Chapter 148: A Crossdressing Bigshot?

Chen Xiang looked around in terror, trying to confirm whether he had misheard just now or if someone was lurking unseen. He did not suppress his divine sense and spread it throughout the entire room.

The “woman” was startled the moment Chen Xiang unleashed his divine sense. She then turned around and frowned at him, saying, “Perfected Transformation Master?”

Such a powerful divine sense was nearly at the Nascent Soul stage. Even she was no match for it. But what was a cultivator at the peak of Perfected Transformation doing here?

Listening once more, Chen Xiang finally believed that the voice belonged to the woman before him.

His expression grew serious as he took several steps back, pressing against the window. Solemnly, he said, “Cross-dressing master?”

The woman looked puzzled by his words—what did he mean by “cross-dressing master”?

She put down the book in her hands, faced Chen Xiang squarely, and spoke seriously, “Why have you trespassed into my City Lord’s mansion, Dao friend? I hope you won’t lie. Even if you are a Perfected Transformation Master, if I exert my full strength, you won’t escape from here!”

Chen Xiang didn’t answer her directly. Instead, he scrutinized her face, then glanced at her chest, and finally stared fixedly at her lower body, trying to discern something.

At that moment, he cursed himself for not having X-ray vision.

Sensing Chen Xiang’s gaze, the woman’s expression darkened. Coldly, she said, “Dao friend, what are you looking at? Do you find it attractive?”

Chen Xiang cleared his throat lightly.

He looked again at her face.

“No makeup, huh? Cough, Dao friend, I don’t know whether you are male or female?” Chen Xiang muttered, casting her a glance and cautiously asking.

The woman’s face turned cold at his words. She snorted lightly and said, “Hmph, neither male nor female, both male and female!”

“Whoa!”

Chen Xiang gasped in surprise.

“So you’re a hermaphrodite!” Chen Xiang blurted out involuntarily.

“Hermaphrodite?” The woman frowned, not understanding what that meant. Suddenly, she thought about it and snorted coldly, “Hmph, you are the inferior demon beings. Dao friend, watch your words!”

With that, a sudden surge of intense pressure erupted from her body, crushing toward Chen Xiang.

---

On the continent, there exists a race born from the union of shape-shifting demon beasts and humans. They are called the heterodox demon folk.

Most of them are shunned by both humans and demons, so they band together, forming their own race. Now, they have become a powerful faction comparable to both humans and demons.

Not only can they reproduce naturally, but they also absorb many offspring from human-demon unions. This is the source of their strength.

Yet, even though their power rivals that of humans and demons, both those races still regard them as inferior, unwanted kinsfolk.

Chen Xiang knew she didn’t understand and didn’t bother to explain.

After his initial shock, he remained expressionless in the face of her pressure, unaffected.

But inside, he was secretly alarmed.

Earlier, he hadn’t detected any spiritual energy fluctuations from her, but when she exerted her pressure, her true cultivation was revealed.

She was a Perfected Transformation Master at the tenth level, though her spiritual power was unstable, clearly having broken through not long ago.

“Ahem, Dao friend, don’t worry, I mean no harm. I only have a few questions. Please don’t be nervous,” Chen Xiang said with a light cough.

“Hmph.” Seeing her pressure was ineffective, the woman withdrew, coldly snorting, “Answer me first. What business do you have sneaking into my City Lord’s mansion?”

“Sigh.” Chen Xiang sighed and looked up at an angle of forty-five degrees, his face full of melancholy. “You probably won’t believe me if I say I’m here to see an old friend!”

A cold smile curled on the woman’s lips.

Believe you? As if! Would someone sneak in secretly just to visit someone? That first sentence alone earned Chen Xiang a big X in her book—she wouldn’t believe his nonsense.

“See, I knew you’d have that expression. Sigh, why is trust between people so hard to come by these days? I’m only telling the truth!” Chen Xiang lamented deeply.

The woman’s expression chilled slightly. “It seems you don’t want to tell the truth, then. Tell me, what is your old friend’s name?”

“Luo Tianming!” Chen Xiang immediately blurted out the young man’s name.

The woman was momentarily stunned.

She only wanted to dismiss Chen Xiang’s lies but didn’t expect him to actually give a name.

She pondered carefully whether she had heard of Luo Tianming.

---

After a moment, the woman fixed Chen Xiang with a strange look.

Of course, she knew the name. He was the grandson of the Third Elder of the Tianyin Sect, a prodigy who had reached Perfected Transformation cultivation at only thirty-five or thirty-six years old!

But he had been sent to the City Lord’s mansion yesterday because he was seriously injured. She didn’t know the details, but just from glancing at his wounds, she knew that even if he recovered, his future cultivation potential would be greatly diminished, and the chance to break through to Nascent Soul was slim.

“Are you his friend or his enemy?” the woman asked Chen Xiang.

“Luo Tianming really is here? Haha, I’m his best friend. I heard he was injured, so I came to see him. I wanted to surprise him, so I sneaked in quietly. But I couldn’t find him, so I had no choice but to ask you, lady... ahem, Dao friend,” Chen Xiang said with a delighted expression, though he no longer dared to call her “lady.”

That voice and appearance gave him chills.

But then something unexpected happened.

“Oh? You’re his friend? Sorry, they’ve already left. He was too badly injured and has been sent back to the Tianyin Sect for treatment,” the woman said indifferently.

She showed no hint of deceit or concealment.

Chen Xiang’s mouth twitched.

Damn it, could that sound any faker? And that expression and tone—if this were the entertainment world, even an extra could only play a corpse!

“Ahem, Dao friend, maybe you misheard. Actually, I have a blood feud with him! Ten years ago, he killed my dear friend Xiao Qiang, who was like family to me. I cried for three days and nights and shed two streams of bloody tears. I swore to avenge Xiao Qiang, so please tell me where that bastard is!” Chen Xiang’s face turned sorrowful at first, then grew increasingly angry as he spoke, gritting his teeth.

His acting was truly top-notch. Had he not done what he did before, the woman nearly believed him!

But even though she knew Chen Xiang was lying, she didn’t expose him.

The woman nodded calmly and said, “I’m sorry about your friend. Luo Tianming is in the second pavilion in the backyard, guarded by two Perfected Transformation cultivators—his father and grandfather. Go avenge him.”

Chen Xiang was stunned. Was it really that simple?

“Ahem, Dao friend, aren’t you afraid I’m Luo Tianming’s friend and will tell him everything that’s happened here?” Chen Xiang asked with a puzzled cough.

The woman sat back down, picked up her book, flipped to the bookmarked page, and said coldly, “You are very shameless.”