Chapter 3: The Frontier (3)

No one dared to say a word.

In the midst of the silence, Xu Binglai turned around, squinting his eyes. Although his expression was calm, everyone felt the overwhelming pressure of his fury: “Are you questioning my integrity?”

At this critical moment, the protagonist in the whirlpool, Lu You, felt dizzy.

Earlier, she had merely been startled like a frightened deer, but now Xu Qianyu was making a scene in front of so many people. Under the gaze of countless eyes, she was both shocked and scared. In her agitation, two flushes appeared on her cheeks, and as her body swayed, she collapsed.

Xu Qianyu only felt his senior brother move beside him.

Her heart raced. It felt like seeing a scale weight that couldn’t be held back, uncontrollably tipping to the heavier side. There were many things she didn’t understand, but what she understood the least at this moment was:

Among that crowd, there were many people, including her junior brother, who she had just left behind. Why should it be your turn to show off?

She silently prayed, pleading with her senior brother not to touch her.

For decades, Xu Qianyu had been neither distant nor close to her, and he had always been cold to others. He treated everyone equally, making her understand that he was just that kind of person. Couldn’t he leave her fantasies intact, unlike Ruan Zhuqing?

“Senior brother…” she called out briefly, but contrary to her wishes, she watched helplessly as Shen Suwei rushed over and caught Lu You before she hit the ground. Shen Suwei’s robe billowed as he lowered his head to look at the girl in his arms. The scene was almost dreamlike.

Around them, people were already crying out in alarm.

Shen Suwei took a brief look at Lu You’s face and then at the overcast sky. Suddenly, he became serious: “Everyone, step back a little.”

“She’s about to awaken her spiritual roots.”

Then, almost instantly, a bolt of lightning struck down, illuminating the rain curtain in front of the Disciplinary Hall as bright as snow and also lighting up the stunned faces of the onlookers who were retreating in panic.

This incident concluded with this chaotic scene.

For many days afterward, Xu Qianyu buried her face in her blanket every night, feeling listless and dejected.

She no longer wanted to laugh at anyone.

She was the biggest joke herself.

Just after she had questioned Lu You’s lack of spiritual roots, the heavens struck Lu You with a spiritual root. Thanks to Shen Suwei’s timely protection, the heavenly lightning did not injure anyone or damage the surroundings, and Lu You’s spiritual root was established firmly and beautifully, identical to hers—a pure Grade A lightning spiritual root.

Originally, returning from the spring was the time when Qianyu shone the most.

In the past, she would showcase her various monster catches and steal the spotlight. However, this time was different:

Every person she met was eagerly discussing how her junior sister’s cultivation had made remarkable progress after gaining her spiritual roots, as if she were a prodigy, and how many faces she had slapped for those who had looked down on her.

She felt as if she had turned into the fish eye beside a pearl.

The day she received her punishment was overcast.

Only the stout and broad-shouldered woman executing the punishment looked at her with pity, diligently finished her punishment, and watched her limp out the door. Then she chased after her from behind and draped a cloak over her: “Junior Sister, it’s raining outside; take care of yourself.”

Outside, the light rain fell gently, and Xu Qianyu, unwilling to return, wandered around the island alone, not knowing where to go.

Petals were scattered everywhere in the rain, and pale pink peach blossom petals covered the ground.

A window opened beside her.

“Why aren’t you using an umbrella?” A handsome young face poked out from the window, his lips red and teeth white.

The boy had a cheerful smile, resting his hands on the windowsill, observing her with a hint of amusement.

“Mind your own business.” Xu Qianyu retorted as she turned her head.

As expected, the boy’s expression stiffened, and he “slammed” the window shut.

However, after a moment, the window opened again, and the boy looked out with a grin: “Come in, come in; I’ll keep the door open for you.”

The sky was already dim, and the windows in the room were covered with yellow paper, making the interior even darker but clean and dry, filled with a faint fragrance.

The boy sat cross-legged on a bed, his black robe draping down in front. He turned his head to close the window and explained to her, “Because my eyes are injured, it’s not convenient for me to see the light, so I sealed the doors and windows.”

“Are you cold?” He beckoned with his fingers, and the charcoal stove moved closer by itself. Xu Qianyu also pulled, and the stove came to a stop. The two forces tugged against each other, making the stove wobble uncertainly in the center, unsure of where to go.

