The unidentifiable greens in the vegetable garden looked incredibly fresh and juicy. Swallowing her saliva, she moved closer and spotted some radishes as well.
Shi Xia called out loudly a few times, but no one responded. Starving and desperate, she couldn’t be bothered to ask for the owner’s permission. She casually plucked a few radishes and began munching on them. The radishes weren’t big—only about the thickness of two fingers—probably not fully mature yet. She devoured five in one go before her stomach finally stopped growling.
Still holding two radishes, she stuffed them into her pocket to avoid wasting them and continued walking, hoping to encounter someone. After walking for what felt like ages, she faintly spotted a white figure in the distance. Her heart leaped with joy, and she immediately waved in a friendly manner.
"Hello, excuse me—"
Before she could finish, the person turned around and suddenly recoiled in shock. "It’s you!"
"Yuan Wu!" Wasn’t this the young man who had given her the jade token the other day? "It’s you! I didn’t expect—"
Yuan Wu looked as if he’d seen a ghost, flailing his arms as he stumbled backward, tripped, and fell. Scrambling back to his feet, he immediately summoned his sword and flew away.
"...Why run?" Shi Xia touched her face, feeling a bit hurt. Was she really that terrifying?
"You can’t blame him," a slightly hoarse voice came from behind her.
Without her noticing, an old man had appeared on the grass behind her, smiling at her knowingly.
"He’s only just formed his golden core and is the weakest among the Yuan-generation disciples. Naturally, he wouldn’t dare linger long on Xiuling Peak."
Shi Xia walked over and sat on the ground beside the old man. "Why? Is this place really that scary?"
"It wasn’t before," the old man replied, his eyes crinkling like a certain fast-food mascot. "But the situation is different now."
What did that mean?
Seeing her confusion, the old man explained, "Young lady, have you heard of the Demon Sovereign?"
"The Demon Sovereign?" Shi Xia blinked. "Is it edible?"
The old man stiffened, shooting her an annoyed glare. "Of course not! The Demon Sovereign is the ruler of the demonic cultivators. A hundred years ago, he emerged and wreaked havoc across the land, plunging the entire cultivation world into chaos. His atrocities were too numerous to record. To escape his cruelty, sects had no choice but to seal their gates and isolate themselves. Yet even then, countless cultivators fell victim to him. If not for my master, Respected Hou Chi, who emerged in time to repel him and halt his atrocities, the cultivation world today would be a very different place."
"Wait…" Shi Xia gasped. "Is the Demon Sovereign nearby?"
"Yes and no!" The old man wore a mysterious expression.
Shi Xia’s lips twitched. Did he have to be so cryptic? Was leaving sentences half-finished some ancient tradition?
"Don’t rush me—listen carefully," the old man continued. "Though this demon’s cultivation wasn’t a match for my master, he was cunning, ruthless, and utterly devoid of humanity, always resorting to underhanded tactics. My master pursued him many times, but he always escaped. Yet even the Demon Sovereign had a weakness." He paused, a smug smile playing on his lips, as if urging her to ask.
Shi Xia suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Fine, she’d play along. "What was his weakness?"
Only then did he continue, "Legend says the Demon Sovereign had a younger sister whom he treasured above all else. He would tolerate no disrespect toward her. Once, disciples of the Yuming Sect merely gossiped about her. That very night, the Demon Sovereign slaughtered the entire sect. Even the allied Qishan and Yanzhi Sects suffered heavy casualties, with most of their disciples dead or injured. The daughter of the Qishan Sect’s leader was captured by him and has never been seen since."
"Wow." So the Demon Sovereign was a hardcore sis-con. "What happened next?"
"After this, the entire cultivation world learned that the Demon Sovereign had a sister—his one and only weakness. Some sought revenge, hoping to exploit this, but the Demon Sovereign hid her too well. No one ever saw her. By the time he vanished, the only thing the cultivation world knew about his sister was the name he constantly mentioned."
Shi Xia’s heart skipped a beat. Her lips twitched again. "That name wouldn’t happen to be… Shi Xia, would it?"
"Exactly! That’s the name," the old man confirmed with a nod.
Holy crap! No wonder those people in the hall had tried to skewer her the moment they heard her name. She just happened to share it with the Demon Sovereign’s sister!
"The Demon Sovereign vanished a century ago, and the sects thought the cultivation world was finally rid of this scourge. But two days ago, that demoness Shi Xia suddenly barged into our Jade Flower Sect!" The old man’s face darkened with anger. "Luckily, she was captured in time and imprisoned here on Xiuling Peak. That’s why disciples dare not linger here now."
"Don’t you worry you might have the wrong person?" She was innocent! Sure, she had an older brother, but when she transmigrated, that jerk was still at home milking sympathy for a cut finger from chopping vegetables. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have tricked her into going to the store to buy cat food for him!
"She admitted herself that she’s Shi Xia—how could there be any mistake?" The old man gave her a reassuring look.
