CH 26

Shi Xia wasn’t someone who has the habit of dwelling on something for long. She automatically chose to ignore the questions she couldn’t figure out and continued her project of growing her spiritual roots, and time passed this way without her noticing.

It was only when there was a knock on the door outside that she came back to her senses from her meditation. In one night’s work, her little tip bud had already blossomed into a small shoot with three leaves, and although she hadn’t slept all night, she didn’t feel tired at all. Rather, she felt more refreshed than ever before.

“Benefactor, it’s getting late. The Immortal Masters of the Yuyin Sect are already ready to leave, ……” Long Aotian had not finished his words, when he saw the door being open suddenly and Shi Xia standing behind the door, he instantly froze.

“Wait a minute, I’m coming right away.” Shi Xia greeted him and immediately returned inside to wake Niu Niu up. They both washed up, before following Long Aotian out the door.

Niu Niu obviously had some hesitation and reluctance was shown in her face. All the way Shi Xia was leading her, she tightly grasped her hand, her little head buckled lowered, not knowing what she was thinking.

“The Immortal Masters are just ahead.” Long Aotian pointed to a group of people in front of him and took the lead to go forward.

The three standing in front over there were the same trio from yesterday’s auditions. Xuan Lin was also standing in the crowd, just with a sullen face and a gloomy expression.

“Sister ……” Niu Niu pulled her hand somewhat nervously.

“Don’t be afraid.” Shi Xia stopped and squatted down, “After arriving at the Immortal Sect, you will not only have a master, but also many brothers and sisters. They will take care of you. You must also be obedient, okay?”

She nodded obediently and her grip on her hand tightened.

Shi Xia took out what she had prepared at night, hugged Niu Niu in a smooth manner, and pressed a jade token on her forehead, and recited the only spell she learned last night. As she recited, she saw a trace of white light into Niu Niu’s forehead, and the jade token also disappeared.

“Before leaving, sister is giving you something. I’m not sure if it’s useful for you in the future ……” she inquired yesterday, the Yuyin Sect is famous for its music, and the disciples of this sect are good at sound attacks. This jade token was given by the second old man ‘Lin’. The self-proclaimed Master said he was good at sound attack and stuffed this to her. She has carried this jade all along and didn’t find it any useful, but it should be useful to Niu Niu.

“When you enter the Immortal Sect, you will have the opportunity to cultivate and this may be helpful to you. But remember, don’t let others know, especially Xuan Lin. Understand?”

Although she didn’t know if these gong methods are really that powerful, but look at those old men, they died but didn’t dare to pass them to others before their last breath. So she believed it wasn’t something ordinary. That’s why she didn’t give Niu Niu the jade token directly, but deposited the contents into her sea of consciousness.

Niu Niu stared at her for a good half of a moment and processed the extra things in her mind before nodding.

Shi Xia stroked her little head, before pulling her towards the crowd.

The trio standing before them looked over and froze seeing them before clasping their fists in unison and greeting her, “Thank you, Daoist Shunfeng.”

Flip the table! Shunfeng you sister ah!

What’s wrong with these three people? Yesterday, they had eyes on the top of their heads and didn’t give a damn about her. But today, they actually took the initiative to greet her.

“Fellow Daoist, don’t worry, we will take care of this junior sister.” One of the three smilingly looked at Niu Niu and said, “Yesterday, it was our ignorance that we did not notice that the Fellow Daoist Shunfeng was actually from the Yuhua Sect, I wonder …… who is Fellow Daoist’s Master?”

“How do you guys know I’m from the Yuhua Sect?” Shi Xia blurted out.

The man’s smile deepened and his eyes swept her clothes as he explained, “Fellow Daoist is wearing the clothing of a new disciple of the Yuhua Sect, and her cultivation level is at the third level of Qi Refining.”

