Zhi You flipped the mirror over, covering the Moonlit Mirror with his wide sleeve, concealing it completely.
“This sword…” Grandpa Long glanced at the Dragon Scale Sword in Zhi You’s hand and pondered for a moment. “It looks pretty good. Did you refine it yourself?”
“This is a gift from a senior turtle who was worried about Jiu Hui and me going out. He specifically gave us this for self-defense.” The Dragon Scale Sword disappeared into Zhi You’s hand, and he held the Moonlit Mirror tightly, not letting it fall to the ground again.
“Grandpa Long, who did you go to see?” Jiu Hui moved her foot away from the killer whale man and approached Grandpa Long. “Do I know them?”
“Like I don’t know you, do you want me to take you to eat and drink again?” Uncle Long did not accept her trick: “Adults are doing things, children should not interfere blindly.”
While Jiu Hui was talking to Grandpa Long, the killer whale man stealthily crawled forward, trying to escape into the sea.
“Stay still and behave yourself!” Jiu Hui turned her head to look at him. “Did I say you could leave?”
The man stopped immediately, buried his face in the sand, and opened and closed his mouth without making a sound. When he finished muttering in his heart, he looked up and found that Jiu Hui had already squatted in front of him, which scared him and made him shrink back.
“Are you secretly cursing me in your heart?” Jiu Hui glanced at him.
The man shook his head vigorously.carpreads.pages.dev
“What’s your name?” Jiu Hui asked, playing with the small shovel and smiling at him.
The man was worried that if she got upset, she would stick the shovel into his brain, so he could only swallow his anger and say, “Jin Ge.”
“Your name is not bad.” Jiu Hui patted his back with a shovel. “Do you still dare to tease a beauty?”
Jin Ge remained silent. If he had known earlier that she was the little tyrant of Shanghuang Village, he would have rather gone around this sea area today than make such a big mistake.
It was rumored outside that the young master of Shanghuang Village was invincible against all the young masters of the yao clan and had a hideous face, making them very terrifying. Who would have thought that she was actually beautiful and adorable, making him want to tease her a little when he saw her?
It was all the fault of those harmful rumors outside!
“Do you know what you did wrong?” Although the killer whale clan was a bunch of underwater thugs who loved to curse and cause trouble everywhere, making the yaos despise them, their crimes did not warrant death, so she did not intend to take his life.
Jin Ge spoke with resentment, “I understand.”
“If any yao comes to Shanghuang Village to report you next time, I’ll break your fins.” Jiu Hui took out a small booklet. “I can let you go, but you have to tell me, are there any yao in the sea who are more wicked than you?”
“Yes, yes, yes.” Jin Ge quickly spoke up. “A few days ago, a sea serpent stuck two tree branches on its head and went to a human city, pretending to be a divine dragon to trick humans into worshipping it.”
“Which city?” Jiu Hui frowned.
“That’s the city closest to Nushen Mountain.” Seeing Jiu Hui’s expression darken, Jin Ge quickly said, “Our killer whale clan also despises such behavior, so I originally planned to go to the city to take a look and then report the specific situation to you in Shanghuang Village.”
Unfortunately, he happened to glance over here as he passed by, and he couldn’t help but take a second look. And so, he embarked on this path of no return.
“Okay, we’ll go with you to have a look.” Jiu Hui turned her head to look at Grandpa Long: “Grandpa Long, do you want to go with us?”
“You and Zhi You can handle this minor matter.” Grandpa Long had grown accustomed to the various aquatic yaos calling themselves dragons.
Just like how a carp wanted to transform into a dragon, a jiao wanted to become a dragon, a catfish falsely claimed to be a thunder dragon, even an alligator gar, which was ugly and clumsy, insisted on calling itself an earth dragon.
“Alright.” Jiu Hui nodded.
“Have fun in the city.” Grandpa Long took out a bag of silver from his pocket and handed it to Zhi You. “If you’re not coming home tonight, remember to send a message back.”
After giving his instructions to the children, Grandpa Long turned and disappeared without any hesitation.
After all, what rational adult would enjoy taking children shopping?
“You really want to come with me?!” Jin Ge’s expression was very painful.
“Do you have an opinion?” Jiu Hui smiled. “It doesn’t matter. We won’t accept it even if you do.”
Jin Ge: “…”
If he ever went to tease a beauty again, he’d slap himself in the mouth.
Even if one were to travel from the Endless Sea to the nearest city, one would have to take a flying boat across Nushen Mountain. The Nushen Mountain was like a giant barrier, separating the villages behind the mountain from the outside world.
