Chapter 181: Yun Xi, Returning from a Pilgrimage to the Western Regions
As dusk settled, a light snowfall began to drift from the sky.
The usually lively streets of Wangchuan Town had quieted down, with only three cultivators, clad in straw cloaks and wearing face coverings, still walking along the road.
The leader was a man of noble bearing. The deep purple eyes on his face covering cast a calm, almost stern gaze ahead.
Beside him, a young woman with a pair of orange eyes, holding his hand, saw the falling snow. She extended her hand and caught a snowflake, bringing it closer for a look.
“Senior Brother, it’s snowing.”
“Mm, it’s already early winter. We’ve been traveling for almost two months.”
Ye Anping turned his head to look at his junior sister’s composed eyes. He reached over and adjusted her slightly crooked bamboo hat before turning his gaze forward again.
They, senior and junior siblings, were accustomed to the cold; a little snow posed no threat.
However, Feng Yu Die was feeling rather uncomfortable. She could barely articulate her words:
“Young Master Ye, can we find an inn to rest? Why did the weather change so drastically after crossing the border? Is the Southern Domain really this cold?”
“The cold in the Southern Domain’s winter is mainly felt more intensely…”
Ye Anping, while answering, turned his head and saw her shivering, looking somewhat surprised.
Was this guy so afraid of the cold?
He sighed, then took a cloak from his storage bag. He unfurled it, went behind her, and draped it over her shoulders.
“Here, tie it yourself.”
Feng Yu Die quickly tied the two red strings at the collar of the cloak, pursed her lips into a smile, tucked her neck down, and winked at Ye Anping before saying in a sweet, childish tone:
“Thank you, Young Master Ye~”
Ye Anping was momentarily puzzled. What was she doing? Was she afraid he’d charge her spirit stones?
He then rolled his eyes and corrected her.
“A man thanks more directly. Don’t purse your lips and smile. Just say ‘Thank you’ with a poker face.”
“Oh!” Feng Yu Die’s expression changed. “Thank you!”
“Aiy—”
Ye Anping shook his head slightly, shielding himself with his bamboo hat. He looked up at the sky, seeing that night was approaching and the fog was thick. He felt it was indeed time to rest in this town.
Coincidentally, the town’s inn was just ahead, so he led the two of them inside.
The plaque above the inn’s main door, “Wangchuan Inn,” was now somewhat yellowed and cracked. It looked like an inn that had been operating for decades. He figured the waiter and shopkeeper would be quite discerning.
Thus, Ye Anping decided to try his luck. He stepped over the threshold with the two of them.
“Waiter, we need a room.”
Upon hearing this, the inn’s waiter quickly approached, bowed, and observed the demeanor of the three. His gaze lingered on Feng Yu Die’s face for a moment before he awkwardly scratched the back of his head and bent down.
“Esteemed guests, I apologize. We only have one room left. How about this? You let this young lady have the room, and I’ll set up two beds for the two young masters downstairs.”
It seemed Feng Yu Die’s disguise as a man had been somewhat effective over the past few months. Waiters were usually good at spotting cross-dressers, and this one hadn’t noticed at all.
“The three of us can just squeeze in together.”
The waiter paused for a moment, bewildered. Two men and one woman sharing a room?
Seeing his expression, Ye Anping hesitated for a moment and then explained, “I misspoke. Please bring us two sets of bedding. My senior brother and I will sleep on the floor.”
“Oh… I understand, I understand! Please come in…”
Upon reaching the private room on the second floor, Ye Anping removed his straw cloak and bamboo hat. He asked the waiter to bring a pot of hot tea for his junior sister and Feng Yu Die to drink. He then went to the window, gazing out into the distance, and reviewed his plan one last time.
Regarding the Moon Shadow Sword Sect incident, if he wanted all three young ladies to survive in the end, he needed to increase their favorability towards each other.
In other words, their current state of mutual animosity needed to transform into a trust where each of them would willingly entrust their back to the other two.
This event in the game actually had three favorability bars.
— Favorability between Yun Yiyi and Yun Jiujiu.
— Favorability between Yun Yiyi and Yun Xi.
— Favorability between Yun Xi and Yun Jiujiu.
The initial value for all was “-50.” Players needed to improve these three values through different event options.
In the game, the walkthrough group had explored all possible combinations of options. They discovered that no matter how they played, at most two bars could reach “+50,” meaning at least one person would die.
However, theoretically, if all three favorability bars could reach “+50,” all three individuals could survive in the end.
This was his goal.
The concept of “increasing favorability between people” sounded daunting, but put simply, there were only two ways to foster such a connection:
— Sharing pleasant experiences together, and confronting a common enemy.
Considering these two points, the entire matter became clear.
