Chapter 208: Breaking Off the Engagement

Lu Yang began to consider whether to tell his senior sister about his master’s fabrication.

If he told his senior sister, his master would surely face consequences. But if he didn't, his senior sister might think he was in cahoots with his master.

"On one side is my master, on the other is my senior sister. It's a difficult choice," Lu Yang sighed deeply, feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place.

He pulled out a copper coin, deciding to leave the choice to fate.

Lu Yang flicked the coin gently. It spun rapidly in the air with a crisp sound, appearing like a sphere. The three kept their eyes fixed on it, looking up and then down.

It landed.

It was heads.

"It seems Heaven wants my master to perish."

"Senior Brother Lu, let's try one more time," Li Haoran advised. While soaking in magma, he had heard Elder Zhou Xin complain about the unreliable Silent Daoist.

Nevertheless, the Sect Master was still the Sect Master.

Lu Yang nodded. He didn't really want to be an informant, so he flicked the coin again.

The coin landed, tails up.

Li Haoran sighed. The Sect Master had escaped this time.

Suddenly, Lu Yang sighed from the side, "It seems Heaven wants my master to perish."

"Wait, Senior Brother Lu, how can heads mean telling the senior sister, and tails also mean telling the senior sister? What would it take for you *not* to tell her about this?"

"When the coin lands on its edge, of course."

Seeing Li Haoran puzzled, Meng Jingzhou explained, "Think about it, there are two possibilities when a coin lands, right? Flat or on its edge?"

"Right."

"So Lu Yang has a one in two chance of not telling the senior sister about this. That's already a very high probability."

Lu Yang wore an expression that showed Meng Jingzhou had perfectly articulated his thoughts.

Li Haoran's eye twitched. "Senior Brother Lu, if you want your master to die, just say so. Why bother with this elaborate process?"

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou felt a little nostalgic for Mang Gu. If Mang Gu had been there, he would have believed them immediately.

As the three chatted, they arrived at Li Haoran's old family home.

The old horse stopped. Li Haoran dismounted first and gestured to the house for the two of them. "Senior Brothers, please look. This is my home. Although it's a bit dilapidated, it holds all my childhood memories. I still remember often climbing the tree in front of the gate when I was little."

"...Junior Brother Li, I don't think 'a bit dilapidated' quite describes your home."

Li Haoran turned his head and saw the Li family's old house being demolished.

"Where's my home?!"

He had only been away for a little over a year; how could his home be gone?

"Oh, aren't you the Li family boy? I heard you've made something of yourself and joined the Dao Inquiry Sect?" An old man recognized Li Haoran.

"Uncle Zhang, where's my home?" Li Haoran quickly asked upon seeing a familiar face.

"Hmm? Didn't your parents tell you? To celebrate you becoming a disciple of the Dao Inquiry Sect, your family sold the old house and moved. They moved to Chunyuan Street."

"...Was it really to celebrate me becoming a Dao Inquiry Sect disciple?" Li Haoran covered his face with one hand, feeling a bit helpless.

Following Uncle Zhang's directions, the three finally found Li Haoran's actual home.

Before entering, Lu Yang quietly sent a message to Meng Jingzhou: "Did you prepare gifts for Uncle and Aunt?"

"Already prepared. I have many good things in my identity jade token. What about you?"

"Before coming, I went to the Mission Hall and exchanged for some elixirs and heavenly materials and earthly treasures."

After their exchange, the two felt reassured and dismounted.

Before Li Haoran could knock, he heard an unfamiliar female voice from inside the house.

"I will absolutely not agree to this marriage!"

"Betrothed before birth? Did anyone ask for my consent?"

"Don't even think about me acknowledging this engagement!"

Then came Li Haoran's father's voice: "This marriage was all agreed upon..."

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou heard the commotion, exchanged glances, and realized things didn't seem to be going smoothly.

Li Haoran frowned, pushed open the main gate, and deliberately called out loudly, "Mom, Dad, I'm home!"

Upon opening the door, a couple stood in the courtyard, looking somewhat flustered, as if the situation had caught them by surprise. They were Li Haoran's parents.

Arguing with Li Haoran's parents was a beautiful young woman, who appeared to be close in age to Li Haoran.

Behind the young woman stood a stunning female cultivator, who bore some resemblance to the girl in her brows, making it unclear if she was the girl's older sister or mother.

"Haoran's back?" Li Haoran's parents were overjoyed to see him return home.

"Mom, Dad, let me introduce you. These are my two senior brothers from the Dao Inquiry Sect, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou."

"Hello, Uncle and Aunt." Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou offered warm smiles and presented the gifts they had prepared.

"You didn't need to bring anything; just your presence is enough."

"We just picked them up casually on the way here; they're nothing valuable."

After some polite refusal, Li Haoran's parents accepted the gifts.

"So you're Li Haoran?" The young woman frowned as she looked at Li Haoran. Frankly, Li Haoran was quite handsome and presentable, but at the moment, the young woman found him irritating no matter how she looked at him.

"Who are you?" Li Haoran didn't use a polite tone with the young woman either.

Fearing the conflict would escalate, Li Haoran's parents quickly introduced them: "This is Qin Yanyan, and this is her mother, Su Yiren, the esteemed person who saved us back then."

In the spiritual space, the Immortal Fairy let out a soft exclamation. "This Su Yiren is quite something. She's a Body Integration stage cultivator."

There were many extraordinary individuals on the Central Continent, and Lu Yang had not even heard of many Body Integration stage cultivators.

Let alone Lu Yang, even Meng Jingzhou, who was born into the prominent Meng family, couldn't recognize all the Body Integration stage cultivators.

"Body Integration stage?" Lu Yang was surprised. Was Junior Brother Li so valuable that a Body Integration stage cultivator not only saved his parents but also arranged a betrothal before birth?

Lu Yang hadn't noticed anything particularly remarkable about Li Haoran, apart from his fire spirit root.

He neither suddenly went from genius to cripple, nor did he make strange gestures or utter odd lines.

The Immortal Fairy teased, "You're quite valuable too. That little girl Yunzhi personally arranged an engagement for you and Lan Ting. If that really succeeds, you'd have a whole group of Body Integration stage cultivators backing you."

Lu Yang rolled his eyes, not engaging with the Immortal Fairy's comment.

Qin Yanyan scrutinized Li Haoran. "I hear you're from the Dao Inquiry Sect and ranked fifth in your generation. How embarrassing! A noble fire spirit root, yet only fifth."

Li Haoran thought about the top four: one with a sword spirit root personally taught by the senior sister, whose magical talent rivaled hers; one with a single spirit root from the largest aristocratic family, the Meng family; one with an Ascended Immortal Physique, rarer than a single spirit root; and one, the last descendant of the ancient barbarians, who embodied the barbarians' fortune. Compared to them, being ranked fifth didn't seem very embarrassing.

Mang Gu was the last of the ancient barbarians, and legend had it that the last person of a race would gather all the fortune of that race.

In fact, it would be strange if he *could* surpass those four talents, wouldn't it?

"I advise you: annul the engagement, and we can all live in peace. We can meet civilly in the future. But if you refuse..." At this point, Qin Yanyan sneered, the implication of refusal clear without words.

"What if I refuse?"

Qin Yanyan continued to sneer, not having thought of how to threaten Li Haoran if he refused.