A Friendship-Breaking Fist—No Friendship Wanted
“Come to think of it, Elder Xie, is there really no way to cure these venomous insects once and for all?”
After taking the pill, the panda cub’s spirits had clearly improved. Before long, it was able to leave Shu Fu’s arms and get down on the ground, tumbling around with its brothers and sisters.
However, the panda’s movements were still somewhat sluggish. Like someone recovering from a serious illness, its limbs were limp and weak, and it could not help but stagger as it walked.
The sight made Shu Fu’s heart ache, and she could not resist asking.
Xie Fangnian shook his head. “To cure them completely, we must find the source of the infestation—in other words, the person who planted the venomous insects.”
“The person who planted them… Wasn’t it the Fengyi Sect?”
Xie Fangnian shook his head again. “Before their meteoric rise, the Fengyi Sect had always been obscure, nothing more than a mediocre little sect. They absolutely could not have possessed such potent venomous insects. Even this secret realm is likely not a treasure of their own, but something they obtained from elsewhere.”
He went on to speculate, “In other words, the Fengyi Sect is merely a pawn. There is someone else orchestrating everything from behind the scenes.”
“The mastermind…”
Shu Fu quickly caught on. “This person is skilled in using venomous insects, and even you and Mister couldn’t identify them. Could it be the legendary ‘Demon Lord Six Poisons’?”
“It’s ‘even I couldn’t identify them.’”
Xie Fangnian insisted on correcting her. “When it comes to identifying poisons and other toxins, I am the more proficient one. Tan Hua still cannot compare with me.”
“All right, all right. You’re very impressive.”
Shu Fu picked up another panda cub and held it in her arms. Taking the cub’s two front paws, she made it clap while offering him utterly insincere praise. “Now then, let’s go find Mister.”
Xie Fangnian said, “Since you have me, why do you still need to find him…”
Shu Fu replied, “Let me see… Mister should be in this direction. Children—I mean the tortoise and the pandas—everyone, get into the painting. We’re getting ready to leave. Elder Xie, would you like to come in too?”
Xie Fangnian said, “…Forget it. Let’s go.”
…
As it happened, by a twist of fate, the direction indicated by the Heartguard Scale was precisely the direction Jiang Xuesheng and Song Yayan had taken—the location of the so-called “most powerful spirit beast.”
Moreover, because they had landed in different places, Shu Fu was closer to their destination and even arrived there ahead of them.
“This is… a tree?”
After passing through the lush, verdant forest, they found a towering giant tree standing before them, its branches thick with leaves and its crown soaring into the clouds.
Standing at the base of the tree, Shu Fu could see only the canopy blotting out the sky and sun. Its crisscrossing branches formed a web overhead, while the dense emerald leaves pressed down like heavy dark clouds, blocking every prying gaze.
“Wait.”
She was just about to move closer when Xie Fangnian, who was perched atop her head, suddenly stopped her.
“Someone got here first. Come here—I’ll draw you an Invisibility Talisman.”
Shu Fu did as he asked, unable to keep the envy from her voice as she sighed, “Being a Nascent Soul powerhouse really is convenient. I wish I could learn this trick soon too.”
“You needn’t envy me. This is all I can do now, as well.”
Xie Fangnian let out a self-mocking chuckle. “In this crippled body, if there’s no one around to attend to me, I can’t even walk more than a few steps. If it were before, I…”
Shu Fu’s ears pricked up. “‘Before’? Elder Xie, isn’t this a problem you were born with?”
“It’s nothing.”
Xie Fangnian pressed her head down with a cat’s paw. “A young girl should mind her own business. Don’t go poking your nose into everything, or you may get yourself killed.”
As the girl and cat spoke, Shu Fu gradually drew closer to the great tree. The faint thread of human voices at its base also grew clearer.
Just as Xie Fangnian had said, there was indeed someone already beneath the tree—and it was none other than Zhong Yingcui, whom Shu Fu had encountered only moments ago.
But now, with no one else by Miss Zhong’s side, there was no need for her to maintain the façade of a refined young lady. Her true face was on full display as she harshly berated someone:
“What? You still refuse to climb up? It seems I’ve treated you too well these past few days, allowing you to grow bold and forget your place. You’re becoming more and more disrespectful to your master.”
Through the gaps between the trees, Shu Fu finally saw who she was scolding—
A massive black shape, with a short, thick neck and a round head and body. Wasn’t that the seal from earlier?
