Who? Who’s back? No one from the village went out recently, did they?
And why did she bring an immortal cultivator with her?
“Little Yu?” Li Xiufen was the first to recognize her. She was both surprised and delighted. “You’re back!”
“Auntie!” Nangong Yu ran over with a bright smile. “I came back to visit you all!”
Her senior sister NPC had brought her back, clearly to conduct a background check.
There was no way Nangong Yu could be suspected of anything. She smiled sweetly, faint dimples appearing at the corners of her mouth.
Li Xiufen looked her over. Her face was fair and clean, and her clothes were neat and proper. Her wrists and ankles were well covered, and the fabric was of good quality.
She then looked at Nangong Yu’s hair, which was adorned with pearl hairpins, butterflies, and other ornaments. They made her look even more charming and adorable. Li Xiufen’s heart grew warm, and she nodded repeatedly. “Good, good. As long as you’re safe and well.”
After Nangong Yu left that day, Li Xiufen had suffered from insomnia for quite some time. She would often wake in the middle of the night after dreaming that Nangong Yu had been eaten by wolves or abducted.
She regretted it terribly. Why hadn’t she stopped the girl? What could a child possibly know? How could she have let her go? Wasn’t that the same as sending her to her death?
“Where have you been all this time?” Li Xiufen asked joyfully, gripping her by the arm.
Seeing this, Ling Xue couldn’t help thinking, Senior Brother Chen had suspected that Little Yu’s origins were questionable, but she was clearly as innocent as could be.
The village chief, already being helped along by his grandson, hurried over and knelt to salute. “The villagers of Xiaoyan Village greet the immortal maiden.”
The villagers who had gathered in the distance followed suit and knelt down. “Greetings, immortal maiden.”
Ling Xue raised a hand and released a strand of spiritual energy, lifting them all to their feet. “I am a cultivator of the Ziyang Sect. I’ve brought Junior Sister Little Yu home to visit her family. While I’m here, I’ll also test the children in the village to see whether any of them are destined for the Dao.”
After explaining, she added, “Bring over every child in the village who is under sixteen.”
People with spiritual roots were exceedingly rare. Ling Xue did not believe Xiaoyan Village could produce a second child with such a gift.
But since she was already here, she might as well test them all.
She produced a spirit-root testing array disk and held it in her palm. Then she took tables and chairs from her storage pouch and set up a testing area.
The white-and-purple sect robes she wore gave her an imposing air. Though she was a young and beautiful woman, her majesty was enough to make her impossible to look at directly.
The villagers did not dare speak. They all bent at the waist, answering meekly and submissively.
The village chief said hoarsely, “Go. Do as the immortal maiden says and bring over every child under sixteen from the village.”
“I’ve been accepted by the Ziyang Sect!” Nangong Yu announced, patting her chest as she chatted with Li Xiufen. “From today onward, if anyone bullies you, just give them my name—Nangong Yu!”
Nangong Yu? Nangong?
The people of Xiaoyan Village had always borne the surname Yan. Women who married into the village had surnames such as Li, Zhang, and Liu.
They had never heard of anyone surnamed Nangong.
“All right!”
The villagers applauded enthusiastically, their eyes shining.
From this day forward, Nangong would be the number-one surname in Xiaoyan Village! Anyone who objected would be driven out of the village!
Anyone could cease to belong to Xiaoyan Village—but not her!
From now on, they too had an immortal cultivator as their backer!
“How did you find the immortal cultivators?”
“Did you really make it all the way to the Ziyang Sect?”
“How far away is the Ziyang Sect?”
Nangong Yu looked rather unfamiliar to them. She had washed her face today, and she looked completely different from the little beggar she had been that day.
But the kitchen knife hanging from her waist belonged to Yan Si’s family. It had once been used to chop through a pig’s leg bone, leaving a notch in the blade, so everyone recognized it.
The villagers rarely had the chance to meet an immortal cultivator, much less one of their own, and they all crowded around Nangong Yu, bombarding her with questions.
Nangong Yu looked around before asking, “Have the people who were injured recovered?”
It had only been a little over a month since she left Xiaoyan Village.
Injuries to the muscles and bones took a hundred days to heal. Many of those who had been crushed or struck by stray sword light had already died.
Those who survived had been unable to afford proper treatment and were nearly at death’s door as well.