“What are you doing?” The boy laughed again, “Are you trying to go against me?”

“I’m not cold; there’s no need to bring it over. It’s just far enough.” Xu Qianyu said coldly, “Be careful; if it catches your bed on fire, you won’t be able to escape. What if it turns into a pancake?”

The boy was taken aback for a moment, then burst into hearty laughter, slapping the hem of his robe with abandon: “Did you see I was bedridden?”

Xu Qianyu continued to sit there gloomily on the chair, replying with a perfunctory “hm.”

When she looked outside at the flowering trees, she remembered where this was. The person living here was a Master Wu Zhen who had been injured in his foundation while exorcising demons years ago and could no longer walk, so he had been recovering and rarely came out.

“Take whatever you want to eat.” The boy threw an orange from a golden plate to her, which Xu Qianyu caught deftly. Moments later, he threw a peach, a plum, and an apricot. Xu Qianyu kept catching them until she got annoyed, dumping everything in her arms onto the table, “I don’t want to eat anything.”

“If you don’t want to eat, then you can peel it for me.” The boy said brazenly, “Come on, peel an orange for me first.”

Xu Qianyu glanced at him, and seeing that he was a senior of the sect, she begrudgingly peeled the orange. As she broke the peel, a refreshing fragrance instantly filled the air, mingling with the floral scent in the room to create a delightful, sweet aroma.

After peeling a couple of slices, she felt hungry in her stomach. Suddenly, she heard the crackling sound of the charcoal fire, reminiscent of years ago at home. Uncontrollably, tears began to fall like jade beads, and then she became extremely aggrieved, bursting into sobs.

“Oh dear.” Through her tear-blurred vision, she vaguely saw the boy still sitting at the edge of the bed, resting his chin in his hands, teasing her, “What a disaster, crying like a little puppy.”

Then, her tears were dabbed with someone’s knuckles, and the orange in her hand was unknowingly taken away. After a moment, cool fingers pressed a slice of orange against her warm lips, and that person gently said, “Open your mouth.”

*

The tangled fate began during a certain autumn outing.

Unlike the annual spring outing, the autumn outing was to hunt demons in the mortal realm and was conducted several times a year.

Usually, two or three disciples would be enough, but this autumn outing involved over ten people. This was because the demon to be exterminated was extraordinary: it was a demon king formed from resentment beneath the Wuwang Cliff, which had devoured the demon qi of countless beings to grow.

Low-level demons have no consciousness, and high-level demons only have the intellect of a few-year-old child, but demon kings are different:

To survive, they consume other demons and absorb the souls of nearby villagers to enhance their cultivation. They possess intelligence, are skilled at disguise, and cause everyone to feel uneasy.

The more lively and joyful the area, the more they intrude, as if they were ignorant infants, attracted by laughter and merriment, curious to observe the world’s every move. Then, just like crushing toys or tearing paper, they would destroy everything.

Years ago, Master Wu Zhen of Penglai, young and overconfident, passed through this area, intending to single-handedly kill the demon king. As a result, he narrowly escaped with his life and spent decades bedridden, only able to walk again after a long recovery.

This was a perfect opportunity to redeem the humiliation from that snowy day, and naturally, the well-recovered Master Wu Zhen would not let it pass, so he came along with the group.

When necessary, cultivators would also disguise their identities to set traps to lure and kill demons. The disciples crafted a small wooden house in the woods; four cooked meals while four played instruments. Master Wu Zhen transformed himself into a young, handsome groom, but they still lacked a bride.

Going in would mean acting as bait, which was inevitably dangerous. Moreover, the disciples had to pretend to be a couple with their master, and most of them were teenagers, joking and smiling, making the girls blush with embarrassment, reluctant to go.

Amidst the crowd, everyone was pushing and shoving, but Xu Qianyu, who had been silent for a long time, stepped out. Everyone was surprised, including her senior brother beside her.

“Qianyu?” Xu Qianyu heard Shen Suwei call her from behind, seemingly puzzled about when she had developed a relationship with her master uncle and disapproving of her taking risks.

However, Xu Qianyu had already reached the other side.

Xu Qianyu felt that this scene resembled the day she had stopped her senior brother from embracing Lu You, only now the roles were reversed. When she pretended not to hear and recklessly left her senior brother far behind, she felt a vague sense of satisfaction.

