Nangong Yu thought of the breathtaking young man she had seen in the secret chamber. He was practically a god of beauty descended to the mortal world, his robes billowing around him, his figure shrouded in a hazy white glow, as if he came with an ultra-powerful beauty filter.
Whenever she faced him, she often found herself softening toward him and feeling her heart stir, emotions she could never seem to control.
Ruo Zhu had said the same thing: spend enough time with him, and he would bewitch you until you were willing to risk life and limb for him.
“Go to bed.” Her senior sister herded Nangong Yu upstairs.
She was still just a child, a new disciple with not a shred of cultivation. None of this had anything to do with her, so they sent her upstairs to sleep.
The room she had originally been staying in had been given up. She was now staying in a room booked by the Ziyang Sect, free of charge.
Nangong Yu slept wonderfully.
“When are we going back to the sect?” she asked her senior sister over breakfast the next morning.
“Not for a while yet,” her senior sister replied. “The Lin family case hasn’t been solved, and the disciple recruitment will take another two or three months.”
“That long?” Nangong Yu asked in surprise.
Her senior sister found her utterly adorable and gently tapped the tip of her nose. “Little Yu, you need to learn to adjust. After becoming a cultivator, two or three months is merely a fleeting moment. A cultivator’s life is a long one.”
For some elders, Dao Lords, and ancestors, entering seclusion for a thousand years without emerging was perfectly normal.
“Oh.” Nangong Yu nodded.
She was beautiful and had a quick wit that some of the other junior sisters lacked. Ling Xue liked her very much and thought she resembled a little rabbit she had once raised. She patiently explained, “Whenever we recruit disciples, the nearby mortal nations, cities, towns, and villages will send their children here.”
“For those living farther away, the journey alone may take one or two months.”
That was why it took so long.
Nangong Yu remembered something and asked, “Senior Sister, I saw Senior Brother Chen and the others release a lot of paper cranes before.”
Ling Xue nodded. “Some of those paper cranes flew to the capitals, city lords, and county offices. Others flew into the countryside.”
Nangong Yu did some calculations. The airship had taken three or four days to travel from Xiaoyan Village to Luoxia City.
The airship traveled all day without stopping. It moved faster during the day, while at night it slowed down somewhat to allow her to sleep. Even so, its average speed had still been around two hundred kilometers per hour.
How long would it take to cover more than ten thousand kilometers entirely on foot?
A year.
The people of Xiaoyan Village had no chance of reaching Luoxia City to take part in the recruitment. Nangong Yu asked, “Senior Sister, I heard the elders in the village say that every dozen years or so, disciples from our sect come to recruit disciples.”
Ling Xue nodded. “That’s right. Some places are too far away to reach on foot, so we fly there especially for them.”
“Are you thinking of going back to take a look?” she asked, gazing gently at Nangong Yu.
Nangong Yu froze. “Is that allowed?”
“Of course.” Ling Xue rubbed her head. “Once recruitment is over, I’ll take you home for a visit.”
“Thank you, Senior Sister!” Nangong Yu said, deeply moved.
Although she had no desire to return to Xiaoyan Village at all.
But since an NPC had asked, this trip was clearly inevitable.
Because Nangong Yu was still a mortal, her senior brothers and sisters rarely took her along when they went out. They simply let her go play by herself.
“Keep your identity token hanging from your waist,” Ling Xue reminded her before they left. “If you run into trouble, show them your identity. Understand?”
“Understood!”
Once she was outside, Nangong Yu immediately took the token off.
When an NPC gave you an instruction, the best thing to do was ignore it whenever possible. That was how you triggered special side quests.
With her hands clasped behind her back, Nangong Yu began strolling aimlessly through the streets.
Ding-ding—
Target detected… Identifying…
The sudden notification from her optical computer made Nangong Yu stop in her tracks. A projection appeared before her, capturing the image of a cultivator nearby and comparing his facial features against the data in its records.
“Zhao You?!” Nangong Yu exclaimed in surprise.
The figure slipped through the crowd and quickly disappeared.
However, because of how swiftly he had moved, the projection before Nangong Yu had captured his facial features from several different angles, locking in his identity.
