Chapter 22: First Kiss Gone

“Sect Master…wait a minute…” She wanted to block the Sect Master’s way, but he already flew up to the sky. Ye Wenxin’s hands were tied, she could only hope that beautiful mute had better luck and would succeed in her Tribulation before the Sect Master arrived.

Even though such a thing was almost impossible, this beautiful mute was likely to have more bad luck than good.

If there was blame, then it should be on the beautiful mute who had nothing better to do than undergoing Tribulation in someone else’s turf, and Ye Wenxin had lost the Demon Lord’s cultivation, so she could only drink some tea and watch the show.

“Caw caw caw…” Ye Wenxin did not know whether it was due to her excessive worry, she again heard the crow’s familiar loud voice. Just as Ye Wenxin thought it was a figment of her imagination, a black shadow already descended from the sky.

“Miss Wenxin, run quick!” Someone noticed this colossus and warned Ye Wenxin, who was still sitting and drinking tea.

She certainly reacted, but the crow went faster and instantly grabbed Ye Wenxin, dragging her through the air.

“Brute, put her down!” Long Qing’er drew her sword and gave chase. While she was saying this, the crow had already flown far away.

Ye Wenxin watched the figures on the ground growing smaller and smaller, then looked again at the crow that caught her. The crow bore no murderous intent whatsoever, yet it did not look like it had sought her out to play.

“Brother Crow, why’ve you come looking for me instead of guarding your master in Tribulation?” The crow uttered no sound and simply flew speedily towards where the backwoods were located.

As far as Ye Wenxin’s eyes could see, there were many people flying in the air, several elders and school masters among them. Ye Wenxin’s pitiful figure was also rather conspicuous, still holding the teacup in her hand, she noticed the crowd sending baffled looks at her, and just squeezed out a smile.

“Dear school masters, elders, how are you?”

They stared at Ye Wenxin, then again at the crow, and surprisingly none of them attacked it. This crow’s presence seemed like a matter of course, while the crow itself cared not for the crowd’s gazes and flew even faster.

This speed far exceeded the limit of what a human body was capable of withstanding; Ye Wenxin had to cast a defensive spell, which made her feel a lot better. The crow already passed over a greater part of the backwoods, after taking an S-turn in the air, it at last stopped at some nook.

Yet this place did not have any cavern, let alone the beautiful mute Ye Wenxin had met last time.

“Brother Crow, why’ve you brought me here? Don’t tell me you want me to bury your master.” The thunderbolts had ceased, maybe the beautiful mute did not prevail, and even the cavern was reduced to ashes. Recalling the beautiful mute’s beautiful face, Ye Wenxin felt it a great pity.

The crow appeared to understand Ye Wenxin’s words, resentfully poked Ye Wenxin’s head with its pointed beak, before walking off towards an empty clearing. Its body emitted an ethereal blue shimmer, unraveling a concealed array, and a door appeared.

Ye Wenxin approached prudently, and the crow behind her pushed her straight in.

“Ow…Brother Crow, you little…” Just as Ye Wenxin intended to thoroughly talk some common sense into Brother Crow, the door behind her had long since closed. She appeared at the cavern she had spent a long time in, and within this cavern, a woman was lying on the ground, her eyes firmly closed.

The surroundings were scorched black, and a burnt smell permeated the air.

Ye Wenxin approached the woman, realizing at once that the woman lying on the ground was that beautiful mute. She stepped right up, once again feeling for her pulse, which was as chaotic as the first time.

“Why have you deviated again, mute? It couldn’t be because of a breakthrough?” Ye Wenxin did not know whether to laugh or cry, truly not comprehending how exactly this mute was cultivating that she would fall into Qi Deviation twice within such a short time span.

Looking at her situation, she likely failed the Thunder Tribulation just now, thus leading to the crow to come running for her help.

Without any other choice, Ye Wenxin opened her bag of holding, fumbling for something that could aid the mute, but she had already used up the precious Revival Pills from last time, and the remaining pills would not help with the mute’s Qi Deviation at all.

If nothing unexpected happened, the mute would really die here this time.

“Mute, I’m really sorry, but I really can’t help…Oh yeah, I still have a bottle of spirit wine.” Ye Wenxin suddenly remembered the spirit wine that could always pull her from the brink of death.

If the spirit wine had an effect on Qi Deviation, than it could definitely be of help to the mute. Deducing this, she uncorked the spirit wine and intended to give it to the mute.

However, the mute was in a complete coma, so even if she poured wine into the mute’s mouth, the mute would not be able to drink it in the first place. She was, hence, left with the most primitive method, mouth to mouth.

Although this method might be convenient, Ye Wenxin felt she was not familiar enough to the extent of sacrificing her first kiss.

Her heart struggled, she glanced at the mute a few more times, chewed it over, and in the end threw caution to the wind.

“We know each other anyway, I’ll just think of it as kissing a pig. It’s definitely not my first kiss, absolutely not my first kiss!” Ye Wenxin could only hypnotize herself; as the dignified Demon Lord, she had always kept herself chaste, but she never imagined that, being so chaste, she would end up losing her first kiss in such a situation.

