Nanxing Town (1)

“Senior Sister?!”

Yan Jue twitched the corners of her mouth, feeling as though her whole body had gone wrong for a moment. “The Senior Sister you mean... is the one I’m thinking of?”

Du Ying: “Among all of Five Dragons Mountain, who else could it be? It has to be Lord Meng Heng, Qi Xianqing.”

Yan Jue: “Forget it. I’m not going.”

Who would want that murderous star leading them?

Du Ying: “Right? Let’s come early tomorrow. Maybe we’ll run into some senior brothers or sisters who are really short on people.”

Yan Jue followed Du Ying as she left, then couldn’t help looking back once more.

Sure enough, not far away in that team, she saw Qi Xianqing.

The lofty Lord Meng Heng wore a plain white robe. Standing in the middle of the crowd at a distance, with a pitch-black sword on her back, she was so cold and detached that she seemed almost untouched by the dust of mortal life, like an exiled immortal.

Actually, Yan Jue wasn’t completely unfamiliar with working with Qi Xianqing.

For example, back in Drunken Spring Pavilion, she had already seen just how capable Qi Xianqing was.

If she wanted to cling to a powerful backer, Qi Xianqing was unquestionably a good choice.

But given her current awkward situation, the farther she stayed from Qi Xianqing, the better.

If this had been before, Yan Jue would definitely have thought that way.

Only now...

Yan Jue couldn’t help remembering that night by the lakeside when she had run into Qi Xianqing.

Qi Xianqing had clearly... been a very gentle person.

And that night, when her hair ribbon had been cut by the immortal sword Zhuying, hadn’t she even used the flower Yan Jue had given her as a hairpin?

If Qi Xianqing hated her, or felt anything else... she wouldn’t have used her flower as a hairpin.

So it could be confirmed that Qi Xianqing didn’t currently hate her to the bone.

The danger of joining Qi Xianqing’s team was not high.

This cannon fodder had already gone through all kinds of twists and turns, and who knew whether she’d even be able to take on missions later. For these beginner tasks, the sooner she finished them, the better.

As for Qi Xianqing, if she could be used, she might as well be used.

Yan Jue knew very clearly that her time of death was on the eve of the Five-Dragon Summit, and the thing that exposed her identity was something else.

In other words, before that happened, Qi Xianqing wouldn’t kill her in cold blood.

Thinking this, Yan Jue walked toward Qi Xianqing.

“...”

Qi Xianqing’s original plan had been to go into seclusion directly after returning to the mountain. Unexpectedly, she had broken through ahead of time, so there was naturally no need for seclusion.

Qi Xianqing had always been a person with a strong sense of planning. Since she had already broken through, she might as well lead the junior brothers and sisters down the mountain once more before the Five-Dragon Summit, so as not to waste time.

Then, standing amid the crowd, Qi Xianqing suddenly saw a young girl with red lips and white teeth running toward her.

In the sunlight, the girl wore a lotus-green pleated skirt, which seemed to make everything around her lose its color.

Everyone else dodged away in disgust; even Chu Fu, standing nearby, went cold and turned his gaze aside.

“...”

By the time Yan Jue ran into the middle of the crowd, she realized Chu Fu was standing beside Qi Xianqing, looking at her indifferently.

Yan Jue: “?”

It was as if a thunderclap had exploded over her head. Yan Jue looked at Qi Xianqing, then at Chu Fu, and only then did she belatedly realize that Qi Xianqing was taking Chu Fu on this mission.

Chu Fu was still at the Qi Refinement stage, but Yan Jue could already feel that his aura had undergone a complete transformation.

She hadn’t expected Chu Fu to break through so quickly.

He already seemed to be at the peak of Qi Refinement, ready to break through to the Great Circle!

Yan Jue stood not far from him and seemed to feel a pure, clean current of spiritual energy continuously spilling outward.

So... this seemed like an extremely important plot point in the original novel.

This was the first mission Chu Fu and Qi Xianqing carried out together.

On this mission, Chu Fu used all sorts of magical treasures and divine abilities he had obtained through his golden finger, making the heroine Qi Xianqing look at him in a new light and laying the groundwork for their future fiery entanglement.

Later, Qi Xianqing came to appreciate Chu Fu’s resourcefulness and ingenuity, and every time she went down the mountain on a mission, she would bring this junior brother along with her, allowing Chu Fu to obtain many opportunities.

Because both of them had extremely high talent, the entire demon realm and devil realm trembled at their names; every time Qi Xianqing and Chu Fu went down the mountain, they were called the “male and female fiends descending the mountain.”

So wasn’t she... accidentally walking into Chu Fu and Qi Xianqing’s rival plot?

Yan Jue stared blankly at Chu Fu for a moment, forgetting what she was supposed to do next.

The people around them saw this and began whispering.

“Look at her... she’s staring at Chu Fu all dazed like that...”

“Poor Junior Brother Chu. He just took on his first beginner mission and already got tangled up with someone.”

“Could she be planning to join the Senior Sister’s team for Chu Fu’s sake?”

