The footsteps were somewhat chaotic, indicating that more than one person was approaching.
Jiu Hui put her right index finger to her lips and blinked. “We can whisper. No one outside can see or hear us.”
Qiu Hua looked at her in a trance until the footsteps stopped under the tree. She suddenly came to her senses and looked down at the people who had come to Zhenyao Prison.
“Master.” Nan Feng observed the surroundings. “The sect’s Elders have already taken up positions around the perimeter, except… except for Sect Uncle Yin Ji. This disciple has already sent someone to deliver the Ten Sects Order to the various sect masters. They should be able to arrive soon.”
“How are your injuries?” Bu Ting saw that Nan Feng’s face was still a little pale, so he gave him a bottle of pills. “I kept today’s matter from you. Do you resent me for it?”
Nan Feng shook his head. “Slaying demons and eliminating devils is a major event. We can’t let any news leak out. This disciple understands Master’s good intentions.”
Bu Ting nodded slightly. “Although Jin Yi is talented, it’s a pity that he lets his emotions get in the way. You are different from him. You never disappoint your teacher.”
TN: FYI Jin Yi is Bu Ting’s junior brother, just a lot younger.
Nan Feng cupped his hands in a bow. “Your disciple dares not.”
Bu Ting stopped looking at him. His gaze fell on the topmost level of Zhenyao Prison, and he stepped into the barrier with an indifferent expression.
“Bu Ting, you little bastard, I knew it was you, you little beast!” A roar came from Zhenyao Prison. “One day, I will kill you with my own hands. I will eat your flesh and bones bit by bit, and extract your soul to throw into the sea of blood, so that you will suffer forever and ever!”
“You little beast who deceives the world and usurps a good name, you will never have the possibility of ascending in this life!”
The evil yao in Zhenyao Prison cursed him, but Bu Ting’s expression didn’t change a bit. He had heard such curses thousands of times, and no matter how vicious the words, they couldn’t stir his emotions in the slightest.
Under the layers of barriers, even this impotent and furious curse could only be heard by him. The wind blew his robe, and he slowly said, “The prophecy of Zhenxing Tower says that someone will release you, the ten-thousand-year-old yao, on the full moon night of this month. Countless cities will become rivers of blood because of you, turning into a living hell.”
“Tonight is the full moon.” He opened his palm, and his natal magic weapon gradually emerged in his palm. “I’ll see if the prophecy can be changed.”
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.” The yao let out a hearty laugh. “Even if the prophecy can be changed, how can fate be defied?”
“Five hundred years ago, I was able to change fate once, and now I can do it again.” Bu Ting’s expression was grim. “I never believe in destiny.”
“Foolish, do you think you can change destiny in five hundred years?” The laughter of the ten-thousand-year-old yao was filled with mockery. “You are ringing the final death knell, not changing your destiny. One day you will understand that letting me devour those useless humans is the only way out for you cultivators.”
“You talk too much.” Bu Ting waved his sleeve, imprisoning the entire Zhenyao Prison. Not a single sound could escape from within.
“What are they talking about?” Separated by the barrier, Jiu Hui couldn’t hear the voices inside Zhenyao Prison. Unable to satisfy her curiosity, she scratched her head and looked around.
“He’s being cursed.” Qiu Hua’s emotions had gradually calmed down. “This ten-thousand-year-old yao was tricked into the tower by Bu Ting, who used someone else as bait. It curses Bu Ting for as long as it is imprisoned in the tower.”
“Then he must be quite tenacious.” Jiu Hui muttered softly, “A ten-thousand-year-old yao is almost a demigod, and its curses are like divine incantations. Immortal Venerable Bu has been cursed for so many years, but not only has he not suffered any harm, he has also cultivated to the Great Ascension Perfection stage. It shows how tough his life is.”
“A scourge will survive for a thousand years.” Qiu Hua’s tone was laced with mockery and disgust. “He has always been a schemer. In his eyes, everyone falls into one of two categories: useful or useless. Countless people in the cultivation world have been deceived by his aloof and otherworldly appearance, believing that he is truly an immortal who has transcended the mundane.”
Jiu Hui silently covered her face, not expecting the two of them to have such a bad relationship. The rumors outside were not exaggerated at all.
Nan Feng, who was guarding outside the barrier, looked around. He always felt that someone was nearby. But if there really was someone, how could his master not notice with his cultivation level?
