We Won’t Browse Anymore
Hearing these words, half of Duan Wangyue’s heart, which had just settled back into his chest, was yanked high up into the air once more. Did Shibo mean that if Shizun encountered this demon in the future, his injuries would relapse?
The hand gripping the wooden tray could not help increasing its strength, causing the tray to emit a faint, unbearable low creak.
He must find that demon, and then eliminate him.
Qinzhou, who was meticulously grooming his remaining feathers while simultaneously cursing and wishing that the person who had turned his gorgeous red feathers into this dead-looking state would experience a seed stuck in their teeth whenever they drank cold water, suddenly felt his nose itch and let out a sneeze that carried tiny sparks.
With looks as breathtaking as his, so stunning that a mere outing would send shockwaves through the Demon Realm, a great beauty like him was simply bound to be coveted by others.
Otherwise, why would he sneeze early in the morning? It must be because some demon was thinking of him day and night, tossing and turning, unable to sleep the entire night.
Both Xiao Yuan and Xiao Ziyun possessed high cultivation bases, so they naturally heard the creaking sound of the tray in Duan Wangyue’s hands just before he left.
Xiao Ziyun poured himself a cup of hot tea, lowered his gaze to take a shallow sip, and then his eyes lit up. Good tea!
Without putting down the teacup, his fingertips traced the rim of the cup as he said, “Your disciple cares about you a great deal.”
Xiao Yuan was currently reaching out to tidy his somewhat rumpled sleeves. Hearing this, he nodded, his tone carrying a trace of pride, “He is my disciple.”
Teaching a disciple who would one day slice him up into a skeletal frame, turning him into the present-day gentle scholar and respectful junior immortal, gave him every reason to feel proud of himself.
Xiao Ziyun lightly flicked the rim of his cup with his fingertip, watching the clear tea liquid ripple in circles. He offered neither approval nor dissent regarding his junior brother’s words, instead stating, “As your elder brother, I have a question I am quite curious about. I wonder if Junior Brother would be willing to answer it.”
Xiao Yuan replied, “Elder Brother, speak freely.”
“A-Yuan, when were you afflicted with the demon poison?”
Hearing this, Xiao Yuan’s expression remained as calm as usual, and he answered quite frankly, “During my travels.”
Xiao Ziyun nodded, indicating he understood, and asked further, “Did you happen to run into this demon when you went out yesterday?”
“Mn. The mechanical puppet malfunctioned, and I happened to encounter it while inspecting it.”
Having obtained his answer, Xiao Ziyun did not ask any further questions, sparing himself his junior brother’s annoyance. Before leaving, he did not forget to beg for a jar of tea.
Sensing that his senior brother had left the Sixth Peak, Xiao Yuan finally let out a sigh of relief. The mountain wind carrying the cold fragrance of snow-plum swept past, and only then did Xiao Yuan suddenly realize that he had broken out in a cold sweat.
Relaxing his body against the back of his chair, he lowered his gaze to look at his reflection in the teacup. Senior Brother is far too sharp. I must be more careful in my actions from now on.
Perhaps, aside from practicing demon cultivation techniques, the dragon cub could not afford to fall behind on human cultivation methods either.
That his senior brother was good to him was beyond doubt, but Xiao Yuan could not gauge what a righteous, orthodox member of a prominent sect thought of the demon race.
He dared not gamble, and he could not afford to lose.
That very day, Xiao Yuan brought this matter up with Duan Wangyue: “Even though cultivation is arduous, you must never easily give it up.”
Duan Wangyue gave Shizun a deep look. “This disciple understands.”
To test whether disciples were slacking off or becoming lazy in their cultivation, the Sword Sect held a Grand Tournament every three years to assess their cultivation achievements.
In times without warfare, the greatest adversarial relationship existed between sects.
Everything from the number of recruited disciples and cultivation resources to mortal renown was subject to comparison.
Not to mention the grand tournaments of major sects, which naturally required taking the elite disciples of one’s own sect out to compete.
If they won, their own sect would glow with glory; if they lost, it didn’t matter, treating it as sparring practice. Who knew, while fighting on the arena stage, one might suddenly achieve an epiphany regarding a cultivation bottleneck.
