Chapter 708: Round-Faced Girl
Central Tongye Continent. It should have been a fine season when rain gives birth to a hundred grains, clear and bright. But unfortunately, like last year, the tender, silk-like Chinese toon leaves before the rain were left unpicked. Countless lush green tea mountains gradually became desolate, overgrown with weeds. Every household, rich or poor, no longer had even a hint of the fragrance of pre-rain spring tea.
The Northern Jin Kingdom had enjoyed too long a period of peace. Relative to the entire continent, it was unfortunately a place of strategic contention. In the past, separated by the eight-hundred-li Pine Needle Lake and the Golden Amber Mountain Spirit Mansion, it had coexisted peacefully with the Yao family's border cavalry of the Daquan Dynasty. But after a great upheaval, all strategies and diligent governance became fleeting clouds. Now the Northern Jin Kingdom was no longer a kingdom—its vast rivers and mountains were shattered and broken. To the north of Daquan lay Southern Qi, which was no better off than Northern Jin. In the end, only the Daquan Dynasty remained, with its emperor long unseen. A vassal prince acted as regent while the empress dowager participated in politics behind a curtain, still fighting against the demon army from the Wild Continent. But there was no hope of victory; they retreated step by step, and the Yao family's border cavalry was decimated—barely one in ten remained.
The old capital of Southern Qi had become a garrison site for a military tent of Mount Tuo, and the Daquan Dynasty had lost most of its territory. Its border troops were nearly wiped out, and the armies of various prefectures could only retreat to the capital region. It was said that once the famous Mirage City, renowned across the continent, was captured, the military tent would be relocated.
The demon army from the Wild Continent, after landing on the western coast of Tongye Continent in the early years, had over thirty military tents each assigned to different targets. They advanced methodically, focusing on deeply entrenched immortal mountain sects. Generally, there were two routes: spreading from west to east and advancing from south to north. They did not place much importance on the human dynasties and vassal states along the way—they merely flooded over them like a tide, causing massive destruction. There were no terms of surrender, no pacification. When a city was breached, its people died. Then, under the command of the great demon Bai Ying of the Skeleton Throne, they were refined into armies of skeletons, using the dead to kill the living. In the end, all became dead.
Over the old mountains and rivers of Northern Jin, on a vast sea of golden clouds under the bright sun, six rainbow lights suddenly halted in midair, then plunged rapidly toward the ground.
A strong wind blew from the sky, rustling the temples of the six figures. They were all young, three male and three female.
They broke through layers of cloud, and the view opened up before them.
Among them was a man in black robes, his hair tied with a white silk ribbon.
Falling from heaven to earth, he most resembled an immortal banished from the celestial realm.
Below the clouds was a massive city with towering but damaged walls.
It was a prefectural city, one of the few remaining large cities in Northern Jin that had not yet been looted—almost a solitary city for the entire kingdom.
The mountain-and-water grand formation of this prefectural city was even more stable than that of many vassal state capitals. It was said that two reclusive masters—one a Golden Core cultivator skilled in formations, and the other a Nascent Soul of considerable ability—had contributed greatly, barely managing to defend the battered city. But that was not the root cause. The real reason the city had survived was that an Immortal-level great demon from the military tent had been suddenly attacked and killed nearby by Xun Yuan, the Ascension-stage cultivator stationed at the Celestial Canopy overseeing the operation of the Three Enclosures and Four Symbols Grand Formation. As a result, many great demons found the place unlucky and avoided showing themselves there.
If not for Xun Yuan and Jiang Shangzhen, those troublesome figures from the Jade Gui Sect, who had relied on the grand formation that concentrated the continent's destiny over the years to specifically target the tent's Immortals and Ascension-stage great demons, Tongye Continent would have fallen even earlier. Xun Yuan was high in realm and used the entire continent as a small world, making several Ascension-stage great demons wary. As for Jiang Shangzhen, though only an Immortal, his natal flying sword was too vicious and treacherous. Each time he descended from the Celestial Canopy to strike the human world, he never bothered Ascension-stage enemies and was even reluctant to fight Immortals too fiercely. Using the advantages of time, place, and people—equivalent to a one-and-a-half-realm advantage—he specialized in killing Jade Pu-stage demon cultivators.
Under his sword, Jade Pu cultivators who could have single-handedly claimed credit for destroying half a kingdom either died or fell in realm.
Two Throne great demons, Yang Zhi and Fei Fei, after returning from the waters between Vase Bottle Continent and Northern Ju Continent, had been specifically hunting for traces of Xun Yuan and Jiang Shangzhen in the Celestial Canopy.
Among them, Yang Zhi had engaged Xun Yuan in a fierce battle; both were injured. After that, Xun Yuan became even more evasive.
But Jiang Shangzhen continued to occasionally strike the human world with his sword. Fei Fei had several times traced clues to intercept his retreat, but Jiang Shangzhen had countless illusions and an uncanny escape method, so she could not kill him.
In contrast, the Great Xia Academy's mountain master's actions were more focused on protecting the mountain-and-water grand formations of kingdoms and academies, delaying the Wild Continent's advance.
