2333: “Were you deliberately wandering around outside at night?”
Wen Qianshu put away the bamboo slip and broke through the sea’s surface. Endless Moon flew forward, scattering water droplets behind it. Wen Qianshu stepped on these water droplets, making her way towards the barrier’s entrance.
“Of course not. I just happened to run into it and mentioned it casually.”
2333: “Do you think I’d still believe you?”
“Of course.” Wen Qianshu retorted, “Why wouldn’t you believe me?”
2333 had a headache. 2333 gave up resisting. 2333 decided to be blunt: “Are you going to interfere between the male and female protagonists now?”
According to the rules of Five Spirits Mountain, every ten years, each sect must send out a few disciples and an elder to leave the mountain. They would select people with good potential and bring them back, then assign them to the five sects based on their disposition. This presiding elder position was naturally rotated among the five sects, and this year it was Canglan Courtyard’s turn.
The elder sent by Canglan Courtyard was the junior martial brother of Canglan Courtyard’s head, Yan Chengshuang’s Martial Uncle, and also the female protagonist’s love interest, Yan Qingxi.
He had found a group of promising youths outside the mountain and was currently staying with them at a farmhouse. However, in the middle of the night, he received a message saying that several disciples from Yanyun Sky were ambushing a demon, got trapped in a cave, and were pleading for help from fellow sect members. Yan Qingxi went to help, but upon his return, he found the farmhouse besieged by a horde of demons. The disciples fought to the death, managing only to protect the youths inside. The kind people of the farmhouse who had offered them lodging were mostly dead or injured, with only a few children, no older than their early teens, remaining.
Greatly grieved, Yan Qingxi annihilated the demons that failed to escape, buried the villagers, and took the few children back with him, accepting them all into the sect regardless of their aptitude.
And the female protagonist, Yan Han, was among these children, successfully infiltrating Five Spirits Mountain.
2333 thought she was going to go now, to keep an eye on the female protagonist before Yan Qingxi was lured away, but it didn’t understand what use that would be.
Wen Qianshu: “That’s a good idea.”
2333: “Huh?”
2333 already knew that whenever Wen Qianshu said “that’s a good idea,” her next step would be to do the exact opposite: “What wicked scheme are you cooking up now?”
“Don’t say that,” Wen Qianshu said. “I’m a cultivator now. How can the affairs of immortals be called a wicked scheme?”
Sooner or later, 2333 was going to be angered to death by Wen Qianshu.
It was still evening. Wen Qianshu followed the directions on the bamboo slip and found the farmhouse. But she didn’t go in; instead, she began to search the area around the farmhouse.
2333: “What are you looking for?”
Wen Qianshu: “The place where those Yanyun Sky disciples were trapped.”
2333: “But the original text didn’t mention it. Would it be around here?”
“It must be nearby.” Wen Qianshu flew up into the clouds, gazing into the distance. “The book said that Five Spirits Mountain is very famous, and all the immortal sects in the world show it some respect.”
“If the cave they were trapped in wasn’t close, why would it alarm Yan Qingxi enough for him to go? They could have sought help from other immortal sects.”
2333: “Then people from the demon realm could have faked a distress call, right?”
Wen Qianshu smiled. “Faked?”
“Yan Qingxi isn’t an idiot. If it were too far away, or if there was even the slightest flaw, Yan Han wouldn’t have been able to infiltrate Five Spirits Mountain.”
2333 was unconvinced: “What if he really is an idiot?”
Wen Qianshu: “Then at least I’d know he’s an idiot, wouldn’t I?”
2333: “…”
Wen Qianshu: “2333, think about it. Since these trapped disciples were important enough to trouble Yan Qingxi to take action himself, instead of just sending a few disciples under him to the rescue, it means one of two things: either these people were exceptionally skilled, and ordinary disciples would be of no help; or they held a high status, and no mistakes could be afforded. If these people were demons in disguise, either way, they would be much more useful than the current Yan Han. The demon race wouldn’t need to expose these pawns just to send one Yan Han into the mountain.”
“So, these people are real Yanyun Sky disciples.”
