Chapter 320 Villain, Yin-Yang Encounter
The summer showers, arriving with gusty wind and pouring rain, and leaving just as hurriedly, left puddles and muddy patches in the mountain paths and ravines.
Tap tap—
The strong, powerful hooves of horses plunged into a puddle, scattering mud and water.
In the forest outside the East Gate of Tianan City, two jet-black steeds rode side by side.
On the taller horse, a woman wearing a bamboo hat sat sideways.
In her hand, the woman held a long flute made of black jade. As her fingers lightly pressed the holes, a pleasant flute melody wafted far and wide, causing other pedestrians on the road to turn their heads.
Veiled by the gauze curtain beneath her bamboo hat, the pedestrians could only vaguely see the woman’s lips, painted with a light red glaze, biting the mouthpiece of the flute, and her black hair fluttering in the wind.
The woman’s name was “Gu Mingxin.”
When she was just a child of one year old, she had met the Sect Master of Tian Mo Sect by chance and was taken in as a personal disciple.
For the past sixteen years, she had diligently cultivated within Tian Mo Sect, and after sacrificing over two hundred senior brothers and sisters of her generation, she successfully formed a demonic core, becoming a Void Realm cultivator at the Core Formation Stage.
Three months prior, the Sect Master of Tian Mo Sect had tasked her with a mission: to cross realms and infiltrate the Imperial Sect, thereby escalating the conflict between the Imperial Sect and the Demon Race. Ideally, she was to provoke a direct confrontation between the Demon Emperor and the Central Domain Emperor.
The battles between Void Realm cultivators would undoubtedly involve countless living beings. If they were to fight with all their might, not only Tianan City but the entire Central Domain would be reduced to scorched earth by the two of them.
As the saying goes, the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
Tian Mo Sect intended to be that oriole. After both the Demon Race and the Imperial Sect had sustained heavy losses, they would break through the Great Wall on the east side of the Central Domain and reclaim all the land that originally belonged to demonic cultivators.
In other words, Gu Mingxin was the first arrow shot by Tian Mo Sect at the Immortal Families.
At this moment, a young man in black, accompanying Gu Mingxin on the other horse, gazed at the East City Gate of Tianan City ahead and reminded her:
“Senior Sister Mingxin, we’ve arrived.”
The melodious flute music abruptly stopped. Gu Mingxin gently put down the black jade flute in her hand, lightly lifted her bamboo hat with her slender fingers, and looked forward.
Upon seeing the bustling tea stall at the city gate, her crimson eyes, hidden beneath the bamboo hat, narrowed slightly, a hint of disdain appearing in their depths.
With a smile, she rode her horse closer to her junior brother’s steed and ran her hand through his ear hair:
“Junior Brother, do you regret it?”
The black-clothed youth’s gaze fell upon the jade hand by his ear, and his breathing noticeably quickened.
He swallowed and said:
“I was born to be your person, Senior Sister, and I will die as your person. Whatever you tell me to do, I will do, without any complaints, ha—”
“So obedient.”
Gu Mingxin’s fingers lightly traced down the young man’s face to his neck, making him feel as if he had ascended to heaven, his eyes dazed, his breathing erratic, almost falling off his horse.
Seeing this, Gu Mingxin smiled faintly, gently pulled the reins, and urged her horse forward towards the city gate.
At this moment, a voice transmission entered her spiritual sense:
“Mingxin, you really have a twisted sense of humor.”
Immediately, a small figure radiating black light appeared above her head. The black halo emanating from its body even dimmed the sunlight that was falling on Gu Mingxin by three parts.
“Xue E, don’t hover on my head, I can’t see the road.”
“Yes, yes…”
The small black figure, called “Xue E,” floated upwards and glanced at the young junior brother from Tian Mo Sect, who was still recovering from Gu Mingxin’s teasing.
“Mingxin, don’t you like Junior Brother Xu?”
“I do,” Gu Mingxin answered immediately, looking back at her junior brother behind her. “He’s cute and handsome, who wouldn’t like him? The senior sisters in the sect dote on him like he’s something precious.”
“Then why are you still bringing him along?”
