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Sui An stretched out a hand and waved it in front of his face. “What are you thinking about? Snap out of it.”
Yu Mufei’s gaze focused on her. He frowned, still asking warily, “I’m thinking, how do you know my name? I don’t think I’ve seen you before, have I?”
Sui An coughed. “Some fellow disciples called your name earlier, so I remembered. Seeing you being chased by a group of people, you looked quite pitiful, so I helped you out.”
Yu Mufei stood up and patted the dirt off his clothes. He furrowed his brow and sized up Sui An once more, as if believing yet not believing, trapped in his own internal conflict. He said sullenly, “Well… thank you then!”
Sui An could see that he didn’t seem very happy. Could it be that Yu Mufei didn’t want her to help him?
A cultivator needs to be tempered. Sui An’s sudden move to help him not only made him the object of his fellow disciples’ resentment but also cut off his opportunity for training. That he was unhappy, Sui An could understand.
Yu Mufei split the Golden Scent Grass in half and gave it to her. “Here, you can have this. If you light it later, it will be much easier to find the Golden Spirit Beetles.”
Sui An shook her head. “I’ve already found one. But you, next time you want to snatch up all the Golden Scent Grass, do it when no one is looking.”
Yu Mufei was stunned, his expression growing even more conflicted.
“What’s wrong with you?” Sui An asked, puzzled.
She remembered the first time she had seen Yu Mufei, he was being tricked by some inner sect disciples into going to the women’s bathing spring. She had scolded that group of people back then, and when Yu Mufei saw her, he had the same conflicted expression.
“Ah, n-nothing…” Yu Mufei scratched his head. “I’m just surprised you came to help me.”
“Fellow disciples should help each other. It’s what we ought to do.”
The sound of silver bells echoed through the sky again and again.
Sui An knew from the system panel that the number of Golden Spirit Beetles was getting smaller and smaller. “You should hurry up and light the Golden Scent Grass. There’s not much time left.”
Yu Mufei nodded. Before he could light the grass, a group of masked fellow disciples caught up, the sound of their footsteps thundering, showing just how many there were. Perhaps because they couldn’t see each other’s faces, their eyes were all fierce and menacing, as if they wanted to swallow the two of them alive.
“Hand over the Golden Spirit Beetle!”
Sui An’s expression turned cold.
Yu Mufei drew his sword, looking ready for a fight. Sui An grabbed the back of his collar and fled on her sword. Yu Mufei was once again being choked, his eyes rolling back.
“After them!”
As the silver bells rang one after another, this group of people’s eyes instantly turned red. They had the look of not giving up until they caught them. They either leaped off tree trunks or bounded through the air, covering more than ten steps in a single leap, all hot on Sui An’s heels, completely forgetting about finding the beetles themselves.
“Don’t you dare run!”
The two Foundation Establishment stage disciples, in order not to be recognized, mixed in with the group of Qi Refinement disciples in the chase. Of course, it was hard to keep up. Thus, the two formed a hand seal together, their spiritual energies merging and complementing each other. The powerful spiritual energy was too heavy, forcing the two to stop. They slammed their spiritual energy into the ground.
The spiritual energy surged through the ground, dust rolling, and quickly overtook the crowd, catching up to Sui An. It erupted into a giant net of earth, enveloping Sui An!
Earth suppresses Fire. If her spiritual energy wasn’t strong enough, Sui An’s fire spiritual power wouldn’t be able to break through this kind of earth net.
Sui An dropped Yu Mufei. He once again rolled into the mud, his face covered in dirt, almost unrecognizable.
Yu Mufei smiled; he wasn’t surprised. He coughed, touched his neck, and looked up, only to see that Sui An hadn’t left. She was blocking him, holding her sword without fear in the face of the giant earth net.
That earth net was like a huge hand, coming straight for Sui An’s small body. The cold sword ignited with a blazing flame, searing the bottom of one’s heart.
Sui An had been a Golden Core cultivator, after all. How could she be afraid of this earth net? She didn’t form a hand seal, but instead channeled spiritual energy into her sword. The qi from the Wood spiritual root in her body suddenly erupted, also following the fire spiritual energy into the sword. In an instant, the sword’s body turned crimson, and the flames gradually became golden.
White robes and ink-black hair, golden flames searing the soul. One slash severed the earth net, the residual power splitting the soil, shocking the crowd into a standstill.