Perhaps it was the sudden change at noon that made him suspicious. Thinking of this, he smiled bitterly and tightened his grip on the sword in his hand.
“Do you see those two stars to the north?” It had been a long time since Qiu Hua had sat so peacefully in one place, looking at the moon and stars, even though the person she deeply hated was not far away. But she had been so tired these years, so tired that whenever she closed her eyes, she would recall those brilliant eyes.
“I know, one is called Divine Evil, and the other is Moon’s Favor.” Jiu Hui clutched the mermaid gauze cloth, preventing it from being blown away by the wind and exposing their tracks. “They have been dancing in the sky for three months.”
“Dancing?” Qiu Hua originally wanted to remind Jiu Hui that many things might happen in the future, but she didn’t expect Jiu Hui to think of the stars dancing.
“Hmm.” Taking advantage of the fact that Nan Feng below couldn’t hear her voice, Jiu Hui pointed at the sky. “Look at those two stars. They’re jumping around and twirling. Don’t they look like they’re dancing?”
What outsiders saw as a catastrophic omen that could shake the heavens and earth was nothing more than a beautiful dance of stars in the little girl’s eyes. After a long silence, Qiu Hua nodded slowly. “It’s like that.”
The moonlight was indeed beautiful, but she had long since lost the mood to appreciate it. The little girl beside her was different from her. She could even see the twinkling of the stars as a dance.
Instead of blaming the little girl for being naive and ignorant, she agreed with the beauty in her eyes.
-—–
At this moment, every courtyard in the guest house was quiet, even abnormally quiet after what had happened at noon.
Tao Er held a tray of fresh spirit fruits and walked to the house where Jiu Hui lived. He reached out to knock on the door when the door next door opened.
“Immortal Zhi You?” Tao Er asked hesitantly, seeing that Jiu Hui’s room was still dark. “Is Immortal Jiu Hui not in her room?”
“She’s asleep.” Zhi You looked at him with dark eyes, “What do you want from her?”
“N-no, it’s nothing.” Being stared at by Zhi You like this, Tao Er felt inexplicably a little scared. He handed the plate full of fruits to Zhi You: “These are the spirit fruits I just got. Please try them.”
Zhi You did not take it. “For Jiu Hui?“carpreads.pages.dev
“It’s the same giving to you, the same.” Tao Er didn’t dare to force it on Zhi You, so he could only smile ingratiatingly. “You and Immortal Jiu Hui are both disciples of Immortal Venerable Yu. I respect you both equally.”
“When Jiu Hui wakes up, I will give it to her.” Zhi You took the fruit plate and glanced at the full moon hanging in the sky. Two figures, one red and one green, flew past the sky.
He had some impression of these two old men who loved to wear bright red and green. They were Elders of Zhenxing Tower, and when they had nothing to do, they would calculate the fate of the entire world.
“Don’t go out tonight.” Zhi You put the fruit plate away in his storage ring. “Go back.”
“Oh, oh.” Tao Er nodded blankly and turned to walk out of the courtyard gate. Seeing several inner disciples of the Jiutian Sect approaching, he quickly quickened his pace back to his room, bolted the door shut, and made up his mind not to open it no matter who knocked.
“Pass on the order of the Ten Great Sect Masters, inviting all Sect Masters to a meeting at Zhenyao Prison!”
They actually used the Ten Great Sect Masters Order?
With such a grand display, regardless of what the sect masters in the guest house were thinking, they all put aside their personal grudges and brought their natal magic weapons and went out.
Zhi You stood under the eaves, helping Jiu Hui close the windows of the room, and walked out of the courtyard.
The night wind was a bit chilly. Along the way, various flowers bloomed in competition, creating a dazzling and lively scene. Within the cultivation sects, with the support of formations and spiritual power, there was no distinction between the four seasons. Zhi You could not even remember if it was spring or winter.
The guest house was quite a distance from Zhenyao Prison. Immortals occasionally flew by in the sky. He walked alone on the road, looking somewhat lonely.
“Hey!” The core disciple of the Shenji School stood on his flying sword. Seeing Zhi You walking slowly by himself, he turned his sword around and flew back. “Do you want me to give you a ride? It’ll only cost you a hundred spirit stones.”
He was still thinking about the five thousand spirit stones he had lost at noon, and he was determined to earn the money back.
Zhi You shook his head.
“If that doesn’t work, fifty will do.” Even a mosquito’s leg was still meat, and the sect’s head disciple wanted to try again.
Zhi You still shook his head.
