Invincible Dad-Chapter 696 Bold Demon!_1

"..."

Ruan Lan turned around and stormed back upstairs. "I am NOT your ’darling Lan’!"

Hmph. Shallow, stinky man. You’ll find out one day that bigger isn’t always better. What’s wrong with being small? Being small has its merits too!

"You’re not eating?" Xu Lai yelled after her.

"No! I’m full from anger!"

BANG. The door slammed shut.

Ruan Tang tried to suppress a laugh. "Just keep teasing her. She probably won’t eat anything for the rest of the day."

"She eats more than you at every meal. She’ll get hungry in a little while."

Ruan Tang’s smile stiffened. "Hm? Darling, what’s that supposed to mean? Are you saying I eat too much?"

"..."

Xu Lai knew he had just stepped one foot into a deadly abyss.

He said smoothly, "No, I meant you eat too little. You’re not just one person anymore."

Ruan Tang’s smile froze completely.

"With the child, you’re eating for two. Naturally, you should eat more," Xu Lai continued leisurely. "Come on, honey. Have some more chicken soup."

Ruan Tang’s icy, beautiful face blossomed like a snow lotus. She shot Xu Lai a glare. "You’re just trying to get a rise out of me."

While sipping the chicken soup and eating the shrimp Xu Lai had peeled for her, Ruan Tang found herself increasingly impressed by his delicious cooking.

She asked, seemingly offhandedly, "Xu Lai, you must have cooked for your ex-girlfriends a lot."

"You’re overthinking things." Xu Lai shook his head. "Never."

"Really?" Ruan Tang’s eyes crinkled into a smile.

"Of course," Xu Lai said with a completely straight face.

Strictly speaking, neither Fairy Qing Yuan, nor Anna, nor that fox from Qingqiu were ex-girlfriends. They were confidantes. And matters concerning female confidantes... could that really be called an ex-girlfriend?

"I’m full," Ruan Tang announced after their late lunch. She checked the time; it wasn’t even five o’clock, and the sun was still high in the sky.

"Xu Lai, let’s go for a walk."

"Okay."

The couple left Haitang Court, hand in hand. They walked down Mount Haitang to the sea and strolled leisurely along the beach. As both a summer retreat and a major international metropolis, East Sea City was incredibly lively, especially by the ocean.

「At dusk.」

The beach was teeming with people, which naturally gave rise to countless street vendors. There were those selling snacks, some selling swimwear or small toys, and then there were the con artists.

This was the case at the fortune-telling stall Xu Lai and Ruan Tang were just passing.

"Miss, you two were mortal enemies in your past lives. It is not auspicious for you to be together in this one," the old man in sunglasses said, stroking the young woman’s hand while putting on a grave and earnest act. "If you force it, I’m afraid a great disaster will befall you!"

"Ah? Th-then what should I do..." The young woman who was having her fortune told went pale.

She and her boyfriend were childhood sweethearts. They had gone all the way from elementary school to university together and had finally confessed their feelings for each other last year. If a disaster was looming, what would happen to their wedding next month?

"I told you not to get our fortunes read," the somewhat chubby young man with thick glasses muttered. "He’s just a scammer. Why would you believe him?"

"Right, it’s all my fault. Are you happy now?"

"No, don’t be angry. I wasn’t blaming you."

"I’m not angry!"

"Then you..."

"Then me what? No wonder you’re always looking at me funny! It’s because we were enemies in a past life." The girl turned and stomped away. "You might as well go marry that junior who has a crush on you!"

"Eight thousand yuan can avert this disaster," the old man in sunglasses said calmly.

"Master, save me!" The young man scrambled to take out his phone to scan the payment code.

Ruan Tang was speechless.

Xu Lai couldn’t help but laugh. "Honey, I think if I ever end up poor and destitute, I could set up a stall and tell fortunes too."

"You?" Ruan Tang rolled her eyes. "If you go around swindling people like that, you’d better be careful not to get beaten to death."

"Hmph." The master at the stall was not pleased.

I was having a perfectly good time telling this young couple’s fortune, and now you two show up spouting nonsense and ruining my business?

