◎ Itinerary cannot be changed, understood? ◎
The sun’s radiance gradually shot through the narrow valley of the One-Line Sky Mountain, as if it were a flowing stream of glass.
Within this 5A scenic area, Lin Shuang finally checked off her list with satisfaction.
Xiao Qi activated the Diamond Sutra, causing his entire body to shine with a golden light.
With a noble gaze, he looked at Lin Shuang. “Shall we go to the small forest on the side?”
Behind a pile of rocks by the One-Line Sky Mountain’s ravine, the undergrowth was thick, barely enough to shield others from prying eyes.
Amid meditation within the convoy, Zhou Xuanwu couldn’t help but furrow his brow.
He gazed at Lin Shuang, who had sheathed her sword and retrieved two oddly shaped pink gloves from her mustard seed bag.
Lin Shuang was also observing him.
Her eyelashes drooped slightly, and her ink-black pupils rapidly circled him.
In her mind, countless calculations were instantly made.
Zhou Xuanwu didn’t associate with disciples who were lagging in strength.
He only conversed more frequently with Zhao Keran, his junior sister, and the steward’s senior brother, Xu Rui. At most, he added a few transmission hall masters whom he deeply respected.
Zhou Xuanwu was aware that, in essence, only these few knew about her secret.
This wouldn’t cause widespread commotion among the outer disciples.
In this way, the issue of her cultivation level would only need to be explained to these few people, and it wouldn’t lead to more challenges from senior brothers and sisters, causing disruptions in her future schedule.
But if the steward Senior Brother Xu Rui found out that she had been concealing her strength all along…
Lin Shuang’s contemplative gaze trembled for a moment.
Elite disciples of the outer sect had to shoulder more responsibilities.
More assignments, outer sect duels… she couldn’t escape them. This would slow down her path of becoming the fastest cultivator!
Lin Shuang’s eyes flickered. “Well, I believe in Senior Brother Zhou’s character. He won’t endlessly inquire and won’t casually discuss my private matters with others. It’s not a problem if Senior Brother Zhou knows.”
Zhou Xuanwu was slightly taken aback.
Did she trust him this much?
But as Lin Shuang finished speaking, she turned lightly, “Xiao Qi, let’s go to the small forest.”
Zhou Xuanwu: “???”
Xiao Qi: “…”
Where’s the promised trust?
“Senior Brother Zhou, you’ll temporarily guard the convoy. After a stick of incense, I’ll return to relieve you,” Lin Shuang walked forward, also remembering the ‘weekend outing’ task.
Zhou Xuanwu looked at the small forest and couldn’t help but furrow his brow.
Relief duty—both of them took turns surveying the surroundings. It was Lin Shuang’s suggestion to let their spiritual awareness rest in turns.
Shaking his head, he suppressed his curiosity and forced himself to retract his gaze from the small forest where the two had disappeared.
However, his meditative state was soon disrupted.
The twigs in the small forest rustled erratically, occasionally accompanied by sharp crackling sounds.
A dissatisfied female voice drifted from the woods.
“You’re too slow…”
“…Is this all you’ve got? Heh, man, it’s only a quarter of an incense stick’s time.”
The male martial cultivators and Old Man Sun within the convoy were stunned, their eyes wide open.
Several female martial cultivators clicked their tongues and cast admiring glances at the swaying small forest.
“Indeed, a female immortal!”
“Lin Fairy is truly exceptional!”
Throughout the three days of the journey, everyone had developed a strong liking for Lin Shuang the fairy-like figure.
But no one expected her to be this formidable.
To force a handsome male cultivator who appeared to have high cultivation to such a state…
The male martial cultivators were beginning to feel fearful. “It seems male cultivators mustn’t slack off either. Lin Fairy is as fierce as a tiger.”
Female martial cultivators nodded admiringly. “Cultivation should be like Lin Fairy.”
Zhou Xuanwu: “…”
His temple twitched, and the Water Spirit Art circulating within him nearly went haywire, almost diverting from the Conception Vessel.
Xiao Qi, how can you, not even last half an incense stick’s time? No, how have you fallen so low?
—
At the outer sect’s Clear Water Hall,
Steward Senior Brother Xu Rui, carrying the Eight Trigram Sword on his back, walked into a quiet room and furrowed his brow, stopping his steps.
Three breaths later, he stepped back out of the door.
Quickly performing a hand seal, he moved the two bamboo mats placed on the left and right sides of the quiet room by half an inch, aligning them perfectly in a straight line, and positioning them to face the north and south transparent windows respectively. Only then did he nod, exhale a breath, and reenter the quiet room.
“Senior Brother Xu, I’d like to take on a Grade B mission,” a disciple rushed in.
Xu Rui noticed that the disciple entered through the side door, stepping on the line of green bricks on the left. This led to a slight crease forming on his forehead.
