Going Astray

Yan Jue didn’t dare get close to Qi Xianqing for two reasons. One was caution; the other was that she felt terribly uncomfortable.

Before, she had already built up a fair bit of resistance to Qi Xianqing’s Immortal Spirit Physique. But now that Qi Xianqing’s new wounds still hadn’t healed, Yan Jue’s keen nose could smell the fresh scent of blood on her with perfect clarity.

So fragrant... so pleasant...

Yan Jue clenched her teeth hard; standing half a zhang away from Qi Xianqing, her back was straight, and she was practically about to roll her eyes back.

She remembered that when she had first transmigrated into the book, every time she saw Qi Xianqing, she couldn’t help but kneel.

It was pretty much the same now.

Qi Xianqing looked at her quietly for a while, then took a roll of gauze from the Qiankun bag by the shore.

The white gauze wound around her hand again and again, binding the bloody wound tightly.

As an Immortal Spirit Physique, Qi Xianqing naturally knew how greatly her blood affected demon beasts, and she was always careful about it whenever she could.

But this time, she had suffered serious injuries in Jiangnan; there really was nothing she could do.

And now, this little fox not only seemed intelligent, but also quite polite.

Qi Xianqing slowly reached out and touched the fox’s head. “It’s fine. Come here.”

The little fox lowered its head and slowly shuffled closer.

Yan Jue’s ears drooped as she closed her eyes.

Even as she approached, the aura of the Immortal Spirit Physique did not weaken.

Her legs suddenly went weak, and she toppled onto the ground, belly-up.

This time, Qi Xianqing had indeed run into trouble on this descent from the mountain.

The mission was to work with Echo Hall from Jiangnan to solve a strange case that had dragged on for half a year.

The main complaint was that in a wealthy household, things kept going missing, and at night, the back courtyard would be filled with sounds like ghostly crying.

The master suspected that some demon had slipped into the family home. After a thorough investigation by Qi Xianqing, the difficult case turned out to be the work of a cat demon.

A pregnant cat demon had been living in the back courtyard of that wealthy household.

By the time Qi Xianqing found it, it had already given birth; only then did she realize that the ghostly crying the master heard every night in the back courtyard was actually the little cat demons playing and making a fuss. As for the things that kept going missing each day, it was because the kittens were mischievous and often ran into the courtyard to steal things and stash them in their nest.

At first, Qi Xianqing attacked and killed demons as brutally as ever. The female cat was protecting her cubs and, in a fury, clawed three bloody streaks across her; after that, she and the Echo Hall disciples jointly strangled the demon to death. All the stolen goods were recovered.

After Qi Xianqing killed the cat demon, she looked at the little kittens on the ground and didn’t know what to do, so she handed them over to the Echo Hall disciples to handle.

The Echo Hall disciples said they would send the litter of cat demons to the Beast Taming Pavilion to be trained.

Qi Xianqing felt vexed. This cat demon had never harmed anyone, but because the common people had requested the immortal sect’s intervention, they had to kill it.

Humans and demons were incompatible; demons appearing in a human household naturally couldn’t be let off.

But in Qi Xianqing’s eyes, the faces of the wealthy household were more hateful than that group of cat demons.

She began to deeply question the meaning of this trip.

The female cat’s nest in the back courtyard was burned down with a torch; in a single day, those seven or eight kittens lost both their home and their mother.

Had she been too ruthless?

The little fox sat quietly beside her.

Qi Xianqing: “This pool is also good for spiritual birds. Why not come down and cleanse yourself together?”

She glanced at the little fox’s still-damp fur and said carelessly with a smile, “You were here just now; were you here to bathe?”

Since they were called spiritual beasts, they were naturally different from ordinary birds and beasts.

Spiritual beasts all liked cleanliness very much; Qingmu Pavilion had quite a few of them come to bathe here and wash away the demonic aura from their bodies.

Yan Jue also sensed that Qi Xianqing held no killing intent toward her, so she relaxed.