Zhi You saw a golden token hanging from Jin Ge’s waist. It was very similar to the token the village chief had given him, except the pattern carved on it was slightly different.
“Each village’s token has a different pattern.” Jiu Hui noticed Zhi You’s gaze and explained to him in a low voice, “Without this token, even if you enter Nushen Mountain, you won’t be able to find the way to the village. Even if you accidentally break in, you won’t be able to get out again without someone leading you.”
Zhi You took out the Moonlit Mirror and handed it to Jiu Hui, saying, “The mirror fell just now.”
Jin Ge glanced at the mirror and was shocked to see his own black-and-white body reflected in the mirror. He took a step back on the flying boat and exclaimed, “What kind of mirror is this?”
“Very curious?”
Jin Ge nodded.
“I won’t tell you.” Jiu Hui hung the mirror back on her waist and used a magic technique to secure it.
Zhi You glanced at Jin Ge and sat down beside Jiu Hui without a word. He didn’t even bother to ask why they were bringing a chubby black-and-white fish yao to the city to find a snake yao who was swindling offerings.
After disembarking from the flying boat and walking to the city gate, Zhi You finally understood why Jiu Hui had said that this was a small city. The city gate was low and the city name carved on it was already worn and difficult to make out.
The guards stationed at the city gate were two middle-aged men. Their faces were dark, and they looked more like farmers who often worked in the fields than guards of the City Lord’s mansion.
“Miss Jiu Hui.” The two guards smiled kindly at Jiu Hui. “It’s been a long time since you’ve been in the city.”
“Last year, my family’s elders sent me to Taolin City to study. The academy recently gave me a leave of absence to visit my relatives, so I was able to come back.” Jiu Hui said familiarly, “The two uncles, how was the harvest last year?”
“The harvest is good.” The city guard smiled honestly. “Go on in. It’s rare for you to come back, so have a good time.”
“Thank you, Uncle.” Jiu Hui took out two bags of candied fruit from her sleeve and handed them to the two city guards. “Taolin City is famous for its fruits. I bought these candied fruits locally. They’re not worth much, but please take them back for your little ones to try.”
The city guards repeatedly declined, but they finally accepted the gift when they could no longer refuse. The two of them carefully put the candied fruit in their pockets and grinned happily.
Taolin City was so far away, their children had never tasted the local preserved fruits.
“Jiu’er is back?”
“You’re back.”
“Are you leaving again after coming back this time?”
“My studies aren’t finished yet. I’ll have to go back in a while.”
“The persimmon cakes I left for you last year have all gone bad. Take these walnuts and eat them. Studying can be taxing on the brain, and I heard that eating these can replenish it.”
“Thank you, auntie.” Jiu Hui took the walnut fruit, cracked the outer shell with her hand, took out the kernel inside, and ate it. “It’s delicious.”
“If they’re delicious, take more back with you.” The dried fruit stall owner stuffed a full bag of walnuts to Jiu Hui, looking at Jiu Hui with extra gentleness in her eyes.
“Auntie, I brought you something too.” Jiu Hui took out a peach blossom inlaid silver hairpin from her sleeve. “I bought it specially for you from Taolin City. Do you like it?”
“Peach blossoms are so beautiful, but at my age, how can I wear this?” The proprietress blushed.
Jiu Hui persuaded the proprietress to wear the silver hairpin in her hair, and after chatting with her for a while, she found an excuse to leave.
“Eat some walnuts.” Jiu Hui handed two walnuts to Zhi You and saw Jin Ge staring at her longingly, so she took out another one and gave it to him. “Don’t whales only eat meat?”
“Occasionally, I can also try other things that are passable.” Jin Ge cracked open a walnut and tasted the kernel. Wasn’t this just an ordinary walnut? It didn’t even have a trace of spiritual energy. What was this little tyrant cherishing them?
“When I got lost that year, it was this auntie who carried me around looking for people.” Jiu Hui held the walnut and said to Zhi You, “Later I found out that she originally had a daughter who died at the age of three or four. From then on, whenever I went into the city and met her, she would always give me a bag of food.”
Jiu Hui stopped in her tracks and looked back at the proprietress who was enthusiastically greeting other customers. “She’s probably looking for the shadow of the child who never had a chance to grow up in me.”
The city was not large, and one could walk from one end to the other in an hour. Jiu Hui was beautiful and often came to the city to play, so many people on the street knew her. As she walked along, she greeted almost everyone, young and old.
“Didn’t we go to inquire about that snake who cheated humans out of their offerings?” Jin Ge saw Jiu Hui sit down at a hand-rolled noodle stall with Zhi You and couldn’t help but whisper, “Are you still in the mood to eat noodles?”
