Chapter 580 – Paying a Visit to the Deathless Tomb, Sipping Ancient Tea - Part 1

Just as Meng Xingxian dropped her usual act of a wild and domineering Wolfmother and started playing the role of the aggrieved daughter-in-law confiding in her father-in-law, the curtain beside her lifted with a flutter. A crow flapped its wings and swooped in, landing coldly on Li Yuan’s shoulder, fixing its piercing gaze on Meng Xingxian.

Meng Xingxian instantly fell silent.

She and the Crowmother had long been bitter enemies. After years of battling in the Western Extremes, there was nothing left to say between them.

But her eyes flicked slightly, and she offered a remorseful smile. “Sister-in-law, I’ve made so many mistakes in the past. Now that the head of our family is here, I’d really like to apologize to you, sincerely and properly.”

To everyone’s surprise, she even stood up and bowed respectfully to the crow, looking utterly pitiful and meek.

The crow cawed coldly, “Just don’t even think about entering the Deathless Tomb again!”

“Of course not, Sister-in-law. Now that Father is here, everything will be up to him.” Meng Xingxian replied earnestly.

In just a few sentences, she latched herself tightly to Li Yuan, even going so far as to start calling him

Father

instead of

Father-in-law

.

After all, it was perfectly natural for a daughter-in-law to call him

Father

.

In this apocalyptic world of unknown horrors, she was like a woman on the brink of drowning. Now that she’d finally found a lifeline in Li Yuan, she clung to him as if her life depended on it.

The little crow glared coldly at the woman in front of her.

She wasn’t fooled for a second by this pitiful facade.

Meng Xingxian had ruled the Nine Flames Tribe for over 50 years. Her methods were ruthless and bloody, her mind cunning and deep, her will fierce and unyielding. The crow had seen it all firsthand.

Even during the years when Naran was still Khagan, he too was secretly afraid of his wife.

Yes, in the bedroom she might have served him with utmost gentleness. But outside of it, she ruled with both the carrot and the stick, keeping even the Khagan firmly under her thumb.

Now, seeing the crow’s continued hostility, Meng Xingxian added a sorrowful look to her performance. “Sister-in-law, I’m only doing what I must to survive. Honestly, is there really such deep hatred between us?”

The little crow shot back, her voice brimming with righteous fury. “You forced so many people into the Deathless Tomb to die! If

my

father hadn’t shown up, you would’ve destroyed the entire Nine Flames Tribe! You’re cold-blooded. To you, people are just tools, every single one of them! Naran, your own son, even your descendants!”

Meng Xingxian’s eyes sparkled with a hint of mockery as she feigned innocence, voice soft and aggrieved. “But Sister-in-law, you’re the one who killed them, not me... We...we...”

She looked up slightly, lips curved in a delicate, almost bashful smile, like a shy young maiden. “Honestly, we’re not so different. Let’s not pretend otherwise.”

The little crow seethed. “I warned them over and over again. I told them how it would end. But even then, they still let themselves be seduced by your lies and charged into the Deathless Tomb. I couldn’t let them take the tomb. I had to stop them. If you hadn’t manipulated them, none of it would’ve happened.”

Meng Xingxian blinked innocently, her wide eyes shimmering like glass, lips curling ever so slightly. She giggled.

“But...I didn’t force you, did I? You’re the one who killed them. You. Not me...”

The little crow flared her wings and lunged at Meng Xingxian, raising one to slap her across the face.

Meng Xingxian only stared upward in surprise, as if she hadn’t even seen it coming.

SMACK!

The sound rang out sharp and clear.

Her eyes instantly reddened. She lifted a hand to cover her flushed cheek, and turned her tear-filled gaze toward Li Yuan, whimpering like a wounded little beast.

“Father, I know I was wrong. Sister-in-law was right to hit me...”

The little crow trembled with fury. To her, this woman was the very embodiment of wickedness.

“Still pretending? Go ahead, keep pretending!” she shouted, nearly shaking with rage.

Meng Xingxian’s eyes welled with tears as she murmured repeatedly, “I’m sorry, Sister-in-law... I truly am...”

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

But the more pitiful she acted, the angrier the crow became. She was about to explode from sheer frustration.

Li Yuan raised his hand and gently picked the crow up, softly stroking her feathers. Then he turned to Meng Xingxian.

“I’m not opening the Deathless Tomb,” he said flatly.