Slowly, she moved to Qi Xianqing’s side, then with a splash jumped into the water.

The hot spring water was truly comfortable; it was just a little hot. Yan Jue was burned enough to open her mouth in discomfort at first, but by the end she felt the spiritual energy in her body begin to flow in a steady rhythm, and only then did she gradually grow comfortable.

Immortal Spirit Physique.

Hot spring.

The surroundings were simply too pleasant. Unknowingly, Yan Jue closed her eyes and floated on the water’s surface until she fell asleep.

Yan Jue didn’t know how she had come out; she only remembered Qi Xianqing picking her up, as if they had walked a long way through the night.

Then she was gently placed on a table, and a large towel was wrapped around her.

Qi Xianqing gently helped wipe her body dry.

The fox’s soft belly was turned upward; when Qi Xianqing accidentally brushed the area beneath it near her thighs, the little fox became so comfortable that her legs started kicking involuntarily.

Qi Xianqing lowered her head, and for a moment the girl’s breath brushed her lips. Yan Jue instantly froze, opening her eyes abruptly; her whole body went stiff, not daring to move.

Qi Xianqing stood up and brushed her hair back with one hand. “The flower honey you gave me last time was very good.”

Qi Xianqing had fed little cats and dogs before, and spiritual beasts had also come to repay her kindness. But those spiritual beasts either brought her Spirit Stones or caught dead rats for her; the most novel thing any of them had done was to find especially beautiful pieces of wood to give her.

When she saw the flower tea, her first thought was that the little fox must have stolen it from somewhere.

If it had been made by itself... that was possible too. There were spiritual beasts in Five Dragons Mountain that were skilled at cooking, such as the white ape living deep in the Five Dragons mountains.

But the odds seemed rather low for the little fox, unless those two tails were as nimble as a monkey’s arms.

Yan Jue’s two big tails swished back and forth as she lay on her back looking at her, her expression a little blank.

Qi Xianqing thought the little fox was rather strange. At times, it seemed to understand everything she said.

At other times, it seemed not to understand her words at all.

Qi Xianqing sat down in front of the little fox and fiddled with its two tiny forelegs. “The junior sister who asked me to teach her martial arts before has already made some progress in Instant Thousand Miles. I didn’t expect her to learn so quickly; for the moment, I can’t think of what else I should teach her.”

Yan Jue froze slightly, and her ears subconsciously perked up.

Qi Xianqing: “Teaching her my sect’s secret arts privately would count as stealing another’s technique, so I can only choose cultivation methods from the world’s martial dao to teach her. That way she won’t be rushing for quick success, and it can also make up for the shortcomings of today’s cultivators. I didn’t expect her to learn so fast.”

“...”

After thinking for a moment, Qi Xianqing murmured, “What I can think of now is another movement technique after lightness skills, one that relies on nimble footwork to win. There’s also a move in martial arts called ‘Shuaituo’; if she can master these two techniques, she’ll be invincible against those of the same realm.”

Yan Jue was stunned. Though she was still lying on the table pretending to be dead, those amber eyes suddenly lit up.

Earlier in the day, Qi Xianqing had been so indifferent to her that Yan Jue had thought there was no hope of learning any martial arts at all. She hadn’t expected that Qi Xianqing simply hadn’t wanted to teach her in a hurry; she just hadn’t yet decided what to teach.

Qi Xianqing was a disciple of Thunderflame Sect, while she was from Watercloud Sect; the things they learned were somewhat different.

If Qi Xianqing taught her immortal arts or divine abilities, there would be suspicion of stealing another’s technique.

But if she were taught martial cultivation methods that everyone in the world could learn, then even if someone found out, it wouldn’t matter.

So cautious, Qi Xianqing.

Qi Xianqing: “Little fox baby, do you think she’ll be surprised tomorrow when she finds out I’m going to teach her?”

The little fox could no longer pretend to be dead. With a roll, she sat up and stared blankly at Qi Xianqing.

