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Xie Jiuniang instantly teleported away from the scene and used Earth Traversal three times in succession. Whenever her spiritual power was nearly depleted, she took a sip of spiritual liquid, not stopping until she had escaped ten miles away.
This time, it was a bit risky, but that’s what made it thrilling and exciting! In one word: thrilling! Two words: heart-racing! Three words: exhilaratingly risky escape!
Xie Jiuniang quickly returned to the small waterfall, retrieved the rabbit from the stone cave, took back the jade tablet, untied the rabbit, put away the formation disk, and released the rabbit. A rabbit that had served its purpose couldn’t be eaten. Actually, she didn’t say it, but she mainly disdained mortal beasts lacking spiritual energy.
Suddenly, the Broken Sword burst out of its space, hurriedly circling Xie Jiuniang. “My spirit stones? Give me the spirit stones quickly! It’s my reward,” it demanded in its childish voice.
“What’s the rush?” Xie Jiuniang rummaged through her belongings, then took out an account book and wrote: Xiao Jianjian paid 2,000 spirit stones on a certain day, month, and year, with 118,000 still outstanding.
The sword spirit was about to go crazy. “You deceived me?! I’ll fight you…”
Xie Jiuniang smacked it with a stick and righteously put her hands on her hips, scolding, “What are you clamoring about? Who stole all of my 120,000 spirit stones, not even leaving a single one for me? Huh? Xiao Jianjian, are you trying to take advantage of me and not pay your debts?”
Hearing this, the sword spirit felt guilty. Scolded into submission, it retorted in an immature, milky voice, “But you still owe me one. The 2,000 was agreed upon as a reward.”
Upon hearing this, Xie Jiuniang nearly broke character. After a few dry coughs, she suppressed her laughter. “Alright, one stone is not good for bookkeeping. Consider it a snack for you.” With that, she tossed a spirit stone to it.
As soon as it collected the spirit stone, the sword spirit retreated into the covenant space. It regretted hastily forming a covenant out of fear of being thrown into the cesspit. Was it too late to cancel the contract now? The master was too much of a swindler and too stingy. Boo hoo… But it urgently needed spiritual energy to recover.
Xie Jiuniang sensed the sword spirit’s urgency and weakness. She leisurely took out a red fruit, took a bite, and said, “Xiao Jianjian, if you want spirit stones, it’s not impossible. Just bring me some good stuff to trade.”
The sword spirit held back its anger, suspecting that its new master’s brain wasn’t functioning well. It had fallen so low that it had to eat spirit stones. What good stuff could it possibly have?
Xie Jiuniang continued to patiently guide, “For example, start with a couple of divine-grade cultivation techniques, then a few sets of immortal-grade sword arts, or concealment techniques that those below the Deity Transformation stage can’t detect. I’m not greedy, really. Three spirit stones for divine-grade, two for immortal-grade, and one for those below immortal-grade.”
The sword spirit wanted to say that she was trying to fool an idiot. Were divine-grade and immortal-grade techniques like weeds on the roadside? Could one just go and pick them as they pleased? And only giving two or three spirit stones for them?
Hmph, it had eaten 120,000 spirit stones before!
Xie Jiuniang added, “You think it’s too little? We can negotiate the price.”
The sword spirit was tempted, but it was useless. Its memory was severely lacking. It had lost 99% of its origin soul and slept for who knows how many years. It was already a great fortune to wake up before the last wisp of its origin soul dissipated. Now that it had a covenant space to nurture it, as long as the master didn’t die, it would slowly recover.
So, Xie Jiuniang was just trying to coax a poor soul.
“Oh? Is there someone here?” Four people, three men and one woman, walked out of the jungle.
The leader was a man with an ordinary appearance, so ordinary that one would forget him after a single glance.
Xie Jiuniang didn’t recognize any of them.
The man came to the water’s edge, took out a water bag to fill it, and said to Xie Jiuniang while filling the water, “Little Daoist friend, what a pleasant encounter. I’m Cheng Huaixin, a local of Xian City.”
“I’m Xie Jiuniang from Yunmu City.” Xie Jiuniang smiled innocently.
The other three didn’t join the conversation. They also took out their water bags and lowered their heads to fill them. It was a very normal attitude, with the wariness one should have when dealing with strangers.
Cheng Huaixin asked, “Daoist Xie, would you like to join us? It’s better to have someone to rely on along the way.”
“Well… that wouldn’t be appropriate, right?” Xie Jiuniang glanced at the other three again.
The two male cultivators showed no expression, while the female cultivator revealed a look of resistance.