“Alas.”
Her question was answered by a chorus of sighs.
Nangong Yu rummaged around in her sleeve and pulled out a bottle of pills. “These are Rejuvenation Pills I bought. They’re meant for cultivators and can be used to treat injuries.”
Immortal pills!
The villagers’ eyes gleamed. Some could no longer restrain themselves and were about to rush forward and snatch them, but Li Xiufen immediately seized the bottle. She glared at the people around her and asked, “What did you say, Little Yu?”
Nangong Yu replied, “Take one pill, dissolve it in water, and give it to the injured people to drink.”
After thinking for a moment, she added, “They’re meant for cultivators, so I don’t know whether ordinary people can take them. You should dilute them with plenty of water, just to be safe.”
“All right!” Li Xiufen said. She ordered the children to draw a vat of water. In front of everyone, she poured out a pill and dropped it into the water.
The pill was a vivid jade green and gave off a fragrant scent. Even just breathing it in seemed to make their bodies feel lighter.
The villagers swallowed hard. Someone complained to Li Xiufen, “That’s too much water! A few bowls would be enough. If you dilute it this much, will it still work?”
Li Xiufen shot back, “Can’t you just drink a few more bowls?”
While Li Xiufen was busy maintaining order, Nangong Yu gave the village chief a meaningful look.
The village chief had been watching her for some time. At last, he received the signal he had been waiting for and immediately walked toward her.
The two of them went a little farther away.
“Little Yu,” the village chief said solemnly.
“Village Chief,” Nangong Yu replied just as solemnly.
They stared deeply into each other’s eyes.
A moment later, Nangong Yu raised one hand to her neck, as if it were itchy. With her index fingernail, she slowly drew a line across her throat.
It was a long line.
One slash, and it would have been enough to cut her throat open.
The village chief’s tears burst forth. “Little Yu!”
Nangong Yu said, “I traveled for a long time and eventually reached a place called Luoxia City. It’s a city full of cultivators.”
“I met disciples of the Ziyang Sect there. They said I had a spiritual root, so they accepted me into the sect.”
“I asked them what would happen if cultivators fought and accidentally injured ordinary people.”
The village chief’s lips trembled as tears streamed down his face. “What… what would happen?”
“They would be punished and imprisoned,” Nangong Yu replied.
They were immortals, after all.
For them to be punished for accidentally injuring mortals was already a serious consequence!
As for making them pay with their lives? How could that possibly happen?
But so many people had died in Xiaoyan Village, including the village chief’s brothers, nephews, and nieces. Though the immortal had been punished, the pain in his heart could not be erased.
The old man’s tears rolled down his face, covering it completely.
Nangong Yu touched her throat and drew another line across it. “Village Chief…”
She had drawn two lines in total.
The village chief’s cloudy eyes trembled violently. He nodded again and again. “Little Yu, with you here, Xiaoyan Village finally has someone to rely on.”
That immortal maiden was still there.
There were many things they could not say aloud.
But the village chief trusted Nangong Yu. Though she was not a child of Xiaoyan Village, she had appeared that day with such determination, insisting on finding out who her enemies were. She had left without looking back. Now that she had returned, her eyes were clear and bright, no longer filled with obsession or hatred.
No one could forget hatred in such a short time.
Unless she had already avenged herself.
“Waaah…”
The old man wept bitterly, repeatedly lifting his sleeve to wipe away his tears.
Meanwhile, on the other side—
“Why are there so few?” Ling Xue asked, frowning as she looked at the children lined up before the table.
Nangong Yu walked over and said, “Senior Sister, this is all that’s left.”
That day, when Zhou Yun and Zhao You had fought, sword light had flown in every direction. Xiaoyan Village had suffered the effects of the spiritual energy, and many people had died.
Those who survived were later unable to recover from their injuries and eventually succumbed as well.
The children of those who had died were left without anyone to care for them. The villagers could barely fend for themselves—some sold their children, while others went out in search of food and never returned.
In Xiaoyan Village, more than half the people had died. In fact, the dead numbered well over half.
Ling Xue frowned deeply. Her gaze swept over the dusty, ash-gray figures, though she deliberately avoided the faces etched with hardship and years of toil.
She felt vaguely uncomfortable. “None of them have spiritual roots.”