With the successive destruction of Peace Mountain and the Planchette Sect, Tongye Continent no longer had the Three Enclosures and Four Symbols Grand Formation. The times had changed. Now Xun Yuan and Jiang Shangzhen were themselves in the Wild Continent—especially Xun Yuan, who, at the end of last year, had been intercepted by Yang Zhi and Fei Fei. Rumors said he had fled Tongye Continent and hidden in a sea region's secret realm, and then a "little girl with horn-like braids" had followed him.
The black-robed man raised his sword. With one strike, he broke the mountain-and-water grand formation. With another, he shattered several attack artifacts that came roaring in.
Inside the city, a golden-armored deity consecrated by a Martial Temple stepped out from its shrine. Warned by an immortal master not to leave the temple, this spirit—once a loyal martyr of the kingdom—still drew its treasured blade, steeped in incense for centuries, and stepped forward to meet the enemy. It flew into the air, but the black-robed man's natal flying sword cracked its golden body. The deity, now covered in cracks like a spiderweb, roared in anger. Still gripping its blade in both hands, it stamped heavily in the void and slashed at that young sword immortal beast. But the flying sword curved and struck again. The golden body shattered into pieces, and the human city was showered with golden rain.
The other five demon cultivators landed inside the city. Though the city-protecting grand formation was not broken, it could not stop their forceful entry.
One demon, a pure martial artist over ten feet tall, landed, looked around, chose a direction, and charged straight through the city's various markets. Walls of all sizes and buildings of every kind were smashed open. Occasionally, unfortunate people were crushed into pulp, leaving no trace. He kept going until he hit the outer city wall, then switched to another route, using his tough body as a blade to cut straight through the city, endlessly enjoying himself.
Another demon, a sword cultivator, picked a densely built area and walked slowly. Within a hundred zhang radius wherever he passed, he absorbed the souls and blood essence of the living, turning them into dried-up corpses.
One demon set its sights on the City God Pavilion. It suddenly revealed its true form—a three-hundred-zhang-long python with gleaming scales. Miasma arose, corroding wood and stone. It coiled around the entire pavilion, then slammed its head against the upper part, shattering a plaque bestowed by the Northern Jin monarch, which glowed with spiritual light. It ignored the spells and heavy attack treasures hurled at its body, and paid no heed to the City God and his day- and night-wandering spirits and underworld officials, who summoned numerous yin creatures to hack and chop at it.
A young woman in an emerald-green dress, tall and slender, formed a sword art with her hand and summoned her natal flying sword, "Peacock Screen." Behind her, like a peacock spreading its tail, eighty-one dazzling sword lights formed from peacock feathers appeared, glowing brilliantly and exquisitely.
Each slender sword light had a feather eye like a woman's eye, from which even more tiny flying swords emerged—this was the innate ability of her "Peacock Screen" sword, crystallizing "eye-light into sword-light." Finally, the sword light flashed and vanished, trailing countless green fireflies through the air. She headed straight for the prefectural government office. Buildings on both sides were swept clean by the dense sword light, raising dust that blocked the sun.
Another female sword cultivator, who looked similar to her, stepped onto a colorful longsword and landed on a city wall crowded with armored soldiers.
Yu Si landed on the roof ridge of a wealthy clan's mansion. Unlike his companions, he did not engage in wanton slaughter.
He had only come this time to relax with a friend, who had invited him from the Southern Qi capital to find some amusement. The other five were all old acquaintances.
The sword immortal seedlings from the Jia Shen Tent, with whom he had fought shoulder to shoulder, were also his friends, but originally they had not been very close.
Below Yu Si's feet were scattered small cities that had not yet been ravaged by war. Among them, prefectural cities were rare, and those in a large kingdom like Northern Jin were especially hard to find. Most were remote commanderies or counties in vassal states, used by the tent cultivators for practice. They even had to compete for them to earn battle merits; otherwise, such good opportunities would not come their way.
Yu Si sat on the roof ridge, his sword lying across his knees. He glanced at the already chaotic mansion but paid it no attention.
From the moment the Sword Qi Great Wall was broken in two, and the city "ascended" away to the Fifth Continent, to the opening of a road at the former site of Inverted Hanging Mountain to pave the way for the army at sea, and now to the conquest of two Haoran Tianxia continents, Fuyao and Tongye—the pace had actually been slower than expected by two or three years. Otherwise, by now, the Wild Continent would not be holding only half of Golden Armor Continent but would have taken the entire Vase Bottle Continent.
The losses at the Sword Qi Great Wall had been too severe—thirty percent more than the Jia Zi Tent's original projections.
In fact, the Jia Zi Tent had deliberately downplayed it. Yu Si knew the truth: it was forty percent more.
One move affects the whole, and the tragedy at the Sword Qi Great Wall was far from a simple "one move."
The Jia Zi Tent's established strategy was indeed to divide forces into three, but with a tiny fraction of top-tier combat power—for example, three to four Throne great demons including Liu Cha, leading a portion of the army to pin down the Bodhi Continent as a mere show. As for Fuyao Continent, they had to take it, but Golden Armor Continent was not urgent. The original main offensive route planned by the Jia Zi Tent was to push north from Tongye Continent in one go, capturing Vase Bottle Continent and Northern Ju Continent. Then, within at most four years, they would quickly swallow and digest the mountain-and-river destiny of southeastern Tongye and southwestern Fuyao, especially Tongye, which should have changed hands the year before last and become part of the Wild Continent's territory.