Even more astonishingly, the seal cowered on the ground. It slowly lifted its head and opened its mouth, pleading in a soft, delicate voice:
“Miss, please let me go. You ordered me to swim in the lake and trek through the woods, and I did everything you asked. But you want a seal to climb a tree? That’s asking too much of a seal…”
Before it could finish, Zhong Yingcui coldly took out a pill and slowly crushed it between her fingers.
“You brought this upon yourself.”
In an instant, the seal let out a brief, anguished howl. Its round body toppled onto the ground, flattening a broad swath of flowers and grass. Its foreflippers flailed helplessly in the air, sending dirt and fallen leaves flying in every direction.
This time, Shu Fu witnessed the fate of the panda family with her own eyes.
“Brother Yayan’s medicine really is effective. Well? Do you still dare to defy me?”
Only after seeing the seal lying on the ground, trembling in agony, did Zhong Yingcui approach with a smile. She raised one foot in its exquisitely embroidered shoe and lightly prodded the seal’s head with the tip.
“Don’t forget—you’re the spirit beast Brother Yayan gave me. We formed a contract. You must serve me faithfully. You’re mine until the day you die.”
“A spirit beast… not a thing. You can’t… treat us like this…”
The seal struggled to open its eyes, but its entire body had gone limp, and it no longer had the strength to rise.
“And I didn’t… willingly enter into a contract with you. The Song family placed spells on us… Every spirit beast captured by the Song family, all of them…”
“What spells? Brother Yayan said this is a ‘spiritual medicine’ given to him by an immortal. Just one pill is enough to make a demon beast obey without question.”
Zhong Yingcui smiled, her beautiful face carrying a hint of innocent cruelty.
“Besides, demon beasts are nothing more than livestock. Even if you can speak like humans, do you really expect us to treat you as one of our own?”
The seal’s breath was faint. “Humans and demons… are all living beings. There is… no difference between us…”
“Oh? Is that so?”
Zhong Yingcui could not be bothered to listen to this spiel about the equality of all living things. She pressed down with her foot, grinding the seal’s broad, round head into the mud and leaving a shallow depression.
“I don’t see it that way. Humans are humans, and beasts are beasts—how could they possibly be the same? Spirit beasts, spirit beasts—though they may have the word ‘spirit’ in their name, they’re still nothing more than wild animals that eat raw flesh and drink blood. If anyone is to blame, blame your own stupidity for falling into Brother Yayan’s hands.”
“We… weren’t stupid…”
The seal’s voice grew softer and softer, its breath ever weaker. In the end, it sounded like the murmur of a dream.
“By the sea, we smelled… a very strange scent of blood. We were all drawn there by that smell, and that was how we fell into the Song family’s trap…”
Zhong Yingcui did not care what a “beast” had to say. Resting one delicate, scallion-white finger against her chin, she pouted in disappointment.
“What, you’re already done for? Fine. I still have one left, anyway. Before Brother Yayan arrives, I can still have some fun.”
With a flick of her slender hand, she seemed to tear open an invisible pouch in the air. In the blink of an eye, she was holding a little seal pup, soft and round as a ball of glutinous rice, casually shaking it back and forth.
“Go on. Your father refused to climb a tree for my amusement. Now it’s your turn. You don’t want to become an orphan, do you?”
Little seal: “Eee-woo-woo-woo!”
“...”
Enough was enough.
Even if everyone else in the world could endure it, Shu Fu could not.
Xie Fangnian did not stop her. He merely silently removed the invisibility talisman from her.
The very next instant, Shu Fu shot out of the woods like an arrow loosed from its bow. Swift as a spark, she crossed the distance in the blink of an eye and bore down on Zhong Yingcui.
“Who—?!”
Shu Fu did not even have time to draw her sword.
Ever since she had discovered that the panda had been afflicted by a parasite, the fury accumulating in her heart bit by bit erupted the instant she witnessed the parasite’s attack firsthand. Like a prairie fire beyond all restraint, it surged through every limb and vein before gathering in her clenched fist.
At the end of the day—
“People who abuse animals deserve to die, you piece of trash!!!!”
Miss Zhong was nineteen years old. Like Song Yayan, she had originally been a modest young lady from an ordinary family and an unremarkable sect. Then, overnight, she had flown up to perch on a high branch and become a phoenix. Yet she had never shed the habits of a sparrow. In terms of vision, she was not even a match for the ambitious Fang Wanqing.