“Don’t worry, we’ll have news after we finish the noodles.” Jiu Hui waved to the boss. “Boss Wang, three bowls of hand-pulled noodles for us.”
“Oh my, is it Miss Jiu?!” The proprietress was overjoyed to see that the guest was Jiu Hui. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you.”
She brought over three small dishes and turned her head to yell at Boss Wang, “Why aren’t you starting a fire? Miss Jiu likes to eat our beef sauce noodles. Remember to add more.”
“Hey, hey, hey!” Boss Wang was always afraid of his wife. After hearing his wife’s words, he quickly washed his hands and made noodles.
“Auntie, I just got back. I heard there’s a Dragon God in the city?” It wasn’t mealtime, so there were no other customers. Jiu Hui pulled the proprietress down to sit and asked with a face full of curiosity, “Is this Dragon God effective?”
“Hey, this Dragon God is useless!” The proprietress waved her hand in disgust. “Yesterday, Old Liu’s family lost their cat that they had raised for three years. They went to burn incense for the Dragon God and even offered a whole bowl of pork head meat, but the cat still hasn’t come back.”
“You’re letting the Dragon God… do this?” Jin Ge thought he had misheard.
“We don’t have any droughts or floods here, so we can’t just support the Dragon God without asking him to do anything, right?” The proprietress looked at Jin Ge in confusion. “No one’s rice, flour, or meat comes for free. Even the Dragon God should be reasonable, don’t you think?”
“Yes, yes, yes.” Jiu Hui nodded in agreement.
“Anyway, I think this Dragon God is not very effective. If you are curious, after we finish our noodles, let’s go to the dilapidated temple at the end of West Street and take a look. The Dragon God’s statue is enshrined there.” The proprietress whispered, “Originally, someone wanted to place its statue in the side hall of the Temple of the God of Wealth, but I think it’s unlikely.”
“If you can’t find the cat, blame it for not being effective. Did you all get rich after worshiping the God of Wealth?” Jin Ge had been domineering in the seabed for many years, and couldn’t help but argue when he heard others talking.
“How can you compare the two?” The proprietress rolled her eyes at him. “The God of Wealth is so busy. What’s wrong if he doesn’t hear our prayers right away? But as long as we are devout enough, he will definitely bless us with wealth.”
Jin Ge: “…”
I never would have guessed that you humans have two faces.
“Uh-huh, uh-huh.” Jiu Hui continued to nod.
Jin Ge silently glanced at Jiu Hui. The others were despising the dragon god impersonated by the yao, but why was she nodding in agreement?
As a yao, don’t you feel ashamed?
“A real Dragon God must be very powerful.” When the hand-rolled noodles were served, Jiu Hui praised the noodles first, then continued to chat with the proprietress about the Dragon God: “I suspect that this so-called Dragon God is a little yao from the wilderness pretending to be it.”
“Yes, I suspected that too.” The proprietress slapped her thigh. “I felt something was wrong at the time. Our city is so poor, how could the real Dragon God possibly stay here?”
“If I had known, I wouldn’t have spent twenty coins on incense for the fake Dragon God.” The proprietress regretted it very much: “It’s really bad luck.”
When you thought the other party was a true Dragon God, you still only took out twenty copper coins…
Suddenly, Jin Ge felt that the sea serpent yao who had impersonated the Dragon God was not so hateful after all.
It was quite pitiful.
After finishing the hand-rolled noodles, Jiu Hui took Zhi You and Jin Ge to the west street. The west street was poor, and the houses became more dilapidated and shorter as they walked further in.
The three of them walked for a quarter of an hour before they found the dilapidated temple that the innkeeper had mentioned.
To call it a dilapidated temple was already an exaggeration. It was merely a precarious house that barely stood upright, supported by four pillars.
The air was filled with a faint scent of incense, but the smell was very faint, suggesting that there were not many pilgrims.
“This god is not effective at all. I gave it a piece of candy yesterday and made a wish that I would have a hundred pieces of candy when I woke up this morning, but nothing happened.” A child said to Jiu Hui, “Sister, don’t be fooled by it.”
“I understand, thank you. This place is remote and uninhabited. Little children shouldn’t come here to play alone.” Jiu Hui patted his head and handed him a piece of candy.
“Thank you, Sister.” The child happily ran away.
As soon as the child ran off, the sound of cursing could be heard from the dilapidated temple.
“What kind of people are these? They put in a penny’s worth of effort and expect a ten thousand taels of silver in return. If there was such a good thing, why would I pretend to be a Dragon God? I would have been kneeling in front of the statue long ago.”
