Chapter 61

It’s obvious that losing hundreds of thousands of high-grade spirit stones hit Song Hansheng hard.

Ye Qiao didn’t seek debt repayment from Ye Qinghan mainly because sword cultivators are generally poor. Song Hansheng could manage to gather some money, but even if Ye Qinghan sold his last pair of pants, he wouldn’t be able to repay.

By then, Ye Qiao could keep the IOU to use as leverage against Ye Qinghan.

The opening time of the secret realm was uncertain. They had barely relaxed for a few days when Qin Fanfan walked in leisurely, clapped her hands, and said, “I have good news and some neutral news. Which do you want to hear first?”

“What’s the good news?”

“The good news is the secret realm won’t open for another two months, so you can relax without any worries.”

Ye Qiao immediately high-fived Xue Yu.

“I want to high-five too,” Mu Chongxi joined in.

Ming Xuan asked, “What’s the neutral news?”

Qin Fanfan said, “Someone commissioned a task from the five sects, with a two-month deadline. You probably won’t be able to slack off.”

“…” What kind of lousy news is this?

Rolling his eyes, Ming Xuan said, “We won’t accept it. What kind of task would need the involvement of the five sects? We’re not going to be the scapegoats.”

Changming Sect also had tasks, usually hunting beasts to earn spirit stones, but they didn’t need to take this one since they weren’t short of money.

Qin Fanfan interrupted, “The reward is the Chaos Pearl.”

The Pearl of Creation from the dawn of heaven and earth is highly coveted. Instantly, the other sects didn’t hesitate to send their personal disciples.

“Recently, there’s been a lot of disturbance from the demon clan. Whoever resolves it will get the pearl,” she patted a few disciples on the shoulder. “Do your best!”

“Who commissioned the task?” Ming Xuan, unsurprisingly, stopped complaining. It’s the Chaos Pearl, after all. Rumor has it that it carries some kind of fortune from the Heavenly Dao.

Though the truth of this rumor was unknown, if the reward was the Chaos Pearl, it’s no wonder the five sects were eager to try.

“The city lord of Yunshui City commissioned the task.”

Yunshui is a small city where most of the cultivators were in the Foundation Establishment stage, and many were itinerant cultivators. If the demon clan were causing trouble, they wouldn’t be able to find any clues.

“Be extra careful. The demon clan is up to no good.”

Ye Qiao poked the tea cup on the table, not wanting to move. She was exhausted and wanted to sleep.

“You four will go,” Qin Fanfan said, glancing at Ye Qiao, who was lazing around. “You stay.”

“Why?” Mu Chongxi was the first to protest. “Why does she get to stay?”

With so many personal disciples from the five sects attending, it was unlikely they would have any significant chance. Naturally, the four others looked enviously at Ye Qiao, who was allowed to slack off.

“She’s at the Foundation Establishment stage. Are you all at that stage too?”

Ming Xuan raised his hand weakly, “I’m at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage.”

“You’re going too,” Qin Fanfan glared at him. “No excuses. It’s a good opportunity for training.”

These kids were like delicate flowers in a greenhouse. Without chances to toughen up, they wouldn’t survive on their own in the future.

Hearing she didn’t have to go, Ye Qiao’s eyes lit up. She immediately made a victory sign to her four senior brothers. “Don’t worry, rest in peace. I’ll remember you all.”

“Though my body won’t be with you, my spirit will be.”

Ming Xuan grumbled, “…Anyone want to help me beat her up?”

Xue Yu said, “Forget it. Without talismans, you probably can’t beat her.”

Ming Xuan: How annoying.

Seeing the other four looking like they were mourning, Qin Fanfan offered some consolation, “Don’t worry, Ye Qiao won’t be idle.”

“I found a good talisman master to train her in reaction speed and formation familiarity.”

Since she was a rare dual cultivator of sword and talisman, it was now imperative to push her into further training and find a master who could draw talismans.

