Chapter 429: Protagonist, Bewitched
Clouds obscured the moon, and it was past the second watch of midnight.
Three immortal ships, their movements masked by concealment spells, flew in a triangular formation, breaking through the wind-blown yellow sand. They sped at low altitude through a narrow canyon in the Gobi Desert.
Inside the largest cabin of the middle immortal ship, Xue Tianqiao lay on the windowsill, propping her head with her paw, staring blankly at the barren valley rushing past like a rolling curtain. Suddenly, her ears twitched, and she turned her head towards the table in the room.
Her sense of smell told her there was something on the table, but in her eyes, apart from the dishes holding the teapot and teacups, there was only a wooden dummy the size of her head.
“Heya! Ora ora ora~~”
The room was very quiet.
“Hya~ Uppercut! Heh…”
It was really quiet…
(Splat—! Taptap—!)
“Heya!! Sneak attack!”
So quiet you could hear a pin drop, absolutely silent…
“Ying…”
Xue Tianqiao tilted her head, full of suspicion.
She remembered that the white-haired sister had carved it out of wood with a small knife a few days ago. That stinky dwarf, reeking of alcohol, had asked her why she made such a small wooden dummy. Back then, the white-haired sister had simply giggled and said she was just making it to pass the time…
Xue Tianqiao had also examined the wooden dummy several times and found nothing strange…
But why did she always feel like something strange was hitting the dummy right now?
“Ooh da~~ Ah~~!! Hooo~~~!”
“……Ying?”
… …
On the bed in the room, Feng Yudie, who was currently staring at the ceiling with wide eyes, glanced at Xue Tianqiao on the windowsill and at Xiao Tian, who was punching and kicking the small wooden dummy she had made. She sighed inexplicably and then rolled over.
Yun Jiujiu was now sleeping on the inner side of the bed near the wall. Unlike when she was awake, sleeping Yun Jiujiu was like a slightly shorter, sheltered young lady.
She didn’t snore, slept properly, and didn’t kick her legs around. She lay like someone in a coffin, her eyes tightly closed, hands clasped on her chest, facing the ceiling.
“Hey! Hey! Hey!”
“… …”
Feng Yudie stared at Yun Jiujiu’s sleeping face for a while, then rolled over again and looked at Xiao Tian, who had finished with the dummy and was now doing push-ups. As if she had made up her mind, she took a deep breath, forcibly closed her eyes, and started counting Junior Sister Pei in her mind.
One Junior Sister Pei, two Junior Sister Pei…
Clang—!!
A sharp sword cry sounded by her ear.
!!
Feng Yudie’s eyes snapped open, and instinctively she fumbled under her pillow for a small dagger, holding it defense. However, when she opened her eyes, the room was the same as before, with only Xue Tianqiao, Xiao Tian, Yun Jiujiu, and herself…
It wasn’t the first time.
It had been nearly half a month since she and Yun Jiujiu had been traveling on this immortal ship, along with over five hundred Core Formation Stage disciples from the Xing Tian Division and twelve Core Formation Stage disciples from the Sword Sect.
And during these half-months, Feng Yudie had not been able to sleep even once. Every time she closed her eyes, at most half an hour would pass before she would hear the clang of a sword and a sense of tension as if a sword were at her throat…
Xiao Tian quickly got up and floated over. Seeing Feng Yudie’s terrified expression, she asked with concern:
“Yudie, what’s wrong? Do you have a bad premonition?”
Xue Tianqiao also jumped down from the windowsill, trotted, and lightly landed on the bed beside Feng Yudie’s pillow. She sat down with her tail acting as a seat cushion and tilted her head, “Sister Bai Mao, are you having a nightmare? Do you want my Master’s felt cushion? It’s very secure.”
Hearing this, Feng Yudie suddenly recalled that rainy night when she faced Hu Mu. Her heart flinched. If Ye Anping hadn’t arrived in time, she would have died by Hu Mu’s sword then…
—Perhaps the sword cry she had just hallucinated was the sound of Hu Mu’s sword tearing through the rain curtain…
Feng Yudie looked at Xiao Tian:
—Or perhaps it was the sword cry of the blood-colored spiritual sword wielded by Gu Mingxin in the Northern Region…
Then, Feng Yudie turned her head to look at the still-sleeping Yun Jiujiu:
—Or perhaps it was the sound of Yun Kunwu’s sword at the back of the Moon Shadow Sword Sect mountain…
A thought arose in Feng Yudie’s mind:
—How many times has Young Master Ye saved her?