Qi Xianqing: “It’s been a long time since I last saw her surprised expression.”

Qi Xianqing’s eyes curved as she gave a light smile. “Very cute.”

As soon as the words fell, Yan Jue’s heart gave a hard jolt.

She found that her face was actually burning. Her skin beneath the red fur was scalding hot; if not for the fur hiding it, Qi Xianqing would surely have seen the blush.

Yan Jue turned sideways and could only continue lying on the table with a blank face, playing dead. A gurgling sound came from her throat.

-

Yan Jue didn’t sleep well all night. Every time she closed her eyes, she heard Qi Xianqing’s teasing tone from last night.

She discovered that this woman was truly terrifying. When she was cold, she could freeze you to death.

When she was gentle, she could also drown you in gentleness.

If Yan Jue had only seen Qi Xianqing’s expression during the day, she really wouldn’t have been able to imagine that such a woman would think she was cute.

Yan Jue woke up early the next morning, her mind full of what Qi Xianqing had said the night before. After washing up a little, she went to the side of Cold Pool as if nothing had happened and began practicing Instant Thousand Miles.

It was early morning; the surface of the lake was shrouded in mist.

Yan Jue let out a deep breath and leaped up. Her figure flashed through the cold wind, and in almost an instant she appeared at the far shore of the lake. She bent slightly to ease the impact; perhaps because Five Dragons Mountain was rich in spiritual energy, she gained a new insight into Instant Thousand Miles.

Yan Jue finished practicing Drifting Snow and Instant Thousand Miles in sequence, then went through a set of fist techniques.

While practicing, she also waited for that damned woman to arrive.

Her heart was beating very fast, and her cheeks had flushed red from excitement. When that woman came later, she had better act excited enough. Yan Jue had already thought through what expression she should wear by then, and silently rehearsed her lines in her head.

In any case, she had to keep the boss happy first, so she could learn more martial arts!

By the quiet edge of Cold Pool, one could faintly hear a young woman reciting under her breath.

“Senior Sister, you actually came... I... I’m so happy!”

...

By noon, the woman still hadn’t come.

She kept practicing.

Yan Jue waited until evening, and the woman still hadn’t come.

The cold of early spring grew sharper and sharper; by evening, it had even started snowing. Yan Jue had no choice but to pack up and return to her dormitory.

After practicing all day, her body was terribly exhausted. She lay down on the bed and fell asleep first.

The next morning, the sky was overcast.

The cold wind, mixed with snow and rain, howled past and sent the newly sprouted branches of the dead trees outside the window swaying wildly.

Yan Jue woke up very early. After meditating and practicing on the bed for an hour, she picked up her bundle and headed out.

Du Ying came out looking groggy from sleep. Seeing Yan Jue, she froze slightly. “Yan Jue, what are you doing? It’s so cold; you’re still going out to practice?”

Yan Jue lowered her gaze and walked forward without turning back. “I’m going. I haven’t practiced for a long time since coming down the mountain this time.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

Du Ying hurriedly waved her hands. “No need, no need. You should go by yourself.”

Good heavens; Yan Jue was still working so hard. She needed to go into seclusion as soon as possible.

...

The weather was very cold.

Yan Jue carried her bundle and walked slowly along the hillside leading to Qiwu Peak.

Suddenly, a black figure appeared ahead.

Yan Jue was startled.

It was a little wild boar, wearing a tattered cloak woven from withered grass, sitting in the clearing over there. No one knew what it was doing.

Yan Jue vaguely saw that there seemed to be a stone statue standing in front of the boar.

She couldn’t be sure, so she walked over slowly. Her shoes crunched sharply on the dead leaves, and the sound startled the wild boar. In an instant, all the hair on its body stood on end; it looked back warily, then hopped away.

Yan Jue pushed aside the bushes and looked over.

Sure enough, there was a moss-covered stone statue in the clearing.

The statue was already old; bathed in sunlight, one could vaguely tell that it depicted an elderly figure with a white beard.