Thus, half a month before the Sword Sect Grand Tournament, the restaurants in the civilian towns within the Sword Sect’s territory were packed full of sect disciples who had arrived to participate in the competition.
Duan Wangyue possessed exceptional natural bone structure, and with a breath of determination driving him, his cultivation speed could be said to have advanced by leaps and bounds. His human cultivation method successfully achieved Foundation Establishment, and by the eve of the sect tournament, he had already reached the Great Circle of early Foundation Establishment, while his demon cultivation method was already at the Great Circle of late Golden Core.
Xiao Yuan saw all his hard work in his eyes, thinking that his disciple had never once left the sect in the three years since entering the Sword Sect with him. Therefore, he decided to take Duan Wangyue for a stroll through the town at the foot of the Sword Sect.
It could also serve as a way to relax his mind ahead of tomorrow’s grand tournament so he wouldn’t feel too much pressure.
The streets were an endless stream of disciples wearing the uniforms of various sects. Duan Wangyue followed closely by his Shizun’s side, full of curiosity about everything. He had never roamed the streets when he was small, and this was his very first time descending the mountain ever since Shizun brought him to the Sword Sect.
The businesses and stalls on both sides of the street were doing an exceptionally booming trade. Even out-of-town merchants with quick access to news had brought their goods from thousands of miles away to sell them here.
The entire street was hung with bright red lanterns, bustling and lively enough to feel like the Spring Festival.
Everywhere the eye could see was a clamorous, lamp-lit world of mortals.
Xiao Yuan was much taller than Duan Wangyue, who only reached his waist. At a glance, he spotted an old grandfather selling candied haws, surrounded by a group of little children.
His heart stirred slightly as he suddenly recalled a trend that had been popular for quite some time back in his modern world:
“Wangyue, wait for me here. Shizun will be right back.”
Duan Wangyue nodded, standing obediently in place to wait, with the increasingly plump Qin Ke still perched on his shoulder.
Watching that moon-white figure disappear into the crowd, Duan Wangyue listlessly withdrew his gaze. People came and went all around him, and it looked lively enough.
Yet standing right in the middle of it all, he felt not a shred of lively atmosphere, as if Shizun’s departure had taken away all his interest in his surroundings.
His pale lips pressed together slightly. He did not like looking at Shizun’s retreating back, nor did he like standing in one place waiting for Shizun.
He wished even more that Shizun would take him along wherever he went.
Qin Ke fluttered from his left shoulder to his right, rolling his bean-like eyes as he looked all around, finding everything exceedingly interesting.
Just as Duan Wangyue was hesitating whether to follow this path and go see what Shizun was doing, a crisp female voice rang out: “Oh, this spiritual pet is so adorable! Little brother, are you willing to sell it to me?”
Hearing the voice, Duan Wangyue looked over and spotted a green-robed female cultivator who was a head taller than him, wearing clothing embroidered with a medicine cauldron pattern.
A medicine cultivator from the Valley of Medicine Kings, green robes, a medicine cauldron pattern, likely even a heavily favored little disciple.
Duan Wangyue immediately formed a plan in his mind. He grabbed Qin Ke, who had frozen stiff upon his shoulder, into his hand and shook his head: “Not willing.”
The green-robed medicine cultivator furrowed her brow and let out a soft “ah”, and before she could say anything, a green-robed disciple of similar height standing beside her began to clamor.
“Which sect’s disciple are you? Do you not know we are medicine cultivators from the Valley of Medicine Kings?”
He looked the short little fellow who dared to displease their little junior sister up and down. Seeing that he wasn’t wearing any sect disciple robes and had no items on him to prove his identity, he concluded that this shorty was merely a disciple hailing from some insignificant, minor background.
“Having offended our Valley of Medicine Kings, are you planning to make an enemy of all medicine cultivators?”
Duan Wangyue blinked, one hand smoothing down Qin Ke’s soft feathers as he asked in puzzlement: “Is your Valley of Medicine Kings planning to force buys and sales?”
Qin Ke obediently nested in the Young Master’s palm, his bean-like eyes looking at the young man and woman before him with utter disdain.
Ptui.
