Chapter 157: Dream Butterfly (Part 1)

“Don’t do that.” The voice of Wuzhen came from within the mustard seed golden pearl, and at the same time, the pearl rolled out of Shen Suwei’s palm.

Xu Qianyu picked up the mustard seed golden pearl and handed it back to Shen Suwei. “But I want my senior brother to have someone by his side in case he wakes up. Master, could you bear with it for a moment?”

“If he wakes up, I’ll be able to sense it. There’s no need to stay so close.”

Xu Qianyu asked, “Are you worried that he might have killing intent?”

“No.” Wuzhen rolled out again, and Xu Qianyu immediately returned the mustard seed golden pearl to Shen Suwei, then firmly closed his fingers around it. “Senior brother, just sitting here waiting is too agonizing. I’ll go out to gather some information and return in half an hour.”

Wuzhen:……

He thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain.

High-level cultivators, especially male cultivators, tend to dislike being too close to others.

But just as he was about to find the right words, Xu Qianyu had already disappeared. Outside the window, only the swaying flower branches remained.

Behind the flowers, the luxurious hem of a dress and embroidered shoes appeared. Shui Weiwei was speaking softly with a maid in a pink robe, and the maid handed Shui Weiwei something.

When Xu Qianyu parted the flowers, Shui Weiwei looked at her warily and asked, “Who is it?”

“A passing rogue cultivator.” Xu Qianyu jumped out, and the maid hurriedly excused herself, brushing past her.

Shui Weiwei’s gaze fell on Xu Qianyu’s veil. This female cultivator was holding a large, old wooden sword, but her hand was delicate, white as porcelain, with slender fingers. Under her white gauze, a graceful figure was faintly visible, which made Shui Weiwei feel uneasy. This person won’t try to steal my limelight at the evening banquet, will she?

A maid came out from Shui Weiwei’s pavilion, speaking sharply, “Guests, when meeting the young lady, should not cover their faces.”

“Alright.” Xu Qianyu lazily lifted her veil and smiled brightly at Shui Weiwei, her youthful face lighting up. Then, in Shui Weiwei’s eyes, she saw the familiar look of someone preparing for battle.

It was still better than her awkward and speechless expression when she was awake. 

“Who do you think looks better, me or your young lady?” Xu Qianyu’s smiling eyes turned to the maid, her voice sharp. She confirmed that this was a stranger; she hadn’t seen Shui Weiwei’s maid before, though she had heard about Shui Weiwei’s personal attendant, Meizi, who had passed away the year she was born.

Meizi was too shocked to answer, but Xu Qianyu, still smiling, skillfully tossed a gold ingot to her. Even the manner of throwing the reward was identical to Shui Weiwei’s, so that by the time Meizi realized it, she had already caught the gold ingot with both hands.

Shui Weiwei was furious inside. This female cultivator had an inexplicably ostentatious aura.
She wore bright red, looking even more like a young lady than Shui Weiwei herself. She even had animal ears on her head—what a seductive, fox-like charm.

But Shui Weiwei thought to herself that people from the Immortal Sect should despise monsters like this, and so she felt slightly relieved.

Xu Qianyu turned to look at her own pavilion. At this time, her room had not been arranged yet and still looked like a guest room, but the door was tightly shut, though not locked. It seemed that someone was inside. “Is anyone living in the pavilion opposite?”

Shui Weiwei’s expression changed. “This is my home. What does it have to do with you?”

Seeing her nervousness, Xu Qianyu sent out a divine sense, only to be repelled by someone inside. She steadied herself.

There was actually a cultivator in the east room. He had set up a restriction in the pavilion.

She was about to take a closer look when Shui Weiwei anxiously grabbed her. The maid, Guan Niang, heard the commotion and hurried over to medierate. “What’s going on?”

“You’re just in time.” Shui Weiwei’s expression turned cold upon seeing Guan Niang, laced with sarcasm. “How do you run things as the head maid? You let a rude guest in like this. She’s upset me; you deal with it.”

“Mind your words.” Xu Qianyu peeked out from behind Guan Niang’s shoulder. “I’m a guest invited by the master. If you have the guts, call your father out to kick me out.”

Guan Niang forced a smile, rambling in a panic. “Miss, please calm down. This guest saved the master’s life many years ago… She’s used to wandering the mountains and wilds and doesn’t follow formalities. I’ll take the guest to the other side.”

