"Two dads meet, and one must be the son."
Shu Fu and Qi Yexin stared at each other, both brimming with paternal affection, each convinced the other was a helpless little waif. In the end, Shu Fu obediently took a step back, accepting the silent, mountain-like care of her senior brother.
"I’ve just joined the Jiuhua Sect. I’ll be counting on your guidance, Senior Brother."
"Guidance is unnecessary," Qi Yexin replied coolly. "The path of cultivation is treacherous. Relying on others is inferior to relying on oneself."
Shu Fu: "Oh."
Some people say things like that, but secretly stay up all night writing study guides.
"Like the wind slipping unseen into the night, like rain nourishing all things in silence."
The more Shu Fu observed, the more she felt the name "Qi Yexin" suited him perfectly.
"The nine peaks are connected by teleportation arrays."
Qi Yexin led her to a small stream and pointed at an inconspicuous, person-sized circle of light. "This is the teleportation array to Yaoguang Peak."
"Uh… what about that one over there?"
Shu Fu pointed to the opposite bank of the stream. There, a massive array the size of a basketball court sprawled imposingly, flashing in alternating hues of red, cyan, yellow, white, and purple—so dazzling it nearly blinded her titanium-alloy eyes.
"..."
Qi Yexin’s expression stiffened, though his tone remained as steady as an ancient well without ripples. "That leads to Tianquan Peak. Elder Huaigu excels in alchemy and artifact forging, and his achievements are… flamboyantly displayed."
Shu Fu understood: a nouveau riche.
Since she’d cross paths with him eventually anyway, she didn’t press further and followed Qi Yexin into the teleportation array. A blink later, the scenery before her shifted in an instant.
No longer did she see the elegant bamboo grove or snow-white pear blossoms. Instead—
A vast, golden sea of rapeseed flowers stretched endlessly before her.
Qi Yexin: "We’ve arrived. This is the place."
Shu Fu: "..."
Was Yaoguang Peak’s aesthetic… this rustic?
Not far away, a young disciple sat atop a blue ox, playing a cheerful tune on a bamboo flute as he ambled toward them.
Shu Fu squinted. The disciple had a round, peculiar face—his scruffy hair was reddish-brown, crowned by a pair of snow-white pointed ears, with two white eyebrow-like markings and a large, fluffy tail striped in alternating rings of light and dark fur.
Clearly, he wasn’t human but a young demonic cultivator who hadn’t fully mastered human form.
"That’s a red panda," Qi Yexin explained succinctly. "On Yaoguang Peak, demonic disciples like him are everywhere. Don’t be surprised."
Shu Fu: "R-red panda?"
Wait, wasn’t that just a lesser panda?
What kind of creatures was Jiang Xuesheng raising?!
Dumbfounded, Shu Fu watched as the red panda disciple rode his ox up to them and stopped.
The red panda tilted his head, his round face scrunching in confusion as he scratched his ear with a paw.
"Senior Brother Qi, what brings you here?"
"Where is Zhao Yun?"
Qi Yexin skipped the pleasantries and cut straight to the point. "With Master Tanhua away, she should be in charge here."
"Oh, Second Senior Sister? She’s not here."
The red panda swayed his tail, ears twitching. "Third Senior Brother is in seclusion, and Second Senior Sister got bored alone. She said she was going home and left yesterday."
"Home?"
Qi Yexin frowned. "Her hometown… never mind. Zhao Yun knows her limits. Nothing will go wrong."
"..."
Shu Fu was lost.
She knew she was ranked fourth on Yaoguang Peak, with a "Second Senior Sister" and "Third Senior Brother" above her. But right now, both seemed to be… offline.
From Qi Yexin’s tone, they clearly had their own stories—which made sense. Ordinary people wouldn’t make it into Jiang Xuesheng’s circle.
Second Senior Sister’s come-and-go attitude was as free-spirited as their master’s.
Fortunately, even without its usual overseers, Yaoguang Peak’s hospitality remained consistent. Upon hearing Shu Fu was a new disciple, the red panda eagerly offered to guide her and even tried to invite her onto the ox.
Shu Fu was deeply moved—and then politely declined.
She was much heavier than a red panda. The poor ox didn’t deserve that.
"Fourth Sister, is this your first time at Jiuhua Sect? The other peaks build their residences on the mountaintops, but we’re different—we live in the valley of Yaoguang Peak."
The red panda rode ahead on his ox, leisurely leading them through the golden rapeseed fields while proudly pointing out the sights. "Fourth Sister, isn’t this place great? Just ahead is a gorge—super spacious! All the senior brothers and sisters live there."
"Fourth… Sister?"
Shu Fu was baffled by the address.
"Yep!"
The red panda nodded vigorously. "You’re the Peak Master’s personal disciple, so we all call you ‘Senior Sister.’ But ‘Fourth Senior Sister’ is a mouthful, so I’ll just say ‘Fourth Sister’!"
Shu Fu: "Sure."
At least it wasn’t "Fourth Lord," or she’d feel like she was about to start a succession war.
The so-called "gorge" wasn’t far—just past the rapeseed sea and through a winding mountain path. Following the ox, Shu Fu soon heard the murmur of flowing water as the narrow slit of sky above gradually widened. In moments, the scenery abruptly opened up, revealing a breathtaking, vibrant paradise.
For some reason, the moment she stepped into the gorge, her brain began reciting her middle-school literature text: Peach Blossom Spring.
"At first, it was extremely narrow, barely wide enough for a person. After a few dozen steps, it suddenly opened into brightness. The land was flat and vast, with tidy houses, fertile fields, beautiful ponds, and mulberry and bamboo groves..."