The Jia Shen Tent was not the leader of the sword cultivators. The boy in wooden clogs, Muji, had once used a metaphor: the Wild Continent army pouring into the two continents was like scattering beans into the furrows of a field.
At the initial landing, before dividing forces, they seemed unstoppable. But relative to a continent's vast land, their troops were still too few. They still needed a continuous stream of reinforcements to fill the scarred and battered territories of the two continents.
After that, they would do what Master Zhou called "planting seedlings in waterlogged fields." They could not treat the two continents like a dried-up pond to be fished dry. After the initial intimidation, they had to shift to pacifying the broken kingdoms and winning over the surviving mountain cultivators. Within ten years, they hoped to reap a harvest—not necessarily abundant, but at least able to convert a portion of the human forces on the two continents into the Wild Continent's northern expedition army. The focus would be on desperadoes, wild cultivators in mountains and rivers, frustrated pure martial artists in the martial world, various dynastic civil and military officials who valued their lives, and all sorts of characters. They would first be gathered into a single military tent, with one or two selected to enter the Jia Zi Tent, and their opinions would be valued.
Thus, once the Wild Continent took Vase Bottle and Golden Armor Continents, it would have a firm foothold. At most, they would return Fuyao Continent and half of Golden Armor Continent to the Haoran Tianxia in exchange for Northern Ju Continent.
By then, the Wild Continent would hold Tongye, Vase Bottle, and Northern Ju Continents.
As for the so-called return of Fuyao Continent, in fact, the Jia Zi Tent had long had a method: multiple Throne great demons would join forces to cause the entire continent to sink. The Wild Continent would gain no destiny from it, and the Haoran Tianxia would only recover countless broken "islands" like shattered porcelain. Thus, just repairing the old mountains and rivers of that continent, which was closer to the Wild Continent's exit point, would consume the Central Earth Confucian Temple's immense energy, financial resources, and public morale.
Because of his special status, far beyond being just a Jia Shen Tent cultivator or a Mount Tuo sword immortal seedling, Yu Si knew these shocking inside details.
A female sword cultivator changed her mind and flew over to Yu Si on her sword.
The sword's rank was not low, leaving a colorful rainbow-like sword light in the air.
Her name was Xian Zao, and her sister was Yin Su. They were sisters and both sword cultivators. Though not listed among Mount Tuo's Hundred Sword Immortals, they were direct disciples of the Wild Continent's great sect, Guanghan City, and female officials of the Snow Frost Department. They looked young, but in reality, they were over three hundred years old.
Guanghan City was one of the sects under the great demon Fei Fei. In the past, when Fei Fei and the Yeluo River's lord Yang Zhi had fought for years, the female cultivators of Guanghan City's six departments, including Snow Frost and Willow Strips, had contributed greatly.
Xian Zao's human form was a delicate-featured woman with a pointed chin. She lifted her skirt, performed a curtsy, and called him Master Yu Si.
Yu Si did not stand, only smiled and nodded.
In the Wild Continent, hierarchy was strict. Too many formalities would backfire.
Xian Zao sheathed her sword and sat not far from Yu Si, but did not dare get too close. She rested her chin on her hands and looked at the chaotic city. "Master Yu Si, I'm really tired of killing. How can Haoran Tianxia have so many cities? Capitals, prefectural cities, commandery cities, county cities—so many cities, and even more people. Luckily, they're all cowards who scare themselves half to death before we even start, so there's not much resistance. At first, I was happy, thinking it wouldn't be as dangerous as fighting on the Sword Qi Great Wall. But after killing so many, batch after batch, it's gotten boring."
Yu Si smiled. "This is the Haoran Tianxia—abundant and prosperous. As long as there's no war, no great droughts, floods, or locust plagues, people get along well and rarely fight to the death. So the population grows. It's different from our homeland."
In the Wild Continent, before the appearance of the Mount Tuo Great Ancestor, there was ten thousand years of chaos.
Truly chaotic—great demons roamed the world, and there was never any concept of "excessive killing."
Xian Zao pointed to a spot in the city. "I see these archways everywhere. My sister and I can't read the characters. Master Yu Si, you're educated and understand the Haoran Tianxia well—what are they for?"
In the Wild Continent, the script was ancient. It was said to share the same origin as that of the Haoran Tianxia, but they had diverged and evolved separately. Yet because of that "shared origin," even if forced, the Confucian sages' destiny characters still made all great demons deeply wary. About a thousand years ago, a script called "Water Cloud Script," created by the "World's Literary Ocean," Master Zhou, began to spread in the Wild Continent.
Yu Si explained, "These are unique to the Haoran Tianxia, used to commend men and women of great learning and virtue. I've read in books that the sages here once said something like: 'In such a corrupt age, even a single good deed deserves recognition.' Roughly, it means using these archways to promote goodness. In the Haoran Tianxia, having such an archway brings glory to one's descendants for generations."