Swiftly turning away, he absentmindedly retrieved the outer sect mission manual from his mustard seed bag, “Hmm.”
He quickly flipped through the first ten pages, bypassing Grade A missions and reaching Grade B missions—available for disciples at the 5th to 8th Qi Refinement levels.
Just as he was about to show it to the person,
He couldn’t help but pause.
【Desolate Mountains Escort Mission Grade A (Issued by Sun Clan Trading Company)】
【Accepted by Zhou Xuanwu and Lin Shuang.】
A moment of confusion crossed Xu Rui’s otherwise composed face.
Did the mission manual make a mistake?
This was driving him crazy!
But as he continued to read line by line, his expression changed drastically.
【Wilderness Escort Mission: Originally rated Grade E.】
[But after receiving shared information from the Mountain and Sea Sect and the Annihilation Pavilion, it’s known that Liu Ba, a Golden Hammer at the 7th layer of the Foundation Establishment Stage, has lost an arm and fled into the Desolate Mountains.
Thus, the mission’s difficulty has increased. It’s suggested that disciples below the Foundation Establishment Stage don’t enter the Desolate Mountains.]
[Golden Hammer Liu Ba: Violent and ruthless, he has brutally killed over twenty Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators. Ranked 534th on the Annihilation Pavilion’s Convergence Ranking. Reward: 5000 Spirit Stones.]
[Mission updated to Grade A.]
[Available for disciples from the Foundation Establishment Stage to the 2nd stage of Core Formation.]
Xu Rui’s complexion changed drastically.
—
Beside the One-Line Sky Mountain, a small forest’s branches trembled, causing the leaves to rustle.
Occasionally, accompanied by the trembling of the earth.
The movements of Lin Fairy and Xiao Immortal were, in a way, too intense.
The convoy members looked up, and in unison, they began timing them.
“Daoist Xiao has endured for half an incense stick’s time.”
“Hey, don’t forget, Fairy Lin was displeased from the beginning, feeling that her heart wasn’t pounding enough and she hadn’t broken into a sweat, so the one-quarter incense stick’s time from earlier doesn’t count.”
“Poor Daoist Xiao.”
Everyone was anxious about Xiao Qi’s situation. With their ears perked up, they could only hear his heavy and wheezing breath, which was becoming weaker.
It seemed he was about to reach his limit.
Male martial cultivators silently cheered for him in their hearts.
Female martial cultivators, on the other hand, had disdainful looks on their faces.
Zhou Xuanwu sat cross-legged, his long sword laid across his legs, and he had stopped cultivating.
He attentively listened while also observing the incense stick held by the male martial cultivators.
As the sunlight rose, the small forest swayed even more, and even the boulders seemed to vibrate, showing signs of cracking. Everyone was astounded.
Zhou Xuanwu first felt admiration, then his face changed dramatically.
“Enemy attack!”
Every pore on his body tensed, and he immediately shouted.
However, before his words could fully land, a burst of cruel laughter accompanied a huge hammer that flew closer and closer.
With a loud boom, the giant rocks in front of the convoy and beside the small forest exploded, turning into smoke and dust.
“Hahaha, Qi Refinement level nine, vigorous Qi and blood, excellent! Just what I need for a replenishment!”
Savage laughter seemed to come from all directions, yet there was no sign of a person.
Zhou Xuanwu’s face turned as dark as water. Flipping his sleeve, he released several First-Grade defensive talismans, sticking them to the sides of the convoy’s carriages, then turned to the convoy’s martial cultivators and Old Man Sun, shouting, “Get on the carriages!”
The second strike of the iron hammer came swiftly, suddenly aiming straight for his face.
Zhou Xuanwu immediately formed a hand seal.
The Water Spirit Technique swiftly activated, his flying sword flowing like a river, blocking the assault of the iron hammer.
In an instant, the sword and hammer collided, and spiritual energy clashed!
Zhou Xuanwu’s hand holding the sword momentarily shattered, and spiritual energy surged backward.
He retreated five or six steps, only stopping his retreat as he collided with the carriage behind him.
Looking up in disbelief, his eyes filled with shock, ” Foundation Establishment Stage…”
“Heh, you still have some insight.”
Under the dim yellow moonlight, on the One-Line Sky Mountain, a sinister man with a scar across his nose and lips, half of his body bloodied, held his shattered shoulder where his right arm used to be, and he grinned with narrowed eyes.
“Come here by yourself and let me enjoy a satisfying bloodsucking, and I’ll spare you a whole corpse!”
Old Man Sun in the carriage trembled in fear, his lips quivering.
In front of ordinary people, Qi Refining cultivators were revered as immortals because they had embarked on the path of cultivation and were no longer bound by the mortal lifespan.
However, before the Foundation Establishment Stage, the capacity and intensity of spiritual energy in the dantian were a whole level lower.
