Chapter 47: Led Astray

Ye Wenxin also realized her overreaction and hurriedly explained, “I’m sorry, the reason I ran away from home was because of this constitution too.”

“I see, you and I are really alike then.” Su Mei’s expression softened a lot.

“I say ‘help’ because we’re in similar situations and can take care of each other, there‘s no other meaning. Besides, dual cultivation techniques between women are rare in this world. Even if you and I practice dual cultivation, it will be of no use.” Su Mei continued on, talking about the traits of the Iceborn Constitution, opening up a new world that Ye Wenxin had not understood before.

Ye Wenxin nodded, seemingly listening earnestly, but in fact, she was thinking about Gu Aotian, intending to push Su Mei in his direction.

“If you have troubles, you can ask Gu Aotian to help you.”

“Why do you keep thinking Gu Aotian can help me? I don’t want dual cultivation at all.” Su Mei gritted her teeth when she heard this. She did not understand why Ye Wenxin kept bringing up Gu Aotian.

If not for the fact that Ye Wenxin’s eyes held no malice, Su Mei would have thought that Ye Wenxin was mocking her for only being capable of depending on men.

“No, Gu Aotian will become a dragon and a phoenix among people¹ in the future. I can sense this based on the Iceborn Constitution.” Ye Wenxin opened her eyes and started spouting nonsense with a serious face.

“Is the Iceborn Constitution capable of even this?”

“Yes, mine is pure so I can sense the good and evil in the world.”

Ye Wenxin continued to explain with a smile, without even blinking, lying as naturally as breathing.

Su Mei had no doubts at all. Instead, she liked Ye Wenxin even more because of her confession. The two of them conversed amiably along the way, and soon started to be on first-name basis.

When they returned to the cave the group was using as a resting place, Gu Xiangsi actually started to get angry when she saw Ye Wenxin getting close to Su Mei.

“Big Sis, how are you in such good relationship with this vixen!”

Su Mei, who had never been called that before, smiled lightly and cared not. Ye Wenxin felt even more helpless. In her eyes, Gu Xiangsi with that appearance was the true vixen.

She wondered how much of a disaster Gu Xiangsi would bring to the country and its people once she grew older.

But naturally she dared not to complain about this when Gu Xiangsi was jealous, so she had to change the subject, “Xiangsi, come and see what we just found.”

Hearing this, Su Mei took out the freshly cut demonic beast meat from her bag of holding, and everyone’s eyes lit up.

“This is the meat of a demonic beast, it’s very nourishing!”

“Yes, looking at the quality of the meat, it’s not a low-level demonic beast. How did you do it?”

Everyone was chattering and asking, and Ye Wenxin briefly told them a simplified version of what happened, and then continued, “Tomorrow we can try this route.”

“That’s not right. There are so many demonic beast corpses, which will definitely attract other demonic beast. Won’t we just trap ourselves?” Some people could not understand Ye Wenxin’s approach and raised questions.

“According to my understanding and observation, the demonic beasts in the outer circle have no thoughts or intentions of eating or harming people, but their alpha forces them to attack humans. When they see the corpses of demonic beasts on the ground, they would all know there’s a strong person on that path, and naturally would not go and get killed by that person.” Ye Wenxin smiled and analyzed that if the demonic beasts they encountered today were truly malicious, they would have climbed the tree by any means.

Everyone thought this analysis bore some logic, and two-thirds of the people agreed with this approach.

“Alright, you guys can rest, I’ll keep watch.” Seeing as this matter was resolved, Ye Wenxin stood up again and took the initiative to stand at the cave entrance, intending to just keep watch like this all night.

Unlike other people, her cultivation level was different and she did not need to eat or sleep at all. She read the books she took from Ling Jue beneath the moonlight, immersing herself in the profound knowledge of medical skills.

There was some movement behind her, and Ye Wenxin heard footsteps approaching. She pretended she did not hear it, but felt someone pressing against her back again.

“What are you doing, Big Sis?” The person who came up to her was naturally Gu Xiangsi.

“Reading a book.” Ye Wenxin replied, turning the pages of the book in her hand. Seeing her seriousness, Gu Xiangsi did not continue to pester her and sat quietly next to her, staring at her.

Not sure what Gu Xiangsi was looking at, Ye Wenxin just pretended not to notice.

The night grew deeper…

“Miss Wenxin, is Xiangsi here with you?” Gu Aotian, who had woken from his sleep, appeared and asked Ye Wenxin about Gu Xiangsi’s whereabouts.

Ye Wenxin made a shushing gesture and pointed to Gu Xiangsi, who was already asleep leaning on her shoulder.

“I’m so sorry, Miss Wenxin, this is the first time this child has been so clingy.” Gu Aotian blurted out. Gu Aotian sighed every time at the difference between he and Ye Wenxin, and was very envious of Ye Wenxin.

“Maybe she senses the motherly qualities in me.” Ye Wenxin cared not. Although Gu Xiangsi was a little worse in sleep and a little clingy, Ye Wenxin could not bring herself to hate her character at all.

“Motherly, but aren’t you one year younger than Xiangsi?” Gu Aotian recalled Ye Wenxin’s introduction at that time. She clearly mentioned she was thirteen, yet the fourteen-year-old Gu Xiangsi was willing to call her Big Sis.

