[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-if-you-will-not-reject-me-i-wish-to-bow-and-take":3,"chapter-if-you-will-not-reject-me-i-wish-to-bow-and-take-if-you-will-not-reject-me-i-wish-to-bow-and-take-chapter-59":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","If You Will Not Reject Me, I Wish to Bow and Take You as My Adoptive Father",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2276786,4454,"Chapter 59: The Human Immortal Has Arrived","if-you-will-not-reject-me-i-wish-to-bow-and-take-chapter-59",59,"\u003Cp>“Uncle Duan, thank you!” As Xiao Yu stepped out of the wine cellar gate, she saw Duan Yuhuan again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As before, only a faint ghostly shadow, face indistinct.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She bowed low, back curved, hands clasped, and paid him a respectful bow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Had it not been for your guidance, my adoptive father would have been humiliated by villains—I would have carried this regret to my grave, suffering for life.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nine-tenths of this gratitude was sincere; without Duan Yuhuan’s guidance, she would have surely missed the Bone-Transformation Elixir.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Guan Zhong could carefully conceal the divine elixir, yet he could not stand idly by while Guan Huchen suffered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if Huchen still breathed, or even if he were already dead, reduced to bones, seeing Huchen’s remains desecrated, Guan Zhong still could not endure it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, Wang Bao, Li Qing, and the others could never escape unscathed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside the Flag Gate Concealment Array, even she, who had originally been inside the wine cellar, had lost all sense of direction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How had Wang Bao, Li Qing, and the others, long vanished, managed to cut straight through the thick white mist to reach the wine cellar?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was not the guidance of Wang Bao and Li Qing’s unseen master—it was Kong Zan, the master of the Flag Gate Concealment Array!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kong Zan had almost certainly let them pass on purpose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The motive was easy to guess: the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware the oriole lurks behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since she suspected Kong Zan might be watching this wine cellar, leaving now to find the Crimson Smoke Steed was, in fact, a path to survival.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Miss Xiao, you flatter me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Duan Yuhuan returned Xiao Yu’s bow with the same formality, then added solemnly: “Rescuing one’s father from peril is an act of filial piety!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even a stranger encountered on the road, if able to help, must lend a hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And you, Miss Xiao, have bestowed upon my father and me a debt so great, even tying grass and biting into a ring would be insufficient—I merely showed you the way; it was your own courage and fearlessness that defeated the villains.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiao Yu bowed again, saying: “Uncle Duan, we’ve already formed a bond—no need for such formalities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I still need your help: find the Crimson Smoke Steed, so I may deliver my adoptive father from torment.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Naturally!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon hearing this, Duan Yuhuan did not find Xiao Yu presumptuous or demanding more—he sounded genuinely pleased and warm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without delay, he continued leading ahead, muttering ghostly incantations as he guided Xiao Yu into the “Ghost Path.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Flag Gate Concealment Array had existed since the Middle Antiquity, tens of thousands of years ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a divine art created by the Jie Sect’s immortals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Originally, its function was simple: primarily used on the battlefield to slay enemy generals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two large flags planted into the ground formed two gates; between them, a self-contained space emerged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The practitioner entering it could vanish completely from sight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If enemies dared to pursue inside, they would lose all sense of direction and spatial awareness, easily ambushed by the hidden practitioner, who could sever their heads without warning or resistance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But what if the Flag Gate Concealment slew too many generals, becoming infamous across the land, so no one dared enter the flags?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Flag Gate Concealment lineage Kong Zan inherited differed slightly from that of the Middle Antiquity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His version could still slay generals on the battlefield—he had slain several major foes early on, earning the infamous title “Flag Hunter,” after which no one fell for the trick again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Setting up the flags on the spot no longer deceived anyone—but what if he set traps in advance?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kong Zan, the Flag Hunter, possessed two great flags: one black, one white.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each flag could manifest into a gate; between the two gates lay the “Flag Gate Space.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The “enemy” Qin the Elder had seen, bearing black-and-white flags, was none other than him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had secretly come to Feixian Ferry under cover of night, planting one flag on the eastern road beside Yunlai Inn—the very road Huchen and the others had taken from Hengsha Pass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He waited until today, when the Yangyang Marquis arrived from the western straight road and entered Huchen’s camp, before planting the second flag at the western road’s entrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, from the western road’s entrance to the eastern road’s end, nearly the entire Feixian Ferry lay shrouded within the Flag Gate Space.