Under the hazy moonlight, a figure shot into the rear courtyard of the Zhang Manor at an extremely fast speed.

This person was none other than Zhou Che, who had spent the entire day listening to gossip at the Linghua Pavilion.

Her purpose in coming to the Zhang Manor this time was to obtain the tears of the Zhang family’s Third Miss.

Based on the information she had gathered, although the Zhang family was a wealthy household, they had gradually declined in recent years due to setbacks in business.

The Zhang family had three daughters.

The eldest, Zhang Yao, in pursuit of true love, had married a hunter on the east side of Sang Town and now had a child already eight years old.

The second daughter, Zhang Ling, had been forced to become a sacrifice for a business marriage alliance and married into the Li family because of the family’s decline.

But even so, the Li family’s aid to the Zhang family was negligible. Thus, Zhang Ling had been married off for two years, yet the Zhang family remained as destitute as ever.

The head of the Zhang family had even begged his daughter, hoping she would use her status as the young madam of the Li family to help the Zhangs more, but all he got in return was Zhang Ling’s resentment and ridicule.

Because of this matter, the Zhang family head fell gravely ill after returning home and had still not recovered to this day. And his second daughter, Zhang Ling, even upon hearing the news of her father’s serious illness, had never once come back to visit.

As for the Zhang family’s youngest daughter, Zhang Yue, she was naturally intended to be the protagonist of the next business marriage alliance.

But after the head of the Zhang family fell ill, her marriage arrangements had been left unresolved.

Now, she remained in her boudoir, awaiting marriage, while caring for her seriously ill father.

The dark corridor was empty. Zhou Che stood outside the sickroom, carefully surveying the surroundings before peering through the crack of the door into the room.

At that moment, the Zhang family head was leaning against the headboard, while a gentle and graceful girl beside him fed him medicinal soup.

The girl had delicate, beautiful features, and her eyes were rimmed with red, clearly having just been crying moments before.

Without a doubt, this was the Zhang family’s Third Miss, Zhang Yue, whom Zhou Che was looking for.

After taking a sip of the medicinal soup, the Zhang family head coughed dryly twice before speaking with difficulty.

“Is there any news from your second sister’s side?”

Hearing this, Zhang Yue’s expression could no longer hide her grievance. The corners of her mouth trembled, but she still forcibly held back her tears.

“No. Since Second Sister went to the Li family, she has severed all contact with home. I’ve sent many letters to her these past two years, but there has been no reply whatsoever. Even when I went to the Li Residence to find her, I was turned away at the door and couldn’t even see her face.”

“Forget it, forget it! It’s all my fault... If I hadn’t forcibly separated her and that Lu boy back then, she wouldn’t hold such a grudge against me now.” The Zhang family head sighed, his tone filled with the weight of years.

“That Lu Xu was clearly a scoundrel! Addicted to gambling, piled up a mountain of debt, and on top of that, he even wanted to use Second Sister as collateral to sell her to his creditor. If you hadn’t accidentally overheard his plan, Second Sister would truly have been ruined by him! But this matter was clearly Lu Xu’s fault, why didn’t you explain it clearly to Second Sister!” Zhang Yue looked at her father, puzzled. She didn’t understand why he wouldn’t clarify the misunderstanding.

Zhang Father sighed. After hesitating repeatedly, he slowly explained, “At that time, your second sister was already utterly infatuated with Lu Xu. I already tried to explain long ago, but she refused to believe me. What could I do? Ah... forget it, forget it! It’s late at night. You should go back and rest early.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yue seemed to want to say something more, but in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

Seeing this situation, Zhou Che naturally couldn’t just leave it be. After all, Zhang Yue hadn’t provided her with any tears yet! If she went back just like that, wouldn’t this trip have been for nothing?

So Zhou Che used her spiritual power to blow a wisp of wind inside.

This wind came suddenly, causing the already frail Zhang Father to immediately start coughing violently again.

“Father! Are you alright?!”

Seeing something was wrong, Zhang Yue anxiously rushed to his side.

But Zhang Father seemed as if he were on the verge of death, coughing incessantly.

“Father! Father!” Zhang Yue felt a wave of dread. The sorrow that had been buried in her heart from worrying about her father immediately surfaced.

After being shaken by her, Zhang Father stopped coughing and instead rolled his eyes back, as if paralyzed.

Seeing this, fear and concern intertwined on Zhang Yue’s face, and tears immediately rolled down.

Zhou Che quickly used her spiritual power to collect the dripping tears.

Zhang Yue was in a fluster inside the room, not knowing what to do. Seeing this, Zhou Che shook her head and mimicked a servant’s voice, shouting a few words outside the door.