Cheng Huaixin laughed heartily, “What’s inappropriate about it? We met while out and about. If it’s fate, let’s become friends.”
“Brother Cheng!” The female cultivator stepped forward before Xie Jiuniang could speak. “Daoist Xie is politely declining your offer. Don’t force her. It’s understandable for her to be wary of you when meeting for the first time.”
Cheng Huaixin hesitated, “This…”
He looked at Xie Jiuniang again, as if waiting for her opinion.
If it were a real young girl, she might have explained a few words, and after Cheng Huaixin’s repeated invitations, she would have agreed, unable to refuse out of politeness.
But what kind of person was Xie Jiuniang? Did she care about saving face?
Xie Jiuniang, as if after careful consideration, said, “That sister is right. I do have my guard up against you, so I won’t go with you.”
Cheng Huaixin’s heart sank, but he smiled immediately, “No problem. If fate allows, we’ll meet again. We’ll take our leave first.”
With that, he took the lead and left. The other two male cultivators immediately followed.
The female cultivator gave Xie Jiuniang a disdainful look and muttered sarcastically, “Good thing you had the sense not to drag us down.”
Xie Jiuniang: “…”
They acted so diligently, yet they didn’t realize their cover was blown from the start.
On the first day of the assessment, everyone was full of energy and eager to travel without a moment’s rest. Xie Jiuniang had openly stayed here for half a day. Shouldn’t anyone without special circumstances have passed her by now?
Suddenly encountering four people slower than her, all of whom were short of water, wasn’t that strange?
Therefore, it was reasonable to suspect that they had come for her. As for whose people they were, from the Lin family or the Mo family? It was hard to say…
On the other side, the four people who had walked away were extremely frustrated. According to their superiors’ intentions, they were supposed to find an opportunity to approach Xie Jiuniang and obtain a wooden hairpin from her without raising her suspicions.
Cheng Huaixin asked, “Axing, didn’t you say that if we followed your plan, she would definitely agree to team up?”
The female cultivator, Sun Axing, said aggrievedly, “Brother Cheng, how was I supposed to know that the target wouldn’t follow the usual pattern? If everyone expressed their welcome and fondness for her, wouldn’t it be even more suspicious, like a weasel paying a New Year’s visit to a chicken coop…”
The three male cultivators were all speechless. They could only think of another plan.
Xie Jiuniang set off, walking slowly and leisurely. The four-person team waiting ahead for her would have to wait until their hair fell out.
She had only walked a few miles when Xie Jiuniang heard the sound of people fighting ahead. With a sweep of her spiritual sense, she saw Cheng Huaixin’s group of four facing off against two demonic crocodiles.
As soon as Cheng Huaixin saw Xie Jiuniang, he quickly called out to warn her, “Daoist Xie, don’t come over here. It’s dangerous!”
“Oh, okay.” Xie Jiuniang turned around and nimbly flew up a large tree, sitting on a branch and swinging her legs. She took out a spirit fruit, bit into it with a crunch, and exclaimed, “Sweet! Delicious!”
It was also a good show to watch. It must have been hard work for these few people to lure two demonic crocodiles over.
Seeing that she really had no intention of helping, the four of them felt so frustrated that they almost vomited blood.
Cheng Huaixin still wanted Xie Jiuniang to lend a hand. Once they resolved the two demonic crocodiles together, they would have the shared experience of killing demonic beasts, making it natural for them to travel together. As long as they traveled together, they would have plenty of ways to obtain the wooden hairpin.
However, the little girl was young in age but strangely eccentric.
Cheng Huaixin and Sun Axing exchanged glances. Sun Axing and another male cultivator collaborated to kill one demonic crocodile, fighting and retreating at the same time, unknowingly approaching the large tree where Xie Jiuniang was.
Suddenly, Sun Axing’s foot stepped into a small mud pit on the grass, and her ankle twisted abruptly. “Ah…”
She was in the midst of fighting the demonic crocodile. This sudden change was very dangerous. Shouldn’t someone save her now? Xie Jiuniang was very close by.
Sun Axing didn’t wait for Xie Jiuniang to come to her rescue. A man in cyan robes wielding a long spear descended from the sky, piercing the demonic crocodile with one strike and sending it flying.
The cyan-robed man glanced up at Xie Jiuniang, then looked down at Sun Axing and asked, “Daoist friend, are you alright?”
Sun Axing: “…”
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☕️ Available Chapters: 📚
Chapters 31-40
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Katra1212[Translator]
Hi I'm Katra! Translator by day, lemon aficionado by night. Secretly suspects a past life as a citrus fruit. Squeezing the joy out of language, one word at a time.🍋