“He was willing to die for me, and I buried him with gratitude. Isn’t that like those romance stories in books?”
Xue E rolled its eyes at her. After pondering for a moment, it asked, “Mingxin, do you have any thoughts about finding a man? There are plenty of disciples in Tian Mo Sect willing to be your male favorites, just pick one to use for now. Dao cultivation combined with a partner is much faster than cultivating alone.”
“Heh, those people are not worthy.” Gu Mingxin smiled wickedly. “Anyone qualified to be my male favorite must be at least as good as my Master.”
“You like old men?”
“I only said *like* my Master, not *the* old man who is my Master.” Gu Mingxin pondered for a moment, pursing her lips, and said, “Preferably around my age, with a mature and restrained demeanor, intelligent, and ideally with a wife or something. As for cultivation and aptitude… I won’t demand, after all, no one in this world has better aptitude than me.”
Xue E found her words quite normal at first, but then paused, suddenly feeling something was off.
?
It blinked its eyes, furrowed its brows, and asked:
“Hmm? A wife?”
Gu Mingxin explained, half-jokingly and half-seriously:
“A woman watches her husband fall at my feet step by step, consumed by rage but powerless. She wants to kill me but is stopped by her husband. What a beautiful scene…”
“Alas…”
Xue E sighed softly, fell silent, and its figure gradually faded, disappearing from above Gu Mingxin’s head.
Gu Mingxin straightened her bamboo hat again, took a sword from her storage bag, and fastened it to her belt. She then rode her horse to the city gate.
After handing the sect identity token she had obtained from an Immortal Family cultivator’s storage bag a few days ago to the gate guards, she and her junior brother smoothly passed through the city gate.
Upon entering the city, they were in the eastern district of Tianan. The streets were bustling with people. Due to the hot weather, many Immortal Family cultivators gathered in tea stalls to cool off. Vaguely, they could hear conversations about the movements of the Demon Race:
“I inquired a few days ago, it seems the Demon Race has already broken through Chen’an Pass and is only about a thousand li away from Tianan City. But it’s strange, there are no refugees coming towards Tianan City from the west. I expected many people to flee, and I even prepared a lot of goods, but now I can’t sell any.”
“Most likely they were all massacred, and no one escaped. What’s so strange about that… The Demon Race has always harbored resentment towards human cultivators, so a massacre is normal, isn’t it?”
“Then should we run?”
“Run where? In the Central Domain, Tianan City is the safest. With the Central Domain Emperor stationed here, if Tianan City is breached, we’ll die no matter where we run. Relax~ Besides, Tianan City is protected by Void Realm formations, so the Demon Race can’t get in.”
“What about a siege without an attack?”
“Then let them besiege. I don’t believe the Demon Race will dare to besiege for long. When Xuán Xīng Sect from the Western Regions and Tàibái Sect from the Southern Domain arrive, it will be the Demon Race who is besieged.”
… …
The matter of the Demon Race crossing the border had spread throughout Tianan City in recent days, but most cultivators in the city, like these people, remained unconcerned and took it lightly.
Gu Mingxin rode her horse through the streets, listening to these conversations, and a slight smile curved her lips:
“These Immortal Cultivators are truly leisurely~ I wonder what expressions they’ll have when facing the Demon Race’s claws.”
“They’ll surely regret it,” the junior brother from Tian Mo Sect, who was following beside her, replied with a smile. Seeing a restaurant not far ahead, he said, “Senior Sister, let’s stay at the restaurant ahead. You must be tired after such a long journey. Junior brother will help you rub your legs later…”
Gu Mingxin glanced at him and chuckled:
“I’m not tired, but my horse is. You can help it rub its legs later.”
“Junior Brother is honored.”
“Heh…”
Gu Mingxin let out a light laugh and casually glanced at the sides of the street.
But in the next moment, her crimson eyes beneath the bamboo hat narrowed. Her previously leisurely gaze instantly became alert.
A young girl, holding a roasted chicken and walking along one side of the street, caught her attention.
The girl had rare silver hair.
However, what attracted her was not the girl’s rare silver hair, but the small golden figure on her shoulder, which was very similar to her own Xue E.
… …
