Benefactor
The black snake tore through the air like a bolt of ferocious lightning.
Its massive body left behind a hazy afterimage in the sky. Wherever it passed, trees were snapped clean in two.
Qi Xianqing tapped the ground with the tip of her foot and leapt back two zhang in an instant. Her left hand formed a seal, and she murmured the cultivation formula under her breath.
Zhuying unsheathed itself at once and shot into the air, transforming beneath the deep night sky into hundreds of tiny swords.
Blue light spilled down from above; the swords fell like rain, like drifting candle shadows.
A field of light was reflected in Qi Xianqing’s eyes. Then, all at once, she shut them tightly and frowned.
Zhuying pierced the black snake’s scales, drawing out a roar of pain that shook the heavens. The snake’s enormous tail lashed violently, snapping a thousand-year-old cypress at the waist. The towering tree crashed down toward Qi Xianqing.
With a heavy thud, before Yan Jue could even react, she saw Qi Xianqing pinned beneath the tree.
The sword rain was still falling, but its force had weakened considerably.
As the black snake retreated, its long tail swept again and viciously struck the base of the huge tree pressing down on Qi Xianqing.
Pinned in place, Qi Xianqing’s abdomen was crushed under the tree’s pressure the moment the snake lashed out. She spat out a mouthful of blood.
The sword rain vanished completely. The black snake stared at Qi Xianqing, greed flashing in its golden pupils as it surged toward her like a dragon through water. Its tail lashed again, striking the towering ancient tree once more.
Yan Jue frowned. If this went on, Qi Xianqing would be crushed flat.
Qi Xianqing had her eyes shut. Just as the sword rain had fallen earlier, she had suddenly stumbled upon a new insight.
Everything clicked into place all at once. Spiritual power surged violently through her chest, and agonizing pain burst from her abdomen. Qi Xianqing knew the snake was bearing down on her, but at this moment, she could not move.
She was about to break through.
She needed ten breaths to disperse the raging spiritual energy inside her body.
But those ten brief breaths were often the difference between life and death.
The black snake rushed at her with terrifying speed, but the expected pain never came.
Qi Xianqing opened her eyes and saw that the little fox with bright red fur had somehow crawled out of the grass. It had clamped its teeth around the giant snake’s tail and was dragging backward with all its strength.
One breath... two breaths...
The snake cried out in pain. After wrenching free, it whipped its tail hard across the fox’s back. The little fox was sent flying; its back was instantly torn open, blood spilling everywhere. It fell into the cold water of the Cold Pool, then swam back again, letting out a low, whimpering growl. Baring its teeth, it bit down on the giant snake’s tail once more.
Well... it was kind of fierce?
Qi Xianqing
closed her eyes again.
One breath... two breaths...
Spiritual energy successfully completed a full cycle inside her body. In her ears came the black snake’s earthshaking roar, along with the little fox’s low, urgent howls.
The red fox’s back was covered in patchy bloodstains, and even its sharp canines were stained red. Yet its gaze remained fierce and stubborn as it kept biting the snake’s tail.
Qi Xianqing’s arm suddenly tensed, and the massive ancient tree was actually shaken away at once by surging spiritual power!
She recited the sword incantation. Zhuying let out a dragonlike cry as it left its sheath, turning in midair into a streak of blue afterimage. It shot toward the distant horizon, and only a few breaths later it flew back, swelling into a giant sword in the night sky.
That giant sword gave off a majestic whistle, then crashed down from the heavens, driving straight into the black snake’s back.
Blue light spread in all directions. The black snake let out a deafening howl of pain and, wounded, fled in panic; it actually plunged headfirst into the water.
It seemed extremely skilled at swimming, surging through the lake and raising towering waves.
Qi Xianqing rose into the air. Her white dress flapped violently in the gale as she calmly recited the incantation. In an instant, thunder rolled and dark clouds filled the sky.
Yan Jue lay flat on the ground, her pupils contracting sharply.
In Daoist combat, one mainly relied on one’s own magical treasures, supplemented by spells condensed from talismans.