“Tsk.”
Poor ghost!
The sect’s head disciple cursed in his heart and turned away, flying off with reluctance. Now that he was mature, he would never utter a curse in front of the person he was cursing.
When he flew to the outside of Zhenyao Prison, most of the sect masters and sect’s head disciples had already arrived. He looked around, put away his flying sword, and stood under a tree before daring to curse in a low voice, “The poor ghosts of Wangshu Pavilion are so poor and stingy. It’s my bad luck to meet them.”
Jiu Hui, who was sitting on the branch, lowered her head and gave a friendly smile to the sect’s head disciple who was cursing under the tree.
“Don’t let me run into them outside in the future, or else…” The sect’s head disciple suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck. He touched his neck and looked around. After confirming that no one from Wangshu Pavilion was around, he continued to curse with confidence, “Or else I’ll definitely make them know what it means to cry their eyes out and regret it!”
A few leaves fell on his head, and one fell into his mouth.
“Bah, bah, bah!”
The sect’s head disciple spat out the bitter leaf in his mouth. When one is down on his luck, even a leaf can bully him?!
Most of the small sects present didn’t know what had happened. Some of the bolder ones gathered together and whispered to each other.
“What happened? Why did you call us to Zhenyao Prison?”
“I don’t know. Did he kill a demon at noon and now he’s preparing to kill a yao at night?”
“What, are you going to fight the ten-thousand-year-old evil yao in Zhenyao Prison?”
“Me? Do I look like a piece of meat in the mouth of an evil yao?”
Jiu Hui couldn’t help but laugh at the words of these sect masters. She was afraid that someone would discover her movements, so she leaned closer to Qiu Hua: “Hahahahaha, the world of self-cultivation is really full of talents.”
The little girl’s sideburns brushed against Qiu Hua’s ear, making it tingle with a slight itch. It had been a long time since she had sat so close to someone. The closest time she could remember was five hundred years ago.
That night, she held her friend’s hand and ran desperately. It was supposed to be a tragic night, but unlike the stories in the books, there was no thunderstorm. She remembered that the moonlight that night was exceptionally bright, and the stars were incredibly dazzling. The blood that her friend dripped into her palm was as hot as fire.
She looked up at the sky, her eyes covered with a layer of mist. The moonlight tonight was the same as that night.
“Hey, have you noticed that although the Jiutian Sect called us here using the Ten Great Sects Order, Immortal Venerable Qiu didn’t come.”
The same sect masters who had been whispering earlier were still huddled in the corner. They didn’t look like they were there to discuss business. Instead, they resembled bored old men and women gossiping at the village entrance.
“Immortal Venerable Qiu didn’t stand up to scold that person, that would be the greatest support. At noon today, Immortal Venerable Qiu didn’t give that person any face at all.”
“That incident back then was definitely that person’s fault.”
“Why?”
“Tolerating silence is just an unbearable guilty conscience, and those who understand, understand.”
Jiu Hui stole a glance at Qiu Hua, covered her ears with her hands, and said, “Sect Master, I didn’t hear anything.”
“It doesn’t matter if you hear it.” Qiu Hua looked at Bu Ting, who was standing under Zhenyao Prison. “They’re right. Tolerating silence is an unbearable guilty conscience.”
Jin Qingqiu, representing the Yuzhen Sect, one of the Ten Great Sects, stood at the forefront. He glanced at the other seven sect masters, and as expected, the Sect Master of the Qinglan Sect was not present.
The other seven sect masters seemed to have forgotten about Immortal Venerable Qiu altogether, holding their magic weapons with solemn expressions. Jin Qingqiu twirled the jade fan in his hand and glanced back a few times, wondering if Miss Jiu Hui from Wangshu Pavilion was present.
When the red and green figures descended from the sky, Jin Qingqiu put away his smile and bowed to them with cupped hands.
The four Elders lived in seclusion in Zhenxing Tower all year round. Today, Elders Hong and Lu came to the Jiutian Sect in person. What major event could have happened?
The appearance of the two Elders Hong and Lu silenced everyone present. Even the most ignorant person understood that the appearance of Zhenxing Tower Elders would lead to earth-shattering events.
“The celestial phenomenon prophesies that on the night of the full moon, the evil yao of Zhenyao Prison will emerge, staining ten thousand li with blood.” Elders Hong and Lu had complexions that were haggard and pale. “We respectfully request that everyone guard Zhenyao Prison tonight for the sake of the world’s people and seek a chance at survival.”