He said unhappily, "Destiny is not something an ordinary person can divine. These eyes of mine went blind precisely because I peered into too many heavenly secrets. Is the young man willing to give up a healthy body to walk this path?"

"I’m not really willing to do that," Xu Lai said.

"Then you are not qualified to walk this path!" The master waved his sleeve and said with an air of detachment, "Divining fate is not child’s play. You don’t understand, and I don’t blame you for your ignorance."

"Did you hear that? You don’t understand," Ruan Tang teased, pursing her lips into a playful smile.

Xu Lai gave a cryptic smile.

In the Immortal Domain, Alchemists, Artifact Refiners, and Fate Masters held exceptionally high status. Those who divined the future, paying with their lifespan to glimpse heavenly secrets, were known as Fate Masters. And whether it was Alchemy, Artifact Refining, or divining fate, Xu Lai was skilled enough to rank in the top three of the entire Immortal Domain. To say nothing of the fact that across the current sea of stars, only those in the Emperor Realm could refine Emperor Artifacts and Emperor’s Elixirs. Just on the topic of Fate Masters... if he, Xu Qingfeng, claimed to be second, who would dare claim to be first?

Seeing the shift in Xu Lai’s expression, the master’s anger flared. "That look on your face is clearly one of contempt for me!"

"Master, aren’t you blind from peering into too many heavenly secrets?" the bewildered young man who had just been scammed out of eight thousand yuan asked.

"Blind... I can see even if I’m blind." The master’s expression didn’t change. "My eyes may be blind, but my heart is not. This is called spiritual sense."

"Oh." The young couple nodded, only half-understanding.

"You haven’t even reached Foundation Establishment, yet you masquerade as a spiritualist to cheat ordinary people out of their money." Xu Lai shook his head. "Aren’t you afraid of karmic retribution?"

The master’s heart leaped into his throat. What?! This guy can see my Boundary? Could he be a Cultivator too?

The master’s eyes flickered behind his sunglasses before he bellowed, "Audacious demon! I saw you weren’t human at a single glance. I will expose your true form!"

"Demon-Revealing Mirror!"

The master, dressed in a Daoist robe, fumbled in his robes and produced an ancient bronze mirror. The mirror was covered in green patina. It had clearly endured for a thousand years, its surface so corroded it could no longer reflect a face.

The master infused a trickle of Spiritual Energy into the bronze mirror. It suddenly flashed with a blinding golden light that shot fiercely toward Xu Lai.

"He’s an immortal!"

"Honey, the mirror is glowing..."

The young couple stared, dumbfounded, their admiration for the master now absolute. The praise went to the master’s head, making him feel a little giddy. This mirror of his was a treasure stolen from his Sect Gate, said to be a Magical Treasure refined by the sect’s founder. It could easily suppress any Cultivator below the Golden Core! The man before him looked very young, a Foundation Establishment cultivator at best. With this divine mirror, he could definitely be taken down easily.

When the blinding golden light faded, an eerie silence descended.

The "demon" who should have been purified was completely unharmed. Instead, he was looking over with a smile, his gaze particularly unsettling.

The master’s scalp went numb with terror. "You... How are you alright?"

Before his words had even faded, dense cracks spread across the bronze mirror, and in the blink of an eye, it crumbled into dust.

"..."

The master was silent for a moment, then he suddenly grit his teeth and crashed backward, landing stiffly on the sand.

He had perfect eyesight, yet he pretended to be blind. He was perfectly conscious, yet he feigned passing out.

Master. You’ve chosen the wrong profession. Instead of pretending to be a fortune-teller, wouldn’t the entertainment industry be a better fit? With acting skills like yours, you’d be a shoo-in for a Razzie award.

"..."

The master remained on the ground, showing no signs of waking up. The young man with the glasses in the couple seemed to be a medical student. Seeing the situation, he immediately panicked and began performing artificial respiration and chest compressions.

Xu Lai didn’t leave. He just watched the rescue efforts with a smile.

To his credit, the chubby young man in glasses had quite professional posture. It was just a shame he’d likely had leek dumplings for lunch; his breath was a bit pungent during the resuscitation.