Meng Xingxian responded with a soft, sweet voice. “Now that you’re here, Father, then I am first and foremost your daughter, only secondarily a member of the Deathless Tomb. If you say it stays sealed, then sealed it shall be.”

The little crow snapped, “Your daughter? You? You’re shameless! You shift with the wind. Just a moment ago, you were ready to kill him, and now you’re clinging to him like he’s your only lifeline! Do you even know what shame is!?”

Meng Xingxian was quick with her tongue.

“That’s because I’m a woman,” she said smoothly. “Short-sighted by nature. I couldn’t recognize Father’s true celestial form before. But now that I’ve seen it, I submit wholeheartedly. I wouldn’t dare overstep again. From now on, I’ll behave myself, act as a proper daughter, and do whatever Father needs me to do.”

The little crow was still fuming.

Li Yuan continued to soothe her, and after a while, the anger began to ebb...at least enough that she wasn’t about to tear Meng Xingxian apart on the spot. Still, the look she gave the woman remained sharp as blades. Yet, asking her father to kill Meng Xingxian didn’t feel right either.

After all, the woman hadn’t lied. She might be part of the Deathless Tomb, but she was also...family.

Inside the carriage, the air grew stifling and heavy.

“Let me take a look with you.” Li Yuan pulled out a piece of malt candy and offered it to the little crow. Then he turned to Meng Xingxian. “Didn’t you always want to enter the Deathless Tomb? Come along.”

“...” Meng Xingxian froze.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

A moment later.

The two of them stepped into the Deathless Tomb.

Apparently, the commotion had reached those inside. From within the coffins came muffled voices, an old man’s, a middle-aged man’s, and one that sounded like a little girl.

“Meng Xingxian? Is that you?”

“Elder Meng, isn’t that brat still out there? How’d you get in?”

“Sister Xingxian, get me out of here! I missed you so much!”

Clearly, this was the next batch of caretakers, and it was time for their shift. Now that the Deathless Tomb was sealed and occupied, they couldn’t leave. And now, hearing the noise outside, they were starting to piece things together.

After all, when Sheng'er was learning the Heaven Soul cultivation technique, she had shared quite a bit of information with them about the outside world.

So now, this new crop of caretakers was panicked, trapped inside their coffins and fully aware that staying there meant death.

Each of them still had at least a thousand years of lifespan left.

And in an age teetering on the edge of apocalypse, that was just enough to fight for survival.

Just as those three voices echoed from within the coffins, another familiar voice rang out, a woman’s voice.

It was clearly Meng Xingxian, but her tone was...different. Still recognizable, yet now laced with a syrupy sweetness and a deliberately distant coyness, like tea brewed too strong, leaving a bitter aftertaste beneath the sugar.

“Elder Xia, Junior Brother Xin, Princess Yuge,” she called. “I’m not here to rescue you. I just came along with Father to take a look around. I’ll be leaving with him shortly.”

The Deathless Tomb fell silent.

“What? Whose father?” the little girl asked in a confused, doll-like voice. She was completely baffled. After all, no one entombed here was Meng Xingxian’s parent.

Back in the days of the Great Xia Dynasty, the empire had stretched vast and wide, with a population numbering in the hundreds of billions. Across 20,000 years of history, only a mere 6,000 had earned a place within the Deathless Tomb.

Everyone here was a once-in-a-million prodigy, true monsters of their generation.

The idea that any of them could share blood ties? Impossible.

But Meng Xingxian answered with perfect ease, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“He’s my husband’s father. So of course, I follow my husband and call him

Father

.”

“...” Princess Yuge opened her mouth but couldn’t find a reply.

“...” The old man went silent.

The middle-aged man, however, looked utterly stunned. Disbelief and refusal warred across his face. “You’re joking, right? Senior Sister Meng, this has to be a joke!”

Meng Xingxian’s smile was serene. “Junior Brother Xin, I’m not joking. Father is incredibly powerful. From now on, I’m his daughter.”

“Impossible! That’s absolutely impossible! Senior Sister Meng, no matter how strong he is, how could he be stronger than the people buried in the Deathless Tomb? You know we were already standing at the threshold of second rank! And instead of saving us, you’re pledging yourself to

him

?!”

The one called Junior Brother Xin was clearly losing it. Thousands of years hadn’t tempered his nature at all. Some people just stayed rash and impulsive, no matter how long they lived. Age and wisdom didn’t always go hand in hand.