“What? The evil yao will appear?!”
“The Zhenyao Prison has many layers of barriers. Without a Great Ascension cultivation level, one cannot even open the barriers, so how can one open Zhenyao Prison?”
“May I ask the two Elders, can the prophecy be changed?”
“Of course it can be changed.” Elders Hong and Lu had firm looks in their eyes. “If fate cannot be changed, why would the heavens let us foresee events that have yet to happen?”
The two bowed to the crowd. They were already very old, and even their bowing movements were as slow as those of ordinary old men in the mortal world.
Qiu Hua slightly turned her head away, not looking at the two Elders who had aged rapidly in just a few short months.
“It’s noisy here. I’ll accompany the Sect Master to take a walk somewhere else.” Jiu Hui held her hand. “I heard that the Jiutian Sect has nine mountain peaks. Let’s go to the highest one.”
Qiu Hua lowered her head and held her hand. It was fair and clean, without blood or wounds. It was the hand of an eighteen-year-old girl.
“Not refusing means yes.” Jiu Hui pulled out her jade hairpin and transformed it into a flying sword. She grabbed Qiu Hua and jumped onto the sword. “Come with me.”
The mermaid gauze cloth was flying in the night sky, Qiuhua looked back at the Zhenyao Prison under the moonlight through the gauze, stroked the sword hairpin on her temples, and finally slowly lowered her hand.
She wanted to ask Jiu Hui why she happened to be here and was able to touch her Heaven-Destroying Sword. But she didn’t know where to start, just as Jiu Hui had not asked her why she had tried to break the barrier outside the Zhenyao Prison.
-—–
Zhi You was still walking slowly on the path, the moonlight stretching his shadow long and thin. He stopped and imitated Jiu Hui’s usual action, making a rabbit ear gesture for himself.
He soon lost interest, feeling that he was not doing it as well as Jiu Hui, who did it more adorably.
A flying hand appeared in the night sky ahead. If someone else had seen this scene, they might have been scared out of their wits. However, the one who saw this hand was Zhi You. He carefully observed the hand as it flew closer and closer. Just as the hand was about to grab his clothes, he reached out his own hand.
Two hands clasped together, Jiu Hui pulled Zhi You onto the sword. A mermaid gauze cloth draped over the three of them, making it a little crowded, and their feet occasionally showed outside the gauze cloth.
In the Hundred Beasts Garden, several yao beasts that hadn’t fallen asleep were basking in the moonlight. Suddenly, they saw three pairs of feet flying over their heads, and they were so frightened that it took them a long time to recover.
“How could the world become so chaotic that even feet can cultivate into a yao?”
“Nonsense, you didn’t see anything.”
The yao clan was losing ground, and they had fallen so low as to become mounts for humans in order to get by. It was not easy to find a new yao, so they could not let the immortal cultivators discover it.
It was one thing to eat with the human race, but it was another thing to sell out the yao race to the human race. They knew it very well.
“Where are you going?” After Jiu Hui pulled him onto the sword, Zhi You stood obediently at the back of the sword. He didn’t even look at Qiu Hua, as if it made no difference to him whether she was on the sword or not.
“Let’s go stargazing and moon-viewing.” Jiu Hui removed the mermaid gauze covering the three of them. “The night view is especially beautiful tonight. Fortunately, we met you halfway, so we can go together.”
Only then did Zhi You raise his eyelids to glance at Qiu Hua. He cupped his hands in greeting to Qiu Hua, “Junior has met Sect Master Qiu.”
“No need to be so polite.” Qiu Hua nodded slightly at him.
“How did you know it was me just now?” Jiu Hui knew that Zhi You wouldn’t easily reach out to others.
“I recognize your hand.” Zhi You seemed to not understand why Jiu Hui would ask such a question: “Your hand is different from others.”
“Is it better-looking than others?” Jiu Hui raised her hand and shook it in front of Zhi You’s eyes.
“Your index finger is as long as your ring finger, and your nails are full and slightly pink, a bit like…”
“Stop.” Jiu Hui crossed her arms over her chest. “All I need you to say is, are my hands pretty or not? Nothing else matters.”
Zhi You glanced at her hands again and nodded slowly. “They’re beautiful.”
“You’re a quick learner. If someone asks you this kind of question in the future, remember to ignore the description in the middle and just answer that it looks good.” Jiu Hui nodded in satisfaction. “Do you understand?”
