!”

With that, Bai Xiaochun blinked a few times. He had intentionally used the words ‘our family’ as a way to test things out. If this woman was going to come and pretend to be stupid, then he at least had to play along in some way.