What he needed to do was to set up a situation for the three of them, where they would simultaneously face danger but rely on each other to overcome it. Then, he would deflect the spotlight towards others, collect the rewards, and make his escape.
However, to set up a scenario, he first needed to get into the game.
Thinking this, Ye Anping turned to look at his junior sister. He decided to have Feng Yu Die help him send his junior sister into the game first. Of the three, his junior sister was the one he was most worried about; it was best to pave the way for her.
In other words, he needed to send his junior sister to Yun Xi’s side first, using the pretense of “Yun Tianchong’s illegitimate daughter who was outside” and the Leaf Shadow Sword Art to gain Yun Xi’s trust.
Yun Xi had the kindest personality among the three. His junior sister would not be in any danger with her.
But…
“The problem is, where is Yun Xi right now?”
Because of the conflict with the game’s timeline, he was uncertain of Yun Xi’s location. If she wasn’t at the Moon Shadow Sword Sect, he’d have to stake out somewhere outside, but that could take ages!
“If Brother Liang were here, it would be great. He has wide connections; finding someone shouldn’t be a problem… Sigh—”
Ye Anping shook his head and decided to go to the black market himself to find information brokers. They usually kept tabs on the movements of young masters from major sects for contingency purposes.
It was at this moment, however, that he suddenly saw two cultivators, wearing bamboo hats and covered in scars, hobbling towards the inn’s entrance with canes.
“Ouch! We’re finally here!! So tired, I could die… Waiter!! Waiter!! Where are you?!”
“Young Miss, why is our luck so bad? When we went to Chi Long Mansion, we encountered a demonic cultivator invasion. When we went to the Western Regions, there was unrest. And just after crossing the border, we were targeted by bandits…”
“I think you’re just a walking disaster.” The woman glanced at him coldly. “During the Chi Long Mansion incident, out of the twelve disciples I brought, you were the only one who survived. Tsk…”
“Ah? Young Miss, you’re wrongly accusing me…”
The woman waved her hand, speaking indignantly.
“Next time, I’m absolutely not bringing you out. Oh right, did you lose the ashes of Senior Brother and the others? I want to bury them in the Sword Sect disciples’ mausoleum when we get back.”
“No…” The man touched his storage bag and mumbled, “One, two, three, four… ten… Hmm? Why is one missing… Hiss— Wait, let me count again. One, two, three, four… ten. Young Miss!! One is missing?”
The woman took a deep breath and kicked him fifteen feet away, scolding him in a clear, resonant voice.
“Zhang Yihe!!! I curse your entire ancestral line!!!”
“Ah… This… Young Miss, it’s likely that when I was taking out talismans to fight the bandits, I accidentally took out the urn of ashes and threw it away. I’ll go back and look.”
“Hiss— Whoosh…” The woman took a deep breath and asked, “…Whose ashes are lost?”
“Chou… Senior Brother Chou’s.”
“Then what are you waiting for? Go find it!!! Don’t come back if you can’t find it, you jinx!!”
“Yes… Yes!”
Ye Anping, watching from the second floor, felt a knot in his chest, which he couldn’t untangle for a long time. Seeing the Moon Shadow Sword Sect disciple named “Zhang Yihe” run away, he closed the window and turned to look at Feng Yu Die, who was drinking tea and rubbing her hands.
“Feng Yu, you have a task to do tonight.”
Feng Yu Die paused.
“Die is gone?”
“Die is gone. You’re a man now, change your name.”
Feng Yu Die paused again, glanced at Pei Lianxue, and with a knitted brow asked,
“…Oh, what task? Who was just losing ashes outside?”
“Yun Xi. We’ve run into her. Go into the mountains tonight and catch a Demonic Beast close to level four.”
Feng Yu Die pondered for a moment. “I understand! Let the Demonic Beast attack them, and then Junior Sister Pei will make a sparkling entrance, right?”
“You get it.”
“But isn’t this a bit too rough? Won’t it be too abrupt and obvious?”
“No, their luck has been bad all the way, so one more mishap won’t make a difference. Rather, my junior sister’s intervention will give Yun Xi the feeling that her luck has finally turned.”
“Oh~~”
Pei Lianxue, standing nearby, listened to her senior brother and Feng Yu Die talking back and forth, but couldn’t quite follow their train of thought. She pursed her lips, then pretended to understand and nodded. “Oh! Okay!! I understand!”
Seeing her like this, Ye Anping walked over somewhat helplessly and pinched her cheek.
“Do you really understand?”
“I understand!”
“Really?”
Pei Lianxue hesitated for a moment, then remembered what her senior brother had taught her: if you don’t understand, ask. So she lowered her head and shook it slightly. “No…”
