Li Daoxuan awoke that morning in his true body, outside the diorama box.
After the county magistrate's servants had rearranged a guest room for them the previous night, he had felt distinctly awkward about climbing onto the bed again. His heavy, metallic puppet body simply wasn't built for such fragile furniture. In the end, he sat cross-legged in the corner, shut down the co-sensing connection, returned to his real body beyond the box, and slept comfortably in his own bed.
The bed inside the diorama, he left for Gao Yiye.
Gao Yiye felt a faint sense of loss—but more than that, relief. Dao Xuan Tianzun was a righteous and benevolent deity, not some sinister god of lust or temptation. There was no need to expect anything improper. Just being near him, sharing a roof, was already enough to make her heart feel full.
She was so happy, in fact, that she barely slept at all.
Only when dawn was already breaking did exhaustion finally claim her.
Yet the moment she fell asleep, the world outside began to stir.
Mengjin County was waking up.
The cries of street vendors rang out one after another. Carts rattled over stone roads, horses snorted and stamped, petty officials barked shameless demands in the streets, townsfolk gathered in clusters to gossip, and maids and servants hurried through the magistrate's rear courtyard attending to guests.
In the corner of the guest room, the Puppet Heavenly Lord's eyes snapped open. He rose smoothly to his feet.
Li Daoxuan had already eaten breakfast in the real world and returned to the diorama to play.
Seeing Gao Yiye still sleeping soundly, he smiled faintly and stepped closer. He instinctively started to sit on the edge of the bed—then froze halfway down.
That weight.
If he sat, the bed would probably collapse again.
That would be… awkward.
He immediately changed posture, squatting by the bedside instead.
Her face was right there, close enough to see every detail. Even in sleep, a gentle smile lingered at the corners of her lips. Whatever she was dreaming about, it was clearly something sweet.
Li Daoxuan watched her quietly for a moment, then decided not to wake her.
He turned and left the room.
The guards outside straightened at once, about to greet him, but Li Daoxuan raised a finger to his lips.
"Shh."
The guards instantly sealed their mouths.
He lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Yiye is still asleep. Don't wake her. Protect her well. I'm going out for a stroll."
The guards leaned in just as seriously and whispered back, "As you command."
For a fleeting instant, one of them wondered whether they were meant to protect only the Saintess and not Dao Xuan Tianzun himself.
He immediately scolded himself inwardly.
What nonsense.
A deity needed no mortal protection.
With that settled, Li Daoxuan walked out of the magistrate's residence alone.
The moment he stepped through the main gate, a noisy group burst out behind him. At their head was Eunuch Zheng of the Prince of Fu's manor, his eyes ringed with dark circles like a panda, his expression frantic and unhinged.
"The sky's finally bright! Run!" he shrieked at his attendants. "This place is haunted! It must be crawling with flood ghosts!"
He ran without looking where he was going.
With a heavy thump, he slammed straight into Li Daoxuan.
Li Daoxuan had seen him coming clearly and could have stepped aside with ease.
He didn't.
Their foreheads collided head-on.
Eunuch Zheng felt as though he had smashed into an iron wall. A sharp clang rang in his skull, pain exploding between his brows.
"Ow! My head!" he howled, clutching his forehead and squatting down, trembling. For a long moment, he couldn't even stand.
Li Daoxuan laughed inwardly, but on the surface he staggered back and cried dramatically, "Ah! Can't you watch where you're going, you hooligan? My head hurts terribly! I'm gravely injured—this will require compensation for medical expenses!"
"What compensation?!" the Prince of Fu's attendants rushed forward, helping Eunuch Zheng up. One of them pointed angrily at Li Daoxuan. "We're from the Prince of Fu's manor! If we hit someone, we hit them! There's no such thing as medical expenses!"
They stared at Li Daoxuan in disbelief.
You don't even look scratched, and you're asking for five hundred taels?
We thought we were shameless—turns out you're worse.
Eunuch Zheng rubbed his forehead, squinting at Li Daoxuan, and recognition finally dawned.
Wasn't this the young man who had stood beside Bai Yuan at Xiaolangdi? The one called Xiao Qiushui, or something like that?
"You!" Eunuch Zheng pointed at him furiously. "You brat! You did this on purpose, didn't you? You're not hurt at all—you must practice some Iron Head technique!"
Li Daoxuan poked his own forehead, deliberately pressing the silicone surface. "Iron? Look how soft this skin is. Delicate and tender. Yet you accuse me of having an iron head. Alas… see how red my scalp is from the impact."
Naturally, the silicone showed no redness whatsoever.
The lie was shameless.
Eunuch Zheng and his entourage were furious but had no leverage. They snorted coldly, flung their sleeves, and hurried away.
Li Daoxuan waved cheerfully after them. "Safe travels! Go find more reinforcements! General Qin won't help you—how pitiful!"
Eunuch Zheng's body stiffened. He paused for half a breath, then fled even faster.
They vanished down the street.
Li Daoxuan didn't pursue them. He continued strolling through Mengjin County at leisure.
Not long after he left, several heads quietly poked out from an alley across the street.
Xu Chenglong was at the front, with more than a dozen former Xiaolangdi water bandits behind him.
He sneered. "I was still wondering how to lure away his guards. Who knew he'd walk out alone?"
"Heh. Brothers, follow him. Find a quiet alley, beat him senseless, tie him up, and take him to Shanxi."
The bandits split into small groups of two or three, disguising themselves as ordinary townsfolk. They drifted through the streets, keeping a careful distance, silently tightening the net around their prey.
Shadowing and kidnapping were skills they had honed for years.
Li Daoxuan walked on, seemingly unaware.
Ahead was a narrow alley. He leaned in to take a look and spotted a ragged old man crouched in the corner.
He stepped inside, took out a small piece of silver, and placed it in the old man's hand. "Old sir, buy yourself something to eat."
The old man was overjoyed. "Thank you! Thank you, young hero!"
Clutching the silver, he hurried back out toward the main street.
Li Daoxuan watched him go, then turned to leave the alley himself.
That was when shadows flickered at the entrance.
Five or six burly men blocked the way.
"Oh?" Li Daoxuan said mildly.
He turned—and found the other end of the alley blocked as well, another five or six men closing in.
The two groups advanced slowly, sealing off every path of escape.
Li Daoxuan looked at them, expression calm.
"Well," he said lightly, "this alley just got lively."