Yan Jue came back to herself and looked toward Qi Xianqing in a daze.

Qi Xianqing glanced at her indifferently; that look almost froze Yan Jue solid.

This was worlds apart from the expression from that night!

Yan Jue started feeling sour again. Why was Qi Xianqing so gentle to a little fox, but so cold to her?

Seeing Yan Jue run back over, Du Ying had no choice but to follow. When she saw Yan Jue staring blankly at Chu Fu, she was startled and hurried over with a smile. “Senior Sister, she still hasn’t finished her beginner missions. Why don’t you take her with you?”

“Sure. We happen to be short one person here. Junior Sister, which branch are you from?” A voice sounded beside them. It was a girl with her hair tied in a bun, the rest of her black hair hanging neatly and boldly over her shoulder blades; she looked striking and bright.

Yan Jue smiled. “I’m a Watercloud Sect outer sect disciple.”

An outer sect disciple.

Not an outer sect probationary disciple.

Just two words, yet the identity often made all the difference in the world.

As soon as she said it, the surrounding area fell silent.

The girl said, “An outer sect disciple, huh? That’s not very popular. Since you’re in Watercloud Sect, Junior Sister, you should be good at water-based divine abilities, right? Water-based abilities are very weak before the Illumination Realm. No wonder the others didn’t want you. Junior Sister, you look just like a little flower that needs protecting; you’re not much use. On missions, you’ll only be protected by others, hahaha.”

Yan Jue: “...”

You really are blunt, aren’t you.

The girl reached out and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Hello, I’m Duan Luxi. I’m at the early Illumination stage now. You can just call me Senior Sister. You can come in.”

Yan Jue glanced into the distance. “Really?”

Duan Luxi laughed loudly. “Senior Sister is very easygoing. If she doesn’t say anything, that means she agrees. Don’t let her look so fierce; actually, she’s much better than the other team leaders.”

Sure enough, Qi Xianqing looked at Yan Jue once, then turned and left.

Chu Fu stood in the distance, staring at Yan Jue; beneath his cold expression, there was a faint, almost imperceptible trace of a smile.

-

Because there was a disciple in the team who still hadn’t reached the Illumination Realm and couldn’t fly with a sword, the four of them had no choice but to walk down the mountain.

Yan Jue walked and silently rolled her eyes.

This was too much of a coincidence. Of all days, it had to be the very day she decided to look for a mission that she ran into the main turning point in the male and female leads’ plot.

If this had been before, she wouldn’t have cared. She had no desire to meddle in how this pair of scumbags loved or hated each other. But after the last few times she’d spent with Qi Xianqing...

She really felt that this manly male lead did not deserve Qi Xianqing.

If the progression of their feelings was destined to come at the cost of her, this cannon fodder’s death...

Did that mean that if she stopped them from falling in love, she wouldn’t die?

As they traveled, Yan Jue kept far away from Qi Xianqing, but she still felt that faint, lingering presence constantly assailing her fragile senses.

Yan Jue was a little unable to stand it, so she turned to Duan Luxi and tactfully asked about the contents of this mission talisman.

Duan Luxi explained the mission to her.

In Nanxing Town below Five Dragons Mountain, the Huang family’s daughter-in-law had been mentally unwell for a year. At night, the servants could hear laughter and chatter coming from Madam Huang’s room; the lady would always perform strange movements in the dead of night, completely baffling everyone. Whenever a servant approached, Huang Niangzi would strike them and scream sharply.

The family suspected demonic possession, so they invited an immortal master from Five Dragons Mountain to drive away the evil spirit.

Mission rank: Ding.

Mission duration: seven days.

This mission also took place in a mortal household, but because it involved evil spirits, which were relatively difficult to deal with, the mission rank was the fourth tier, Ding.

Ding-rank missions could be said to be neither easy nor hard; they required three to four people to complete.

So this descent from the mountain would be led by Qi Xianqing, with Chu Fu, Duan Luxi from Muyin Sect, and Yan Jue, who had been temporarily added in.

Because there was a Senior Sister leading the team, the mission time had also been drastically reduced, from the usual month to just seven days.

Yan Jue stared at the mission talisman for a while and felt that this mission, like the last one, was rather strange.

Then she suddenly noticed the thing on Duan Luxi’s back.

A giant dark-green sword. The reason Yan Jue thought of it as a giant sword was that compared with Qi Xianqing’s long sword, this one was wide and thick, completely mismatched with Duan Luxi’s build.

Yan Jue: “Senior Sister, is that your natal artifact?”

The original novel mainly revolved around the male lead and his whole harem, and didn’t really introduce these supporting characters.

Yan Jue was curious; after hesitating for a long time, she finally asked.

In a world of cultivation, people were generally very wary of others asking about their divine abilities, magic tools, and so on. In this cruel world, everyone had one or two life-saving things that needed to be hidden away.

No one wanted to bare themselves nakedly before others.