Shi Xia looked down, crap, she forgot she was still wearing her school uniform. Yesterday, at the Spiritual Roots testing venue, it was too dirty to see. Today, she wore it before washing it. But …… when did she practice three stages of Qi Refining?

“Fellow Daoist, since you come from such a renowned sect, why are you sending your own child to our Yuyin Sect ?”

“She is not my child!”

“Oh, then she is your sister.”

“No.”

“Then a relative ……”

“No.”

“……” The man stopped talking.

Hey, what’s with that look of yours as if you are looking at a human trafficker? It’s none of your business if she is related to me or not. I’m happy to pick her up.

“It’s getting late, we should also leave.” Seeming to see that she was not happy, the man hurriedly changed the subject. One of them took out a small fan and threw it towards the sky, it suddenly turned into a huge fan. After bidding her and Long Aotian goodbye, he led the crowd to the fan.

Niu Niu looked straight at the fan for a long time before she let go of her hand and took a few steps forward. Suddenly she ran back to Shi Xia again and crashed into her arms, hugging hard before raising her small face as if she was about to cry, “Sister …… is Niu Niu’s sister now?”

Shi Xia smiled and stroked her little head before nodding, “Mm.” I’ll be your sister.

Niu Niu then smiled, sucked in her nose, desperately trying to hold back the tears that were going to fall, and walked up to the crowd of disciples, one step at a time.

The huge fan flew up, and Shi Xia waved her hand hard. Until the fan flew farther and farther away and the little head lying on the edge of that huge fan could no longer be seen did she put her hand down.

She was sad, but before she had the time to mourn, a hard slap suddenly fell on her back, almost sending her to the ground.

“Hahahaha …… benefactor, the matter is over. I wonder what your future plans are? How about Long Mou taking you around this Dragon City? What do you think? Don’t worry! In this city, I’m the law.” Long Aotian said with the look of ‘since you saved me, I will repay the grace by throwing money like paper for you’.

The corners of Shi Xia’s mouth twitched, “No need, I still have things to do.” She was worried that she couldn’t stay here long because of being the Demon King’s so-called ‘sister’. Although she was saved by Long Aotian this time, there was no guarantee that the news of her showing up here would spread far away. And if it spreads to the Yuhua Sect ……

“Benefactor is leaving?” Long Aotian showed reluctance, “it was so hard to even find you once, did this ungrateful one not take proper care of you?”

“If you really want to thank me, just give me some travel expenses, right?” She was poor as hell.

“Okay.” Long Aotian looked at his benefactor who was so poor didn’t hesitate to agree to Shi Xia’s request, since money is the only thing he has endlessly, “May I know where the benefactor is going and if you need any help?”

She wanted to escape far away from people and get stronger if possible. Because she didn’t know anything about cultivation! Although she has a Spiritual Root now, the identity of being the world’s public enemy still has not changed ah!

Shi Xia suddenly remembered that map on the phone and something lit up in her mind. Although her cheap brother said that time travel is a one-way path, since the system helped her travel through time, then was it not possible to travel through space? She felt that this task of crossing time-space was still possible.

“By the way, Dragon City Lord, have you ever heard of the Mu Xuan Immortal Mansion?”

“Mu Xuan Immortal Mansion!” Long Aotian’s face changed and he gave her a worried look, “Benefactor, you’re not going there, are you?”

“You’ve heard of this place?”

His face became even more ugly, and only after half a moment did he say slowly, “I heard about it occasionally, mentioned by some passing cultivators. There is a cave deep in the Juewang Mi Forest, it is rumored that once a cultivator at the level of God Transformation stage stayed there, and the Mu Xuan Immortal House was his cave. I heard that countless treasures and magic tools are hidden there, and there is a magic tool called the ‘Wheel of Return’, which can break the sky and see the past and future.”

So powerful!

“Only ……” his words turned, “the Juewang Mi Forest is too dangerous, there are many demonic beasts inside, and no one knows the exact location of the Immortal Mansion. The legend has it that the forest is filled with various traps and formations, no cultivator has ever come out of it. And rumor also has it that there have been many Nascent Soul cultivators who got lost in it!”

