Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Yi Qing and Lonemoon had already been searching for a few days in that forest which had very faint traces of Spirit Qi, pursuing the trail of the Fiendish Cultivator. Although they had clearly sensed the location of their target on several occasions, they just could not seem to find the Fiendish Cultivator. They had gone through the entire forest many times to no avail, and Lonemoon even suspected whether the Fiendish Cultivator had purposely set up a misdirection array.
But just as they had been about to leave, Shen Ying, whom they had not managed to find, appeared out of nowhere in front of Lonemoon.
“Master!” Yi Qing was delighted. “You are not…”
But before he could finish, Shen Ying grabbed Lonemoon by his collar and demanded, “Help me.” She then disappeared from the same spot.
Lonemoon could not react in time and was dragged away. The next moment, he was shoved in front of a lady of Nascent Soul cultivation, a beauty of the finest degree who also emanated Yin Qi all around.
“A Fiendish Cultivator!” Alarmed, Lonemoon took a step back and said in a lowered voice, “Shen Ying, what are you up to?”
The next moment, he realized the other party had a familiar-looking fan-like weapon in her hand. “That’s my intrinsic Dharmic artifact!” Why was it in the hands of a Fiendish Cultivator?!
Wait a second! That flute and jade piece seemed familiar too; he subconsciously searched his storage bag. “Holy shit, why are they in your hands?” When were they stolen? He had no recollection of it.
“I gave them to her!” Shen Ying replied.
“You?” Lonemoon turned back and looked at her as if he had seen a ghost. “What’s your problem? Why would you take my intrinsic Dharmic artifact for no reason?” More so, giving it to a Fiendish Cultivator to play with? Where was the camaraderie between fellow villagers?
“Who took your things.” Shen Ying glared at him. “You obviously forgot to take them, so that’s why I picked them up.”
“…” Uh, such a thing had happened? He looked back on his memories and remembered that he had indeed introduced these weapons to her. Could it have been at that time? But he was not a careless person. Why would he have forgotten to keep them after showing them to her?
“Since these items belong to you, Supremacy, then I shall return them to you!” It was only then that Qi Chengyu recovered from the shock of Shen Ying dragging a Soul Formation Supremacy over, quickly returning the items in her hands with some anxiety. Although Shen Ying had good intentions, she was a Fiendish Cultivator after all; if the other party had hostile intentions, she would not be able to escape from a Soul Formation cultivator.
Lonemoon received his Dharma artifacts and inspected them with suspicion before putting them away. The number of questions in his mind only kept growing. Who exactly was this Fiendish Cultivator? Why did Shen Ying want to help her?
But before he could ask, Yi Qing had caught up.
“Master!” He hurriedly flew down and then saw Qi Chengyu at the side. He looked over with caution but did not immediately take action, instead quickly coming over to Shen Ying. “It was my carelessness to have let Master experience such a predicament. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. I’m actually pretty well.”
“I have an issue!” Lonemoon rolled his eyes, grabbed his reclaimed Dharma artifacts and asked, “Shen Ying, what exactly is happening? Do you know how long we’ve been searching for you?”
“I know.” Shen Ying nodded. “I saw the both of you searching around the opposite shore of the river for about seven to eight days.”
“…” Opposite shore of the river!
“Holy shit!” Lonemoon exploded. “What the heck, why didn’t you call out to us when you saw us?”
“I called out but you didn’t hear it.” She wore an innocent look. After all, there was a river between the shores. “Also, you guys didn’t call for me!” How would I have known that you were looking for me?
Lonemoon and Yi Qing: “…” They suddenly felt like checking if they were blind.
“Right, I even left a chicken by the shore for both of you. Did you guys see it?” She was certainly a good boss.
Lonemoon and Yi Qing: “…” So it turned out that the fifth-level spirit beast on the opposite shore was left by her? They had been wondering which idiotic hunter had forgotten to take his spirit beast!
But the most important thing was…
Since you could leave a chicken, couldn’t you have just left a note?!
“Alright, since the items are all set,and it’s getting late, let’s start moving!” Shen Ying nudged at Qi Chengyu, urging her, “You can fly now.”
