Chapter 129: The Collapse of a Beauty

The shift in identity had been astonishingly swift. Just over an hour ago, she was a desperate, helpless young girl; now, in a complete transformation, she had become the owner of the Celestial Paradise Club. Even the head of the prestigious Situ family, one of the four great clans, spoke to her with such courtesy. The drastic change left Zhao Min feeling unsettled.

Fortunately, with Ling Tian and Zhao Ming by her side, Zhao Min felt somewhat reassured.

After dinner, Ling Tian planned to leave and stroll around Yunhai City, hoping to stumble upon something valuable.

Zhao Ming and Zhao Min hadn’t seen each other for a long time and decided to stay for a couple of days. Zhang Ding drove Ling Tian away. After the arrangements were made, the elder Situ personally escorted Ling Tian to the door.

“Brother, I’ll see you off here. Come find me when you have time; we should have a good chat.” Elder Situ clasped Ling Tian’s hands firmly, his tone sincere—this gratitude was genuine. Without Ling Tian’s healing talisman, Elder Situ might have already passed on. This was a lifesaving debt!

“All right,” Ling Tian nodded. “You all head back. I’m leaving now.”

At that moment, about a dozen people approached in a grand procession. Leading them was a stunning woman wearing sunglasses, her figure breathtaking and attire impeccable. Those following her were all vibrant and spirited, clearly elite individuals. Beside the beautiful woman was Ling Tian’s old acquaintance, Wang Ling, who sashayed over with an arrogant sway of her voluptuous hips.

The two groups passed each other.

The woman removed her sunglasses, surprised. “Ling Tian, what are you doing here?”

Ling Tian smiled. “I thought it looked like you just now, and it really was you. Situ Ze, come over. This is my fiancée—your aunt by marriage.” With that, Ling Tian gestured to Situ Ze, who stood behind Elder Situ.

Situ Ze felt an urge to bang his head against a wall. Life was unbearable—he might as well give up. First, a so-called uncle appeared, which was humiliating enough, and now a cheap aunt by marriage showed up. The most baffling thing was that, by the clan’s seniority, Mu Qingcheng was his niece, yet now he was being made to call her aunt. This was chaos.

Mu Qingcheng was even more overwhelmed. What nonsense was this? Moments ago, she had planned to call Situ Ze “uncle,” but Ling Tian had turned it around, making Situ Ze call her “aunt.” Ridiculous! The usually poised Mu Qingcheng was on the verge of swearing.

Who was Situ Ze?

He was the current head of the Situ family, one of the four great clans of Yunhai City, a top echelon figure with immense power and influence. How could he have become his own nephew? It was utterly preposterous.

“You brat, isn’t your uncle’s wife your aunt? From now on, we follow the seniority according to Brother Ling here,” Elder Situ scolded angrily. Had there been no outsiders present, he might have slapped him already. Still, Elder Situ was puzzled; Ling Tian was quite capable—he’d even managed to win over the most beautiful female CEO in Yunhai City.

Under Elder Situ’s imposing presence, Situ Ze respectfully approached Mu Qingcheng and said, “Your nephew greets his aunt.”

Hearing the word “aunt,” Mu Qingcheng felt a surge of frustration. Ling Tian had really made him say it. Her cheap fiancé, always meddling, first got involved with the Nangong family and now tangled with the Situ family, and inexplicably had become the uncle of Situ Ze, the head of the family.

Regret had set in. But it was too late. Marrying Ling Tian meant having nerves of steel, enduring shocks like these; otherwise, she might have been driven mad by such terrifying twists.

Mu Qingcheng realized that ever since Ling Tian appeared, her life had undergone drastic, unbearable changes.

“Wife, our big nephew is calling you. Why aren’t you responding?” Ling Tian urged.

Mu Qingcheng shot him a fierce glare but had no choice but to respond, “Hello, Head of the Situ family.” The business partners who had come with her exchanged glances, nearly frightened out of their wits. What was this situation?

They had come to negotiate business deals, but unexpectedly witnessed Mu Qingcheng becoming the aunt to the head of the Situ family. Did they even need to negotiate? Just sign the contracts—guaranteed by two major clans, a surefire profit.

“President Mu, after consideration, we fully accept the proposal you put forward. From now on, our cooperation officially begins,” a man in his fifties quickly signed the letter of intent and handed it to Mu Qingcheng.

The other clients also signed their contracts and passed them over in less than three minutes.

Mu Qingcheng stared blankly at the contracts in her hand. This efficiency was astonishing. She had brought her clients to the Celestial Paradise Club intending a lengthy negotiation, as the venue provided excellent facilities and was one of Yunhai City’s best choices for business talks.

