Chapter 161: The Next Level

“You’re skilled in Alchemy and scamming, no, medicine—don’t pinch me…” Fatty accidentally blurted out the truth. Ye Wenxin fiercely pinched the fat on his waist. In pain, Fatty hastily corrected himself.

“Stop spouting nonsense, training medical skills can’t be equated to scamming people.”

“But before, you always instructed us to cripple them first, then, Big Sister, you would—don’t pinch me!” Fatty tried to get away. His Big Sister still had quite a temper.

“Don’t say such things carelessly. If someone hears, they might think I abuse my subordinates. Ahem, anyway, if you encounter her, let me know; I’ll make her cultivation fail.” Ye Wenxin smiled playfully, already envisioning the delightful scene of Fatty beating up Su Mei.

Yes, when facing this kind of clownish troublemaker, why should she act personally when letting her subordinates handle it would provide greater humiliation?

With this thought, Ye Wenxin smiled even more genially. She took the initiative to grab Fatty’s hand and continued, “Fatty, do you want to become more powerful?”

“Big Sister… spare me… I don’t want acupuncture…” Fatty’s face paled, but before he could finish his sentence, Ye Wenxin’s silver needles had already left her hand, swiftly piercing several of his acupoints.

“Now you’ll absorb spiritual energy in nature faster. No need to thank me too much.” Ye Wenxin continued to smile. As she spoke, she subtly turned her head, looking at the distant gaze, and mouthed some words…

“Hehehehe.” In the distance, Long Qingyue could not help but laugh. This laughter was unrestrained yet somewhat abrupt.

Xiao Zhang had been sleepless all night and was still somewhat listless at this moment. Hearing Long Qingyue’s laughter put her even more on edge, though she did not understand why Her Higness was laughing so happily.

Since her life was already hanging by a thread, Xiao Zhang became bolder, and asked Long Qingyue, “Your Highness, why are you laughing?”

This time, Long Qingyue did not keep her in suspense. She smiled and said, “I just suddenly remembered an old friend.”

“This scene, makes you think of an old friend?”

Xiao Zhang was quite curious, but after thinking it over carefully, the only ‘old friend’ Long Qingyue could be referring to was probably Demon Lord Gu Qingcheng.

Regarding this legendary figure, Xiao Zhang felt only fear. She was not curious about how beautiful the rumored Demon Lord Gu Qingcheng was; she was more worried about whose methods were more vicious compared to her own mistress.

“Yes, I remember when I first entered the Martial World and had a fierce encounter with that friend.” Long Qingyue stroked the black cat in her arms as she recounted the story of how she met Ye Wenxin.

At that time, neither of them knew that the other was also from Earth; they simply had the same goal, so they traveled together.

“Xiao Zhang, take a guess, where did my friend and I go for our first stop?” Long Qingyue seemed to be in a very good mood, so good that it baffled Xiao Zhang. Xiao Zhang racked her brains and eventually gave the most conservative answer she could think of.

“A certain immortal sect.”

“Wrong. Guess again.”

“A certain demon sect.”

“Also wrong. At that time, we didn’t have the strength, so it was impossible for us to take such risks. Let me give you another hint: back then, both she and I carried a lot of money.”

Long Qingyue was so patient that it seemed abnormal to Xiao Zhang. Upon hearing this hint, Xiao Zhang reflexively thought of a place. But that place, was definitely not somewhere someone of Long Qingyue’s stature would be interested in, let alone Demon Lord Gu Qingcheng.

“This Subordinate really doesn’t know.” Xiao Zhang had to give up.

“Be honest. You already have the answer in your heart, don’t you?” However, Long Qingyue raised her head to look at Xiao Zhang. Those eyes still seemed to see through everything, but Xiao Zhang was unaware, it was not that Long Qingyue could see through everything; as a transmigrator, her cheat skill was mind-reading.

She could read the minds of all beings, and thus, for Long Qingyue, the world was too boring and too simple.

Even so, Long Qingyue still conscientiously performed her duties as the Eldest Princess, occasionally bullying her younger emperor brother and teasing the emperor’s daughter, Long Qing’er.

“This Subordinate dares not say.”

“Why? They’re just brothels; coming out of the palace, it was natural for me to be curious about such places, wanting to know the caliber of women in the world.” Long Qingyue unabashedly mentioned the word ‘brothels’. Xiao Zhang sneaked a glance at Long Qingyue, confirming that her mistress had not been replaced, or undergone a change in personality due to Qi Deviation.

How could someone with such an extraordinarily beautiful face bring up such a controversial topic?

Xiao Zhang was perturbed. She even felt that Long Qingyue had a similar aura to Ye Wenxin. Somehow, their way of thinking seemed to originate from beyond this world.

“My old friend and I visited brothels in several dynasties; guess what conclusion we reached.” Long Qingyue became even more talkative, whether it was because she saw Ye Wenxin’s good mood or simply to reminisce about the past.