Xian Zao was puzzled. "These people sound impressive, but after all these years of war, they seem completely useless."
Still, she had encountered some strange individuals. An old woman with white hair, leaning on a cane at the gate of her family's ancestral hall—though she died like a tattered piece of cotton, she had shown no fear of death. Perhaps she had lived long enough? She had also seen an old man in a Confucian robe, who, though disaster loomed and he could only wait for death, died beside a table piled with books. At the time, he held a child's hand, telling the child to "speak loudly." The old man listened to the child's trembling, tearful words—perhaps a family precept, or words from a sage's book?
Regardless, the old man's expression at death was far calmer than that of many mountain cultivators who had offered treasures and spirit coins, or the kings and generals who had groveled on the ground.
But even so, what was the point? Xian Zao thought it meaningless. Old and young, they all died.
On the other hand, many places that the tents had considered "tough to fight"—battlefields, defense lines, passes—held tens of thousands of brightly armored elite cavalry and infantry, but they were all showpieces. They crumbled at the first touch, vanished at the first strike.
Some high cities and strongholds often fell after only a few blows.
The armor was too new, the veteran soldiers too few.
But a few sect-level immortal families and the elite troops of seven or eight dynasties did cause some trouble for the Wild Continent army.
Especially when attacking that place called Peace Mountain, the casualties were severe. Two entire military tents lost all their forces and had to divert two more waves of troops.
Yu Si found it hard to explain to her the uselessness and usefulness of these intangible things. They served to educate the heart and mind, but were naturally useless in combat. In peaceful times, such archways were priceless; in times of chaos, they seemed worthless.
Yu Si watched an old Nascent Soul cultivator finally unable to hold back, leaving the protective formation to engage in battle with Yin Su and the others. Yin Su had been killing too much deliberately, showing off to him. The pure martial artist had earlier torn off some heads and casually thrown them at the formation, causing ripples like blood splattered on a wall. As for the one who had revealed the python form, he had reverted to human shape but had grabbed two City God Pavilion spirits and pressed them against the outer wall of the formation, crushing their golden bodies bit by bit.
Xian Zao was satisfied just to have talked with him for a while. She stood up and apologized, "Master Yu Si, I'll go kill now. Otherwise, my sister will nag me about being lazy for a long time."
Yu Si waved his hand and reminded her with a smile, "Still, be careful of those two human earth immortal cultivators. Don't let your guard down just because you're a Golden Core sword cultivator. Human cultivators have many schemes while alive. When they decide to die, they can be quite decisive."
Xian Zao nodded vigorously.
Master Yu Si was of noble status, yet always so easygoing and gentle in manner.
Yu Si watched Xian Zao fly away on her sword, but still had no intention of intervening.
On the Sword Qi Great Wall, Yu Si had entered battlefields many times, earned many merits, and suffered few losses. In fact, only once, but that time had been somewhat severe.
After breaking through the Sword Qi Great Wall, the Wild Continent's advance on this unfamiliar continent had slowed a bit. But it was like two Nascent Soul Qi refiners, after hard-fought efforts to kill a troublesome Golden Core sword cultivator, then dealing with a group of demoralized lower-five-realm cultivators—of course, it felt easy, even boring.
Yu Si stood up and looked down.
A young man in brocade robes with a jade belt—one could call him "face like jade" from the books—was hiding by the window of a study, staring at him.
Another young man in coarse clothes was even more interesting. Having seen the immortal scene of Xian Zao flying on her sword, he ran all the way, climbed onto a nearby roof ridge, plucked up his courage, and asked in a trembling voice, "Are you an immortal master who came to save people?"
Yu Si replied in the elegant language of Tongye Continent, "I don't understand your Northern Jin official speech."
Unexpectedly, the young man immediately switched from official speech to the elegant language. "Immortal master, can I learn immortal arts from you?"
Yu Si shook his head. "I am a demon, not an immortal master. Naturally, I'm not here to save people but to kill."
The young man was dumbfounded.
Yu Si waved his hand. "Go hide. If you can endure for ten or twenty years, you might still live."
The young man's expression suddenly changed, his eyes burning with fervor. "I know where the mansion hides its money and treasures. I'm willing to guide you. Can I follow you from now on?"
Yu Si smiled. "Sure, lead the way. I can really give you a vast fortune. After such upheaval, it's time for the old to give way to the new."
After all, he had nothing better to do.
And he recalled something Muji of the Jia Zi Tent had said: When does the Wild Continent truly secure the hearts of a newly occupied continent? When all those who survive the war believe they have no retreat, no chance to correct their mistakes. So much so that even if they return to the Haoran Tianxia, they would have no way out, as they would certainly be punished later. Only then can these people be safely used by the Wild Continent, becoming dogs that bite harder and kill fiercer than demon cultivators. For example, within a kingdom, a minister assassinates the king; each department selects one person who must die; within a clan, the same, and moreover, in the ancestral hall, let people commit heinous acts. For mountain immortals, have disciples kill their patriarchs, fellow students kill each other, so that everyone's hands are stained with blood, and so on.