Clapping his hands, Qin Fanfan announced, “Your little martial uncle is a talisman master. I’ve notified him to come and teach you.”

Changming Sect had about four peaks. Ye Qiao had visited Dan Peak once but had never set foot on the other three.

Technically, she had four martial uncles. The one Qin Fanfan called was likely the junior uncle from Talisman Peak.

Mu Chongxi exclaimed, “Huh? Junior uncle?”

As a newcomer, Ye Qiao didn’t know much about the martial uncles from the four peaks. Hearing this, she was a bit surprised, but her senior brothers seemed to react strongly.

“Why is he coming?” Ming Xuan sipped water. “Isn’t he always sleeping?”

Not one of them referred to him with any respect.

Qin Fanfan succinctly said, “I heard about a dual cultivator of sword and talisman, and Xie Chuxue got curious and decided to come personally.”

Dual cultivation in two disciplines was rare. Everyone wanted a closer look.

Just as he finished speaking, the door opened.

A man walked in, rubbing his eyes, looking half-asleep. He spotted Mu Chongxi, and his light brown eyes brightened slightly. “Are you that Ye Qiao?”

Ye Qiao leaned closer to Ming Xuan, muttering, “Is he blind?”

Her name clearly couldn’t belong to a man, could it?

Ming Xuan responded, “Junior uncle has been an idiot for years. Our master never gave up on him. Just bear with it.”

Xie Chuxue grabbed and pinched Mu Chongxi’s face, smiling, “Hmm, you look quite dumb. How did you win first place in the competition?”

Mu Chongxi’s face was deformed from the pinching, and he struggled, “J-Junior uncle.”

Let go.

He finally escaped Xie Chuxue’s grasp and pointed at Ye Qiao without hesitation, “She’s the one you’re looking for.”

Letting go, Xie Chuxue smiled, “Oh, I knew. I was just messing with you.”

Qin Fanfan asked, “Enough of the antics?”

Xie Chuxue was always eccentric. If not for the unexpected appearance of a dual cultivator needing a teacher, Qin Fanfan wouldn’t have sought out this junior brother.

“You four go to Yunshui City. If there’s danger, crush the jade slip to send a message.”

He added, “Ye Qiao’s cultivation is too low, so she’ll stay.”

Leaving Ye Qiao behind felt safer to Qin Fanfan, considering how much trouble she could cause. The demon clan wasn’t a place for her to mess around.

Ye Qiao had no objections.

Great. She didn’t want to deal with the demon clan anyway. It sounded like a hassle.

Plus, having two months off was rare. Working overtime was disgraceful!

Mu Chongxi was dragged away by Zhou Xingyun, looking more resentful than a ghost.

Ming Xuan warned, “Junior uncle is really bad news. Stay away from him.”

He didn’t want to recall the times he suffered under this junior uncle.

Xue Yu hesitated, “You…”

“Rest in peace.”

With that, he left too.

Ye Qiao was left with a head full of questions.

After the four senior brothers left, only Qin Fanfan and Xie Chuxue remained. Ye Qiao wondered about the previous generation’s naming skills.

Stepping into the yard, she found an empty spot, took a deep breath, and mentally prepared herself.

“Let’s get this over with so I can go back and sleep,” Xie Chuxue snapped his fingers, and an formation appeared from the center. “Ready?”

He had somehow already set up the formation. Complex patterns expanded from underfoot, and in a blink, Ye Qiao was trapped in the formation.

As soon as she entered, continuous attacks came her way—swords, demonic energy, spells, and physical attacks.

Ye Qiao was caught off guard and couldn’t find a way to break the formation.

Despite her cultivation level, this formation was beyond her reach.

Forced into defense the whole time, she barely lasted a moment before being ejected.

Xie Chuxue remarked, “I watched some of your shadow stones.”

“You seem to like catching your enemies off guard.”

“It works sometimes, but if you meet someone faster, you’ll be the one getting beaten.” He looked down at her for a moment. “So…”

With a serious tone, Ye Qiao finally dropped her assessment of him as unserious.

