Chapter 577: The Widow Chang

"Master Ding, I know it's presumptuous of me to come here, but I have nowhere else to turn—I can only come to you."

Madam Chang's voice was heart-wrenching, pitiful to behold.

Ding Huan spoke calmly: "Speak. As long as it's within my ability and doesn't violate my inner principles, I will help you."

He realized: Madam Chang knew his one-month seclusion had ended, and that he would soon leave to visit the Xi family—so she had stayed here waiting for him.

It looked like she'd been waiting for over half a month.

Madam Chang suddenly knelt again: "Please, Master Ding, forgive me for deceiving you before."

Ding Huan immediately frowned. If Madam Chang hadn't said that, he might not have thought much of it.

Now that she apologized, he recalled: the Xi Immortal Clan wasn't even a major clan—how could they possibly possess something as rare as the Nine-Colored Void Lotus?

He hadn't thought much about it before, nor had he imagined Madam Chang would deceive someone like him, with no connection to her.

Ding Huan's expression darkened.

If Madam Chang hadn't blocked him here, he truly would have been fooled.

He couldn't fathom what this woman was truly thinking.

Madam Chang hurriedly explained:

"Master Ding, I sent you to the Xi family because the first person to obtain that Nine-Colored Void Lotus was Xi Xi Yuanhao of the Xi family. Later, my husband bought it from him…"

"So the Nine-Colored Void Lotus belongs to you?" Ding Huan's tone grew cold.

Madam Chang nodded firmly: "After my husband bought it, he gave it to me."

"That's why I sent you to the Xi family instead of the Mu family—because the Mu family is too powerful. You'd never have gotten the Nine-Colored Void Lotus from them. At the time, I simply didn't know you were Master Ding."

"But if you went to the Xi family, you could learn the origin of the Nine-Colored Void Lotus from Xi Xi Yuanhao—or even acquire another one yourself. The chance is slim, but better than no chance at all."

Ding Huan flicked his hand, and Madam Chang, who had just been kneeling, rose to her feet.

Madam Chang's face showed shock.

She was at least a Late-stage Immortal Sovereign—yet in that single flick of his hand, she had no ability to resist at all.

"If the Void Lotus is yours, why involve the Mu family? And why are you here today—just to apologize for giving me false information?" Ding Huan's tone was cold.

"Because I need you to save my husband. I didn't know how powerful you were before—but once I learned, I came here immediately to wait for you." Madam Chang's voice trembled.

Her trembling tone carried the fragile hope that something utterly impossible might yet become real.

Ding Huan froze: "Your husband?"

If she had a husband, how could she be called a widow?

Madam Chang took a deep breath and forced calm into her voice:

"Long ago, Mu Congfei of the Mu Immortal Clan insulted me—so my husband shattered his soul sea…"

Ding Huan thought inwardly: In the Dao Corridor, initiating an attack like that should have been sentenced to death.

Could a husband who shattered another's soul sea still be alive?

Was Madam Chang not asking him to save someone—but to seek revenge?

But it didn't matter much—he already had a grudge against the Immortal Surveillance Bureau. As for the Mu family, he wouldn't believe one side alone.

For him, the most important thing was the Nine-Colored Void Lotus.

Ding Huan's gaze settled on Madam Chang's face, his thoughts dismissive.

Though Madam Chang's appearance was passably delicate, for Mu Congfei to have made advances toward her seemed excessive.

Was Mu Congfei blind?

Madam Chang clearly sensed Ding Huan's gaze—she suddenly raised her hand and pulled at her face.

A face of peerless beauty appeared before Ding Huan.

Even Ding Huan, who had seen countless beauties, was stunned by Madam Chang's appearance.

He had never imagined a woman could be this beautiful—her features so exquisitely perfect that removing or adding even the slightest detail would ruin them.

In that moment, he couldn't find a single word adequate to describe that face.

A faint aura of enchantment reached Ding Huan—he snapped to attention, instantly realizing.

This wasn't intentional on Madam Chang's part.

He recalled a saying: "When you see a mountain, it's not a mountain; when you see water, it's not water."

When a woman's beauty reaches its ultimate form, you feel no desire to defile her—because such beauty makes even the thought of such desire feel shameful.

That was the level of "When you see a mountain, it's not a mountain; when you see water, it's not water."

Now Ding Huan doubted that saying.

Rather, when a woman's beauty transcends even the concept of extremity, you feel a fierce desire to possess her.

That was the level of "When you see a mountain, it's still a mountain; when you see water, it's still water."

Madam Chang's beauty was precisely this level.

He thought of Jia Baihe, then of Wen Zhixi.

Both Jia Baihe and Wen Zhixi possessed unparalleled beauty.

But their beauty lacked the extremity of Madam Chang's—instead, it gave Ding Huan a touch of earthly warmth.

Madam Chang noticed that, beyond his initial astonishment, Ding Huan had drifted into thought.

No—was he thinking of another woman?

She had never seen a man like this before.

In truth, when she came to seek Ding Huan, she had already calculated this very detail into her plan.

If he agreed, she was willing to give her body—to save her Dao companion.

Clearly, Ding Huan was the first male cultivator who showed no particular interest in her body.