Pampered and indulged since childhood, cherished in the palms of her family’s and lover’s hands, she had always believed the world was round above and square below—and that she herself stood at the very center of it all. The entire world ought to revolve around her, presenting the stars and moon before her feet.
And so, this was the first time in her life that someone had landed a solid punch squarely on her face.
A genuine face-smashing punch, with no friendship involved.
Crack.
In that moment, Shu Fu clearly heard the sound of a cheekbone shattering.
Crisp and resounding. Deeply satisfying.
A Golden Core cultivator’s punch was no trifling matter. Carrying the force of a thousand catties, it effortlessly produced the kind of effect one would expect in a hot-blooded manga.
In an instant, Miss Zhong’s delicate body flew backward like a butterfly. The blast of air she kicked up gouged a furrow through the forest, and she crashed through several massive trees thick enough to require two people to encircle them before slamming heavily into a jutting boulder.
“Ugh—cough...!!”
Then, like a character straight out of a comic book, Miss Zhong obligingly spat out a mouthful of blood, her head lolling to one side as her entire body went limp and crumpled to the ground.
A wounded maiden, a beauty coughing blood—if the person involved had been a hero, the scene might have been heartbreakingly poignant, enough to inspire pity in anyone who saw it.
Unfortunately, Zhong Yingcui was no good person, and Shu Fu, who had beaten her, was hardly a kindhearted soul either.
Thus, mixed in with Miss Zhong’s mouthful of blood were several broken, bloodstained teeth, thoroughly ruining the aesthetic appeal.
“Ah, that feels much better.”
As Shu Fu landed, she swept out an arm and caught the snow-white, plump little seal in the crook of her elbow. Then she took out the pills she had been clutching in her palm and fed one to each of the two seals, large and small.
“Swallow these. You’ll be fine.”
The larger seal still had a sliver of consciousness left. Sensing vaguely that the newcomer meant them no harm, it summoned the last of its strength to beg for help.
“The contract… You have to break the contract before we can regain our freedom. Please, save us…”
“Consider it done.”
Shu Fu nodded, pivoted, and darted over to Zhong Yingcui. Without the slightest courtesy, she grabbed a fistful of her bangs and said, “Did you hear that? The seal says he wants to break the contract. He doesn’t want to follow you anymore.”
“You… are…”
Half of Zhong Yingcui’s face was swollen high, and one eye was nearly swollen shut, leaving only a narrow slit through which a mixture of terror and venom glimmered.
“You were the one on the lake just now… Shu Daqiang… You weren’t… eaten by the water snake…”
“‘Water snake’?”
Shu Fu frowned. “Don’t tell me that was your doing too? Seriously, girl, why would you send a snake after me for no reason?”
Just then, an absurd thought flashed through her mind. Unable to believe it, she blurted out, “Could it be because I refused to travel with you and embarrassed you?”
Zhong Yingcui let out a muffled grunt, which amounted to an admission.
“…”
The young lady’s self-centeredness truly opened Shu Fu’s eyes.
She asked earnestly, “How old are you, exactly? Have you ever gone to school? What sort of medicine are you taking? What did the doctor say?”
“The doctor said he doesn’t treat beasts. He told us to take it home as soon as possible and burn it.”
Xie Fangnian’s voice was icy.
“I…”
Zhong Yingcui refused to admit defeat until she saw the coffin. She stubbornly tilted up her face, even though her pretty features had already swollen into the shape of a pig’s head.
“I will never break the contract. Don’t think you can force me. You dare treat me like this, and you even want to steal my spirit pets? Just wait until Brother Yayan arrives—”
Shu Fu smiled sweetly. “Once he gets here, I’ll beat him up too. Then I’ll put the two of you pig-heads together. What a festive pair you’ll make.”
Zhong Yingcui: “…”
“I’m telling you, Miss Zhong, you should understand that there’s no such thing as ‘never’ in this world.”
Shu Fu bent down, took one of Zhong Yingcui’s limp, delicate hands, and toyed with the girl’s slender, fair fingers. Spreading her lips into a sinister, chilling grin, she said, “If there is, it only means you haven’t suffered enough. Once you’ve suffered a little more, ‘never’ will naturally become ‘possible.’”
Suddenly, she heard the wind shriek beside her ear. A vast, murky shadow descended from overhead, as though some enormous creature had torn through the air and come hurtling toward them.
