Hé City — Beixi Mountain Villa District.
Dozens of luxury villas lay cradled between emerald mountains and glassy lakes, their rooftops glinting beneath the sun.
And right outside the grand gates stood Li Muchen—looking like he had stepped out of another world entirely.
His coarse linen robe was patched in places, his grey cloth shoes were worn thin, and his long hair was tied up with nothing more than a plain wooden hairpin. He could have been mistaken for a wandering Taoist… if Taoists could be this poor.
The security guards at the gate regarded him with the same caution one might give to a pickpocket.
Li Muchen ignored their stares.
He was here to cancel a wedding engagement.
An agreement made eighteen years ago—decided between his late grandfather and the Lin family patriarch, Lin Shangyi. Why they had done it, he never knew. Back then, he was two years old, and the Lin family's "future bride" had not yet been born.
Truthfully, he couldn't imagine what kind of story his grandfather had spun back then—especially since they had been surviving on scraps at the time.
When Li Muchen was seven, his grandfather, who had never left Hé City in his life, suddenly announced he had to travel.
He left in early autumn, when the mountains blazed with red leaves…
He returned in the twelfth lunar month, as snow fell like drifting feathers.
But the man who came back was a dying shadow of himself.
He passed away with a faint smile, cradled in Li Muchen's small arms.
Not long after, fate shifted. A Kunlun immortal named Yun Yangzi happened by and, seeing the orphan's potential, took him away to Tiandu Peak of the Kunlun Mountains.
That was more than a decade ago.
Now, Li Muchen had shed his old self entirely. He was one step away from breaking into the Innate Realm, the threshold to longevity.
His master had told him: If you break into Innate at your age, you will be the first in five centuries.
But for that, he had to descend the mountain—step back into the dust of the mortal world—to seek the opportunity for breakthrough.
And his first order of business… was to sever an old tie.
Yes, the Lin family was wealthy. But as a disciple of Tiandu Peak, of the Myriad Immortal Sect, how could he bow his head and become a rich man's son-in-law?
Besides, childhood betrothals were relics of the past.
He wasn't about to spend his prime years chained to a piece of paper and a girl he'd never met. It wouldn't be fair to either side.
Better to cut it off cleanly.
Still… there was a problem.
What if they refused?
Eighteen years was a long time to wait, and walking away now could be seen as an insult.
The address on the engagement letter only said Beixi Mountain Villa District. No house number.
He walked up to the nearest guard.
"Brother, is there an owner here with the surname Lin?"
The guard looked him up and down. "Lin? And why are you looking for someone named Lin?"
"Oh, I'm here to see a relative," Li Muchen said casually.
"Relative?" A trace of contempt flickered in the guard's eyes. Too many beggars had tried that line before.
This shabby young man, hair unkempt, clothes plain, looked like neither a proper Taoist nor a proper beggar—just another nobody.
"Everyone here is surnamed Lin," the guard said with mocking cheer. "Why don't you tell me exactly who you're looking for?"
"All surnamed Lin?" Li Muchen blinked. Could it be… all of this belonged to the Lin family?
He had heard they were rich, but this was ridiculous.
"I'm looking for Lin Shangyi."
The guard's smile froze. Then his tone turned sharp. "Go on, get out of here! You think you can just see the old master? Do you even know who he is?"
Li Muchen didn't even flinch. "My name is Li Muchen. Call him—you'll know."
The guard hesitated. If this guy really was connected to the old master, offending him could be trouble.
"Wait here," he muttered, walking off to make a call.
Li Muchen turned his gaze to the villas beyond the gate.
A fine place indeed—prime feng shui land in Hé City. The site, the layout, even the spacing between buildings—it all had the subtle touch of an expert.
Then he noticed it.
Above the villa district floated a faint, veil-like black cloud that refused to disperse.
On a cloudless day like this, it was unnatural. It was faint enough that ordinary eyes would dismiss it as nothing, but to Li Muchen's trained gaze, it was clear:
A dark cloud pressing down… this family is under a curse.