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Lei Yuanzi ended the thunderstorm, and the Jade-Faced Wenshu disrupted the Fire Crow Army’s morale, the “Eight Immortals Shooting the Sun” operation officially began.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Step one: seal Feixian Ferry with the Flag Gate Concealment Array, and slay every soldier whose resolve had wavered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiao Yu, upon hearing the Jade-Faced Wenshu’s speech, immediately recognized his intent: to confuse the troops and shatter the Fire Crow Army’s fighting spirit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, the Fire Crow Army under the Yangyang Marquis was not pure—it consisted of two parts: fewer than a hundred “Great Qin Giants,” and elite troops from the western states.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For instance, the Iron Cavalry Camp led by Huchen, and the Western Sands Garrison Camp brought from Hengsha Pass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now that the Thirty-Six States’ rebellion had been quelled, all thirty-six states had once again pledged allegiance to Great Qin, and each had sent elite troops to aid the Yangyang Marquis in suppressing unrest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Jade-Faced Wenshu’s speech targeted these temporary Fire Crow soldiers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Xiao Yu misjudged the Jade-Faced Wenshu’s true objective.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was cruel. And cunning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Jade-Faced Wenshu did not want them to abandon resistance—or even defect mid-battle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He merely sought to shake their will, to break the Yangyang Marquis’s “Three Thousand Fire Crows Array.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His most direct goal: to make it easier for the Flag Hunter Kong Zan to pick off those who had been swayed, yet still cherished loyalty to their former lords.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah, fog’s rising—so thick!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the Flag Gate Concealment Array activated, the mist appeared as if teleported—instantly, the moment the flags were planted, every inch of Feixian Ferry was filled with dense fog.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A commotion erupted within the Fire Crow Army camp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t move!” The Yangyang Marquis’s deep voice echoed across all directions: “This is Kong Zan’s Flag Gate Concealment. You’ve lost all sense of direction and space—any movement will not achieve your intended goal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You wish to approach, yet you only move farther away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You intend to go left, yet you may end up on the right, a hundred paces away—or even outside the formation entirely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if you remain still, Kong Zan cannot—”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Snick, snick~~~”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before the Yangyang Marquis finished speaking, seven or eight cavalrymen bearing black-elephant emblems on their breastplates suddenly lost their heads.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had obeyed—had not moved—but the invisible blades still descended from above.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like falling snowflakes, they passed through umbrellas, drifted soundlessly through the flames of the Three Thousand Fire Crows’ giant shields, and landed upon their necks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As cleanly as a blade slicing a watermelon, they carried away one head after another.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Yangyang Marquis is deceiving you—only by leaving the camp can you survive,” Dou Yilin spoke up at the right moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His refined, gentle voice was deeply persuasive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many of the “temporary Fire Crow soldiers” immediately wavered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Yangyang Marquis said coolly: “Those who desert the battlefield shall be executed—and their families shall be punished.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The soldiers dared not move.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet though their bodies stayed still, their hearts, loyal to Great Qin, trembled more violently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Snick, snick, snick~~~”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One after another, western soldiers had their heads severed or their bodies cut apart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those whose bodies were severed still lived, their agonized screams and writhing entrails etching the word “horror” into every soul’s heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My Lord, save me!” A soldier, overcome with terror, cried out desperately to the Yangyang Marquis.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hmph! You are all within the Three Thousand Fire Crows Array. As long as you quell your scattered thoughts and calm your spirit, no magic can harm you!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Flag Gate Concealment is merely a heretical illusion—utterly powerless before my Three Thousand Fire Crows Array.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not only did the Yangyang Marquis speak with calm confidence, he demonstrated it in action: even now, he reclined lazily on his commander’s couch, reading a book.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, outsiders could hardly see the scene inside the commander’s tent—this display of composure had failed somewhat... well, the Yangyang Marquis wasn’t deliberately showing off—he truly was calm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Look at the expressions of the nearby fifteen-foot-tall giants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These noble warriors wore calm, unruffled faces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t let your thoughts wander,” said Wang Ming, Grand Commander of the Great Elephant Kingdom. “If your mind grows chaotic, your connection to the formation weakens. Lose the formation’s protection, and Kong Zan’s heretical arts will creep close, slaying you silently.