“This damn cat ran faster than anything and even scratched my face.”
“Bah, bah, bah! What kind of low-quality incense is this? It’s choking your grandpa to death!”
Inside the temple, a rumbling sound was heard, as if something had been kicked over.
“Cough.” Jiu Hui glanced at the dilapidated temple that was on the verge of collapse and stood outside without entering. “Come out.”
The cursing inside the house suddenly stopped. It seemed that the creature couldn’t believe that a human could hear its curses. It carefully pushed the door open a crack, but the door, which had fallen into disrepair over the years, collapsed with a loud bang.
The ragged sea serpent yao, with bloodstains all over its face, just bumped into Jiu Hui and the other two.
“Young Master Jin Ge!” The sea serpent yao saw Jin Ge and his legs went soft, kneeling down. “This little one didn’t do any evil in the mortal world, I just wanted to come to the mortal world to accumulate some incense and virtue.”
This gangster clan still had some prestige and influence in the depths of the sea.
Seeing the sea serpent yao in such a sorry state, Jin Ge believed that it really hadn’t done anything evil, it was just that its experiences had been somewhat miserable.
Before Jin Ge could ask, the sea serpent yao began to cry and wail, recounting the experiences of the past few days in detail.
“Not only did they put my memorial tablet in a broken temple, but they also always ask me to catch cats and dogs. When the old lady lost her embroidery needle, she came to me to complain.” The sea serpent yao used its tattered sleeve to wipe away its tears. “I ran all night to catch that damn cat and got my head scratched and bleeding. And they still said I wasn’t effective!”
Jin Ge’s head hurt from its crying. The killer whale clan was known for its impatience, so he interrupted the sea serpent’s crying. “If you have something to say, tell it to Young Master Jiu of Shanghuang Village.”
“Jiu, Jiu… Young Master Jiu?!” The sea serpent yao’s eyes widened in terror. He collapsed into a heap, not forgetting to remove the tree branch tied to his head with trembling hands. “Young Master Jiu, this humble one knows his mistake.”
Jiu Hui: “…”
It looked quite pitiful.
“What are you, a little sea yao, doing in the city pretending to be a Dragon God?” Jiu Hui couldn’t help but laugh. “With your current cultivation level, if you were discovered by a cultivator from a major sect, they could slice you into snake segments and roast you with a single sword strike.”
“Young Master, this humble one… this humble one’s original form is poisonous, it cannot be eaten.” The deep-sea snake yao trembled even more violently.
“I’m not going to eat you, so why are you shaking?” Jiu Hui asked. “First, tell me why you came to the mortal realm disguised as the Dragon God?”
The reputation of the little tyrant of Shanghuang Village had spread far and wide. The sea serpent yao was afraid that she would really cut it into countless pieces, so it hurriedly said, “A few days ago, I was resting in the water in my original form when I met some cultivators from several sects.”
“Sect cultivators?” Jiu Hui’s eyebrows twitched slightly. “Which sect?”
“I don’t know, they didn’t mention it in their conversation. I only know that they called their sect master Immortal Venerable.” The snake yao recalled carefully. “They were dressed in luxurious clothes and held spirit swords in their hands. It seemed like they were looking for something from the yao clan.”
“Why didn’t you report such an important matter?!” Hearing this, Jin Ge was furious on the spot, wishing he could slap this snake to death.
The snake yao shrank its neck and moved closer to Jiu Hui. “I also heard them talking about merit and tribulations, and I was very scared. I wanted to accumulate some merit. If a tribulation comes, there’s always a difference between a yao with merit and one without.”
“My cultivation is low, so I can’t stay away from the sea for too long. I also don’t dare to go to a big city, so I can only come here to try my luck.” The snake yao curled up into a ball. “I have no intention of harming the human race.”
“You really didn’t mean to harm the human race, but you wanted to secretly accumulate merit and virtue, and you didn’t want other yaos to know.” Jin Ge saw through its little plan. “Do you really think that if others don’t do it, you can do it?”
Upon hearing this, the sea serpent yao wailed again, “I had no idea that the life of humans was so difficult!”
Jiu Hui: “…”
“If the calamity truly arrives, even if you have merit, it will be useless.” Zhi You said, “The mandate of heaven is just.”
Impartially merciless to every living being.
The snake yao looked up at Zhi You, wondering who this was.
“This is Young Master Zhi, whom Young Miss Jiu brought back.” Jin Ge was terrified of Zhi You, this lackey of Jiu Hui. His body was still aching at the moment.
“Young Master Zhi?” The snake demon was confused. Wasn’t it said that Young Master Jiu was forcibly abducting civilian men? Did he catch cats all night and miss some important news from the yao clan?