The sight before Shu Fu matched the description eerily well.
The gorge appeared cramped from the outside, but inside, it was a hidden world—spacious beyond belief, like a miniature universe or an earthly paradise.
At its heart lay a deep, icy lake, exuding a bone-chilling aura like a thousand-year-old block of dark jade. Around it stood an eclectic assortment of dwellings:
A simple log cabin, an elegant bamboo pavilion, a refined white-walled house with black tiles, a cave dwelling carved into the mountain, an igloo and snow hut conjured by who-knows-what magic, a treehouse nestled in ancient branches, a hammock strung between vines—and, most extravagant of all, a delicate painted boat floating on the lake, its bow adorned with a shimmering emerald lantern like a fleeting, dreamlike vision.
"..."
As Shu Fu stood mesmerized, a melodious strain of music drifted toward her—familiar and warm, reminiscent of Jiang Xuesheng’s zither and Liu Ruyi’s konghou.
"Ah! The senior brothers and sisters are playing music!"
The red panda perked up, eyes sparkling. "The Peak Master is a music cultivator, so most of us follow his example and study musical arts." He scratched his head sheepishly. "My flute skills… still have a long way to go."
Regrettably, the harmonious ensemble lasted only a moment before devolving into a cacophony of clashing melodies—each player doing their own thing.
For a moment, the valley echoed with the sounds of various musical instruments rising and falling, a cacophony of melodies blending together—southern tunes, northern notes—creating a lively and bustling atmosphere.
Shu Fu tilted her head slightly to listen and could distinguish at least a dozen different instruments: the qin, zheng, pipa, flute, xiao, sheng, erhu, yangqin, waist drum, large drum, and hulusi.
But the most striking among them was undoubtedly the suona’s rendition of Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix—lively, bright, and lingering in the air, leaving her utterly stunned, speechless for a long while.
Shu Fu: “This… is cultivation?”
The little red panda: “Yes.”
Shu Fu: “...”
She must have transmigrated into a fake xianxia novel.
Even if she was cultivating a fake immortal path, life still had to go on.
As Jiang Xuesheng’s designated personal disciple, Shu Fu, who also appeared approachable, quickly received a warm welcome from the various demons, spirits, and oddities in the valley.
In less than half a day, aside from the bamboo flute-playing red panda and the giant blue ox carrying a panda on its back, she also met:
- A suona-playing parrot, who was said to have long admired Liu Ruyi. Because the latter was a white-feathered phoenix, the parrot had mastered an otherworldly version of Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix and used it to serenade Liu Ruyi year-round.
- A fox who played the erhu, hailing from distant Qingqiu. Fond of melancholy artistry, it often gazed at the sky at a 45-degree angle, sighing, “A song that breaks the heart—where in the world can I find a kindred spirit?”
- And a group of wild horses, camels, and big-tailed sheep from the northwest, skilled in playing the dombra.
“...”
Shu Fu was at a loss for words. She thought the Yaoguang Peak was simply too badass.
This lineup—this destructive power, both physically and psychologically—was practically equivalent to a zombie army.
On the battlefield, they wouldn’t even need to strike. Just one beat of the drum, one pull of the erhu, one blast of the suona, and half the enemy would be scared to death.
During casual conversation, she tried asking about the origins of the “Second Senior Sister” and “Third Senior Brother.”
Considering Liu Ruyi’s background, she assumed these two were also likely divine beasts—perhaps a Qinglong, Zhuque, Qilin, or Pixiu.
To her surprise, everyone flatly denied her guess.
“Master is indeed searching for divine beasts, especially the legendary Five Phoenixes. The eldest senior brother is a Hong (swan goose). But ancient bloodlines are dwindling—the Fenghuang, Hong, and Yue Zhu are nearly extinct, the Qingluan live in seclusion, and the Yuan Chu descendants are all concentrated in Lingxiao City. Master has been searching tirelessly,” the little red panda explained.
“However, the second senior sister and third senior brother have nothing to do with that. They’re just ordinary demons Master brought back. The second senior sister is pure-blooded, and the third senior brother is a half-demon.”
Shu Fu didn’t believe a single word: “Ordinary? How exactly are they ordinary?”
“They don’t have ancient bloodlines,” the little red panda said earnestly. “For example, the third senior brother is a descendant of the merfolk from the East Sea—his mother was a mermaid, and his father was human. Compared to the eldest senior brother, that’s pretty ordinary.”
“...”
Shu Fu’s eyebrow twitched.
That was already plenty special, wasn’t it?
A half-demon merman—a lovesick mermaid who fell for a human.
Even if the third senior brother’s mother couldn’t speak, walked on knife-like pain with every step, and eventually dissolved into sea foam under the sunlight, Shu Fu wouldn’t be surprised.
“Then, what about the second senior sister? Which clan is she from?” Shu Fu pressed.
“Ah, the second senior sister—everyone calls her Princess Zhao Yun,” the little red panda said, cupping its cheeks and swaying its big tail, its dark, round eyes sparkling with admiration. “She’s so beautiful! Her skin is as white as snow, her lips as red as vermilion fruit, her hair as black as ink… Ah, anyway, she’s just stunning! No one could dislike the second senior sister!”
Shu Fu thought the description sounded oddly familiar. If the third senior brother was a mermaid, the second senior sister sounded like a Chinese version of Snow White.
Before she could voice her thoughts, the little red panda continued:
“The second senior sister comes from a clan called the Jade Hare of the Divine Tree. It suits her perfectly—if there really is a jade rabbit on the moon, it must look just like her.”
“What?!”
Shu Fu’s smile froze on her face.
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