It was one of the mountain god statues of Five Dragons Mountain.

There were mountain god statues on each of the five main peaks of Five Dragons Mountain.

A thousand years ago, in order to pray for the mountain god’s protection over Five Dragons Sect, the former Five Dragons Sect Master specially enshrined mountain god statues at every place on the main peaks where heaven and earth’s spiritual energy gathered.

And after absorbing that spiritual energy, the mountain god statues became remarkably efficacious.

Many Five Dragons disciples would come here to worship before major examinations.

Only, no one knew what that little wild boar had been trying to do in front of the statue.

...

The spring chill struck again.

By Cold Pool, it was even more bitterly cold.

Yan Jue came to the pool and, while practicing, waited for Qi Xianqing to arrive.

Yan Jue formed hand seals and slowly walked across the silent Cold Pool.

Frost melted beneath her feet; Yan Jue closed her eyes, and her body shot forward like a gale.

The frost turned a dazzling sapphire blue, and it grew denser and denser beneath her feet.

Drifting Snow had already reached mastery.

-

For seven consecutive days, Yan Jue had insisted on going to Cold Pool to practice.

But no matter how long she waited, she never saw Qi Xianqing’s figure.

Qi Xianqing seemed to be a little busy, and recently she hadn’t gone to Frozen Peach Haven at night either.

The little fox felt very lonely.

On the seventh day.

Just as always, Yan Jue, already dispirited, was carrying her bundle and preparing to head out when she ran into Duan Luxi, who had come to Watercloud Sect to look for her.

Duan Luxi was wearing Muyin Sect’s Daoist robe and holding a thick book in one hand, while the other held a wooden box containing sleeve arrows. “Junior Sister Yan, I’ve finished the sleeve arrows you asked for. Come take a look and tell me how I did!”

Yan Jue froze. “So fast?”

The requirements Yan Jue had given Duan Luxi last time were not low. She had originally thought Duan Luxi would need a month before she could hand over a finished product.

Duan Luxi: “Although it feels a little different from what I imagined, I really did finish it.”

Yan Jue took the sleeve arrow Duan Luxi handed over and, with a flick of her hand, fired it out.

With a bang, a sleeve arrow that triggered runes at random, infused with the power of thunder and lightning, stuck firmly into a wooden board. One could faintly see blue-green lightning surging around it.

Yan Jue: “This doesn’t seem any different from before.”

Duan Luxi said nothing, only hugging her arms and looking at her with a grin.

Duan Luxi wasn’t a disciple of the Refining Hall.

Yan Jue’s expectations of her weren’t very high either, after all, the last request she had made was indeed rather difficult.

Yan Jue: “I—”

“Boom!!”

The next second, the sleeve arrow exploded on the spot.

A huge burst of sparks scattered like fireworks; the wooden board was blown to pieces, not even ash remaining, and a shallow crater appeared on the ground.

Yan Jue: “...”

Duan Luxi said, “Recently I’ve been teaching myself *An Introductory Guide to Refining*, and after searching for a long time I finally found a project that fits what you described. Although this sleeve arrow can’t be made to explode with hand seals, it will automatically explode about ten breaths after it’s fired.”

So this was... a timed bomb!

Yan Jue hurriedly recalled the sleeve arrow that had been blasted away, handed it back to Duan Luxi, and said with a laugh, “Thank you, Senior Sister Duan!!! This really exceeded my expectations!”

Duan Luxi said confidently, “I’ll definitely become the most outstanding refining master!”

-

Spring chill still hung in the air.

Yan Jue came once more to the edge of Cold Pool.

The lake surface was extremely cold. Yan Jue ran back and forth several times, using the increasingly familiar lightness technique steps, then glanced at the sun; it was almost noon.

But Qi Xianqing still hadn’t come.

Yan Jue: “...”

It had already been seven days. Could Qi Xianqing have a bad memory and forgotten her?

Or was it that night when Qi Xianqing had only been speaking casually?

Yan Jue was even starting to wonder whether she had misheard that night.