“Senior Sister An… is… is so strong, so cool!” Someone, after coming to their senses, said that.
Sui An exhaled. That one slash had consumed a lot of her spiritual energy, but she could only stand tall. Having finally intimidated the group behind her, she couldn’t lose her momentum.
“Don’t just stand there in a daze. She’s at the end of her rope1,” a fellow Foundation Establishment cultivator naturally knew that Sui An’s aura was significantly weaker than before she had used that slash. “Now is the perfect opportunity. Get her!”
Sui An held her sword and did not retreat. Her straight back already had the tenacity and fearlessness of a cultivator. Her eyes swept coolly over the crowd, a hint of killing intent within them.
Many people looked at each other, not knowing what to do.
“Don’t you want to enter the inner sect anymore?” he shouted.
In an instant, they turned their cold swords on her. A thousand people pressed forward with their swords, their momentum fierce. The last time she had faced such a situation was when she was captured by Tan Yun before her rebirth.
Today, they crossed blades for the sake of qualifying for the inner sect.
Sui An’s expression was grave. Looking at the situation, this matter couldn’t be settled peacefully. She glanced sideways and said to Yu Mufei, “Give me the Golden Scent Grass.”
Yu Mufei handed it to her.
Sui An threw the porcelain bottle in her bosom to him. “Inside is a Golden Spirit Beetle. Take this and run north. There’s a teleportation formation there.”
Seeing the porcelain bottle, the crowd’s eyes blazed with fury.
Yu Mufei clutched the bottle tightly. “I’m not going.”
“You’ll only be a burden if you stay.”
Seeing the crowd closing in, Sui An immediately lit the Golden Scent Grass, mounted her sword, and flew deep into the forest, not forgetting to shout, “Run!”
Yu Mufei knew he couldn’t keep up with Sui An. He could only turn and run north with all his might, his feet as fast as the wind, breaking through his existing top speed.
One of the Foundation Establishment cultivators flew directly after Yu Mufei on his sword. He had the highest cultivation among the crowd. As long as he caught up to Yu Mufei, that Golden Spirit Beetle would surely be his.
Seeing this, the others could only chase after Sui An.
They knew that even if they caught up to Yu Mufei, this one and only Golden Spirit Beetle would not belong to them. They might as well gamble on Sui An’s side.
Yu Mufei ran wildly.
The Foundation Establishment cultivator’s eyes curved slightly, clearly mocking him. “You blockhead, you can really run.”
Yu Mufei turned a deaf ear.
The man’s eyes were cold. He raised a hand and sent out a wave of spiritual energy.
Yu Mufei felt a chill on the back of his head. He rolled on the ground without hesitation. The spiritual energy hit the muddy ground beside him, and the splattering dirt lashed his face.
It stung!
“Yo ho, quite a fast reaction.” He landed on the ground, his white robes unstained by dust. He controlled his sword with one hand, and two cold, gleaming swords immediately circled around him. “Hand over the Golden Spirit Beetle, and I’ll let you go.”
Yu Mufei gripped the porcelain bottle. “No.”
“You really are a blockhead who doesn’t know what’s good for him.”
He no longer held back, his finger pointing coldly.
The two swords shot out, their sharp blades surrounding Yu Mufei, spinning and stabbing towards him, each strike aimed at a vital point.
Yu Mufei held his sword to block, dodging left and right, but it was hard to fend off the pincer attack. Within just three moves, the back of his hand was cut. He still held tightly to the porcelain bottle, not letting go. Blood stained the bottle.
“If you won’t let go, then I’ll just cut off your hand and see if you let go or not!” He formed a hand seal, his eyes wide with anger.
The flying swords spun rapidly around their hilts, forming the shape of a disc. Seeing this, Yu Mufei threw the sword in his hand at him. It was cut in two by the sword-disc, which continued on unstoppably.
“You’re courting death.”
He pinched his fingertips together, and the twin sword-disc slashed towards his waist.
Yu Mufei’s pupils shrank. He jumped and somersaulted to the side, barely passing through the center and rolling on the ground. The belt holding his clothes together broke, and his lapels fell open, a truly sorry sight.
Yu Mufei didn’t pause. He ran towards the man. The sword-disc flew back, just a hair’s breadth behind him. At the critical moment, Yu Mufei held two black balls in his hands, pulled their pins, and threw them at the man.
“Starfall?”