“You can continue to stay here and accumulate merit, but you can’t do it in the name of the Dragon God.” Jiu Hui tactfully said, “Dragons are born with immense strength and great supernatural powers…”
The snake yao cried and wailed, “I won’t stay any more. I’m going back to the bottom of the sea right now.”
Even if there really was some kind of tribulation, it would accept it. Anyway, it didn’t want to stay in the mortal world to catch cats and dogs and still be despised.
Jin Ge left with the crying snake yao. Jiu Hui turned her head to look at Zhi You. “In the cultivation world, there are only two people who can be called Immortal Venerables.”
“Bu Ting and Qiu Hua.” Zhi You said, “But it couldn’t be Qiu Hua.”
The two walked slowly along the bustling street as the sky gradually darkened.
The city’s evening was not as lively as Taolin City, but there were no fewer people who took the initiative to talk to Jiu Hui than in Taolin City.
“Miss Jiu Hui.” The two city guards had already changed out of their City Lord’s Mansion armor and were wearing coarse cloth short coats.
They seemed to have waited for a while at the city gate. When they saw Jiu Hui finally come out, they waved at her.
“Uncles.” Jiu Hui ran towards the two.
“Our yard has a few ripe pomegranates. Take them back and try them.” The two of them stuffed the pomegranates into Jiu Hui’s hands. “The pomegranates this month aren’t sweet enough. We’ll pick the sweetest ones for you in a few days.”
“Thank you, Uncles.” Jiu Hui did not refuse their kindness and accepted the pomegranates.
Seeing that she didn’t mind, the two middle-aged city guards were even happier: “It’s getting dark, you guys should hurry home. Remember to come to the city often to play.”
“Alright.” Jiu Hui nodded. After she and Zhi You walked out of the city gate, they saw the two uncles still standing in place, watching them.
“This city is small, but it’s full of warm-hearted people.” Jiu Hui peeled open a pomegranate, revealing the pale pink seeds inside. She handed half to Zhi You. “When we first met these two gentlemen, they were young lads in their early twenties.”
“I’m young. Every time I enter or leave the city, they would tirelessly remind me to pay attention to my safety.” Jiu Hui ate a few pomegranate seeds. Although they were not sweet enough, they already had a sweet taste.
Perhaps they were afraid that she would have already returned to Taolin City by the time the pomegranates ripened, so they picked the unripe pomegranates for her ahead of time.
There were too many ordinary people like them in this world, so she couldn’t go and take the things in the Ten Immortal Cauldrons, and she didn’t want to go either.
“The pomegranates are delicious.” Zhi You held half a pomegranate and boarded the flying boat with Jiu Hui. “When the pomegranates are ripe, we’ll come back.”
“Alright.” Jiu Hui sat down at the flying boat’s table. “But we have to make time to go to Tianhe City tomorrow.”
Zhi You took out a jade bowl from his storage ring, peeled the pomegranate seeds, and put them in the bowl before pushing it in front of Jiu Hui.
Looking at the crystal-clear pomegranate seeds, Jiu Hui touched the Moonlit Mirror at her waist and teased, “Zhi You, do you know that after today, you will become a lackey under the little tyrant in the eyes of other clans?”
“I’m willing.” Zhi You took the half pomegranate from Jiu Hui’s hand and continued to peel it with his jade-like hand. “I have no relatives, no home, and no way. After joining Wangshu Pavilion, I met you, and only then did I understand what joy and anger are.”
“They say I’m a pretty boy, they say I’m a lackey, whatever.” Zhi You looked at Jiu Hui. “In this world, there was originally nothing or no one I cared about, and no one cared about me.”
“You taught me happiness, anger, sadness, and joy. You taught me how to be a living person and gave me a home in Shanghuang Village.” Zhi You held out a handful of peeled pomegranate seeds to Jiu Hui. “I don’t care about anything else, whether it’s humans, demons, or yaos. As long as I have you, Little Senior Sister, that’s all that matters.”
Little Senior Sister?
Jiu Hui’s hand trembled, and the pomegranate seed on her fingertip fell.
Oh, Zhi You called her “Little Senior Sister” so sweetly.
Author’s Note
Zhi You: I don’t know tea talk. I’ll just be Little Senior Sister’s obedient little junior brother.
Bai Cha: Oh, what a treacherous man, actually using the “sincerity finishing move”.
Snake Yao: It’s really too hard to make a living in the mortal world!
Proprietress: I haven’t gotten rich because the God of Wealth is too busy. It’s not his fault! He’ll remember me sooner or later!