The map showed that the mansion was indeed in the southeast corner of a forest, and it wasn’t very deep, only at the edge of the forest. She should be able to reach there.

“Benefactor, that place is really too dangerous, you should be careful.” He had a worried face, and was really afraid that this benefactor, who was so hard to find, would run off to her death, “That place has long been isolated and no one dares to go. If the benefactor is really curious, then please go there when your cultivation is high, it’s not the right time now.”

“I know, thank you!” Shi Xia waved her hand.

“That’s good ……” He was relieved, she really wouldn’t go.

“I’ll leave tomorrow!”

“Huh? Ah!” Long Aotian was dumbfounded.

Shi Xia had already turned around and walked quickly back to the house.

“Benefactor, think twice ……”

****

Shi Xia spent the night to meld some of the low-level spells together. She was very glad that when she was learning the words, she used to memorize the contents first and then correspond to them one by one. So she accumulated a whole bunch of spells from various departments in her mind. Originally she only used those as word stickers phonetically, now she finally had the chance to learn them.

She cultivated before and so practicing spells became much easier. But even so, one night is only enough for her to learn one or two. By the time she came back to her senses, it was already dawn, and only then did she realize a big problem.

She memorized all the techniques, but actually did not learn how to use swords and fly, which was the most essential technique to travel in this world. It was like having a high-grade brand-name cars, but not yet having a driver’s license so fucked up big.

There is no other way but to rely on the legs to go.

She was just about to leave Dragon City but at the entrance to the city, she saw a smiling Long Aotian standing there. It was as if he was ready to follow her, and even prepared a righteous reason for it.

“The benefactor’s kindness of saving me, how can I not repay? I was unable to find the benefactor before, now that I found you, from now on, I, Long Aotian, will be at your service. I will live as your own and die as your own. In that dangerous place, please take me with you, no matter what. I want to live and die with you.”

Damn, to repay the kindness, don’t say such warm words ah! Can’t you see that the crowd is huddling around in gossiping mode?

“If you come with me, what about your Dragon City? Aren’t you the city lord? Do you want to be so capricious?”

“It doesn’t matter!” He didn’t care and waved his hand, “There are still a few vice city lords in the city, they would have been eager for me to leave.”

“…… What about your family and friends? You are just leaving them behind?”

“Didn’t the benefactor know long ago that all my family members were dead?”

“Uh ……” She’d forgotten about that.

“Back then, that group of thieves didn’t even spare Ah Hua.” He said through gritted teeth.

“Who is Ah Hua?”

“Oh, Ah Hua is the cat I raised when I was young.”

“……”

Shi Xia couldn’t find any way. But she was determined to drive away Long Aotian, even by beating or by scolding.

For driving some sense into his ‘repaying the grace even by death’ brain, she even thought of giving a killer blow.

“I’ll tell you the truth, my real name is Shi Xia.” So following me is very dangerous.

Long Aotian froze and looked at her with a pained face, “The benefactor already has told her name is Shunfeng Songhuo, such a name of depth and connotation, why bother to change the name?”

Where is the depth of connotation? How much agency fee you have received from the courier company to say such shameless words!

“Whatever, it’s your choice if you want l to follow or not.” Shi Xia completely gave up on driving him away and walked forward.

Long Aotian wasn’t dissatisfied and even began to persuade her, “benefactor, the name must be given by your parents, why change it ah? If you really don’t like it, you can change your surname. How about ‘Songhuo Shunfeng’? Or ‘Song Jia*’? Or how about ‘Shunfeng Yueli’*?”

“Fuck off!”

[T/N: Song Jia or Songhuo Jia means ‘special delivery’. Shunfeng Yueli means ‘All the way to the wind’. I’m not Chinese so the meanings can be wrong.]