“Haha,” he laughed. “Let’s continue.”

Ye Qiao: …

For the next three days, Ye Qiao was trapped in the formation. On the fourth day, she barely found the formation’s core. Thankfully, her junior uncle had some conscience and didn’t draw an attacking formation. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have lasted three days.

“You’re out?”

Xie Chuxue lazily opened his eyes wider. “That was pretty fast.”

Faster than he had anticipated.

After Ye Qiao emerged, she was sprawled on the ground like a pancake. In the next second, before she could react, she found herself inside another formation.

Damn it!

Most of Ye Qiao’s knowledge came from books, and she had accumulated some experience in secret realms, but she had never encountered such a difficult formation. It could drag someone to death.

Initially, Xie Chuxue trained her reaction speed. Once she adapted, he began training her speed in breaking formations. Illusion formations were one thing, but more often it was trap formations.

By the seventh day, her speed in breaking formations had gradually increased, but she was also nearly worn out.

Occasionally, beasts would leap out from the formation to scare her. Reflexively, she would use her sword to disperse them, only to sadly discover that the formation’s core she had just found had shifted again.

“Junior uncle,” Ye Qiao asked, her face pale and head hanging low after emerging from an formation. “Did Ming Xuan go through this too?”

Xie Chuxue nodded, “Yes.”

Talisman cultivation and sword cultivation were different. Although she didn’t get beaten, the endless formations were more headache-inducing. The light in Ye Qiao’s eyes gradually dimmed.

She lay on the ground like a salted fish without dreams.

Seeing this, Xie Chuxue shook her vigorously, turning her into a wobbly noodle. He then seemed to see a little ghost drifting out of her mouth as she tilted her head back.

“…No way?” He blinked, tilting his head in confusion.

Could she really not handle it?

He remembered Ming Xuan and Xue Yu being quite resilient in the past.

Xie Chuxue had even tried roasting Ming Xuan and Xue Yu on a spit when they were little, eager to discover a recipe for barbecuing kids.

Back then, they had pretty strong life forces. Surely, they hadn’t been as bad as this?

When Qin Fanfan arrived, he saw his junior brother holding his disciple by the collar.

Ye Qiao looked as if she was about to die.

Fuming, Qin Fanfan punched Xie Chuxue on the head, “What did you do to my disciple?”

Xie Chuxue replied, “She’s fine.”

Ye Qiao slowly came to her senses.

“Haha, see? She’s fine,” Xie Chuxue said, smiling as he let go of her collar.

Ye Qiao immediately dropped to the ground again.

Qin Fanfan: “…”

The fall brought Ye Qiao fully back to her senses.

Her soul was practically floating.

“Junior uncle,” Ye Qiao asked weakly, “Do you have a teleportation talisman?”

She wanted to find her senior brothers.

She never wanted to deal with formations again in this life.

Xie Chuxue blinked, “I don’t have a teleportation talisman.”

“But you can try a teleportation formation.” He smiled, “Although it takes a bit of time, it can transport many people at once.”

“Do you want to learn? I’ll teach you.” As he spoke, he quickly formed seals with his hands, so fast that Ye Qiao couldn’t even stop him. The next second, a pale golden formation appeared at her feet.

“Look,” he said, his eyes widening slightly in amazement as he watched Ye Qiao disappear into the formation. “My niece is gone!”

“…”

Qin Fanfan watched his big disciple disappear before his eyes. Furious, he punched Xie Chuxue into the wall, embedding him there. “Where’s my Ye Qiao?”

Is she dead?

“…She seems to have been sent away by the teleportation formation.” Xie Chuxue groaned as he struggled to crawl out of the wall, then revived as if nothing had happened, walking over cheerfully. “I don’t know exactly where it sent her.”

Teleportation formations rarely have fixed destinations.

Now, all that could be done was to wish Ye Qiao good luck.

Qin Fanfan: “…”