“My junior sister is inexperienced,” Shen Suwei disregarded her and directly negotiated with Master Uncle Wu Zhen. “I can represent her.”

When Shen San, her senior brother, dressed as a woman, the other disciples were indeed surprised. However, Master Uncle Wu Zhen had already taken Xu Qianyu’s hand and pulled her to his side, while a bright red veil fell over her, obscuring her vision. Xu Qianyu only heard Master Uncle Wu Zhen laugh, “No worries, I’m very pleased with this bride.”

As they stepped over the threshold of the small wooden house hand in hand, the young man looked at the makeshift “ancestor tablet” carved from linden wood ahead and casually remarked, “Your hand is so cold; are you nervous?”

Xu Qianyu retorted, “What nonsense are you talking about? Who isn’t nervous on their first marriage?”

Only then did she realize that the end of her words trembled. Since he had held her hand, her soul seemed to have instantly left her body; the part that was held no longer belonged to her, nor was it under her control.

Xu Qianyu felt a bit flustered.

The person beside her chuckled at her words and fell silent.

She was helped and seated on the bed, and that cheerful voice, accompanied by the fragrance of spring flowers, wafted over. As a cultivator, she was very perceptive; she could sense someone approaching even through the thin veil, and she could even picture his expression in her mind.

“Don’t you want to lift the veil and take a look? What if I’m a demon king in disguise?” Master Uncle Wu Zhen said.

The young man was almost nose-to-nose with her, but all she could see was a red haze. She felt a tingling numbness rapidly spreading from her nose to her cheeks.

“I don’t want to,” Xu Qianyu’s eyes widened, her heart racing, but she stubbornly said, “I’m… I’m tired.”

“Then you can sit quietly and rest for a while.” Master Uncle Wu Zhen smiled gently, blowing away the heavy, leaf-like numbness covering her face, and then he left gracefully.

Suddenly, Xu Qianyu tightened her grip on the bedsheet.

Having grown up in Penglai until the age of seventeen, she was absorbed in fighting and leveling up, hardly paying attention to the outside world, behaving like a little boy. At this moment, beneath the veil, she suddenly realized, in an instant, what it felt like to like someone, transforming into a girl who intuitively understood this feeling.

In that long moment of silence, the window was suddenly crashed open, making a loud noise. Xu Qianyu sensed the shape of the object: it was half her height, enormous, covered in fur, crawling in like a wild beast from the mountains, emitting a muffled, painful roar.

Xu Qianyu stood up, but before she could draw her sword, she heard a “thud,” as if something had been punctured, followed by a pattering sound, the thud of a heavy object falling, along with the gasping and lamenting of a dying beast.

Xu Qianyu lifted the veil: “Master Uncle?”

Looking around, she saw that the room was splattered with black blood, flowing down the walls like spider legs.

The ambush had clearly succeeded. The enormous creature lay dead on the floor, having lost its breath. It was covered in tumors and had wild, unruly black fur, which scattered over its corpse.

Xu Qianyu pointed her toe at the horrible corpse: “Is this the demon king?”

It had died easier than she had imagined.

“What did you just call me?” She turned around to find the young man carefully trimming the wick of a candle.

Xu Qianyu’s attention was finally drawn back: “Master Uncle.”

The young man turned to her: “My name is Xie Yuzhen.”

Xu Qianyu said, “Then I’ll respectfully call you Master Uncle Wu Zhen, isn’t that the same?”

“Not the same,” the young man replied, “a title is a title, and a name is a name. I prefer you to call me by my name.”

“…Xie Yuzhen.”

The young man smiled, his serious and affectionate smile illuminated by the flickering candlelight: “How should I repay you for today?”

Unfortunately, the door suddenly opened, and the rest of his sentence was cut off. Shen Suwei, feeling uneasy, quickly brought people in to take her away after successfully handling the situation.

Xu Qianyu later thought that she was really unlucky.

Years ago, Master Uncle Wu Zhen encountered the demon king in the autumn and underestimated him, engaging in a one-on-one fight. In the end, it was Master Uncle who dragged his wounded body back to Penglai, but whether he was the real Master Uncle or the demon king in disguise, even the master and the other elders couldn’t tell apart.

As a small disciple in the Foundation Establishment stage, she had neither seen Master Uncle nor the demon king. How could she possibly recognize them?