He had seen something similar to this black ball before. It was a one-time-use, Human-rank mid-grade magic tool that would explode after a certain time, shooting out countless small iron balls that could riddle a person with holes.
The man narrowed his eyes. He put his palms together and then opened them, and a faintly shining spiritual energy barrier stood vertically in front of him as defense.
Bang!
The black ball exploded. A blinding white light made his vision swim. He managed to force his eyes open, but it was a vast expanse of white, and he couldn’t see anything.
“Ah! You deserve to die!”
He wildly controlled the sword-disc, attacking the empty space. The disc cut through trees, cut through the soil, cut through rocks, but didn’t touch Yu Mufei at all.
He was furious and his spiritual energy erupted from his body.
The rubble on the ground levitated into the air.
Yu Mufei’s heart jumped in alarm. “How can he still fight?”
Suddenly, a person appeared behind him and struck the man’s back with a palm. The man’s body flew forward and fell to the ground, spitting out blood before fainting and collapsing.
“Are you alright?” Wu Bin came before Yu Mufei, a look of concern on his face.
Yu Mufei shook his head. “Thank you, Senior Brother.”
“What’s there to thank? Didn’t you help me once too?” Wu Bin smiled faintly. “Let’s hurry to the teleportation formation. It’ll be bad if he wakes up.”
“Did you find a Golden Spirit Beetle too, Senior Brother?”
Wu Bin’s smile was strange, making anyone who saw it feel a shiver in their heart.
“Yes, I just found one.”
…
Sui An flew west all the way, shaking off nearly half the people behind her. But there was still half a group in hot pursuit. She wasn’t too anxious, unhurriedly sizing up the Golden Spirit Beetles circling around her.
She reached out and caught one in her palm.
A silver bell-like sound immediately rang in the sky.
Sui An looked up at the sky. “I hope that was Yu Mufei teleporting away.”
“Senior Sister An, you’ve already obtained a Golden Spirit Beetle. Please leave the rest for us to handle ourselves,” the Foundation Establishment cultivator said, seeing he couldn’t catch up and having to soften his stance.
“Alright then, I’ll be merciful just this once.” Sui An tossed the Golden Scent Grass in her hand, and waved her sleeve.
A strong gust of wind blew the grass and the beetles towards them. The crowd’s eyes immediately lit up with joy, but in an instant, they started scrambling and fighting over them.
Sui An shook her head at this.
Just as she was about to leave, rolling dark clouds suddenly gathered in the sky. Lightning flashed within the clouds but didn’t strike, as if it were still brewing.
The crowd stopped what they were doing and looked up. “Oh no, if it rains, the Golden Spirit Beetles will hide and won’t come out!”
The crowd stared at each other, each one holding the others in check.
Only Sui An, she stared intently at the dark clouds, counting the flashes of lightning. The lightning never struck. This scene was strangely familiar.
Sui An exclaimed in alarm, “This is bad! It’s a Four-Nine Transformation Tribulation! A demon is transforming nearby! Everyone, run!”
Anyone undergoing a tribulation would always look for a sparsely populated area. Firstly, they didn’t want to be coveted and ambushed. Secondly, the destructive power of the tribulation lightning was too great. If an innocent was unfortunately implicated, future tribulations would probably be even more troublesome.
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Glossary
Blockhead (疙瘩): A colloquial and mildly insulting term for someone who is slow, stubborn, or dense.
Starfall (星落): The name of the explosive magic tool used by Yu Mufei.
Four-Nine Transformation Tribulation (四九化形劫: A specific type of tribulation lightning faced by a demonic beast when it attempts to transform into a human-like form. The “Four-Nine” (4 x 9 = 36) likely refers to the intensity and number of lightning strikes.
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Reika’s Notes:
- “tricked by some inner sect disciples into going to the women’s bathing spring” – so he was peeping and got caught?
- Maybe this friend of our MC isn’t as innocent as she thinks.
- This text was translated by RudeGirl and given to BC Novels for publication.
- I helped with the footnotes, formatting, grammar, etc., the usual stuff that is needed to post this on the website.
- Please let me know if there are any errors. Thanks for reading!
I think that when they said he was tricked by inner disciples into going to the women’s bathing spring he wasn’t peeping. They probably told him it was a men’s bathing area so he would enter by mistake and get beat up by girls who will accuse him of being a pervert, thinking he entered on purpose knowing it was a girl’s area. Our MC probably heard them giving him false info which is why she scolded them and not him.