All the rules and etiquettes painstakingly established by Confucianism would collapse. Level it all, and on the ruins, for the next thousand years, what is called morality would only be the rules set by Master Zhou.
It was said that Muji now not only followed Master Zhou but had been granted a surname.
Yu Si descended to the ground and grabbed the young man, who felt as if he were riding clouds and mist. Yu Si deliberately ignored the other's drenched sweat, walked slowly, turned his head, and asked with a smile, "Is there anything you want to obtain? For example, a woman you dared not even think about before. Is there anyone you want to kill? For example, the wealthy person you hate most. Tell me what you most want to get and who you most want to kill, and I can help you."
The young man gritted his teeth and nodded. "I don't want anything. I think everything should be yours, master; I dare not take a single thing. But I want to kill two people!"
Yu Si asked curiously, "Which two?"
The young man following Yu Si gritted his teeth and said, "One is a man named Han Chengyi, the young master of this estate. The other is his sister, Han Shuyi, a woman who returned home to visit her parents."
Yu Si laughed. "What deep hatred do you have for that brother and sister?"
It was obvious that this person was a servant in the mansion, possibly even a household slave born into servitude.
The young man was silent for a moment, then shook his head. He clenched his fists, his body trembling, and lowered his head. "I just want them dead! One born with a silver spoon, the other a shameless slut!"
Yu Si stopped and made the man look up at him. The young man's face was covered in sweat.
Yu Si smiled gently. "In the Haoran Tianxia, a bad person is a good person in the Wild Continent. Don't worry, you won't die. I'll also let you have your wish. But I'm following you, so I'm afraid you won't be able to act freely, won't be able to do what was once considered evil. Before you kill, you can do more things you've dreamed of. If killing two isn't enough, kill more. I'll wait for you here. Don't worry about keeping me waiting—I'm very free."
As he spoke, Yu Si took off a small, exquisite yellow silk pouch from his waist. When his fingers touched it, a rainbow cloud emerged, and an ink-black small dragon coiled on the pouch's surface, mist and water spreading.
Yu Si gently shook the yellow silk pouch. The ink-black dragon fell to the ground and transformed into a burly man with pitch-black eyes. Yu Si then tossed the pouch lightly to the young man. "Take good care of it. From now on, this dragon slave will be your protector, teach you immortal arts, and help you become a man above others in Tongye Continent. Don't mention the Han family children—even the lingering former emperors and mountain earth immortals will bow and scrape to you, calling you... By the way, what's your name?"
The young man took the pouch with both hands, his expression excited, his voice trembling. "Master, my name is Lu Jianxin. 'Jian' as in 'check.' I once had an older brother named Lu Jiaoguang."
Yu Si smiled knowingly. "'Teach in childhood upright and bright; examine the heart with diligence and caution.' Both good names. Did your father ask the family tutor for them?"
Lu Jianxin wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Master is truly learned and talented."
Yu Si waved his hand. "From now on, when you follow me, do more and speak less. Save the flattery—if you overdo it, you'll die."
Lu Jianxin dared not speak further. He bowed with his hands clasped and then ran off, followed by the ink-black dragon attendant. The young man felt both fear and newfound boldness.
Yu Si planned to make this Lu Jianxin the lord of this prefectural city, letting the young man enjoy a life like a local emperor. Then he would have the ink-black dragon record in detail the changes in the city's customs over the years and present it to Muji.
As for why Lu Jianxin harbored such deep hatred for that brother and sister, who knew?
Perhaps on a thin-clothed winter day, he had seen a wealthy young master in a snow-white fox fur coat enjoying the snow, making him feel even more inferior.
Perhaps he had admired the woman for a long time, but one day, when they passed each other, the woman said nothing, but her casual glance said everything.
None of this was strange, nor did Yu Si care about the truth. What Yu Si found truly amusing was that, in that moment, he saw in Lu Jianxin's eyes and heart the young man's sincere gratitude, admiration, awe, and a fierce determination to gamble everything, even his life. Lu Jianxin was clearly willing to trade a moment of intense pleasure to kill all the long-standing displeasure in his heart. The Wild Continent needed these poor souls prone to extremes, the more the better. These people would likely become what Muji called "Confucian grave-fillers." Master Zhou once joked that the Haoran Tianxia had too many scholars who were hypocritical pedants and true villains. They thought the world was blind to their sanctimoniousness, but it was not. Some people dared to be angry but not speak, year after year; others longed to become such people, thus they were actually digging their own graves. So it was no wonder that now many came to fill the graves and level them.
Yu Si suddenly looked up.
A great phenomenon in heaven and earth spread rapidly from afar—it was undoubtedly the great divine ability of an Ascension-stage cultivator.
Otherwise, even he, Yu Si, would not be able to clearly sense that vast aura here.
A woman with bloodshot eyes appeared beside Yu Si and said softly, "Young master, please leave this place temporarily. Xun Yuan of the Jade Gui Sect was first intercepted by me and Yang Zhi, then pursued by Xiao Xun, and finally entered that hidden undersea secret realm. Everything was destroyed; there was no escape. Xun Yuan used his Dharma Form at the coast of the Eastern Sea, intending to split Tongye Continent in two. It is very likely to affect this place."