“Real Yanyun Sky disciples, really in danger, a real farmhouse massacre—what a coincidence.”
Wen Qianshu smiled, her eyes half-lowered, as if looking at the ground, yet her words seemed to carry a hidden meaning: “I’ve always believed that whenever a coincidence is too incredible to be true, there must be a problem behind it.”
“I guess the demon race must have made thorough preparations. On this trip of Yan Qingxi’s, it’s possible that any farmhouse could have a demon mixed in.” Wen Qianshu smiled. “Tell me, if I were to directly cut off the female protagonist’s path, let another demon infiltrate, and then frame that demon to get it kicked out, wouldn’t that solve the problem?”
2333: “…”
First, it was replacing the female antagonist, pretending not to notice, and letting the female protagonist destroy Five Spirits Mountain; now it’s intercepting the female protagonist, swapping in another demon, and directly blocking her from entering the mountain…
2333: “I’m begging you, please think of a more normal solution!”
Wen Qianshu didn’t answer, just smiled. She wandered around the area for a few days, her flying becoming more and more stable. One day, she suddenly stopped and looked at the valley below.
As far as the eye could see, ancient trees reached for the sky and mountains rose and fell, but there seemed to be a depression in the middle.
Wen Qianshu flew down and landed on the ground. Sure enough, she saw a cave hidden behind thick vines. But the vines had been burned open, the trees beside them were broken, and the dead branches were scorched.
Wen Qianshu: “2333, keep an eye on the surroundings for me.”
2333: “Alright.”
Wen Qianshu pushed aside the vines and stepped inside. Endless Moon hovered around, glowing faintly, illuminating the damp, slippery moss on the cave walls.
Wen Qianshu walked inward along the cave wall. After an unknown amount of time, 2333 suddenly said: “There’s movement ahead.”
Wen Qianshu nodded, her hand brushing over Endless Moon, forming it into a longbow. She pressed her back against the wall and looked sideways. In the darkness, she saw scattered sparks of fire, crackling and sputtering, accompanied by the smell of burnt flesh.
“Damn little things!”
A roar came, the ground vibrated, and the cave walls shook. Its voice was muffled and resonant, as if speaking from underwater: “I’ll tear you apart!”
Wen Qianshu moved closer step by step, her back to the cave wall. If rocks fell, she would raise her bow to split them. Ahead, a fierce battle was raging, seemingly involving three people. However, the monster they were fighting kept making strange noises, clearly having strength to spare and holding the upper hand.
Wen Qianshu took another step closer and suddenly saw a flash of fire. A figure brandished a long spear, stepped on the monster’s flesh, and rushed upwards.
The strange voice sneered, and a giant tail swung fiercely, smashing down towards her head.
The two people behind her cried: “No!”
Wen Qianshu drew her longbow to its fullest. An ice arrow shot through the air, pierced the flesh of the tail, and pinned the tail to the monster’s abdomen. Then, ice spread out, freezing it firmly in place.
The monster let out a miserable shriek.
Wen Qianshu: “Whoa, am I this awesome?”
“It can do this? Doesn’t that mean I can eat crushed ice whenever and wherever I want from now on?”
2333: “…”
2333 wanted to throw its head back and howl at the sky.
The monster began to thrash violently. The figure from before leaped high, her entire long spear transforming into a blazing flame, and fiercely stabbed it into the top of the monster’s head.
Flames erupted with a bang.
In the blazing firelight, Wen Qianshu finally saw clearly that the monster was a giant catfish. Below it was an underground stream. Unfortunately, its head was now on fire, while its entire tail was frozen along with the stream. In its fury, it thrashed about ceaselessly, tearing its own flesh and dripping with blood.
The silhouette stood amidst the soaring flames, her long hair tied up, clad in soft armor. She reached into the flames, pulled out her long spear again, and stabbed it viciously into the monster’s eye socket.
The monster wailed. The people below shouted: “Young Miss, get down quickly!”
“It’s about to fall!”
“Get out of the way!” the Young Miss shouted coldly. “Don’t let it crush you.”
She leaped high once more and stabbed down hard. The catfish let out a final wail and finally collapsed, unable to hold on any longer.