Every time her life was in danger, Young Master Ye would appear in front of her, shield her, and help her escape peril…
Feng Yudie suddenly felt: Young Master Ye… seems… quite handsome…
“Yudie, why is your face red?”
?!
Xiao Tian’s voice suddenly pulled Feng Yudie back. She was slightly stunned, quickly shook her head, and completely negated her previous thought.
She, Feng Yudie, was wholeheartedly devoted to Pei Lianxue!
Xue Tianqiao tilted her head to the left, then to the right: “Ying? Sister Bai Mao is thinking about Brother Ye?”
“No, I’m thinking about Junior Sister Pei…”
At this moment, Yun Jiujiu, who was deeply asleep, seemed to be disturbed by their conversation. She groggily opened her eyes, took a peek at the window, and asked, “What’s up? You’ve been tossing and turning in bed these past few days, what sort of messy things are you thinking about?”
Feng Yudie knitted her brows and replied, “I can’t sleep. If you find me noisy, you can find another room. Why are you crowding in here with me?”
A vein bulged on Yun Jiujiu’s forehead. She twisted her mouth and cursed, “Nonsense! Do you think I want to squeeze into the same bed with a liar like you? Damn it, three immortal ships carrying over five hundred people, where are there so many rooms? People are squeezed into rooms in groups of three or four next door.”
But seeing the bloodshot eyes in Feng Yudie’s face, she sighed deeply, sat up, took out a wine gourd from her storage bag, and handed it over.
“Here! Drink it!”
“What?”
“Donghuang Lie Ruchun. One liang in your belly, and I guarantee you’ll fall asleep until you wake up naturally.”
Feng Yudie looked at the wine gourd and shook her head, refusing, “Before we left, Young Master Ye told me to keep an eye on you, not to let you drink too much, and not to let me drink either.”
“I’m watching, so I’ll rest for a while. Even if something really happens, I’ll just slap you awake then.”
Because the people they were escorting were a group of Core Formation cultivators, Ye Anping had specifically emphasized to her before they set off that, more than guarding against attacks from demonic cultivators, she should guard against betrayal from the disciples of the Xing Tian Division.
As the saying goes, desertion breeds chaos.
Throughout history, many mortal generals and emperors were assassinated by their trusted subordinates who snuck into their camps in the dead of night while they were leading their troops in retreat.
Although mortals and cultivators could not be equated, after all, both she and Yun Jiujiu were only early-stage Core Formation cultivators, and the people they were leading were also Core Formation cultivators.
Because of this, Ye Anping had asked Xue Tianqiao and Xiao Tian to accompany her.
Although Xue Tianqiao was usually silly, as a fox demon, she was naturally more perceptive than humans. Xiao Tian, on the other hand, didn’t need rest and could constantly guard their surroundings for any ill-intentioned people approaching them.
However, even so, Young Master Ye had stressed that she was not allowed to drink alcohol.
Since Young Master Ye had said so, there must be a reason.
Thinking this, Feng Yudie simply lay down, turning her back to Yun Jiujiu.
“No.”
Yun Jiujiu was taken aback for a moment, then shook her head helplessly. After taking a small sip, she threw the wine gourd back into her storage bag and lay down. “Feng Yudie, tell me, why can’t you sleep?”
“Hmm…”
Feng Yudie hesitated for a moment, then rolled over to face Yun Jiujiu and whispered, “Jiujiu, what do you think of Young Master Ye?”
Yun Jiujiu replied immediately, “Skinny arms and legs, not as strong as me, a little lady.”
Hearing this, Feng Yudie twisted her brows inexplicably, feeling a bit unhappy. “What’s wrong with skinny arms and legs? Do you have to be as strong as a bull? Besides, aren’t you naturally strong? Who can compare to you?”