A strong gust of wind swept past. Yan Jue suddenly exerted force with both legs, her body arcing gracefully through the air before landing steadily on the ground.

The weather was too cold; Yan Jue felt her legs trembling. She couldn’t help but drop to her knees on the ground, both hands pressing against it.

She suddenly noticed that on the dry grass beneath her palm, a layer of frost had actually formed.

Yan Jue froze.

Her Divine Sense sank.

Light blue frost spread out from around her body, gradually freezing the green grass around her.

This was frost radiating from within her own body.

Yan Jue’s pupils shrank slightly.

The original host had dual water and earth spiritual roots, which was why she had decided to cultivate ice techniques that combined the two. It looked like her Ice Summoning Art had also reached some level of mastery now?

Yan Jue closed her eyes and tried to circulate her spiritual awareness. When she opened them again, she only felt that the range of frost beneath her had grown larger and larger.

For a moment, her thoughts became chaotic and tangled. Several different ice techniques surged into her mind at the same time.

Yan Jue couldn’t help but feel heat flood her chest; she coughed up a mouthful of blood.

No. If she kept cultivating so chaotically, the efficiency would be poor, and she might very well go mad from deviation.

If not for the body-strengthening Qi Xianqing had once supervised her through so seriously, she might have already fainted here by now.

She’d have to go to the Library Pavilion in a moment and see whether there were any similar books that could explain this situation.

Yan Jue glanced at the sky.

Forget it; she’d go back for today. It was already late, and Qi Xianqing probably wouldn’t come again today.

Yan Jue gave a bitter smile and was just about to get up when she suddenly heard a familiar voice from behind her.

“Still practicing?”

Yan Jue whipped around.

Qi Xianqing was dressed in a snow-white narrow-sleeved top and a pleated skirt embroidered with flying cranes. Zhuying, that black long sword, remained on her back. She stood by the rocks and slowly walked over.

Her expression was faint; she seemed completely natural, as if she had just happened to be passing by.

It was Qi Xianqing!!! Yan Jue felt her eyes sting. Thinking of all these days of hardship, she only wanted to scream: Why did you take so long to come!!!

Qi Xianqing walked over and, seeing the blood on the ground, paused slightly.

Yan Jue didn’t care at all about the blood on the ground. She jolted upright and said, “Senior Sister, it’s so cold today. Why did you come to Cold Pool?”

Although Yan Jue had long known that Qi Xianqing intended to teach her martial arts, and had even rehearsed her thanks in advance in her head.

Now that Qi Xianqing had launched such a sudden attack, her mind was a mess, and she had forgotten everything.

After all, she had waited for Qi Xianqing too long; she had practically been desperate, all right.

Originally, she wouldn’t have been this eager.

It was all Qi Xianqing’s fault for telling her that night that she would come to teach her, then not showing up for so many days afterward; that was what made the emotional gap so unbearable now.

Qi Xianqing said solemnly, “A few days ago, after I returned, I thought over the cultivation methods my junior sister might use. I’ve mostly come to a conclusion now.”

Yan Jue: Then you should’ve said so clearly last time!!!

“Thank you, Senior Sister...” Yan Jue bowed deeply to Qi Xianqing, so excited she could hardly contain herself. “I thought Senior Sister had turned me down last time. What does Senior Sister plan to teach me?”

Qi Xianqing: “A set of Flying Swallow Steps, along with the martial dao technique ‘Shuaituo.’”

Yan Jue took two steps forward, the words she had rehearsed in her heart spinning wildly, but in the end, she couldn’t force any of them out.

Her true feelings ultimately overpowered her pretense; tears of emotion simply spilled down Yan Jue’s face. “Th-thank you, Senior Sister.”

Qi Xianqing’s gaze fell on Yan Jue’s face. “...”

She really had meant to harbor a little ulterior motive and enjoy the girl’s surprised expression.

But.

This person seemed... overexcited, didn’t she?

Did she really want to learn martial arts that badly?!