Feature match: 97%.
Nangong Yu took off after him!
The streets were packed with people. She weaved through the crowd, chasing him for two blocks before losing him.
“Tch!” She couldn’t catch him now, but sooner or later he would have to return to the Ziyang Sect.
As she wandered around, Nangong Yu realized that she had arrived near the ruins of the Lin family residence. Her eyes shifted as an idea occurred to her.
Yesterday, she had gone to the Lin family’s residence to fish and had run into Liu Shun.
Did Liu Shun have some hidden identity? What had he gone to the Lin family’s residence for?
Smack, smack, smack.
She stuck several invisibility talismans onto herself and headed toward the ruins. After putting on her disciple token, she found that the formation did not stop her. She entered with ease.
The moment she was inside, she brought out her electric scooter.
Whoosh—
Passersby heard a noise coming from the ruins and looked over, but they couldn’t see anything. Terrified, they turned and ran.
There was something sinister about this place. So many people had died overnight—surely their ghosts had been unable to pass on and were now searching for substitutes to die in their place!
Nangong Yu made her way to the treasure pavilion.
The place had been reduced to ruins after an intense battle. Broken walls and shattered remains lay everywhere, along with collapsed beams and pillars. A severed arm was pinned beneath the wreckage, one half of its blood-covered hand sticking out.
The blood of cultivators was different from that of mortals. Even after they had been dead for quite some time, their blood had yet to dry.
But Nangong Yu couldn’t be bothered to dig it out. She looked away, stepped over the ruins, and continued inside to search for treasures.
Last time, she had collected quite a lot from the first and second floors. The floors above had been protected by restrictions she couldn’t touch, so she hadn’t managed to collect a single thing. She had no idea what was inside.
She moved stones, shoved aside shelves, and brushed away the dust.
There were fallen cultivation manuals, scattered spirit stones, and fragments of magical treasures. Nangong Yu picked up anything that caught her eye.
With good luck, she found three storage bags. They had probably fallen during the battle and gone unnoticed.
She tried opening them but couldn’t, so she tossed all three into her personal space.
After searching high and low, she found no major treasures, but she did pick up quite a few odds and ends.
When she raised her head again, the sun was already slanting westward. An entire day had passed without her realizing it.
Happy times always went by so quickly.
Nangong Yu tidied up with a mixture of regret and satisfaction, then prepared to leave.
The Spirit Beast Garden.
A green figure crawled out of the lake. He stood dripping wet at the water’s edge, his expression dazed and helpless.
After a long while, he slowly bent down and picked up the clothes lying on the ground.
The drenched green figure gradually left the lakeside. His footsteps grew faster and faster as he hurried toward the area where the Thousand-Eyed Bees had lived.
The Thousand-Eyed Bees were long gone. The young man climbed the tree and reached into the hive for honey, only to find it completely empty—not a single drop remained.
He stood there in confusion, then slowly slid down the tree and stared blankly at the ground beneath it.
“How could this happen?”
“What are we going to do?”
“Everything’s gone…”
Just then, someone suddenly patted him on the shoulder.
“Who?!” The young man instantly leapt away and warily turned to face the figure behind him.
The air twisted, and a figure appeared. She blinked her bright, sparkling eyes at him.
“Brother Ruo Zhu, what are you doing here?”
“Little Yu?” The young man recognized her and froze. “Why are you here? You—you’re still here?! You didn’t escape?”
His expression turned frantic. He stepped forward and reached for Nangong Yu’s arm, but she laughed and dodged away.
“I had a dream that day. When I woke up, all of you were gone.”
Ruo Zhu felt somewhat ashamed when he heard this. “Little Yun wasn’t in any condition to carry so many people. We didn’t abandon you on purpose.”
Yun Sheng? The white bird? So he really had been injured.
“I know.” Nangong Yu nodded. “Where did you and the others go, Brother Ruo Zhu? What are you doing here?”
Ruo Zhu looked desolate and bitter. “I’m trying to find something to eat.”
??
Nangong Yu looked confused, and a little incredulous. “Find something to eat? What does he have to eat to heal his injuries?”