"But there are countless people with the same name in the world. Surely there’s more than one Shi Xia?"
"Yet the entire world knows the Demon Sovereign’s sister is named Shi Xia. What blind parents would give their child such a name?"
"..." Well, that was a solid point. She had no comeback.
"Besides," the old man’s tone shifted, turning righteous, "my master has confirmed it. With his cultivation, how could he possibly mistake her identity? If he says she’s the one, then she is!"
"May I ask… who is your master?" Shi Xia felt like crying. You could eat crap, but you couldn’t just spout nonsense!
"My master is none other than the Supreme Elder of Jade Flower Sect—Hou Chi!" The old man puffed up with pride. "He’s the one who personally captured the demoness."
The one who captured her… That psycho who used her as target practice?!
"Where is he now?" She needed to explain this to him.
"Master’s whereabouts are unpredictable. Even I rarely see him."
"..." So until he showed up again, no amount of explaining would change the fact that she was the Demon Sovereign’s sister? Shi Xia felt her entire life turning bleak.
"Don’t worry," the old man patted her shoulder reassuringly. "You’ll get your chance to meet the Supreme Elder, young lady. I understand how you juniors idolize the strong. My master may be a bit fierce, heavy-handed, short-tempered, violent, overwhelmingly powerful, and brutally blunt when he speaks… but aside from that, he’s basically a good person."
(¬_¬) Any redeeming qualities left?
With such a scathing review, were they really master and disciple? She felt even less at ease now.
The more she thought about it, the more wronged she felt. She pulled out a radish from her pocket and bit into it angrily, crunching loudly—she needed to eat something to calm down.
The old man continued consoling her, "Trust this old man, you’ll see him eventually… Hm? Why does that radish in your hand look so familiar?"
"You want one? Here, have one." Shi Xia pulled out another one and handed it over.
"What a kind-hearted young lady." The old man chuckled as he accepted it. "This radish looks quite unique!" It bore a striking resemblance to the Purple Jade Ice Ginseng he grew in his medicinal garden up ahead. He couldn't resist taking a bite—it tasted pretty good. "By the way, little girl, what's your name? And where did you find this radish?"
"Just up ahead, in that vegetable garden!"
Pfft—
The half-chewed radish sprayed from his mouth.
"Oh, and I'm Shi Xia."
Pfft—pfft—
He felt as if a mouthful of old blood was about to burst forth, and for a moment, he could almost hear the sound of his heart shattering.
If there was one person Hou Chi despised most in this world, it was undoubtedly the former Demon Lord—no contest. Since childhood, he had been obsessed with cultivation, his only passion being the mastery of various arcane arts. He rarely spared a thought for anything else, and precisely because of this, his cultivation advanced rapidly. By the time he came to his senses, there was no one left in the immortal realm who could stand against him.
He had a premonition that it wouldn’t be long before he broke through the shackles of this realm and transcended into the void. His path to immortality had been remarkably smooth—that is, until he met that Demon Lord.
Contrary to the legends of the immortal realm, he hadn’t sought out the Demon Lord for trouble. No, the Demon Lord had come to him—and for the most absurd reason: getting lost. Their first meeting wasn’t some life-or-death battle, just a simple exchange of directions.
But from then on, the Demon Lord seemed to have lost his mind, constantly challenging him. Unable to win in combat, he resorted to taunting—and the subject was always his sister. That’s right, the infamous Demon Lord, said to be capable of every evil under the sun, was actually just a fool who never stopped bragging about his little sister.
"Hey, buddy, I hear you’re the number one cultivator in the immortal realm. But looking at you, you must be single, huh? Got yourself a girl yet? Tsk, what’s the point of being so strong if you don’t even have a sister? But don’t worry—you don’t have one, but I do!"
"..." Who cares?
"Let me tell you, you know my sister Shi Xia, right? Of course you don’t. She’s the prettiest girl in the world, especially when she was little—those chubby little cheeks, so soft you could squeeze water out of them. So well-behaved, always trailing behind me, calling me ‘big brother’ in the sweetest voice. Ahhh, you’ll never know how that feels."
"..." What does that have to do with me?
"Listen, my sister Shi Xia has always been so thoughtful, so caring toward her big brother. When she was five, she stood on a little stool just to try cooking for me. Isn’t that heartwarming? So considerate, right? Ah, you wouldn’t understand—you don’t have a sister."
"..." Who wants to?
"Let me tell you, my sister Shi Xia loves listening to my stories. Every night, she can’t sleep unless I tell her one. Ever told your sister a story? Oh wait, you don’t have one."
"..." So what?
"Let me tell you, my sister Shi Xia is so smart. She learns everything in one go—never needs to be taught twice. None of the other brats can compare. Even if you had a sister, she’d never measure up to mine."
"..." Who’s competing with you?
"Let me tell you—"
Enough!
