Master, Your Salted Fish Has Arrived - Chapter 23
After Shi Qianlü, the Yuan Patriarch, and the Moon Palace Master left White Deer Cliff, the Moon Palace Master—whose face had turned dark as charcoal before Sima Jiao without daring to speak—now vented all her anger on Shi Qianlü.
“Sect Leader, will you just keep tolerating his arrogance? You weren’t this timid before.”
Shi Qianlü asked evenly, “Then what would you have me do?”
“Even if we can’t kill him,” she snapped, “with so many of us, can’t we at least confine him—”
Shi Qianlü laughed softly. “Confine him, like we did five hundred years ago?”
Her words stuck in her throat. At the memory of that failure, her face stiffened.
Back then, unable to kill Sima Jiao, they had tried to completely control him. Instead, the attempt cost countless lives and only strengthened him. In the end, they had trapped him in the Three Sacred Mountains, a place barren of spiritual energy, with spirit fire meant to wear him down for five centuries. But rather than weakening, he had emerged stronger than ever.
Sima Jiao was a rare genius—once in tens of thousands of years. No dead end could bind him. Even Shi Qianlü’s own master had failed against him, and Shi Qianlü no longer dared to underestimate him.
Now, everyone maintained a fragile balance. As long as Sima Jiao didn’t cross the bottom line, even if he killed, they could only endure. And Sima Jiao himself understood this perfectly. His actions seemed reckless, but they were measured—never truly mad. Sometimes Shi Qianlü wondered if he was insane at all. To endure such pain without losing one’s mind… that was far more terrifying.
“Move against him, and Gengchen Immortal Manor bleeds. If he decides to drag us all down, it will be mutual destruction,” Shi Qianlü said gravely. “So—we endure. For now. No one stays arrogant forever. This balance will eventually break.”
The Moon Palace Master, used to noble status and never humiliation, choked on her anger but chose endurance. With a sweep of her sleeve, she returned to her palace to soothe her daughter.
The Yuan Patriarch, for his part, hadn’t truly come for Yuan Shang. Sima Jiao was right—he had too many sons. Yuan Shang, once promising, had long since disappointed him. His real concern was another matter. Back home, he quickly detained Yuan Shang’s servants.
Before long, he learned the truth. Yuan Shang had been colluding with the Demon Realm.
“So that Liao Tingyan was a Demon spy planted by him,” the Patriarch cursed. “Audacious fool! A ruined cultivation and now a heart demon—no wonder.”
Fortunately, both Yuan Shang and the spy were dead. At least the Yuan clan was spared the fallout.
Meanwhile, Shi Qianlü headed straight to the Lamp Pavilion. The disciple guarding the lamps hurried up, pale-faced.
“Sect Leader, I was about to report—the life lamp of that disciple inexplicably extinguished. Her soul cannot be summoned.”
Shi Qianlü had come to confirm just this. The lamp gone out—Liao Tingyan was dead. A pity, he thought, one less tool to make use of.
“Very well. No need to watch it further.”
The news spread swiftly: Liao Tingyan, once infatuated with Daoist Lord Cizang, had been killed by him within days. Rumors flew that she died miserably, leaving not even a corpse.
…
Liao Tingyan had, in fact, only just woken from a nap.
She’d been stargazing on the flying pavilion’s terrace, dozed off, and now awoke to blazing sunlight. She rolled over—and froze. Sima Jiao sat beside her. Such a large Sima Jiao.
Ancestral Master, why do you look so… big?
Then she noticed his hand, enormous, pressing against her belly. She looked down—fur, paws, a tail.
She had shrunk. Into an otter.
“Ahhh—” she screamed. What came out was a soft “ying-ying.”
She touched her furry face, her round belly, her little paws. “Ahhh—!”
Sima Jiao burst into laughter. “Hahahahahahaha!” He laughed until he toppled back onto her pillow.
Liao Tingyan snatched up a mirror from her storage space, larger than herself now, and stared. The sleek gray-furred creature staring back was unmistakable. A ying-ying monster.
Her soul left her body. I’ve turned into an otter?!
She leapt onto Sima Jiao, headbutting him. “Why did you turn me into this? Change me back! Big boobs! Long legs! Pretty face!”
Sima Jiao easily blocked her tiny head. His voice was amused, almost gentle. “It wasn’t me. It was your desire.”
“Ying-ying-ying!” she screeched, slapping his hand with her paw.
He explained, “I gave you a Phantom Form Pill. It turns you into the image most deeply imprinted in your mind.”
And then Liao Tingyan remembered her dream last night. Of scrolling Weibo. Cute cats. Round pandas. Sleek, adorable otters. She had wanted to pet one so badly…
Weibo has ruined me.
If only she had thought about her idols, she might have become a handsome man instead. But no. An otter.
Sima Jiao stroked her belly. She pushed his hand away. “Turn me back!”
He drawled, “Phantom Form Pill lasts three months.”
“Three months?!”
Life as an otter turned out… not so bad. Still eating, sleeping, and lazing. She could still fly, bathe, and float. No shame in floating belly-up now. She even thought, No wonder so many people want to be cats.
The only problem: Sima Jiao adored petting the otter. He dragged her into the ice pool to soak with him, placing her on his stomach. She always escaped to the couch to nap—until the big black snake appeared.
Once neglected, the snake now roamed happily, lazy and playful. It didn’t recognize the otter sprawled on its master’s couch and thought to play. Its idea of play: bite, but not swallow.
Liao Tingyan awoke inside its mouth.
Before she could react, Sima Jiao emerged from the pool, pried open the snake’s jaws, plucked her out, and smacked the snake. “Idiot. Get out.”
The snake slithered away, aggrieved.
Liao Tingyan glared at Sima Jiao. Big Black’s just a child. Why hit him?
Sima Jiao caught her stare, face darkening. Without a word, he dragged the snake back, forced its mouth open—and stuffed the otter inside again.
Snake: “…?”
Otter: “…!”
Suddenly throwing tantrums—are you a spoiled child?!
She crawled out again, shook off, then climbed onto the snake’s head. “Come on, Big Black. Let’s go for a ride.”