However, this current situation was already beyond hopeless. Ye Wenxin took a small mouthful first then fed the spirit wine to the mute through their connected lips.

At this, the mute drank a little, and her ice-cold body got slightly warmer. Seeing that it worked, Ye Wenxin took another mouthful and fed it to the mute once again.

This time, the mute gained the strength to open her eyes, an ounce of emotion finally showing in them.

There was confusion, incomprehension, as if completely at a loss as to why Ye Wenxin had appeared here again.

“Mute, you feeling a little better now?” Ye Wenxin called out to the mute, keenly seeking an answer.

The mute moved her lips slightly; being a mute, she could not seem to make a sound to begin with. From head to toe, she had no energy at all, and could only be at Ye Wenxin’s mercy.

But the mute was conscious now, so Ye Wenxin did not have to feed the mute wine mouth to mouth. She lined the wine bottle’s opening to the mute’s mouth, intending to pour it straight in, yet the mute appeared to not even have the energy to drink.

“Hey, why’re you wasting my spirit wine again, even I can’t bear to drink it myself…” Even so, with the previous mouth-to-mouth as prelude, Ye Wenxin did not mind it anymore; she had a big sip of wine, and resumed forcibly pouring it into the mute’s mouth.

Unable to resist, the mute was constrained to watch Ye Wenxin’s actions helplessly, she wanted to push Ye Wenxin away, but she simply could not muster any strength in her body.

Oppositely, Ye Wenxin became even more unbridled; the mute’s lips were soft, and the taste mingled with spirit wine became much sweeter. Although Ye Wenxin had not meant to swallow the wine, due to the excessive way it was administered she ended up having quite a bit, and as the alcohol took effect, her kisses grew even more wanton.

The beautiful mute just accepted it passively, that originally tranquil gaze now carried some emotion, but it was unclear what it was trying to convey.

One mouthful after another, Ye Wenxin already lost count of how many kisses she had dropped. The only thing she could remember was emptying the wine bottle’s contents into the mute’s mouth, and the mute’s chaotic pulse finally returned to normal.

“Ugh, all this kissing makes me sick.” Ye Wenxin started to feel nauseated. The spirit wine was extremely strong. It was not something her current cultivation could resist. Even from a sip, Ye Wenxin, who was at the Qi Refining stage, could still get drunk, and when she was feeding it to the mute just now, she already drank who knew how much.

Recalling the painful course of events from earlier, Ye Wenxin was already somewhat on the verge of crumbling.

The mute seemed to have regained some strength. She slightly opened her mouth, as if wanting to say something, but Ye Wenxin had already collapsed in her direction. Startled, the mute thought she had seriously injured Ye Wenxin again during her Tribulation earlier.

However, upon closer inspection, she noticed Ye Wenxin’s flushed cheeks and the faint scent of alcohol emanating from her body. It was evident that she had also consumed quite a bit of the wine while feeding it to her.

Seeing that Ye Wenxin was unharmed, the mute gently laid her down on the ground and pulled out a blanket from her storage ring to cover her.

The crow from before once again made its appearance, but if Ye Wenxin was awake, she would be met with this crow crying out exaggeratedly again. Yet the mute completely understood the crow’s words.

“Lass, are you alright?”

“I am.” The supposedly unable to speak mute voiced out, her gaze once again landing on Ye Wenxin lying on the ground, and continued to ask, “Why have you brought her over again?”

“I thought since she woke you up last time, she could do it this time as well, so I brought her back.”

The crow elatedly circled the mute. Suddenly, noticing the mute did not have a breakthrough, it turned around and stopped, “Why haven’t you succeeded in your Tribulation yet? According to the principles, isn’t it supposed to be the final Tribulation?”

The mute looked calmed, and there was not much inflection in her tone, “Master had told me before, this last Tribulation would be very hard.”

The crow grew even more perplexed, “What kind of cultivation method are you learning? So troublesome.”

The mute did not want to say, she glanced at Ye Wenxin, had a sudden idea, and blurted out the cultivation method’s name.

“The method is called ‘Ninth Tribulation Exorcism Curse’.”

“So it’s Ninth Tribulation. No wonder it’s so difficult to cultivate. I recall that this Ninth Tribulation is different from other cultivation methods. While others focus on external cultivation, this method emphasizes inner cultivation. What exactly are you stuck on? Maybe This Humble One¹ can help you.” The crow spoke with a clear female voice, symbolizing her femininity. The two did not seem like master and servant; instead, the crow was quite concerned about the mute.

“The final tribulation is called the Tribulation of Emotions.” The mute muttered slowly, her calm voice tinged with a hint of resignation.

She had endured countless tribulations but ultimately could not overcome this Tribulation of Emotions, which she had never encountered. If it were not for the help of the girl in front of her, the mute would have perished long ago from Qi Deviation.

---

1. This is a pronoun this character often uses to refer to herself. A direct translation would be ‘This Concubine/This Lowly Servant’, but I settled with ‘This Humble One’ because it fits the character more. ↩︎

I wonder what thoughts of Ye Wenxin inspired our FL to come up with that name? ‘Exorcism’, pfft. She must’ve really hated being kissed like that.