“Saved his life?” Shui Weiwei laughed coldly, her anger rising. “She looks more like a demon from a mountain goddess temple. She doesn’t even speak human language.”

“She’s all yours,” Xu Qianyu said, taking delight in Shui Weiwei’s frustration. She patted Guan Niang’s shoulder and, in an instant, transformed into a blazing sword light, vanishing.

Shui Weiwei’s chest heaved with anger as she saw her maid still holding onto the gold ingot in a daze. “Whose dirty money are you accepting now? Throw it away!”

After saying that, she slammed the door and went into the pavilion.

Meizi, scolded, was about to toss the gold ingot, but it suddenly turned into fiery orange sword qi and exploded. Before she could make a sound, she turned into a cloud of black smoke, dissipating into the wind.

Guan Niang heard “whoosh,” and as she turned around, she saw this scene and stepped back in horror.

But the protective charm Xu Qianyu had placed on her earlier flashed with golden light, shielding her. Guan Niang stood on the corridor, her cheek touched by the wind, staring at the dissipating demonic energy in the air, her expression somewhat dazed.

Xu Qianyu appeared in the corridor, not far away. Sensing that the demonic energy had reduced, she relaxed slightly.

Wuzhen had said that in a dreamscape, the people corresponded to real people, and those who were absent in reality were likely fabricated by the dream’s creator. Meizi had died many years ago, so the Meizi in the dreamscape was fake, but Guan Niang was real.

When Xu Qianyu thought of Guan Niang, a momentary softness appeared in her heart, then quickly dissipated. She needed to break this illusion as soon as possible.

Her current goal was another: The maid in the pink dress and skirt was walking ahead, head down and moving quickly, her hairbun jet black. It was this maid who had just secretly spoken with Shui Weiwei behind the flower bushes, and before that, both she and Wuzhen had sensed a surge of demonic energy passing by the window.

Xu Qianyu followed silently for a while, then suddenly restrained her sword intent, quickened her pace, and stepped on the maid’s skirt.

The maid stumbled, then nervously turned around, nearly crashing into Xu Qianyu.

“Sorry… sorry,” the maid said as Xu Qianyu steadied her. The maid pulled at her skirt several times before finally freeing it, then hurriedly continued forward.

Xu Qianyu looked at her thoughtfully, then glanced at the token she had stealthily taken from the maid’s waist. The Shui family’s tokens were all ranked, with ordinary maids having limited areas where they could go. Only Guan Niang and she herself had tokens that allowed access anywhere. If a maid had such a token, it meant she was the head maid.

A head maid wouldn’t make such a mistake as bumping into a guest without even saying a word.

Xu Qianyu confirmed that the maid was a demon, but she didn’t draw her sword. Instead, she plucked a floating grass leaf from Shenchong, tossed it forward, and let it stick to the maid’s skirt like floating weeds.

Xu Qianyu watched as the maid turned three corners down the corridor and dashed into a guest room. The door opened, and the shadow on the ground suddenly expanded, transforming into a dark-winged bird, then quickly faded, becoming a fluttering butterfly that flew into a glass lamp.

Luo Shui bent down and gently touched the butterfly through the glass lampshade, as if admiring her pet.

“What are you doing?” A voice suddenly came from behind her—another male cultivator who resembled her greatly—Yin Xiangjun.

The two had golden-like features and dressed in flowing robes, causing the dimly lit room to shine with a radiant glow.

Luo Shui teased the butterfly, “You came after all.”

Yin Xiangjun waved a fan, fanning away the heat in the air, and said slowly, “You know the Elder Taishang is going through tribulation, and the karmic cycle from that day is resurfacing. Are you deliberately seeking revenge on him? How dare you offend him? Don’t you fear him using a large array or heavenly thunder to strike us down?”

Yin Xiangjun grabbed her arm. “Listen to me; don’t act rashly. I will find a way eventually.”

“Only I’ll be struck down, right? What do you have to fear?” Luo Shui smiled and turned her head after a long pause. “Brother, don’t you think so? If you shake off this burden of mine, wouldn’t you be free?”

Xu Qianyu stood at the door of the guest room.

The Shenchong leaf in her hand was shaking violently, as if cursing: “Wasn’t there supposed to be dozens of these leaves? Can you two bear this destruction? You pluck one, I pluck one… Are you deliberately trying to cut off my descendants?”

