“Junior Brother Wang!” Chen Zhi shouted.
He did not say anything more, merely remarked, “If a cultivator cannot even calm his mind, what hope is there of cultivating?”
What did it mean to cultivate?
Chen Zhi remembered something his master had told him when he first joined the sect.
“Cultivation is the cultivation of the heart. Amid raging waves, thunderous storms, and driving wind and rain, your heart may drift and waver, wandering aimlessly, until it finally finds its place—and thereafter remains as immovable as a rock.”
His master had also said, “If nothing ever moves you and nothing ever surprises you, calming your mind for a moment is easy enough. But over time, you will fall into emptiness and chaos.”
Junior Brother Wang disliked noisy surroundings and wanted a quiet place. If that was the case, he might as well never come down the mountain. He could sit in his cave dwelling forever and ever.
“Why did you come down the mountain?” Seeing that he was still unconvinced, Chen Zhi asked another question.
Wang Hezheng pressed his lips tightly together. Perhaps he had thought of something, because he finally began to accept the point little by little. His eyes closed, and his mind gradually settled.
“The rules of the Ziyang Sect are wonderful!” A delighted voice, carried over on a wave of fragrance, rang out. “Senior Brother offers guidance and points out the way, yet doesn’t even receive a word of thanks. Such a wonderfully unrestrained sect—I like it!”
“...” Wang Hezheng.
The tide in his heart, which had only just calmed, suddenly rose again with a whoosh.
He abruptly opened his eyes and glared fiercely at Nangong Yu. “Mortal, are you seeking death?”
“My roast chicken’s fragrance helped you cultivate, and you still don’t thank me?” Nangong Yu’s lips curved upward, revealing two faint dimples. “The Ziyang Sect is so generous to its disciples! I like it even more now!”
Her face filled with longing. “I’m definitely going to join the Ziyang Sect!”
Wang Hezheng’s face turned blue, then red. His chest heaved violently as the ball of spiritual power in his hand grew increasingly fierce.
“Our brotherly bond is deep. We’re practically one and the same, so there’s no need for thanks.” Chen Zhi spoke calmly. His gaze toward Nangong Yu grew colder. “As for the fragrance of your food, my junior brother has already shown mercy by not pursuing your offense of disturbing him.”
He had a refined and handsome appearance, and he spoke neither hurriedly nor slowly. Yet the meaning behind his words was anything but polite.
That was how NPCs were.
To players, even breathing was apparently a mistake.
Nangong Yu snorted and equipped a title.
[What Are You Looking At? Never Seen Anyone Scavenge Before?]: When equipped, any being that looks at you has a certain chance of developing needle eyes.
(Note: If the being has no eyes, a random organ will be selected instead.)
She turned the barbecue rack over. Unable to resist the enticing aroma, she picked up a knife and sliced off a piece of rabbit meat, its skin roasted to a golden brown.
“Mmm~”
Delicious.
How could it be this delicious?
The sound of her swallowing, the noisy “nom nom” of her eating, and her satisfied little hums of “mm-hmm, mm-hmm” never stopped.
No matter how hard Wang Hezheng tried to calm his mind, he could not return to his previous state.
His head was filled with thoughts of the mortal girl’s insolence and the things she had said.
“Ah—!”
Suddenly, a scream came from nearby, startling Chen Zhi. He immediately drew his sword and sprang to his feet.
“What happened?!”
“Junior Brother Wang? What’s wrong?” He flew to Wang Hezheng’s side and asked in a low voice.
Wang Hezheng was a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Ordinary scoundrels had no chance of injuring him, especially with a Golden Core cultivator like Chen Zhi beside him.
Chen Zhi instantly grew wary. He released his divine sense, but detected nothing amiss.
“My eyes!” Wang Hezheng kept his eyes tightly shut, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face. He pointed in Nangong Yu’s direction with one hand. “Senior Brother! She isn’t an ordinary mortal! Capture her quickly!”
Chen Zhi naturally trusted his fellow disciple. Although he still had no idea what had happened, he immediately turned around and raised his hand, preparing to trap Nangong Yu.