As if reminded by Zhou Che’s voice, Zhang Yue immediately started shouting and ran outside.

“Someone come! The master is in trouble! Someone come quickly!”

She burst out the door and ran toward the front courtyard.

After seeing her go far, Zhou Che quickly slipped out from a corner nearby and entered the room.

At this moment, Zhang Father was barely clinging to life, his eyes turbid and unfocused. In his dazed state, he vaguely seemed to see someone enter.

‘It seems the heart meridian has accumulated stagnant blood from the suppression of qi and blood. Well, since I took your daughter’s tears, I’ll lend you a hand.’

Zhou Che sighed and casually guided a stream of pure spiritual power into his body.

After doing this, she left the Zhang Manor without looking back.

By the time Zhang Yue brought people back, Zhang Father on the bed was already fine.

He seemed to have fallen asleep, his breathing now very even, as if nothing had ever happened.

* * *

After leaving the Zhang Manor, Zhou Che found several other households and, by various means, obtained the tears of those young women.

The girls Zhou Che targeted were either those who loved but couldn't have their love, or those whose families had experienced some misfortune. So obtaining their tears wasn't difficult.

After four days, Zhou Che had already obtained the tears of nine virgins, leaving just one more to reach her goal.

The reason it had taken so long was that in many of these families, cultivators had been coming as guests one after another.

This strange phenomenon made Zhou Che act even more cautiously.

“On the first night, I successfully collected tears from five girls. It was quite easy back then, but starting from the second night, I kept running into visiting cultivators. If it weren’t for the limitation of the Pure Maiden Ten Tears, which requires virgins above the age of fourteen, I would have just used the tears of young girls. Now with only this last one left, I can only brace myself and go in.”

Zhou Che spoke, as if having steeled her resolve.

Looking up at the high walls of the Qiao Manor, she gritted her teeth and flipped over.

It was still night, but this night brought immense pressure to Zhou Che.

Because the Qiao Manor also had a cultivator visiting.

Passing through the spacious rear garden, Zhou Che arrived outside the door of the Qiao family’s young lady.

According to the information she had gathered, this young lady was named Qiao Yurou. Because her family opposed her relationship and separated her from her lover, she shut herself in her room all day, drenching her face with tears.

However, when Zhou Che pressed her head close to the crack of the window, she heard giggles coming from inside the room.

The sounds from within confused Zhou Che, so she peered inside to see what was going on.

But this look, rather than being helpful, instantly reddened her face and left her completely stunned.

Inside the room, a man and a woman were intimately leaning against each other, teasing and playing.

They exchanged all sorts of sweet nothings, so mushy that Zhou Che broke out in goosebumps all over.

Although it was her first time witnessing the clouds and rain of Mount Wu, Zhou Che immediately understood what was happening.

Clearly, the man was Qiao Yurou’s lover. He had used some unknown means to sneak in, and Zhou Che had stumbled upon them.

Only, it was a pity for Zhou Che. Despite taking such a huge risk to enter the Qiao family, the other party had already lost her chastity first, making this trip a complete waste.

Zhou Che was not an indecisive person. Seeing that the girl had lost her value, she prepared to leave.

But as she retraced her steps back along the original route, by the rockery in the courtyard, she bumped into a dog with an oddly sleazy and comical look on its face.

Because releasing one's divine soul outward would be sensed by cultivators, Zhou Che hadn't noticed the dog’s presence.

Of course, the dog also froze upon seeing Zhou Che. Clearly, it hadn’t expected to run into a masked person in black.

Both human and dog instinctively froze on the spot. But time, after all, was not still. In just a split second, the dog opened its mouth, clearly about to bark.

Zhou Che steeled her heart, wrapped spiritual power around her palm, and violently reached out to knock the dog unconscious.

But what happened next surprised her.

The dog seemed to have anticipated Zhou Che’s move and suddenly leaped backward.

Zhou Che’s eyes were filled with shock, but she was ultimately no mortal, and her movements were naturally not something a dog could match.

Just as the dog had yet to land, Zhou Che’s palm struck upward, hitting the dog under its chin.

The reason it hit the chin was that after the dog jumped back, Zhou Che’s flustered palm changed trajectory.

Thus, the dog wasn’t knocked out but was sent flying into the air.

“Wo...!” The dog bared its teeth, letting out a yelp of pain.

!!!

Zhou Che was shocked. Immediately, she shot a palm of spiritual power at Qiao Yurou’s door, then with her other arm, clamped the dog’s mouth shut, scooped it up, and sped toward the outer wall, fleeing swiftly.

Although it was just a brief yelp, it still alerted the people of the Qiao family.

In just a few seconds, a large crowd had surrounded Qiao Yurou’s room...