“I’m referring to a kind of psychological age. You won’t understand even if I told you.” Ye Wenxin continued to read the book and ignored Gu Aotian. Gu Aotian stood there for a few seconds before he also sat on a nearby stone, lost in thought about something.

The night grew quieter…

A chilling wind blew, and Ye Wenxin heard Hei Tong’s familiar crow voice resounding throughout the backwoods.

The demonic beasts roared and made noise, but then quickly settled down.

Ye Wenxin was quite nervous, very worried that Hei Tong would do the unthinkable and launch an attack on them late at night. However, after waiting for a while, the demonic beasts showed no signs of movement, and it seemed that the sound was meant to signal them to stop.

Her eyes resumed turning towards the book, and not even three seconds had passed when she felt an unusual aura.

“You are indeed here.” A few seconds later, a figure appeared before Ye Wenxin. The speed was extremely fast, and because there was no killing intent, Ye Wenxin did not make any defensive preparations.

“Long time no see.” Ye Wenxin raised her head and glanced at the woman, then continued to look down at the book in her hand.

Unlike the composed Ye Wenxin, Gu Aotian and Gu Xiangsi were startled by the woman’s sudden appearance, and had no idea when this woman in black had appeared.

But the woman did not look at the other two people at all, she just stared at Ye Wenxin fiercely.

“You clearly said you wanted to play with me before.”

“Hey, Ye Wenxin, are you mute!”

Seeing that Ye Wenxin was not paying attention, the woman in black was even more disgruntled. She was extremely pretty and full of an indescribable seductive charm, but once she opened her mouth, the various words that popped out instantly destroyed the visual shock this beauty brought with her.

“Hei Tong, I’m reading a book.” Ye Wenxin finally raised her head and glanced at the woman in black.

This woman in black was naturally the crow that had transformed into a human, Hei Tong, but Ye Wenxin never thought she would stay up most of the night and was so bored that she inquired the demonic beasts about their whereabouts.

“Oh.” Hei Tong was a little discontented, but thinking of Ye Wenxin’s true strength, she dared not to say anything. She sat beside her, stared at Ye Wenxin, and asked from time to time when Ye Wenxin would finish the book.

Despite having many doubts in their hearts, one look at Hei Tong’s arrogant look, Gu Xiangsi and Gu Aotian choked back the idea of speaking up.

Another half hour passed, and Ye Wenxin finally could not stand the gaze anymore and looked at Hei Tong, “Why are you here this time?”

“It’s too boring to stay with a mute.” Hei Tong responded, rubbing her head against Ye Wenxin’s arm, acting coquettishly as if to express friendliness. But now that Hei Tong did not look like a spirit beast, it would make people feel that Ye Wenxin had a wonderful past with this woman named Hei Tong.

Ye Wenxin could not expose Hei Tong’s identity as a spirit beast, so she shut the book and pushed away the little head that had been rubbing against her.

“So pretentious, tell me why you’ve come to find me.” Ye Wenxin could not bear it anymore. She knew that Hei Tong showing up must mean that Hei Tong wanted something from her.

“Hey hey hey, lend me money.” Hei Tong was no longer polite. It did not look like she was asking for help at all. Instead, she felt that it was natural to ask Ye Wenxin for money.

The others were stunned watching the two’s interaction, not understanding the mysterious relationship between Ye Wenxin and Hei Tong. After hearing this, Ye Wenxin actually took out a bag of holding from her bag of holding.

“Take this and scram, as far away as you can.” Ye Wenxin suppressed her anger, always feeling that Hei Tong was becoming more and more like a human, specifically coming to blackmail her when she could not get angry.

Hei Tong checked the spirit stones in the bag of holding, curled her lips slightly, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The night returned to calmness again, but Ye Wenxin’s heart could not calm down.

Although Gu Aotian and Gu Xiangsi sitting across from her were almost crazy with curiosity, it also seemed they dare not to ask. Ye Wenxin really did not know how to explain her failure in training Hei Tong.

She regretted taking Hei Tong to the gaming house when they were together.

“Wenxin, I lost again. They said if I don’t pay, they will sell me.”

The next day, Hei Tong naturally appeared before Ye Wenxin, and began to ingratiate herself in various ways with Ye Wenxin.

Ye Wenxin almost fell to Qi Deviation out of anger, so she could only suppress the anger in her heart and continued, “Ask those old geezers at the Azure Wings Sect for it.”

“Oh yeah, how come I forgot about those old things.” Hei Tong’s eyes brightened, and then she disappeared in front of everyone in the blink of an eye.

“Don’t ask me anything, and I won’t answer anything either.” Looking at the others’ curious gazes, Ye Wenxin’s eyes were firm.

She had not taken Hei Tong to all the dark places, and she had not given the wrong outlook on life to Hei Tong in human form.

She was the kind-hearted Ye Wenxin.

The one who did such immoral things was Demon Lord Gu Qingcheng!

Ye Wenxin said this silently in her heart, but the corners of her mouth were slightly raised in happiness, and she could not restrain the exhilaration in her heart at all.

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1. A Chinese expression meaning “To become an outstanding individual among others”. ↩︎