“Oh!” Qi Chengyu did not react in time and was dazed for a moment. Go? Go where?
Instead, it was Yi Qing at the side who heard and responded to her instructions. He summoned his spirit sword and stretched out his hand. “Master, do let me give you a lift.”
“Thank you.” Shen Ying immediately hopped onto the sword and then looked towards Qi Chengyu. “Sister, you lead the way!”
“Oh…” The other party looked a little confused. She summoned her flying sword in a daze before she started to fly.
Lonemoon: “…”
Wait a moment!
Was he the only one who did not know what was happening? Where were they heading to? Why was no one explaining it? What was the relationship between Shen Ying and that Fiendish Cultivator? And what did she mean by all the items were set? Who exactly are your items!
(╯‵□′)╯(┻━┻
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Late into the night.
After flying for a day, the three of them stopped to take a break.
“Are you really going to Sword Comprehension Peak?!” After having listened to the entire story on the way, Lonemoon took a glance at the person meditating by the bonfire before turning to ask Shen Ying.
“Yes.” What about it?
Lonemoon grew more curious and surprised as he glanced at her. “I couldn’t tell that you were such a righteous person?” She was actually not lazing around; totally different from her usual self.
Slightly narrowing her eyes, Shen Ying said, “I hate scums.”
“Then how are you so sure that she’s speaking the truth?” Lonemoon took a quick look at her and then lowered his volume. “Don’t forget, she even killed my sect’s Perfected Yu Ding.”
“I’m not sure!” Shen Ying turned back to face him. “That’s why I want to go.” The way Qi Chengyu had described her experience was truly tragic, so terrible that anyone would pity and sympathize with her, but there were always two sides to a story; only by visiting Sword Comprehension Peak could they find out the truth.
“You want to confront her master?”
“Yes.” Since she was already meddling, she needed to get to the bottom of it.
“That’s useless.” Lonemoon sighed. “Even if what she said is all true and that master of hers really did all those things, so what? Going to Sword Comprehension Peak will not do her any good, and the Grand Vacuity Sect will also not punish the one named Gan. She might even lose her life there.”
“What does that mean?” Shen Ying turned around and looked at him in shock. “This world shelters rapists?”
“It’s not that!” Lonemoon appeared a little troubled as he exchanged eyes with Yi Qing who was wearing the same expression. He did not know how to explain it, only continuing after a while. “Because she has… a body of pure Yin!”
“What about it?”
Lonemoon looked more perplexed. “Shen Ying, do you know about human cauldrons?”
She went briefly silent before nodding and answering, “I can guess what it means.”
“Some of those girls without good spirit roots or those who don’t have a future with immortal cultivation but are rather pretty will be willing to become a human cauldron for self-protection. They go under the wings of a high level cultivator, and allow the use of their bodies to provide harvest for others.” His expression was completely awkward, seemingly finding it hard to speak about this matter. “While dual cultivation harvesting sorcery is not glamorous, it really does help with cultivation. So to many sects, keeping a human cauldron is… very common! Most cultivators at the Golden Core stage and above have experienced this kind of practice.”
“An evolved way of prostitution! You mean in this world, they don’t ban such obscenity?”
“Uh… something like that.” He nodded in affirmation.
“Then what is the matter with the body of Yin?”
“Dual cultivation is considered non-orthodox. Because everyone’s spirit roots are different, the harvesting of Spirit Qi is very complicated and requires a lot of time to fuse and be able to use.” He looked at the person opposite of him. “But a body of pure Yin is a body that fuses the energies of Spirit Qi. With someone like that… the speed of dual cultivation can be increased by more than ten times.”
Shen Ying narrowed her eyes. “Then…”
“A body of pure Yin is extremely rare. It’s hard to find one even in a thousand or million years.” Lonemoon continued, “The Middle Azure World regards them as natural human cauldron body types. When they appear, they will attract all sorts of sects to fight and snatch them away, so…”
“So nobody would ask… if they were willing?”
“…”
Scumbags!