“No.” Ruo Zhu shook his head. “I don’t have any spirit stones.”
He looked ashamed, his eyes darting away. He didn’t dare meet her gaze.
Showing such an incapable side of himself in front of a junior made him feel deeply humiliated.
Nangong Yu had a good impression of Ruo Zhu. He was a friendly NPC who even took the initiative to give her items. She untied the pouch from her waist. “Here, take it.”
It was only a cloth pouch that even mortals could use, so of course Ruo Zhu could open it. But he immediately shoved it back as though it had burned him. “No! Keep it for yourself!”
How could he take spirit stones from a junior? He wasn’t that shameless.
“Brother Ruo Zhu, you don’t even have anything to eat!” Nangong Yu found his setup quite novel. “Even if you don’t eat, Yun Sheng needs to eat too, doesn’t he? Isn’t he in bad shape?”
Yun Sheng wasn’t merely in bad shape. He was in terrible shape. But ordinary mortal food would do little for him, which was why Ruo Zhu had thought of coming to the Spirit Beast Garden to get some spirit fish and honey for him.
“Thank you, Little Yu.” Ruo Zhu accepted the spirit stones with embarrassment, his gaze complicated as he looked at her. “You’re amazing.”
When she had first arrived at the Spirit Beast Garden, he had still been able to help her a little. Before long, the situation had reversed, and she was the one helping him.
“What are you doing here?” Ruo Zhu asked, putting away the spirit stones.
Nangong Yu replied, “I had nothing else to do, so I came here to play.”
Last time, she had wanted to touch the spirit crane’s egg, but Liu Shun had interrupted her before she could. This time, she had come by on a whim. Who would have thought that she would run into a drenched figure in green, standing motionless beneath a tree like a piece of wood?
“There’s nothing interesting here. In the future, you shouldn’t—” Ruo Zhu began, but his eyes fell on the token at her waist. “You… became a disciple of the Ziyang Sect?”
His face was filled with astonishment.
Nangong Yu nodded. “That’s right! The Ziyang Sect came to recruit disciples, and they accepted me because I have good talent.”
Ruo Zhu’s expression changed dramatically. “But you—you aren’t…”
His expression shifted several times. Nangong Yu tilted her head. “I’m not what?”
But you’re not human. You’re a member of the demon race.
Confusion filled Ruo Zhu’s eyes. He couldn’t understand it at all. How could the Ziyang Sect accept a demon as a disciple? He wanted to ask, but after looking at Nangong Yu, he belatedly realized that he might have been mistaken.
“It’s nothing.” His eyes flickered as he took a step back. “Thank you, Little Yu.”
Seeing that he was about to leave, Nangong Yu waved at him. “Don’t mention it. See you around!”
She turned to go. Her decisiveness instead made Ruo Zhu call out to her before he could stop himself. “Little Yu—”
“Hmm?” Nangong Yu turned back.
“You…” Ruo Zhu hesitated. “Are you really human?”
Nangong Yu smiled. “What about you, Brother Ruo Zhu? Are you, Yun Sheng, and Huang Hu all members of the demon race?”
The setting sun dyed the treetops red, its descending light dim and indistinct. It illuminated the young man’s complicated expression.
“I wish I were.”
He wished he were? Then he wasn’t? Yet another NPC with a strange identity.
Nangong Yu felt that Luoxia City seemed to have an unusually large number of special NPCs. It appeared to be a special location.
Then again, judging by all the gossip she had heard at the teahouse, there were people with hidden identities everywhere in this world.
She had already stopped obsessing over solving mysteries and clearing dungeons.
In this high-risk instance, simply staying alive was already an impressive achievement.
After all, she only had an HP-lock cheat. That didn’t mean she was immortal.
If someone locked her up and set up a time array like the one Yun Sheng had been trapped in, keeping her there for a hundred years, the outcome would be hard to predict.
“How is Yun Sheng?” Since Ruo Zhu hadn’t left immediately, Nangong Yu added, “The Ziyang Sect is looking for him. The elder traveling with us already knows that he’s injured, and he’s hiding somewhere in the city.”
“What?!” Ruo Zhu was shocked.