Even though Zhou Xuanwu was at the 9th level of Qi Refining, he was no match for someone at the 1st level of the Foundation Establishment Stage, let alone considering that this sinister man looked extremely ferocious.
When the convoy saw Zhou Xuanwu retreating ten steps, fear and despair filled their hearts.
“Why are we so unlucky to encounter a demonic cultivator?”
“Originally, Senior Brother Zhou had more than enough power to deal with those bandits…”
“Right, there’s also Daoist Xiao, Fairy Lin! Quickly call for them!”
With a bang, Zhou Xuanwu was smashed by the Golden Hammer and thrown into the One-Line Sky Mountain’s rift. His spine cracked, and his vision darkened.
Going against the natural order in cultivation was fraught with difficulties, and his luck was just too terrible.
Zhou Xuanwu struggled to stand up with unwillingness.
He threw out a First-Grade sound transmission talisman he had just inscribed, despite being weak and only able to groan. It was a masterpiece.
“Daoist Xiao, Fairy Lin, escape!”
The sound transmission talisman burned quickly, and even though he was too weak to close his eyes, the message reached the small woods!
Zhou Xuanwu couldn’t close his eyes due to his weakness.
He hadn’t even managed to create a sound transmission talisman in the first grade, nor had he learned Second-Grade talismans from Steward’s senior brother, Li, at the Transmitting Mastery Hall.
And his sword technique practice—he still hadn’t achieved first place among the outer sect in all these years.
Plus, Steward’s senior brother, Xu Rui, had already reached the Foundation Establishment Stage, and he had always wanted to surpass him…
“I’ll let you consume my Qi and blood!”
Zhou Xuanwu reached out, tightly embracing the Foundation Establishment Stage demonic cultivator who was incessantly drawing spiritual energy from his dantian.
His ten fingers dug into the back and arm of the Foundation Establishment Stage demonic cultivator.
Liu Ba, the wielder of the Golden Hammer, became furious and slapped Zhou Xuanwu’s back, “Let go—”
Zhou Xuanwu opened his mouth and bit into his intact arm.
Amidst the burning of the sound transmission symbol, his spiritual consciousness continued to spread.
“Old Sun… escape!”
“Senior Sister Lin… quickly… escape…”
Zhou Xuanwu strained to open a bloodied eye slit, attempting to see the path he sought to ascend—Clearwater Sect’s inner sect.
But he saw nothing.
In his blurred vision, he could faintly see a red-rope-bound, green-sleeved arm fluttering and rising amidst the trembling small woods.
Then came a furious scolding.
“You scoundrel!”
“How dare you harm my fellow traveler!?”
Zhou Xuanwu, on the verge of losing consciousness, “?”
Fellow traveler?
Did he hear Junior Sister Lin’s voice?
Zhou Xuanwu struggled to hold onto the Foundation Establishment Stage demonic cultivator, preventing him from attacking the mortal members of the convoy. But he couldn’t hold on much longer. Why wasn’t she leading them to escape?
But just as this thought formed, he felt a loosening in front of him.
The Foundation Establishment Stage demonic cultivator, whom he had firmly held onto with his ten fingers, disappeared before him.
The palm that was extracting his blood and Qi abruptly receded from his chest.
Zhou Xuanwu strained to lift his head, and as he opened his eyes, he saw the severed-arm demonic cultivator’s neck being suspended by a red string.
The strange pink boxing-glove-like object struck him under his chin, on his back, on his chest… he was sent flying, then crashed into the mountaintop.
“How dare you harm a Grade-5A natural scenic spot, One-Line-Sky Mountain! Ruining my sightseeing plans!”
“How dare you interrupt my quarter-hour fat-burning exercise! Disrupting the rhythm of my heartbeat!”
“How dare you harm my fellow traveler, causing an unexpected event during my three-day weekend getaway!”
“Disrupting my schedule, my mood, my work efficiency, my contact list—”
With rolling rubble, one pink fist, then another.
The man with the severed arm was hammered into a pit, sinking ten feet deep!
Zhou Xuanwu: “…!”
Wide-eyed and speechless, his bloodied mouth slightly open, he was handed two Rejuvenation Pills by the breathless Xiao Qi, who then helped him sit down and stumbled himself.
Xiao Qi smiled
“Don’t worry, once she finishes another quarter-hour fat-burning exercise, it will be over.”
“………..!”
Author’s Note:
《Chapter 134 Zhao Sect Master’s Journal 10》: “She isn’t human.” (Note: This sentence was written randomly by Senior Brother Zhou Xuanwu in my journal. It wasn’t written by me, Zhao Keran, personally.)
Zhou Xuanwu: I was foolish back then, really.
Demonic Cultivator: I’m the foolish one, seriously. Without ten pounds of blood clots in my brain, I wouldn’t have thought of going to Desolate Mountain.
Xiao Qi: We’re saved, yay!
*