What status do you think you have, wanting to buy Lord Ke? Don’t even look at your own weight; you dare bully the only disciple of the Sword Sect’s disciplinary elder right here on Sword Sect territory?
There’s a good show coming to watch.
“Forcing a buy and sale, so what? It’s merely a petty spiritual beast that can’t be shown in public. If our Valley of Medicine Kings wants it, we take it. We’re giving you some face, but do you really think you’re somebody special?”
There were many cultivators coming and going around them, all of them practitioners of immortality with sharp eyes and ears. Hearing the contents of the argument, they all stopped in their tracks to watch the show.
Seeing more and more surrounding cultivators watching, the female cultivator’s clean, delicate face flushed completely red, and tears welled up in her eyes, making her look exceptionally pitiful.
She tugged on her senior brother’s sleeve and let out a soft cry: “Senior Brother Mu.”
Senior Brother Mu, the male cultivator accompanying her, seemed to have received some sort of encouragement. Seeing the large crowd of surrounding cultivators, he felt as though he had garnered attention once more, and his confidence in speaking grew a notch bolder.
“My junior sister has taken a liking to your spiritual pet; that is your good fortune. I’ll trade this bottle of Mysterious-grade Tier Four Foundation Establishment Pills for your inferior little spiritual beast. You’re not losing out at all.”
A Mysterious-grade Tier Four Foundation Establishment Pill, as expected of the Valley of Medicine Kings, they were certainly generous. One must know that a Mysterious-grade Foundation Establishment Pill could make a cultivator’s breakthrough to Foundation Establishment twice as effective with half the effort, let alone a Tier Four one.
The surrounding cultivators wished the spiritual pet chosen by the Valley of Medicine Kings’ junior sister was theirs instead.
Some quick-witted cultivators cast a glance at the Valley of Medicine Kings senior brother and junior sister, wearing smiles of certainty.
Kill people and seize treasures, nothing could be more normal.
“Chirp chirp chirp! Chirp chirp chirp!”
You’re losing big! Losing massively!
Losing big, alright? Lord Ke here is a high-level ancient divine beast, a Vermilion Bird of the demon race! You want to buy Lord Ke with a tiny little Mysterious-grade Tier Four pill? Keep dreaming in broad daylight!
Others might not understand Qin Ke’s chirping language, but that did not mean Duan Wangyue could not understand it.
Calmly pinching Qin Ke’s beak shut, just as he was about to open his mouth to say something, his gaze caught a flash of moon-white.
The hand pinching Qin Ke’s beak loosened. Unobtrusively, he yanked a feather out of Qin Ke, causing the bird’s claws to tighten in pain and scratch a few nail-sized bloody marks into Duan Wangyue’s palm.
Duan Wangyue’s eyes rapidly filled with teardrops. That tiny figure, a whole head shorter than the Valley of Medicine Kings’ senior brother and junior sister, cradled the small spiritual beast while trembling slightly, looking, well, thoroughly heart-wrenching.
Xiao Yuan returned carrying two sticks of candied haws and a sugar figure of a dragon painted on a stick, only to find that the disciple he had been teaching to be a gentle, refined, and courteous gentleman was being bullied.
The coldness on his already expressionless face grew even more detached. The chill caused surrounding cultivators to feel a cold draft down the back of their necks, and they hastily backed away, leaving Xiao Yuan an unobstructed path.
Xiao Yuan stood before Duan Wangyue, looking down from above at the Valley of Medicine Kings disciples: “Are the two of you here to participate in the Sword Sect Grand Tournament?”
When they went out today, Xiao Yuan and Duan Wangyue did not carry any items proving their identities. Xiao Yuan rarely appeared before ordinary cultivators, so those who recognized him were either high-level cultivators or elders from other sects.
Not to mention Duan Wangyue, who had never roamed the mortal world and possessed no fame to speak of.
“That is naturally the case.”
Xiao Yuan nodded knowingly, handed a stick of candied haws to his disciple, and asked him: “Do you still want to walk around?”
Duan Wangyue gripped the thin wooden stick in his hand, inhaling the sweet-and-sour fragrance of the candied haws as he raised his head to look at Shizun, his eye rims red to the extreme: “We won’t browse anymore.”