Yu Si shook his head. "You only need to protect me and Xian Zao and the others. I want to see up close how Xun Yuan splits Tongye Continent."
The Throne great demon Fei Fei nodded.
Yu Si frowned and asked, "What about Xiao Xun?"
Fei Fei said, "That secret realm is very strange. It seems Xun Yuan temporarily tricked her into going to another continent. Perhaps Xun Yuan's escape this time was deliberately intended to lure Xiao Xun away."
She suddenly flickered and disappeared. A moment later, she returned, her expression slightly changing. "Xiao Xun has finally struck with her sword."
Yu Si looked up. Over the Eastern Sea of Tongye Continent, a great gate opened in the sky. Xiao Xun used her sword to open a passage through another part of the sky, thus "ascending" back to the Haoran Tianxia. Then she sent a majestic sword light toward Xun Yuan's Dharma Form, which was ten thousand zhang tall. The momentum was no less than that of Bai Ye's first strike on Fuyao Continent.
That unparalleled sword light interwove water light, fire light, and thunder light.
Fei Fei looked up and said softly, "The old man is done for."
Yu Si smiled. "Compared to you, Xun Yuan isn't really old."
Fei Fei smiled slightly, then said, "I'll go seize some pieces of his glazed golden body for the young master."
Yu Si was about to shake his head, but Fei Fei had already flown off. After all, she was a Throne great demon, and it did not involve her fundamental path. Yu Si could not casually scold or stop her.
Moreover, Fei Fei transmitted a mental message: "Be careful."
Yu Si remained expressionless, strolling leisurely within the wealthy mansion.
Suddenly, the river of time around Yu Si seemed to freeze for no reason.
But Yu Si was not overly alarmed. The Dharma robe he now wore, a gift from Fei Fei, could withstand several full-force strikes from an Immortal sword cultivator and still survive.
Moreover, once Yu Si's robe was attacked by spells or flying swords, as long as Fei Fei was not across an entire continent, she could arrive in an instant.
Yu Si turned his head and looked at a roof ridge. A handsome man in a tall crown and golden robe stood there, gently tossing the yellow silk pouch, from which the ink-black dragon frenziedly struggled but could not break free.
The man glanced at Yu Si's Dharma robe and smiled. "It's rare to see something I want, but my little life is worth more."
Yu Si cupped his fists. "I pay my respects to Sect Leader Jiang."
Jiang Shangzhen raised one hand and waved it casually. "No need for formalities. After all this trouble, father and son finally meet. Just call me 'Dad' from now on. Remember to have that little maid Fei Fei massage my shoulders and pound my legs—that'll count as your filial piety."
Yu Si was speechless for a moment, then laughed. After a brief silence, he asked, "How is that young man guarded by the ink dragon slave?"
Jiang Shangzhen grinned. "Oh, him? His soul was swapped with a handsome fellow. I'd guess when the river of time returns to normal, he'll be pretty confused: who am I, where am I, what should I do?"
Yu Si asked, "Sect Leader Jiang, you're not going to save Xun Yuan, but instead come here to chat with me?"
"Why save someone far away when I don't kill someone close at hand? Once I, Jiang, get smart, even I don't know what I'm thinking—how could you predict it?"
Jiang Shangzhen shrugged. "Besides, you, this wild son, are just a useless waste. That bitch Fei Fei actually gave you her natal Dharma robe. I'm a coward; killing you for the loss of a sword isn't worth the trade. So I can't do anything to you. Getting this half-immortal artifact yellow silk pouch as a freebie is already quite satisfying."
Yu Si was silent.
One of this Dharma robe's abilities was "locking swords," even more ingenious than Du Mao's Sword-Swallowing Boat.
Yu Si had long planned to use himself as bait to take one strike from Jiang Shangzhen's so-called "one willow leaf cuts an Immortal" sword.
Jiang Shangzhen put the yellow silk pouch into his sleeve's heaven-and-earth pocket, and the frozen river of time returned to normal.
Yu Si asked, "Why don't you go after She Yue or Dou Kou?"
One was among the top ten youths across several continents, the other a reserve candidate.
The key point was that they, unlike him and Tan, did not have a Throne great demon as their protector.
Jiang Shangzhen smiled without a word.
In a study, a handsome young man in fine clothes was rolling on the ground with another young man. Without the protection of the ink dragon attendant, Lu Jianxin should have been able to beat the Han family's young master to death with sheer strength. But now, he was being straddled and punched repeatedly, his face covered in blood. The "handsome young man" lay on the ground, in pain, regretting that he should have first gone to find that beautiful bitch... Meanwhile, the "Lu Jianxin" was relying on his muscular strength and brute force, his face streaked with tears but his eyes fiercely ruthless. While cursing with a strange voice, he beat the "himself" on the ground to death, finally using both hands to strangle the other's neck.
Jiang Shangzhen smiled. "Alright, Sister Fei Fei, no need to hide. You're so beautiful, why are you afraid to show your face?"
Fei Fei actually "walked out" from within Yu Si's Dharma robe and said to Yu Si, "Young master, it's just a phantom of a secret technique, roughly equivalent to a Nascent Soul cultivator. Jiang Shangzhen's true body is not here."