Yun Jiujiu heard Feng Yudie actually defending Ye Anping, and suddenly seemed to understand. She sighed and said, “Yun Yiyi likes that surnamed Ye. Before at the Sword Sect, I felt he… was quite cunning. Although he’s handsome, and many girls on my Jian Jiu Peak secretly have a crush on him, I’ve never seen him fight… Anyway, I’m not interested!!”
Feng Yudie pouted and gave her a sideways glance. “Who are you interested in? I feel…”
“Feng Yu.”
?
Feng Yudie was slightly stunned. “Ah?”
“I’m interested in Feng Yu!”
Yun Jiujiu said dismissively, resting her head on her hands, and cast a sidelong glance at her, adding, “It’s a pity he’s a ‘no-thing’. I was genuinely moved back then. I originally wanted to see how big it was, but when I touched it, it was a slit…”
Feng Yudie was speechless and cast her a glance, but then she remembered that she and Junior Sister Pei both had ‘no-things’. She immediately asked, “…Between cultivation partners, must one person have ‘something’?”
“Otherwise?”
Yun Jiujiu gave her a sideways glance, thought for a moment, and then asked, “Speaking of which, you haven’t been able to sleep these past few days, is it because of that surnamed Ye?”
“…Yeah.”
“Then you’re just like my elder sister!”
“Ah?”
“After that surnamed Ye left, my elder sister had insomnia for several months. Every time I went to see her, she was like a sunflower, gazing to the northwest, speaking in a very cultured way, which was terribly annoying. Alas… This is love…”
Feng Yudie looked stunned. At this moment, Xiao Tian, who had been silent because Yun Jiujiu had woken up, seemed to have caught on. She covered her mouth and giggled:
“Aiya~ So that’s how it is, Yudie… One should be honest…”
Feng Yudie: “Shut up!!”
?
Yun Jiujiu was startled by her, and knitted her brows, looking at her. “What are you yelling so loudly for in the middle of the night?”
“…Gener…”
“Isn’t it obvious that you’ve fallen for that surnamed Ye?”
“…Gener…”
Yun Jiujiu shrugged. With her twelve or thirteen-year-old face, she shook her head with an old-fashioned air. After thinking for a moment, she continued, “Hey, you and that surnamed Ye are actually quite a match. You’re beautiful and can fight, and he’s handsome and skilled at scheming. Isn’t that great? And I see he’s also cultivated a Heavenly Dao Golden Core, which is pretty good.”
“…I am wholeheartedly devoted to Junior Sister Pei.”
“Junior Sister Pei… that girl who doesn’t talk much? Putting aside the fact that neither of you have ‘things’, I just don’t think you two are suitable.”
Yun Jiujiu pouted and shook her head, patting Feng Yudie’s shoulder. “Young people, don’t be wagging dogs!”
“You’re not even as tall as me, and you call me young…”
“I’m over sixty, and you’re just a child? How can I not say it?”
“…Gener…”
Feng Yudie fell silent, her brows furrowed tightly, feeling that something was wrong but couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was.
She liked Young Master Ye?
But Master said…
Whoosh—~
Although the immortal ship had wind-proof formations set up around it, a slight breeze still wafted in through the room’s window. The room suddenly became completely quiet.
Feng Yudie recalled every moment since her first meeting with Young Master Ye. Her chest, which had originally felt insecure, seemed to be gently soothed.
Sleepiness quietly arrived. The golden eyes gazing at the ceiling, after closing and opening several times, no longer opened.
Seeing Feng Yudie’s slightly upturned lips, Yun Jiujiu sighed again:
“Sigh…”
Then she heard Feng Yudie mumbling in her sleep:
“Heh heh… Young Master Ye… Roasted chicken… Slurp…”
“?”
Yun Jiujiu opened her eyes as well. It was her first time seeing someone have a dream about roasted chicken…
However, she didn’t disturb Feng Yudie. After all, Feng Yudie hadn’t rested well these past few days. Who knew what kind of messy trouble they would encounter on their journey.
A short while later, Yun Jiujiu also slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep again. Xiao Tian, seeing that the two of them were asleep, returned to the wooden dummy, took out the Heavenly Scroll of the Dao, and started doing bench presses with it as a dumbbell. Xue Tianqiao also curled up into a fox ball beside Feng Yudie’s pillow.