“Not appropriate.” Zhi You shook his head.
Jiu Hui frowned slightly. “Why?”
“We need to seek truth from facts.”
“Heehee.” Jiu Hui covered her face and smiled with curved eyebrows. “At this moment, in this situation, I appreciate your honesty.”
Qiu Hua watched the two of them laughing and joking, her expression gradually softening. At that moment, she felt an unprecedented sense of ease, as if everything in the world had nothing to do with her, and only the laughter beside her was real.
The flying sword stopped on the mountain peak. The steep mountain peak was narrow, and the three of them sat on the ground. The wind blew their robes and scarves in the night, and none of them used magic to resist the free wind.
Zhi You took out the plate of spirit fruits that Tao Er had given him, and Jiu Hui gave a portion to Qiu Hua: “The night is still long, we can eat and chat.”
In this place, Qiu Hua could cast aside her identity, and Jiu Hui no longer abided by the etiquette of a junior. They were just three ordinary people enjoying the moon.
“The higher you stand, the more you realize how breathtaking the scenery is from up high.” Jiu Hui found sitting uncomfortable, so she simply lay down on the ground. This way, she could look at the moon without straining herself. “But if you stand up high for too long, it’s easy to forget the scenery at the bottom.”
Zhi You watched Jiu Hui lie down, stared at the ground for a while, and then made up his mind to lie down in the same posture as her.
“When I was a child, my elders took me to the market in the city. The village where we lived was very remote, so the city we could go to was also very small.” Speaking of the remoteness of the village, Jiu Hui was actually a little proud: “But our village is the richest in the surrounding area. Every time we go to the city, the elders will buy me a lot of delicious food.”
“The soft tofu pudding on South Street is the best. Every time I go to the city, I have to eat a big bowl.”
“There was a hand-rolled noodle stall on East Street, and the stall owner was a little afraid of his wife. But I didn’t think the stall owner’s wife was fierce at all. She gave free noodles to children who had no parents, and she lied to the children, saying that it was a gift for selling fifty servings of noodles.”
“The waiter at the restaurant on North Street would dance at the entrance to attract customers, but his dancing was not very good-looking.”
“The people living in the West Street were relatively poor, and they loved to plant fruit trees in their yards. Once, I got separated from my elders and accidentally walked into the West Street, and they stuffed a full bag of fruits into my hands.”
Jiu Hui talked about the grass and trees in the small city, and the trivial matters that almost no one paid attention to: “There are many small cities like this. They are not protected by sects, nor do they have powerful cultivators in charge. A single yao or demon is enough to destroy the entire city.”
Qiu Hua did not look at Jiu Hui. She stared in the direction of Zhenyao Prison without saying a word.
“Sect Master Qiu, would you like some more?” Jiu Hui grabbed another handful of spirit fruits and held them out to Qiu Hua.
“Tonight was originally a plot by Jiufang Bu Ting against me.” Qiu Hua accepted the spirit fruit. “In the entire cultivation world, besides him and me, few people can open the Zhenyao Prison barrier.”
“I never intended to release that evil yao, I was just tired of all the schemes of Jiufang Bu Ting.” Qiu Hua looked exhausted. A great calamity had descended, and countless lives were in danger. She could neither let go of the past nor ignore the lives of others, so she might as well end it all…
“Who is Jiufang?” Jiu Hui’s focus was a bit different.
“Jiufang is Bu Ting’s surname.” Qiu Hua explained, “Back then, the entire Jiufang clan was killed by the demons. Bu Ting was the only survivor of the Jiufang family.”
“He can’t tolerate any variables in his plan, and I’m very likely to be that variable.” Qiu Hua sneered, “In order to achieve his desired goal, he can sacrifice anyone, even himself. He’s a madman without feelings.”
“Sect Master Qiu, since you knew this was a plot against you, why did you still go to Zhenyao Prison?” Jiu Hui found the ground hard and spread a cushion for herself. “If I were you, I definitely wouldn’t have done that.”
“If it were you, what would you do?”
Zhi You had a vague premonition that something bad was going to happen, and he even felt a bit of sympathy for Bu Ting for some unknown reason.
“Making life miserable for someone you despise is actually the easiest thing in the world.” Jiu Hui raised an eyebrow. “True misery can often be inflicted in the most basic ways.”