"Continue," Ding Huan said, returning to himself, addressing Madam Chang.

He also marveled internally—this widow Chang's thin-skin mask was so lifelike that even he hadn't noticed it at first.

This thing was certainly not an ordinary treasure.

"Yes." Widow Chang did not put the mask back on; her initial confidence had vanished.

She never imagined Ding Huan's interest lay in the mask she held.

"Because my husband struck first, the Immortal Surveillance Office sought to kill him, so I begged for mercy…"

Ding Huan knew this rule well.

Under the One Hundred Thousand Laws of the Great Dao Corridor, the first to strike commits a capital offense.

But there was one sliver of hope: gaining the other party's forgiveness.

Such forgiveness was almost impossible, so it was generally ignored.

For example, if someone attacks you, and you wish to forgive them, you as the victim must still pay at least one supreme-grade immortal spiritual vein and five high-grade immortal spiritual veins.

Who in their right mind would do that?

You hit me—once the Immortal Surveillance Office kills you, your ring is mine. Why should I give up anything and forgive you?

Even if you did offer immortal spiritual veins to the Immortal Surveillance Office to beg for mercy and have the other party forgiven,

the Immortal Surveillance Office would merely spare your life—they wouldn't release you.

The criminal would still be imprisoned in the dungeon, never to see the light of day again.

"To gain Mu Clan's forgiveness for my husband, I gave them a Nine-Colored Void Lotus and agreed to one demand from the Mu Immortal Clan: I must willingly bear a child for Mu Congfei."

My husband screamed at me not to care for him, but I still accepted this humiliating demand, stayed in the Mu Immortal Clan, and bore Mu Congfei a daughter.

Afterward, I left the Mu Immortal Clan, fled far away, and lived in hiding under a false name."

Ding Huan asked: "Where is your husband imprisoned in the Immortal Surveillance Office?"

There was another thing Ding Huan wanted to ask: given Widow Chang's beauty, and how much Mu Congfei desired her, how could he let her leave the Mu Immortal Clan?

Widow Chang shook her head: "He's imprisoned in the Mu Immortal Clan's dungeon."

Seeing Ding Huan's confusion, Widow Chang said bitterly: "Mu Congfei's elder brother, Mu Congdao, is the actual power-holding Director of the Immortal Surveillance Office—not one of those guest directors."

According to the Immortal Surveillance Office's internal rules, power-holding Directors are permitted to establish dungeons. So Mu Congdao set his controlled dungeon within the Mu Immortal Clan."

Indeed, absolute power leads to absolute corruption.

On the surface, the Great Dao Corridor was peaceful under the One Hundred Thousand Laws, but once you angered those in power, life became worse than death.

He harassed Widow Chang, forced her to pay a Nine-Colored Void Lotus, and imprisoned her Dao companion.

And that wasn't enough—he made her bear children for the man who harassed her.

Even a random bystander would be furious enough to have liver pain.

Ding Huan had seen too many injustices; he found the Immortal Surveillance Office's laws utterly abhorrent.

One could imagine that as a power-holding Director, the immortal spiritual veins the Mu Immortal Clan provided likely all flowed back into the Mu family.

"Then lead the way—we're going to the Mu Immortal Clan now." Ding Huan was eager to obtain the Nine-Colored Void Lotus.

Everything about the Mu Immortal Clan came from Widow Chang's words—he didn't know the truth.

As for the Xi Yuan Immortal Clan, he planned to visit after this matter was settled.

Because the Nine-Colored Void Lotus he needed wasn't just one.

Besides Ji Luo, his other old friend Brother Xingpan's physical body had also been destroyed.

Brother Xingpan might find body-reconstructing immortal materials more easily than Ji Luo, since he was a Heavenly Emperor.

Still, Ding Huan planned to help find one first—what if Brother Xingpan couldn't find any?

Top-tier body-reconstructing materials weren't easy to come by.

"Thank you, Master Ding." When Widow Chang stepped onto Ding Huan's Cosmic Cauldron, she felt as if all her strength had been drained.

She had waited too long, too long, for this day.

Ding Huan controlled the Cosmic Cauldron as it shot out of the Yonghuang Divine Arts Academy—the academy's gate tower had already been rebuilt.

Under his divine sense, the deep ravine he had blasted open had not been filled—it was even protected by a defensive array.

If this was Gu Min's doing, what did it mean?

"I have a question: why is the power gap between early-stage and mid-stage Heavenly Emperors here so vast?" On the Wheel of Reincarnation Cauldron, Ding Huan asked the question he'd long wanted to pose.

Back at the Yonghuang Divine Arts Academy gate, he had been attacked by twelve Heavenly Emperors.

Aside from Yuan You, those early-stage Heavenly Emperors were truly mediocre.

But the several mid-stage Heavenly Emperors who hadn't fought were clearly far stronger—this strength far exceeded the normal gap between mid and early realms.

Widow Chang froze, as if only now realizing, then quickly answered:

"Because in the Great Dao Corridor, once you reach Heavenly Emperor Level Four, you must go to the Starfield Battlefield to kill demonic insects.

Only after accumulating a certain amount of contribution points can you return to the Great Dao Corridor."

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