“Ah—!”
The same scream came from Chen Zhi’s own mouth.
The instant he looked over, a sudden pain shot through both his eyes. For no apparent reason, it felt as though needles were stabbing into them, and tears began to flow uncontrollably.
A cultivator did not need his eyes to see. Even amid the excruciating pain, Chen Zhi released his divine sense and locked firmly onto Nangong Yu.
The mortal girl was still eating her roast meat with loud, happy bites. The roast chicken was ready now, and she tore off a fragrant, dripping chicken leg and began eating it with relish, without even lifting her head.
Unable to determine what sort of trick the girl was using, Chen Zhi grew even more cautious. He swiftly threw out a Binding Immortal Rope, sending it toward the girl.
This was merely a test. Among the Heaven, Earth, Mystic, and Yellow grades, the Binding Immortal Rope was a top-grade Yellow-rank spiritual treasure. It could not restrain a truly powerful figure.
And yet the rope rapidly bound the girl.
“What are you doing?” Nangong Yu had been eating perfectly happily when she suddenly found herself unable to move. She lifted her eyes. “Let me go.”
Seeing that she had been bound, Chen Zhi first felt relieved. Then doubt arose within him, followed by even deeper vigilance.
He and Junior Brother Wang had merely looked at her, yet their eyes had immediately been struck by unbearable pain, leaving them barely able to open them.
How could someone like that be restrained by a Yellow-rank spiritual treasure?
He said, “Who are you? Why are you pretending to be a mortal and trying to infiltrate my Ziyang Sect? What exactly are your intentions?”
Nearby, Wang Hezheng had already taken a Rejuvenation Pill, and the pain in his eyes had eased somewhat.
He tried to open them, but they still hurt. Tears continued to flow against his will, leaving him looking both miserable and humiliated.
“I told you she was no good!”
The moment he saw her—and those restless, darting eyes—Wang Hezheng had felt an instinctive dislike for her. Unfortunately, no one had listened to him!
“Who’s no good? How can the immortals of the Ziyang Sect falsely accuse people like this?” Nangong Yu’s chicken leg was still giving off a rich aroma. Worried that it might grow cold, she began shouting, “Help!”
“Someone help! The immortals of the Ziyang Sect are bullying me!”
The cultivators waiting in line at the city gates heard her cries without exception.
Everyone had noticed the sign advertising recruitment for the Ziyang Sect long ago. And the aroma of the roast meat was even more overbearing, escaping no one’s notice.
“What’s going on?” Some cultivators near the back of the line saw how long the queue was and simply flew away from it to approach the recruitment area.
Those who were almost at the front hesitated. In the end, they could not bear to give up their hard-earned places and turned around to enter the city instead.
One after another, seven or eight cultivators descended to the ground.
“Senior Brother, why have you tied up this mortal?” someone asked Chen Zhi.
This was a disciple of the Ziyang Sect. When they were outside, everyone addressed him as Senior Brother.
“Did this mortal poison the pot, intending to murder the two Senior Brothers?”
“Eh? What happened to this Senior Sister?”
“Did this mortal harm Senior Sister?! If so, she should be killed!”
Chen Zhi and Wang Hezheng both fell silent for a moment.
“I didn’t!” Nangong Yu cried out in protest during the silence. “That older sister drank my soup and broke through.”
“These two immortals suddenly tied me up and started shouting about killing me.”
“Help!”
Several more cultivators arrived. More than a dozen people now surrounded the area.
“This person possesses an evil technique,” Chen Zhi said. “Junior Brother Wang and I merely looked at her, yet our eyes were pierced by intense pain.”
All the cultivators turned their gazes toward Nangong Yu.
The breeze continued to blow peacefully.
Nothing happened.
Not a single person was attacked, much less screamed in agony.
“This...” Everyone fell into thoughtful silence.
Wang Hezheng was furious. His eyes red and swollen, he drew his sword and flew forward.
“Let her take one of my strikes. Then we’ll know whether she’s truly a mortal or not!”
If she caught the sword, then her identity would obviously be unusual.