Duan Luxi didn’t mind at all. “This is a sword I forged myself. It’s easy to use, so I brought it along. My usual performance isn’t great, so I didn’t have the qualifications to enter Sword Tomb Valley to draw a sword.”

Yan Jue froze. No wonder this sword was so unusual, so big.

Duan Luxi: “Its name is Muxi.”

In this world, every magical artifact had its own name.

Chu Fu had been secretly watching Yan Jue ever since earlier. Seeing that the girl had walked for so long and still had no intention of speaking to him, he couldn’t help but frown.

He knew this woman very well.

The reason she had come to take this mission mostly had to be because of him.

Yet Yan Jue had been chatting with someone else for so long and still hadn’t come to look for him, which made Chu Fu somewhat unable to understand.

In his eyes, Yan Jue had originally been nothing more than a dull, boring object.

But for some reason, after being ignored by her these past few days, a sense of displeasure and desire to conquer had risen deep in Chu Fu’s heart.

The group soon arrived at the foot of Five Dragons Mountain and, after leaving the mountain, walked slowly for half an hour.

The sun was blazing overhead.

Duan Luxi: “So tired, so tired. I haven’t walked this much in ages. Can’t we just fly with swords?”

Qi Xianqing didn’t even turn her head. Her voice was calm. “Have you forgotten? Those below the Illumination Realm can’t ride swords. We can only walk.”

It was spring, and there was already a faint hint of summer heat in the air; under the sun, it was sweltering.

Yan Jue walked at the very edge of the group, secretly watching Qi Xianqing out of the corner of her eye.

Ever since reaching the early Illumination stage, Qi Xianqing had been able to fly with a sword, so she probably didn’t often travel this way on foot. Yet she showed no sign of fatigue at all; her expression remained calm, her breathing steady, her aura even and long.

An hour passed, and everyone was tired.

Chu Fu put a hand into the Qiankun bag at his waist and, as if uncertain whether he should speak, said, “Senior Sister, I...”

Yan Jue’s mind went boom; alarm bells immediately blared in her heart.

This was one of the original plot points from the novel.

In Heavenly Dao Is Hard to Seek, the male lead had a golden finger.

When the male lead first went up the mountain, he discovered a cave; inside the cave was a severely injured, dying expert from the devil realm.

Every day, the male lead brought water and food to the cave for that expert to eat and drink.

Later, once the expert fully recovered, he taught the male lead peerless divine arts and all kinds of powerful weapons.

And right now, this part of the plot—the first turning point in the relationship between the male and female leads—Yan Jue had read very carefully.

The sky was high, the sun was hot, and everyone was tired. Then male lead Chu Fu took his “Hundred-Step Cart” from his Qiankun bag, and everyone rode in the cart as it moved forward; in less than the time it took to burn an incense stick, they reached Nanxing Town.

The heroine Qi Xianqing was very pleased.

Chu Fu: “I have a—”

Before he could finish, Yan Jue suddenly lurched to one side and cried out as she fell to the ground.

She hadn’t controlled her force well on this fall; what should have been a fake fall turned into a real one, and the pain made her suck in a cold breath. She happened to tumble right in front of Qi Xianqing.

Duan Luxi was startled. “Junior Sister Yan, are you okay?”

Yan Jue hugged her leg and sat on the ground, groaning continuously. “I twisted my ankle. It hurts so much. I can’t get up.”

Duan Luxi: “Then what do we do? Should I carry you?”

Qi Xianqing raised an eyebrow and turned to look at her.

What Duan Luxi had just said was really overestimating herself. She herself hadn’t walked such a long road for too long either, and was already exhausted to the point of near collapse.

Chu Fu stood at a distance watching, his face turning green and then white. Originally, everyone had been exhausted from walking. If he took out the Hundred-Step Cart at this moment and invited Qi Xianqing and the others to ride with him, then he would be making a huge contribution to the team.

But now that this fool had fallen, if he took the cart out now, it would look as though he were caring about this woman.

Half of Chu Fu’s hand had already reached into the Qiankun bag, but now it was no longer convenient to take it out.

Yan Jue narrowed her eyes. Moisture gathered in those narrow phoenix eyes of hers; she looked up at Qi Xianqing, only to see the other woman calmly avert her gaze. “You can even fall while walking. Truly useful.”

Yan Jue: “...” Damn it!

Duan Luxi had already crouched down in front of Yan Jue. “Come on, Junior Sister, I’ll carry you.”

Yan Jue smiled. “Haha, thank you, Senio—”

Before she could finish, she suddenly saw that a black, slender sword had appeared on Duan Luxi’s shoulder at some point.

Qi Xianqing held the immortal sword Zhuying in her hand; the tip of the sword lightly tapped Duan Luxi’s shoulder, then passed over her as she looked indifferently at Yan Jue. “I’ll carry you.”

Yan Jue: “Wha?!”

TL Note:

murderous star (杀胚) = a blunt slang insult for someone dangerously violent or murderous.

golden finger (金手指) = a cheat-like plot device that gives the protagonist unfair advantages.