***
Little Shopkeeper Wu often says the strangest things…
At this very moment, she seemed a little embarrassed and a little happy, her hands clasped behind her back as she twisted them together.
Wenren Ying walked behind her, watching her bounce along on tiptoe. Her twin ponytails hung down in front of her, leaping just as merrily as her mood.
Her footsteps fell into the moonlight, and her whole person seemed immersed in it.
Wenren Ying could not help following her silhouette with his eyes… It was strange. There was something special and incredibly attractive about Wu Guanyue.
What was that quality, exactly?
It seemed to be an aura of boundless optimism.
No matter what happened, she always seemed certain she could solve it. She seemed to believe that as long as she put her mind to it, there was nothing in the world she could not overcome… It was an almost completely irrational confidence, but that confidence truly drew Wenren Ying’s gaze.
Cheerful Little Shopkeeper Wu. Little Shopkeeper Wu, who was always coming up with the unexpected…
Her ponytails continued to bounce, and the dark cloud perched atop her head seemed to cheer up as well, swaying back and forth in perfect harmony with her. It looked almost like her third ponytail.
Wenren Ying could not help laughing. In a lazy voice, he called, “Hey, Little Shopkeeper Wu—”
Wu Guanyue spun around with a whoosh, turning half her body along with her.
“You just called me Little Yue a moment ago! You’re not allowed to go back to the old name now!”
As she said this, she walked backward down the empty street, eyeing Wenren Ying with an expression of mild displeasure.
Wenren Ying’s expression, however, seemed a little unnatural. He raised a hand as though to adjust the brim of his bamboo hat… but when his fingers closed on empty air, he remembered that he had already taken it off.
Wu Guanyue stared at him with her eyes opened wide. Wuyun’s eyes were also opened wide as it stared at him… To be honest, being watched so intently by two pairs of eyes as round as copper bells was rather… embarrassing.
After a long moment, he finally opened his mouth and said, somewhat stiffly, “L… Little Shopkeeper Yue.”
Wu Guanyue: O-O
Wu Guanyue: o(*////-////*)q
Little Shopkeeper Yue’s face flushed faintly…
She seemed to ponder the matter, murmuring thoughtfully for quite a while before saying, “Hmm… Calling you Brother Wenren does feel a little distant too. What should I call you instead?”
Wu Guanyue suddenly stopped.
Wenren Ying stopped as well. His shadow fell over her, covering her shadow—and her entire person.
He stood there quietly, looking down at her in silence… He seemed to want to say something, yet also seemed to want to retreat.
He appeared to be a fairly bold and carefree man… But perhaps his boldness came from simply not caring what others thought. Once he genuinely began to care, he could no longer be so free and easy.
He suddenly drew a deep breath… He was about to say something to Wu Guanyue, but Little Shopkeeper Wu had already spoken up in an especially loud voice.
“Ah! I’ve got it!”
She sounded delighted.
Then she suddenly reached out and very carefully knocked three times on Wenren Ying’s broad, double-door-sized chest. In a solemn little voice, she chanted, “Yingzi, open up! Daddy!”
Wenren Ying: “…………”
Wenren Ying: “………………”
A huge, cross-shaped vein popped out on Wenren Ying’s forehead.
***
Meishan City was not particularly small, but neither was it especially large. A cultivator could travel from the east side of the city to the west in less than half a quarter of an hour.
But this journey… took Wu Guanyue and Wenren Ying a full half hour. By the time they reached the end, Wuyun was literally dripping down from the top of Wu Guanyue’s head…
…It was too sleepy to stay perched up there.
By the time they returned to the inn, the sky was already beginning to pale.
Chu Yingfeng… Er, Chu Yingfeng had gone to bed early. He had not waited for them at all.
…He seemed to possess an instinctive, almost feral sense of when the best course of action was to go to sleep.
At that moment, Chu Yingfeng was wearing only his inner shirt as he made his way downstairs to the kitchen to ladle himself some water. He drifted past the two of them like a ghost, sparing them a stingy sidelong glance. Then he let out a soft “Hmph,” the spiteful meaning of which was practically unmistakable: As expected.
Wenren Ying: “…………”
Wu Guanyue, on the other hand, was genuinely concerned about him. The moment she saw him, she rushed over and began circling him.
“Chu Yingfeng! Chu Yingfeng! Do you want some garlic-crispy mini bread?”
Chu Yingfeng: “…………”
Chu Yingfeng: “…………Mm.”
Wu Guanyue rummaged around inside her sleeve—rummaged and rummaged and rummaged—and pulled out a piece of garlic-crispy mini bread to hand to him. Then she walked over to Wenren Ying and, as though nothing were amiss, pulled out some large-intestine sashimi for him.
Wenren Ying: “…………”
Wenren Ying: “………………”
Wenren Ying did not move a muscle. Ellipsis bubbles began appearing above his head at a rate of two per second.
Little Shopkeeper Wu: (*^▽^*)
Little Shopkeeper Wu revealed her trademark sweet smile. She took the large-intestine sashimi back and brought out another piece of garlic-crispy mini bread to offer Wenren Ying.
At last, the ellipsis bubbles above Wenren Ying’s head stopped appearing… Any more of them and they would have flooded Wu Guanyue’s inn.
“All right, back to business. Let’s talk about the important stuff.”
Wenren Ying said this as he took a bite of the mini bread… Then, without changing expression, spat out the little hairs mixed into the garlic-crispy filling.
…Well, the bread had been synthesized from [milk] and [Wuyun’s propeller tail], after all.