If she failed to catch it and died, he could always lower his head and apologize. At worst, he would bury her himself.
Cultivators had always acted this way. They valued a clear mind and a smooth flow of thoughts—if they thought of doing something, they did it, all to strengthen their Dao hearts.
Convinced that Nangong Yu had used some underhanded trick, he disregarded everything else and thrust his sword toward her shoulder.
“Junior Brother Wang, stop!”
At this critical moment, Xie Jinyue came to her senses. She had no time to worry about the wild-vegetable-and-egg soup in her hands and swiftly flew forward, drawing her sword to block the attack.
Clang—
The two sword edges collided, ringing like metal.
Nangong Yu quietly removed her title.
One malicious NPC who was about to attack, and a whole group of neutral NPCs watching from the sidelines.
None of them were friendly NPCs. In that case, she might as well blow them all up.
But Xie Jinyue had suddenly awakened, making Nangong Yu hesitate. She removed the title with its area-of-effect attack.
She would wait and see.
“What are you doing?” Wang Hezheng shouted angrily when his attack was blocked.
Xie Jinyue had been deep in meditation just now and truly had no idea what had happened. “I should be asking you that. Why did you suddenly attack Little Yu?”
Since they had cooked the soup together, Xie Jinyue naturally knew Nangong Yu’s name.
“She isn’t an ordinary mortal! She’s an evil cultivator!” Wang Hezheng yelled.
Xie Jinyue let out a derisive laugh. “She’s surrounded by the aura of an ordinary mortal, and you claim she’s an evil cultivator? Wang Hezheng, if you’re going to make excuses, at least come up with one that sounds plausible!”
She suspected that Wang Hezheng had wanted to drink the soup, but Little Yu had refused, and he had lost his temper out of embarrassment.
“You can’t kill her!” Xie Jinyue said.
He was a cultivator, yet he had attacked a mortal. What kind of behavior was that?
Senior Brother Chen had not stopped him either. And a whole group of cultivators had simply stood by and watched as Little Yu was about to be killed.
She was merely a mortal girl. If there was something wrong, they could simply ask her about it. Xie Jinyue could not stand people who resorted to shouting about killing at the slightest provocation.
“You’ve been bewitched by her!” Wang Hezheng roared. “Xie Jinyue, wake up! You and I are fellow disciples!”
That mortal was an outsider!
Xie Jinyue found herself with even less to say to him. Never mind that Little Yu’s soup had helped her break through, creating a bond between them—even if it had been a complete stranger being unjustly killed, she could not have stood by and done nothing.
The watching cultivators began whispering among themselves.
“Something’s not right.”
“She really does seem to be an ordinary mortal.”
“Could it be that those two have some grudge against the female cultivator surnamed Xie? She broke through, and the other two were unhappy about it, so they’re taking their anger out on a mortal?”
“Hard to say.”
“...Wait. Don’t you think she looks like someone?”
Some time ago, a female evil cultivator had appeared at the city gates, disguised as a mortal girl. She had stripped a rogue cultivator naked, searched all his magical treasures, shaved his hair clean off, twisted it into hemp rope, and even drawn a bottle of his blood. No one knew what she intended to use it for.
She had clearly looked like an ordinary mortal, yet her methods had been those of a cultivator.
“Now that you mention it...”
“Sixteen or seventeen years old, dimples, a sweet voice...”
“Could it really be?”
The crowd’s eyes gradually lit up, and their blood began to race. If she truly was that female demoness, then there would be quite a show today!
After all, these were disciples of the Ziyang Sect!
They were high and mighty, looking down on everyone. Who wouldn’t want to see them suffer a fall?
“Enough!” On the other side, Chen Zhi saw that his junior brother and junior sister were fighting fiercely and shouted, “Both of you, get down here!”
Whether it was Xie Jinyue or Wang Hezheng, both still obeyed him.
They stopped and landed on the ground.
“Senior Brother, she’s been bewitched by that evil cultivator!” Wang Hezheng said, furious, pointing at Xie Jinyue.
Xie Jinyue, meanwhile, stepped forward and removed the Binding Immortal Rope from Nangong Yu.