Jiang Shangzhen nodded. "Of course. Without a one-hundred-percent certainty, I never act. Without a one-hundred-percent certainty, don't come to kill me either. I came this time just to give you two a heads-up: when Sister Fei Fei puts on the robe again, make sure Young Master Yu Si obediently hides inside the military tent. Otherwise, it's only natural for a father to beat his son."
As Jiang Shangzhen's phantom dissipated, the yellow silk pouch at his waist did not vanish with it. Jiang Shangzhen wasn't that foolish. That was just a tease earlier. This man, the newest—and possibly last—sect leader of the Jade Gui Sect, looked somewhat melancholy. He turned his head toward the Eastern Sea, where an Ascension-stage great cultivator's glazed golden body began to collapse. However magnificent the scene at its end, the truth that "a living dog is better than a dead lion" lingered in his heart, making it hard to bear.
Jiang Shangzhen murmured, "After cursing you as an old undying for so many years, now that you're dead, it really makes me sad. It'll be hard to find someone to curse anymore."
In the end, only a single head of Jiang Shangzhen's phantom remained, its spiritual light not yet dispersed. He looked down at the master and servant pair, each stranger than the other, and smiled. "There are two accounts: one for bullying my woman, one for scheming against Old Man Xun. I'll settle them with you slowly, bit by bit. I've got all the time in the world."
---
At the time of Frost's Descent.
At this solar term, the yang energy descends into the earth, the yin energy begins to congeal, and autumn dryness harms body fluids. It is appropriate to fend off cold externally and clear heat internally.
Thus, there was a custom among the common people of eating persimmons. It was said to strengthen bones and prevent chapped lips in winter.
After a light rain, beneath a persimmon tree hung with fruits like little lanterns, the misty sky and gray-black branches made the bright red fruits look especially festive.
A young woman of about seventeen or eighteen, slightly plump with a round face, dressed in cotton clothing, stood on her tiptoes, straightened her back, and used a dry branch she had picked up somewhere to knock down five or six persimmons. She then casually threw away the branch, bent down to pick up the red persimmons, and carried them in the fold of her cotton coat.
Finally, she crouched in front of a county boundary marker, eating a persimmon while examining the stone inscription. In the center was carved "By official order, this is the boundary of Yongning County." On the left was a smaller line indicating the kingdom's name and era.
She found it impressive—just a stone tablet that passing commoners wouldn't even glance at could define the territory between two adjacent areas.
Back in her hometown, it wasn't the case. There was no such refinement, and it couldn't be refined. The fighting was too fierce, the tempers too bad—nothing could be preserved.
After arriving here, she had traveled extensively, collecting all sorts of things: official systems, gold, silver, and copper coins, the Four Treasures of the Study for the minor nobles, books from the hundred schools of thought. She took a liking to everything. In the post-war cities, the more gates a wealthy household had, the more likely it was to have no gates left. She could just wander in and pick things up everywhere. They were more abundant than corpses. As for eating persimmons, she had to knock them down from the tree, but picking up items that supposedly could have sold for a lot was much easier.
Now, in Tongye Continent, the north was actually less stable than the south.
Among the nine continents of the Haoran Tianxia, Tongye Continent had relatively few immortal mountain sects. Those that existed were mostly large ones, relatively speaking. In reality, on any vast continent, ordinary mortals from the lower world who wanted to enter the mountains to seek immortals would still find it very difficult—no easier than seeing an emperor. Of course, there were also poor souls who got lost due to mountain-and-water formations playing tricks on them.
Now, the more remote and barren the mountains and waters of Tongye Continent, the less they suffered in the chaos. Many small kingdoms in secluded corners, even if they had a few mountain immortals who were well-informed, had long since fled with their ancestral halls, leaving others behind. Once they ascended the mountain to cultivate, they had already severed ties. They traveled lightly, feasting on clouds and drinking dewdrops—how much attachment could they have?
If it weren't for her love of traveling and her lack of greed for military merits, rare treasures, and favorable lands, the people of Yongning County might have had to wait decades to encounter an outsider like her.
She came from a very distant foreign land, but she was not a foreigner.
After eating the persimmons, she picked up a branch, stood up, leaned against the boundary marker, crossed her legs, and scraped the mud off her soles.
Earlier, outside the county's Confucian Temple, probably because it was Frost's Descent, some officials had led a group of Confucian scholars in chanting prayers: "some plowing, some weaving, may wind and rain be spared. May your children and grandchildren multiply, may our granaries be full..."
She couldn't understand any of it. She had only learned some of the Haoran Tianxia's elegant Mandarin; she couldn't speak the elegant language of Tongye Continent and couldn't understand it either. As for the various national official languages and dialects, she knew nothing. But watching those who had become officials or were still waiting to become officials gather to pray for the people seemed quite proper. However, wasn't that one official a bit too fat? His face was ruddy, and his neck was almost invisible. Weren't scholars supposed to be slim like Master Zhou?
A group of children rode past on bamboo horses, playing at carrying a bridal sedan chair for a mock wedding.
Earlier, they had seen the woman standing by the stone, but at most glanced at her. No one paid her any attention. The little woman looked unfamiliar and not pretty.