“Now that the people of the Jiutian Sect are all guarding Zhenyao Prison, we have a lot of room to maneuver.” Jiu Hui rolled up the cushion and stuffed it into her storage ring, putting her hands on her hips. “Tonight, we’re going to make Immortal Venerable Bu understand what it means to regret, what it means to be furious but powerless, and what it means to create a diversion!”
Perhaps it was because Jiu Hui’s tone was too certain, or perhaps it was because her eyes were too firm, or perhaps she had no other choice, so the dignified Immortal Venerable Qiu Hua actually chose to believe the words of an eighteen-year-old girl.
Zhi You followed the two in silence, racking his brains to understand why Qiu Hua, the Sect Master of Qinglan School, would agree to such an absurd suggestion.
-—–
The moon was already high in the sky, and the surroundings of Zhenyao Prison were quiet. Nothing happened except for the occasional gust of wind.
Of course, no one would suspect that the prophecy of Zhenxing Tower was wrong. They only thought that so many people were guarding here, so the people who originally wanted to release the evil yao did not dare to show up.
The head of a minor sect with low cultivation accidentally fell asleep, and the magic weapon in his hand fell to the ground, making a piercing sound.
Yu Jing and City Lord Tao sat in the corner, each leaning against a tree trunk and nodding off. Suddenly, they heard the sound of weapons and quickly sat up straight. Had the fight started?
The sect master who dropped the magic weapon blushed when everyone saw him. He picked up the magic weapon and hid it among the crowd.
Elders Hong and Lu looked less serious than when they first arrived. They pinched their fingers and calculated carefully, secretly relieved. As long as they could hold on for another half an hour, they would be able to successfully avoid this prophecy.
Deep in the woods, a Linchi* bird disguised as a tree trunk carefully shifted its stiff claws.
TN: some type of owl-like bird
It should have realized long ago that one could not easily trust what people say.
What “divine fortune-teller”? What “a full-moon night brings wish fulfillment”? It had waited here for two whole hours and still no one had come to break the barrier of Zhenyao Prison.
That was one hundred taels of divination gold. It had saved up for two whole years to accumulate one hundred taels!
Not only had all his money been swindled away, but the boss who had been imprisoned in the yao prison had not been rescued either. The Linchi bird spat out the feather that it had been holding in its mouth for two hours in anger.
The bird had been given this feather for free by that “divine fortune-teller”, who had also said that as long as it took the feather to the top of the tower when someone else broke the barrier outside Zhenyao Prison, it would be able to rescue its boss, who had been imprisoned for three years.
Pfft!
If the thing that cost a hundred taels of silver was fake, then this feather must also be fake. Don’t even know what kind of broken chicken or duck feather it was.
He could have just cheated it out of a hundred taels of silver, but he had to give it a feather to humiliate it. Human nature was truly terrifying!
It was very ugly!
“Ah-choo!” The head disciple of the Shenji School was sleeping soundly against the trunk of a tree when a feather floated onto the tip of his nose. It tickled him so much that he sneezed several times in a row. The feather fell into his mouth as he opened it wide, and he swallowed it.
He closed his eyes, rubbed his nose, smacked his lips a few times, and continued to sleep against the tree root.
An old sect master saw some young immortal cultivators lying down and sitting around, and he shook his head and sighed with heartache: “The disciples of today are truly inferior to those of the past, and each generation is worse than the last!”
Fortunately, the disciples of the Ten Great Sects did not disappoint. Each of them stood tall and looked spirited.
The moon gradually moved westward, and finally, it calmly passed the prophecy. Elders Hong and Lu thanked everyone again, and hurriedly turned into flowing light and left.
The sect masters and sect’s head disciples gradually dispersed. The sect masters of the ten major sects exchanged glances and bid farewell to Bu Ting.
Tonight, they had already wronged Qiu Hua by sending out orders to all the sect masters in the name of the Ten Great Sects without the consent of the Qinglan School. If they stayed here any longer and caused any rumors to spread to Qiu Hua’s ears, it would damage their relationship.
However, before they could leave, Qiu Hua arrived with several Qinglan School disciples in their finest attire.
Several sect masters who were on good terms with Qiu Hua looked ashamed. They took the initiative to greet her and went to the side, embarrassed to speak.
“Pingling Qiu Hua.” Bu Ting walked out of the Zhenyao Prison barrier with a cold sword in his hand and stopped eight steps away from Qiu Hua.
“Sect Master Jiufang.” Qiu Hua smiled. When they first met, her master had joked that her name and Bu Ting’s name together formed the phrase “autumn flowers fill the courtyard,” which was a very auspicious sign.