“You really think I only have two spirit pets?
Zhong Yingcui had been plotting this reversal for quite some time. Believing that the tide had finally turned, she gave a smug, mocking laugh. “This tiger with the white forehead and glaring eyes was given to me by Brother Yayan last year. One swipe of its paw is enough to kill you—”
Xie Fangnian: “Meow.”
Thud!
And then, in an instant, the legendary white tiger knelt before the little cat.
Zhong Yingcui: “……”
Shu Fu: “……”
Shu Fu: “Well, you might as well give me this white tiger too. I don’t mind having one more.”
……
A quarter of an hour later.
“Thinking about it carefully, what I just did really does make me look like a bandit who abducts young ladies.”
After robbing Miss Zhong of all her spirit beasts, Shu Fu climbed nimbly up the giant tree, a scroll tucked against her chest—one containing enough creatures to fill an entire zoo—and a white cat perched atop her head.
“To be honest, that is exactly what happened,” Xie Fangnian said bluntly. “But you did well.”
“Thanks. You weren’t bad yourself.”
Shu Fu pushed aside the paw dangling in front of her face. Feeling somewhat emboldened, she began repeating her usual refrain. “Elder Xie, are you really sure you don’t want to switch sides? Anything Lingxiao City can offer you, the Jiuhua Sect may not be unable to offer as well. Sir may be a bit of a dog, but he’s a good man. He won’t ostracize you.”
As long as you don’t break up the pairing.
Xie Fangnian fell silent for a moment, seeming somewhat hesitant, but in the end he answered quietly, “Unfortunately, I’m afraid that may be rather difficult.”
“I once said, ‘Ling Shanhai has shown me kindness.’ That wasn’t entirely accurate. More precisely, he saved my life. At the same time, he holds my life in the palm of his hand and can take it back whenever he wishes.”
“Little friend, the reason Sect Master Ling ‘trusts’ me is because he knows that I still have unfinished business. No matter what happens, I cannot die here. Apart from him and me, no third person knew this…… though now, there is one.”
“……”
Shu Fu unconsciously slowed her steps.
Partly because of Xie Fangnian’s sudden confession, and partly because, without realizing it, they had already reached the treetop high above the clouds.
Before them stood a delicate little treehouse. A ward had been placed at its entrance, and not a sound came from within. It resembled a fruit waiting quietly to be plucked.
The faint trace of self-pity in Xie Fangnian’s expression also vanished the instant he saw the treehouse, reduced to nothing more than trivial grievances unworthy of mention.
“This presence… could it be……”
……
At the same time, Song Yayan and “Feng Xueyan,” who had come from another direction, finally arrived at the foot of the tree—only to run straight into Miss Zhong, whose hair was disheveled, face battered beyond recognition, and cheeks streaming with tears and snot.
Zhong Yingcui recognized Jiang Xuesheng’s outfit. She immediately let out a terrified shriek. “Brother Yayan, why are you with her?! Do you know what her husband did to me…… to me……”
“Yingcui, what happened to you?”
The moment Song Yayan saw his fiancée looking like a pig’s head, he was naturally heartbroken. He hurriedly put an arm around her and tried to soothe her. “Don’t panic. Take your time and tell me. I’ll definitely get justice for you. What did Madam Shu’s husband do to you?”
“I……”
Zhong Yingcui started to speak, then stopped herself. With outsiders present, she could hardly say outright, “I was abusing an animal and got beaten up by a passing animal-rights activist.”
So she changed tack. Covering her eyes, swollen like peaches, with her sleeve, she burst into sobs.
“Shu Daqiang… he… he tried to force himself on me! I would rather die than submit, and he flew into a rage and beat me into this state. Brother Yayan, you must seek justice for me!”
“What?!”
Song Yayan was utterly shocked, indignation written across his face. “Shu Daqiang looks every inch a gentleman. Who would have thought he was all appearance and no substance—a lecherous beast in human skin?!”
Jiang Xuesheng: “...Pfft.”
“Madam Shu, what are you laughing at?”
Song Yayan looked at her in confusion. “Take my advice: Shu Daqiang is absolutely not a suitable match. You should leave him as soon as—”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Jiang Xuesheng shook her head, doing her utmost to suppress the laughter threatening to escape her throat. “It’s simply the first time I’ve heard such a slander. It’s truly quite novel.”