Should he tell them?
Just then, the gate opened. A man in his fifties stepped out.
The guard hurried over.
"Manager Luo," he said, pointing to Li Muchen. "It's him."
The butler gave Li Muchen a long look—seven parts suspicion, three parts disdain.
"You're Li Muchen?"
"I am."
"Come with me."
No more was said. The butler turned and led the way.
The guard watched them go, muttering enviously, "Lucky bastard. Why don't I have rich relatives like that?"
---
Within the Lin family's landscaped gardens, Li Muchen grew even more certain: someone had tampered with the earth's qi.
The feng shui layout was perfect, but the energy flow was… wrong. Luck would falter here, and misfortune would follow.
Inside one of the villas, opulence greeted him at the door. Gold inlays, fine carvings, and priceless antiques filled the space.
On the sofa sat a woman of refined elegance, her features well-kept by time and wealth.
"Madam, I've brought him," the butler said respectfully, stepping aside.
The woman studied Li Muchen for a moment. She lifted her teacup, inhaled the aroma, and took a slow sip—almost as if to wash away the sight of him.
"You are Li Muchen?" she asked coolly.
"I am."
"From the mountains?"
"Yes."
Even after two curt answers, she made no move to offer him a seat.
So Li Muchen simply walked over to a carved wooden chair and sat down without ceremony.
He was here to end an engagement, not to beg for one.
The butler's eyes flashed. That chair was reserved for the family head—he himself had never dared sit there. He opened his mouth to scold him, but the madam raised a hand.
"Forget it. A boy from the mountains doesn't know our rules." Her smile was faint, but the contempt in her eyes deepened.
"I'm here to see Master Lin Shangyi," Li Muchen said bluntly. "I'd rather speak with him directly."
"The old master isn't someone you can meet at will," she said smoothly. "If you have something to say, tell me. You may call me Madam Lin."
Li Muchen hesitated.
She wasn't the old master's wife—that much was clear. She was his daughter-in-law.
Which meant that, technically, she was his future mother-in-law… until this engagement was over.
"You look troubled," she said with a knowing smile.
"A little," he admitted.
"You feel embarrassed, don't you? Like what you came here to say is too much?"
"Uh… yes," Li Muchen replied, puzzled. "You… know why I'm here?"
"Of course." Her gaze sharpened. "Li Muchen—your name has been a thorn in my heart for eighteen years. How could I forget it?"
Li Muchen's thoughts darkened. Great. She's taking this seriously.
"I… well, I—" He was still trying to phrase it gently when she cut him off.
"No need to rush. Since you've just come down from the mountains, let me tell you about the Lin family."
She spoke of a century of wealth and power, of being one of Hé City's foremost clans. She gestured to the chair he was sitting on.
"This is a Ming dynasty rosewood 'dragon-carved official's hat' chair. A pair just like it sold for twenty-three million yuan at auction."
She paused, waiting for awe.
Li Muchen merely nodded. "Nice chair."
Her brows twitched. The butler nearly laughed out loud.
"This chair is reserved for the Lin family head. You are the first outsider to sit on it," she stressed, putting weight on the word outsider.
"Do you understand my meaning?"
"Yes," Li Muchen said seriously. "You're very rich."
Now the butler did laugh. Was this man an idiot?
But Madam Lin's eyes narrowed. No—he wasn't stupid. He was pretending.
She leaned forward. "Then I'll be even clearer. Families like ours marry as equals. My own family, the Yans of Meicheng, are as prestigious there as the Lins are here. Equal marriages strengthen both sides."
"You mean…" Li Muchen prompted.
"I mean," she said coldly, "the Lin family will never give our daughter to a man with no status and no wealth. Not even as a live-in son-in-law."
Li Muchen blinked… then chuckled.
He had come to break off the engagement.
Somehow, it seemed… she had just broken it for him.