The children looked disappointed, though they did not really understand what that meant. Soon, they dispersed.
“Do you have any clues about the cultivators who fought here that day?” Ling Xue asked the villagers as she put away the spirit-root testing array disc.
When cultivators fought and innocent mortals lost their lives in the aftermath, it was a grave sin.
More than a hundred lives—half a village. The crime was all the more heinous.
Who could be so reckless as to act with such abandon on the territory of the Ziyang Sect?
The villagers she questioned said nothing. All of them looked terrified as they turned their eyes toward Nangong Yu.
“What’s going on?” Ling Xue asked with a frown, looking at Nangong Yu.
Nangong Yu’s expression was solemn. She let out a soft sigh. “They’re afraid to speak, worried they might offend you, Senior Sister. I’ll explain.”
She told Ling Xue a detail she had never revealed before. “The two cultivators who fought that day were wearing robes of white and purple.”
Ling Xue’s expression changed at once.
Nangong Yu’s face grew even more solemn. “Senior Sister, demonic cultivators have appeared in Taihua Prefecture. Not only did they kill mortals, they also tried to frame us for it!”
“…”
Ling Xue’s face had turned ugly, but she managed to suppress her anger. “After we return, I’ll report this to the sect.”
What impersonation? They were probably Ziyang Sect disciples themselves!
Ling Xue felt especially humiliated, a simmering anger lodged in her chest. “Junior Sister, you’ve seen the village now. We should leave.”
She could not bear to stay in this place for another moment.
The frightened gazes of the villagers of Xiaoyan Village felt like countless bee stings, leaving her restless and ill at ease.
“All right.” Nangong Yu nodded. “Senior Sister, wait for me a moment.”
She left a roast chicken for Li Xiufen, who had just given her another pair of shoes. “Auntie, I’m leaving now.”
Li Xiufen could not bear to part with her and continued to nag her affectionately. “Live a good life, Little Yu. No matter what happens, staying alive is what matters most.”
She saw the village chief crying.
She did not know what had happened, but the old man’s sobs were clearly filled with relief and gratification.
Li Xiufen had her suspicions. She felt deeply sorry for this lonely, reckless child who dared to face everything alone.
She brought out another jar of pickled vegetables and forced it into Nangong Yu’s hands. “Good girl, you have to eat properly no matter what happens. The sky may be falling, but eating comes first.”
Nangong Yu accepted the jar in delighted surprise. “Thank you, Auntie!”
Pickled vegetables!
Li Xiufen was very skilled at making them. The flatbreads she had given Nangong Yu before had been delicious too.
The others also hurried forward to give Nangong Yu gifts—food, cloth, and even the chickens and ducks they had raised.
Nangong Yu accepted everything joyfully.
When she could no longer hold it all, she simply stuffed the gifts into her storage space.
Ling Xue said nothing about her unrestrained actions. She knew Nangong Yu had acquired some sort of opportunity, though she still did not know where it had come from.
The villagers of Xiaoyan Village said nothing either. They merely watched her with envy. She had become an immortal now, with the abilities of one.
After bidding each villager farewell, Nangong Yu turned and stepped onto her flying sword.
A faint tug came from the hem of her robe. She turned around. “Auntie?”
Li Xiufen was clutching her robe, her face filled with hesitation.
“Auntie, is something wrong?” Nangong Yu stepped down from the flying sword and asked.
Li Xiufen bit her lip, her expression full of struggle.
“Let’s talk somewhere else.” Nangong Yu had a good impression of this NPC. After all, Li Xiufen had been the first NPC she had interacted with—and she was always stuffing her with useful items.
They walked a little farther away. Nangong Yu asked, “Auntie, what is it?”
“Little Yu, I don’t want to trouble you,” Li Xiufen said hesitantly. “And I don’t want to bring you any harm.”
Nangong Yu replied, “Auntie, you’re giving yourself too much credit. Do you really think you could hurt me?”
Li Xiufen was left speechless. She looked as though she wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. Finally, she steeled herself, pulled a yellowed sheet of paper from inside her robe, and opened it with trembling hands.
“Little Yu.” She looked over, tears shimmering in her eyes. Hatred and hope mingled within them. “If—if one day you become very, very powerful, could you help me find this person and ask him something?”
She ground her teeth until they clicked.
“Why did he wipe out my entire Li family?!”