Then it suddenly fell silent.

Xu Qianyu focused, listening for any changes, and then suddenly, the Shenchong leaf emitted an ethereal sound from inside the room—language she couldn’t understand, almost like the chant of a mirage echoing from the day she fell off the cliff into the Wufu Cliff.

The two sounds intertwined, clashing as if debating with each other, causing her to feel dizzy. Then, with a loud “bang,” the Shenchong leaf cracked open, startling Xu Qianyu.

She was shocked. With a quick step, she used the Shenchong leaf to fly over two roof eaves and back to Shui Weiwei’s courtyard, where the discomfort finally faded.

“How are you?” she asked.

Shenchong weakly replied, “Your old man… can you hear me? Are you making me listen?”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you’re not strong enough.”

“You mean I can’t understand their secret language because my cultivation isn’t enough?”

Xu Qianyu frowned, still not understanding. Since Shenchong could bring the sound from inside, it meant the people inside were weaker than her, according to how Shenchong transmitted sounds.

The people inside weren’t at the half-step Divine Transformation stage but were cultivators of the ninth or tenth realm, speaking a language she couldn’t understand, and keeping a demon capable of impersonating a maid. Though she wasn’t familiar with spell cultivation, she knew this combination wasn’t easy to achieve.

Were they still mortal cultivators?

Just as she was thinking, a broken, intermittent tune of a guqin echoed from Shui Weiwei’s room.

Xu Qianyu’s thoughts were interrupted. Shui Weiwei, sitting by the window, was playing “Phoenix Seeking the Phoenix.” However, her mind seemed distracted, and the melody was fragmented, like raindrops, absent-mindedly faltering in several places.

Xu Qianyu crossed her arms and approached the window to listen more closely, hoping to discern something from the music. But as her shadow fell across the window, Shui Weiwei suddenly looked up, startled half to death, and shouted, “Who’s spying on me outside?”

Upon hearing this, Xu Qianyu walked forward and opened the window. To her surprise, her strength was greater than usual, and she pushed the entire window out of its frame. Shui Weiwei, frightened, caused the music to sound chaotic. Xu Qianyu, quick as lightning, caught the window.

“It’s you again? What do you want to do?” Shui Weiwei was enraged. “Are you going to attack me again? Meizi—where’s that damn hoof? Why can’t I call you? Someone, help me! Do you all want me dead?”

But no matter how she cursed, Xu Qianyu stood there, staring blankly, unperturbed.

Shui Weiwei couldn’t see, but Xu Qianyu extended her spiritual sense from the spiritual pool and rapidly scanned the room.

She intended to take advantage of this opportunity to find the item that the demon-turned-maid had secretly given Shui Weiwei.

Under the spiritual sense’s observation, every detail in the room was laid bare. The scents of cosmetics and flower petals seemed to be magnified several times, almost overwhelming her senses. They passed through camphor-scented wooden boxes and entered a makeup chest that reeked of copper. Beneath several layers of shiny, luxurious jewelry, in the corner of the last layer, she caught a faint medicinal scent. She extended her spiritual sense and saw a hidden triangular bottle made of pale earth.

It must be it.

Her spiritual sense wrapped around the bottle and pulled it into her realm.

Shui Weiwei, crying out, summoned the servants, who rushed toward her with sticks in hand. Xu Qianyu finally moved, pushing Shui Weiwei’s window back into its frame with a “sorry.”
“You!” Shui Weiwei, seeing her like a swift swallow flying onto the roof, was furious.

Xu Qianyu hurriedly leaped into the room, just in time for the last moment of the half-hour. The window slammed shut behind her. Wuzhen said, “You’re quite efficient.”

Xu Qianyu took a deep breath, feeling quite pleased with herself, but then noticed the temperature had dropped several degrees. As she looked around, she realized the uncontrolled sword intent had covered the floor, walls, and beams of the pavilion with frost. Upon a closer glance, Shen Suwei was still lying in the same spot, and the mustard-sized golden bead she had placed in her senior brother’s hand had rolled far across the floor.

She was about to speak when Wuzhen interjected, “Your senior brother made the first move.”

Xu Qianyu replied, “He’s unconscious.”

Wuzhen said, “Men, whether conscious or not, don’t like being too close to another man.”
“Not to mention, you even braided his hair and left me here alone to keep an eye on him.”
“…”