She pulled out the sword hairpin, which transformed into the Heaven-Destroying Sword. “You impersonated our sect’s order, arbitrarily issued the Ten Sects Order, and now you dare to confront me with a sword. Do you really think I’m made of mud?”
“Are they really going to fight?” Under her mermaid gauze cloth, Jiu Hui tugged at Zhi You’s sleeve. “Stand a little further away. If they start fighting, it’ll be easy to get hit by sword energy here.”
“No.” Zhi You shook his head. “Qiu Hua did nothing wrong. Bu Ting won’t draw his sword.”
“Where did you go last night?” As Zhi You had said, Bu Ting sheathed his sword in front of the sect masters.
“Moon-gazing.” Qiu Hua sneered, “Don’t you think that the moonlight tonight is just as beautiful and unforgettable as it was five hundred years ago? The moon is bright and the stars are numerous, and the evening breeze is gentle. I didn’t want to miss a single moment of it.”
Bu Ting’s eyelids quivered, but he said nothing.
“Alright, I have enjoyed the scenery tonight and reminisced about an old friend. I am in a rare good mood, so I will not hold you accountable for the matter of the Ten Sects Order.” Qiu Hua also put away her sword, took a bag of spirit stones from her waist, and threw it at Bu Ting’s feet: “Today, the Qinglan Sect did not guard Zhenyao Prison, I feel guilty. This bag of spirit stones will be my compensation for the hard work of the Nine Sect Masters.”
Having cultivated to their current realm, they had long since severed their mortal ties, and their surnames were something to be avoided. In front of the other sect masters, the two of them directly addressed each other by their mortal surnames, which was no different from pointing at each other’s noses and cursing.
The sect masters remained silent. After one night, Sect Master Qiu’s ability to humiliate others seemed to have improved greatly.
“It’s such a pity. There are fifty spirit stones in there.” Jiu Hui whispered to Zhi You, “If they don’t pick them up later, we’ll sneak back and get them.”
Zhi You: “…”
She was the one who came up with the idea, but she was also the one who felt sorry for the spirit stones.
Qiu Hua lowered her head and glanced at the purse that had fallen to the ground and was covered in dust. “There’s no need to thank me. Farewell.”
She turned around and left, her skirt and veil trailing gracefully in the air. Anyone could tell that she had made this trip solely to displease Immortal Venerable Bu.
“Thank you for your hard work tonight, fellow Daoists.” Bu Ting cupped his hands towards the crowd. “It’s getting late. Please feel free to do as you wish.”
The sect masters hurriedly took their leave, none of them wanting to get involved in the muddy waters between the two.
Everyone left, and Bu Ting walked into the barrier again, lifting the seal on Zhenyao Prison.
“You are destined to never escape the fate of this prison, even with a prophecy.” Bu Ting spoke indifferently, “I will imprison you here until your soul scatters.”
“Do you think you’re the one who changed the prophecy?” The evil yao laughed. “You can stop me for a while, but you can’t stop me forever.”
The enchantment flickered with flowing light. Jiu Hui pulled Zhi You through the enchantment, wanting to hear how the evil yao cursed Immortal Venerable Bu.
“Ignorant and arrogant child! One day, this venerable one will make you regret what you did today!”
A child?
Jiu Hui looked at Immortal Venerable Bu, who appeared to be only twenty-six or twenty-seven but was actually around seven hundred years old. How could he be called a child?
“Wait and see.” Bu Ting turned around and was about to leave.
“Don’t you want to know who stopped your fiancée from breaking the enchantment of this tower before you came?”
“What did you say?!” Bu Ting turned around. Jiu Hui, who was hiding under the mermaid gauze, saw Immortal Venerable Bu change his expression for the first time.
“If you want to know, you can, as long as you let me out, I can teach you the long-lost magic technique without holding any grudges, and I can tell you where the treasures of heaven and earth are hidden…”
“Yao nonsense.” Bu Ting turned and left, this time without stopping.
“Bu Ting, you little brat, the one who’s blocking your fiancée is…” The evil yao suddenly remembered that it didn’t know the woman’s name at all. Because of the restriction of the barrier, it could only sense what was happening near the barrier.
Until Bu Ting’s figure was no longer visible, it couldn’t utter a single word.
“This yao doesn’t seem very smart, and it’s not good at cursing.” Jiu Hui saw that Zhi You was in a daze, and she bumped his arm with her elbow. She picked up the fifty spirit stones that no one cared about: “Let’s go, let’s go back quickly.”