She remained standing on top of it, leaning on her spear with both hands to support herself. She turned her head slightly, raised an eyebrow, and said while panting, “Thank you for your assistance, Your Excellency.”
The firelight illuminated her side profile. The soft armor outlined her figure, partially revealing the fiery red Five Spirits sigil on her back. Sweat-soaked hair stuck to her temples and cheeks. Her long hair, like a waterfall, was tied up high with a matching fiery red ribbon, cascading down to her shoulder blades.
Wen Qianshu also walked into the light, raising her wrist. On her wristband was the same Five Spirits sigil, but in ice blue. “Fellow sect members should help each other.”
At the same time, the corner of Wen Qianshu’s mouth twitched. She said to 2333, “This book of yours is written far too concisely.”
2333: “What do you mean?”
Wen Qianshu: “The Young Miss of Yanyun Sky—”
2333: “The female antagonist?”
The other person leaped down. The flames soared high, transformed into a long spear, and landed in her hand. Up close, one could see that her beauty was even more dazzling, like a blazing fire that could burn away one’s senses.
She was only about seventeen or eighteen, yet her features were striking—a fine nose, red lips, and pearly teeth. Her eyes shone with a brilliant light, captivating with every glance.
When she first saw Wen Qianshu, she was slightly startled. Then she cupped her hands in a salute and took a step closer, saying, “So you are a fellow sect member. Thank you for your help—I am Yun Cai of Yanyun Sky. And you are?”
But Wen Qianshu was stunned. Yun Cai was too close, far too close, so close that Wen Qianshu could see a light-colored birthmark on her left eye, slanting at the corner—it was a crescent moon.
Yun Cai didn’t speak, but 2333, seeing her silent for a long time, urged, “Wen Qianshu?”
Wen Qianshu: “Canglan Courtyard—”
She closed her eyes for a moment. “Yan Chengshuang.”
The two disciples behind caught up and also introduced themselves. Wen Qianshu nodded. “What are you all doing here?”
A disciple behind her said: “This catfish demon has committed many evils, eating many people from the nearby village. Someone came to Five Spirits Mountain for help, so we took the request tablet and came out.”
Five Spirits Mountain has a Five Spirits Line that runs between heaven and earth. Various tablets hang from it, mostly requests from outsiders asking for help in exorcising demons and subduing monsters. If a disciple wishes to go, they can take a tablet and set out.
Another disciple said: “We had our elders look it over before we came. This catfish demon usually only eats children and doesn’t even dare to provoke a sturdy adult. We thought it was just a minor demon, but who knew—”
He sighed. Covered in injuries, he had clearly had a hard time.
“I see,” Wen Qianshu said. “Then why don’t you come with me? I was just about to find my Martial Uncle, who is nearby.”
The disciple gave a bitter smile: “Thank you for your kind offer, but we must hurry—”
Yun Cai: “Alright.”
The disciple: “Young Miss?”
Yun Cai: “Does it matter who we tell?”
She turned to Wen Qianshu: “Since your esteemed Martial Uncle is nearby, reporting to him is the same.”
After speaking, she used the tip of her spear to lift the catfish demon’s corpse. The catfish demon was already charred from the fire, only its tail was still frozen, connected to the stream below. Wen Qianshu lifted a finger, and the solid ice shattered in unison, melting into the water.
With a fierce look, Yun Cai tightened her grip on the spear and, with a forceful movement, pried its entire tail open. The two disciples gasped. Beneath the catfish’s tail lay scattered skeletons, the bones small, clearly belonging to children.
Yun Cai walked forward, frowned, and knelt on one knee, pushing aside the bones to inspect them.
Endless Moon descended, illuminating the depths of the mud and sand for Yun Cai.
Wen Qianshu followed behind her and asked, “What is it?”
“It’s really strange.”
Yun Cai said: “There are many underground streams down here. It clearly could have escaped at any time. Why did it waste time fighting us here?”
Author’s Notes:
Absolutely OOC Theater:
Why do I suddenly want to eat grilled fish???
Shedding tears of longing for delicious food TAT
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