After an unknown amount of time—
Tap tap—
Footsteps in the cabin corridor once again stirred the air in the room.
Tap tap—
The footsteps grew closer…
Then, the sound of wood friction entered the room.
Creak—
Xue Tianqiao, who had curled into a fox ball, suddenly perked up her ears, then twitched her nose, sensing a strange, powdery scent in the room.
She raised her head and looked towards the door.
The originally tightly closed door was now inexplicably ajar.
Through the gap appeared a darkness as deep and unfathomable as an abyss, and…
A bloodshot eyeball, with a ferocious gaze, peered inside from the gap in the door.
“Ying!!!”
Her fur stood on end, and a fox cry erupted.
Xiao Tian, who was bench pressing the Heavenly Scroll of the Dao, widened her eyes instantly when she saw the person outside the door. She quickly gathered her spiritual energy, preparing to summon “Lao Jiu” to protect Feng Yudie and Yun Jiujiu.
“Oh dear… what’s wrong now?!”
Yun Jiujiu woke up first, groggily propped herself up, and looked at Xue Tianqiao.
The next moment, BOOM—
The entire wooden door smashed down from its frame.
And with it fell a Sword Sect disciple with a ferocious face, a spiritual sword plunged into his back.
“Holy crap!!”
“Yudie!! Wake up quickly!!”
Yun Jiujiu was stunned for a second, then immediately slapped Feng Yudie’s face. At the same time, she leaped off the bed, waved her hand to draw her storage bag towards her, and took out her own spiritual sword, which was larger than her body.
“Who the hell is it?!”
“Mmm… Jiujiu? What’s wrong…”
Feng Yudie also sat up at this moment, looking at Yun Jiujiu holding her spiritual sword by the bed, her face filled with terror as she looked at the tightly closed door of the room, completely unaware of what had happened.
“Feng Yudie, hurry and get up…”
As Yun Jiujiu spoke, she slowly turned her head to glance at her, and then the expression on her face instantly turned pale, her voice coming to an abrupt halt.
“Holy crap!!! Feng Yudie!!!”
Shouting, Yun Jiujiu raised her sword and swung it towards Feng Yudie’s face.
?
Feng Yudie was completely bewildered, but reacted quickly. She immediately fumbled under her pillow for her dagger, ready to block. However, before that, Xiao Tian had also summoned the spiritual energy of the Saint Emperor Dragon Body, setting up a spirit wall around Feng Yudie.
Clang—!
Yun Jiujiu’s sword struck the golden spirit wall and was repelled by its own force.
Xiao Tian stood with her sword finger raised to her chest and said:
“Yudie, give your spiritual energy to Yun girl! Yun girl has been trapped by a formation. Anping told me before that the Ghost Spirit Sect might use thirty-seven kinds of techniques, while the Tian Mo Sect only uses one. This is a technique of the Tian Mo Sect. The Seven Phases Yama Formation is the technique of Elder Fu Yuanhua of the Prison Hall! Use your Spring aspect spirit to break it!!”
“Ah…”
Feng Yudie was stunned for a moment, but quickly tapped Xue Tianqiao, who was bristling with fur beside her, on the forehead, sharing some of her spiritual energy. Then she rolled off the bed and moved directly towards Yun Jiujiu.
Seeing Feng Yudie rush over, Yun Jiujiu’s eyes widened in surprise. She immediately twisted her giant sword and swung it horizontally at her again:
“Holy crap!! So fast?! Feng Yudie!! Where are you?!! Hurry and help me…”
Seeing the giant sword cleave through the air towards her, Feng Yudie narrowed her eyes, flipped her hand to grip the dagger, pressing it against her arm, and caught the edge of Yun Jiujiu’s sword, deflecting it with a skillful force.
At the same time, she bent down, almost touching the ground, twisted to dodge, and then poked Yun Jiujiu’s forehead with her index and middle fingers, sharing some of her spiritual energy with her.
“Jiujiu!!”
Yun Jiujiu seemed dazed. She stared at the messy room in front of her and the sword in her hand and asked, “Ah?! What happened…”
“Seven Phases Yama Formation.”