“That… the women weren’t as good-looking as you?” Xiao Zhang finally mustered up a bit of courage, and tentatively added.

“Hehehe, exactly. At the end of our brothel tour, my old friend said to me, ‘Fairy tales are all lies’; there were no beauties in brothels at all.” Long Qingyue recalled the disappointed and aggrieved expression on Ye Wenxin’s face that day. They had even splurged so outrageously in the brothels back then, that they could only nibble on stuffed buns and steamed bread for the remaining few days.

After three days of this diet, Ye Wenxin could not take it anymore, and from then on, she transformed and began openly robbing the rich to help the poor, leaving behind a notorious reputation.

As they both became famous later on, they became even more high-profile in their actions; neither Long Qingyue nor Ye Wenxin had any intention of being good people. One became Demon Lord Gu Qingcheng, who held absolute command over the demon sects, while the other became Eldest Princess Long Qingyue, who wielded immense power and influence.

“It looks like I’m getting old, suddenly starting to reminisce about the past.”

Xiao Zhang could not understand what Long Qingyue was talking about. She had been confused since the mention of ‘fairy tales are all lies’. However, fearing she might upset Long Qingyue, she dared not say anything more.

Meanwhile, on the stage, the elders were still battling tooth and nail, drawing applause and cheers, yet, all of this seemed out of place where Long Qingyue was.

Long Qingyue, recalling the trap she set last night, continued, “By the way, why didn’t you and your little friend escape yesterday?”

The sudden change in topic made Xiao Zhang shiver; she did not know how to express her current fear.

“This Subordinate didn’t dare to escape and knew, I couldn’t get away,” Xiao Zhang had to answer honestly, trying hard to suppress her inner trepidation.

“Sigh, I’ve helped you this much, and still nothing happened with that little friend of yours?” Long Qingyue found it even more boring. Based on what she had done, Xiao Zhang should have been unable to resist confessing her feelings, and escaping to the other end of the world with Ye Wenxin rather than staying by her side, watching these immortal sect people’s antics.

“This Subordinate did confess, but was rejected by her.” Xiao Zhang was also very frustrated. If she had not insisted on ignoring Ye Wenxin’s rejection, she would have already received a firm rejection.

And not just once, but twice.

However, due to her efforts yesterday, she finally managed to kiss Ye Wenxin.

“You love her with all your life, don’t you? And she still rejected you?” Long Qingyue seemed at a loss for how to evaluate Ye Wenxin’s utter obliviousness.

She knew Xiao Zhang’s character well, and saw that their interactions were fairly good. Long Qingyue, as a best friend, naturally gave a little push, but did not expect Ye Wenxin’s brains to be made of mush.

She did not want her foster daughter Liu Churan; she did not love Shura Hall’s Hall Master, yet Ye Wenxin had not fallen for any man either, making Long Qingyue feel very bored.

She could read the world, but only her best friend’s mind remained a mystery she had yet to unravel.

“This Subordinate naturally loves her with all my life, which is why I disregarded Your Highness’s orders and begged Your Highness to spare her.” Xiao Zhang prepared to kneel, but before she could, she felt a force lifting her up.

Long Qingyue smiled softly, for some reason not showing the slightest sign of anger. Instead, she seemed rather gratified by Xiao Zhang’s initiative.

“This Subordinate doesn’t understand one thing.”

“Hmm?”

“Did Your Highness know Ye Wenxin before?”

“Oh, this is the first time I’ve met her,” replied Long Qingyue.

Indeed, it was Long Qingyue’s first time meeting Ye Wenxin, but she had met Demon Lord Gu Qingcheng countless times.

Of course, she could not share any of this with Xiao Zhang. Perhaps one day, Ye Wenxin herself would speak of it.

“But I can tell, she’s a good kid, just a bit dense.”

“Subordinate feels the same.” Xiao Zhang felt a resonance with Long Qingyue, and could not help but add. Perhaps she should be more assertive.

“Maybe you should be more assertive, take it to the next level,” Long Qingyue suggested, her tone casual as if discussing something completely mundane.

Xiao Zhang was stunned into silence, utterly questioning if this Long Qingyue in front of her, was someone else in disguise.

But in an instant, Long Qingyue realized that was not the right approach and added, “Maybe not, she doesn’t like being forced to make choices.”

……

Completely unaware that she was being discussed unfavorably, Ye Wenxin continued to watch Long Qingyue from a distance; the two looked odd as they chatted, but she trusted that Long Qingyue would not do anything harmful to her, so she let them continue talking.

She observed the elder-ranked members of the immortal sects, performing what she considered a rather dull show.

“Big Sister, is it not over yet?! I’m dying here!” Fatty wailed, covered in silver needles, looking like a living pincushion.

Although his absorption of spiritual energy had improved significantly, the pain was still undeniable.

“Can’t you distract yourself? Go read a book or something, don’t bother me while I’m snacking on melon seeds!” Ye Wenxin glared at Fatty and took out a medical book from her bag of holding.