Prepared for a long battle, possibly even a breakdown in talks, Mu Qingcheng hadn’t expected the negotiations to end before they even entered the club, with contracts signed exactly according to her original proposal.

“Is it really over?” she asked her clients in disbelief.

In unison, they replied, “Your reputation is excellent. Business is about profit; if you bring profit, why not cooperate? President Mu, we won’t disturb you further. We’ll take our leave.” Ignoring her attempts to keep them, the clients left in a hurry.

Being among such influential figures was overwhelming.

These were successful, powerful businessmen, collectively rivaling the Mu family. But compared to the Situ family—one of Yunhai’s four great clans—they were mere novices. In recent years, the Situ family’s business had expanded rapidly, hinting at the possibility of becoming the foremost of the four great clans.

Once everyone had left, Mu Qingcheng snapped back to reality. The contracts were signed; all that remained was her signature for them to take effect.

“Girl, come meet your sister-in-law,” Ling Tian beckoned to Zhao Min. Mu Qingcheng was a renowned talent in Yunhai City, and it would be beneficial for Zhao Min to learn from her.

“Hello, sister-in-law!” Zhao Min beamed. “You’re so beautiful, like a fairy.”

Mu Qingcheng smiled. “You’re such a sweet talker. Sister-in-law will buy you some treats later.”

Zhao Ming and Zhang Ding approached Ling Tian and whispered, “Be careful. You saw it just now—Xiao Min looks like a cute little girl on the outside but is a tough girl inside. Watch out that she doesn’t corrupt your wife.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Ling Tian wanted to kick those two noisy fellows away. He had gained a precious wife, yet he was worried she’d get spoiled. Especially Zhao Ming, who actually called his sister a tomboy.

After Mu Qingcheng signed all the contracts, she handed them to Wang Ling. “Put these away and inform the relevant departments to operate according to the new contracts starting tomorrow.”

“You all just met; have a good chat. I’m going for a walk,” Ling Tian stretched. The past few days had been busy; it was time to get out and look for cultivation resources.

Amid the surprised gazes of the others, Ling Tian strode off with Zhang Ding closely following.

After leaving the Celestial Paradise Club, Ling Tian instructed Zhang Ding to head to a well-known jade shop in Yunhai City. Finding spiritual stones on Earth was incredibly difficult due to scarce cultivation resources, but jade often contained spiritual energy.

Zhang Ding was familiar with Yunhai City and found a reputable chain jewelry store specializing in various jade stones. Its headquarters were said to be in Suhang, and it was a large-scale operation selling everything from jadeite and white jade to red jade, Mount Tai jade, rubies, sapphires, and more.

They parked and Zhang Ding turned back. “Boss, this jewelry store is quite large. They should have what you want.”

Ling Tian got out and surveyed the storefront. It was indeed sizable and located in a bustling area of Yunhai City. To operate such a large store here indicated strong backing. If the jade’s spiritual energy was high, a long-term partnership could be established.

For now, finding genuine spiritual stones was tough, so they would have to make do with jade.

Inside the store, Ling Tian circled the counters and shook his head. There were many varieties, but the quality was poor. The spiritual energy content was negligible, yet prices were steep.

Ling Tian calculated: restoring true energy with jade would cost over a million, far too expensive.

It seemed better to find a high-quality jade and craft a small spiritual gathering array on it to absorb spiritual energy more efficiently and for longer periods.

“Boss, I want to buy a piece of jewelry for Zhang Ting. Help me pick one, will you?” Zhang Ding said.

Ling Tian nodded. “Go ahead and choose. Show me when you’re done.” Ling Tian knew many jade stones were artificially enhanced—impurities removed, dyed, and so on—and novices could easily be fooled.

Suddenly, two burly men appeared beside Ling Tian. One held a bright green jadeite bracelet, which looked decent and appeared to be high-grade.

Ling Tian scanned it with his divine sense and shook his head. It was an artificially processed jadeite bracelet—not just far from high-grade, but not even medium-grade.

True high-grade jadeite was naturally formed. After mining, it was carved and polished without dyeing or chemical treatments, preserving its internal structure regardless of quality.

Medium-grade jadeite had flaws or poor coloration, so it underwent acid etching, high-pressure injection, or laser dyeing. Bleached and filled jade aimed to remove impurities that affected color and transparency and to fill cracks and blemishes. After treatment, it looked flawless and could be sold at high prices.

Naturally formed jadeite was rarely perfect.

“The spiritual energy is scarce, the flaws too many. It’s not even medium-grade—just low-grade,” Ling Tian said, losing interest and moving on to examine other jadeite pieces.