Feng Yudie said concisely. She quickly grabbed her outer robe from a nearby coat rack, put it on, tied her disheveled hair into a ponytail, and took out Xiao Yunluo’s spiritual sword from her storage bag.
“Jiujiu! Stay by my side, don’t go too far.”
“Okay!”
Yun Jiujiu nodded, casually put on her usual golden robe, picked up her storage bag, and, holding Xue Tianqiao, they went from the cabin to the deck.
Ting ting ting—
Clang—!
“Hya!! Demonic cultivators! Die!!!”
“Aaaahhh—!”
“How can there be so many demonic cultivators?! Where did they come from?!”
On the spacious deck, the fallen spirit stone lanterns had ignited a raging fire.
The clang of swords, roars, and cries for help mixed into a cacophony.
However, now, it was only the immortal cultivators in Xing Tian Division robes who were fighting with swords, as if they no longer recognized their fellow Senior Brothers and Junior Sisters.
In the two seconds it took for Feng Yudie and Yun Jiujiu to step out of the cabin, seven or eight Core Formation Stage Xing Tian Division disciples had fallen to their fellow disciples.
“Yudie!! Hurry… Anping mentioned it before.”
Feng Yudie’s expression was somewhat dazed. Hearing Xiao Tian’s voice, she snapped back to reality from the sea of fire before her. She quickly drew her finger across the body of her spiritual sword, then sat down cross-legged on the ground, and closed her eyes:
“Jiujiu, guard me!”
“Okay!!”
Yun Jiujiu took a deep breath, thrust her sword vertically into the ground, and stood in front of Feng Yudie, using her spiritual energy to form a spirit wall, enveloping the two of them.
… …
————
Meanwhile, a thousand feet above in the dark clouds.
Hundreds of Ghost Spirit Sect disciples, wearing ghost masks and black robes, rode on flying swords, lined up neatly, and looked down mercilessly at the three flying ships speeding through the valley below.
Fu Yuanhua held an incense burner in her right hand, standing at the forefront of the Ghost Spirit Sect disciples. Gu Mingxin and He Jiming, also wearing ghost masks, were by her side.
He Jiming cupped his fists and said with a smile, “Elder Fu… Isn’t that enough? We should let the younger generation go in and achieve some merit.”
“If something can be resolved by one person, why must we send several people in to die?”
“That’s true.” He Jiming smiled and leaned forward, looking towards Gu Mingxin, who was on the other side of Fu Yuanhua. “But Junior Sister Gu will be heartbroken.”
“…Gener…”
“Junior Sister Gu must really want to help these immortal cultivators now, right? Senior Brother understands, after all, they are the patrons.”
Gu Mingxin disdained him, gave him a sideways glance, and then withdrew her gaze, squinting to look back at the three immortal ships below.
She didn’t believe that the Feng surnamed person could be dealt with so easily. Although she wanted to retort to He Jiming, she had heard what Elder Fu had said earlier.
The reason Elder Fu was willing to expend her true essence to resolve this matter personally was mainly to prevent the foolish He Jiming from rushing in and dying at the hands of some immortal cultivator.
If He Jiming died, when she returned to the Tian Mo Sect, Elder He would make things difficult for her.
To her, He Jiming was like a shackle.
She really wanted to go down and have another one-on-one fight with Feng Yudie to prove to Ye Anping that she was more suitable to be with him than Feng Yudie, but…
“Whoo…”
“Mingxin, it’s okay.”
“…Gener…”
And at the very next moment.
Crack—
A pale green spiritual light appeared on the incense burner held in Fu Yuanhua’s right palm. She squinted, surprised, suddenly felt a stinging pain in her palm, and immediately threw the incense burner away.
“Ah?! Elder Fu… What is this?”
“All disciples, heed the order!! Defend yourselves!!”
Boom—!
Intense flames erupted from the incense burner.
In this deserted Gobi Desert, it transformed into a small sun, illuminating a hundred li of Gobi below.
… …
————
Ps: This section is very important, so it was written slowly. I will not have a double update today.
Request for leave
I’ve been writing since morning, about twelve thousand words.
I was going to post it, but after rereading it, I felt something was off, so I’ll consider it a draft. I’ll rewrite it, and take leave today.