But those who could borrow the power of heavenly phenomena—fire from the sky, ice from the sky, thunder from the sky, and so on—were essentially asking heaven for help. That meant their cultivation had already reached a profound level, one capable of resonating with the will of heaven itself!
Qi Xianqing’s cultivation could not possibly be lower than the fourth realm, the Fusion Realm!
A bolt of lightning struck in an instant. Countless thin, snake-like streaks of electricity suddenly appeared in the Cold Pool, turning the entire lake surface blindingly white.
The black snake gave a shrill screech and sank down.
When it surfaced again, its belly was turned upward; it was already dead.
-
Yan Jue could hardly believe what she was seeing.
The aura this beast had given off was at least at the level of the third realm, yet Qi Xianqing had actually killed it with ease in just three exchanges.
The dark clouds dispersed, and bright moonlight fell once more.
Qi Xianqing crouched down and took one of her paws in hand. “You saved my life.”
Yan Jue stared at her blankly, not knowing how she should react.
Qi Xianqing lowered herself to the ground, her palms facing upward. She was even a full head shorter than Yan Jue as she pressed her forehead to the ground and gave the little fox a deep, solemn bow.
“Thank you.”
She was entirely sincere. Yan Jue felt a little embarrassed and shook her head, making soft whining sounds.
Qi Xianqing: “If you don’t have a name, I can call you Little Red. Is that all right?”
Yan Jue shook her head. She didn’t want that.
How tacky...
Qi Xianqing looked surprised, then laughed. “So you have your own ideas too. Then how about I call you Little Fox Baby?”
Yan Jue: ?!
That was even more outrageous.
So beneath the female lead’s cold exterior, she actually had the heart of a young girl.
Yan Jue’s face was full of unwillingness as she whined on the ground. Qi Xianqing picked her up, not at all bothered by the blood and water staining her skirts. Looking down at her, she said, “You’re injured. Do you want to come back with me? I can put some medicine on you.”
Yan Jue didn’t want to. She wriggled free from Qi Xianqing’s embrace and ran off without looking back.
She did not want to stay too long beside a killing machine.
Qi Xianqing watched her retreating figure and did not get angry. Instead, she said softly, “Thank you.”
The little fox’s steps faltered; then it bounded away.
-
Back in her room, Yan Jue changed back into human form, only to feel a wave of stabbing pain from her back.
The black snake had flayed off a layer of skin earlier; blood was still dripping everywhere. Yan Jue felt like throwing her head back and howling at the sky. She really should have let the female lead put medicine on her just now; how was she supposed to reach the wound on her back alone? Ahhhhhh.
So Yan Jue knocked on the door of the neighbor next door.
When Du Ying saw the bloody mess on her back, she was instantly shocked. “Heavens, Junior Sister Yan, where did you get so many wounds?”
Yan Jue made up a random lie to get through it. “It’s not not because I went down the mountain for a mission...”
Du Ying was fooled very quickly. “Ah, going down the mountain for missions is pretty dangerous. Back when I was doing beginner missions..."
Yan Jue had realized this very early on.
Her neighboring senior sister was a chatterbox.
Once she opened her mouth, she couldn’t stop.
“...”
In the dim light, the girl’s skin was snow-white, and her exposed back was slender.
Since Du Ying had kindly agreed to help apply medicine, Yan Jue told her about the experience she had had when she went down the mountain for training a month ago.
As Du Ying dabbed at her wounds, she couldn’t help exclaiming.
Du Ying: “I mean, were the missions really that hard? It was a little difficult for me back then too, but I wasn’t as badly injured as you are.”
Yan Jue: “Extremely hard.”
Du Ying: “What a pity. I’m only at the late Foundation Establishment Realm. A team leader at least has to be at the mid-Illumination Stage. Otherwise I could be your team leader and take you down the mountain to do missions directly.”
Although there had been all sorts of rumors about Yan Jue, after interacting with her a few times, Du Ying increasingly felt that the gap between rumor and reality was huge.
Junior Sister Yan was actually pretty nice.
“Your mission really was too hard. Wouldn’t it be better if you found a team leader to go with you?”
Yan Jue froze. “A team leader? Then where am I supposed to find one?”