Chu Yingfeng also spat out a hair without changing expression, then began to speak.
In short—Daoist Master Songfeng had quite a background.
Daoist Master Songfeng’s true origin was a magical treasure known as the Seven-Treasure Pine. The master of the Seven-Treasure Pine had been the leader of the Profound Heaven Sect a thousand years ago—the Sword Lord Taibai, Yan Chongyang.
The Sword Lord Taibai was a grandmaster of his generation. By the time he was five hundred years old, he had already attained great mastery of the Dao. He was also a man who cared deeply for the world. When he served as sect leader, peace reigned throughout the Yuntai Domain, and the people lived and worked in contentment.
As a result, the Ninth Heaven sent down an auspicious omen. A celestial crane arrived bearing a jade gem, condensed from his merit. It could help him survive the tribulation and ascend to the Ninth Heaven. This event became a celebrated legend throughout the Yuntai Domain.
In this world, the lifespans of earthly half-immortals—in other words, cultivators—were not eternal like those of Heaven and Earth. At most, they could live for a thousand or eight hundred years. Moreover, ascension required the recognition of the Ninth Heaven. Only when the Ninth Heaven sent down an auspicious omen could one ascend safely. Anyone who attempted to ascend by force would be blasted into oblivion by the heavenly lightning.
If they failed to receive the recognition of the Ninth Heaven, then when their natural lifespan came to an end, cultivators would grow old and die just like ordinary mortals. This was known as the “Five Declines of Heaven and Man.”
Since the Sword Lord Taibai had received jade from a celestial crane, he should have been able to ascend safely… Yet his actual end was to die without leaving even ashes behind.
Before he ascended, an unprecedented great demon appeared in the Yuntai Domain. People of that era called him the “Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord.” His source of power was not any of the five elemental energies—metal, wood, water, fire, or earth—but rather “soulfire,” which drew its strength from human souls.
Sword Lord Taibai paid for suppressing this evil demon with his life.
And according to legend... the place where the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord was sealed lies somewhere amid the rolling mountains of Mount Mei. The only problem was that no one knew exactly where.
But back to the matter at hand—the Seven-Treasure Pine had indeed committed countless evil deeds, yet it truly had a good master. After Sword Lord Taibai sacrificed himself to suppress the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord, his direct descendants continued to enjoy the benefits of his legacy. Many members of the Yuntai Yan clan now held important positions in the Divine Firmament Dao’s Lingshu Pavilion. Even those with the least impressive circumstances held the honored position of elder in the Profound Heaven Sect.
And the one doing the worst of all... was, of course, Perfected Renhua, the master of Chu Yingfeng and Bai Yunsheng.
This time, it was precisely because Perfected Renhua had received news of the Seven-Treasure Pine that he had sent Chu Yingfeng and Bai Yunsheng to Mount Mei.
Er... what...
Was this Journey to the West or something?!
Whenever a monster got beaten to death, there was always some god or Buddha behind it!
And, objectively speaking, even if Perfected Renhua was the least successful member of the Yuntai Yan clan... Wu Guanyue probably still couldn’t afford to provoke him...
...Bai Yunsheng wasn’t someone she could afford to provoke, either.
She didn’t even need Chu Yingfeng. Wenren Ying alone could give her a full lesson on Bai Yunsheng’s background. The Yunmeng Bai clan, from which Bai Yunsheng came, was a thousand-year-old aristocratic family of Yunmeng Marsh.
As mentioned before, the cultivation sects in this world were somewhat like a feudal system bound together by master-disciple relationships. But that did not mean bloodline clans didn’t exist. In fact, these aristocratic families were firmly embedded within the system.
For example, the master of Verdant Cloud Grotto-Heaven had always been chosen from among the She clan of Mount Mei. Nearly all of the current Verdant Cloud Adept’s direct disciples were surnamed She.
From this, it was easy enough to understand the status of the Yunmeng Bai clan.
Bai Yunsheng being sent to the Profound Heaven Sect as a disciple was, in fact, equivalent to a diplomatic exchange of hostages meant to demonstrate goodwill between the two sides.
Er...
Relying on nothing but Daoist Master Songfeng as her only tree to cling to, Wu Guanyue had somehow managed to offend members of two great clans!
...Wasn’t this supposed to be a cultivation-management game?
Why did it have such a complicated setting?!
No... Calm down, Wu Guanyue. Since the game had provided such a detailed background, that must mean brute force absolutely wasn’t the way to solve this problem. So, if she took a more roundabout approach...
Wu Guanyue sank into deep thought.
Wenren Ying sank into deep thought as well... and, for some reason, his expression changed ever so slightly when he heard the name Perfected Renhua.
Chu Yingfeng also sank into deep thought... though whether he was actually thinking or simply letting his mind go blank was impossible to say. His expression gave nothing away.
Wu Guanyue murmured to herself as she pondered, “Bai Yunsheng... the Seven-Treasure Pine... Cat Mario... You wouldn’t want anyone finding out about what happened today, would you...”
Wenren Ying: “...?”
Chu Yingfeng: “...?”
The two of them turned around in unison and stared at Wu Guanyue, utterly baffled as to why someone would make that sort of noise while thinking.
Meanwhile, a lightbulb suddenly lit up above the head of the Little Shopkeeper Wu.
“I know what to do! I know what to do!”
The Little Shopkeeper Wu pointed at the inn and declared confidently, “All we have to do is lay an ambush here. I guarantee that Bai Yunsheng will surrender willingly and bow at our feet! Keh heh heh heh heh heh!”