She continued her travels alone.
Following the faint traces of spiritual energy, she finally spotted a sect—a small one, not common in Tongye Continent.
But the cultivators on the mountain seemed to have gone out, so she did not bother to visit. Finally, a few hundred li away, between two mountain peaks shrouded in dense mist flowing like a stream, some immortal cultivators had set up a large net of spells to catch a type of bird, much like fishermen driving fish into a net. A few Qi-refiners flying in the wind kept startling the birds, while those in the lower five realms who could not fly ran continuously through the mountains, making noise to flush out the birds.
The cotton-clad woman sat on a branch of a low mountain, quietly watching the scene.
It seemed that after the Wild Continent came to Tongye Continent, it was much the same: flocks of startled birds flew up and then crashed into the net.
She wondered if those mountain immortals who had once treated kings as puppets, when facing death, would come to envy the lower-realm ants she now saw.
Probably not. In the moment between life and death, even those so-called enlightened ones would be in a daze, she guessed.
She suddenly wanted someone to talk to. She didn't expect them to speak the Wild Continent's language, but at least someone who knew the elegant Mandarin of the Central Earth Divine Continent. Such people were hard to find now. The small local City God temples and mountain spirit shrines were useless; they would only speak the elegant language of Tongye Continent. Unfortunately, the Confucian scholars from the academies had either died on the battlefield or retreated to the Jade Gui Sect and Tongye Sect. The Five Sacred Mountain Lords of the large dynasties were all dead. The merchant children were too slippery—they were too good at making money and avoiding disaster, making them hard to catch.
As for upper-five-realm cultivators, she had been fortunate enough to meet one earlier, a hermit living deep in the mountains without founding a sect—probably what the Haoran Tianxia called a recluse. When she encountered him, she ignored him, mainly because she couldn't be bothered. Previously, she had visited a medium-sized immortal mansion guarded by Golden Core and Nascent Soul earth immortals, but the conversation had not been pleasant. So she killed them all with one punch each. Not a bad haul. Back when she first landed, there was a Jade Pu cultivator whose name she forgot—also killed with one punch.
Several young lower-five-realm Qi-refiners, male and female, came into her view as they descended the mountain. A female immortal master was holding freshly picked chrysanthemums. Frost's Descent kills all flowers, but this plant flourishes.
The cotton-clad woman rested her hands on the branch, uninterested in the female immortal masters, but more curious about the chrysanthemums. Her mind wandered. She had heard that the Haoran Tianxia had a place called Hundred Flowers Blessed Land. Among the flower deities, this flower held a high position. It had many elegant names: Frost Stamen, Smiling Gold Face, and the stranger ones like Sun Essence and Weekly Fullness. The cotton-clad woman liked these trivial things. In her early cultivation days back home, she had always felt that the Haoran Tianxia had too many interesting things. That's why she had to come and see for herself. As for fighting and killing, that didn't interest her much.
Earlier, she had "returned from heaven to earth" in the Wild Continent and came to Tongye Continent specifically because that Throne great demon, the Lord of Lotus Hut, had been killed by Dong San'geng's sword. To some extent, she and the Lord of Lotus Hut were neighbors—though, of course, "neighbors" meant extremely far apart. In the Wild Continent, three moons hung in the sky, but moons only seemed close to each other. Only occasionally did that one named Yao Jia come to visit her.
Those men and women walking through the mountains talked about "the autumn moon and autumn clouds not falling into the water, burning the cold stream's pines to ashes," and then recited poems in harmony, some from books, some from their own minds.
The cotton-clad woman couldn't understand any of it and grew annoyed. Normally, she would have endured it. After all, she had traveled across mountains and rivers as a passerby. But just as she was thinking of finding someone to talk to, she became irritated. Out of habit, she raised both hands and slapped her cheeks, making a noise that attracted the attention of those sharp-eared young immortals. Some looked at her with ill intent, regarding her as a thief. Some seemed to find her ugly. One looked at her like she was just another bird flying into the net—that one annoyed her the most.
But when she finally saw a round-faced little girl staring wide-eyed with great curiosity, the cotton-clad woman grinned, her mood greatly improved. Unable to communicate verbally, she raised her arm and waved, greeting the little girl.
The little girl quickly waved back enthusiastically, but when her senior brothers and sisters looked at her, she immediately put her hands behind her back and looked up at the sky.
The cotton-clad woman narrowed her eyes in amusement. Round-faced girls were the cutest.
That group of people eventually said nothing, unaware that they had just passed by the gates of death, and returned to the mountain.
The cotton-clad woman still rested her hands on the branch and said with a smile, "Are you Jiang Shangzhen?"
A man stood on a nearby treetop and nodded with a smile. "Miss She Yue has a round face, very beautiful. So I changed my mind."
The cotton-clad woman continued to gaze into the distance. "But it's not like you could kill me if you wanted to."
Jiang Shangzhen sat down beside her, waiting with her for the moonlight to reach the human world. "Have you ever seen Chen Ping'an?"
She thought for a moment. "Saw him once. He's not as handsome as you."
Jiang Shangzhen laughed heartily. "No such thing."