Last time, she had gone straight to the Administrative Hall to take a mission. She had no idea there was even such a thing as being led by a senior brother or senior sister.
Du Ying patted her chest in the manner of an eager teacher. “Exactly. Don’t you know? On the left side of the Immortal-Seeking Plaza below the Administrative Hall, there are people setting up little stalls. A lot of disciples forming teams for missions recruit companions there.”
After asking around, Yan Jue learned that the Administrative Hall was still the first place to receive missions.
It was just that some missions were very difficult and required three or four people to go down the mountain together. In those cases, there would be a designated team leader disciple.
After the senior brother or senior sister leading the team received the mission, they would go to the left side of the Immortal-Seeking Plaza and set up a little stall to recruit people, checking whether there were disciples who happened to want to go down the mountain for training and could also accept the mission rewards being divided evenly.
Once the team was formed, the disciples would be assigned to that mission.
The record on the token would read: so-and-so, led by a certain senior brother, went down the mountain to complete some mission; then after the mission was finished, it would naturally count as a beginner mission.
Yan Jue: “It can be done like that...”
If she had known this earlier, wouldn’t she have avoided so much trouble!!!
Du Ying was very enthusiastic. “Junior Sister Yan, you should rest and recover properly these next few days. We can go to the Immortal-Seeking Plaza together in a few days.”
-
Yan Jue rested in her room for five days, and after some circulation and regulation of her spiritual energy, she was basically healed.
On a sunny afternoon, Yan Jue went to the Immortal-Seeking Plaza with Du Ying.
Sure enough, just as Du Ying had said, the left side of the plaza was crowded with small teams of three or four people, and several loud voices were calling out.
“Central Plains Su family tragedy! Need two more, haha, team led by a Fusion Realm senior brother, absolutely safe, haha!”
“Temple trouble at the foot of Five Dragons Mountain, need a junior sister who knows healing!!!”
“Team led by a senior sister at the late Illumination Stage; only need one person, haha. The destination is only fifty li outside Five Dragons Mountain, very close, haha.”
All of a sudden, a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old girl walked into the crowd. She wore a lotus-green pleated skirt, her long jet-black hair loosely pinned up. Her skin was snow-white, and around her neck she wore a golden collar with three bells hanging from it. With every step she took, it swayed; with every step, it seemed to have a charm of its own.
“...”
Yan Jue watched as the lively crowd fell silent for a moment after she walked over. A faint sense of unease rose in her heart.
Sure enough, after asking around in a circle, not a single team wanted her.
“Junior sister, sorry, we need a disciple from the Muyin Sect who knows healing and restoration..."
“Sorry, Junior Sister. A Foundation Establishment Realm disciple in the middle stage... what? You’re already in the middle stage of Foundation Establishment? Sorry, we need a disciple in the late stage of Foundation Establishment for this one. The mission is a little difficult, haha.”
Yan Jue: “...”
It was all because of the original owner’s past behavior. Now she was practically infamous.
Seeing these people’s reactions, Yan Jue could understand them. If she were the team leader, she probably wouldn’t want a useless troublemaker like the original owner joining either.
After a while, Du Ying also ran over. “Those teams are all full. My goodness, Junior Sister, you’re really unlucky.”
She looked at Yan Jue with concern. Actually, when she had gone over to ask earlier, there had still been several teams that were not full.
But once they heard that it was Yan Jue from the Thunderflame Sect who wanted to join, all of them immediately waved her off.
Sigh... it was all because Junior Sister Yan was love-brained, and also because she had spent three years in the mountains without breaking through past the early Foundation Establishment Realm.
On the path of cultivation, there would naturally be people without talent.
Du Ying didn’t want to say it outright and hurt Yan Jue’s feelings.
Yan Jue, however, was quite open-minded. “It’s fine, it’s fine. Isn’t there still one team over there? Let’s go take a look?”
At the outer edge of the crowd not far away, there was still one team standing there; no one had gone to ask them just now.
Du Ying watched as Yan Jue walked over and couldn’t help shouting, “Junior Sister, we should just wait until tomorrow and come back. The team over there is...”
“Led by the Senior Sister.”