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like Huchen, he harbored ambitions to seek great fortune in Great Qin, so his loyalty to the Yangyang Marquis ran deep—he was barely affected by Dou Yilin’s speech.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had Huchen still been alive, he would have shown the same demeanor. It was simple: in the eyes of the “Western Eight Immortals”—righteous men who cherished loyalty to their former lords—Huchen and Wang Ming were “Western Traitors.” Their hatred for these “Western Traitors” surpassed even their hatred for the Yangyang Marquis.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The “Western Traitors” knew their own reputation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hadn’t Huchen himself suspected the “last remnants of the Thirty-Six States” meant to betray him?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Snick, snick, snick...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The invisible blades continued falling like rain—sometimes directly striking their targets, sometimes deflected by swords, sometimes blocked by the flame-shielded formations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah, I don’t want to die! Save me, Captain Zhang!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Help! My Lord, save me~~~”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, don’t kill me—I’ll leave the camp immediately—ah~~~”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If a man could master his inner fear, he would be... the Batman of the Primordial World.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clearly, most mortals were ordinary—“Batman” was exceedingly rare.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Brother Dou, that’s enough—move to the next step!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Xiao Yu stepped out of the wine cellar once more, Kong Zan, the Flag Hunter, seated cross-legged at the center of the Eight Trigrams Heavenly Knife Array atop a mist-shrouded hill to the north, frowned, opened his eyes, and turned toward the refined scholar beside him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dou Yilin blinked in surprise. “The chaos within the Yangyang Marquis’s camp has only just begun—this is precisely when Brother Kong should press harder. Why stop now?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kong Zan replied vaguely: “Only a few western soldiers have lost their composure; they’ve barely begun to flee before being executed by their own military judges—no real uproar has erupted.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Kill one, and it’s one less!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dou Yilin glanced at him strangely. “We’ve all witnessed the Yangyang Marquis’s array’s might.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He is a ‘Divine General’ of military Dao—he can gather the strength of ten thousand soldiers into himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he had ten thousand elite cultivators trained in Fire Crow Qi, even a true immortal would avoid his sharp edge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even now, with only a thousand ragtag troops and fractured morale, we are not true immortals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If we confront him head-on, our chances of victory remain slim.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We must cut away his support as much as possible—ideally leaving him with no one at all to rely on—before the ‘Eight Immortals Shooting the Sun’ operation can succeed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kong Zan hesitated, “I understand, but—”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But a Ninefold Bone-Transforming Elixir, the one you’ve longed for your whole life, has suddenly fallen from the heavens and been delivered right to your doorstep. To let it slip away would be a waste.” Bo Yue Sanren Zhou Lang drifted lazily forward, his long sword slung across his back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ninefold Bone-Transforming Elixir?” Dou Yilin exclaimed in shock: “Could it be the Ninefold Bone-Transforming Elixir that Old Duck Guan had the Green Pine Dog Priest craft? Has the divine elixir truly been completed?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Heh, it seems Brother Dou still doesn’t know,” Zhou Lang chuckled softly, his voice low. “The divine elixir has not only been completed—the Green Pine Dog Priest actually kept his word and handed it over to Guan Huchen.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Guan Huchen had already been slain by the Radiant Yang Marquis; the elixir was secretly kept by his old servant, Guan Zhong.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Now, Guan Zhong is hiding in the wine cellar behind the Yunlai Inn.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You know quite a bit,” Kong Zan said, his eyes glinting with wariness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Lang sighed, “When the Green Pine Dog Priest publicly handed the elixir to Guan Zhong, even the Yunlai Inn’s waiters saw it clearly. You know some of the staff escaped from the back mountain earlier.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kong Zan gritted his teeth. “Stay here and don’t move. I, Old Kong, owe you one.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Lang fixed him with a steady gaze. “Open your Flag Gate Escape Array and carve me a path—I’ll owe you three favors. How about that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My daughter Gengyan...” Dou Yilin was also tempted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He himself had no innate magical talent, but his daughter Dou Gengyan was a prodigy—born with the Pure Sword Heart, possessing extraordinary insight into Daoist arts and spells. If she could take just one more Ninefold Bone-Transforming Elixir...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the moment he opened his mouth, Zhou Lang and Kong Zan shot him hostile glares.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dou Yilin rubbed his nose and chuckled bitterly. “Forget it—I didn’t say anything. But don’t forget the bigger picture of the ‘Eight Immortals Shooting the Sun.’”\u003C\u002Fp>",2193,"2026-06-20T00:29:13.334Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","e09cc65516561abb2452b20d3bacc195072272af398a57d8b1dee9d0ea0fb18b","if-you-will-not-reject-me-i-wish-to-bow-and-take-chapter-60","if-you-will-not-reject-me-i-wish-to-bow-and-take-chapter-58",840,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fif-you-will-not-reject-me-i-wish-to-bow-and-take-cover.jpg"]