The two of them easily passed through the barrier. When they passed by a tree, Jiu Hui paused and looked up at a certain spot on the branches.
The Linchi bird kicked its stiff claws and flapped its wings. Finally, no one was around.
It wanted to soar through the sky, it wanted to fly!
Soaring… soar… soar?
No matter how hard he flapped his wings, he still hadn’t moved from his original spot.
“I knew there was something strange about this branch. It’s a Linchi bird,” Jiu Hui said, looking at the Linchi bird playing dead in her hand. “Little yao, how did you sneak in here without being discovered?”
The Linchi bird stuck its neck out and pretended to be dead.
Jiu Hui carried it to the guest house, and Zhi You helped her hold up her gauze cloth, while making a fair and just evaluation of the Linchi bird: “Lots of feathers, ugly, and stupid.”
Linchi bird: “…”
Pfft!
Nonsense!
He was clearly a handsome man in the Linchi circle!
The two returned to the courtyard. Zhi You helped Jiu Hui put away the mermaid gauze dress and turned to go back to his own room.
“Zhi You, did you come out tonight specifically to find me?” Jiu Hui called out to him.
“Mm.” Zhi You turned around. “It’s not safe tonight.”
The Linchi bird scratched its claws. It was indeed unsafe, or else why would it have been caught?
“Thank you.”
“The moonlight is beautiful tonight.” Zhi You curved his lips slightly. “So, no need to thank me.”
“Go to bed early.” Next door, Yu Jing stuck her head out the window and said in a quiet voice, “If you don’t go to sleep, the sky will be bright soon.” She glanced at the ugly bird in Jiu Hui’s hand, then pulled her head back in and closed the window.
“Yes, Master.” Jiu Hui quickly stepped into the room and tossed the Linchi bird in her hand to Bai Qi, who was gnawing on a bone in the corner. “Here, I found you a companion.”
“What an ugly wooden stake,” Bai Qi said with disdain.
“I’m a bird, a Linchi bird that’s good at disguise!” Seeing that playing dead was useless, the Linchi bird cursed and got up from the ground, flapping its wings and preparing to escape through the window.
“Smack.” Bai Qi slapped the Linchi bird down with his tail. “I’m talking, and you dare to talk back?”
Linchi bird: “…”
There was no bird that did not hate cats, none!
“I’ll leave this little bird with you. Don’t disturb my sleep.” Jiu Hui patted Bai Qi’s head and glanced at the Linchi bird lying motionless. “I’ve put a restriction on it. If it dares to run, let it be.”
Upon hearing this, the Linchi bird scrambled to its feet and obsequiously called out twice to Jiu Hui.
“Quiet.” Bai Qi slapped his tail again. “Don’t you know that the boss is sleeping? Why are you screaming?!”
Bah, he despised fawning yao the most!
“Bai Qi, help me get the storybook on the table.”
“Yes, boss!”
Bai Qi held a book in his mouth and trotted over.
Jiu Hui flipped through a few pages, finding the content of these storybooks less exciting than what happened in Jiutian Sect. She tossed the storybooks aside and fell into a deep sleep, wrapped in her soft blanket.
-—–
An hour later, an Elder of the Jiutian Sect, who had always been calm and composed, let out an earth-shattering roar, “Who did this?! Who on earth did this?!”
The roar pierced through the clouds, shaking the heavens and earth. The crowd, who had been trapped for most of the night, sat up in their beds in shock.
What happened?
The Zhenyao Prison was robbed?!
Everyone hurriedly used magic techniques to put on their outer robes, stepped on their flying swords, and rushed to where the roar came from.
When they arrived at their destination and saw everything in front of them, their minds were so shocked that only one word could come to mind—huh?!
When dawn broke, everyone had to prepare to leave. Before leaving, they didn’t sleep, but did this kind of thing. How presumptuous, how immoral, how they hated the Jiutian Sect!
What? You’re saying that yesterday, the Jiutian Sect just gave the order to thoroughly investigate the Shenji School?
Got it, so it was the Shenji School who did it.
How audacious.
Author’s Note:
Shenji School: I was sleeping at home when a huge black cauldron fell from the sky. It was so big!
High-end sect battles: fighting techniques, fighting treasures, and psychological warfare…
**The Real Sectarian Struggle: Simple, Heartfelt, and Shameless…**